Theme: Lefty - Can you guess my title?
20A. Canadian flag symbol : MAPLE LEAF. Loose leaf notebook.
52A. Final details to take care of ... and, literally, what the last words of 20-Across and 10- and 29-Down can be : LOOSE ENDS
10D. Preface to Bush Sr.'s "no new taxes" promise : "READ MY LIPS". Loose Lips Sink Ships.
29D. "America's Got Talent" host since 2009 : NICK CANNON. An irresponsible person is a loose cannon. Phrase Finder
Argyle here. Your basic Monday; a nice pin wheel without the pin.
Across:
1. Hockey disk : PUCK
5. Blows, as one's lines : FLUBS
10. Belmont Stakes, e.g. : RACE. The Belmont Stakes is the third and final leg of the triple crown of horse racing.
14. Workplace protection org. : OSHA. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
15. Parts in a play : ROLES
16. British prep school : ETON
17. Arab League prince : EMIR
18. Deed holder : OWNER
19. Weaponry : ARMS
22. "Farewell, mon ami!" : "ADIEU!"
23. "Put a __ on it!" : LID
24. Prevailing weather : CLIMATE
26. After-dinner brandy : COGNAC 49D. Straight up, cocktailwise : NO ICE
30. Every 24 hours : DAILY
31. "Hold Me" Grammy winner K.T. : OSLIN
32. Rap sheet abbr. : AKA. (Also Known As)
33. Speech therapy subject : LISP
37. Actor Baldwin : ALEC
38. Advertising handout : FLIER
40. Wedding vows : I DOs
41. Honky-__ : TONK
42. Rowboat need : OAR
43. High-80s grade : B-PLUS
44. Like mountain roads : CURVY
46. Mojave or Gobi : DESERT
47. Two-deck rummy variety : CANASTA
50. Dylan or Dole : BOB
51. Hotelier Helmsley : LEONA
58. The Emerald Isle : ERIN
59. Heavenly food : MANNA
60. Injured, as a muscle : TORE
61. Wealthy, in Juárez : RICO. Spanish.
62. In the midst of : AMONG
63. Unexpected problem : SNAG
64. Sharp-edged : KEEN
65. Shopping binge : SPREE
66. Tranquil discipline : YOGA. 84 classic asanas.
Down:
1. Sonnet or haiku : POEM
2. West Point initials : USMA. (United States Military Academy) Remember we recently learned there is a U.S. Mint at West Point.
3. Poker player's token : CHIP
4. Hoopster Malone : KARL. "The Mailman" played 18 seasons (1985–2003) with the Utah Jazz.
5. Play friskily : FROLIC
6. Mooed : LOWED. Down in the lea.
7. Elbow-to-wrist bone : ULNA
8. Sexy photos in women's mags : BEEFCAKE. And brains, too.
9. Ukr. or Estonia, during the Cold War : SSR. (Soviet Socialist Republic)
11. Open-air courts : ATRIA
12. Halley's __ : COMET
13. Occur as a result : ENSUE
21. Stylish vigor : ELAN
22. Have a bug : AIL
25. Unreliable witness : LIAR
26. Winter wear : COAT
27. Capital on a fjord : OSLO
28. Secluded valley : GLEN
30. Eggs and butter market section : DAIRY. At the back of the store.
34. Sit at a four-way stop, say : IDLE
35. Sweet's opposite : SOUR. Sometimes together.
36. Furtive "Hey!" : "PSST!"
38. __ Knox : FORT
39. Psychedelic light source : LAVA LAMP. 30 minutes.
43. Emmy winner Neuwirth : BEBE. Lilith Sternin, on Cheers and Frasier.
45. Land between Can. and Mex. : USA
46. Prescription amount : DOSAGE
47. Supermarket staffer : CLERK
48. Eagle's nest : AERIE
50. Good, in France : BONNE
53. "Want the light __ off?" : ON OR
54. Crafts website : ETSY
55. Taboo : NO-NO
56. Really dull time : DRAG
57. Arcade giant : SEGA
59. Pas' mates : MAs
"Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey"
Argyle
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteWell, that was easy. Cruciverb is acting up again, so I did the puzzle directly at LAT. Their new interface is an improvement, but it's still rough when run on an iPad. I haven't tried it on a PC.
Never heard of Nick Cannon, all perps. I didn't know Bebe Neuwirth had won a major award, either.
Morning, Argyle! Keep warm over there...
Morning, all!
ReplyDelete*sigh* Back to work today after two weeks of vacation...
Blew through this one in typical Monday time. Only hangups were NICK CANNON, which I didn't know, and OSLIN, which I barely remembered. Fortunately, it was pretty easy to guess the crossing I between the two. Oh, and I also needed all the perps to get BONNE. I knew BON (as in "bon mot", "bonjour" and "bon appetit"), but not BONNE. Darn French!
Nice, fun Monday CW. Thanks, Janice! I got 'er done in my usual Monday time. Terrific write-up, Argyle, thanks!! Guess I'll hafta come back later for Owen's limericks.
ReplyDeleteAlways look forward to a easy breezy Monday puzzle.
ReplyDeleteArgyle, I enjoyed OSLIN music video. I didn't remember that BEBE was Lilith til coming here.
I'm going to bed now.
EZ second puzzle for me today. My first daily puzzle is the "Commuter" puzzle in the Naples Daily News where I try to only use the across clues. My third is the NYT puzzle. Nice to be retired.
ReplyDeleteGood morning!
ReplyDeleteThanks for 'splainin' the "Lefty" business, Argyle. You had me scratchin' my head. Great BEEFCAKE photo, BTW.
LEONA Helmsley got her 15 minutes, and then some.
LAVA LAMPs are goopy, but "Pshchedelic?"
High 80's wouldn't get you a B-PLUS back when I was in school. A's started at 94. B+ at 92.
Only Malone name I could think of was Moses. Was he a somebody?
I'm ashamed to admit this. Back in August I ordered a new year-at-a-glance wall calendar so I'd have it on hand for the new year. Opened it up last Friday, and "Voila!" -- a brand new 2015 calendar. D'oh! It's hell to get old!
Kids go back to school today, so I can finally get my haircut. It's two weeks overdue and getting beyond shaggy. Ten miles away, so it's a major excursion.
Argyle has a wonderful blog
ReplyDeleteby a wonderful constructor
stuck on an adjective
Have a wonderful year, all year long.
D-O, Moses Malone was a star NBA basketball player. He was elected into the Hall of Fame. Sadly, he recently passed away.
ReplyDeleteNice start to the week .... than you Janice.
A few never heard of's...... NICK CANNON, OSLIN & ETSY. Thankfully, perps were all solid.
If not for PUCK, I would have spelled KARL beginning with a C.
I'm betting there is a certain Floridian who will find his favorite fill today COGNAC! Hope all is well Tin.
Greeting!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Janice and Santa!
KARL and NICK were perped. Otherwise very quick work.
Cheers!
49-d, Straight up, cocktail-wise, for NO ICE will probably be my favorite clue of 2016.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Thanks, Janice. I have a long list to finish today, so this was a pleasant start to my day.
ReplyDeleteNice commentary, Argyle. Thank you.
I had a few typing errors on the Mensa sight, so I didn't get a TaDa, but I quickly corrected BEEFCAKE and Ta Da!! Love the Beefcake from Argyle.
Barry @5:49: BONNE is feminine and bon is masculine. They both mean good so the puzzle creator can use either depending on the need. Sometimes a gender clue is included.
Have a sunny day despite any weather standing in your way!
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteA typical Monday walk in the park but fun and enjoyable, just the same.
Bebe Neuwirth has a key role in Madam Secretary and Nick Cannon was married to Mariah Carey. And Tin drinks Cognac with No Ice! That's my "gossip" contribution for today.
Thanks, Janice, for a smooth start to the week and thanks, Argyle, for being such a helpful guide.
Our high today = 19 with a low tonight of 4. Brr! I'd love to stay put but I have a doctor's appointment later this morning. The fur (faux) jacket makes its debut today, that's for sure!
Blue Iris, it is nice to hear from you and I know I,and others, always read the late posts the following day so continue to post when you can.
Have a great day. (Stay warm.)
Hi Y'all! BONNE puzzle, Janice! Merci, Argyle!
ReplyDeleteI TORE along thru this until I got to the SW corner & hit a SNAG under the ENDS. Didn't know ETSY or SEGA. My mind was blank but finally did DRAG NONO & YOGA out and wagd the ENDS.
Stay LOOSE!
Good day, friends!
ReplyDeleteThis was a nice, easy way to start the week. Thank you, Janice Luttrell and Argyle, too.
However, I don't get the theme. Lefty? LEAF, LIPS, CANNON????
Several years ago my daughter and I saw BEBE Neuwirth performing in the stage version of "Chicago" while in New York. Man, can she dance! And she's a good actress as well.
I have to agree with d-o on 43A, 80 is much too low for a BPLUS.
Loved Downton Abbey last night!
Have a special day, everyone!
Whoo-ee! It's a long johns type of day. Mac & cheese for lunch.
ReplyDeleteHondo @7:44
ReplyDeleteCOGNAC (of course, NEAT !!) would have been my fave of the day.
But that 49-d, Straight-Up, cocktailwise, yielding probably the only time I could enter NO ICE in the grid without taking a D-N-F was my day's fave.
Of course the clue at 49-d, s/h/b "NEAT, cocktailwise." lol
A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.
Cheers!
Musings
ReplyDelete-N_CK/OSL_N unknown, but paraphrasing the song - “It had to I”
-Most people ignore this rule that speeds up acquiring Monopoly DEEDS
-CLIMATE – North Pole high should be -10˚F in winter. Weather –Last Wednesday the high there was 33˚F
-AKA – a colleague of mine had a boy who wanted to be called “Bear” and he almost got fired by refusing to do so
-Flier put under wipers during a funeral. Candidate said his people didn’t do it.
-Dylan would have probably done just as well as Dole in ‘96
-Leona looks happy under normally trying circumstances
-Puerto RICO – “Rich Port”
-Every hole at the public USMA golf course has one of these honoring a military operation
-At Christmas some sing, “The cattle are LOWING, the baby awakes”
-Was Halley’s (rhymes with rallies) COMET the Bethlehem Star? Most say no.
-LAVA Lamps still fascinated my students in the 21st century
-Fabulous, Juilliard-trained BEBE was much more than a sitcom character (2:14)
-Wonderful Downton is an oasis in the DESERT of usual TV fare
Good morning.
ReplyDeleteNo DRAG, this puzzle. Over too soon. The only real pause was to question LOWED, but the perps were all solid so I moved on. And then it was done. Thank you Janice and Argyle.
Finally. It's Monday and I'm smart again. Finished this one without resorting to the down clues, except to occasionally peek to see if my first thought on an across clue would hold up. Oh, and to resolve the ERIN/Eire issue. Fun puzzle, Ms. Luttrell. Thank you. And thank you, Argyle, for an entertaining expo.
ReplyDeleteRe: DAIRY. Can anyone explain to me why sour cream has an expiration date? Are they afraid it's going to turn fresh?
Cya!
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteOne hangup to day... Who put a G in COGNAC? When I finally got GLEN, 29d fell in. All's well that ENDS well.
Thanks Janice for a fun Monday. Thanks for the Toy Story PUCK clip Argyle (and writeup) - Mac'N'Cheese sounds good.
Learning moment: CANASTA is a rummy variety. I've heard it, but thought it was like Bridge or something.
Loved the CSOs to C, Eh? And the nod to TIN.
I was going to link Jay & Silent BOB from CLERK but too MA; that's a Corner NO NO...
I tried to find fun FLUBS in known ROLES but none are that funny.
So, some highlights from the great LA Tech alum: KARL Malone, the Mailman (turn down your speakers).
Cheers, -T
Hi everybody. Thanks Janice and Argyle.
ReplyDeleteRe. grades - When I was teaching, 90s were A's, 80s were B's, 70s were C's, etc. with pluses and minuses at the high and low ends of each range. So an 88 or an 89 would be a B+ and a 91 would be an A-, etc. It's what I got used to so it seemed to make perfect sense to me.
Bluehen, I know you were joking but this is what I remember. When I was little, my grandmother had a small farm in Virginia, about an hour west of Washington DC in a little town called Upperville. When she would let her unpasteurized milk go sour, it would turn into clabber and was used for cooking (like buttermilk). But when pasteurized milk turns, you don't want to cook with it (or even be in the same room). It's rancid and vile. I'm guessing that would happen to sour cream too.
I'm still waiting for the rain to start.
Hello everyone, A quick, easy Monday right on schedule. Only problems were a few unknowns, but Oslin, and Nick Cannon were all perps. A great way to start the week.
ReplyDeleteMy one erasure was Windy for Curvy. That was very quickly taken care of with USA and Fort.
Bebe Neuwirth is a very versatile actress on TV as well as on stage. Cheers and Madam Secretary being opposites in types of shows. Lucina, I admire her dancing, too. She is amazing.
ETSY was a gimme. I use the site for help in pricing of vintage and antique items that are donated to our Thrift Shop.
Have a great day, everyone.
ReplyDeleteLink spoiled sour cream
I smiled from the start with 1A hockey PUCK that was a given for any Canadian. Then I saw my CSO with MAPLE LEAF and the smile broadened!
ReplyDeleteI wondered if Janice was Canadian but then realized that a true Canadian would have answered 26D with Parka not COAT. It is cooler here today so a Parka is needed.
I also thought of Tin at 49D and remembered YR's proper definition of haiku at 1D.
Like Chickie, I had Windy before CURVY and like HuskerG, I thought of the cattle Lowing in Away in a Manger. I heard lots of seasonal music today as 5D FROLIC reminded me of Winter Wonderland and 22A ADIEU reminded me of "adieu, Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu. ..."from The Sound of Music which was recently on TV.
And speaking of TV, I am enjoying Downtown Abbey Season 6.
Thanks for the fun, Janice and Argyle.
HG - I thought it was Venus & Jupiter aligning w/ in a degree or so and not Halley's COMET that was the Magi's "star."
ReplyDeleteBlue Hen - Cute re: SOUR cream. Bill G. Thanks for the info on pasteurized v. not. I love cooking w/ SOUR cream it adds a bit o' MANNA to a sauce. I'll use it to finish mushrooms (butter & wine sautéed) tonight for the sous-vide steaks (I'm trusting you on this Steve :-)).
From the other day - VS on MCSE; I didn't know you were a nerd too! What was your 1st NT? (Mine was NT3.0)
Why I didn't think of these ROLE FLUBS earlier? Hilarity ENSUEs.
ADIEU for now... -T
Although I wouldn't know what 'stale' sour cream tastes like, ( sour being its natural taste ), I would think it might curdle and segregate or separate and look odd. I'm sorry, I have no advice to offer on that.
ReplyDeleteStale Milk, pasteurised or otherwise, while rancid, is not necessarily poisonous or inedible. Tibetians, who have no access to refrigerators, in their peripatetic travels ( redundant ?). routinely use it for their socalled tea.
There are far too many recipes for uses for 'spoilt' milk. Google it. Making a farmers cheese is one of the most popular. Just boiling it, with a couple of teaspoon fulls of lime juice, ( or vinegar, or citric acid, in proportion ) will curdle it, and the resultant casein cheese should be filtered in a muslin, or 'cheese' cloth. Adding salt, in a reasonable quantity, during the boiling, will also add to the taste. The cheese, after complete drying, can be diced into cubes, and then fried or lightly sauteed in oil, or even eaten raw, in a salad. I have done it often enough, and I thoroughly enjoy it, and I am still alive. Q.E.D.
Even the supenatent liquid, the whey, can be drunk. It is full of whey protein, and vitamins. and you can slowly, develop a taste for it. ( You may also develop a body like the lady in the link picture ..)
On yesterday's Xword puzzle created and blogged by CC, she had a pyramid of baseballs (?) pictured and asked the question of how many balls there were. Nobody answered, presumably because word mavens are not necessarily mathematicians.
ReplyDeleteThe picture showed the pyramid with the bottom most square of 7 to a side, going up to a single ball. Bill G., I think Sigma (summation) x squared, with limits from one to seven, should summarize it, don't you think ?
That would be 1 + 4 + 9 + 16 + 25 + 36 + 49. Or, 140 ?
Stoic@1:04 - I think that's exactly what Bill G said and FermatP followed up with... Sum of squares for pyramids. -T
ReplyDeleteA perfect Monday speed run--many thanks, Janice, I really liked this puzzle.
ReplyDeleteIt helped that I knew BEBE Neuwirth and have watched "America's Got Talent" with NICK CANNON for a long time. Sometime my TV watching comes in handy!
They're predicting terrible El Nino rainstorms in California this week, so I'm praying Dusty and I will stay safe. Dusty hates to go out in the rain to do his thing, so there may be puddles in the house as well as outside of the house. But I guess that's the least of my worries.
Have a great week, everybody!
I have eaten stale cultured sour cream that had been shoved to the back of the refrigerator for several months according to the date stamp. Tasted the same as it did when it came in the door. Ate it then saw the date. No ill effects.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Lava Lamps, does anyone remember the True Random Number Generator based on Lava Lamps that Silicon Graphics ran for several years? They even had a web site that explained how to care for Lava Lamps to extend their life. You can get a short explanation at Wiki. Search for Lava Lamp Random Number Generator. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavarand
ReplyDeleteGreg
All acrosses today with no hang ups except I didn't get the TADA. I looked over and saw my FLUB I spelled FLIER flYer. Like I said I did it all across so I didn't have to look at any downs. Oh well ~!~!
ReplyDeleteBarry G BONNE is another way of spelling BON. I use BON all the time. As many of ya'll have read my sign offs and Happy New Year cheers last year. Bon Anne !!
Plus Tard from Cajun Country ~!~!
Good afternoon everyone.
ReplyDeleteBH to eye doctor this am so posting now.
WEES. Easy, no searches. Perps covered couple unknowns.
Wonder how they are enforcing LOOSE LIPS in this day of smart phones and instant messaging.
Argyle re: mac & cheese. Here too, except we had grilled cheese sandwiches. 4º this am and 0º tonight.
Hmm,
ReplyDeleteWhich loose end to go with...
Exhibit A
Or...
Milk, butter and cheese (and maybe oleo) in the DAIRY section, but not eggs. They're merely nearby.
ReplyDeleteMusings 2
ReplyDelete-Yup, Tony, but COMET was in the puzzle. ☺ An exploding Nova or the planetary conjunction were other candidates. The uncertainty of his date of birth doesn’t help.
-Spitz, isn’t it the law that grilled cheese sandwiches (grilled chizzers here) MUST be accompanied by tomato soup?
-And Tony, I went looking for that silent G in CONGAC, but my gnome got bit by a gnat that flew over from a gnu who was the reigning king of his herd. Well since I was in a foreign land and the bite was benign I won’t deign to malign him.
I LOVE grilled cheese sandwiches. Just the basic one is OK but additions such as avocado and tomato are excellent too. I was saying something about the cheese on the sandwich and I called it cheddar cheese. A British friend said No No, cheddar cheese is made only in Cheddar in England, sort of like calling all cellophane tape Scotch tape. So now I try to remember to say cheddar-style cheese, at least when she's around.
ReplyDeleteAnonT, thanks for your comment about the golf ball pyramid. It does seem odd to me when people comment on posts without seeming to have read others' responses. It happens a lot. Maybe I do it too and am not aware of it. (BTW, is that apostrophe used correctly?)
I am usually somewhat mistrustful of the weatherman's predictions but I think I better try to get a short bike ride in before some serious water starts falling from the skies.
Eggs are smack dab in the middle of the butter, oleo and cheese in our store.
ReplyDeleteHusker @ 4:03 Dunno. I like both but don't usually have them together.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon all,
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy a Monday puzzle. Had no problems with names, except Olin, but like PK, I had some problems with the SE corner to finish.Definitely didn't know ETSY. I wanted to put loose guns, but nono seemed solid (for a Monday), and Sega took long time to sink in.
I grew up playing Canasta with my family...odd one out had to iron. I had no idea that it was a form of rummy. Since I had the C it was easy.
We are patiently waiting for some rain to fall, but hope it doesn't come all at once. I just planted all my tulip bulbs because they have taken up too much room in the fridge.The hills around us are velvety green because of the sporadic showers. Amazing how quickly nature comes back to heal the earth.
The raccoons came again last night.sigh.
Wanna mess with that raccoon's mind? Leave him cotton candy to eat.
ReplyDeleteJD & Bill:
ReplyDeleteIf your rain is part of the same system as ours, be ready. It's been raining all day, off and on, here.
anonymous, cute. I think this raccoon family is digging for grubs.. They keep unrolling our new sod.
ReplyDeleteLucina, our storm is coming from out in the Pacific, not a warm one from your area, and luckily, not a cold one from AK. It's just gray and breezy now, but they say we will get a few inches.
BTW, those of you who have been on the blog for a long time will remember Dick. Because of this blog, we met Dick and Irene about 5 years ago and they have become our forever friends, and traveling buddies. It's Dick's birthday today.
Oh nuts,
ReplyDeleteDue to the nature of the internet, I cannot post a Happy Birthday Dick cake...
Gee whiz! They are predicting a freeze tonight...30 degrees! That's outrageous down here in the Swamp!
ReplyDeleteBoo, better get out your muskrat coat! LOL
All the rest of you, stay warm. .....except Tin, of course. He's always warm.
What a fun place this is!
Here is something I found last week that I thought
ReplyDeletethe teachers on the Blog might appreciate...
I was looking for YouTube videos for motorcycle repair
when I stumbled on this...
JD I have never seen coons dig for grubs, But armadillos sure will !!
ReplyDeleteSwampcat Yep it's gonna be 30 in the am here in Eunice La. perfect day to make 150 pounds of sausage ~!~!
ReplyDeleteBoo luquette...I'm making gumbo tonight! Why does the temperature result in FOOD!?
Damn!
ReplyDeleteI just wasted 30 minutes
watching a green lava lamp
on my computer.
You can capture some amazing wax sculptures by
ReplyDeleteturning the lava lamp off just as it is warming up.
Sort of like this...
Manac, you wasted 30 minutes?
I have my Lava Lamp on my nightstand, but have not turned it on in
15 years because I do not want to destroy an amazing sculpture I captured...
Dave,
ReplyDeleteI think the word you want is "Awesome".
Just ask Gary.
7 degrees outside right now.
I think winter is right around the corner.
Well last day of holiday. Tell you what, if I could afford it, I'd get used to being a house husband. W/ DW gone, I got bunches done, including my grand sous-vide steak plan. They were excellent Steve, thanks. I even finished 'em w/ my blow-torch. Eldest thought that was way cool.
ReplyDeleteHG re G: I wish I had a sign but now I see the light!
On grilled cheese - Studies show folks who eat 'em have more nookie. Tomorrow's menu? :-)
CED - Exhibit A was too funny... Not that we talk about the family business here. Also, you had me at Nitro Engine. All in favor of CED over posting today say AYE.
While the sous-vide did it's job, youngest & I finally got my ladder hung. It's over the Alfa, so there are backups to my backups (U-hooks, straps, & rope). Unless the 6" 3/8th lags give, I think it's good. When I told Pop my new plan, he said I over engineered it, but he says that about my, um, everything.
Cheers, -T