google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday, Jan 17, 2016 Joseph Groat

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Jan 17, 2016

Sunday, Jan 17, 2016 Joseph Groat

Theme: "Sh!" - TCH is changed into SH.

23A. Score for Hawkeye's team? : MASH POINT. Match point.

25A. With 70-Across, clothing magnate David posing with a bass? : ABERCROMBIE. 70. See 25-Across : AND FISH. Abercrombie  & Fitch. Pricey brand. H&M and Zara are more popular.

39A. Convenient snack? : NOSH IN ONE'S BELT. Notch in one's belt.
 
99A. Money for fast-food fries? : SHOESTRING CASH. Shoestring catch. Never had  Shoestring potatoes.
 
115A. Outback outlaw? : BUSH CASSIDY. Butch Cassidy.

118A. Self-cleaning laundry? : SMART WASH. Smart watch.
 
33D. Avoid diner dishes? : ESCAPE HASH. Escape hatch.

53D. Spell? : WICKED WISH. Wicked witch.

Sunday debut for Joseph Groat. Congratulations! It's an incredible milestone to pull off a 21*21.

I thought it's very clever to break down 25A and 70A, esp since the latter is in the very central row so theme symmetry remains intact.

I was surprised to see these three entries in one grid. A bit overdone.

19A. Apple variety : IMAC. What a nightmare for D-Otto's. His Mac was only 2-year old. 

68A. Samsung Galaxy competitor : IPHONE

122A. Old Apple laptop : IBOOK

Across:
   
1. Wine holders : JUGS. Not VATS.

5. Taxco title: Abbr. : SRTA

9. Beat but bad : WHOMP. Sparkly 5-letter entry.

14. Crib cries : DADAS. I had MAMAS of course.

20. Sleuth with numbered offspring : CHAN. No idea. How many kids did he have?

21. Olympic champion on a 1939 Time cover : HENIE. I needed the extra "Sonja" bit in the clue.

22. Dancer Castle : IRENE

27. Space program event : MOONSHOT

29. Open the door for : LET IN

30. Bowling initials : AMF (American Machine and Foundry). Rival of Brunswick.

31. Address : SPEAK TO

34. Longfellow's bell town : ATRI. "The Bell of Atri".

36. One climbing the walls : IVY

37. Mai __ : TAI

38. Row dividers : AISLES

43. Sales rep's goals: Abbr. : ACCTs.  Tricky area for me. I also forgot PICOT (32D. Crochet loop) and did not know BOAZ (47A. Great-grandfather of David, in the Bible). I could only think of ENOS.

44. __ diem : PER

45. '50s British prime minister : EDEN (Anthony)

46. Regret : RUE

48. Want very much : COVET. Not CRAVE.

50. Funny Bombeck : ERMA

52. Cut : SAWED

56. Octane Booster brand : STP

57. They're often attached : GARAGES. The answer filled itself.

59. Works with a Singer : SEWS. Nailed it.

61. Sushi bar soup : MISO. Have you tried the Korean Doenjang, Steve/Jayce? It's similar to Miso paste. Often comes in a brown jar like this. 

62. Dept. with a sun on its seal : ENER. Nailed it.

64. Bygone birds : DODOS

66. Right-minded : ETHICAL. Oh, not leaning right.

73. Take the chance : RISK IT

74. Many beatniks wore them : GOATEES

76. Mississippi's __ City : YAZOO. The Down gave me the Z.

77. Amateur who won the 1968 US Open : ASHE. Unknown trivia to me. I presume he turned pro immediately.

78. Net __ : LOSS

79. Goes bad : ROTS

82. Puts more film in : RELOADS

84. Like some balances : DUE. Did you fill this immediately?

87. "Yeah, sure" : UH HUH

89. "Not so fast!" : WHOA!

91. Turbaned Punjabis : SIKHS

92. Healthy drink : SWIG

93. Italian counterpart of the BBC : RAI. No idea. Wiki says it stands for  Radiotelevisione Italiana. Italy's national public broadcasting company, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

95. Mystique : AURA

97. "The Good Wife" figs. : DAs

98. Making fun of : APING

104. Fast movement : PRESTO

105. Kenan's comedy partner : KEL

106. Prussian pronoun : SIE. You.

107. Tragic fate : DOOM

108. Two-time U.S. Women's Open winner Patty : SHEEHAN. The lady holding the Solheim Cup. Interlachen at the ritzy Edina. I was there that day.


109. Therapeutic pack filler : ICE

110. Cold cuts qty. : ONE LB

112. Space cadet's world : LA-LA LAND. Hello Linda!

123. Patronize, in a way : EAT AT. Really eat at.

124. DVR pioneer : TIVO

125. Stage number : ARIA

126. Beatles trademark : BANGS

127. Firewood measure : STERE

128. Meeting of Cong. : SESS

129. Golfer's putting woes, with "the" : YIPS. I finally saw Loren Roberts last year. He used to be the top putter in PGA.

Down:

1. Dandy guy? : JIM

2. Actress Thurman : UMA

3. __-guzzler : GAS

4. Mushy quality : SCHMALTZ. What a great word.

5. Slides (over), as on a bench : SCOOTS

6. Safari park critter : RHINO

7. Summer colors : TANS

8. Lit. compilation : ANTH (Anthology)

9. "Are you kidding me?!" : WHAT THE. Another great entry.

10. Synagogue lang. : HEB

11. Routine components : ONE LINERS

12. Wet tract : MIRE

13. Carbohydrate used in jellies : PECTIN. I've only used gelatin.

14. Bacchus, to the Greeks : DIONYSUS. God of wine.

15. Sea extension : ARM

16. Argue : DEBATE

17. Kingdom member : ANIMAL

18. Deem appropriate : SEE FIT

24. Facebook attention-getters : POKES. Do you still get poked?

26. Mississippi, e.g. : RIVER

28. Western treaty gp. : OAS (Organization of American States)

31. Autos from Trollhättan : SAABS

35. Tease : RIDE

39. 40-Down neighbor : NEVADA. And 40. 39-Down neighbor : OREGON. Nice pair.

41. "That's __": "My bad" : ON ME

42. "'Come to my arms, my __ boy!'": "Jabberwocky" : BEAMISH. Blank spot for me.

44. Spanish preposition : POR

48. Lifetime dedication : CAREER. If you could start your life again, what career would you choose?

49. Lingerie item : TEDDY

51. Stun : AWE

54. Morales of "Caprica" : ESAI. He's never a bad fill for me. I have fond memories of him in "NYPD Blues".

55. Simpleton : DOLT

57. Wilder in films : GENE

58. To this point : SO FAR

60. Treasured strings : STRADS

63. Uncertain : NOT SURE

65. Evaluates, with "up" : SIZES

67. Not a good reception : HISS

68. "House," in Inuit : IGLU. I suppose "in Inuit"  excuses it from having a "Var." mark. Still,  gluey fill.

69. Bear in a red shirt : POOH

71. Cones and spheres : SOLIDS

72. What the Wonderland caterpillar smokes : HOOKAH. Lots of nice Downs in this puzzle.

75. Farm female : SOW

80. Like Singha beer : THAI. I just learned that "Singha" means "Lion". Same root as Singapore. Singapore means "Lion City".


81. Nightly news snippet : SOUNDBITE

83. Sighs of relief : AHS

85. Range that includes Kings Peak : UINTA. Drew a blank as well.

86. Push : EGG ON. No more hard boiled eggs. Now, how do you prepare wild rice? Ours is a 3-hour process. Put two cups of rice in a big pot of salted water. Turn off the heat once it reaches a boil. Cover. Let it rest an hour. Rinse. Start the process again. Repeat. Salt & Pepper.

88. Places to put your feet up : HASSOCKS

90. Ship of Greek myth : ARGO

92. Indy 500 town, aptly : SPEEDWAY

94. Autobiography featuring Ike : I, TINA. This often stumps some.


96. Altar attendant : ACOLYTE

98. "__ you clever!" : AREN'T

99. Overalls on the slopes : SKI BIB

100. Trojan War queen : HECUBA. Mother of Paris and Hector.

101. "Little House" antagonist Nellie __ : OLESON. Forgot. We had this before.

102. Popular pieces : REESE'S

103. Physicians' org. : AMA

104. Alexandria lighthouse that's one of the Seven Wonders : PHAROS. Alexandria is also that blue-eyed girl Splynter has been smitten with.

108. Serbs and Croats : SLAVS

111. Future J.D.'s exam : LSAT

113. D-Day fleet : LSTS. Tough to get Sunday grids filled cleanly.

114. Parisian honey : AMIE

116. Biker's wheels : HOG

117. __ es Salaam : DAR

119. Jackie's second : ARI. I read somewhere that his true love was Maria Callas.


120. Taste : SIP

121. Exhibits, as nerve : HAS


C.C.

33 comments:

  1. Greetings!

    Thanks, Joseph and CC!

    Fun puzzle!

    RIA and AMF were perped. Other than that, OK, but rather slow going. Or perhaps I am just really tired.

    Cheers!

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  2. Watched The Imitation Game tonight. Great movie. But sad,

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  3. Morning, all!

    This one WHUMPED me bad. I got the theme early on, which actually helped me with a few theme answers, but in the end I had to turn on the red letter help to get through. My woes started up top where I wanted WHUP and ended up going with WHOOP instead. That totally hid MIRE from me and I figured OIRE must be a french word for something.

    I then had ATLI instead of ATRI (where I really wanted ADANO) which, together with NOSH oN ONES BELT instead of NOSH IN ONES BELT kept RIDE from view. It didn't help that I had IRMA instead of ERMA. Oops. How the heck do you have a nosh IN your belt?

    I did eventually get SHOESTRING CASH, but only after I replaces HAMMOCK with HASSOCK. Not really familiar with the underlying phrase and had no idea who OLESON was. I guessed HECUBA since it was a name I have seen before, even though I wasn't sure who she was.

    I was so proud of myself for getting BEEMISH, except that it should have been BEAMISH. Oops again. That gave me SE_ED for "cut" and I was sure the D was wrong and it would be SEVER. Except that it had to be DOLT since ROLT wasn't a word. And that kept me from getting WICKED WISH, which really would have helped down in the one little area in the SE really killed me. UNITA, SWIG, DUE, APING and SHEEHAN just wouldn't come. I've actually heard of the UNITA range, but today it wouldn't come to me. SHEEHAN was a complete unknown. The rest I just couldn't guess from the clues. Red letter help and random alphabet guessing and changing the kill level to "Regular" was what it took to get 'er done today as a result.

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  4. Good morning!

    Congrats on your premier Sunday effort, Joseph. Got 'er done, but it was a bit of a slog. Hand up for MAMAS. I ADMITted before I LET IN and had STRINGS attached before GENE Wilder fixed that.

    What the heck is a shoestring catch? Is that a sports thingie?

    I know STERE is accurate as a firewood measure, but not in this country. Here it's measured by the cord.

    Nice shoutouts to our "bygone bird", DODO, and to LALA Linda. Linda, where are ya? Also there was that CSO to Boomer with AMF, because Brunswick wouldn't fit.

    I am not a rice connoisseur. No 3-hour process for me. I just put the Uncle Ben's packet in the zapper and 90 seconds later, voila, wild rice.

    Yes, C.C., IMAC is a 4-letter word. I'm thinking of turning it into a piece of lawn art. I'll bet the crows and bluejays would love it.

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  5. This was a really fun puzzle. I got the gimmick early on, which helped. I found the puzzle of average difficulty for a Sunday.
    Charlie Chan had 14 children. The sons had given names as well as numbers. Number 1 son was Lee. Number 2 was Jimmy. Number 3 was Tommy.
    I love MISO soup and also broiled salmon with MISO sauce.
    I knew ABERCROMIE AND FITCH. I never heard of H&M and ZARA. Are they from the Midwest?
    My mom made jelly with PECTIN.
    I know STERE only from x-words.
    I believe SHOESTRING CATCH was so named because the ball is caught just above the ground at shoestring level.
    LSTS seems common enough, so no harm, no foul.
    I'm sure there'll be a photo of a teddy soon.
    Now back to completing my agenda for my square dance club meeting tomorrow. Sorry, Lurker. This is as much a part of my life as golf, biking, and going out for Starbucks are parts of the lives of others. Good exercise. Good friends. Good vibes.

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  6. I thought this required more work than most Sundays with fill I did not know or remember.

    Charlie Chan was a movie machine but was not successful until the character was played by a Caucasian actor. First Swedish Warner Oland who got help from number 1 son. American Sidney Toler took over when Oland died and he relied on number 2 son. When Toler died another American took over but I do not remember his name.

    Okay YR here is your TEDDY pic.

    Until 1968 professional tennis players could not play in the Grand Slam events. Then came the OPEN ERA allowing pros to play. Because As he wanted to play Davis Cup he retained his amateur status, thus winning in 1968 as an amateur. He went on to a very successful pro career.

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  7. Good Morning:

    Well, this certainly gave me a run for my money! 💰💰Even though I caught the theme early enough, I still had trouble in certain areas, especially the Wicked Wish, Due, Swig neighborhood. I had slug before swig and that really fouled me up. I did finish but needed a couple of hints to do so. Also had gel before _ _ _; must be Tin's subconscious influence.

    Congrats, Joseph, on an auspicious Sunday debut and thanks, CC, for the detailed review. Given a second chance, my chosen career would be a chef. 🍽

    YR, how is Alan doing?

    We are in for a cold and windy couple of days. 💨⛄️

    Have a great day.

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  8. Thank you Joseph Groat (any relation to Dick ?) and CC.

    Not my favorite kind of puzzle. I got the gimmick easily enough at MASHPOINT, and that helped tremendously later for ABERCROMBIE AND FISH. By then, I already had most of the others, and realized with FISH it was one of the gimmick fills as well. That was enough to fill in ABERCROMBIE.

    Took quite a while, and I finally got it done, but had to change the game to regular.

    Having Owens where HENIE belonged made for a mess that lasted way too long.

    I first entered ABC (American Bowling Congress) for Bowling initials.

    Besides baseball, "shoestring catch" is also used in football color commentary.

    One liners ? Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

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  9. WBS. Or about 1/2 WBS. Had lots of trouble and lots of erasures. The theme came early and was very helpful, but it didn't give me Nosh in ones belt. That's just wrong. Even Pat Benatar sang "Put another notch on my lipstick case" in her parody of that statement. So....that gave me an O instead of the needed I and wouldn't let me see Ride. Eden was unknown, so the cross was G. Two cells bad at the finale, but I'll take it and move on.

    C.C. The wood parched wild rice I mentioned last week has most of the dark outer husk removed in the curing process, so it cooks much more quickly. I usually blend wild and long grain rice half and half, so I simmer the wild rice portion for about 20 minutes, then add the long grain and simmer it another 20 minutes. Water to rice ratio should be about double...maybe a little more to allow for water loss during cooking. I also add butter to the water before cooking. If you can't find wood parched rice locally and are genuinely interested in trying it, email me and I'll give you the phone number of my supplier. And I promise not to mention eggs.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hmm, haven't done the puzzle yet, & may not have time today.
    but I checked yesterdays late night to see an intriguing Anonymous post
    which I have copied & pasted here:

    "Anonymous said...
    I didn't think of it at the time, but reading the blog it occurs to me that "sandaled" is an adjective as well as a verbed noun."

    Verbed Noun?

    Sorry to tell you puzzlers,
    but crosswording has just got a lot harder...

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  11. A struggle and a DNF today. Too many unknowns were my undoing and blew it at two places; The cross of HECUDA & KEL and ATRI, WHAT THE, & RIDE ( especially after I was kept wanting THUMP before eventually filling WHOMP). I was lucky when I correctly guessed the cross of two other unkowns solved by perps- BOAZ & PICOT. I caught the theme at ESCAPE HASH and that allowed the filling of other theme clues because after two or three passes they were mostly blank. On 25A & 70A, I wanted COD and had FISH but ABERCROMBIE would have never made it without catching the TCH to SH switch (swish?).

    Other unknowns solved by perps were RAI, I BOOK, EDEN, and BEAMISH. OLESON- my wife's best friend growing up as named OHLSEN and I have seen both OLSEN & OLSON but not OLESON. SAABS- I thought they shut down.

    C.C.- before 1968 ALL the tennis players who played at Forest Hills (the U.S. OPEN) were amateurs. Ditto for Wimbledon, the French Open, and the Australian Open. Rod Laver got shafted because turned pro and was not allowed to play from 1962-1967. I know a man at our tennis club who played in the Grand Slams back in the mid 60s. He played against Rosewall, Newcomb, Stan Smith and that bunch. He told me that after the Forest Hills tournament the tennis season was over and really didn't start up again until they went to Europe in the Spring.

    YR- I had never heard of H&M before they opened a store last year in the French Quarter. Zara is a new one for me.

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  12. You can work a long time on a Sunday puzzle and still see, like Alcatraz, a lot of empty cells. I can’t pick a fav theme fill as they were all so clever, even split up!

    Musings
    -Iowa Hawkeyes had way too few Rose Bowl POINTS
    -Apple’s SMART WATCH is making this comic staple of my yute a reality
    -I doubt any fine vintages are encased in JUGS
    -I’d bet someone at C.C.’s house has seen this logo a lot!
    -MOONSHOT – It’s amazing what a national commitment can accomplish
    -MLB players have a PER DIEM of $100.50 allowed for food
    -Verboten 9th commandment COVETING
    -Pre-Gilligan Maynard G. Krebs probably had the most famous GOATEE
    -The YAZOO and MISSISSSIPPI RIVERS form another Mississippi Delta well north of N’awlins
    -It’s -2˚F here, we could use some hot air from a Cong. SESS
    -The RHINO attacks! (:41)
    -After his missed FG cost the Vikings a win, Blair Walsh said, “That’s ON ME!” Then he cried.
    -The editing on those SOUND BITES can reveal biases
    -IKE was born 2 hrs north of the aforementioned Mississippi Delta

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  13. Hello Puzzlers -

    Struggled quite a bit today, especially where the answer didn't seem to satisfy the clue (What The, I'm looking at you). Lots of unknowns. Never heard of Taxco, or Kenan and Kel. Smiled right out loud at Abercrombie and Fish, though!

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  14. I think BUSH CASSIDY is a prolific porn star.

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  15. Hi everybody. I haven't read the comments yet but here is my two-cents worth. I always appreciate and respect what constructors accomplish. But this was less fun and more hard work than usual I thought. There was more fill I just didn't know and the theme didn't make me smile as much as usual. It felt more like a Saturday to me. Now let's see what everybody else had to say.

    BTW, Grandson Jordan (sixth grade) has been taking drum lessons. He has been reticent to play for anybody but last night was his first recital/open mic performance along with others from his music studio. It was a lot of fun but I could understand and appreciate how nervous he was. Poor little guy! But he did well.

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  16. Hi Y'all! Amusing, but definitely tricky puzzle, Joseph. I started out okay then had to do a lot of pick & hunt & WAG. I got the theme early which helped but I struggled with most of them. I would get part of the theme then have to leave them and work elsewhere. The missing letters would dawn on me and I'd go back and fill them in. Red letters were a must.

    Thanks, C.C. for another great expo.

    I was shocked when I put in BOAZ & YAZOO first try and they were both right.

    PECTIN, a gimmee! Wish I had some of my good ol' homemade jam. Making 20-30 jars of jam each of 33 years, I used a lot of PECTIN: Cherry, peach, apple, apricot, strawberry, mulberry-rhubarb, black raspberry, even tomato once. And the aroma in the house of jam-making day!

    Funniest theme entry to me was ABERCROMBIE. The last old geezer I dated had that as a last name and he loved to FISH.

    IKE Turner threw me once again until INA perped in. I was trying to think of an Eisenhower autobiography or the one by the Englishman who tried to discredit IKE.

    Didn't know STERE.

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  17. This is what I pictured mentally for NOSH IN BELT. Just tuck your energy bar in the little pocket.
    Link NOSH IN BELT
    Only words new to me were RAI, KEL, OELSEN. I WAGged Thai for the beer. I knew BOAZ, PICOT, ATRI (crosswordese). A perp or two jogged my memory on the others,
    Lemon, cute TEDDY pics. LOL
    Thanks for caring, Irish Miss. Alan's neck pain and headaches are gone for now, maybe for good. On Friday, after 10 days of medication, we will try ditching the annoying tether. Hopefully everything will be back to normal after three and a half months of dealing with three separate and/or overlapping maladies. Alan is being so brave and patient.

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  18. No, I didn't do the puzzle.
    & after reading the write up, I am glad...
    I need Sundays to be more relaxing, sitting in the hammock...
    (Oh wait! it's snowing outside!)
    Rats!

    A few thoughts that I am sure you don't want to know,
    (just skip to the next post & save yourself...)

    Outback Outlaw = Butch Cassidy?
    I declare a foul at this clue! The only outback outlaw is our beloved Ned Kelly!

    Learning moment: Stere

    Love this pencil drawing! (Wish I could draw/paint!)

    Just found out DW had an adventure w/tornadoes down in Fla...
    100,000 homes without power...
    (Tinbeni! what going on down there!)

    CC, your wild rice comment got me sidetracked...

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    Replies
    1. CED, don't know what Tinbeni experienced in his part of FL, but over the past two days we had some heavy rain and tornado warnings and misc wind damage. This is normally our dry season so getting t-storms in Jan feels more like summer. I'm guessing it's just an odd weather pattern; our temp's are just now getting cool enough to be called "normal"

      Delete
  19. "Puzzling Thoughts":

    To Bill G @ 11:40 - I agree that today's puzzle was more "Saturday" like than what the LAT publishes for Sunday. Almost felt like a NYT Sunday puzzle ... but I digress ...

    WOS, I had CRAVE before COVET; had POSTS before POKES; PBA before AMF; ATLI before ATRI; HAMMOCKS before HASSOCKS; OPELS before SAABS (although I'd never heard of the town; looked German to me); didn't know KEL or HECULA. Overall, I liked the theme and the difficulty, but as I said, it was not Sunday-like

    Just a quick follow-up to one of the Anonymous posters yesterday who got on TTP and me for the Steelers post ... Look, I wasn't asking for it to become an entire separate thread. And while we are all just cyber-aquaintances here, there's bound to be a few moments where we discuss other topics - briefly. No politics nor religion. I'm not one to complain, but if I did I'd do it under my "name" and probably off of the blog. If you (anonymous) were that upset with a football question, send TTP or me an email - criticism is always more sincere when it comes from someone you recognize

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  20. Oh, I almost forgot to say thanks Mr. Groat and CC.

    In listening to the news on the radio or TV, do you notice that everything is 'impacted' these days, not 'affected'? I guess 'impact' has more drama.

    Gary mentioned 'coveting' in the 10 Commandments. Do you ever wonder why it was given so much significance when kidnapping, rape, torture, etc. are left out entirely? It seems odd to me. I think The Golden Rule covers all the bases...

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  21. I liked this puzzle. It was difficult and I did have to turn red letters on. Although I couldn't figure out some of the answers, once I did get an answer it made sense to me and was satisfying. I like the word SCHMALTZ. Laughed out loud at BUSH CASSIDY. Knew BEAMISH because I had once memorized that poem.
    If I could start mt life over again I would choose pretty much the same career: electronic engineer. It's a field I have always been interested in, am good at, and love doing. There are other things in my life I probably would change, such as my major field of study in college and grad school. And, knowing what I know now, I would never have gone into business with that guy who screwed me and everybody else in the company I helped him form back in the early 1980's.
    About miso paste, I confess I know very little about it. I will hazard a guess that I'd prefer a Japanese brand, but that's only a guess.
    We're going to watch the "debates" tonight, simply for the entertainment value. No politics, but I'm actually looking forward to count how many stupid questions are asked and non-answers given. I think it will be at least a dozen.
    Best wishes to you all.

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  22. Bill G, yes on "impacted." It used to irk me, but I have learned not to let it have an impact on me any more.
    I guess if every kind of sin and crime had to be enumerated in the commandments, it would take too long to carve that many tablets, not to mention them being too many and too heavy to carry. Seems a waste to expend two of them (the first two) on a single topic, though.

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  23. Well, this was a real toughie for me, and I had to cheat over and over to get it done. Clever theme, I admit--but forgive me for saying that I miss those sweet, doable Merl Reagle Sunday puzzles in the LA Times for so many years.

    Yellowrocks, so glad to hear Alan is doing better. That's a relief.

    A rare trip to the movies today with friends to see "Brooklyn."

    Have a great Sunday, everybody!

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  24. Hello, friends!
    Almost missed the party today but I've enjoyed all your comments about the puzzle or other topics. When I left this morning most of it was done. The top seemed particularly easy though WHOMP took a while to suss. After that, it was a peck here and a peck there until I could string together a long word or phrase.

    Many erasures mark this puzzle for me; I had GARTERS before GARAGES and once COVET was in, NEVADA and OREGON came along. ABERCROMBIE's has an outlet which is quite popular since it's a discount store and H&M started here about five years ago. I've not heard of Zara's.

    I, too, wanted ADANO but ATRI pushed its way in. And I recall PM EDEN who was long and lean. But then I bumped into some Naticks since I didn't know PICOT and just couldn't drag BOAZ out of memory. UINTA also wouldn't emerge though we've seen it before and hand up for Gen. IKE, not Mr. Turner.

    Yr:
    I hope Alan's progress continues into wellness. He is in my nightly prayers.

    Now it's time to think about dinner as my family will be here in a few hours.

    I hope your day has been wonderful, everyone!

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  25. Thanks for the puzzle Mr. Groat -- always a relief to have something to fiddle with in the midst of shaking rugs in our frigid temps and handling kid crises (the necessity to wash favorite sweatshirt, and youngest tummy hurting among other mommy adventures). Hubby is FL on business with co-worker who reported on tornado warnings to him but he figured she was confused, it being her first visit to the states (typical Swedish reaction to climate once the sun came out "oh! It's glorious!).

    Regarding 10 commandments, it would be really tough on the sacking and pillaging that are documented in the OT if those normal wartime activities were considered sins. Coveting however is a valid issue to address in any self-examination. Most advertising sees to encourage disobeying this commandment.

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  26. Musings 2
    -Bill and Jayce - numerating all the possible sins would require much bigger tablets and after the lawyers and politician get done… “It all depends on what the definition of COVET is” and to hit both parties, “I am not a COVETER.”
    -Downton for us tonight. Bernie is upset at when the Dem. debates were scheduled

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  27. Jayce @ 3:31

    Are you forgetting your Old Testament?

    (I learned all about it right here on this Blog...)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Good evening, folks. Thank you, Joseph Groat, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

    Started the puzzle before church this morning, then worked on it off and on throughout the day. Finally finished a few minutes ago. It was pretty tough.

    Theme came late in the game for me. After I got it, it did help with the theme answers.

    Lots of unknowns that I needed perps and wags for. I will not list then all.

    I thought that AMF owned Brunswick. Just a thought. They used to own Harley Davidson as well.

    I was really impressed at this puzzle. Good job, Joseph.

    Much to do tonight. My wife is watching Downton Abbey right now.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

    ReplyDelete
  29. A Monday fail. Am a bit preoccupied this morning. One of my XP systems has lockups aka freezes at various point in the startup process. Also having problems with Fire
    fox on this Win 7 system.

    Had SERIes rather than SERIAL. No idea who Squiggy's pal was, and soNNY seemed like a plausible answer. Thought I had heard of eRRID. No TADA. Should have paused a second to think about it before entering that first R, which was my last keystroke. Also should have read the clue for 59D. Oh well.

    Thank you Kevin Christian and Argyle.


    Happy Birthday Blue Iris !

    ReplyDelete

  30. Abejo, it is cold isn't it ? My thermometer read -3 at 5:30 this morning, but WGN was reporting temps from the various burbs, and they had us at -8 early.

    When we had that previous cold snap last week, WGN's ever pleasant Nancy Loo was reporting on the weather.

    WGN reporter Nancy Loo gives the best cold weather report you`ll ever hear

    ReplyDelete

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