google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, December 29, 2015 Mary Lou Guizzo

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Dec 29, 2015

Tuesday, December 29, 2015 Mary Lou Guizzo

Theme: Roast Beef

17A. Kansas City baseball color : ROYAL BLUE

36A. Tavern with a view : ROOFTOP BAR

43A. Dilapidated ship : RUST BUCKET

61A. Bucking ride : RODEO BULL

11D. Tour de France wheels : RACING BIKE

29D. 13th-century English friar/philosopher : ROGER BACON. Who is Roger Bacon? LINK

68A. "We Have The Meats" fast food chain, and a homophonic hint to the six longest puzzle answers : ARBY'S

Argyle here. Plenty of entries so a few tricky spots. Mine was the left coast, middle.

Across:

1. Glass edge : RIM

4. Personal histories : PASTS

9. Infielder Rod in Cooperstown : CAREW. Remember him from last Thursday? And someone new 65A. Hall of Fame second baseman Bobby : DOERR. Wiki for this Red Soxer.

14. "Caught you!" : "A-HA!"

15. Stag, at a party : ALONE

16. Egg-shaped : OVATE

19. Battery acronym : NICAD. (nickel–cadmium)

20. Olympics skating analyst Ohno : APOLO. He was a short track speed skater.

21. Laborious tasks : TRAVAILS

23. Post-shower powder : TALC

26. "Twin Peaks" actress Sherilyn : FENN

27. USN officer : CDR. (Commander)

30. Buying plan with a down payment : LAYAWAY. Odd clue.

33. Highway sign : GAS

38. "In memoriam" bio : OBIT

39. English: Pref. : ANGLO

40. Dashed : RAN

41. Job that doesn't pay? : CRIME

42. "__ 101": Jamie Lynn Spears sitcom : ZOEY. Britney's sister on Nickelodeon.

45. Go astray : ERR

46. Thicker, as a beard : BUSHIER

47. Some MIT grads : EEs. (electrical engineers)

48. Indonesian island : BALI

50. Well-kept : NEAT

52. "That's shocking!" : "I'M AMAZED!"

56. Triumphant cries : TADAs. A welcomed sound.

60. Potato press : RICER

64. Sun-dried brick : ADOBE

66. Vintage roadster : REO

67. Guadalajara girls : NINAs

69. Woodsman's chopper : AXE

Down:

1. __ avis : RARA. (rare bird) 10D. For the birds? : AVIAN

2. All-You-Can-Eat-Pancakes chain : IHOP. (International House of Pancakes)

3. Spread on a BLT : MAYO. Should Steve have blogged today or what?

4. City near Stanford University : PALO ALTO. Located in Santa Clara County and the State of California.

5. Greece neighbor: Abbr. : ALB. (Albania)

6. Note after fa : SOL

7. Letter-shaped fastener : T-NUT

8. Clairvoyant : SEER

9. Transport, as on a factory belt : CONVEY

12. List-ending abbr. : ET AL.

13. Unites in marriage : WEDS

18. Bottom-row PC key : ALT

22. Off in the distance : AFAR

24. Thai language : LAO

25. Mediterranean island republic : CYPRUS

27. Hottest fashion : CRAZE

28. Philanthropist : DONOR

31. Embarrass : ABASH

32. Hope to participate : WANT IN

34. 'Til Tuesday lead vocalist Mann : AIMEE. I didn't know she is a bassist.



35. Decides not to dele : STETS

37. Swatter target : FLY

38. Tolkien beast : ORC

41. Museum overseers : CURATORS

43. All-Star Phillies catcher Carlos : RUIZ. Another ball player. Wiki

44. Pollen eater : BEE

46. Loud, raucous sounds : BLAREs. Like a tie-up at rush hour.

49. Tiny life form : AMEBA

51. Bill at a bar : TAB

52. OPEC founding member : IRAN

53. Calf-length skirt : MIDI

54. Wagner's Earth goddess : ERDA. A week ago Sunday: ["Ring Cycle" goddess : ERDA. German for "earth", right?]

55. Way in or out : DOOR

57. Battery name prefix with "cell" : DURA

58. "Jeopardy!" host Trebek : ALEX

59. Gin flavoring : SLOE

62. Belle of the ball : DEB. (debutante)

63. Suffix with trick : ERY. Enough trickery for one day.

Argyle


39 comments:

  1. Greetings!

    Thanks, Mary Lou and Santa! Fun puzzle.

    DOERR was perped.

    It sure is cold here. The doctor's office was running their AC full tilt. Everyone was in coats and sweaters. (What's with them?)

    No frost yet. Usually would have had to move my kalanchoes indoors by now. Poinsettias too.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A nice intricate Tuesday with the theme really helping the solve. Mary Lou likes her baseball which may have slowed some down. Never heard of ZOEY 101. Might have Bern tough with the cross.

    Puzzle has DOERR DONOR DOOR and DURA

    I guess that will d o for a Tuesday. Thanks Argyle and Mary Lou

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  3. Lots of names today. I knew some of them.

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  4. Morning, all!

    For a change, I actually figured out the theme halfway through and it helped me get ROOFTOP BAR, which I just couldn't see from the clue alone. Sadly, it didn't help me with the crossing of ERDA and DOERR and I went with ERTA/TOERR instead. Not a terribly fair crossing in my opinion, but there you have it.

    I could be wrong, but I didn't think bees actually ate pollen. I always thought they ate the nectar and the pollen just got stuck to their legs, allowing it to be distributed from one flower to another.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good morning!

    Once again I failed to read the complete reveal clue, so I never got the theme. Did notice a higher than normal B count. My trouble spot was the same as yours, Argyle. But got 'er done. So did I DOERR? Can't say that I've ever seen that name before.

    Today must be a Windows update day. I've learned that my fruit-based machine can't seem to deal with that -- I run Windows in a Parallels partition. I'm still waiting for Quicken to complete the "one-step update" that it started 40 minutes ago. Normally the whole thing takes about 40 seconds.

    ReplyDelete
  6. While not as famous as others, he is a Hall of Famer, Bobby DOERR helped many others to achieve success and is still alive at 97 making him the oldest living member of the hall.

    His name is pronounced \DOUGH-er\ which is why I made my earlier comment about DOOR

    ReplyDelete
  7. Whew!

    I wandered around in circles here. I did make some good guesses on the theme clues, but WBS: it did not help much on the downs. Thanks for a Tuesday challenge, Mary Lou.

    In many European cities, department stores have ROOFTOP BARs/cafes. They provide a nice view for the price of a cup of cappuccino.

    Thanks, Argyle, for the explication and the exotic links. Beautiful.

    Enjoy the day, regardless of the weather.

    ReplyDelete
  8. BUSHIER- More weak than Jeb... according to the Donald.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Mary Lou Guizzo, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

    Got up earlier to attack the driveway again. I Petered out last night. Shoveled for a while then came in and worked the crossword and had a cup of Earl Grey, then went back out and continued. Came back in for another cup of tea and here I am on the blog.

    Puzzle went fine. Theme appeared and was easy to get all.

    No inkblots today.

    Remember CAREW from last week.

    DOERR was unknown. Perps.

    Never been to a ROOF TOP BAR. However, I used to shovel snow off my roof while in the middle east. It was a law, you had to. If the roof caved in it was your fault.

    Love ARBYS. Always have. I remember years ago when they filed bankruptcy. In the early days they did not offer french fries. Only roast beef sandwiches. After they came out of bankruptcy they offered french fries. That is where the profit is. I believe they have been fine ever since.

    BLTs are my favorite sandwiches. However, I never order MAYO on mine. I stress "No MAYO."

    I now have to go back outside and finish the driveway.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

    ReplyDelete

  10. Enjoyable challenge from May Lou today. Never saw the RB theme until reading Argyle's write up, but it didn't cause a big hold up either. Of the three baseball players, knew Doerr & Carew instantly, needed perps for Ruiz. Other then the Yankee's, Red Sox & Giants. I don't think I could name more then 5 or six players on any of the other teams current rosters.

    The West/Central section was my hold up. Had ANGLO & ERR. I was simply staring at the rest. Thought Adm or Cap was the fill for 27A. When I woke up and entered DONOR the rest filled in. ZOEY was a wag, CDR seemed ok & ROGER BACON (who is he)looked good but I kept thinking it s/b Francis.

    Four more days and the first will be upon us......four more days & my resolution for 2016 of no more DNF's will probably be down the tubes. I plan on keeping track for a while of my solves, FIW.s & that"other possibility". Call it establishing a "dumb ass" factor.

    The predicted ice, snow & sleet has arrived. Hope this is not going to be the trend for this winter. Just shuts everything down.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good Morning:

    This was a typical Tuesday, mostly smooth sailing. Had Ens before Cmd, knew Doerr but wasn't sure of the spelling, and never heard of Zoey 101. Perps were solid, so the tada came easily enough. Didn't catch the full theme until the reveal.

    We have an inch or two of snow and right now, freezing rain. A good day to stay put.

    Nice puzzle, Mary Lou, and cool expo, Argyle.

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Argyle: Excellent write-up. I especially enjoyed the AIMEE Mann/'Til Tuesday, Voices Carry link.
    How appropriate to have a 'Til Tuesday song on this day of the week.

    Mary Lou: Thank you for a FUN Tuesday Puzzle that kept-me-on-my-toes to complete.

    Needed ESP and a few WAGs (Wild-Ass-Guesses) to get FENN, ZOEY and DOERR.

    Fave today, of course, was that ROOFTOP BAR ... though SLOE Gin flavoring was a close second. LOL

    A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks Mary Lou, for a fun Tuesday puzzle. Argyle, I love the write-up and the photos. The photo of Bali looks too perfect to be a real place!

    I got DOERR from perps but doubted it was right. The middle west did me in with a FIW. I had ARAGE, ADR, GEEY for CRAZE, CDR and ZOEY.

    I always remember ERDA from Anna Russell’s explanation of the Ring Cycle. At the beginning of Part 2. ERDA_GREEN-FACED_TORSO
    If you want to watch the whole thing.{This is an older Anna. There are younger versions on youTube.]
    PART_ONE and
    PART_3

    We had rain all day yesterday and tons of wind gusts last night but now it is 46F and no snow yet in Cleveland.

    VS

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  14. Another crunchy solve but I got the TADA. Thanks Mary Lou and Argyle.

    I had Ovoid before OVATE and did not know FENN, DOERR, ZOEY, AIMEE, or RUIZ. ESP or perps all the way!

    IHOP for breakfast, ARBYS for lunch and ROOFTOP BAR for the evening. Sounds like a good day.

    We had RICER not Dicer and BALI not Fiji today.

    I noted the variant spelling for AMEBA and questioned the lack of S on RACING BIKE but I guess one bike has 2 wheels so plural is not required by clue.

    STETS was a Meh! clue IMHO but sometimes a stretch is made to fill the CW.

    Ice is melting here. I'll wait a little to go out.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Me too Argyle - ADM/CDR, CRAZE/TREND and no idea on ZOEY was a speed bump.

    Musings
    -ROYAL BLUE is the color of baseball royalty in 2015
    -A great ROOFTOP BAR for tailgating on Husker game days
    -AHA, Keep your wife off my hands! Wait a minute…
    -Nobody asked, but here ‘ya go
    -Do they test ‘em or something?
    -My desired OBIT – He did the best he could with what he had
    -Our town’s ANGLO culture is being enriched by a Hispanic influx
    -ZOEY ended when Jamie Lynn Spears became pregnant
    -Our left coast friends hope El NiƱ(o) gives them drought relief this winter
    -If you’re a SEER, why didn’t you bet the Huskers and take the points?
    -Lucy trained at the See’s Candy Makers for her famous CONVEYOR belt scene
    -The fashion CRAZE I see at every high school these days
    -AMEBA is the spelling du jour
    -Okay, then give me a TAB
    -What character sang “BALI HAI may call you, any night, any day”?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Can't say I enjoyed this one. Too many unknown names and WAG crossings. Is Roger Bacon really a Tuesday word? I've even read him, but he's not the first philosopher I think of!

    OTOH... Bali Hai from South Pacific was sung by Bloody Mary played by Jaunita Somebody who was famous but escapes my memory!

    Thanks, Argyle, for walking us through.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Well, this was a Tuesday toughie for me, although in the end, thank goodness, I got it all! So, thanks Mary Lou, and you too, Argyle. I only got two of the many names: APOLO Ohno, because he danced on "Dancing with the Stars," and of course ALEX Trebek, because I watch "Jeopardy" ever night, and have bee watching it for decades. I bet ALEX loves appearing in Crossword puzzles.

    Cold, but sunny day today. Hope you all have good weather after all the storms and tornadoes.

    Have a great day today, everybody!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Puzzle Pals!

    What Argyle said re: the Central CA area... Took a while to suss.

    I'M stuned [sic] that I'M that dumb. AMAZING...

    Other wo/s. I put ET.AL. in 13d (oops), started w/ SRAS at 67a and ERos @54d. All's well that ends well. Thanks for the puzzle Mary Lou & thanks for the theme Argyle (I missed R-B and kept looking for an anagram - double-doh!)

    Does anyone know if Rax's Roast Beef is the same as ARBY'S? I remember eating Rax's w/ Grandpa (in SPI) and found ARBYs was very similar later in life.

    With the exception of AIMIE, every name , sans CAREW (too soon), was ESP (+/- a WAG).

    Near fav, but one letter off... Of a CONVoY.
    ROYAL BLUE - hey HG, I see you!
    ORC after JzB's link yesterday was fun.

    My favorite - (can you see it coming?) A song w/ AIMIE Mann and ALEX Lifeson in it. Feel free to make fun of the video production, they're Canadian :-)

    Steve - My post-card made it to Santa! In addition to a nice Henckles knife set (what I was lead to think was my Christmas gift), the sous-vide (the exact one you mentioned) DW ordered came in today!!! What to cook?, what to cook?... (mmm, HEB has pork ribs on sale...)

    Hope y'all stay warm & safe.

    Cheers, -T

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  19. I Googled it. Rax was a rival to ARBY'S. Funny, they even had the same "horsey sauce." C, -T

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi gang -

    Rather an epic fail today. Had no idea Roger Bacon was from the 13th century. Couldn't suss him from the scattered perps. I knew Rod Carew, but no the other names. Should have guessed ERDA.

    CRAZE isn't hard, but it eluded me.

    Guess I need a nap.

    Cool regards!
    JzB

    ReplyDelete
  21. Lots of Baseball clues, so pretty much in my wheelhouse today. Was surprised to learn that Bobby Doerr is still alive. My dad said he was a great second baseman, I never saw him play. Before my time. Somebody's got start taking Barry to some MLB games.... Bobby Doerr played 14 years for the Red Sox. He was an institution in Boston.
    ZOEY 101 was a Disney show for pre-teens that aired about 7 years ago. My kids watched it all the time. It starred Jamie-Lynn Spears (Brittany's sis), that is until she got pregnant at 16. They tried to write her out of the show, but she came back. But, after that little indiscretion we told the kids they couldn't watch it anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Checkers is the same as Rally's. Their commercials now show both, but when I was in Tampa ~ 2001 it was Checkers and up north Rally's. The commercials had different names although the logo, food, etc. were the same.
    VS

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  23. Musings 2
    -Joann does not share my Crossword obsession but while taking down Christmas decorations today I asked her where she wanted me to go to get lunch. Unprompted, she responded with today’s theme.
    -BTW, Arby’s senior citizen discount is only for free drinks. Hmmm… does that tell you anything about the cost/markup on drinks? I’ve read that their $2 drink costs thirteen to nineteen cents to make.
    -Did anyone think of this as the theme first?
    -Bloody Mary did sing BALI HAI. I’d think that is Tin’s favorite musical character

    ReplyDelete
  24. p.s. My Arby’s bill was $13.00 and a 10% standard senior discount would have cost Arby’s $1.30 but the free drinks would have cost Arby’s at worst $0.40. I have heard that all restaurants absolutely hate to have people order a glass of water with their meal. However, if you order water, get the cup and go over to the drink machine, which is not monitored…

    ReplyDelete
  25. VS - Yes! The same w/ Carl's JR & Hardee's - one name down here one up there. I'm not keen on their burgers though - too fluffy.

    D-O: Did you see the story in the Chron about Payton?. Youngest, spelled w/o a Y @42a, dances w/ her. Payton's a great kid and lives around the bend. Orange ribbons adorn the trees in our 'hood.

    Let's try for some levity...

    That ol' RUST BUCKET
    BEE NEATly buried...
    his OBIT
    is no BULL
    He paid his TAB
    Where's the CRIME?

    OK, that sucks, I should LAY it A WAY*

    Cheers, -T
    *C. Moe / OKL go for the rhyme :-)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anon-T, that's a great story. I missed it. I only get home delivery Wed-thru-Sun. I have access to the Barnacle's e-edition on Monday-Tuesday, but didn't look at it yesterday. DW always watches the Rose Parade, so I'll tell her to look for Peyton.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Good afternoon everyone.

    Easy enough. Couldn't spell DONOR - had an e, so the cross was ZeEY. Duh! Also wanted LICAD before CONVOY prompted me toward NICAD. Also thought I remembered ERDe before ARBY'S gave ERDA. No searches were needed, though, and I enjoyed the solve. Thanks Mary Lou.
    Irish Miss - Either CDR or CMDR are used. The Navy uses CDR on official correspondence. I prefer CDR.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Ordering water, dumping it and filling the cup with soda is dishonest.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Good afternoon all,

    Thanks MaryLou and Argyle. Fun puzzle and write up. Never got the RB theme, and never was a fan of Arby's fast food. Seem like I have grown out of craving any fast food, which includes doughnuts...not a bad thing.

    Carew and Doerr I knew, but then the spelling threw me. Perps were kind to help with unknowns Ruiz, Erda, Fenn Zoey and Aimee. Whew! Lots of names! Having done a few CW's, I realize that amoeba has lots of variations..I finished up by going thru the alphabet to fill a very simple answer RI_ER, as Mr. Bacon was the part of history that I have forgotten.

    So far, the radio and light are keeping the raccoons at bay.
    Enjoy the rest of your day. I have a date with a little Lego guy.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Dumb question but...how is RB or Arby's homophobic?

    ReplyDelete
  31. So, for very long time, every time I hear or see 9a/CAREW, I think of this stupid song and wonder@2:12 , 'is that true?'

    So, I said to myself, "self, why don't you look it up!?"

    Answer

    I love the 'for baseball fans only' line, "Carew was an Angel and a Twin, but he's not a member of the Tribe. "

    ReplyDelete
  32. btw, Diane, say "R B" aloud.
    Now say " Arby" aloud.
    Now make them plural.

    [slap to the forehead] Or as they say here: V8

    ReplyDelete
  33. Diane at 5:24 - it's homophoNic, not homophoBic.

    By the way, why does one person who posts here occasionally always put "@" before every name he mentions? Seems very affected to me.

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hello Puzzlers -

    Needed to rest my tired body after dealing with the accursed Wintry Mix. Puzzle was just the thing. Had ADM before CDR, so that section was slowed a tad, but mostly smooth sailing. The theme emerged early enough to be of some assistance.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Cool puzzle. Some of the names stumped me. Sherilyn Fenn I knew; she's another woman on whom I used to have a crush. ERDA bothers me as clued ("Wagner's Earth goddess") because her name is ERDE; nowhere in Wagner's words or in any translation I have seen is her name spelled ERDA. (Sorry, I've mentioned this nit before.) ALEX I knew because LW and I love Jeopardy and have watched it for many years, maybe even as many as Misty has. As for DOERR, the only person of that name I know is John Doerr, the venture capitalist. Forgot CAREW from before. Knew APOLO from his skating and his wonder Paso Doble dance on Dancing With The Stars. Hmm what other names? Oh, PALO ALTO, with which I am very familiar. AIMEE Mann and Carlos RUIZ I did not know.

    Wow, so many proper names! CYPRUS and BALI, as well as ARBYS, too!

    Best wishes to all you properly-named people.

    ReplyDelete
  36. I don't normally reply to Anons, but when I do... Abner@5:32p - That last LINE is funny... Go blue; Stay & play. Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete

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