google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Jul 11th, 2015, Barry C. Silk

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Jul 11, 2015

Saturday, Jul 11th, 2015, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 70 (missing Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 26

Dammit~!  I can't remember the last time I solved a Saturday puzzle without red-letters, and it's starting to annoy me.  I got stumped in the NE corner this time, with bad fills on my part.  Ugh - oh well.   I was really looking forward to finishing this Silkie unassisted - it did have some great fills.  Triple 10-letter corners, with triple 7-letter corners in the down paired to a pair of 11-letter climbers;

24. Cutting, as a thick steak : SLICING INTO


11. Dynamic : HIGH VOLTAGE


onweirrrrrrd....

ACROSS:

1. Band conductor? : COPPER WIRE - I got it, but it's not Mr. Silk's most wittiest; since most electric guitar, mic cables, etc., are copper wire....

11. Burlap source : HEMP

15. Kindle owner, often : AVID READER

16. Logical introduction : IDEO - ideological

17. Shipped out : SENT ABROAD

18. Beaufort scale word : GALE - here's my first cheat; I Googled the scale; could have been "CALM" as well, with 50% still correct

19. Half of sei : TRE

20. Briefly, with "in" : SUM - "in sum"

21. Drying convenience : BATH MAT - ah.  All I could think of was "towel rack"

23. Proposal figs. : ESTs

25. Head makeup : SUDS - Beer heads, that is

27. Grand Prince of Moscow, 1328-1340 : IVAN I - I tried "PETR I", figuring it would be Russian and Latin combined

28. Sphere : REALM - ah, not ARENA

30. Harpo Marx or Carrot Top : PROP COMIC - was pondering something about red-heads

32. Soap, e.g. : SERIAL - the TV soaps, that is

34. Cen. parts : YRs - centuries and years

35. River through Yakutsk : LENA - perps

36. Eye-catching link designed to generate ad revenue : CLICK BAIT

39. Sith foe : JEDI - Star Wars

42. Thanksgiving follower: Abbr. : FRI - true; it is always followed by Friday, and a Black one at that

43. Rogues : SCAMPS

47. "Beats me" : I CAN'T TELL

50. The same, in Sauternes : EGALE - our weekly dose of Frawnche

51. "In the Summertime" rock group __ Jerry : MUNGO

52. Biol. branch : ANATomy

54. Company name based on a passage from Hosea : EL AL - learning moment; Saturday cluing for "Israel airline" - Wiki says it's Hebrew for "To the Skies"

55. Most suggestive : RACIEST


57. 21st Greek letter : PHI - yeah.  I had to wait on perps

59. "Rugrats" infant : DIL - OK, cheated here, too; didn't know the last letter

60. God in both Eddas : ODIN

61. Doesn't wait one's turn : CUTS IN LINE - gives me a chance to link this Paul Simon song, third verse

The Afterlife - "no one here likes a sneak"

64. __-Tremblant, Quebec : MONT - Frawnche, deux

65. Unauthorized underground city explorer : URBAN CAVER - there was a Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode that opened with a young man into something similar

66. "And so ..." : ERGO

67. Deli counter customers, as a rule : MEAT EATERS

DOWN:   

1. Moving aids : CASTERS - I stripped off the casters of an old BBQ last week to mount them on a refrigerator at one of the restaurants.  Also building a new 'side stand' for water and a computer terminal - I hope to get done before vacation next week; off to Delaware to scout out UPS, the tech school, and apartments - my friend Mike is officially a Delawarian.

2. Supervise : OVERSEE - too bad the supervisor at my UPS is a micro-managing moron; maybe they're better in Dover (actually, Harrington - hey, Bluehen, where are the other terminals~?)

3. Subject of a 1983 incident in which a George Brett homer was originally nullified : PINE TAR - ah yes, I recall this incident, and Brett thundering out of the dugout

4. L.A. summer setting : PDT

5. Big times : ERAs

6. "Concentration" feature : REBUS


7. Throw in a pen : WARM UP - ah, more baseball

8. ''Yes'' : I DO - [sigh] some day

9. Take in again : REABSORB

10. Mother of the Valkyries : ERDA

12. Sushi bar appetizer : EDAMAME

13. Albino's lack : MELANIN - argh~!  Not PIGMENT

14. Horace's "Ars __" : POETICA - all I could think of was 'ars gratia artis'

22. Mannerism : TIC

26. Lumber processing equipment : DRY KILN - meh.  dryING kiln works better for me


29. __ du pays: homesickness : MAL - trois Frawnche

31. Free spots, briefly : PSAs

33. Pick up : LIFT

37. Animal : CREATURE

38. It may be shaved : ICE - Run away, Tin~!

39. CBS Sports Radio host : JIM ROME - his show was called "Jim Rome is Burning" - har-har

40. Gran Colombia successor state : ECUADOR - half perps

41. Like the queen in a 1977 #1 hit : DANCING - ABBA

44. __ Islands: former name of an Indian Ocean republic : MALDIVE










45. Less pretentious : PLAINER

46. Bears, often : SELLERS - Stock Exchange lingo

48. Nail holder : TOE

49. Washes against : LAPS AT

53. Biblical possessive : THINE

56. Pond problem : SCUM

58. Pachacuti, for one : INCA - perps; didn't see this until I was working on the write-up

62. TV Guide abbr. : TBA

63. Small muscle? : LAT - dah! Not PEC
One for the ladies

Self portrait ( NOT~!!)
Splynter

39 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIW. WAGed wrong on two naticks: in the NE, EDAMAM_+L_NA and in the SW JIMRO_E+_ONT. Food, geography, sports media, and geography again. Even after I turned red letters on, I had to make several WAGs to get the E & M. I might have guessed MONT sooner but the hyphen threw me off. Missteps: FIBER OPTIC>COPPER WIRE, PANTOMIME>PROP COMIC, I DON'T KNOW>I CAN'T TELL, META>IDEO, WIND>GALE, and successively misspelt MELANIN in a number of amusingly novels ways.

After a shower, as the bathroom floor floods
And the BATHMAT tries vainly to REABSORB the SUDS,
To WARM UP I towel down,
And get ready for town
Partying so I don my best FRIday night duds!

A hated interloper, if I might opine
Is the jerk who always CUTS IN LINE.
Queues he's SLICING INTO
With his shopping-cart Ginsu.
I wish he'd cut into a HIGH VOLTAGE line!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fun puzzle overall, but man did I have to do a lot of guessing today! I got MUNGO, for example, only because JIM ROME seemed likelier than, say, JIF ROME or JIG ROME. LENA? ECUADOR (as clued)? ERDA? PINE TAR (as clued)? MONT? DRY KILN? MALDIVE (as clued)? All guesses (with a little perp help, of course).

I wasn't thrilled with some of the cluing, to be honest. A BATH MAT is a "Drying convenience"? The one in the bath tub is there to keep me from slipping, and the one outside the bath tub is there, well, I guess to keep the floor from getting all wet, but I still wouldn't call it a "Drying convenience". And "Band conductor" just seems a bit off for COPPER WIRE.

On the other hand, "Throw in a pen" for WARM UP was pure gold.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

This one came together in better-than-normal time, but it all came down to two WAGS -- the same two that OwenKL mentioned. I guessed LENA correctly -- sounded Russian. But the _ONT could have been P (bridge) or M (Mount). I took a P. I figured that sports guy had a cute name like Jim Rope and his friends called him "Skip." Bzzzzzt!

I did like the stacked tens, but the cluing for COPPER WIRE seemed forced. Over all, I liked just about everything about this puzzle except the way it turned out.

Lemonade714 said...

This was the first Saturday in a while which I finished unaided. I agree that it was not easy but I did use perps and some lucky knowledge to finish in good time. I have listened to Jim Rome and read about the creation of Ecuador out of Gran Columbia as part of doing business there.

I liked seeing LAT in a LAT puzzle, the reminder about Concentration. Was it c coincidence you picked one that was a Simon and Garfunckle song?

The George Brett pine tar incident is one of the most famous in baseball history.

Happy Saturday, thanks Splynter and Mr. Silk

Madame Defarge said...

Perfect start to the weekend. Thanks, Barry. I was on your wavelength this morning. This was easier for me than Thursday or Friday. Maybe it's simply because I was int he mood and had the time to devote to a puzzle. It's been a busy week.

Luckily, the NW and SE corners fell into place on my second run. I am certain sheer luck. I didn't get the band in COPPER WIRE, but I know copper is conductive. Luck all around today. I liked CLICK BAIT. Never heard it, but it was so logical.

Thanks, Splynter for another interesting Saturday tour. Have a good weekend, everyone.

Argyle said...

Mungo Jerry "in the summertime" Perfect day for this video(3:34).

Avg Joe said...

Another Silken Slog. Got off to a good start with oversee and PDT. Hemp and Poetica came easily too, but then it slowed down a lot. Bounced around until Mungo Jerry (started with Mongo) yielded dancing. And so it went. Lots of wags, but it mostly worked out.

In the end it was a fail, however. Had no clue on Mont, and Jim Rose sounded like it was correct, so in went the S. Thanks for playing. Here's a nice parting gift.

Ergo said...


Ha! I just finished last Sundays puzzle! Attribute it to three things: A lack of free time, the challenge of the puzzle, and my ineptitu... uh, tenacity to finish it off.

I'll shoot for Labor Day to finish todays Silkie. :-)

OwenKL said...

COPPER WIRE isn't (IMHO) about the wires connecting a guitar to an amp. It's about the COPPER WIRE that carries bandwidth -- cable and internet -- which has probably carried these words to you during some part of their journey!

from T.S. Elliot
...

Then the family would say: "It's that horrible cat!
It was Mungojerrie--or Rumpelteazer!"--
And most of the time they left it at that.
...
Then the family would say: "Now which was which cat?
It was Mungojerrie! AND Rumpelteazer!"--
And there's nothing at all to be done about that!

Big Easy said...

This one stated beautifully and died an ugly death in the NE. I guessed HEMP, GALE, & IVAN__, but even though I recently bought some frozen EDAMAME, I have never been to a sushi bar and had no idea what a Japanese appetizer would be. It didn't help that I misspelled MELANIN as 'MELANON'. Not knowing ERDA and initially filling READJUST for REABSORB didn't help my cause and neither did ETALE for EGALE (both made as much sense to me-none).

LENA, DIL, MUNGO, MONT, JIM ROME- unknowns. CLICKBAIT- that's a term that I use when a newspaper's website has an otherwise meaningless article titled controversially so that readers will fall for a lame story.

The George Brett 'home run' incident was a gimme. That and JEDI were the only ones for me. PROP COMIC is a new term for me; I guess it is sort of related to slap-stick with props.

But these puzzles would be easier if I could write Spanish, French, Italian, and knew the Greek alphabet, not to mention Nordic gods. What ever happened to Greed and Roman gods in crossword puzzles? They don't seem to make it into print.

HeartRx said...

Fun write-up, Splynter. I was wondering what you would come up with for RACIEST...but I knew it would involve legs.

I loved this Saturday Silkie. As always, challenging clues, but ultimately do-able with some grins along the way.

Loved "Throw in a pen" when I finally got WARM UP. I was wondering if we were looking at slopping hogs at first! I guessed EDAMAME with just the "E" from HEMP, so the entire NW was off to a great start, and it all spread out from there.

OwenKL - I agree, it would be nice to see a rude interloper cutting into a HIGH VOLTAGE line.

Argyle, thanks for that Mungo Jerry song. As you said, it was perfect for a day like today!

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Hand up for trouble in the NE. I had High Wattage first, and being mostly right it stayed a long time. On the assumption that an old Russian leader is likely to be named Ivan, I tried Voltage. Prop Comic was slow to emerge because Dry Kiln doesn't sound real. Had to look up Lena, and from there everything seemed to fill in - still don't like Dry Kiln, though.

Reading up on Yakutsk and its chilly river Lena makes me glad I don't reside there. It would take a hardy soul!

Husker Gary said...

Barry left just enough Easter eggs around for me to conquer this wonderful puzzle. I always feel like I have a chance on his if I just hang in there! ERGO, I love working his puzzles.

Musings
-Any KC Royal fan instantly put in PINE TAR to start. Later Brett joked it was good that his teammates kept him away from from 6’ 6” umpire Tim McClelland
-Yeah, I’m growing this HEMP for burlap, yeah that’s right
-Many American soldiers have been SENT ABROAD to clean up Europe’s messes
-I CAN’T TELL, you’re in for I DON’T KNOW. SCUM, you’re in for ALGA
-Oops, EGALE (not egali), ELAL (not elae?) and DIL (not din?) make for three bad cells. I had those bears as SEINERS for fish! I still love ‘ya Barry! ☺
-Splynter, you must assume your micro-managing moron OVERSEER does not read this blog! ☺
-Some 21st century REABSORBING
-My lumber first used a BAND SAW. Not even close!
-There are some very graphic texting while driving PSA’s around
-Seeing water LAP AT these rotting foundations gave me pause to think how long they will last
-Ain’t it great that Splynter takes care in his always wonderful write-ups to ferret out a “legs picture”. Always willing to go the extra mile!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

My first thought at Band Conductor was Impresario, so I checked a couple of the downs and seeing the George Brett clue, I knew pine tar was the answer and impresario looked like a lock. Oh, we foolish mortals! However, I was really on Barry's wave length, getting much of the long fill which always helps on a theme-less puzzle. I was cruising along nicely, thinking I'm going to finish WAY below normal Silkie time and then I came to a screeching halt. SW was slow to yield, not knowing Jim Rome or Mungo Jerry, and the SE was no walk in the park either. But, as usual, patience and perseverance paid off and I finished w/o help in normal Silkie time.

Thanks Mr. Silk and Mr. Splynter for entertaining and educating us so handily. Owen, your limericks are great today; I laughed out loud at the second one. The T. S. Eliot passage reminded me of how much I enjoyed Cats; I saw it twice. Ergo, it sounds as though you are working too hard! We miss you. 😢

We're in for some hot weather, maybe 90 tomorrow. Several dry days, then more rain. The roller coaster continues!

Have a great day

Splynter said...

Hi again~!

Yes, Lemonade, yes I did~!

HG, if he read the blog, he'd probably become less of a moron~!

Splynter

VirginiaSycamore said...

I can list the clues I got without help at first pass:
PDT, EGALE, HEMP, TRE, JEDI, ANAT, DANCING and SCUM.
The rest needed perps, red letters and slow slogging.

What is “in sum” short for in summation? I’ve never heard of it.
What is the picture between the O and the rub in the REBUS?
Thanks Owen, for explaining Mungo Jerry origin.

My one point of pride is that I almost got ERDA, I couldn’t recall the 3rd letter.
I watched on PBS a year or two ago but most of my recall for The Ring Cycle is from the comic rehash of it by Anna Russell.

PART_1 and
PART_2,ERDA_MOMMY@1min+ and
PART_3

oc4beach said...

Truly a red letter day, and not in the good sense.

Too much French IMO. (Not Humble today)

Also Burlap is usually made from JUTE. Hemp fibers are usually used in other applications when combined with other fibers like cotton. Check Wikipedia for JUTE and HEMP

Have a great day everyone. It's beautiful in Central PA today.

C6D6 Peg said...

Totally not on Mr. Silk's wavelength this am. Too many unknowns. Did get the long entries, but the short ones were murder. Still, a nice workout.

Thanks, Splynter, for your great write-up.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

I, Too, was on Barry's wave-length today. One of the best Saturday solves ever. Filled in the S first, then the W. Getting MALDIVE early helped with that. Absolutely loved the clue for 25a - SUDS and 7d - WARMUP. Knowing LENA and assuming MELANIN helped in the NE. ECUADOR seemed likely from the Gran Columbia clue. Got MUNGO, JIM ROME, and PHI from the perps.
MONT-Tremblant has been a well known ski center outside Montreal for a long time.
DRY KILN - Agree with Splynter that drying kiln is common.

Enjoy the weekend.

HowardW said...

Like Spitzboov, this turned out to be much faster for me than a typical Saturday. (Fastest since keeping a log the past four months.) Despite starting slowly, and not knowing JIM ROME, PROP COMIC (but it makes sense), URBAN CAVER, DRY KILN, Pachacuti, DIL. *Did* know about the PINE TAR game and MUNGO Jerry. [Thanks Owen for teaching me where that came from!] Very enjoyable when it all happens to come together well. Thanks Barry & of course Splynter. Liked the pictures, especially the fence sign.

Virginia: "What is the picture between the O and the rub in the REBUS?" A fort.
Bridge O+fort+rub+bull+d waaa+tears, in full.

Bluehen said...

A surprisingly swift solve for a Saturday Silkie. Granted, there were a few unknowns (LENA, for example) and some questionable cluing (1a), but there was plenty of perp help. Thanks for an entertaining escapade, Barry, and thank you, Splynter, for a fun reveal.

Re: UPS sites in DE. I know that there is a distribution center in New Castle. I'm sure there must be others but I'm not familiar with them. Good luck with the transition.

That's all for now. I nicked myself shaving and I'm bleeding on my keyboard. Gotta tend to my wound. Seems the older I get, the more thin-skinned I get.

Cya!

Bluehen said...

Splynter, belay that. Now that I mull it over, that distribution center is for FedEx not UPS. Sorry. But once those two carriers merge, it shouldn't matter. The new company name is to be "Fed UP".

Cheech said...

Husker, I believe HEMP and marijuana are different variant plants common to the cannabis family. You can get high from Hemp. Not that I've tried...

Chong said...

*can't get high!! Damn this weed related to the Hemp plant! :)

coneyro said...

Either I'm getting smarter, or this puzzle was easier than usual for a Saturday.

Although I admit that I needed a little help on a few, this puzzle actually was completed.

MONT-Tremblant, Quebec was a gimme for me. Years ago my husband and I vacationed at a lovely mountain resort there one summer. Beautiful area and lake.

I, too, put in IDONTKNOW before ICANTTELL, and was looking for a redheaded reference for 30A. Perps to the rescue. Agree that BATHMAT didn't jibe with the clue.

I used to love the show "Concentration". My mind was in better shape then.

I would appreciate it if the difficulty level was more on par with today's. Less obscure and more relevant entries. Others, I am sure, have their own opinions.

That's it for me. Until next time, folks.

Nice Cuppa said...

41D: Like the Queen in 1977 hit.

This was the year the Sex Pistols released their hit "God Save the Queen" on their (only) album, "Never Mind the Bollocks, here's…."

The second line is "THE FASCIST REGIME". Actually, "FASCIST" fit today's crossword for a while.

Radio stations refused to play it (it was the year of the Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee).

So the band famously tried to play it from a boat on the Thames, next to the Palace of Westminster, during the celebrations - hence the fireworks in the footage; and the organizer and several others were arrested. The footage is a mixture of police intervention and a separate (uninterrupted) live performance. No guns of course.

I'm not an anti-monarchist, but like most Brits I admire a bit of (non-violent) anarchy for the common man from time to time.

Of course, the parallels with Guy Fawkes' attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament (in the Palace of Westminster) are enhanced by the fireworks displays.

Enjoy:

SEX PISTOLS

Jack Barry said...

Remember this Concentration blooper?

Obviously the UK version. Never heard "Keen as mustard" before. I looked it up. Apparently means to be very enthusiastic about something. "He was keen as mustard to solve this Saturday Silkie, until he tried to solve the NE."

Jayce said...

Another, um, interesting puzzle from good ole Mr. Silk. The only thing I looked up was LENA. Got almost all the rest of it by myself, except that doggone crossing of JIM RO_E and _ONT. I put in a "P" and felt that JIM ROPE made less sense than JIM ROSE, but SONT definitely didn't look right. That was the only letter that turned red when I switched to Novice mode. Had to do sort of an alphabet run to get MONT.
Udder dan dat, I solved the whoooole thing!
Thank you, Splynter, for 'splainin' "Throw in a pen." I wouldn't have understood it without you.
Lucina, from what you said the other day, it sounds like your niece did some wonderfully good works.

Nice Cuppa said...

Argyle

Agreed. Mungo Jerry - once seen/heard, never forgotten.

It's also quite anarchic, just not so "in your face" as the Pistols.

I've been singing that song for the past few weeks - fabulous chorus too - Chu chu-chu, uh!

Annoys the missus though.

NC

Nice Cuppa said...


Mr. Barry…. Very naughty! (A little "off" perhaps, Jack?)

Maybe you should have a go at: "Pot calling the Kettle Black" ?

Paul in Montebello said...

Ran through this as fast as electricity through Cooper Wire.

Ol' Man Keith said...

I have beat Mr. Silk in the past, so today must be his revenge. I felt good about this one, even with more cheats than I care to admit. But in the end I didn't have it 100% solved. SUDS defeated me. Not knowing the quiz shows, I had REBUT for the "'Concentration' feature."

Silk is just too good.

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling thoughts"

Kinda late to the party today; I had to look up several clues but eventually filled in all the squares.

Unlike others I found the NE pretty easy to fill; my stall came in the NW when I had COPPER COIL and the COPPER RING before settling on WIRE after looking up ERDA. My attempt to solve a puzzle never goes well when I can't solve 1 across ...

In the weekly limerick contest, this effort by yours truly "won" - and they both have a few references to today's puzzle:

In Seattle they search for the best
Candidates for new jobs. Then suggest,
That they prove that they're free
From the drug "THC";
It is now a firm's true "acid test".

Naive starlet was willing to show
Quite a bit of herself, down below.
She thought it was kinky
Revealing her pinky,
When they asked to see her "camel TOE".

ogd said...

There is a large UPS depot in Newark on Ruthar Drive not far from where I live. I believe it covers all of New Castle County and Harrington covers the less densely populated Kent and Sussex.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Almost got it after hours, but 20 & 25a xing 6&7d == whitespace. Too, 44,45,46d xing 50 &54a is another blank REALM. Oh, well. I had fun w/ Silk's Sat and more fun to follow w/ Splynter's write-up and answers... Seriously, c/a for SUDS???

Oh, that PEN - my mind never went to baseball. I wanted arrest, lockup, wrap up?... Frogs! Same w/ 26d bucKsaw stayed in too long (I don't know what one is, but it sounds real...)

Ways of my errors... 18a tALk (50%) b/f GALE (I mixed up my scales) ERGO I had auToMAT (wrong dryer) before stepping out of the BATH. Reminds me of a riddle of my ute... "What gets wetter and wetter the more it drys?"*

Other w/os: I CANT TELL if I'm just an idiot, but I swear there was a Q in ECUADOR.

Enough SERIAL moaning... I liked 1a, 11a was for Tin while 38d was not, PINE TAR brought back memories & the ERAS b/f 'roids... (great vid Splytner!)

SENT ABROAD - my SSGT Brother - Italy then to Africa... We talked this morning at 1:30a - he'll be stateside in April / May. Keg Party TBA (likely on a FRI).

Favs: 5d c/a - LOL; CLICKBAIT while annoying IRL (in real life), it is great fill. And c/a for PSAs... did anyone pay attn to my PSA the other night? Update Adobe Flash folks!

VirginiaSycamore - my 1st pass to a T

WEES re: 1a - I wanted amp/mick cables or some such. PDT wouldn't let me Pen it in, thankfully.

OKL & Moe: Both #2s; funny.

Cheers, -T
*A towel! Loved that one...

AnonymousPVX said...

I was patting myself on the back about being right in Mr. Silk's wavelength.

Then I got to the NE. A real slog there, but again Barry makes it possible - not easy, but solvable.

And I thought I was surprised yesterday when all of a sudden all was filled in correctly. Phew, tough. But fair.

Anonymous T said...

Did no one else want Colbert's marauding goddless kILLERS for 46d?... Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Hey, there is such a thing as a bucKsaw. C, -T

Moodnuck said...

Click bait? Come on Silk stop making shit up to fill a space!!