google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, October 27, 2015 David Phillips

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Oct 27, 2015

Tuesday, October 27, 2015 David Phillips

Theme: Jumbled - Shifting the letters of the word DAY (within the circles if you have them). All six permutations are used.

17A. Lois Lane portrayer in "Man of Steel" : AMY ADAMS

21A. Earliest recorded Chinese ruling group : XIA DYNASTY

33A. Kevlar-lined vest, e.g. : BODY ARMOR

44A. "Reelin' in the Years" rock group : STEELY DAN

55A. High-definition medium : BLU- RAY DISC

63A. What a nine-to-fiver works ... or, literally, what each set of circled letters represents : DAY SHIFT

Argyle here. No other connection between the answers but a little overlap on two sets. Two big corners. David's second puzzle with us but he has several with NYT. Their loss, our gain today.

Across:

1. "The Affair" network, briefly : SHO. The effects of an affair between a married waitress at a Hamptons diner and a teacher who spends his summer at his in-laws' estate on the island. Network: Showtime

4. Feel the pain : ACHE

8. Connect (with) : LIAISE. Taken from the French. I first heard it used in the military; the liaison officer.

14. "How's that again?" : "HUH?"

15. The season to be jolly : NOEL. Ho, Ho, Ho!

16. Sprain application : ICE BAG

19. Accruing very little interest? : BORING

20. Put one over on : FOOL

23. Ranking card suit : TRUMP. No politics. (It will be tough.)

25. Sunrise direction : EAST. Except on Venus and Uranus.

26. Tavern brew : ALE

28. Pantyhose shade : TAN. Not ecru today.

29. Heavenly balls : ORBS

37. Pet's reward : TREAT

38. Blood typing letters : A-B-O

39. Holy threesome : TRINITY

41. Multi-platinum 44-Across album pronounced like a continent : "AJA"

42. Abrasive : ROUGH

46. Frat party barrels : KEGS

47. Shine, in ads : GLO

48. Opposite of paleo- : NEO

49. Arboretum sight : TREE

51. Big name in cubes : RUBIK. Ero Rubik

61. Melt fish : TUNA

62. Spring tweeters : ROBINS. My first thought was peepers.



65. Get payback : AVENGE

66. "I hear you" : "OKAY"

67. See 32-Down : LEE. See 32D. With 67-Across, co-creator of Spider-Man : STAN. Stan Lee makes another appearance.

68. Corporate consolidation : MERGER

69. Give for a while : LEND

70. Make an effort : TRY

Down:

1. Mining tunnel : SHAFT. "She Got The Goldmine (I Got The Shaft)"

2. Funny business : HUMOR

3. "What a joker!" : "OH, YOU!"

4. "Then what happened?" : "AND?"

5. Sweet-talk : COAX

6. Prefix with sphere : HEMI

7. "Frozen" princess : ELSA

8. Tripoli native : LIBYAN

9. Clickable pictures : ICONS

10. Lawn maintenance tool : AERATOR

11. Nile wader : IBIS

12. Director Gus Van __ : SANT. I had a Z at the cross with LIAIsE.

13. Like French toast : EGGY

18. "The American Look" cosmetics brand : ALMAY

22. Luv : DEARIE

24. "The Bell Jar" author Sylvia : PLATH. Wiki (about the book.)

27. Make a boo-boo : ERR

28. Pinto-riding sidekick : TONTO. "Giddy-up, Scout!"

30. Enjoy a book : READ

31. Tijuana's peninsula : BAJA

33. Announce a visitor, dog-style : [BARK!]

34. Bassoon kin : OBOE

35. Magician Henning : DOUG

36. Sent on a wild-goose chase : MISLED

37. Polk's predecessor : TYLER. 10th and 11th Presidents.

40. Rightmost bowling pin : TEN

43. Stripper's bottom line? : G-STRING. [snicker, giggle]

45. Kid : YOUTH

47. Old Faithful, e.g. : GEYSER



50. Cooking stove : RANGE

52. Constructed : BUILT

53. Figure out : INFER

54. "Sons of Anarchy" actress Sagal : KATEY

55. Novelist Stoker : BRAM

56. Romcom subject : LOVE. (romantic comedy)

57. Over, in Germany : ÜBER

58. Celeb with a big fan base : IDOL

59. "Oh, for Pete's __!" : SAKE

60. Color similar to teal : CYAN. from Greek kuanos.

64. Guitarist Barrett : SYD. The original front man and songwriter for Pink Floyd. Web Site.


Argyle


Note from C.C.:

Hey, a shout-out from David to my husband Doug (35D), who celebrates his 68th birthday today. Happy Birthday, Boomer!

C.C. & Boomer, Sept 5, 2009


43 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all (and Happy Birthday, Boomer)!

Smooth sailing today, but I missed out on any joy the theme might have provided due to a lack of circles. No unknowns or nits, but it was a nice learning moment to find out how AJA is actually pronounced. I only know it from crosswords and always assumed it was pronounced AHA (with a Spanish J). Live and learn...

Lemonade714 said...

Happy birthday Doug! I should have guessed Boomer' s parents gave him a more conventional name at birth. We also have the tenpin make for a double CSO.

Happy Sixday to everyone, I enjoyed this early week romp not much to slow down the solving, we rescued a baby Robin one spring when I was 7 and named him/her TWEETY. She lived with us until winter was almost there and then flew away. He was afraid of thunderstorms.

Thanks David and Scott.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Argyle, I was right with you on that Z. My LIAISE started life as LINK TO; The T became a Z for ZANT, but finally an S or LIAISE. Tough word for a Tuesday. AERATOR was also a little bit weird for early week. I've never owned one, have you?

In England GEYSER rhymes with GEEZER. I've seen Old Faithful -- stayed in the park lodge there when I was a kid.

In Texas, ROBINS are not a sign of spring; they're often seen in the winter.

Argyle, thought you were making a "where the sun never shines" joke about Uranus, but no, it was a reference to the retrograde motion of Venus and Uranus. Learning moment.

C.C., pass on a big happy birthday to your Lao Gong.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Argyle and friends. Fun Tuesday puzzle with lots of fun clues. We saw STEELY DAN in concert last year.

My favorite clue was Accruing very little interest = BORING. This puzzle was not that.

Sylvia PLATH (1932 ~ 1963) committed suicide at age 30 and DOUG Henning (1947 ~ 2000) died of liver cancer at age 52.

Funniest clue was the Stripper's Bottom Line. My first thought was No, It can't be G-STRING!

Happy Birthday, Boomer!

QOD: The opposite of talking isn’t listening. The opposite of talking is waiting. ~ Fran Leobwitz (b. Oct. 27, 1951)

Anonymous said...

LIAISE is not a word.

desper-otto said...

liaise |lēˈāz|
verb [ no obj. ]
establish a working relationship, typically in order to cooperate on a matter of mutual concern: she will liaise with teachers across the country.
ORIGIN 1920s (originally British military slang): back-formation from liaison.

Anonymous said...

Our robins are long gone. Here their return is a sign of spring.

Anonymous said...

As I said, LIAISE is not a word.

thehondohurricane said...


Except for the North this was a pleasant puzzle. The North proved to me, ONCE AGAIN, how little I know, resulting in a DNF and/or a FIW. Feel like I hit the jackpot. Let's see where I ERRed.

I wagged an A for square 3 yielding sha & ah.... Forgot SHOwtime.

Never noticed until I began reading Argyles write up that for 8A I had LIAI-E & -ANT for 12D. Would not have mattered because I would not have wagged an S. Gus Van SANT?????

Among my never heard of's were AMY ADAMS, XIA DYNASTY, ELSA, ALMAY, & KATEY.

No excuses for my awful performance today, there were simply too many clues that were out of my wheelhouse. With all the wags, I was bound to have screwed up something and I did. Rest of the week will be better.

Jerome said...

I really liked this puzzle. The fact that my middle name is DAY has nothing to do with it...

"Liaise is not a word", IS A LIE.

Husker Gary said...

What a lovely puzzle! There are only 3! (3 factorial – 3 x 2 x 1) ways to scramble 3 letters and David use them all except DAY. Wow!

Musings
-Our golf pro gave me this DISC but I have no BLU-RAY player
-NOEL is a season?
-Seasonal FOOL
-That sunrise will be an hour earlier next month
-We can find Lily by ringing a bell because we give her a TREAT then also
-Some ROBINS don’t get the memo and stay here all winter
-My ears pop when I descend 650’ into this salt mine SHAFT in Hutchinson, Kansas
-Some MISLED people are getting repaid
-Would you use your car for UBER service?
-HBD, Boomer! I know you never left any TEN pins!

Tinbeni said...

Happy Birthday Boomer !!! Hope you & C.C. celebrate in Style!

Argyle: Excellent write-up AND thanks for the Jerry Reed She Got the Goldmine (I Got the SHAFT) tune.

Jeez, I needed ESP to get the Lois Lane portrayer, AMY ADAMS, and "The American Look" cosmetics brand, ALMAY.
XIA DYNASTY as the "Earliest recorded Chinese ruling group" was a learning moment, always a good thing.

Faves today, go figure ... were ALE & KEGS. They kinda go together.

I prefer the Sunset direction, WEST ... so I can do some "Toasting."
Cheers!

thehondohurricane said...


Another memory lapse...Happy birthday Boomer

TTP said...


HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOMER ! You got a CSO today.

No circles. But after seeing the reveal, it wasn't very hard to figure out where they were.

Fun speed run that ended up as a FIW. Entered TEN at 48A instead of 40D. Later wondered why I had the n in YnUTH. Changed that to an O and ended up with tEO, and never checked the clue. Gotta learn to slow down.

Thanks Argyle. Yes, seeing TRUMP followed by Uranus in your comments caused a double take. Hope that people vote for Opal Cover for Mayor of Toledo, or else !!! Couldn't use ecru at 28A but did use it as first fill instead of CYAN.

Accruing very little interest - CDS ?
Sent on a wild goose chase - Muffler bearings. Sky hooks.

To H-G's MISLED and getting repaid comment, that Rhode Island Applebees is finally going to pay that autistic young adult for the hours he worked in the kitchen over the course of a year. They thought they got a goldmine, and he got the shaft.

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

28D: I always thought Tonto said, "Giddem up, Scout."

HowardW said...

An alternate theme: What a difference a day makes"

No circles on my version, but it was still easy to see that the constructor incorporated all the permutations. A few unknowns: AMY ADAMS, XIA DYNASTY, KATEY Sagal, Gus van SANT, ALMAY, but it filled in easily.

Thanks for the expo, Argyle. Thanks for pointing out the retrograde rotation of planets. Love such trivia! Apparently Pluto also has that property, but sadly has been demoted to "dwarf planet".

Anonymous said...

Who gave ANON the authority to declare what is a word and what is not a word?
LIASE is found in most dictionaries.
It was used by the NYT on May 30, 2015. “His job, he says, is to “liaise” with players, agents and international news media.”
LIASING has been used frequently in the Wall Street Journal, on BBC, and by Time Magazine.

Anonymous said...

Forgive the typo, It is LIAISE, not LIASE

Anonymous said...

ANON was a setup by Jerome for his anagram.

We forgive you Yellowrocks.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

An easy, breezy Tuesday offering with a very easy to spot theme because of the circles. No nits or bumps, just a fun romp. Learning moment for me was the pronounciatio of Aja. Whenever Stan Lee is referenced, I think of TBBT because that is where I first heard of him, along with Will Wheaton and all of the Super Heroes. Speaking of which, did anyone watch Super Girl's debut last night? It's not anything that would interest me, but, from what I read, it's very well done and the lead received high praise, indeed.

Thanks, David and Argyle for making my "day" a very pleasant one. Happy Birthday, Boomer, 🎂 🎁 🎈hope it's special! Nice CSO's, on your birthday, no less.

Have a great day.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Happy Birthday, Boomer. Have a great day.

Quickly sussed the DAY SHIFTing around. Neat theme. The circled letters helped in the NW with the AMY ADAMS / ALMAY cross. Wanted 'drift' befor SHAFT seemed more apt. Favorite fill was for BORING.

LIASE - I have used it as a verb in a co-written document with a Canadian colleague. Assume Canadians are more comfortable with it than we are. BTW, I had a Z in Zant, too, before LIAISE loomed.



coneyro said...

Hello everyone.

One square left unfilled 12D . WEES about LIAISE and SANT. Didn't know the "S". Otherwise, a quick solve.

Happy Birthday Boomer.

My best to all....

Bluehen said...

Happy Birthday, Boomer, as you celebrate the 29th anniversary of your 39th birthday. I hope you have a great one and many happy returns.

A delightful puzzle, but I found it a little crunchier than the usual Tuesday fare. Like Argyle my first thought for 62a. was "peepers", but that wouldn't fit. Finally had to settle for ROBINS because "chickadee with a chapped chest" wouldn't fit either. For 39a. "wise men" fit too. Just sayin'. The American Mensa site didn't have the circles, but I rarely pickup on a theme anyway. Thank you David and Argyle.

Cya!

AnonymousPVX said...

Husker Gary - he used all the combos INCLUDING "DAY" - 63A "day shift".

A nice clever puzzle, I enjoyed it. Plus Steely Dan is my absolute favorite. Think I'll put some on right now…

Nice Cuppa said...

HG

Noël (same Latin root at natal as in Feliz Natal) refers to Christmas, of course, but the PC brigade will only allow you to say "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays", as you know.


VirginiaSycamore said...

Happy Birthday Boomer!

Thanks to David for a great puzzle and Argyle for the write up.

My rough spots were the same names as hondo hurricane and HowardW, although I put down KATHY for KATEY Segal. Known to me from Married with Children and Futurama. I also didn’t know SYD. I was able to get with perp help and some recognition of many, like ALMAY once half the letters were there.
I looked up spelling for LIAISE, I really wanted a Z there. I looked up XIA, but only the city XIAN was in the dictionary, but since it was there from 11th century BC, I figured go with XIA.

I did a Wikipedia wandering to discover that the winter of 1962-3 when Sylvia PLATH committed suicide was a record breaking bad one. 1962-3_UK_WINTER . Sort of like the “Polar Vortex” we had here in Ohio a few years ago.

VS

Misty said...

Have a wonderful birthday celebration today, Boomer and C.C.!

My heart sank when I began this puzzle because the top was a blank to me. But the rest filled in pretty quickly, and I eventually slowly got the top as well. So, many thanks David, for a bit of a challenging Tuesday puzzle, and of course, you too, Argyle.

I'm just not up on popular culture I guess, having never heard of STEELY DAN or Gus VAN SANT, and the like. I at least got the old folk stuff, PLATH, TONTO, BRAM. But it's good to learn new things.

Have a great day, everybody!

Jayce said...

I hope you are having a happy birthday today, Boomer.

Fun puzzle, but, as others have said, it had several un-Tuesday-like entries. Fun anyway. I smiled widely at the clue for BORING. I also learned how AJA is pronounced. Putting in SPADE for TRUMP messed me up in the NW for quite a while, especially because I didn't know ALMAY or SHO.

Another Bob Costas story: He was interviewing Jennifer Rodriguez, the speed skater, and asked her, "May I call you J-Rod?" She replied, "Absolutely not." Nipped that in the bud.

If it is not allowed to wish someone a merry Christmas, is it also un-PC to wish someone a happy Hannukah? If someone wishes me a good St. Crispin's day (for example,) I don't get all offended and snap back, "I don't celebrate that!"

Best non-denominational wishes to you all.

tawnya said...

Hi All!

Uber fun puzzle today! I kept thinking the answer, then deciding "that can't be right!" and leaving it until the second pass. So when I came thru the second pass, I was right on everything - including G-String (giggle), Boring, Day Shift, Tuna, Blu-Ray! And despite not seeing circles I was able to get the theme. Hope the rest of my day goes as smoothly as this puzzle.

Thanks for 11 minutes of distraction from pathophysiology studying. Great write up and HBD Boomer.

Have a lovely day :)

tawnya

Bill G. said...

Fun puzzle! I solved it before I knew there were circles. I went to Cruciverb and found them. The theme wasn't tricky enough to need them.

Happy birthday Boomer (and CC)! I wish you would drop in and contribute some of your intelligence and wit from time to time.

I went to the doctor's office to get some fasting blood work done. I'm not afraid of needles but I just hate going to the doctor. I'm always afraid they're going to give me some bad news...

I've watched only the first 20 minutes of Supergirl but I like it so far. The star is terminally cute and perky in real life (on a late night talk show). As Supergirl, she's a bit more serious.

Nap time...

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, David Phillips, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

This puzzle was not too bad except for the NW corner. That part was very difficult. What saved the day was getting TRUMP. I was thinking of card suits at first. Then got SHAFT, then HUMOR.

I did have the circles in my paper. Theme was fine.

I had LIAIZE and ZANT in the NE. Doing it in the newspaper you never really know if it is correct. After coming here, I was enlightened. After reading several comments I did look up LIAISE in my telephone Webster, and it is there. I also looked it up in my hard copy Webster, copyrighted 1969, and it is there as well. So, in my book, LIAISE is a word.

Finally got BLU RAY DISC after I figured out that BLUE is spelled BLU. Oh well.

No idea who KATEY is. Perps.

No idea who AMY ADAMS is. Perps and a wag.

No idea who PLATH is or was. Perps.

I did get KEGS, however, with no help.

Happy Birthday, Boomer, and many more.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )



Big Easy said...

Happy birthday Boomer. C.C.- got a more recent picture? 2009 was six years ago.

I found this more difficult for the usual Tuesday fare due to my ignorance of popular cultural clues. Although I finished it in 'Tuesday time', SHO, AMY ADAMS, XIA, Gus VAN SANT, ALMAY, Sylvia PLATH, KATEY Sagal of Sons of Anarchy, and SYD Barret were filled completely by perps.

Does any strummed musical instrument have a G-STRING? I was waiting for a picture in the write up. A piano has multiple G-TRINGS that the hammers hit.

Argyle- you're one up on me because I've often heard LIAISON used but never her anybody say 'LIAISE'; have only seen it written. Mr. Phillips managed to place both STEELY DAN and AJA in the same puzzle.

Hondo & Howard- it looks like you and I don't know the same thongs, I mean things.

ROBIN- I never see them until maybe January or February.

Montana said...

Happy Birthday, Boomer!
I couldn't solve the complete puzzle this morning. NW corner was blank. I went to lunch, looked at the puzzle again, and solved it quickly. That often happens with a clue or two, but not usually a whole corner of the puzzle.

Cold, cold wind today, but snow is staying west of me.

Montana

Avg Joe said...

Fun little romp today. Had the circles on newsprint, so after two sets had filled I understood the theme. It may have provided a little help, but it wasn't really needed. Had the same issue as many with Zant, but I waited for proof and recognized Liaise, so went with S. Easy overall, but still interesting.

Happy Birthday Boomer, and many returns.

Dip Thong said...

All you ever wanted to know about G-STRINGS, C-STRINGS, and any other article which covers the human's nether regions. PG-13; with images for both the guys and the gals.

CrossEyedDave said...

The north half of this puzzle was all white, thank goodness those central gimmes.
(east,ale,tan, trinity, etc...)
South half went a lot easier.

I did find it most appropriate that the answer to 8A was immediately followed by the answer to 14A...

36D misled. I am reminded of a line from Data (STNG) when Capt.Picard states
"This is a wild goose chase." & Data asks, "Why are we following an untamed ornithopod?"

HBD Boomer!

Big Easy,a guitar has an open G string.

Irish Miss, Supergirl? Luckily I do not have to take a Thumper, because I did like the mini skirt...

Star Ledger thought of the day:
"Happiness is a way station between too much & too little."- Channing Pollock,
American author & dramatist(1880-1946).

Oh well, it's after 2PM, it's time to start my day...

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-I played 18 this morning and had another man my age blow up and pout for 9 holes in our fivesome! What’s up with that? Is the weather changing? It’s just a darned game!
-AnonymousPVX – Of course I was referring to the 3! (3 factorial) DAY arrangements in the circles in the puzzle but appreciate the reminder about DAY in the reveal.
-Nice info Nice Cuppa. If Lemon greeted me with “Happy Chanukah, I’d be good with it!”
-Not for the faint of heart - A thong underwear Whale Tale
-After having a daughter at UNL for 4 years, I laughed out loud when an orientation lady said it was a dry campus with absolutely no liquor (KEGS) allowed. Of course our daughter never partook… ☺
-Here is a recent picture and some good info on our ace bowler Doug “Boomer” Burnikel. BTW, he is a great blogger and just as fun in person!

Tinbeni said...

Irish Miss
I enjoyed watching the DVR of Supergirl from last night.
The production value was over-the-top with special effects.
It probably cost way-more than most 1-hour TV Shows that therefore probably can't be maintained on future episodes.

I'm sure the "Target Audience" loved it ... I'm not in that demographic.

World Series Game 1 tonight.
Since I have FOUR, count'em 4, New York Mets T-Shirts ... I say, GO METS !!!
Cheers to the winner ... I hope it goes 7-games.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone see the ridiculous actions by CornHell University yesterday? It's a sad commentary on our education system.

Avg Joe said...

We watched Supergirl last night and found it pretty good. Not quite up my alley, but it's better than much of what passes for entertainment.

On another popular culture issue, Lincoln is experiencing the first opening of a Chik-Fil-A. There are people camping out to get a years worth of free food....they will wait around 48 hours to "earn" this honor. I guess "free lunch" is a significant motivator, but I just can't see wasting that much time to get it. Does this happen in other cities.....with the same level of mania? It's fast food, for Pete's sake! And beside that, I can't quite get a grip on the business model. How can anyone make money selling chicken when they are only selling the right wing?

Anonymous T said...

Hi all!

HUH? This was a TuesDAY? I abandoned the top w/ only croc @11d, EGGY, and DYNASTY (I thought, but croc doesn't work - I'll come back). So, I worked it S. EAST left and up. Getting DAYSHIFT helped a-plenty.

Thanks David for a ROUGH Tues. Thanks Argyle for the writeup; always a TREAT, AND

HBD Boomer!

Wo/s - Loan b/f LEND & the aforementioned crock.

ESPs - 7d, 17a, & 24d. Needed perp help w/ LIAISE (I always forget the second i).

Fav - WEES - 43d.

Time to check on the game.

Cheers, -T
P.S. Don't be H-G's FOOL; don't his G-STRING link for goodness SAKE. :-)

Lemonade714 said...

You are one cruel man Gary

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

Thanks for the warm wishes for Boomer's birthday, everyone. I read all your notes to him. He was happy as a clam.