google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Sep 26th, 2015, Don Gagliardo

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Sep 26, 2015

Saturday, Sep 26th, 2015, Don Gagliardo

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing J,Q,V,X,Z)

Blocks: 28

Don G returns for the last Saturday puzzle of the month for the second time in a row for the LATimes.  No theme this time, although we have three of four long answers that are food related.  One Natick, which I had to use red-letters to solve, but what can you do~? Likewise, there were a few 'meh' answers that made me grit my teeth, but it's Saturday, so I've come to expect them.  Threw caution to the wind on a few clues, and glad to see they were solid WAGs.  Two 12-letter spanners, and two 11-letter climbers;

19a. Telltale facial mark : MILK MUSTACHE

54a. Picnic piece : CORN ON THE COB

3d. It's often chosen from a map : AIRLINE SEAT

24d. Arbitrary experimentation variable : FUDGE FACTOR

"one of these things is not like the other...."

Donwar~!

ACROSS:

1. Go gaga over : STARE AT - you know what I go gaga over....

8. Put into motion : ACTUATE

15. Bride of Dionysus : ARIADNE - Once the "-NE" appeared, this dawned on me

16. "This can't wait!" : "DO IT NOW~!" - Reminds me of Ahhhnold in Predator



17. "Gilligan's Island" ingénue : MARY ANN - much more appealing to me than Ginger


18. How some things are written : IN STONE

21. The clink : STIR - meh.  Never heard this, but if you consider stir-crazy, then it fits

22. Field : LEA

23. Scolding : EARFUL

27. Japanese food item sold in sheets : NORI - oops, went with noKi first


29. Dept. head, e.g. : LDR - leader.  meh.

31. Selene's Roman counterpart : LUNA - I am pretty good with my mythology

32. El __ : GRECO

34. Barely make waves? : SKINNY-DIP - hand up for NOT having done this - yet

36. Some RPI grads : EEs - I attended one semester - Spitzboov stayed longer

37. Medium-dry sherry : OLOROSO - we've seen this in puzzles before - the Wiki

39. Political initials since 1884 : GOP

40. Wonder Girl or Kid Flash : TEEN TITAN - new to me; SIDEKICKS fit, too

42. Quiet spots : GLENS - I had NOOKS to start

44. Twin seen in a thesaurus? : ESAU - clever; th-esau-rus

45. Abs, pecs, delts, etc. : BOD - meh.  I get it, but....meh.

46. Place for a shoe : HOOF - horseshoe

47. Grit : METTLE

49. First bk. of the Latter Prophets : ISA

51. 1988 N.L. Rookie of the Year Chris : SABO - the "B" was my only blank; and with the next clue, DonG is making up for the lack of baseball from C.C. last week

57. Situation after the first out, in baseball lingo : ONE AWAY

60. John or Paul : APOSTLE - solid WAG

61. Astronomical measures : PARSECS - parallax second; the Wiki

62. Knee-slapping : RIOTOUS

63. Original McDonald's mascot : SPEEDEE


64. Stand behind : ENDORSE

DOWN:

1. "Dynasty" actress Emma : SAMMS - it took a moment to remember her


2. Character-building unit? : TRAIT

4. '70s-'80s San Diego Padres owner : RAY KROC - more McDonald's - his Wiki

5. Red-coated wheel : EDAM - cheese

6. Trees' age indicators : ANNULI - because RIINGS didn't work; today is my brother's B-day; he has 42 rings now

7. Strained : TENSE

8. Sarah McLachlan hit : ADIA

9. Companies : CONCERNS - think late 1800's

10. "My Wife & Kids" co-star __ Campbell-Martin : TISHA - mostly perps

11. Completely : UTTERLY

12. Year abroad : ANO

13. Lot : TON

14. Common rebus pronoun : EWE

20. You won't hear any hits on it : TALK RADIO

25. Dues collector : UNION - UPS is trying to collect back dues from me - not my fault

26. People now known as Sami : LAPPS - WAG

28. Square __ : ROOT - I had KNOT first



30. "Falling Into You" Grammy winner : DION - Celine - not my thing

32. "Chase those guys!" : GET 'EM

33. Piece maker? : REESE - Reese's Pieces

34. __ speak : SO TO

35. Canceled : NO-GO - think NASA and the Apollo missions

38. Ring-wearing pianist : LIBERACE


41. Colorful helmet brand : NUTCASE - clever name; their web page

43. Is blitzed by : LOSES TO

46. Millinery accessory : HAT PIN

48. Called from a field : LOWED

50. Drum kit item : SNARE

52. Big pill : BOLUS - never heard of it; the definition is "a round mass of medicinal material, larger than an ordinary pill"

53. Like one contemplating bariatric surgery : OBESE

55. Where KO means Coca-Cola : NYSE - nailed it

56. Place for an ornament : HOOD - reminds me of a vulgar joke - email me if you care to hear it

57. Short missions? : OPs

58. Power __ : NAP - I take a power nap from about 11am - 1pm everyday between UPS and the restaurant work

59. "Take heed, __ summer comes ... ": Shak. : ERE

Splynter



Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Dennis, who was often the first to post on the blog before he moved to Florida.  I have fond memories of talking to him frequently about baseball cards (He has a Bowman Mickey Mantle 51), American slang and various blog comments. Rich's acceptance of the puzzle I made with Dennis is one of the highlights of my puzzle career. How's everything, Dennis?


47 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all (and a Happy, Happy Birthday to our Dear Dennis)!

Ouch. This one left me a bit bloody, I'm afraid. Some of the cluing was, if not actually wrong, deceptively off in my opinion. "Go gaga over" for STARE AT? "Is blitzed by" for LOSE TO? ESAU is in the thesaurus as a synonym for twin? Some of the answers were completely unknown, such as SABO, ANNULI, NUTCASE and SPEEDEE. And then I shot myself in the foot repeatedly, with stuff like CAWED (and then MOOED) before LOWED, PUMICE before METTLE and AMOROSO before OLOROSO. Thank heavens for LIBERACE, or else I never would have gotten myself out of that jam down there.

In the end, I did manage to finish without red letter help or trips to Mr. Google, but there was nothing easy about this one, no-sirree!

Barry G. said...

OK, so I totally missed the trickiness of the ESAU clue. ThESAUrus. Got it. Guess I should have read the write up before posting...

Lemonade714 said...

Barry, then you liked the puzzle? I was saved by the recent appearance of OLOROSO and knowing about BOLUS from growing up around hospitals, doctors and nurses. Chris SABO was a complete unknown. Likewise NUTCASE, but the one I still do not get is EWE.

Thanks Hard G and Splynter

Uncle Rebus said...

Lemonade: A rebus is a pictogram where symbols represent word. So, EWE (or a picture of a sheep) = You.

Freond said...

I'm amazed anyone could finish this one without help. Lots of complaints, but I'll shut up and just go lick my wounds.

Lemonade714 said...

Thanks Uncle Rebus, sometimes I cannot see the forest for the trees.

And before I forget again very happy birthday to Dennis on of the pillars on which the Corner was built.

Sunny and 85...

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Glad that the early reports are similar to my experience. This rascal was tricky! Lots of unknowns. At the thesaurus clue, I thought I was being clever looking at the only double letters, S and U, in the word as being twins, but that was a dead end. Once Esau emerged I failed to make the connection. Thanks for being on your game, Splynter!

Hand up for Amoroso first - after all it was in recent memory. Liberace saved the day since it was big solid fill. All in all a good workout, finished without red letters. Thanks, Don!

Happy Birthday Dennis, hope you'll drop a line today.

inanehiker said...

Slow but steady today, relaying on perps for many answers like oloroso and speedee. I originally put EYE =I for EWE= you -- I remember them often having a big eye on the rebuses on the game show Concentration. But DO IT NOW helped me correct that. Favorite clue - barely makes waves.
BOLUS in my medical experience is usually not a pill, but a large amount of something to swallow or a large amount of fluid or medicine to give over a short time IV.
We have a beautiful Saturday here, hope yours is too! Happy Birthday, Dennis.
Thanks Splynter and Don Hard G!

Yellowrocks said...

Challenging, but a successful "no peeky."
STARE AT is rather mild for GO GAGA OVER.
IS BLITZED BY, LOSES TO was my last fill, but I liked it.
No hits in TALK RADIO? On some stations you hear nothing but hits(snarky remarks) against the opposition party.
I thought of NUTCASE with just a few crosses. Nah, it couldn't be! But finally I used it.
EL immediately brought GRECCO to mind. but EL___ is as obscure as THE ____.
In prison movies and westerns I have heard jail frequently referred to as STIR.
I had ESAU, but didn't understand it, at first. Thanks, Splynter. I think it is now my favorite with SKINNY DIP, a close second.
I knew BOLUS just from the --LU-. In the novels I read a bolus is a large horse pill. (BTW my mom used to call any very large pill a horse pill.)
Drugs.com says:
Aspirin Bolus
This treatment applies to the following species: Beef Cattle, Dairy Cattle, Horses.
Happy birthday, Dennis. I miss your comments.

VirginiaSycamore said...

A toughie.
Even clues I should have got did not pop up into my head.
I should have gotten EWE because I had notepaper with
"A note for EWE" at the top, and a cartoon of a sheep going "For Me?

Long crosses did not come as easily as yesterday, so I went to the red letters after one or 2 passes. So many easy answers had several options: Square________: FOOT, DEAL, ROOT. Etc.

Like inanehiker @ 9:18 I had only heard BOLUS in regards to liquids.

Hope everyone enjoys the last September weekend.

VS

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This was a difficult challenge, even for a Saturday and I think the cluing was what made it that way. A few missteps included: Edens/glens, foot/hood, mgr/ldr (ugh), and teen title before teen titan. Never heard of Tisha Campbell-Martin or Speedee and, showing my lack of pop music, thought Dion referred to Dion and The Belmonts. Hand up for missing the Esau - thESAUrus connection. It's always fun to see RPI referenced.

I did finish w/o help but it took forever. Thanks, Don G., for keeping us on our toes and thanks, Splynter, for keeping us in the know.

Thanks for all your best wishes and kind thoughts. I'm still plugging along!

Happy Birthday, Dennis, hope it is fun-filled!

Have a great day.

Husker Gary said...

I finished it but if you found it to be easy, you’re a better man than I am Gunga Din. The NE corner was my final conquest. Fiendish cluing is fun when you finally figure it out – Barely make waves? Way cool!

Musings
-Good summative paragraph, Splynter.I had the same “mehs” but also understand the necessity
-Try placing 100 kids on a plane map so they can be by their friends
-When I gave a student an EARFUL, I always did it quietly so only he (it’s almost always a “he”) could hear me
-HBD, Dennis. Semper Fi!
-Huskers are on!

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning!

Whew, that was a workout. Thanks, Don. I had some phone calls and had to leave, which actually helped. Sometimes I have to walk away to see things in a different light. I had mooed before LOWED; apparently I was in the right field. The red-coated wheel really set me back, Ha! EDAM. ESAU in Thesaurus was a good chuckle. Very clever. I thought SKINNY DIP was cute.

Splynter, thanks for another well-done Saturday post.

Happy Birthday, Dennis!

Have a good day, all.

TTP said...

Good morning all. Thank you Don G and thank you Splynter.

Every time I went to put this puzzle down, I'd do a quick run of all unanswered clues and find something to get me going again.

But in the end, I couldn't complete it without changing the game to regular. Inexplicably entered RAUCOUS instead of RIOTOUS. That red letter notification allowed me to correct and complete the SE corner.

Even then, I didn't know -RIADNE, and SiMMS looked just fine to me.

Knew it was RAY KROC and could picture him, but not think of his name. 10 minutes later, while working in the SW...
Why was it so hard for me to get the MILK part ? Didn't know the why for on ESAU, but it fit.
Piece maker ? Colt, Glock ? Luger ? REESE. Place for a shoe ? HOOF. Got me. Good one.
Hey ! There's SAMI again ! Last time I looked, I could not find that PBS or NatGeo documentary.
Needed more baseball clues. :>) Could have used "Indians pitcher Giovanni" at 34D.
OLOROSO ? No idea. We have a bottle of cooking sherry. I think it is Holland House brand.
Wanted HAM RADIO, but TALK won out. SKINNY DIP was funny. And revealing.
SKINNY DIP. Can't put my hand up like you did Splynter. It was nightime summertime fun at its best back in the high school daze.

Anonymous said...

YR, You have every news network except Fox and Excellence In Broadcasting on your wavelength. So, don't listen if you don't like the message. Personally, I like to hear what the the opposition has to say. Talk about "snarky". Indeed!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

"Ewe" and "you" are homonyms. Don't get the rebus issue. A "bolus" refers to a mixture (food bolus for example) that is administed as a unit, not a single solid item like a pill. Or more commonly a single IV injection of fluid. I know because I administer these items myself . So be aware futute authors. The connection between "abs, pecs etc"and "Bod" is almost non existant. Other clues that can be argued as incorrect. Saturday puzzles are hard enough. Important to make them clever but accurate

PedantTheBrit said...

ESAU: Isn't there some (unwritten?) rule against having the answer in the clue?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Happy birthday, Dennis. Stop in once in a while.

Another hard one. Needed red-letter help to finish. Some great clues, though, which made it worth working on.
EE'S - RPI also does ChE's, ME's, CE's, and others.
SKINNY DIP. Great and funny clue. Like it when opportunity avails. Favorite was as part of sauna experience in Helsinki. Now that I think of it, RPI was essentially all male in the '50's, so swimming in gym was usually au naturel, then.

Yellowrocks said...

Here are sulfa pills for veterinary use. They are called boluses.
Link text
There are more meanings and nuances to many words than any of us realize. I am continuing to learn more of them, often through the LAT and my fellow Cornerites. Isn't the English language wonderful?

Anon, why personalize my general comment? I am aware of the local stations and need no instruction. Apparently you listen whether or not you like the message. You say you like to hear what the opposition has to say. So do I. Both sides of the aisle tend to snarkiness and exaggeration. Very often I tune out both sides for that reason. I relish a debate of the issues on a higher plane, free from attacks. Throwing barbs does not add to enlightenment on talk radio or on the Corner.

Steve said...

Good mental work-out before my physical one. Thanks Don and Splynter. The EWE I got through perps - I was thinking along the crossword rebus lines where a square contains multiple letters (not allowed in the LA Times) and I was wanting I/WE. ACTUATE finally put that misconception to bed.

@PedantTheBrit - the "rule" is that the solution word cannot exist as a stand-alone word in the clue - For example "SET" cannot be clued as "Compile a set of test questions". Some editors and constructors go further and ensure that NONE of the solution words exist as words in ANY of the clues of the puzzle.

tawnya said...

Happy Saturday Everyone!

Typical run for me - nothing too easy! I like to slog my way through with red-letters and google. When I finally get the ta-da I go do the USA Today puzzle to help myself feel intelligent again.

I did get "bolus" from working with livestock - the pills for horses and cattle can literally be the size of my thumb and I'd have to use a giant pill-gun to get it in. No fun! I'd prefer an injection or spray on medication any day!

Glad to see everyone is still alive and well. I still check in everyday and learn so thanks to everyone for contributing! I promise to say hi more often :)

tawnya

Nice Cuppa said...

"Twin seen in a thesaurus?" is a typical (but easy) CRYPTIC CROSSWORD clue, which are of course forbidden on this blog. Right, Owen?

Anonymous T said...

Hi all!

Typical Sat for me - hours of STARE'n' AT it and still a TON of whitespace. I will get better right?

My toe-holds were 36a and 55d (I have $$ in KO - when will they sell 1bn colas to China daily?) so those area fell easily. However, big errors (tree @46a, lobe @ 56d, and kelp @27a (eldest loves it as a snack)) killed any chance I thought I had to GET 'EM all.

Thanks Don G for the diversion and Splynter for the writeup.

HBD Dennis.

YR & anon - When it comes to news, I get the dead tree version delivered, NPR, PBS, and AM TALK RADIO late at night when I'm punchy.

From yesterday (it was our 27th anniversary so no late postings) thank to all for the one-hit-wonder songs. I would RickRoll ya'll, but I don't need haters. (BTW, don't follow the links to 4chan - not a site you wanna see). So, Men without HAT(PIN)s' Safety Dance.

Cheers, -T

AnonymousPVX said...

Thought I finished but had SPEEDIE instead of SPEEDEE for 63A. And 38D didn't clear it as it looked ok.

It was tough regardless.

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts":

As you all know, I am certainly no Owen when it comes to limericks, but this came to mind after finally "finishing" (which I did, only with several googles):

Today's puzzle? It tested my METTLE.
Incomplete, is what I had to settle
For. I don't know about you,
But today, I had "no clue",
And for me, that is one big fat nettle !

I lost count of what I had to look up; even knowing TALK RADIO, MARY ANN, RAY KROC, and LIBERACE were not enough to get a foothold. But hey, it's Saturday so puzzles ought to be more difficult

The Chairman is going to be here sporadically over the next several weeks as the job is causing us to move to the other side of the state, and I will be busier, too, due to the "season" starting up again in Oct and Nov. I won't even have time to SKINNY DIP!! ;^)

desper-otto said...

Late to the party....

Home again, home again. Had a good time at the brotherly reunion, and managed the entire trip without the TSA incarceration that DW predicted. Had to work the puzzle this morning at 37,000 feet on my tablet (Ugh!), but finished in normal Saturday time, even so. Tapped in STIR, REESE and ESAU immediately, but managed to screw up with Two To Go/ONE AWAY, Whorls/ANNULI, Cawed/LOWED. Thought the TEEN TITANS were Teen Idols, but twas not to be. I would also have bollixed up BOLUS if it weren't for the perps -- not familiar with that term. Well crafted by the crafty Don G. Thanx for the expo, Splynter.

Happy birthday, Dennis, wherever you are. And may your fi always be semper.

Anonymous T said...

C. Moe -

Between you & Owen, we get 5 line delights
Owen & NC can Crypto us at night.
But too much
Is just such,
A smattering is just right.

That's all I got..

You summarized my Sat grid to a T.

Busy is good and good luck on the move.

Cheers, -T

Big Easy said...

After yesterday's fiasco I was determined to finish this thing and I did it.

First pass- EDAM, LAPPS, NYSE, EASU, OBESE and lots of empty space. I had to grind this out over 3 sittings in between moving furniture and rugs to clean all my floors.

Unknowns galore-'ingenue', 'Wonder Girl, Kid Flash', Selene, Japanese food. NORI, ANNULI, OLOROSO, ISA, SABO, SAMMS, TISHA, NUT CASE, BOLUS

Horrible clue-32A- El_______- that could be any five letter Spanish word; required filling the downs first.

I wanted Gene Autry before I realized wrong team and too many letters before remembering RAY KROC which I first filled as KRO-K. FOOT before ROOT, FOOT before HOOF, HAIR before HOOD, CAWED before LOWER, EYE before EWE, AS WE before SO TO. False starts everywhere.

HowardW said...

It's strange, I solved this one much faster than yesterday's, despite some iffy clues discussed above. Had no trouble with ESAU, as I like to do cryptic crosswords and the "hidden word" trick is common there (as Nice Cuppa mentioned).

Learning moment: as I was entering ANNULI for "trees' age indicators", I was struck b its resemblance to "annum" also related to age. Turns out the words are related via shape, in that annum derives from the circuit (ring) of the sun.

Thanks Don (Hard) G and Splynter!

ANON B said...

Don: How many adults other than you, Barry Silk, Will Shortz
and Rex Parker have ever heard of Teen Titans?

Jayce said...

I had to look up a great many items before I could get my toe into the hold. I agree about the 'meh's and the 'bravo's. Didn't get the skinny dip humor until about 15 minutes ago *forehead slap*. Parsed STARE AT as STAR EAT for far too long *another forehead slap*. Brain just not working on the right wavelength today, I guess. Darn good puzzle, though. Well done!

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Huskers won a squeaker
-Old names like my grandmother TISHA are coming back
-Strained, TENSE?
-I thought putting in DIE for Lot was clever (casting lots), but no.
-Mary Lou Guizzo gave us SAMI on September 10 on a puzzle I blogged and so I knew it and confidently put down FINNS. What…
-I knew the shoe place was FOOT or HOOF, so of course I got _OO_ first
-An ENDORSEment in this campaign usually comes at a price
-EWE Rebus
-Gotta love those old HATPINS
-World’s most famous HOOD ornament

Yellowrocks said...

A titan is a a person or thing of enormous size, strength, power, influence. So these characters are generic teen titans. No Nit. Now I have looked up the proper noun, Teen Titans, in Wiki and have found that this refers to specific cartoon characters. Still no nit, because the generic will suffice.

Yellowrocks said...

I am being offered a free upgrade to Windows 10 by Microsoft. Is it worth installing a new system? What are the downsides? I hear it takes hours. Maybe I will need to hire Dr.Computer. I am happy with my Windows 7. On the advice of a tech guru friend who works in the industry, I purposely skipped Windows 8 when buying my computer the year Windows 8 came out. I heard Windows 8 had many frustrations and downsides. I plan to purchase a new lap top in a year or two. Should I wait until then to upgrade?

desper-otto said...

YR: My niece, a retired nurse, is definitely not tech savvy. She upgraded to Windows 10 a couple of months ago, and says she loves it. She'd been using Chrome and Firefox, but now she really likes the Windows app that's replaced Internet Explorer. I can't remember what it's called, but apparently IE is gone forever. Take what I'm saying with a grain of salt -- I'm using an IMAC and don't know anything about Windows 10. Yesterday we had to go shopping to find an RJ45 cable, so her Windows 10 computer would talk to her printer--we couldn't make the printer connect using WiFi. The hard-wire connection worked fine (I got to print my boarding pass!). Her laptop originally came with Windows 7, so she's made it to W10 via the upgrade route, and apparently it wasn't too arduous.

Chairman Moe said...

Thanks -T !

Jayce said...

Happy birthday, Dennis. I respect you a lot. May you be doing well.

Jayce said...

Yellowrocks, I upgraded from Windows 7 (which I liked a lot) to Windows 10 a month or so ago. I like it fine, but it is different, slightly so, in many ways. I found I needed some computer know-how to put everything back to the way I like it, but overall it was painless. Personally, for what I use my computer for (web browsing, email, and engineering) I find no particular advantage to it, but I don't use all the bells and whistles it has to offer. I still use Firefox, because I haven't bothered to figure out how to use Edge, their new browser. If you have had backups scheduled, you will need to set your backup preferences again. Other than that, I recall everything else basically worked just fine.
Oh, you absolutely need to have an internet connection all the time, because Windows 10 "phones home" often. You will also need to set up a "Windows Live" account and make a password for yourself; it requires you to type your password every time to you turn your computer on or wake it up from sleeping. It walks you through the process.
All my applications continued to work fine, including my anti-virus software (AVG free).
I say go for it.

Anonymous said...

Why would anyone want to use an OS where "you absolutely need to have an internet connection all the time" and where you have to "type your password every time to you turn your computer on or wake it up from sleeping"?

Whose computer is it, yours or Microsoft's?

YR says, "I am happy with my Windows 7". If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Especially if you're going to get a new computer in a year or two.

Manac said...

For Dennis on his birthday....

An old, blind cowboy wanders into an all-girl biker bar by mistake. He finds his way to a bar stool and orders a shot of Jack Daniels.
After sitting there for a while, he yells to the bartender, 'Hey, you wanna hear a blonde joke?'
The bar immediately falls absolutely silent. In a very deep, husky voice, the woman next to him says, 'Before you tell that joke, Cowboy,
I think it is only fair, given that you are blind, that you should know five things:
1. The bartender is a blonde girl with a baseball bat.
2. The bouncer is a blonde girl with a 'Billy-Club'.
3. I'm a 6-foot tall, 175-pound blonde woman with a black belt in karate.
4. The woman sitting next to me is blonde and a professional weight lifter.
5. The lady to your right is blonde and a professional wrestler.
'Now, think about it seriously, Cowboy ... do you still wanna tell that blonde joke?'

The blind cowboy thinks for a second, shakes his head and mutters, 'No... not if I'm gonna have to explain it five times".

Lucina said...

Hello, friends!

Hi, Dennis. I hope you had an exceptional birthday!!

Well, DonG, true to his name, hard G, gave me just that, a hard time. After working for my allotted time I stopped, went on to other dutes, then came back and forth several times, even look up SABO, who I believe appeared some time ago but I couldn't remember him.

Finally, by dinner time I filled OPS and NAP and was done! The East End was mostly doable but the middle and far West gave me fits.

So thank you, Don G, for the challenge and Splynter, thank you, for your fine analysis.

TTP said...



Lemonade, I couldn't recall that we had a recent appearance of ORLOSO; it was AMOROSO. We did have ORLOSO Oct 20th, 2013. So this is the second time I've never heard of ORLOSO.

Yea, I know, wrong piece.

Happy Birthday Dennis !

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Yesterday's puzzle fine, today's awful. Went to red letters eventually.

Happy Birthday, Dennis! Do you ever read the blog anymore?

Cheers!

Freond said...

Took me 2 hrs to install & 2 hrs to fix a flashing screen problem. Had to use another pc to search for solution. Royal pain. After getting used to 8.1 on my laptop, Window 10 is a big meh. Not impressed. But 8.1 support will decline, so might as well go with 10. It's probably better, but don't expect anything fabulous. "So good we skipped past 9!" Start button now works more like it did in 7 after all the howls of protest. At thus stage I find it harder to find some things than in 8. Why does MS always juggle things around. So annoying. Last thought...take it while it's free. Since when has MS ever given anything away?

Freond said...

Oh yeah... it you want a touch screen pc, you need 8 or 10. I do like being able to just touch the screen to make things happen, like on a smart phone.

Freond said...

You can turn off the password requirement but it tends to come back. Google how to do it. Several ways...one should work. If you log in to you MS acct, say to use their cloud service, then I think logging in is mandatory. My laptop has a fingerprint reader, and using that makes log in easy

Freond said...

Took me 2 hrs to install & 2 hrs to fix a flashing screen problem. Had to use another pc to search for solution. Royal pain. After getting used to 8.1 on my laptop, Window 10 is a big meh. Not impressed. But 8.1 support will decline, so might as well go with 10. It's probably better, but don't expect anything fabulous. "So good we skipped past 9!" Start button now works more like it did in 7 after all the howls of protest. At thus stage I find it harder to find some things than in 8. Why does MS always juggle things around. So annoying. Last thought...take it while it's free. Since when has MS ever given anything away?