google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, May 13, 2015 Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venske

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May 13, 2015

Wednesday, May 13, 2015 Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venske

Theme:  ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER.  A catchy ad phrase is reinterpreted as statements that can lead to a continuing conversation.  Do any of you have friends who can ramble on and on? If so, you might dread hearing these words. 

17. "Wait, there's more ... " : COME TO THINK OF IT.  Darn, he thought of something else.

27. "Wait, there's more ... " : BEFORE I FORGET.  Drat, too late.

50. "Wait, there's more ... " : THAT REMINDS ME.  Well, doesn't everything?

65. "Wait, there's more ... " : AND ANOTHER THING.  Uh-oh.  Now he's on a roll.

No unifier, but the common clue fills that function.  And the theme entries really need no explanation.

Today's Theme Song

Hi, Gang -- JazzBumpa here with a nice puzzle by the veteran team of Gail and Bruce.  I'll try not to get carried away with a boring exposition.

Across

1. Windows precursor : MS DOS.  PC operating systems.

6. Hard-to-control groups : MOBS.  Large and disorderly crowds.

10. Forensic investigator's item : SWAB.  An absorbent pad or other item used for collecting samples to be analyzed. 

14. Advil alternative : ALEVE.  Analgesics.  Advil is ibuprofen; ALEVE is naproxen.

15. Pair on a lake : OARS.  In a boat on a lake.

16. Place to slog through : MIRE.  Swamp, bog, fen.

20. Hullabaloo : STIR.  Much ado about something.

21. Barry White genre : SOUL.



22. Dossier cover? : ALIAS.    A dossier is a collection of documents about a particular event, subject, or, in this case, person.  An ALIAS is an alternate name or false identity, which is, in some sense, a cover.  Still, this entry is not working for me.  Am I being dumb?

23. "Boy, am I dumb!" : D'OH.



25. Touch the ground : LAND.   In an aircraft, presumably at an airport.  Vide infra.

33. Airline with the MileagePlus frequent flier prog. : UAL.  Formerly United Airlines.

34. Ole Miss rival : 'BAMA.  Universities on Mississippi and Alabama, respectively.  I think they might have football teams.

35. Customs collection : TARIFF.  An import tax

38. Golf lesson subject : GRIP.  The proper way of holding the club.



40. Charmin layer : PLY.  Tissue layers.

42. Black & Decker rival : SKIL.  Power tools.

43. Dapper : SPRUCE.  I was familiar with the usage as noun and verb, but not adjective.  It is, however, legit.  Neat, smart, or stylish in appearance.

46. Gave up for money : SOLD.  Past tense of the verb "to sell."  Curiously, in Old English, ca. 10th century, this verb meant to give as a gift.

49. Irritated state : IRE.   Having one's dander up.

53. Brainy Simpson : LISA.  Sadly, I could not find a video to verify this concept.



54. Not within walking distance : FAR.  You might need a lift

55. One needing a lift : SKIER.   Clever.  Besides, neither hitchhiker nor Arthur Dent fit.

58. "__ Girl": 2014 Affleck film : GONE.


Does not look like a lot of fun

61. Battery terminal sign : PLUS.  Indicates the positive terminal.

68. D.C. dealers : POLS.  politicians.

69. Hawaiian coffee district : KONA.   On the western part of the Big Island.

70. Put a cap on : LIMIT.

71. Eye woe : STYE.  A bacterial infection of an oil gland at the edge of the eyelid.


73. Stops bleeding : CLOTS.  Clotting is part of homeostasis.

Down

1. Apple Store array : MACS.  Along with iPads, iPods, and iWatches.   I am blogging from my Macbook Pro with Retina Display.

2. Job opening : SLOT.  A position to be filled.  Derived from the Old French word for bosom cleavage.

3. Prefix with goddess : DEMI.  A lower ranking divine personage.

4. Go to extremes : OVERDO.  As, for example, a speaker exemplifying today's theme.

5. Complete collection : SET.  

6. Con __: briskly, on scores : MOTO.  Literally, with motion, thus, to be performed in a lively manner.   I just do whatever the conductor wants.

7. Iolani Palace site : OAHU.  In Honolulu.

8. Estracell sponge brand : BRILLO.  Soap infused steel wool pad.

9. Phishing fig. : SSN.   Social Security Number.  Phishing is a particular kind of internet scam, where the perp poses as legitimate financial company to extract one's personal data, such as SS number.

10. Does a slow burn : SMOLDERS.  Generates smoke, but no flame.  Figuratively, is experiencing but [more or less] containing anger. 

11. Surfing convenience : WIFI.   For internet surfing.  The term refers to a wireless connection, and is derived from "wireless" plus "fi," an arbitrary second element, thus similar in form to hi-fi.

12. Opera showstopper : ARIA.  Featured vocal solo.

13. Gets in the pool, maybe : BETS.  Makes a wager in a  betting pool.

18. Milo of the movies : O'SHEA.


19. She adopted Tigger : KANGA.   Friends of a certain silly bear.  I do not Pooh-pooh this kind of trivia.

24. Top of a scepter, perhaps : ORB.   Not every scepter has one.


26. Part of MoMA : ART.  Museum of Modern ART

27. Perturbs : BUGS.


28. O.K. Corral gunfighter : EARP.  The EARP brothers, Virgil, Morgan and Wyatt along with Doc Holliday were on one side against Billy Claiborn, Ike and Billy Clanton and Tom and Frank McLaury. The combatants were only a few feet apart, and the incident was over in a matter of seconds.  It took place at a narrow vacant lot next to a photographer's shop, not at or adjacent to the eponymous corral. Probably the most famous gunfight in the history of the old west, but it was not well known to the American people until 50 years later.

29. Toy (with), as an idea : FLIRT.   Not the first thing that comes to mind when I consider the word "FLIRT."   I guess this is the point where the idea is playfully suggestive [or suggestively playful] but not yet given serious consideration. 

30. Sitter's challenge : IMP.   In Middle English, a child of a noble family.  Somehow, this morphed into a child of The Devil - sort of a demi-daemon.  Now diluted to mean an unruly child. 

31. Quiz answer : FALSE.  If the question is of the True-FALSE variety.

32. Maori carvings : TIKIS.  Check them out.

36. Unshakable : FIRM.   Literally, to physical objects; figuratively to resolute concepts and those who hold them.

37. Cut and run : FLEE.  Escape


A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, "let us FLEE!"
"Let us fly!" said the flea.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

--Ogden Nash

39. "Don't make me laugh!" : PUH-LEASE.  Exaggerated pronunciation of PLEASE, for dramatically dismissive affect.

41. __ Kippur : YOM.  Falling on the 10th day of Tishri, this is among the most important high holidays of the Jewish faith.  It is the day of judgement, remembrance and atonement.  [Help me out here if I didn't get this quite right.]

44. Stone monument : CAIRN.  For millennia, they have been used as landmarks, grave markers, in astronomy, or for other ceremonial purposes.


45. UFO fliers, purportedly : ETS.   Extra-Terrestrials in Unidentified Flying Objects.

47. Career officer : LIFER.

48. Forensic investigator's molecule : DNA.  Deoxyribonucleic Acid.  It's in all your cells, and you leave it everywhere, perhaps to be collected on SWABS.

51. Convertible, in slang : RAGTOP.


52. Adviser who was a regular "Oprah" guest : DR. PHIL McGraw.

55. Enervates : SAPS.  Depletes of energy.

56. Feature of some paneling : KNOT.


57. In a laid-back manner : IDLY.

59. Words of dismay : OH NO.

60. Straightened up : NEAT.  SPRUCE; or even better -- without ice.  Oh, yes!

62. Wedding rental : LIMO.  Fancy, multi-passenger hired car, complete with driver.

63. Combat group : UNIT.

64. LAPD ranks : SGTS.  Sergeants in the Los Angeles Police Department 

66. Puts one's initials on : OK'S.  Short form seal of approval.

67. Pampering, for short : TLC.  Tender Loving Care - mom's specialty.

There it is, as succinct as I could make it.  'Nuff said?  Hope it gets your seal of approval.

Cool regards!
JzB [my ALIAS]




Note from C.C.:

I'm excited to tell you that Jazzbumpa (Ron) just got his first puzzle accepted by the New York Times. He got a "Yes" on his second submission. Ron is very creative and works extremely hard on all of the puzzles we've collaborated. It's been a extraordinarily fun journey, Ron!


41 comments:

OwenKL said...

BEFORE I FORGET

Growing older should elicit condolence,
Instead of enduring whelpish insolence.
We've aches and pains,
Need glasses and canes,
Worst of all are ... uh ... oh, senior moments!

You have a word on the tip of your tongue,
Too bad your tongue is novocain numb!
From one room to the next
You really are vexed,
You just can't remember the reason you've come!

Were you coming or going? You fret and you fume,
These senior moments will fill you with gloom.
The worst time of all
To fail this recall:
Were you leaving or coming to use the bathroom?

Great short videos, take your pick of subject from this list. truTV used to be just cop/reality shows (yuck), but recently they've branched off into a bunch of other good things.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fun puzzle today. The theme obviously wasn't hard to figure out, and I was actually able to guess most of the theme answers with just a little perp help to get me started.

Had a little trouble getting started up north after confidently putting in BRIO instead of MOTO. I'm sure that "con moto" is a thing, but I just never heard of or saw it before. SPRUCE also took awhile to get, since I think of it as being a verb and "dapper" as an adjective (what Jazzbumpa said, in other words). Everything else was straightforward and smooth.

Dudley said...

WBS.

Lemonade714 said...

Congratulations Ron and it is so awesome what this Corner has bred. C.C. you have created a juggernaut.

Owen do we really need to start the day with all the downside of aging? I embrace the day, the sunrise and the crossword community along with some coffee.

WBS except my slomo brain took all too long to fill MSDOS . It is interesting how this version of my brain works...I saw this actress on NCIS and all I could think was Tom Cruise' s first wife.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, JazzBumpa and friends. The theme answers were easy enough to suss out, but I stumbled a bit with the South West. Skier was the last to dawn on me (Sorry, Marti!)

I have heard of Black&Decker, but how much of a Rival is SKIL? Total unknown to me.

I remember a different Spot from the one shown by Jazzbumpa. We read of Spot from the Dick, Jane and Sally reader series. Our school apparently had old readers.

UAL was recently in the news when it refused to serve warm food to an autistic child and ultimately kicked the family off the plane.

Milo O'Shea (1926 ~ 2013) makes frequent guest appearances in the crossword puzzles.

Lemonade714 said...

then last night while we were leaving Publix this ACTRESS' Name popped in my head.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I actually had trouble coming up with the theme answers -- I was trying to make them something you'd actually hear in an infomercial. D'OH! Tried OCELLO (misspelled OCELO) then BON AMI before BRILLO showed up. Also misspelled 39d as PUHLEEZE, but fixed it soon after.

Jzb, I think that it's supposed to be a police dossier -- a rap sheet.

Headed off to an appt in the Houston Medical Center. We'll find out if this old dog is smart enough to use Metro Light Rail. Parking in the medical center isn't impossible, but it is life-threateningly frustrating, so I'm parking elsewhere.

JD said...

Good morning all,
As usual there were many clever clues from this duo. maybe due to the early hour my brain was not functioning on all cylinders, so it took awhile.The clues for alias, spruce,ire and push lease (cute) did not click. have never heard of con moto, or Skil. when in NZ, I saw more maks than tikis... All beautifully carved.

Congrats Bumpa!
Owen, enjoyed all your verses today. you amaze me!

Keep your fingers crossed. we may get a little bit of rain tomorrow. Anything would be a gift. landscapers have had to rethink their plans.

JD said...

I hate auto correct! Also sorry for the lack of capital letters. IPad in bed is awkward.

Yellowrocks said...

Witty write up.
Just wondering which ads use these phrases. I've heard these phrases but not in ads. Does the puzzle specify used in ads?
I would propose the title "AND FURTHERMORE...." As JzB said, yakking on and on.
Coming from generations of male DIYs, father, father in law, husband, son, I know SKIL tools.
I remember starting with MS DOS years ago,
BRIO before MOTO.
I liked dossier cover/alias. Yes, DO, I think it's police dossier.
As a child our reader was "Fun with Dick and Jane," who had a dog named Spot. By the time I became a teacher 16 years later this book was no longer used.

inanehiker said...

I didn't realize there were so many ways to keep on talking. I had a friend growing up who would say something and then say BUT, and segue to a completely different subject to hold the floor. WBS said about Brio vs MOTO.
I watched the primetime special for the soon to be ending Late Night with David Letterman and thought the top ten list with Barry White from 1994 was hilarious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv5v2uOzshA
Thanks for the write-up JB and congrats on the NYT puzzle! Fun puzzle from Gail and Bruce - always expect a good one from them!

HowardW said...

Ron, very funny writeup and also educational to learn the origins of SOLD, SLOT and IMP. And congratulations on your NYT puzzle!

The puzzle was of good mid-week difficulty, with a few misleading clues but mainly straightforward. Favorite clue was "one needing a lift" for SKIER. PUHLEASE seemed a little off to me, but the perps cleared up the spelling.

Seconding what d-o said about "dossier".

Fact Checker said...

"SKIL can trace its heritage to the invention of the circular saw by Edmond Michele in 1924, which led to the development of the SKILSAW circular saw Model 77 in 1937. Now referred to as “the saw that built America,” the Model 77 set the industry standard for handheld worm-drive circular saws which remains in production almost unchanged today. In an example of a genericized trademark, portable circular saws are often still called Skilsaws or Skil saws."

- Wikipedia

Bronx Boy said...

YR@7:41

The phrase that's used in ads (specifically, late-night TV commercials) is "Wait, there's more . . .".

Occasional Lurker said...


Just a short note: Todays Google doodle has to do with the 127th birthday (presumably dead - ) of a seismologist, a danish geophysicist, Inge Lehmann (she),who decisively (?) discovered or postulated the (existence of the - ) inner core of the earth.

Made me think of our resident seismologist, Jayce. Very timely, considering the multiple earthquakes in Nepal.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi Gang -

Usually the item for sale is $19.99 or $29.99, or three easy payments of only $39.99. Then comes: "But wait, there's more. -- Act now and . . ." they throw in something else, like an extra Sham-wow, finish restorer or meat grinder.

C. C. neglected to mention all the hard work she did at light speed to get our recent puzzle accepted at the New York Times. Not only a great working parter, but modest, too.

Yeah, I was thinking of a police rap sheet, for ALIAS, but couldn't quite bring it together. That one's on me, I guess.

Owen - very clever, and sadly true.

Cool regards!
JzB

Tinbeni said...

Jazz: I always enjoy your write-up's ... and know listening to ALL the links will probably take me longer than the time I spent solving the puzzle.
ALWAYS a PLUS!!!

Gail & Bruce: Thank you for a FUN Wednesday puzzle with a great theme.

Hmmm??? What could possibly be my fave today??? NEAT ... of course.

Cheers!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Nice intro, JzB - Fun to read.

Always enjoy Gail & Bruce puzzles. Mostly an easy-enough solve, but I had trouble sussing the NE. When SMOLDERS seemed strong for 10d, I took another look at 27a - had BEFORE I 'finish' - and then, DO'H, changed it to FORGET and it all worked out OK.
Favorite clue was for BETS.

Congrats to JzB on his signal achievement.

Have a nice day.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

A bit of crunchiness but all worked out well. Thought of Tin at neat, naturally, and Marti at skier.

Congrats to JzB on the NYT achievement. What a talented group we have here on the Corner!

Thanks to Gail and Bruce for an always enjoyable outing and to JzB for the illuminating expo.

Have a great day.

Ergo said...


Thanks Gail, Bruce and Jazz. Congrats on the submission Jazz! Looking forward to it.

Enjoyed today's offering but have to take issue with PUHLEASE. If it were part of a theme of modified words/expressions, well ok. But as a gap-filler, I found it to be a lazy out.

Anonymous said...

I didn't know how to spell puhlease, and didn't know carin, so I entered puhlease and tairn which gave me sprote. I Google sprote and believe it or not, it means dapper. So I went with that but was wrong. Go figure. Otherwise easy sailing.

Lucina said...

Greetings, friends!

Congratulations, JazzB on your puzzle! And thanks for the enlightening analysis.

Easy sashay today from Bruce and Gail. I filled across and down simultaneously which zipped the whole thing pronto. I recall MSDOS and what a mystery it seemed to me. As computers still are . . .

Have to go. Have a lovely day, everyone!

C6D6 Peg said...

Thanks, Gail & Bruce, for a fun puzzle. Enjoyed the entries and fill.

JzB - Great intro to your write-up! Yes, I know people like that.

JD - You can have our rain - Got 4.5 inches last night. Even the recycle bin floated away into the neighbor's yard.

Misty said...

Wonderful pics, JazzB, and congratulations on the NYT puzzle! That's wonderful news! And I loved the Nash poem.

Delightful puzzle from Gail and Bruce this morning--a little challenging but fun. I liked that even if I didn't know the clue (Barry White, for example) the perps helped me get it.

Milo O'Shea played Leopold Bloom in the 1967 Joseph Strick film of James Joyce's "Ulysses." He should have gotten an award for that timeless performance.

Have a great day, everybody!

Ol' Man Keith said...

GREAT news about Jazzbumpa's success!

proprietary said...

COME TO THINK OF IT, I found it very interesting that MSDOS and MACS shared the 'M' as Apple refuses to share anything with the rest of the computing world.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Always a pleasure to work a Grabowski-Venske puzzle, and always a pleasure to read a Jazzbumpa writeup. PUHLEASE is a wonderfully original and imaginative entry. SKIER was awesomely clued. Hand up for BRIO before MOTO.
The damage from the huge earthquakes in Nepal is tragic. We don't have any sensors in Nepal, the nearest ones being in Sumatra. Unfortunately all of our Sumatra instruments were not working at the time, due to a software issue that I pointed out and warned about 2 months ago but that was not (yet) fixed because the programmer didn't know what he was doing. He's still thrashing around with the software as we speak.
Inge Lehmann is one of those scientists whose contributions are/were indispensable to advancements in the field. She deserved every award she got. I'm glad she didn't suffer the fate of Rosalind Franklin, whose work was usurped by Watson and Crick and without which they would very likely not have discovered the structure of DNA for which they are so famous and she is not. Watson is a truly nasty human being.
Best wishes to you all.

Jerome said...

Jazz- I never go a day without my afternoon beers. Today I'll raise one to you!

SPRUCE- Rocker Bringsteen

Avg Joe said...

Another busy day, bit did want to pop in and congratulate you on your NYT puzzle, JazzB.

Enjoyed the puzzle today, but didn't care for the spruce clue.

Husker Gary said...

“Wait there’s more…” NO! I made my sister make a decision so we can plan our weekend!!

Musings
-Do you know people who say these things and never give you a chance to speak?
-MS DOS vs. WINDOWS
-My doctors have forbidden me to take NSAIDS like ALEVE
-When a pitcher’s in trouble, the announcer always says they’re starting to STIR here
-Some famous ALIASES) (It’s use here is shaky to me as well)
-United will always have the best best theme song! (1:04)
-Tin, do you know how many PLYS there are in this Russian toilet paper?
-“Gary, you can play golf when you don’t feel pain, but don’t OVERDO!”
-I use the middle of the GRIPS Jazz showed in his excellent write-up. BTW, congrats, Ron!
-Some 70 year old SMODLERING good looks!
-They got into the POOL! (BTW, $56/15 = $3.5M pre-tax)
-Looks like a LIFER to me!

thehondohurricane said...

Afternoon everyone,

Late to the party because I have puppy duty while a home remodeler lowers my current assets updating the bathrooms. Can't complain too much, it had to be done.

Enjoyed the puzzle, but I found it dicey. Took me a while to make it through. I'm with Ave Joe on the cluing for SPRUCE. I had a RAG TOP while I was at the U. Red/white Merc. Coeds liked it. Now that was a current asset!

Jazz, always enjoy your write ups and congrats on NY Times debut.

Happy to see Tampa Bay send the Canadians home last night. It is the most arrogant franchise in the NHL, but wouldn't mind seeing PK with the Bruins.

CrossEyedDave said...

Puhlease!

But wait! There's more...

CrossEyedDave said...

Come to think of it...

Before I forget...

That reminds me...

And another thing...

Tinbeni said...

Husker: The answer would be "1" ... and it isn't soft.

CED: You out-did yourself today. Thanks!

Hondo: Turns out that the "hottest" place in America yesterday was Tampa. (Set a date record of 95 degrees!)
There were over 1,000 Lightning Bolts an hour leading up to last nights game.
(Seemed appropriate, lol!)

Cheers!

PS Seems there are around 20,000 kids cheering for a NY Ranger victory tonight against the Caps so the Disney-On-Ice Frozen show, scheduled for Saturday night, won't be post-phoned.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Good challenge, Bruce & Gail. But I had trouble off the blocks with the MSDOS/MACS cross, said the IMac owner. DOH!

JzB's expo was a consolation prize. Love that Barry White. Congrats on making the NYT.

SPRUCE is a tree. You can't fool me.

One needing a lift wasn't DD Cup? Oh.

Didn't know the name Milo OSHEA. Face was familiar.

I can't take Ibuprofen and naproxen. They cause instant alzheimer's a/k/a zombyitis. My son-in-law's father had even worse reactions.

I read "Gone GIRL" when the book first came out, but what the story is about is now gone from my mind.

I still have my little SKIL saw. Haven't used it in years though.

Owen, re limerick: Too true. I wish I was a chipper happy newlywed like Lemon. Alas, I'm not up to being a cougar.

Anonymous said...

A good puzzle today from Gail and Bruce. JzB, thanks for the expo and the link to my favorite Barry White song.

I'm allergic to all NSAIDs, so those are out of the medicine cabinet.

Great links, CED!

Have a pleasant evening.

Pat

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Great job, Gail, Bruce and JzB! Nice theme.

Steve Jobs used to say "and one more thing" at his presentations.

Apple shared the GUI with Gates!

Had BRIO first.

Congrats, JzB!

We are parched here. Don't send all of your rain to JD!

Take care!



Mike Sherline said...

6D I tried VIVO then BRIO before MOTO - and I'm a musician. I guess a direct translation "with motion" would have been too obvious for a clue. Come to think of it, it probably wouldn't have said CON vivo anyway. Oh well, it's been a while.

Can't see/hear "spruce" (43A) as anything but a verb - and with "up" after it.

Nice to see 2 Hawaii references (7D & 69A). Kona coffee's been famous for some time, and it's very good, but my district, Ka'u is coming into its own. I'm not much of an aficionado, but my brother is; I sent him some of both, and he likes the Ka'u better.

Congrats JzB & CC on the NYT - I hope you'll let us know if you find out when it's going to run.

VirginiaSycamore said...

To Jayce,

While Rosalind Franklin got short shrift in the book, The Double Helix, I think the real cause of non-recognition was that she died from cancer before the Nobel Prize was given out.

It just seems wrong that you have to still be alive to get it.

Ditto on Spruce as a tree or a verb as in "Spruce up."

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Oh, PaHLEASE - I guess Jack Sprat was not a dapper fop and therefore SPRatE is way out for 43a. DNF :-( (nope, never hear of a CAIRN either).

The rest of the puzzle was easy running - thanks Gail & Bruce. Thanks JzB for the write-up and congrats on the NYT - do you know when it will run?

I sing The Fixx's song all the time. Fix one thing and it begets two other to-dos.

MS DOS xing MACS over BUGS... OH NO, your me BETS your UNIT is GONE. Get a GRIP, put a new WIFI board in the PCI SLOT to get back on your hot SPOT. If only we had 6d = MObO (mother-board)...

I'm KNOT going to OVERDO it and push the LIMIT, ORB is it too late? :-)

Fav: Aside from the computer mini-theme, c/a for SKIER.

I'm not even going to compete w/ CED's links today. Thanks!

D-O - how 'bout that rain last night? How was the toy-train ride? (22 stops in 12.8mi)

HG - Thanks for the 'Stros bullpen pic. They're getting better...

Cheers, -T

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

Anon T,
Will Shortz said he tentatively scheduled the puzzle for a Monday. So we should see it in a year. If it's moved to Tuesday, then it'll be a long wait.