google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday, Nov 29, 2015 Gary Schlapfer & C.C. Burnikel

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Nov 29, 2015

Sunday, Nov 29, 2015 Gary Schlapfer & C.C. Burnikel

Theme: "Man to Man" - Both parts of each theme entry can precede "Man".

23A. Position for Walter Cronkite : ANCHOR CHAIR. Anchorman. Chairman.

25A. Bell site : FRONT DOOR. Front man. Doorman.

36A. Official arachnid of South Carolina : WOLF SPIDER. Wolfman. Spider-Man.

45A. Political fund-raiser : SUPER PAC. Superman Pac-Man.

70A. Stroll around the station? : SPACEWALK. Spaceman. Walkman.

93A. Camping attraction : FRESH AIR. Freshman. Airman.

101A. Focused group? : CAMERA CREW. Camera man. Crewman.

117A. Lou Gehrig nickname, with "The" : IRON HORSE. Iron man. Horseman. We originally had BOATHOUSE here. Rich said that "Houseman" is an old term and might not resonate with many solvers, so we came up with IRON HORSE, which is snazzier, though this resulted in 70A being the only one-word entry.

119A. Hobbit world : MIDDLE EARTH. Middleman. Earthman.

C.C. here.

Gary originally proposed to me a set of four players who once played Batman. The letter lengths would not match. More importantly, the names are still names. He had BUSTER KEATON for Michael Keaton, MAE WEST for Adam West, CASEY AFFLECK for Ben Affleck & ROSEMARY CLOONEY for George Clooney. The only one that might work is WEST, as we can use THE WILD WEST. If you click this puzzle I made with Argyle, you'll see what I mean. It's important that those names are non-names in the theme context. Just normal nouns.

I asked Gary if he was interested in changing direction and going with  this "Man to Man" approach. He was game. So here is the result of our team work.  Gary is hard-working and super creative. A natural when it comes to clues.  Always fun to collaborate with him.

Across:
    
1. Healthy bar creations : SALADS. Light start.

7. Rudiments : ABCs

11. Diced dish : HASH. Food again.

15. Bee relative : WASP

19. End of an uncertain statement : OR IS IT? Not easy to parse.

20. Qatar home of the Aspire Tower : DOHA. Gary's hard work. Tough to come up with fresh clues.

21. Canyon response : ECHO

22. "__ Dinka Doo" : INKA

27. "The Black Cat" author : POE

28. Out of juice : DEAD. For DEAD, I always go for "Batteries" direction.

29. Style : MANNER

31. Surfer wannabe : HODAD

32. Rounded hammer part : PEEN

33. Wish list responder : GENIE

34. Mortar spreaders : TROWELS

40. On the money : PRECISE

42. Arabic leader? : ALIF. First letter in Arabic alphabet.

43. Finish the team practice : DO LAPS

49. Stuck with : KEPT TO

52. Silent film star Lillian : GISH. Feeling sheepish to put this in our puzzle.

53. Tipped toppers : HATS. Rich's clue.

54. Benny's 39, so he said : AGE

55. Superhero letter : ESS. Superman.

56. Make changes to : AMEND

58. Keats' "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" begins one : ODE

60. Narrowly escape bogey, in golf lingo : SAVE PAR. Shout-out to Gary.

63. Real poser : ENIGMA

65. Gobble (down) : SNARF

67. Most prudent : WISEST

68. Guitar accessory : STRAP

73. Holliday allies : EARPS

74. "Manhattan" and "Nashville" : MOVIES. Gary's clue.

76. Shout target : STAIN. Nice clue from Rich.


77. Gift giver's cry : OPEN IT!

79. Brings together : UNIFIES

81. "I pity the fool" speaker : MR T

82. Allen who never really made furniture : ETHAN. Also Gary's clue.

83. ''That's gross!'' : ICK

86. __ center : REC

87. Biathlon needs : SKIS

89. Pandora's inventory : ILLS

91. Buck Rogers weapon : RAYGUN

96. Crazed Muppet drummer : ANIMAL. This I learned from Gary also.

98. Nothing but : MERE

99. Monkeys (with) : TAMPERS

104. Beverage made with buds : ROSE TEA. Rose buds.

107. __ Martin: Bond's car : ASTON

109. Actress Rowlands : GENA

110. Three Stooges specialty : ANTIC

111. Seafood sauce : TARTAR. Never had it myself. Boomer likes it with his fried fish.

113. Bridge position : EAST

114. Sun Devils' sch. : ASU

122. Actor Dick Van __ : DYKE. Kind of like GOGH. Rich allowed, but it was wobbly.

123. Duel-purpose tool : FOIL. Nice play on "Dual-purpose".

124. Drink with a polar bear mascot : ICEE

125. Penguin suit : TUXEDO
 
126. Appear : SEEM

127. Chef Bobby to beat on a reality show : FLAY. Messy divorce from his wife.

128. Low in fat : LEAN

129. Conspicuous display : SPLASH
  
Down:

1. Ivory in a dish : SOAP

2. River through Florence : ARNO

3. Hat-borne parasites : LICE

4. Louisville Slugger material : ASH. The prices for those authenticated game-used bats are insane.

5. Two-element tubes : DIODES

6. Actress with a record 19 Oscar nominations : STREEP

7. Ritalin target : ADHD

8. '20s fashion accessory : BOA

9. Mythological fire-breathers : CHIMERAS

10. Microwaving aid : SARAN

11. Pajamaed publisher : HEFNER. Never used "Pajamaed" before.

12. Spread unit : ACRE

13. Drivers' local knowledge : SHORTCUTS. Not the one who purposely misled Irish Miss at Barbados. So mean.

14. Babe : HON

15. Dating scene returnee, maybe : WIDOWER

16. Battery terminal : ANODE

17. "Cheers!" : SKOAL

18. Western buds : PARDS

24. Fox or wolf : CANID. Oops, wolf dupes with WOLF in our themer. Sorry. Escaped us.

26. "__ Were the Days" : THOSE

30. Small bites : NIPS

32. Fizzling-out sound : PFFT

33. Beyond cold : GELID

35. Carpentry tool : RIP SAW

36. Boat trailer : WAKE. Another great clue from Gary.

37. Cheers at soccer matches : OLES

38. Empty words : LIP SERVICE

39. Steals, as a toy : DOGNAPS. Liked the clue & answer.

41. That, in Mexico : ESA

44. Give minimal effort : PHONE IT IN. Not LAT puzzles. Every one gets carefully filled,  edited, test-solved, fact-checked & then published.

46. All-bark, no-bite type : PAPER TIGER

47. Visibly stunned : AGASP

48. After-dinner brand : CERTS

50. National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall locale : TAIPEI

51. Texter's "Horrors!" : OMG

53. Wife of Zeus : HERA

57. Slammin' Sammy quartet : EMS. Tiny contribution from me.

59. Rooster's cue : DAWN

61. Where Mozart met Haydn : VIENNA. Rich's clue. Rich plays piano.

62. He played Tony on "NYPD Blue" : ESAI. Cool guy, except when he's with his ex-wife.

64. Babe in the woods : NAIF

65. Cut reminder : SCAR

66. Lake litter : FLOTSAM. I like this fill & clue also.

68. Blue toon : SMURF

69. Office supply : TONER

71. Sources of after-hrs. cash : ATMs

72. Metric speed abbr. : KPH

75. Opening word? : SESAME. Rich's clue.

78. Corn carrier : EAR

80. Rescue team on the slopes : SKI PATROL

82. Violinist Mischa : ELMAN. Does this dupe the Man theme?

84. Smoke, perhaps : CURE

85. Wasn't surprised : KNEW

88. Pique condition : IRE. We've seen this clue before. Still good.
 
90. Twizzlers ingredient : LICORICE

92. Place with a pool : YMCA

94. Co-founder of Women's Media Center : STEINEM. Rich's clue. Did not know the center.

95. Escape mechanism : HATCH. Rich's clue also. Nice one.

96. Office underling: Abbr. : ASST

97. Not under the table : LEGAL. Have you heard the term "Princelings"? A clique of wealthy and powerful group of Chinese whose parents were once the important Communist Party leaders. The current president is one. I like him though.

100. Once in a blue moon : RARELY

102. Starts over : RESETS

103. Get in on the deal : ANTE UP

104. Surprise missions : RAIDS

105. How pastrami is often ordered : ON RYE. Never had "pastrami". Also not fond of hot dogs. The best food I discovered here in the US is pickled herring.

106. Stir the fire : STOKE

108. Language that gave us "cheroot" and "curry" : TAMIL

112. Continent with 11 time zones : ASIA. Nice trivia. China has only one time zone.

113. Not the best place for apple-tasting? : EDEN. Rich's clue.

114. Two-dimensional measure : AREA

115. Norms: Abbr. : STDS

116. "I'm in for it now!" : UH OH

118. Not right : OFF. CenturyLinks upgraded their DSL system on Nov 24, then we lost our phone dial tone on Nov 25.  They're coming to fix it today, but the lady said it's subject to a service charge if it's our problem. When I called a different tech support earlier, he said quite a few people had the same problem. He asked me to unplug a few stuff. I did, but no luck. I just hope they'll be fair with us today.

120. Crack gp.? : DEA

121. Rose of rock : AXL. Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses.

Answer Grid from Owen


C.C.

60 comments:

George Barany said...

This is fantastic, congratulations to @Gary Schlapfer and to @C.C., who never ceases to amaze me [and what a treat it must be to blog one's own puzzle].

Over at the other paper, my friend @Alex Vratsanos has today's puzzle. As has been my habit whenever a friend gets published in the MSM, I try to post a companion puzzle at my web site. So, without further ado, I direct you to They "Met" Their Waterloo, which has an unusually low word count for a themed puzzle, and an unusual arrangement of theme entries. Hope you like it!

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks, CC and Husker!

Nice puzzle. Had to ponder over spelling of ALIF. SAVE PAR was new. No cheats.

I sure miss summer!

Cheers!

fermatprime said...

PS. SARAN should not be used in the microwave.

TTP said...


Thank you CC and Gary.

wow. This may have been my fastest Sunday solve ever. I had to pause and wait for crosses in only a few places. No problem with GISH CC. Why sheepish ? I didn't think about a theme until I opened up the review, so sadly I missed it.

I zoomed across the top, down the right side, westward on the bottom, and due north, having some remaining center-fill to finish in what must be record time for a Sunday.

Never heard of HODAD and that western bud clue threw me even with PAR-S. So I skipped it so as not to lose the momentum. That D was my last fill.

Favorite was "Duel purpose tool." Also "Boat trailer"

I'd wager if you gave Jayce four of those two-element tubes, he could make your sine wave square.

Never heard of Princelings. Interesting to know that Asia has eleven time zones yet China only has one.

PHONE IT IN. Ha ha. That's what I think when I read some of the comments every day.

Saran wrap has always given me fits. In frustration I've even resorted to using scissors. On Thursday, my wife showed me the proper procedure and grip for tearing it off the roll.

Good luck with your service call CC.

OwenKL said...

Wf'S. FIR today, tho the area around the unknown ALIF and tricky WAKE had me sweating to get it. What I didn't get was the theme, and once I gave up and came here to the Corner, I kicked myself for not seeing it!
Job titles: ANCHOR, DOOR, SPACE, CAMERA.
Attributes: CHAIR, FRONT, CREW, HORSE, MIDDLE.
Superhero or ilk: WOLF, SPIDER, IRON.
Other: WALK, EARTH.

The group making MOVIES each had something to do,
There were microphones, costumes, and properties, too.
The barber in make-up
Gave the film grip a SHORT CUT,
And that's why they called him the CAMERA CREW!

Said the EARTHMAN, I like to know what to expect.
My environ is static, there's no unplanned effect.
Said the SPACEMAN, that's boring,
I thrive on exploring,
And there's nothing on EARTH that's like zero-G sex!

OwenKL said...

Oops, left out
Job title: AIR
Attribute: FRESH
Superhero: SUPER, PAC

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

TTP,
Because GISH passed her hey days ages ago and might be an unfamiliar name to young solvers.

D-Otto, Lucina & Peg,
I removed Splynter's 1-Across leg link yesterday. It's a bit risqué for our blog. I want to stem the complaining emails in advance.

Splynter is adventurous and always willing to take up the challenges. I trust he'll find nice leg pictures without triggering my "Oh man, this might be trouble" antenna.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

I'll admit to being a bit underwhelmed with today's puzzle. I didn't see the theme until I actively looked for it at the end, and it didn't really add much. I probably should have noticed it earlier, though, since my first thought on getting ANCHOR CHAIR was, "Gee, that's awkward -- that really should be ANCHORMAN (or, at the very least, ANCHOR DESK).

I was really surprised to see SKIS crossing SKI PATROL. I thought that was a crossword no-no, but apparently I was wrong. Still a bit jarring, though.

I'm sure SAVE PAR is a real term used all the time in golf, but since I'm not a fan it just seemed clunky to me.

Mischa ELMAN was a complete unknown.

I did like some of the tricky clues today, however. "Duel purpose tool" was a real gem, and it's always nice to see see "Opening word?" for SESAME. "Holliday allies" had me guessing until I had three of the six letters filled in and the light bulb went on.

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

Barry G,
I can't believe we made that SKIS/SKI PATROL mistake. It's not difficult to fix either. I'm normally vigilant with dupes like that. Teeth. I'll blame on my teeth.

TTP said...

Thank you CC. Don't know why I know her, but I always know when it's "Silent film star actress" or similar clues, and the letter count or perps support it, that it will always be Lillian Gish or Theda Bara. Probably from doing so many puzzles. That's how I learned so many of those Greek, Roman, and nordic country gods, wives, daughters, sons....

Also, I just saw this on AOL articles. The trick to easily peel hard-boiled eggs

I did not see Splynter's link for leg yesterday. Only a picture of the bottom of a couch or divan and the leg keeping it off the floor.

Barry, I meant to comment on the SKI intersection as well. As far as SAVE PAR, yes, that's quite common jargon on the course, especially when a player has had an errant shot that puts par in jeopardy. E.G. On a "Par 4" hole, the player's ball should be on the green in two shots, which allows two putts to put the ball in the hole for an aggregate 4, or Par. If the player doesn't get on the green until the third shot, he or she might need to make a long or tricky put to "SAVE PAR." An associated phrase that might also sound clunky is SAND SAVE.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Failed to read the puzzle title, and failed to get the theme. But that didn't slow me down. C.C. and Husker gave us a softball. Thanks, guys.

I, too, was surprised to see SKIS crossing SKI PATROLS. Like Barry, I thought that was a no-no.

Seeing FLOTSAM raised the question in my mind, when is it flotsam and when is it jetsam? Mr. Webster informs that jetsam is stuff thrown in the water intentionally, and flotsam is stuff that got there accidentally, as from a shipwreck or cargo mishap. Learning moment.

Speaking of service calls... I'd been grousing that I was paying for 12 mbps Internet but only able to measure 6. Just prior to calling SuddenLink and raising hell, I ran a little experiment. With the Mac plugged directly into the cable modem, voila, 12 mbps. With the Mac plugged into the Vonage box, voila, 12 mbps. With the Mac plugged into the router, gaaack, 6 mbps. Went into the router settings and found that somebody had set a "priority" for the Amazon FireTV. That's what was causing the slowdown to the other devices. Who could have done that? There are only two people living here, and only one of them knows how to change router settings. Hmmmmm.

Madame Defarge said...

Hello!

What fun! Great cluing. Theme: oh, well, as I've said before unless it slaps me in the face, I often don't see it until I come here. BUT that never takes away from the puzzle. This was loads of fun. I enjoyed the misdirection--once I saw the light. I especially like the cluing for ANTE UP, FRONT DOOR, GENIE, CAMERA CREW, DOG NAPS, and SESAME. I read duel as dual and labored with that for a bit.

Thanks Gary and C.C. for a fine start to my day.

Have a sunny day, even if it's cloudy where you are.

desper-otto said...

Cute avatar, Madame Defarge. I guess you've been using it for a few days, but I just noticed it today.

Yellowrocks said...

I liked the theme. The title helped me to see it. Great collaboration, Gary and CC.
This was not as difficult as some Sunday LATs. I had PHOCEITIN for 44A and saved it until last to correct. I went out for breakfast,a scrapple sandwich, with Alan. When I came home I changed SCARF to SNARF and voila! PHONE IT IN. I seldom hear or read SNARF, but I know it is correct.

Big Easy said...

What an interesting Sunday offering by ChairMAN C.C. and Gary with Gloria STEINEM as a fill in a MANly themed puzzle. But for me, it was not to be this morning; I filled SCARF for SNARF (never heard that term) and didn't bother to double-check PHOCE IT IN. Phooey.

I had a little trouble when I misread HOLLIDAY and DUEL as HOLIDAY and DUAL. I did notice HAT twice- as a clue (3D) and answer (53A) and the crossing of SKI & SKI. Multiple NODES- ANODE-DIODES

TONER- I ran out yesterday and reordered. Brother original for $85.00 at Office Depot or $17.99 for a compatible cartridge on the web. Guess which one(s) I got?

Ritalin ( methylphenidate )40 years ago, it was a slow seller for hyperactive boys. But when our government, in its infinite wisdom, started passing out 'crazy checks' the sales went up over 2000%. Dangle that money and people will grab it.

Very few unknowns today- ALIF, ELMAN, ESAI, ESA easily filled by perps.

Big Easy said...

YR- did your SCARF or SNARF your breakfast?

Yellowrocks said...

Big Easy, LOL. Unfortunately I don't scarf down (or snarf down) anything these days. I have to take dainty bites to protect my new implant post and temporary crown. No pain and no food restrictions, but I must take lady-like bites and chew on the left side.

Lucina said...

Hello, friends!

WEES about the ease of this puzzle. Nicely done, Gary and C.C. with some ingenious clues and fill. One bad cell at AGASP which seems awkward to me. I had AGAST and knew EARTS wasn't right but left it.

C.C., I don't understand your feeling sheepish about Lillian GISH. She was a well known beauty in her day.

As for Splynter, I was just teasing him about the legs.

I don't feel well so am returning to bed.

Have a delightful Sunday, everyone!

Husker Gary said...

Musings

-Seeing my name in the “byline” was pretty cool but the really interesting part was calling up my clues in a Word file and see how they compared to Rich’s final product. I mostly offer 2 – 4 clues to C.C. and then she submits the best one and we see what happens.
-Doing the puzzle today reminded me of the old joke that one of the best parts of growing old is you get to hide your own Easter eggs. I couldn’t just fill in the answers because we did this puzzle a while ago.
-The best part of my Sunday morning was getting complimented by one of the smartest people I know who, of course, is also an elite constructor! C.C.’s humility and generosity is well known to all of us who interact with her.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Well, my good fortune continues: Today, through a Western Union Money Transfer link, I'm the recipient of £750,000.00! I just don't know how I'll ever be able to spend all these millions! 💰. 💸

Unlike most of the early posters, I found this very difficult for the longest time, but I eventually broke through and finished w/o help, albeit in much, much longer time than a typical Sunday. Part of the problem was incorrect fill that seemed correct at first, e.g. waif/naif, scarf/snarf, anode/diode, make par/save par, edits/amend, etc. CC, on her own, is quite adept at devious, misleading cluing (which I admire and enjoy) but CC + Gary = double the trouble! When I (finally!) finished, I stared at the grid for about 5 seconds and then the theme just jumped right out, plain as day.

Kudos and Brava/o to CC and Gary for a challenging (for me, anyway) Sunday offering with a straightforward theme, unlike most of the annoyingly gimmicky ones in that "other" paper. Thanks to you both; you make a great team! 👫

Have a great day.

C6D6 Peg said...

Thanks, Gary & C.C., for a great puzzle. Finally got it done, with last crossing of DOLAPS and PHONEITIN. Had CANIS for a long time before it was changed to CANID. Then the light came on. Really enjoyed the cluing and theme!

Have a good start to the week, all!

Bill G. said...

That was a fun Sunday challenge. I loved the clues. Thanks Gary, CC and Rich.

Count me in for Scarf vs. SNARF. I got fooled on duel/dual. Evil...

Hey Splynter, e-mail me that leg picture if you are willing. I'd like to see what was deemed unsuitable for this eclectic crew.

YR, a scrapple sandwich! I've never had one or even heard of one. I'll bet I would like it though. What's involved? I needed a bridge when I got decay under a crown. The temp came off about four times. The new permanent one seems rock solid. Fingers crossed...

Lucina said...

IrishMiss:
What kind of security do you have on your computer? Is it adequate to deal with all that spam? My Norton system rejects all that and I haven't been bothered in years by the Nigerians, Viagra ads or any other spam.

Kevin said...

Drat,

I was going to say that I should have known Violinist Mischa's surname (my very last fill) since he is "EL MAN", but C.C. already beat me to the punch on pointing out this connection (and without the lame Spanglish pun to boot).

I did enjoy the misdirection of 33A "Wish list responder" since I instantly wrote down SANTA (it being that time of year and all) until I realized the need to change it to GENIE.

All in all, a pleasant puzzle. As others have pointed out, there were a few unknowns (and snarfisms) that could have been real show stoppers, but the grid was carefully constructed so that every fill was attainable via PERPS without having to WAG through any nasty Naticks.

Well done!

Montana said...

This was a very enjoyable solve this Sunday morning. Thanks, CC and Gary.
I am getting better at using the LA Times site on my iPad. It is an improvement so far. Still don't like that I can't see the whole puzzle on my screen. But If that's my only complaint, life is good.

Have a good day,
Montana

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Congratulations, Gary & C.C. on a most interesting and unusual puzzle. Expo was enlightening too. I seemed to be on Gary's wave-length.

Didn't get the theme until done, then had to mull it over a bit to see it.

Last to fill was the unknown TAMIL/ICEE cross area. Only red-letter run today. I was sure "coke" had to be the answer to a polar bear mascot. Never had an ICEE except in a crossword.

HODAD? Who dat? Never heard of the word but it perped in before I read the clue.

"INKA dinka doo" is, of course, one of Jimmy Durante's signature songs. Lillian GISH is even older, but known.

Learning moments: ALIF is first letter in the Arabic alphabet. Also princelings was interesting.

More movies I'd never heard of. Perps & WAG.

STREEP had to be it.

Hand up for scarf/SNARF & wave/WAKE.

Never had a Twizzler so didn't know what flavor it was. Thought it was cherry.

maripro said...

Thanks, C.C. and Gary. There certainly was a lot of great cluing. My favorites were "boat trailer," "pique condition" and the apple-tasting clue. Regarding the ski crossing, I can see why you said that it would have been an easy fix. One way would be to change 70 down to "a tad." I'm sure you can think of many others.
Have a lovely day, everyone.

inanehiker said...

Steady and interesting puzzle, thanks CC and Gary. Most of my hangups were because I had my weaker glasses on doing the puzzle while waiting for a friend at a cafe. Thus I thought ETHAN clue was "Alien who never really made furniture" - filled in with perps - then DOH! A few other spots got the same treatment.

Yellowrocks said...

CNN headline: "Trevor Noah takes over 'Daily Show' anchor chair." So ANCHOR CHAIR is in the language.
My grandson loves ICEEs and SLUSHEEs and has ever since he was very small.
I remember the surfer movies and music of the 60s and 70s so I knew HODAD, surfer wannabe.
I don't care for strawberry Twizzlers. I like the licorice ones. Also, Good N Plenty candy.
To Bill G. Our Alan invented scrapple sandwiches many years ago. It is not on our diner's menu, but they knew immediately what to serve. It is just fried scrapple between two pieces of bread or toast. We add ketchup. Yummy. Recently I was surprised to see a scrapple sandwich on a menu somewhere else.
It's a beautiful day, sunny and in the low 50s. I actually enjoyed winterizing my patio today. I am back in the groove and going strong. Onward! as Splynter would say.

Anonymous said...

To stir and STOKE a fire are not the same thing. We've had this mistake before, and recently.

If the leg link was risqué, where does that leave OMG?

Jayce said...

I loved this puzzle! Add together Gary and CC's imaginations and you get, as Irish Miss said, double trouble. But oh so much fun!

I sorta remembered HODAD from a previous puzzle and the discussions about it. Fell for the "toy" misdirection for too long. "Holliday" made me fixate on Judy until I realized AGAST was wrong and changed it; then the ole light bulb (LED these days) lit up and I laughed out loud. I filled S_ARF and waited to get the crossing.

I love them ole DIODES! One ANODE and one cathode each. Give me your tired, your poor, your sine waves longing to be rectified!

I also love scrapple! My sister and her husband live in Pennsylvania Dutch country but they send us Harry & David fruit each year for Christmas. We asked them if they could send us scrapple instead, but according to them it doesn't ship well. I figured out a way to make a rather poor imitation of it here at home. We have a PA Dutch cookbook, but the scrapple recipe starts out something like, "First boil a hog's head in a large cauldron." Nah, I think not.

Best wishes to all of you with teeth troubles and to the rest of you, too.

Anonymous said...

Splynter's hard work deserves a link to his picture he had expected to be included in his write up. You can warn those too prim to view to just simply not view it for fear their eyes may burn out. But the rest of Spynter's fans can now see his "flavor" the way he had hoped for. Give the people what they want!!

JD said...

Fun collaboration C.C. and Gary!This made it a double fun Sunday. So many creative clues. Snarf...cute.

Lucina, hope you are feeling better this afternoon.

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Husker Gary and C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

Started this after church. It went fairly well. A few stumpers that caused me to think DEEP!

Theme was clever. Never caught it until the end, however. Was too busy writing in words.

I spelled ALIF as ALEF. That caused me to write OED for the start of 38D. Needless to say that whole area was hosed up for a while. Had RAFT for 36D. Finally straightened it all out with ESS and LIP SERVICE.

TAMIL was a learning moment. Got the answer with a couple perps and a wag.

PHONE IT IN was slow in coming, but it worked.

Could not get Saturday's puzzle. Got about 1/3 through and got stuck. May work on it later.

We were at my daughter's in SW Ohio for the weekend. Got home last night. Learned Saturday morning that my mother died at 8:30 AM on Saturday. She had been slowly expiring for quite a while. She was 91 and had an interesting life. We are heading back to Pennsylvania this coming weekend for the Service. At least I will see all my sisters and my brother.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Yellowrocks said...

Abejo,
My sincere condolences on the loss of your mother. No matter how frail your mother it is always a big loss.
Yellowrocks to you.

Irish Miss said...

Lucina @ 12:01 - I use an iPad which, I believe, has its own Apple built-in security systems. 95% of spam emails go into my Spam (It's actually labeled Junk) folder, but some appear in my Inbox. The ones from the "FBI", "UN" and "Western Union" were all in my Inbox because they looked legitimate. I also regularly receive authentic-looking emails from USAA Insurance, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo telling me that someone has tried to access my account and I need to click on a link to verify my account information. I do not have an account with any of these companies. Don't get me started on the scam "telemarketers!" 👿

Irish Miss said...

Abejo, my deepest sympathy on the loss of your mother. Losing a loved one is never easy, no matter at what age.

Montana said...

Abejo, my sympathies go out to you and your family. 91 or not, lived a great life or not--it's still tough when a family member passes away.
There can be good memories when all the siblings are together.

Montana

desper-otto said...

Abejo, sorry to hear about your mother. Remember the good times you had with her. Keep her "alive" that way.

Randy said...

Re: 65 across It's not 'snarf', it's 'SCARF.' One doesn't snarf down food, they scarf it down. A snarf is either a person that smells bicycle seats OR farts in the tub and bites the bubbles, I'm not sure which.

Anonymous said...

OED snarf, eat or drink greedily. Randy, please use the dictionary. You can learn so much.

Big EAsy said...

You guys only got letters from Nigerians.

I had a 'NIGERIAN Prince' show up at my office wanting my to ship pharmaceuticals to his 'kingdom'. I asked him how he found my place, since the phone was not listed and there were no signs indicating a drug wholesaler. He said a 'friend' told him. After politely telling him to contact the DEA, which he said was NOT NECESSARY, I told him he had 5 seconds to get out the door as I was calling the sheriff. Never saw him or heard from him again.

An just this week, I received a desperation email from a friend of my wife ( how my email address showed up I have no clue because I have never emailed the very WEALTHY widow) which claimed she was in Spain and her ATM and credit cards wouldn't work and that she desperately need $2,000 ASAP. I don't think she was out of New Orleans.

Anonymous said...

I'm just not getting DOGNAPS (39D). Please could someone enlighten me?

PK said...

Abejo, sincere condolences on the death of your mother. We will be thinking of you as you celebrate her life next weekend.

My favorite sister-in-law fell last week and broke her ankle and cannot drive. She may have to have surgery. Her husband is my brother whose health is failing rapidly with Parkinson's, is falling down frequently and shouldn't drive. They live in a split level home in which only the garage doesn't have stairs for access. Both are in their early 60's and still working. We have had four days of rain & "wintery mix" with icy conditions at night. Bro has always had a good sense of humor and has been fun to be around. I talked to him yesterday and he was so depressed, I hung up and cried. Such a brilliant college teacher/medical researcher trapped in a nightmare body. They do have a daughter close by who with her family is helpful. But she also teaches so her time is limited.



chefwen said...

My HAT'S off to Gary and C.C. For a well thought out and fun filled puzzle. Got the theme right away with the header and it helped a lot with the solve. I was having such a good time solving last night that I had to force myself to put it down and save the rest for today. I can't often say that about a puzzle. So, thank you Gary and C.C., it beat the heck out of the NYT's puzzle today.

Abejo, my deepest sympathy to you and yours over the loss of your Mother.

Argyle said...

Anon, toy is used frequently to indicate a toy breed of dog. Ergo, "39-Down. Steals, as a toy : DOGNAPS" is a play on kidnap Of course, KIDNAP could be, "Steal a young goat".

Anonymous said...

So which c stands for censorship, c.c.?

Argyle said...

OK pervs, here it is. link Legs.

Your imagination was probably much wilder than real thing. C'est dommage.

Madame Defarge said...

D-O @7:38,

I've had that plate for many years. I taught Tale of Two Cities to freshmen. It works well with my knitting. I'm glad you like it. ��

Madame Defarge said...

Abeyo ,

Sorry to hear about your mom. She has certainly left behind many stories for you and your sibs. Keep telling them.

Madame

Anonymous said...

Oh geez. Nothing to say. Just sad really.

Bill G. said...

Splynter and Argyle, so where'd you find that photo of my cousin once removed? She has always been one of my favorites.

Abejo, condolences regarding the loss of your mother.

PK, best wishes for your sister-in-law and your brother.

Husker Gary said...

Abejo, I'm sorry for your loss but it looks like you have accepted the inevitable and are ready to celebrate her life.

Lucina said...

Abejo:
I'm so sorry to learn about your mother's passing. At 91 she must have led a full and interesting life. That, however, does not lessen the sorrow. My sincere condolences to you and your family.

JD:
Thank you. I did feel better in the afternoon but with the onset of nighttime it seems to bring on the coughing and sneezing. I'm sure it will pass.

MJ said...

Thank you, CC and Gary for a delightful puzzle. One of my favorite Sunday puzzles in recent months! Bravo on a wonderful team effort!
MJ

Anonymous T said...

Abejo - I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. Revel in her life...

IM - I may have shared this before - see @:50. The Nigerian may be eligible. You know he's loaded...

HG & CC - I didn't get to play today I will tomorrow. After I sleep, I'll forget what I've learned (again).

Cheers, -T

Bill G. said...

Our son Tim and his serious girlfriend took a short vacation to Cuba by way of Mexico City. We weren't happy about this but he's headed home tomorrow after reporting in this afternoon back in Mexico City. So what was the lead story on 60 Minutes? It was about a man who was held prisoner in Cuba for five years. I'm glad we didn't see it before knowing he was on the way home. So what is another plan of his for a vacation trip? North Korea! I wonder if he has inherited any of our DNA?

Anonymous T said...

Since YR mentioned Trevor Noah, I'll link it in promise to Argyle. Cheers, -T

Lucina said...

Argyle@7:42
Oooh. That is risqué! I see why it wasn't allowed.

Anonymous said...

Another "Doh!" to add to my vast collection. Thank you for the explainer.