google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, August 4, 2015, Greg Johnson

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Aug 4, 2015

Tuesday, August 4, 2015, Greg Johnson

Theme: Power LIFT. The last word in each theme answer can precede LIFT.




16. Aid in finding a pitch : TUNING FORK. Forklift.

23. Foldable outdoor seat : LAWN CHAIR. Chairlift.

46. Hard-to-read expression : POKER FACE. Facelift.

55. Bubba Gump company vessel : SHRIMP BOAT. Boatlift

34. Motorist's question ... and hint to the ends of 16-, 23-, 46- and 55-Across : NEED A LIFT

A fine Tuesday puzzle, with the clever reveal right in the center. Zoomed through pretty quickly, you?
 
Across         

1. Network celebrating early Hollywood : TCM. Turner Classic Movies


4. Doesn't leave a gratuity : STIFFS. Not cool.

10. Little untruth : FIB. Little white lie.


13. Fury : IRE


14. Like an atrium : SUNLIT





15. __ sapiens : HOMO. Latin homo man + sapien wise.

18. Trebek with all the answers : ALEX


19. "Dallas Buyers Club" Oscar winner Jared : LETO


20. "I certainly will!" : SURE


21. "I'm here to help" : ASK ME


22. New Haven collegians : ELI'S

25. __-mo replay : SLO


26. Internet access letters : DSL Digital Subscriber Line


28. "That's the spot!" : AAH


29. ICU VIPs : RN'S


30. Eponymous Hicks with an online list : ANGIE. Angie's list - local business reviews. Never knew her last name.


32. Pasta specification : AL DENTE. "To the tooth."




36. Moves stealthily : TIP-TOES


38. "Ain't gonna happen" : NOHOW


41. Dominate, in slang : OWN


42. Baby newt : EFT


43. Berlin article : DER


44. Prefix with conservative : NEO

49. Diner's list : MENU


50. Proofreaders' catches : TYPOS


51. Credit alternative : CASH


53. Leftover food bits : ORTS


54. TV host Hannity : SEAN


57. Little boys : TADS


58. Motion detector, e.g. : SENSOR. When I went to Tracker School, late at night after class the students would try stalking past the motion detector lights without tripping them.


59. Uncover, poetically : OPE


60. Where drs. wear masks : ORS


61. Botswana biter : TSE TSE

62. __ school : MED
 
Down


1. Names on spines : TITLES


2. "101 Dalmatians" villain de Vil : CRUELLA


3. Refer to in passing : MENTION


4. Confidential personal ID : SSN


5. Harbor guiders : TUGS


6. Preferred way to be paid? : IN FULL


7. Regional plant life : FLORA


8. Online security device : FIREWALL


9. Investor's purchase: Abbr. : STK


10. Indigenous drawings, carvings, etc. : FOLK ART. This is a Mexican folk art print, called "Flower Tree of Life."





11. Harrison song on the Beatles' "Let It Be" album : I ME MINE





12. Stocky dogs : BOXERS


15. Corned beef dish : HASH


17. Aegean island : IOS


21. Want very badly : ACHE FOR


24. Literature Nobelist Gordimer : NADINE. South African writer and political activist, Nobel prize winner. Died in 2014 at 90 years old.

26. Weight watchers : DIETERS


27. Wave to from the dock : SEE OFF





31. Econ. measure : GNP. Gross National Product.


32. Remote control batteries : AA'S


33. Ultimate degree : NTH


35. Unfastens : DETACHES


36. Like a House representative's term : TWO YEAR


37. Desk stamp go-withs : INK PADS

39. Like quaint rural schoolhouses : ONE ROOM

40. Got violently emotional : WENT APE


41. Decides one will : OPTS TO


43. Partner of cease : DESIST


45. Forcibly removed from power : OUSTED


47. Ages and ages : EONS


48. Chili con __ : CARNE. Meat.


49. Unruly crowd : MOB


52. Managed care gps. : HMO'S


55. Bygone jet, briefly : SST


56. School opening? : PRE. Love this clue.


Melissa

34 comments:

OwenKL said...

Poor HitchBot just NEEDed A LIFT,
But a vandal has ended his trip.
In a city of love
He got a kick and a shove,
Philadelphia gave him short shrift!

There once was a president, Abraham,
Who said, "I am an inventor, I am!"
He designed a BOAT LIFT
To help flatboats drift,
And got a patent from old Uncle Sam!

There once was a woman from Iliff
Who thought that she needed a FACELIFT.
But her husband was wise
Got a test for her eyes,
Then a prescription-ground mirror as a gift!

TTP said...

Good morning all. Thank you Greg Johnson and thank you Melissa.

No Melissa, I didn't zoom right through. Had a few first pass (across) answers that needed to be changed as I worked the downs. DRS became RNS. NO WAY became NO HOW. MIKE became SEAN. GDP became GNP.

Misread "Want very badly" as went. No idea on NADINE Gordimer, but recall NADINE (the movie) and Chuck Berry's NADINE.

I worked another puzzle this week that had this same exact clue/answer: Partner of cease DESIST. We just saw AL DENTE yesterday.

Mmmm. Chili con carne, chili con queso, queso flameado, queso fundido. Mmmm.


Welcome back Owen. Loved the HitchBot Limerick. I was just razzing my golfing buddy that hails from Philly about about poor HitchBot.

Lemonade714 said...

Thank you Greg and melissa and especially TTP who said exactly what I thought about the puzzle. I thought NO WAY but t here it is.

Love the battery pic

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Mostly smooth sailing for me today, but not entirely so. The theme was decent enough, although I've never heard of a BOAT LIFT before.

Minor woes included:

* NADINE was a complete unknown that required a lot of perp help.
* Tried AMC and then TMC before TCM at 1A.
* Went with LADS before TADS at 57A.
* Had ECO before NEO at 44A for reasons I don't fully understand...

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Zipped right through this one. My only overwrite was a rash IN BOXES where INK PADS needed to be. The puzzle was AL DENTE, just like yesterday's. Did I get the theme? Of course, not.

Nice to see you, Melissa. Nicely done, Greg Johnson.

Mr. Google said...

The Falkirk Wheel is a remarkable BOAT LIFT in Scotland. You have to see it to believe it.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, MelissaBee and friends. I found this to be a challenging Tuesday puzzle. The bottom half filled in quickly, but I struggled with the top portion.

Names On Spines = TITLES was my favorite clue.

I liked seeing Credit Alternative = CASH and Preferred Way to Be Paid = IN FULL in the same puzzle. I initially wanted IN CASH, until I came across 51-Across.

Hand up for Lads before TADS. You know who you are!

AL DENTE must be the phrase of the week.

QOD: All music is folk music. I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song. ~ Louis Armstrong (Aug. 4, 1901 ~ July 6, 1971)

thehondohurricane said...

Did not zip through this puzzle, but eventually ground it out. Like others, several initial goofs that needed correction. lads/TADS, drs/RNS, in cash/IN FULL, no way/ NO HOW, and the crossing A for CRUELLA/ANGIE was a wag. Did not know either.

Remember when you could pose the question NEED A LIFT?

When the corn beef is coming to an end, alway look forward to the HASH.


Thank you for the write up Melissa. Hope yesterday was terrific for you.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Hand up for No Way before No How, Lads before Tads...otherwise zoomed right through.

Morning, M Bee! Nice to see your style today.

Tinbeni said...

Melissa: Excellent write-up and links.

Greg: Thank You for a FUN Tuesday puzzle with a nice theme.

Had a few write-overs ... In Cash before IN FULL and lads before TADS.
And only needed ESP to get LETO & NADINE.

Funny thing, the sky is blue and it isn't raining.
Only 18.54 inches of rain in the last 10 days.
Though I live on the Anclote River, I'm only about a mile from the Gulf ... not in the "flooded river" area.

Cheers!

Husker Gary said...

Thunder, lightning and rain canceled golf league this morning and so I really needed a, uh, LIFT. Greg’s puzzle filled the bill. TADS/LADS and ORS/ERS was the only speed bump. RNS, DRS, ORS, ICUS, HMOS = mini theme?


Musings
-This Chairlift to the top of Mt. Solaro on the Isle of Capri offers a breathtaking view.
-Jennifer Tilly doesn’t worry about a POKER FACE
-NEED A LIFT? Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker?
-Fury/IRE – Hell hath none like a woman scorned
-Slo-Mo replay shows umpires get it right the first time over 95% of the time
-I wonder if Splynter is on ANGIE’S LIST. I need a covered porch built.
-SF Giant Madison Bumgarner OWNED the KC Royals in last year’s World Series
-I recognize about 5 words on this MENU
-I have at least 3,000 SSN’s on file from my former summer business
-He never paid IN FULL. Do you know his name?
-Always good to see Melissa back in the rotation!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.



A little crunchy for a Tuesday but it was a fun run nevertheless. Lots of fresh fill. Aha moment when TUNING FORK was sussed from the clue. Favorite fill/ clue was 'preferred way to be paid' - IN FULL.


DER is inflected both for gender and case. Constructers usually seem to opt for DER, Same with 'ein'.


SEE OFF - Melissa's wonderful shot of the guys and gal waving appears to be of a 'Gator. the USS Rushmore (LSD-47), amphibious dock landing ship arriving at Pearl Harbor in June, 2014.

CrossEyedDave said...

Hmm, there are so many of these,

Anyone else got a forklift accident to post?

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts":

HG - that's Wimpy, of course, from the Popeye series. I don't know if they still exist but I seem to remember a chain of Wimpy Hamburger fast food restaurants

Only one ink blot today and that was in the Natick between IOS and TUNING FORK - I had misspelled the island EOS for some reason; other than that it went pretty fast; enjoyed the theme and clues - well done Greg J and an equally fine recap to Melissa (happy belated birthday, btw)

I didn't fall into the same traps as others today but then again I made it a point to check my perps carefully before applying full pressure with my ink pen

Tinbeni - believe it or not, the Naples area (where I live) is 4" BELOW our normal rainfall YTD; it seems all of the storms are heading north this year - FT Myers (just 30 miles north) is right on their average.

HG - I saw a lot of those menu items a couple of weeks ago when I was in France so I now know about 10 words!! ;-)

coneyro said...

Fun and fast puzzle today. Monday level.

Went the same LAD/TAD and NOWAY/NOHOW as others, but resolved it quickly.

Put in the theme answer early, and really didn't need it, as the correlating entries were no-brainers.

SHRIMPBOAT reminds me of how Nathans in Coney Island served their shrimp cocktail. It was in a miniature SHRIMPBOAT with cocktail sauce. Though Nathans is best known for their famous hot dogs, the seafood offerings are delicious. I used to love the frog legs.

HEART RX..You asked me yesterday about the film "Devil's Due". A cheap knockoff of "Rosemary's Baby". Not a very good movie, IMO.

Today I woke up with the sun shining. The flooding in the Tampa Bay area has caused horrible consequences to many neighborhoods. After twenty or so days of rain, it's nice to see clear skies. Hope it lasts.

Nothing else of note to discuss. Enjoy your day.

Misty said...

Fun Tuesday puzzle, many thanks Greg and Melissa!

It helped that I knew NADINE and, of course, ALEX. Rowland and I watched "Jeopardy" every night right up to four days before his last day, and he even got two answers on that last night of watching. So I will always have a fondness for that program.

Have a great day, everybody.

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

Pretty smooth sailing today. No write overs and no nits. Needed the reveal, however, to catch the theme.

Nice job, Greg, and good expo, Melissa.

Heavy storms yesterday with hail, thunder and lightening and torrential rain. Sunny right now but chance of showers later. Going to a birthday/cookout so I hope the showers go elsewhere.

Have a great day.

Lucina said...

Hello, friends!

Yes, this was a quick run with the same write overs as others: LADS/TADS, EOS/IOS. Didn't know ANGIE'S last name but perps filled it. Can't say I've heard of I, ME, MINE. I really don't care for the expression, NO HOW.

Thank you, Melissa and Greg Johnson.

Misty:
It's good to see you.

Have a peaceful Tuesday, everyone!

Boo LuQuette AKA Boudreaux in Eunice, La. said...

Easier than yesterday to me. Went across then a couple down the TADA went off not knowing I was finished. Now If I could handle a SILKIE like that ~!~!

Chickie said...

Hello Everybody, I did pretty much zoom through this one today. There were a few answers that filled in and I didn't see them until I read Melissa's review. However, I did have to erase a couple of across answers--Stints became stiffs and No way became No how as the perps showed me the error of my ways.

Owen, the limerick about the Hitchbot was very clever. I read about his demise in this morning's paper. It seems there is always someone out there to spoil the fun for others.

I was glad to see a whole Tse tse rather than just half a fly!

So wish we could have some of that rain to help put out the fires here in CA. The largest fire is about 70 miles from our area and so many people have had to be evacuated. There have been homes lost, too. It is cooler today, so hopefully the firefighters will have some help in containing this enormous blaze.

Have a great day, everyone.

C6D6 Peg said...

Thanks, Greg, for a very nice offering this Tuesday. Pretty smooth sailing.

Very nice write-up, Melissa, and belated HB!

Dr. Leo Marvin said...

Funny, when I sussed BOAT LIFT, I immediately thought of this version as we had one growing up on Lake Winnipesaukee. Ours was manual, however, with a large wheel to aid in raising and lowering the boat. Kept the hull clean and damage free from boat wake.

But then someone linked locks as a Boat Lift. Never heard of locks referred to as boat lifts.

Then after Googling it, I was reminded of this BOATLIFT.

Even though I ski often, CHAIRLIFT evoked this image. I must be getting older! But here, Google suggest these are more often called stair lifts.

FACELIFT? Never.

Ed Bassmaster said...

The demise of the idiotic HitchBot was an internet hoax in order to promote a prank show coming out in November on CMT.

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Greg Johnson, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Melissa Bee, for a fine review. Nice to see you again.

To: C.E.D. Yes, I know a forklift story, but will not go into it, for a man was killed. 40 years on the job and two weeks to retire.

The puzzle was great. Once again, my wife beat me to it. I did answer a few that she was holding out on, but she did 85 percent of it.

Nice theme. Made sense.

Sometimes there's a reason for not leaving a gratuity. Fortunately, I have not encountered those situations.

DIETERS reminds me of my last diet. Last November/December when I had the shingles. My diet was because I could not stand to eat very much. Lost 11 pounds. Fortunately, I gained it all back once the shingles disappeared.

Never heard of NADINE. Sounds like she was quite a person.

See you tomorrow. Maybe I will get the paper first.

Abejo

( )

HeartRx said...

Great write-up, Melissa - I loved the power lifters! I finished the puzzle in about 5 min, but have spent the rest of the day reading comments and exploring links (The Falkirk Wheel is amazing, Mr. Google!)

So now there's nothing left to say...

Chairman Moe said...

Rumor has it that Sperry Top-Siders are now available with extra padding in the heel. They are branding them as "Boat Lifts"!

;^)

JD said...

Good morning all,
Enjoyed the puzzle and your write up, Melissa. Had all the same write overs as many of you. Not enjoying doing it on Cruciverb..takes me longer as it wants to go down when I don't.

Chickie, I too worry about our local fires...too close for comfort. There are also a few here on Oahu, as they have had a dry year also. Guillermo is on its way and should bring plenty of rain.

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Montana said...

Husker--have you ever picked up a hitchhiker?
A Montana family did last week. He pulled out a gun, forced them out of car, killed them, however 26-year old daughter took off running for the woods. Shot in the back and head grazed, but she survived. They caught the 18-year old in Wyoming. He's being extradited back to MT.

In the past I picked up hitchhikers, but only if I knew them. Kids hitchhike to a near town with a movie theater. We still have a fair number of hitchhikers where I live. Don't know if they get rides or not. Many have dogs with them.
When my brother got out of Army back in VietNam era, he hitchhiked from NYC to western Montana. He said it was a great trip.

Both Monday and today's puzzles had one letter I missed, so DNFs so far this week.

Montana

CrossEyedDave said...

Abejo, sorry to hear about your forklift story. I will endeavor to make the following links more lighthearted...

It was kind of hard to find a funny chairlift pic that did not include anyone getting hurt...

or a facelift pic...

Boatlift was kind of Ho Hum, (the best one was already taken...) Until I saw this. I wondered what on Earth did the do when the dang thingie got to the top? The website this pic came from seemed a little sketchy in Russian, so I found a YouTube that explains it!

Re: Hitchhiking:
I can assure you that no whales or petunias were hurt making this clip...

Todays apercu...

Tom Thumb said...

The man who shot the family in Montana was not a hitchhiker. Read the real story here.

I have hitchhiked and have picked up hitchhikers. I never shot anyone and no one ever shot me.

CanadianEh! said...

Only a few spots to slow me down today but I didn't even see the theme until I came here. Thanks Melissa and Greg.

I learned ORTS years ago doing crosswords (I used to keep a list); I should memorize TCM!

I had the wrong Beatle and wanted Imagine instead of IMeMine but I was sure of ALEX.

Hand up for In Cash and GDP.

Have a great day.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks, Greg and Melissa! Nice work.

Hand up for "noway" first. But no problems otherwise.

Cheers!

Ol' Man Keith said...

THOUGHT I'd flubbed it with IMEMINE as my answer for 11D. My eye could not split what appeared to be a nonsense word into its three parts. Like our Canadian comrade I wanted IMAGINE although fully aware that Mr. Lennon created that one. It turned out to be a good lesson for trusting to our perps.

Anonymous T said...

Hi Puzzle Pals!

Pretty much WEES - A fun Tuesday offering from Greg and great write-up from Melissa.

Late today - we had a going away dinner for my former boss. Lovely diner, great conversation and we blew him away w/ an Apple Watch. They guy was a great boss and is a wonderful human.

Hand up for AMC, et. al. b/f TCM. I compounded the original sin w/ author @1d until nothing else seemed to work.

I won't say I WENT APE over FIRE WALL because >1/2 are misconfigured,and provide little Online/DSL security. A good SENSOR will stop folks from getting your SSN. ASK ME the best way to configure (if you dare).

ESP - 24d (NADINE). WAG @17d xing 19a. ABC run left it between a T or an O... I got guessed right - no POKER FACE on me; just a big smile.

Liked TIP (what I wanted Sunday) w/ TOES.

CED - Love HHGTG and the other 4 books in the trilogy :-)

Thanks CED & Mr. Google for the loch monster links - those were way cool.

With a FORK you can TUNE a piano or eat a tuna (apologies to
REO Speedwagon).


Cheers, -T