google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, February 19, 2016, Steven J. St. John

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Feb 19, 2016

Friday, February 19, 2016, Steven J. St. John

Theme:  I almost MIST the theme.

Another blast from the past constructor returns. SJSJ, who pumped out 12 puzzles for the LAT and then disappeared for a few years. He gives us an usual grid with four down fill including the reveal as the theme. You can read his 2013 INTERVIEW in which he expressed his desire to do innovative themes. Many you may have only a HAZY memory of his prior efforts, but I do not thinks this one was too MURKY. What it does feature are some great sparkly fill: EMOTERS,  AT LEAST,  SASSOON,  TRAILER,  HAIRPIN,  NEUTRAL, CLUSTERED TOTAL LOSS,  HUMILIATE,  UNFREEZES and two which are longer than the theme answers: SWEET AS HONEY,  HIGH SPIRITED. Getting all of these and using a minimum of three letter fill was excellent. Let's look.

3D. Suspected of misdeeds : UNDER A CLOUD (11). Brings to mind this from my childhood.
8D. Spent : OUT OF STEAM (10). I am too, I cannot pick any link.

29D. Psychedelic rock classic of 1967 : PURPLE HAZE (10). We start this week with Purple Rain and now we are in a Haze.

And the reveal:
23D. State Department neighborhood ... and what 3-, 8- and 29-Down all have? : FOGGY BOTTOM (11). There is a STORY about this name. I wonder how many knew this trivia? I got the fill from the perps, not sure if I would have recalled the name. Time for a tune.
Across:

1. Fry : SAUTE. We are starting out with another puzzle that Steve would enjoy. This is from the French for Jumped, I guess because the oil is so hot?

6. Kung __ chicken : PAO. In which the meat is sauteed!!

9. Market Fresh sandwich and salad seller : ARBY'S. Three food clues to begin, wow.
14. Time of old Rome : ANNUM. Year in Latin.

15. Unevenly distributed, in a way : CLUSTERED.

17. Brought on : LED TO.

18. Write-off : TOTAL LOSS. March 15, business tax return day is fast approaching.

19. Charming : SWEET AS HONEY. This was hard and took a lot of perps but is very fresh fill.

21. D.C.'s Walter __ National Military Medical Center : REED. I learned of this hospital when Eisenhower had his heart attack.

22. Mennen lotion : AFTA.

23. Govt. mtge. insurer : FHA. Federal Housing Administration

26. One hoping to provide many happy returns? : CPACertified Public Accountant (I wonder what they call private accountants?).

28. Hammer number : RAP. MC Hammer that is.

30. Big name in hairstyling : SASSOON. Vidal.

32. Hyperbola part : ARC.

33. Sudden stream : SPURT.

35. Pull on : TUG AT.

36. Flee : BOLT.

38. Adjudicates : TRIES. And the companion 31D. Seek redress : SUE.

40. Maple syrup target : EGGO. The waffles. Food!

41. Nearly : ABOUT.

43. Take badly? : POACH.  Tricky clue and a cooking term.

45. Taoist complement : YIN. Love the compliment complement deception.

46. Uncommitted : NEUTRAL.

48. Farrow of film : MIA. She was young once (PEYTON PLACE) and caught the eye of Frank and other older men.Sinatra. Her mother was Maureen O'Sullivan who went to school with Vivian Leigh in England.

49. Ottoman title : BEY.

50. Tack on : ADD.

51. "A Death in the Family" author : AGEE. One of many who died young from hard living in the 1950s. LINK.

53. Relative of Rex : FIDO. More Rover, Rex and Fido talk?

55. Energetic and enthusiastic : HIGH SPIRITED. Great long fill and never used before.

59. Run up the score on : HUMILIATE. I bet the New England fans did not like this ARTICLE.

62. Place for a Char-Broil : PATIO.

63. Removes restrictions on, as funds : UNFREEZES. Freezing assets is a very powerful tool for law enforcement.

64. Hole __ : IN ONE. Golf.

65. Third-longest African river : NIGER. behind the Nile and the Congo; 14th longest in the world.

66. Uncertain no. : EST.

67. Handles : NAMES.

Down:

1. "Do the Right Thing" pizzeria : SAL'S. The downs too start with food.
2. From the top : ANEW.

4. Certain student : TUTEE. 

5. Hams : EMOTERS. I think they are really over-emoters.

6. First-serve figs. : PCTS. Tennis percentage which are "in."

7. Island reception : ALOHA.

9. If nothing else : AT LEAST. Or maybe at the very least.

10. Depend : RELY.

11. Pal : BRO.

12. Start of an engagement? : YES. Really cute clue for a simple fill as it is accurate that the engagement starts when he/she says yes.

13. '60s protest org. : SDS. Students for a Democratic Society. This GROUP was very active during my college days.

16. Big bag carrier : SANTA. A nice CSO to Argyle. Do you carry one of these BAGS?
20. Modify to fit : ADAPT.

24. Philly trademark : HOAGIE. Food again!

25. "They that have done this deed are honourable" speaker : ANTONY. Our Friday dose of Shakespeare. JULIUS CAESAR  Act 3, Scene 2.

26. Changing place : CABANA. A familiar site for all Floridians.
27. Examined closely : PROBED. Some ALIEN ideas?

34. Brazilian-themed Vegas hotel, with "The" : RIO. Home of the WSOP.
37. Tsk relative : TUT.

39. Nebula Award genre : SCI FI.

42. One may begin with "In a world ... " : TRAILER. Movie trailer.  LINK

44. U-shaped, more or less : HAIRPIN.

47. Longhorn rival : AGGIE. Texas rival Texas A&M.

52. Adlai's running mate : ESTES. In JFK wanted the nomination as VP and Stevenson wanted him but the delegates picked KEFAUVER. He served with Al Gore's father and made many enemies by being against segregation.

54. 1997 Elton dedicatee : DIANA.He redid his tribute to Marilyn.

55. "Spenser: For __" : HIRE. I really enjoy the books created by Robert PARKER.

56. Annoyance : PEST.

57. Hessian article : EINE.

58. Achieves : DOES.

59. Fifth-century conqueror : HUN.  ATTILA anyone?

60. Athlete's wear, for short : UNIform. Not to be confused with university in the English speaking world.

61. It increases during plant growth: Abbr. : MFG. I love this clue, as manufacturing clearly increases when a plant gets bigger.

Welcome back SJ squared. Thanks for the ride. Italian festival week end here.
Enjoy all. Lemonade out.

50 comments:

  1. Greetings!

    Thanks, SJS and Lemonade!

    Great puzzle!

    PCTS was perped.

    No problems. Just tick a while.

    Cheers!



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  2. Morning, all!

    I got to the theme reveal before getting any of the theme answers, and figuring that out let me change PURPLE RAIN to PURPLE HAZE and figure out what went with UNDER______ at 3D, so that was nice.

    Had CLUTTERED instead of CLUSTERED, which had me wondering who or what TANTA was with a big bag until the light bulb went on. D'OH...

    Totally didn't understand PCTS as clued, and not sure I do even after reading the explanation. Tennis is not my sport.

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    Replies
    1. Tennis stats include % of first serves in, won; second serves in and won, etc.

      Delete
  3. Good morning!

    Hand up for RAIN. Once again, I didn't get the theme. Thought SWEET AS HONEY and HIGH SPIRITED must have been part of it. Noop!

    DW was born at Walter REED, so that one was a gimme.

    Nowadays, CLUSTERED can have a totally different meaning.

    Thanx, Lemon and Sinjun.

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  4. Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Fun and challenging Friday puzzle with lots of misdirections. This could be entitled Louisiana mornings, as we have had many days of very heavy fog in the past few weeks.

    The Walter Reed National Military Center was named in honor of Walter Reed (1851 ~ 1902), who is credited with confirming the theory that Yellow Fever was spread by mosquitos. This was important in stemming the mortality of workers building the Panama Canal. Sadly, the facility closed in 2011.

    EGGO because Pancakes wouldn't fit in the spaces provided.

    Take Badly = POACHED was my favorite clue of the puzzle.

    I saw Do the Right Thing, which is Spike Lee's 1989 movie about race relations in Brooklyn, when i was living in France. It didn't translate well.

    QOD: I have a writer’s memory, which makes everything worse than maybe it actually was. ~ Amy Tan (b. Feb. 19, 1952)

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  5. Well the crosses started with food, SAUTE, PAO, ARBY'S, which didn't help me much. After that the paper was still white for a while. There were no unknowns, just misdirecting tricky clues. First serve percentage- who but a tennis player who also watches on tv would know that? Third longest African river- I knew CONGO wouldn't work but had never heard of a UNIform called a 'UNI'. NIGER is a country so I guess it has a 'river'.

    The fill that opened today's puzzle was correctly guessing PURPLE HAZE and PEST. I knew ESTES. I finished in the EGGO, YIN, BEY, ANTONY area. I vaguely remembered FOGGY BOTTOM because I wasn't certain which government insurer- SALLY, FANNY, FREDDY, GINNY, or the correct Federal Housing Administration initials would be correct. And remembering the commercial " If you don't look good, I don't look good' helped the WAG of Vidal SASSOON.

    REX- Mardi Gras was last week and I was thinking king, not dog. FIDO came slowly after eventunally guessing SCI-FI
    This was a tough but fair puzzle without the usual popular cultural clues- movie, movie star and singer names. Those are always the killers for me.

    'Char-Broil' three burner grill. I got one five years ago and it cooked so unevenly that after one summer I rolled it to the street and put a sign on it saying 'FREE- TAKE IT'. It was gone in about an hour. Went to Lowes and bought a Weber.

    Hahtoolah- I kept thinking maybe somebody put syrup of their EGGS before EGGO came with the V8.

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  6. Good fun, thanx SJSJ!! And I managed to get 'er done, too! Seemed more like a Wednesday or Thursday to me. For once, I got the reveal! Terrific write-up, thanx, Lemonade!!

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  7. Good Morning:

    Nice to see SJSJ's byline; it's been awhile. The puzzle was chewy in spots but ultimately quite doable. I had caddy before Santa-sorry Argyle! Pcts. means nothing to me, as clued, as I don't follow tennis.

    Thanks, Steve and Lemony, for a Friday challenge and recap.

    Our weather remains dry and relatively mild, for February. I can't believe that we'll get through the winter without at least one major snowfall, but stranger things have happened.

    Have a great day.

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  8. WUFS: unclefred, me, too. Surprisingly easy for a Friday. Just enough crunch.

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  9. The first trailer shown on the link to TRAILER did not begin with the words "In a world . . . ." It took a couple of minutes to get to those words. In fact, the site linked is titled "The Best Movie Trailers Containing the Words 'In a World... '." FOUL.

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  10. Hello Puzzlers -

    Hand up for Purple Rain first. The theme helped clear up that error. Tried Scattered before Clustered. Took too long to remember Aggie, even though my aunts & uncles went to UT Austin and were apparently the sworn enemies of Aggies.

    We've had Sal and Do The Right Thing appear in a few puzzles - dunno the movie, is it any good?

    Morning, Lemon, I had no knowledge of Mia Farrow's early career, or that she was so attractive.

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  11. I thought it was going to be easy today when I filled in the first three answers. I was wrong. The next entries were REED, AFTA and FHA, so again I thought I was on a roll. The last entries across were MIA, ADD, PATIO and INONE, which left a lot of blanks. Ergo today was a slog, but I did ultimately finish it. Perps to the rescue.

    Hand up for AGA vs. BEY. Wanted CLUMPED vs. CLUSTERED, but it was a few letters short. I put maple syrup on pancakes and I put Chicken (shredded) and Gravy on EGGOs (ie. waffles)(it's a Pennsylvania Dutch thing.)

    All in all today's puzzle was challenging but doable. I liked the misdirections and tricky clues. They made it a true Friday puzzle. Good work SJSJ and liked your write-up and links Lemon.

    Here is a little Bolero to get your hearts going this morning.

    Have a great day everyone.

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  12. Peyton Place was quite the salacious TV pleasure when I was young and it had a great CAST for television. Coincidentally, a friend of mine was dating a girl who went to Masters School in Dobbs Ferry and they arranged for me to go there and visit with her best friend, a young lady named Tippy Walker who had just finished filming a movie with Peter Sellers called The World of Henry Orient. She later worked on Peyton Place for a couple of years, so I had an interest in the show.

    Mia Farrow was pretty girl also.

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  13. oc4beach, yay for chicken and gravy or turkey and gravy on home made waffles. Yummy!

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  14. Lemon: Wonderful write-up and links.

    SJSJ: Thank You for a FUN Friday puzzle with a great theme.

    Fave today was PURPLE HAZE ... ahh, the memory's of my youth. lol

    Off to Honeymoon Island and a walk on the "dog-beach" ... probably will get sunburned.

    Cheers!

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  15. Despite total confusion at most of these clues, I ended up with only eight words wrong or missed: AGEE, AGGIE (ANGUS), HUMILIATE, ESTES, unFREEZES, NIGER, ESt, purple RAIN. Too many local references and expressions unknown to me. After 42 years here, I'm still learning the lingo.

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  16. Lemonade that was some masterful punning in the write up. Made me think I should have teamed up with you to try for a Sunday.

    I heard somewhere that Rich Norris is a tennis fan. No idea if that's true, but I wrote the clue for PCTS with that in mind.

    My clue for POACH was "Take without license"; I liked the pun on license but the re-written "Take badly?" is punchier and more surprising.

    My hiatus was writer's block, mostly. I caught a little fire several months ago and sent off a few to Rich, so expect a couple of more this year. However, the writer's block came back again, so it may be awhile until I become a regular again...

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  17. Good morning everyone.

    Got the whole shebang except for one fill. Had cluttered instead of CLUSTERED, so missed SANTA. (Never got a big bag from Santa, so the clue went wide.)
    Liked the theming but had difficulty seeing a direct connection with FOGGY BOTTOM per se. Attended a number of annual meetings there with Canadian counterparts concerning boundary waters matters.
    17a - Brought on - Had laded before LED TO.
    33a - Sudden stream - reminded me of my visit yesterday to the urologist.

    Thank you (SJ)² for a great puzzle.

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  18. Being raised as a child of a single parent with all the associated financial struggles, we were very familiar with "maple syrup" and Eggo "waffles". Only when our situation improved and we began to make real waffles with a waffle iron and utilized real maple syrup from a local sugar shack did I come to realize what I was really missing. I am surprised Aunt Jemima and Log cabin can call their corn syrup concoctions "maple syrup". Also, 'round here we mistakenly called it 'surp'.

    Hmmm, this weekend, I may need to pull out the ol' iron and make my favorite version, adding bits of bacon(precooked) to the bottom iron before adding the batter. Fruit bits will be added to other batches for the wifey.

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  19. I walked away from todays offering twice and each time I returned more blanks were filled in, but in the end an FIW. Had rue for 31D &n sasroon for 30A. Never heard of SASSOON. Began with IRS for 26A. CABANA & PROBE looked better then iabana & rrobed, so I settled for CPA. And it gave me the finish for 3D. Enjoyed the challenge, but I usually spell something wrong on the tougher puzzles.

    Thought Jock was more appropriate for 60D, but one space short. Aces was my first fill for 6D.

    Irish Miss, you may get your BIG storm. The weather folks are beginning ti mumble something or other about this coming Tues/Wed time frame. Hope they are wrong.

    Have a nice weekend.

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  20. Hi gang -

    Steven - great to hear from you. Took a while to get on your wave length, but I got there eventually.

    Fun puzzle. Nice way to play with the vertical theme fill.

    Yeah - RAIN before HAZE. Was baffled by MFG. D'OH!

    Gotta run - having lunch with a couple of the grand kiddies today.

    Happy weekend, everyone, and

    Cool Regards!
    JzB

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  21. Fun Friday, thanks, SJ. FOGGY BOTTOM was actually one of my first fills, so helped with the themers. I knew of Walter Reed - the local middle school here is named for him, so I looked him up a little while ago to see what he was all about.

    As Lemon said, plenty of food to keep me happy - although I'm not sure EGGO fits the food category :)

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  22. Hello, friends!

    This is one of the easiest Friday's in a long time. I was expecting a tough Jeff Wex.

    I'm having a hard time typing as my fingers want to follow the beat of Ravel. WEES. RAIN/HAZE, AGA/BEY. I went to a SASSOON salon once and learned they have a complicated tier for their stylists, from rookie to most accomplished with proportionate pricing, too. Never returned.

    Take badly? POACHED was my favorite clue/answer as well. I love the movie, Oh, Brother, Where art Thou?

    Well done, SJSJ and Lemonade, always a big thank you to you for your fine analysis.

    Have yourselves a wonderful day, everyone! R.I.P. Harper Lee

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  23. “On a clear day, you can see forever” and I did on this easy Friday well summed by Lemon.

    Musings
    -Subbing with nothing to do today. Should I give back the $135?
    -Every prez candidate seems to UNDER some sort of A CLOUD
    -Every thing at State seems FOGGY
    -Spicy Kung PAO chicken makes George sweat and look guilty (1:01)
    -My T-BONED (yesterday’s clever grid) car was TOTALED
    -As I’ve said previously, I use this AFTA “befoe” I shave
    -I didn’t need a CPA but I messed up and am getting a $1,000 refund!
    -A beautiful Hyperboloid building part
    -One idea to curtail POACHING
    -HIGH SPIRITED kids are a pain when subbing
    -What sometimes happens after one coach thinks the other ran up the score
    -Iranian assets are becoming UNFROZEN after the nuclear deal
    -“If you’re not going to do anything, AT LEAST don’t bother the other kids”
    -On the right is a real occupant of Downton Abbey (really Highclere Castle), Lord Carnarvon (the Fifth Earl of Carnarvon) who financed the discovery of TUT’S tomb

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  24. UNI: UNIform. I've heard it more in terms of a UNItard or UNIsuit. But I would have preferred a clue more like "a University in Northern Iowa". Or howzabout "Eyebrows which are definitely not 'on fleek'" (UNIbrow). Also, not a fan of the PCT clue.

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  25. Had a harder time than usual doing it on my phone.
    There is a glitch with the LATimes site that is causing the last word of many clues to be omitted.

    Maple syrup=eggos?
    Start of an=yes?

    Luckily I knew Foggy Bottom as daughter #2 goes to Washington U.

    I am typing
    This from the University of Michigan
    Inbetween daughter#3 auditions.

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  26. Welcome back, Mr. Puzzle Creator.

    Fairly straightforward clueing and thus a solve. Nicely constructed.

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  27. YR: Glad to hear I'm not the only one who likes Chicken and Gravy on waffles. We had it this week. I've watched Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives where their idea of Chicken and Waffles is fried chicken on waffles with maple syrup on it. No Way.

    Another good PA Dutch meal is Ham Pot Pie (Actually Ham Bot Boi) which is Ham and potatoes in a thick broth along with doughy noodles which some in the South would call dumplings.

    Plus we can't forget Scrapple, but that is an acquired taste. LOL

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  28. This was the first Friday crossword in a long time that I completed without ANY cheats, neither to look up nor confirm. It was great for my morale, and not a slam against Mr. St. John's toughness. This was no pushover. His cluing was both cunning and fair. "Take badly?" for POACH was my favorite, with "It increases during plant growth" for MFG a close second.
    Thank you, Lemonade for a very nice write-up, including reminiscences that parallel mine. I never joined SDS but they had my sympathies. I tended to do my protesting independently of the organizers - although I did join the throng at San Francisco's City Hall when HUAC came to town in 1960. This led to the "police riot" that was said to be the Start of It All.

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  29. Thanks Mr. SJSJ. I enjoyed all the clever parts of your puzzle, both yours and Rich's. I realize that, in general, Friday puzzles may be just beyond my ability level to finish without using Google from time to time. Hard but fun for me. Also, thanks Lemon.

    For years, ever since Valley Talk became a 'thing,' I have been cursed with the inability to overlook "likes." I had a student many years back who was unable to ask me an algebra question without several "likes" per sentence. When I come across some of the aspiring youngish TV stars speaking off the cuff on late night talk shows, I am astounded at how many "likes" they can squeeze into every sentence; often about four or five every 15 seconds. Amazing!

    Another more recent trend is the use of "air quotes," that is, quotation marks made in the air with one's fingers while speaking. Some people have caught it bad. The funny thing is, I can't tell what it is about their words that seems to necessitate their use of air quotes.

    I don't go looking for these kinds of things but once I notice them, I can't seem to ignore them.

    I never thought of scrapple as an acquired taste. I've enjoyed it since a child. my grandmother and uncle used to raise and butcher hogs. I can't remember if they made scrapple but their homemade sausage was excellent. To me, scrapple is not that different from sausage.

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  30. BillG @ 1:58,
    I haven't noticed any increase in air quotes in my neck o' the woods, but "like" often grabs my unwilling attention. Once a person picks up the habit, it is apparently as impossible to shake as it is for listeners to ignore. I believe in many victims or "carriers," it takes the place of "um."

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  31. Mr. Ol' Man Keith (may I just call you Sir Keith?), you may have to stoop to watching talk shows on TV to notice the uptick in air quotes. Once you come across an acquaintance who has acquired the habit, the infection's symptoms are persistent. I still don't know what it is in their speech that triggers their need to "quote" something. More research is required.

    I'm sure you are right about "um" being one predecessor of "like." I think another is "you know."

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  32. Had trouble signing on this morning because of those Google issue. But hopefully this will work.

    Just wanted to thank Steven St. J. for checking in with us this morning. It's always exciting to hear about the construction process. And I enjoyed Lemonade's expo.

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  33. Bill G: I agree with you on the use of like. I had a number of younger employees who would use it all the time. After a while I would stop them when they would use it and ask them "like what?" It would stop their train of thought and sometimes it exasperated them. I then would explain that in the business world people that made it didn't pepper their sentences with "like." I wasn't always popular, but I got my message across.

    WRT scrapple: I love it and my kids, who were picky eater as children, love it. My wife, on the other hand, who grew up on a farm and helped butcher pigs considers that the ingredients of scrapple are what they would throw away or try to feed to the dogs. I guess there is no accounting for taste.

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  34. Love scrapple. I grew up with it. Here I often order a scrapple sandwich for breakfast. I especially like the outside crispy. The only way I like Bot Boi is left over, then chilled and fried until the bottom is crisp. I always hoped the family would not eat it all at the first meal. You can tell I was raised on many fried foods,a life long preference.
    True, if you like sausage made from scraps of meat, scrapple is the same idea.

    Off to the urologoist again for Alan. Hope to nip it in the bud. Think I qualify as a health coordinator? When I am gone who will carry this on?

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  35. This was, like, a really good puzzle, yanno? I like, liked it a lot! Amazing! I mean, really amazing! You all are, like, SOOOOO fun to read! You make me "laugh," yanno? Well, I, like, gotta go to "work" now.

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  36. I started with a lot of white but perseverance and some Google help let me finish. Thanks SJSJ and Lemon. I didn't understand PCTS and MFG until I came here.

    This Canadian knew Walter REED but not FOGGY BOTTOM.
    I smiled at the clue for CPA.

    I had Peered before PROBED. We had PROBE yesterday as a car. (Loved PK's story!)

    Long ago, I had one haircut at SASSOON in Toronto.

    Enjoy the day.

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  37. Enjoyed the puzzle, though it was pretty tough. Did not know the place name Foggy Bottom from real life, so had to rely on perps for most of that fill, but it all became clear. And it's always nice to hear from the constructor. Thanks for dropping by, SJ, and thanks for the expo, Lemon.

    Jeaopordy alert. The Knights of Ni are featured in a question. But I think the answer should have been disqualified since it was said in a normal tone of voice. :-)

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  38. Jayce, so you're all like stoked about this puzzle? Like, I know, right? It was so like AWESOME!

    Avg J, how do you know about Jeopardy so early? It's still four hours away here. Even time zones won't account for that.

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  39. Bill, we've had this conversation. It's on on our local CBS affiliate at 4:30 PM local. Jeopardy is evidently a bit of a rogue when it comes to syndication rights, since it appears on any number of networks, and at a variety of times. I'm not even sure it airs on CBS or at 4:30 in the Omaha market.

    Or it could just be that we're special! :-)

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  40. RIP Jim Davenport? Was he the former Giants third baseman? Had not heard the bad news. His son, Gary, was a coach on the Norwich, Ct Giants Double A team for a couple of years. Got to know him a bit. Majority of Gary's career was in Italy. Jim played on a lot of the Giant's really good 60's teams.

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  41. Just Recently I heard a British celebrity sprinkle his conversation with "like"; what a disillusion! I've always admired the British for their good English grammar skills. But apparently they are not immune to infection.

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  42. Yes Hondo, the very one. I heard about his padding on ESPN radio and thought of you immediately. I'm still butt hurt that no one here acknowledged an American icon earlier this week and I soon as I heard about Harper Lee I knew she would be honored immediately. Just making a statement for the conservative and sports minded people who also enjoy crosswords. Petty? Yes. But I really admire Justice Scalia and Giant Davenport. Judge me if you will.

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  43. First time I have completed a Friday puzzle, generally the 2nd most difficult of the week for me, Friday the hardest. I never do these looking for a theme or if unconsciously I miss the connection.
    This was fun. Now on to the Saturday impossible one!

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  44. *passing. Not padding

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  45. I don't know much about Davenport. Justice Scalia was not an icon for me personally. I look forward to see what you will post honoring these two people you admire.

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  46. Hi All!

    That was fun SJSt.J! Oh, no I didn't finish it....

    I started this puzzle while on a conference call to update a box in Egypt. It took us 3 hours to get things right and in that time got about 75% good. I wish I could show y'all the mess in my grid.

    With EGY done, I took a nap and DW & I celebrated our 27th churchiversary (we were married by law in Sept and in God's eyes today) by packing up MIL's apt. for the big move to BIL's tomorrow.

    Gimme 3 more hours & maybe I'd have broken up the east-coast & south west. :-)

    Thanks SJSt.J for some fun fill (like'd SWEET AS HONEY) and orthogonal clues (NEUTRAL & FIDO spring to mind). Thanks Lem for kickin' it off w/ your write-up.

    WOs. Scattered b/f CLUSTERED and I can't read under the other piles of ink to figure out what I thought originally.

    Fav - c/a for POACHED. I also smiled at c/a for CPA.

    Well in a week or so MIL will be on-blog w/ us. Be nice and don't tell her what I said :-)

    I won't, like, you know, "pipe" in on today's irritants.

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  47. Sorry, BillG, that my admiration today did not include any girls with attractive personalities that you are so fond of.

    Justice Scalia is easily researched. So it must be known of his allegiance to the original drafters of the greatest document ever to be written. He dedicated his life to honoring this document all the while enjoying life and loved ones.

    ReplyDelete

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