google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, December 11, 2015, Kristian House

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Dec 11, 2015

Friday, December 11, 2015, Kristian House

Theme: Hats off to Mr. Kristian.

Mr. House returns after a five year absence from the LAT during which he  has 14 or so NYT publications. The theme is rather simple with the second word of each theme fill being a form of 'headgear' but resulting in a phrase that has a very different meaning. No reveal needed. Only 8 three letter fill and some sparkle with  CRATERS,  LESSONS,  ORINOCO,  REDOUBT, AD BLOCKER, NAME DROPS. Overall not as hard as I expected when I saw the byline.

17A. Headgear not for amateurs? : PRO BOWLER (9). A CSO to Boomer.

27A. Headgear for a certain batting champ? : TRIPLE CROWN (11). The man with the most three base hits and a term for someone who leads the league in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. Also a horse racing goal accomplished this year for the first time in 29 years.

47A. Headgear for some skaters? : ROLLER DERBY (11).

64A. Headgear for contract negotiations? : SALARY CAP (9).

Across:

1. Two of its members wrote the music for "Chess" : ABBA. Once again...this MUSICAL has not been a success in the US.

5. Angling trophy : BASS. Is the fish the trophy?

9. Not sour : ON KEY. Friday cluing.

14. Chillax : LOLL.

15. Horn accessory : MUTE. JzB?
16. Kitchen feature : RANGE.

19. Qualifying words : I MEAN. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

20. Bunk : HOKUM. Two made up words.

21. License-issuing org. : DMVDepartment of Motor Vehicles. Driver's licenses.

22. They're not optional : NEEDS.

23. Weak : ANEMIC.

25. Career grand slam leader : AROD. His batting coach last year was Barry Bonds.

33. Princess friend of Dorothy : OZMA. In every book but the first one and in Baum's words, "Her eyes sparkled as two diamonds, and her lips were tinted like a tourmaline. All adown her back floated tresses of ruddy gold, with a slender jeweled circlet confining them at the brow."

37. Gibbon, for one : APE.

38. Dr. Howser of '80s-'90s TV : DOOGIE. I bet  most do not associate this series with others created by Bochco and Kelley 


39. Done __ : DEED. Deal seemed so right.

40. Sierra follower, in the NATO alphabet : TANGO.

42. Stiff : PRIM.

43. Facilitate : ENABLE.

45. Torque symbol, in mechanics : TAU. Please Fermat and Bill G, tell us more.

46. Utah state flower : SEGO.

50. Bologna bone : OSSO. Just the Italian word.

51. Work together : TEAM UP.

56. Spy plane acronym : AWACSAirborne Warning and Control System,

59. Tolkien race member : ELF.
62. Poor treatment : ABUSE.

63. Breadcrumbs used in Asian cuisine : PANKO. Per wiki  Panko is made from bread baked by electrical current, which yields a bread without a crust, and then grinding the bread to create fine slivers of crumb. Come from Japan which learned about bread from Europeans.

66. A lot : OFTEN.

67. Camera that uses 70mm film : IMAX. Where I watched Avatar.

68. Junk, say : SHIP. Asian again, tricky. What you need to KNOW.

69. Shows signs of life : STIRS.

70. A mullet covers it : NAPE. Name the movie?


71. Xperia manufacturer : SONY. They make smart phones and tablets.

Down:

1. __-Bits : ALPHA. A crossword puzzle dream.


2. Element between beryllium and carbon on the periodic table : BORON.
Boring.

3. Chap : BLOKE. Nice Cuppa, Steve...

4. "Help!" is one : ALBUM. Beatles album and movie.

5. German import : BMWBayerische Motoren Werke AG  English: Bavarian Motor Works.

6. Word sung in early January : AULD.


7. Watch part : STEM.

8. Spotted wildcat : SERVAL. To me it looks like a leopard mated with a bunny  and then....

9. River under the Angostura Bridge : ORINOCO. Interesting. LINK.

10. Tries to impress, in a way : NAME DROPS. Like knowing someone famous makes you better; so silly. I remember saying that when I was in the elevator with John Lennon at the Continental Hyatt House...

11. Dummy's place : KNEE. So many come to mind

12. "Good heavens!" : EGAD.

13. Hankerings : YENS.

18. Insult in an Oscar acceptance speech, perhaps : OMIT. Don't forget the make up girl.

24. Significant depressions : CRATERS. Not mood swings.

26. Defensive fortification : REDOUBT. This was NEW to me, the perps brought it home.

28. Bar brew, briefly : IPAIndia Pale Ale.

29. Board game using stones : PENTE. Sounds like a derivative GAME.

30. Fiend : OGRE.

31. "SNL" alum with Hader and Samberg : WIIG. Does she pass the Splynter test?


32. Fictional captain : NEMO. 20,000 reasons to remember.

33. River through Frankfurt : ODER. On my list of 4 letter European rivers to remember.

34. Philosopher known for his "Achilles and the Tortoise" paradox : ZENO. It is mostly speculation but he did influence Plato and Aristotle. LINK.

35. Ground grain : MEAL.

36. Pop-up prevention : AD BLOCKER. Nice new fill.

41. Sharp-toothed fish : GAR.

44. Course components : LESSONS. Sorry HG and BE, not a golf course.

48. Rubs out : DOES IN.

49. Oenophile's concern : YEAR.

52. Deep space : ABYSS.

53. Oodles of, in slang : MUCHO. Usually with dinero.

54. Bolt like lightning? : USAIN.


55. Raring to go : PEPPY.

56. Mil. mail drops : APOS. Army Post Office

57. Drift, as smoke : WAFT.

58. Fighting : ANTI.

60. Dharma teacher : LAMA.

61. Door in the woods : FLAP.

65. Tin Man's tool : AXE. An ending toast to our own de-icer and my favorite unknown band. LISTEN.

On that musical note, lemonade out. I hope you all have a great party weekend, our office starts today with the ugly sweater contest, problem, nobody owns sweaters here.

ah well.


Note from C.C.: 

I'm sad to let you know that Lemonade's brother passed away yesterday. Lemonade was very close to his two brothers, now both have left this world. Here is a "Hard to Believe" childhood photo Lemonade shared with our blog regulars in 2011. Lemonade is the one in the middle.

45 comments:

OwenKL said...

A cartoon character is little Dora,
Know far and wide as a great explor-a!
She earned her bones
Apprenticed to Jones,
You know him, the guy with the dirty FEDORA!

Tigger was a chef who loved to smoke.
Bought some strange baccy from a hipster BLOKE.
The WAFT was a doozy
But it left him quite woozy;
That's what will happen with a Tig in a TOQUE!

Abe Lincoln and Doctor Seuss' Cat
Had something in common, imagine that!
The Cat had two minions,
The Prez had opinions,
But they TEAMED UP to favor the STOVEPIPE HAT!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all (and deepest sympathies to Lemonade).

This one was, for the most part, solidly in my wheelhouse. Never heard of PENTE and didn't get what sort of FLAP would be in the woods (a tent FLAP, perhaps?), but everything else was smooth sailing. I know my hats and love a good pun, so this was a fun theme, most of which I was able to guess from the clues without relying on the perps.

Barry G. said...

Oh -- and I'm pretty sure that picture is from the movie "Joe Dirt"...

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Was hard to get started on this one. My first answer was OCELOT; also my first use of Wite-Out. I should have followed my gut with BLOKE and HOKUM, but they didn't show up til later. I got the theme with PRO BOWLER, and was finally off and running. Hand up for DEAL. Also tried ENT (3-letter Tolkien creature = ENT or ORC) before ELF showed up.

Saw plenty of junks in Hong Kong harbor back in the late 60's. I wonder if they're still around those parts.

Sorry to hear about your brother, Lemon. I also lost one recently.

Avg Joe said...

I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Lemon. My deepet condolences.

unclefred said...

Sorry to hear about u bro, Lemonade.
Very good limericks today, Owen.
As for the puzzle, got 'er 3/4 done and ran out of time. Dang! Don't get "FLAP" either, and "SERVAL" is a new animal to me, but perped 'em. Just ran outta time.

Tinbeni said...

Lemon: My deepest condolence.
tears ...

D N F ... I was never on Mr. House's wavelength.
At least I got TRIPLE CROWN and A-ROD ... and the 60 % completed was correct.
But after exceeding my time limit I came here to see What-Was-What.

Fave today was of course IPA ... I do like the Craft Beers being created.

SERVAL looks like a great cat and was a learning-moment.
PENTE was a game we use to play in college, alas, I forgot the pieces were called Stones.

Cheers!

thehondohurricane said...


Deepest sympathy Lemon.

What looked like mission impossible turned out to be not as bad as I thought. Once I got PRO BOWLER, I knew the theme. The rest of the theme clues were sussed out w/o too much difficulty.

Needed plenty of perp assistance or wags to fill in OZMA, DOOGIE, PANKO, IPA, USAIN and others.

But, in the end, a DNF. Left the square for the crossing T blank for TAU & PENTE. Missed it in my review, but it probably doesn't matter. The odds of my wagging the correct letter were 1 in 26. Had no idea for either fill.

Big day/night ahead. Son is giving Lucy & I comp tix for the UConn/Fla St ladies game at the casino tonight. I suspect an upset could be looming. Uconn has the flu bug going thru the rooster. One of the gals passed out while playing the other night at Colgate. She's OK, but???? Being a Miami grad, I HATE FSU so if the Huskies happen to win by a lot, I'll be a happy camper.



HowardW said...

My condolences to Lemonade. May your memories of your brother be of some consolation.

HowardW said...

I found today's puzzle to be harder than usual. Not sure why, since the clever theme was revealed early. But I got stuck on ELF, fixating on ENT or ORC, and none of them matched ERASES (which ended up as DOES IN). Trouble in the North as well...I tried AULD and LANG and SYNE at different times for 6D. Another false start was OceaN for OFTEN ("a lot"). Hand up for done DEal as well.

It may be pedantic, but AWACS isn't a "spy plane". Its radar searches for nearby aircraft. Planes such as the U-2 (remember Gary Powers?) or SR-71 which overflew the USSR (and Cuba) and took detailed photographs would be considered spy planes.

Thanks Kristian & Lemonade!

TTP said...

Good morning all. Couldn't quite get it done. DNF.

Got a foothold in each section except the top middle.

Nailed ABBA in NW and somehow knew it wasn't going to be BACON bits. ALPHA and ALBUM seemed the better fit. Then stalled until the NE. Did think of OCELOT in top middle, but wasn't sure if it was spotted and couldn't get any crosses to prove it. Held off. Later, SERVAL came in via perps. Good thing.

Not sour wasn't sweet in the NE. After getting NEEDS, EGAD, RANGE and KNEE in that order, ON was easily guessed with the KEY already there. Never would have got ON KEY with the 'not sour' clue alone. Talk about a colloquial misdirect.

That early success led to getting the mideast, the center, and then the southwest. Along the way, solved TRIPLE CROWN and ROLLER DERBY, and learned that the puzzle theme involved reasonable redefinitions and a play on phrases that contained head wear. That knowledge helped me see BOWLER, then PRO, and soon the entire top was completed.

Not fooled by 'Bolt like lightning' in the SE. Talk about fleet of foot. Some of you will undoubtedly recall another "World's fastest man" that played in the NFL and caught passes from Captain America, aka Roger the Dodger.

Frankfurt's river is the Main. Yet I had -DER from DEED, ENABLE, and ROLLER.
Also a natick at 33A and 34D. No idea on who Dorthy is, nor who her Princess friend is, and my eyes glossed over reading the clue on the philosopher. Never had an interest.

That's it. Stuck and no idea. Time to go read the write up.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Lemonade, my condolences for your loss. I know what it's like, having lost two brothers already.

Got Naticked today where Ozma met Zeno. Never heard of the former, and though we've probably had the latter, I forgot. Otherwise smooth sailing, but that spotted cat was 100% perps.

About mutes: as Lemon's video shows, there are lots of styles of mutes for trumpets. Other brasses are often muted, too - French horns make use of the player's right hand, frinstance. But perhaps the most famous mute is one that has been used by trombone players since the Big Band Era at least: the rubber toilet plunger (without the handle). It's inexpensive, available in a range of sizes, and best of all, the player can hold the thing with one hand while still supporting the 'bone. That makes it possible to do "wah-wah" effects. Ah, ingenuity...

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Lemonade; sorry for your loss. Appreciate your intro under trying circumstances.

Tough one today and finally ran hard aground in the SE. Needed help with PEPPY and USAIN to come off the shoal.
SONY was a WAG.
2 Frankfurts in Germany; the big one am Main, and the smaller one on the Polish border, a. d. ODER. - - Which to pick? If the river Oder runs through it , that would mean part of it is in Poland which I questioned. Perps made the choice.
REDOUBT - Had no trouble with it since there are several preserved at the Saratoga Battlefield near my childhood home.

oc4beach said...

Had to use red-letter help to get through this one, so its officially a DNF. As usual perps came to the rescue. I did get the theme and it did help fill in some of the unknowns.

I didn't know OZMA, SERVAL, WIIG or PENTE. I felt that DEAL was better than DEED and we always had a STOVE in the kitchen instead of a RANGE.

Also, an AWACS plane is not a true spy plane, but a surveillance aircraft used to direct fighter aircraft to targets. The U2 and SR71 BLACKBIRD are what I would consider as true spy planes.

Lemon I'm so sorry for your loss.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day.

Anonymous said...

CHAP/BLOKE: I'm not sure why, but I always assumed Nice Cuppa was female.

Husker Gary said...

ZENO/OZMA was right! No ticket to Natick, MA for me. A very apt Friday puzzle that had clever cluing, a fun gimmick and learning. Subbing in math and physics today for my nephew. Cool!

Musings
-MLB has no SALARY CAP and so the Yankees, et al can spend as stupidly as they like
-My golf partner has a 4 handicap, a 198 bowling average and wins BASS fishing tourneys
-A dual purpose Horn Accessory
-This lessens our DMV lines
-Bonds could have been AROD’s pharmacologist too
-Shirley Temple lost the Dorothy role to Judy Garland but played OZMA in a 1960 TV production
-My family unintentionally ENABLED my dad’s and brother’s alcoholism
-Until we were in Munich, I thought the B in BMW was for British
-SERVAL house pet
-In an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray OMITS his wife’s name in an acceptance speech. Hilarity ensues
-Yeah, Lemon, but my golfing could use LESSONS!
-I close the bedroom door so the smell of my coffee does not WAFT in there
-My sympathy Lemon.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This was a fun solve with a cute theme. CSO to Boomer with Pro Bowler. I liked the crossing of bloke and bowler, both British-y. I dislike filling in ARod almost as much as Tin hates the dreaded _ _ _ word. Relatively easy for a Friday but needed perps for serval, Ozma, and a few others. Had ent/elf and deal/deed, otherwise, smooth sailing.

Thanks, Kristian, for some Friday fun and thanks, Lemony, for a fine review.

My sincere condolences, Lemonade, on the loss of your brother.

TTP said...

Thank you Kristian. MUCHO gusto. Thank You Lemonade. Sorry for your loss.

No ANEMIC effort to get this puzzle solved. Almost, but three empty cells.

Midwest did me in, as I was stuck thinking of Frankfurt Am Main, and of course the Main river, even though I had _DER. Wrong German Frankfurt. Spitzboov, thanks.

Looked up OZMA and had no idea it was Wizard of Oz, which scared the heck out of me. Shouldn't have been allowed to watch it so young. My older sisters usually got to control what we watched on TV. To this day I've still not watched it from beginning to end. Still thought I knew it pretty well, but don't recall OZMA in the movie. Did like Glinda. I gather that one would have had to have read the other OZ books to know OZMA ? Yea, OZMA ZENO are both obscure, and clearly an example of the definition of a natick since they intersect.

BTW, part of Dudley's cruise was on the Rhein-Main-Danube canal that in some ways is like our Erie canal. The RMD wasn't there when I was. Learned about it while trying to figure out how Dudley's cruise was going to get from the Danube to the Rhein.

Rubs out. DOES IN. Rubbed out. Did in. The dirty done DEED.
Yep, hand up for ENT prior to ELF. Also momentarily had DELL for Xperia.

CrossEyedDave said...

Wow, this one blew me away, & yet left me impressed!

Never heard of the alternate "triple crown."
Ditto "Ozma."
(There were books after The Wizard of Oz???)
9A not sour is not sweet, or salty? (nice misdirection.)
"Help" was a movie too dangit!

Hmm, Panko breadcrumbs are what? This requires more research...

Anyway, I am in a rush, off to Boston overnight for Daughter #3 College audition (Berklee) tomorrow. Can somebody else pls research why in WWII the Japanese electrocuted their bread?

CrossEyedDave said...

Aw crap + Dangit!

In my rush I almost forgot...

Lemonade714, Sorry,
In between running around like a madman,
you loss will keep coming back to haunt me...
It's a four hour drive to Boston, & I am sure I will be thinking of you.
I just hope you also are keeping busy enough to be distracted...

Bill G said...

Hi everybody,

Lemon, I'm sorry to hear about your brother. Best wishes for you and the rest of his family.

I enjoyed this puzzle. I did well with the theme but I got stuck in various places, like the area with AWACS and PANKO, or the area with OZMA, SERVAL and WIIG. Jordan and I play PENTE. Still, I didn't think of it right away. Thanks Kristian and Lemon.

To answer the question about torque, it is a twisting force, like one applies to unscrew a jar top or to loosen (or tighten) a nut on a bolt with a wrench. Its magnitude depends on the force applied and the distance from the pivot point. Scientists use the Greek letter Tau to represent this twisting force.

The local high school has received its second bomb threat. Also, the elementary school right around the corner from our house. Both are closed today. I'm guessing some delinquent has figured out he/she can call in and make an anonymous threat and get a day off from school. I hope they catch the perp and assign him/her lots of extra homework in a much rougher school.

Freond said...

Sorry for your loss, Lemon.

Really hard today, I thought. Was 3/4 done but still had nothing in NW corner. Struggled everywhere. Names are my pet peeve, but OK if not too obscure and if they have reasonable spellings that you can guess at for a name. USAIN never made sense. Didn't even know it was supposed to be a name. Bur WIIG was just pure evil. Only a few Latin plurals should ever have a double-i. Should have figured out it was DOOGIE as I first thought, not DOOGEE. WEIR at least looked lIke a name. As is often the case, would have finished without any help except for that one dumb mistake.

Freond said...

When it's critical not to use too much torque to avoid breaking or deforming parts, or to ensure sufficient tightnes, you use a torque wrench yhat actually measy res the torque. Examples: engine assembly, lug nuts on tires, and screwing in dental implants, an example I'm all too familiar with.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thanks for the mental workout, Mr. House. I filled it bit by bit easier than I expected. Had some good WAGs like BORON, ALBUM (never heard of it or movie), & ABYSS. Got the theme early with PRO BOWLER which helped with the others.

Isn't MUCHO just a Spanish word? Why are they labeling it as "slang"?

Unknowns: OZMA (like TTP I've never watched W.O.O. clear through and won't), ZENO, WIIG (really?), PANKO, PENTE, SERVAL (never heard of it).

We've had IPA enough that I remembered PALE ALE when plain ALE turned red. Couldn't remember the India initial until I realized the theme entry had to be TRIPLE CROWN.

Dummy: for some reason I was thinking bridge game dummy and tried "east" then "west". It's been 50 years since they gave up trying to teach me bridge and always made me the "dummy".

Jason, my sympathy on the loss of your brother. Your dedication to the Corner is remarkable in the face of that loss. Thank you. Very interesting expo. I got fascinated by the Junks link and almost forgot to return.

Nice Cuppa said...

Thanks Lemon, so sorry for your loss; but in response to your request for information.

• Steve may have a different opinion, but Chap and Bloke are now pretty much interchangeable, with the first originally more upper class – Think of Bertie Wooster "I say, old chap….". And "bloke" is more generally used in the chummy sense - he's a nice/decent bloke", while a "chap" can be good bad - "Don't much like the look of that chap over there".

Interestingly, their etymologies are both related to travelers. Chap (early 18th century in current usage) is from chapman, a peddler or tinker, with "chap" deriving from OE for trade and related to cheap. Bloke (entered mainstream English much later, in the late 19th century) is from the ancient, mysterious and secret "Shelta" language, a sort of working-class Pig Latin used by Irish travelers and gypsies, based on altered Gaelic words.

So CHAP was in use pre-revolution (just); bloke is post-revolution, although given the number of Irish immigrants to the U.S., it is surprising it was never taken up here.

• REDOUBT is one of my favorite words, even though the Yankees used them very effectively at Bunker Hill against the BMW-style Brits. It derives ultimately from the Latin reducere = to withdraw.

And yet that equally splendid word, REDOUBTABLE, is from Old French redouter, meaning "to fear"

• I feel sure we had LESSONS clued exactly the same way within the last week.

• I will end with a little joke: The DONKEY lost his head but was not sour about it (see 9A)

Figure me out said...


This blog posts everything in duplicate, for emphasis - and just in case you missed it the first time around.

Now, repeat that two times fast.

Torque is a gut wrenching experience.

Lemonade, sorry for your loss. My deepest condolences.

C6D6 Peg said...

Late to the party all week long. Nice puzzle by Kristian, but a DNF. Did get the theme entries, though.

Thanks, Lemonade, for your great write-up. Condolences on the loss of your brother.

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-Nephew made a mistake on his Key to a quiz I corrected. Boy is he going to hear from me!
-I put too much TORQUE on a screwdriver this week and had to go out and buy a new toilet seat.
-We bought this ‘high tech” model

Longbeachlee said...

Today's syndicated NY Times had Bulwark as a "defensive wall". I solved it first, then came the LA Times and redoubt, so I was in trouble from the get-go. Besides that, I found this puzzle a slog at best.

VirginiaSycamore said...

Lemonade, I am sorry for your loss.

Kristian, a fun crunchy Friday puzzle.

Without repeating what other people said, I got most of the squares from perps.

I had just reread The Wizard of Oz after seeing The Wiz on TV and was perplexed that I got OxMA wrong until I learned she is in the later books.

27a I REALLY wanted TRIS_SPEAKER Batting and centerfield Superstar with Red Sox and Indians in the 1910s and 20s. TRIS'TRICORN? Felt that the word “certain” meant a specific player. Didn’t know Baseball had a TRIPLE CROWN.

Even when filled, didn’t see NAME DROPS, saw NAMED ROPS. Thought what’s a ROP?

Still looking for a fun video about torque.

VS

VirginiaSycamore said...

So had to red letter to get the above answers. I forgot to add.
VS

Yellowrocks said...

Lemonade, condolences for your loss. I can't imagine losing a sibling. You were brave to soldier on today to write a great blog in spite of it.
Have any of you fabulous cooks used panko? I used it first for Tonkatsu, pork cutlet pounded thin, then breaded and fried, one of my favorite Japanese dishes. Panko used to be available only in Asian markets, but now it is ubiquitous here. I have seen it in many modern recipes. IMO it makes a crisper breading with a slightly different though pleasing taste. I think the breading adheres better. I still use the regular bread crumbs at times for a change of pace.

Anonymous T said...

Hi all!

1st, Lem, while thanks for the answers, I'm so sorry for your loss... Celebrate your Bro's life.

DNF (Tin had it right - go bold). syne wrong, my towels aren't sour (their fresh! -bzzt). HOoey was right out.

ENABLE gave me kaNt (bzzt) and so many other errors I couldn't get going. I guess that Mensa test from yesterday was right - I am a Dummy (I'll go to my place now).

I'll revel in getting SW right and the little bit in the middle. Mmm, I got TANGO, IPA, AWACS, APOS w/o thinking... Think it's my
Army Training, SIR?

FLN - Swamp - I'm glad you enjoyed an LOL at (er, with) me. W/ the G in place Gyro really was my 1st thought for "antihero?"... BTW, I do enjoys me some Po' Boys. Since Katrina, we now have "real" catfish & fried oyster ones in HOU. The alligator & crawfish are dern good too but not the same as the "Swamp" ones.

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

This Dummy forgot - Howard W.: SIGINT is spying... C, -T

Bill G said...

It's very windy here today after a front passed over. Very high surf I'm told though I haven't seen it myself.

I just got back from the supermarket. I was pleased with myself when a woman wandered up with only two items. The store was more crowded than usual with longer lines than is normal. I told her to go ahead. She seemed grateful and surprised. I felt good. Then, because of the long lines, the manager came up to open another line next to the one I was waiting in (now near the front right behind a customer with a large cartful. He looked at me and said, "Next customer in line?" I started to move over when another lady who had just arrived at the end of the line jumped over ahead of me sporting a smug look. I said that I had been next. She said, "If you say so." I said I did say so. She begrudgingly left still wearing her smug expression. I probably would have let her go next except for that smug expression... Bill G (1), Smug woman (0). Grocery shopping can be so exciting...

Lucina said...

Hello, friends!
First, Lemonade, I'm so sorry about your brother and thank you for soldiering on today in spite of that loss.

Well, I'm late to the party because I left this puzzle several times and returned. With ORINOCO in place the NE corner filled quickly and this seemed like a piece of cake. Not! That is, some of it was. The SW corner helped me with ROLLER DERBY and that provided me the theme. ODER seemed more likely for a German river but the German import eluded me. The entire top center screeched to a stop. And another Natick presented itself at TAU/PENTE. Finally I resorted to Google and finished but not satisfactorily.

And I'm sorry but I will not accept MUCHO as slang. What should have been an easy fill for me stymied me. I realize it's Friday but still, slang? Why aren't other foreign words and phrases clued as slang?

YR:
I learned about PANKO from watching America's Test Kitchen and now use it in many recipes or alternately with regular bread crumbs for variety.

I hope you are all enjoying a fine Friday!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Lemonade, let me add my condolence for the loss of your brothers. My younger brother is still with me, but he and I lost our "baby sister" not so long ago, and her passing gives me some idea of the awful and inescapable sadness that comes with the death of one so near. It's no less than the loss of a part of ourselves - and there's no making up for it, although memory can sometimes sooth the worst pain. Bless you.

Big Easy said...

The reveal came easily but it took me a little longer than usual to (almost) finish this. The cross of OZMA and ZENO did me in.

Many other unknowns filled by perps. ABBA, WIIG, ORINOCO, PENTE.

AWACS is NOT a spy plane; it's just a flying radar. Let me NAME DROP....I forgot my name.

Anonymous T said...

Gizmoto begs to differ Big E. I don't want to speak out of turn and have MIB show up, but they are much more than "just flying radar." C, -T

Anonymous said...

//ftw, reconnaissance + surveillance = spy shit//.


3rd\\ tre' boshay award banquet beckons: 'm'

Anonymous said...

AWACS crews don't even tell their families what they do on those missions. How did some of you guys get so wise? With a great big plane full of electronics gear and trained specialists, they are probably not playing tiddlywinks.

Blue Iris said...

Lemon, please accept my thoughts and prayers. I'm sorry for your loss.

Lemonade714 said...

Thank you all of my cyber family.

VirginiaSycamore said...

All about OZMA. I read book 2, The Wonderful Land of Oz. [Spoiler Alert]

The hero of this book, a BOY named Tip, turns out to be OZMA, the rightful QUEEN of Oz. She was changed as an infant to the boy who grew up with the evil witch named Mombi. There he lived, much like Cinderella, unaware of his royal, and em, female status.

Amazon has an inexpensive collection of all the Oz stories for Kindle.

VS

RetFizz said...

Lemonade, sorry for your loss. I lost my 8-year-younger brother at age 59 to lung cancer. Two packs a day since HS, despite my continuing entreaties.
I remembered Ozma from reading all the Oz books as a kid; hated the movie when it came out because they made Dorothy's adventure into a dream. But I really appreciated it when I saw it again as an adult, especially Judy Garland's glorious singing of "Over the Rainbow."
Apparently a lot of you don't stay up late - Kristen Wiig was an SNL regular for several years. She recently played a crew member on the spaceship that left Matt Damon on Mars, thinking he was dead, in "The Martian." A movie I highly recommend.
And if I remember correctly, the Oder was the river where the US Army met the Red Army near the end of WWII.