google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, March 17th, 2016 Jerry Edelstein

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Mar 17, 2016

Thursday, March 17th, 2016 Jerry Edelstein

Theme: "Rooting around"

36A. Patrick Creadon documentary about SpongeBob ... and what's found in this puzzle's circles : SQUARE ROOTS

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! Don't drink green beer! (the Irish don't). However, they would enjoy this little ditty from the Dropkick Murphys.

Four sets of circles show four ROOTs with nice symmetry - the "R" occupies the NW, NE, SE, SW in turn. The reveal was fun, I'd not heard of the book but it filled itself in quite nicely.

A friend of mine is the voice of Squidward in the series. It became apparent how successful it was becoming when he bought a Corvette.

Right then - let's see what else we've got of note.

Across:

1. Family nickname : MAMA

5. Religion with Five Pillars : ISLAM. Faith, Prayer, Fasting, Charity and making the pilgrimage to Mecca.

10. NCO rank : MSGT. SSGT went in first. This one is Master Sergeant.

14. Word with man or horse : IRON. Iron horse is now an almost-archaic term for a steam locomotive. It's also a great winery in Sonoma, much more up my alley.

15. Black Panthers co-founder : SEALE. Unknown to me. Crosses bailed me out.

16. Gillette product : ATRA

17. Stub __ : A TOE

18. Strains : TAXES. Taxes strain my feelings of goodwill towards the IRS.

19. Go fast : ZOOM

20. Concerning : INRE. I learned this from reading Hunter S. Thompson's "Gonzo Letters" books.

22. Postgame postmortem : RECAP

24. Baby seal : PUP

25. Oahu resident, for example : ISLANDER. I tried HAWAIIAN first. Saw the error of my ways eventually.

27. Wake : ROUSE

29. AAA suggestion : RTE.

30. Source of a nutritious oil : COD. Cod liver, particularly

31. Sorted homogeneously : GROUPED

33. Rearward : ASTERN

35. Dirty money : GRIFT. Tried GRAFT. Changed it.

39. "¿Cómo está __?" : USTED

40. Emergency room concern : TRAUMA

43. Supposed : REPUTED

46. What -ess may denote: Abbr. : FEM. Feminine. Some PC-types get affronted by actress, heiress and the like. Me, not so much,

47. Spoiled : BAD

48. Licorice-flavored seed : ANISE

49. Animals that fight by necking : GIRAFFES

51. V x CCXXI : MCV. Roman math. Computers would never have been able to cope.

52. Bemused states : DAZES

55. Mineo and Maglie : SALS. Mineo I knew. Maglie, not so much.I discover he was a baseball pitcher in the '40s and '50s. C.C. would have known this.

56. It may be caught in the flue : SOOT

58. 2014 Olympics city : SOCHI. The hotels were all falling to pieces before they'd even been built. I wonder what the place looks like now?

60. Carry : TOTE

62. Uffizi hangings : ARTE

63. Where to find a full house : POKER

64. Past its prime : WORN

65. Rural agreement : YES'M

66. Long-legged wader : STORK

67. Yank who missed the 2014 season : A-ROD. Not voluntarily, I might add.

Down:

1. Hamm with a kick : MIA. US Women's National Team legendary soccer player

2. Recording pros : ARTISTS

3. Saturn ring components : MOONLETS

4. End of __ : AN ERA

5. Real end : IST

6. Scorched : SEARED

7. More lenient : LAXER. I think I'd say "more lax" than "laxer". Seems more proper.

8. Knighted Guinness : ALEC. Obi-Wan Kenobi portrayer in Star Wars, amongst other great roles.


9. Plateau cousin : MESA

10. 1960 Pirate World Series hero, familiarly : MAZ. Bill Mazeroski hit the series-winning home run against the Yankees in the ninth inning of Game 7. Impressive stuff. People still gather at the site of the old stadium (the campus of the University of Pittsburgh) on the anniversary of the game, and listen to a recording of the play-by-play.

11. Clog : STOP UP

12. Complain : GROUSE

13. Packed tightly : TAMPED

21. Covered with a hard coating : ENCRUSTED

23. Projected financial statements : PRO FORMAS

25. Author Levin : IRA

26. Give : DONATE

28. Word in a home run call : OUTTA. "It's up, it's long and it's OUTTA here!". Maz's home run probably got similar treatment.

31. Watchdog warning : GRR

32. Mob member : RIOTER

34. Top-of-the-line Hyundai whose name means "horse" in Latin : EQUUS

35. H.S. equivalency test : G.E.D. General Equivalency Diploma.

37. Arizona Cardinal mascot Big __ : RED. Here's my quibble of the day - the team name is Arizona Cardinals, with an "s". It's the NCAA's Stanford who are the Cardinal (the color, not the bird).


38. It's under the hardwood : SUBFLOOR

41. Baton user : MAESTRO

42. They can be classified : ADS

43. "Kitchen Nightmares" host Gordon : RAMSAY. He was a professional soccer prospect in his native Scotland when he suffered a ligament injury at aged 16. Owners of unhygienic restaurants and Hell's Kitchen contestants have come to regret that fact.

44. "Play it again, Sam!" : ENCORE

45. Dance turns : PIVOTS

46. Toy company co-founder Herman : FISHER. Along with Irving Price, Herman's wife Helen, and Helen Schelle. History does not record why Schelle was left off the naming roster.

49. Insurance spokeslizard : GECKO. Annoying little bugger, I have to say.

50. Islamic ruling : FATWA

53. Lethal snakes : ASPS

54. Type of baggy '40s suit : ZOOT. Sharp!


57. President pro __ : TEM. From the Latin "pro tempore" "for the time being".

59. Annoy : IRK

61. Apt answer for this puzzle location : END. I *think* this clue was probably intended to read "Apt answer for this clue location". It doesn't make a whole lot of sense otherwise.

That's about it. No St. Patrick's jollity for me today - I'll be en route between San Jose and San Diego. I'll save my fun for the weekend when I get back to LA.

Be careful out there!

Steve

Aaaaanddddd ... here's the grid.


82 comments:

  1. The fracas over GMOs was coming home to roost.
    Potatoes had been found a-growing on SQUARE ROOTS.
    The mathies said, "How radical!"
    The farmers said, "Heretical!"
    The taters didn't say a word about their tuber ruse!

    GIRAFFE logged on to love-lorn sites with profiles to DONATE
    The algorithm rumbled, then produced a perfect date.
    Long of limb and lengthy neck,
    And so he said, Oh, what the heck,
    And that's how he and STORK became each others perfect mate!

    [Yeah, pretty lame today. Sorry.]

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  2. Morning, all!

    No circles, no theme joy for me today. Puzzle played on the slow side for me, and I had to guess at the crossing of MSGT and MAZ. Fortunately, I guessed correctly, but I almost went with TSGT/TAZ.

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  3. Well, very slow fill for me today, and ended up with a technical DNF. SSGT or MSGT? I didn't know which it would be, and couldn't remember MAZ . So set the one square aside for later, while I tried to remember 10d answer. Then forgot about it. Thought I had the CW finished, came here, and when comparing my answers to Steve's suddenly realized I'd left the square blank. Don't know MAZ, so had I filled in the square it woulda been a 50/50 shot. I probably would have guessed TAZ anyway, and gotten it wrong. Grr!! Favorite clue: Animals that fight by necking. Thanx for the fun CW, Jerry!! Thanx for the nice write-up, Steve!! My own fault for the DNF. Thanx for the limericks, Owen!! Hope everyone has a good St. Patrick's Day.

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  4. And what's wrong with green beer? I bought green food color yesterday with that in mind!

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  5. Good morning!

    Hand up for the TAZ/MAZ conundrum. GRAFT/GRIFT, too. Otherwise, this was a fast Thursday outing -- normal Tuesday time. Never got the theme, natch. Never noticed the circles, also natch.

    Steve, I think that final clue is OK. It is the END of the puzzle.

    AWAD's word of the day is PANGRAM. Anu even gave an example of a 26-letter pangram sentence: Mr. Jock, TV quiz PhD, bags few lynx.

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  6. Good Morning, Steve and friends. I had fun with this a fairly easy puzzle for a Thursday. I did have a number of missteps, however.

    The M in MSGT was my last fill. SSGT is the crossword default answer.

    I also tried Triage in lieu of TRAUMA for the Emergency Room Concern.

    I had enough letters to know we were looking for ISLANDER for the Oahu resident, although Hawaiian was my first instinct.

    Do people still use AAA for RTEs? Now that the GPS is on my phone, we don't seek routes from AAA anymore.

    Interesting to have ISLAM and FATWA in the same puzzle.

    Robert “Bobby” George Seale (b. 1936) founded the Black Panther Party with Huey Newton (1942 ~ 1989) in 1966.

    Today is Mia HAMM's 44th Birthday.

    We had to replace the SUBFLOOR in our den and bedroom a few years ago. It was a mess. I hope I never have to go through that process again.

    QOD: You can only go forward by making mistakes. ~ Alexander McQueen (Mar. 17, 1969 ~ Feb. 11, 2010)

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    Replies
    1. Re: AAA for RTEs and the like. I can recall family vacations in the early 1960's with a Triptik and Hotel/Motel guide in hand, courtesy of AAA. With GPS and TripAdvisor those have become extinct. I always made sure my folks chose a motel with a swimming pool and A/C!

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  7. This puzzle covered three week days for me. The North was Monday, the Central was Wed, & the South was Friday. No circles as usual, but it did not matter.

    10D, MAZ & 55A Sals were welcomed baseball clues. SAL Maglie was the starting Giant pitcher the first time I went to the Polo Grounds. Giants beat the Reds 7 to 3.

    Steve, I don't get your issue with 37D. Big Red is the mascot for the Ariz Cardinals . Stanford has nothing to do with it.

    I also had Graft before GRIFT.

    The South was a struggle. RAMSAY, SOTHI, FATWA, & FISHER were slow arriving. In the end, an FIW. 49D was spelled GETkO. Never heard of SOCHI so SOtHi looks ok to me. I always think it's GETkO.

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  8. Happy birthday Martha P . Enjoyed the puzzle tho grouse and grift were new to me.

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  9. Very clever puzzle - knowing each would be ROOT after the first one made it a quicker solve. WEES about MAZ vs TAZ.

    @Hondo - I think what Steve was saying was that the clue should have been Arizona Cardinals' Mascot not Arizona Cardinal Mascot.

    Happy St. Pat's - for reasons unknown to me - Missouri Institute of Science and Technology in Rolla, MO has it's biggest celebration for St. Patrick's day- a 3-4 day celebration. Guess the engineers have to let loose sometime!

    Thanks Steve and Jerry!

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  10. Top O the morning! Enjoyed the puzzle and got the theme after the second square root filled in. But did fall into the Taz trap, so a FIW.

    Thank you Steve. I agree with your nit. I have one of my own. Big Red is anything but a pro team mascot in these parts.

    Beware amateur night. We'll be having our Corned Beast and cabbage at home.

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  11. GRIFT is not dirty money; it's the means of getting dirty money (unless you subscribe to the American Heritage Dictionary). As for the preference for GRAFT, consider a lyric in the Randy Newman song "Fat Man": "He's just a two-bit grifter . . . ."

    The 37D clue works if you view "Cardinal" as an adjective (cf. "Pirate" in 10D).

    The 61D clue works if you view "this puzzle location" as "this location in the puzzle." Just a bit of shorthand.

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  12. Maybe I can compensate for my lame lims by sharing this very rough paraphrase I did in a zen group, based on Google's translation, since I don't read German.

    Es saßen am Ufer des Indus
    zwei philosophierende Hindus.
    Ihre Lage war fatal,
    denn sie fragten sich voll Qual:
    Ist ich's, bist er's oder bin du's?

    They sat on the bank of the river Indus
    Two philosophical minded Hindus.
    "We're both feeling pain
    For we're one and the same."
    "Well let's sit somewheres else instead of this cactus!"

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  13. I saw the 'squared circle in a square' and after filling the NW figured it either had to be ROOT or TORO. The rest of the clues were easily filled with my only correct change being GRAFT to GRIFT. After Steve's write up, I saw that I blew it. I had ERTE hanging in the Uffizi instead of ARTE. .....DNF. INRE to SOCHI, home of Maria Sharapova, I think her pending TWO YEAR suspension for using a legal RX drug that was ok with the Tennis Federation until 12-31-2015 is a little drastic. Tested three weeks later. Duh!

    Bobby SEALE- one of the few Black Panthers who didn't wind up in prison like H. Rap Brown for robbing banks. MOONLETS was an easy guess but it took the crosses to get the LETS portion as it was a new word for me.

    MAZeroski- back in the dark ages, all the World Series games were played during the daylight hours. I remember a teacher bringing a TV to our class and we watched one of the games; I've seen the replay many times but I don't really know if I saw it live. But I do remember the first live TELSTAR transmission.

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  14. Not too bad for a Thursday with many names. Lots of WAGs helped, but I still had MAXES/TAXES and SSGT/MSGT wrong along with their perps (ISM, SAZ) since I wouldn't know MAZ from TAS(mania) or any other AZ, except of course that state. The rest was still a struggle too, but somehow there were no other mishaps. The circles helped only when I got to the last one, after guessing ROOTS.

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  15. He was known as Sal "The Barber" Maglie because of his willingness to shave the batter's chin with a fastball if he crowded the plate ("He'd knock down his grandmother if she stood too close")

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  16. Hello Puzzlers -

    Hand up for the Taz/Maz guesswork. I never heard of that big Game 7 thing, not even during the brief time I lived in Pittsburgh (while the stadium was still standing).

    My high school French teacher taught us that Zoot derives from the exclamation Zut! which has essentially the same pronounciation. More recently, I heard a song titled "Zoot Suit Riot" by the group Cherry Poppin' Daddies. I didn't there was such a thing as rioting over Zoot Suits, but apparently there was, during WWII. It was seen as unpatriotic to wear those suits at a time when their raw materials were needed for the fighting men, and in California there erupted street brawls about it.

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  17. Free Online Dictionary

    grift (grĭft) Slang n. 1. Money made dishonestly, as in a swindle.
    i.e. dirty money

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  18. Good morning everyone.

    Got the gimmick early on. Clever to put ROOTs in the corners but it also made it easier to solve. (Filled in the corner ROOTs ahead of time.) Thought the LAXER / TAXES crossing was quite clever. Well done, Jerry
    GRIFT - Redford's character in "Sting" was a GRIFTer.
    STORK - My aunt's home in Bergenhusen, Germany had a stork's nest at the front peak of the roof. My cousin termed the nest size a 'wagonload'. The residents consider it an honor to host a nest. The village has a stork in its Coat of Arms. The storks migrate to Egypt in the colder weather.

    Off to play some bridge.

    Happy St. Pats, and have a great day.

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  19. Smooth going for a Thursday. Can anyone give me a rationale for the answer LAD for the clue EXTOL that I found in this morning's Commuter Puzzle? I can see from Google that it's a common answer, but I can't find why.

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  20. Hungry Mother - could that have been LAUD? Makes more sense.

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  21. Musings
    -Happy St. Patty’s Day!
    -I got a VERY late call to sub and so I had to find a green shirt, get over here and I was only 10 min. late
    -This math guy expected a math theme with the square root in the circles
    -The Haj (pilgrimage) to Mecca makes me think the Holiday Inns there are pretty full
    -Deficit? No problem, raise TAXES, there’s no fat in the budget!
    -The Philadelphis 76ers are the worst NBA team (9 – 58). I’d think RECAPS would be hard to do
    -Homogeneous GROUPING is much rarer in schools today
    -My favorite GRIFTER is on the left
    -AROD was “Past his prime” but still made over $20M
    -TAMPING is very common in baseball
    -Choosing an NFL MVP this year was PRO FORMA as everyone knew it was going to be Cam Newton
    -The real GO BIG RED
    -Craig’s List has replace newspaper ADS for us
    -That GECKO is annoying and ubiquitous

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  22. Good Morning:

    Found this easier than normal for a Thursday, probably because the theme was recognizable early on. Very clever and nicely executed.
    I had lucre>graft>grift. Also had TSgt but I new Maz so that was quickly corrected. Hesitated at laxer but taxes solved that.

    Thanks, Jerry, for an enjoyable solved and thanks, Steve, for the guided tour.

    Happy St. Paddy's Day ☘ ☘ ☘ to all. I will be going to my sister's for the annual corned beef & cabbage dinner. I think the count this year is 35. That's a lot of "pratties"! My requisite green is a sweatshirt that says "Not only am I PERFECT, I'm Irish, too."

    CED, give DW our best wishes for continued "baby steps"!

    Have a great day.

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  23. I thought it should be LAUD, too, but I see HM is correct that LAD has commonly been used in puzzles for EXTOL. However, I cannot find a dictionary that gives this meaning of LAD.

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  24. Fast solve for a Thursday even without the circles. No Irish theme today.
    Thanks Jerry & Steve for the fun.

    Hand up for Hawaiian before ISLANDER (we refer to PEI folks as Islanders).
    GRIFT was a new one to me.

    We finally had the proper ASTERN today but I was looking for Arouse before ROUSE.

    Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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  25. Hi gang -

    Figuring out the X in LAXER - TAXES was the last hurdle.

    I'm not overly fond of puzzles with circles, but this one was nicely done.

    Much to do. Gotta run.

    Happy St Patty's day!

    Cool regards!
    JzB

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  26. Happy St Pat's! The day everyone is Irish! Steve linked to one Dropkick Murphy's song (their anthem really) so here's my favorite. DH has taken me to see them twice and the best part is at the end all the girls are invited on stage to sing this great bar song (warning: explicit, don't complain about your virgin ears...) (Of course I have been one of those girls! Definitely the oldest one up there but I didn't care!) And lastly I'll leave you with a Flogging Molly favorite Drunken Lullabies

    I'm sure DH will be making me corned beef and cabbage this weekend! He somehow makes the cabbage with bacon and it's amazing. Maybe Chef RAMSAY would appreciate it!

    Hope you all enjoy the day :)

    t.

    PS - for the record the five pillars of ISLAM

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  27. oh I forgot! Thanks for the fun puzzle Jerry! Favorite clue was for GIRAFFES of course! And wonderful write-up Steve, you sounded more British than usual today ;)

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  28. CanadianEh!, do the folks from Price Edward Island say, "I M PEI?"

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  29. I thought BIG RED referred to Cornell University. (1905)

    BIG RED soda started in Waco in 1937.

    BIG RED the movie? 1962

    BIG RED chewing gum was introduced by Wrigley in 1976.

    Cincinnati had The Big Red Machine in the 1970's.

    Nebraska's mascot is Lil' RED, which could have worked with the answer, I guess.

    But today is all about the green, eh? It was nice of Rich to sneak Guinness into today's cluing, believe it or not.

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  30. Very easy puzzle today, I wish you a good trip today, hope you do not spend 3 hours on Grapevine pass like I did the last time I went through, truck wreck really had the traffic backed up.

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  31. A much easier Thursday solve than usual, but still had to Wag and go thru my ABC's to fill in many places: fatwa, outta, grift, maz.
    Pretty spring day here... all trees in bloom and tulips galore.The raccoons have been bamboozled by the chicken wire placed over the new sod areas.Rascals!

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  32. @unclefred - if you like green beer, go right ahead!

    @d-otto - you're right with the END. I must have been tired doing the write-up.

    @hondo and @inanehiker - yes - the clue says "Arizona Cardinal". The team name is "Arizona Cardinals". With an "s". Unlike the Stanford Cardinal. Without an "s".

    @Dudley - I was going to link the song, but then I read that there were racial overtones with the Zoot Suit riots so I decided to avoid any potential unpleasantness.

    @tawnya - great musical links!

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  33. SQUARE ROOTS RULE!

    Much easier to solve than Fermat's Last Theorem [from 1637] ("There are no whole number solutions to the equation x**n + y**n = z**n when n is greater than 2."), but a nice coincidence that Professor Andrew Wiles from Oxford University finally received the 2016 Abel Prize for it today - worth a tidy $700,000 - and prize-money is tax-free in the U.K.

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  34. No circles so I didn't get the gimmick, and wanted SQUAREpants for too long. The perps eventually made me change it to ROOTS. Hand up for not knowing MAZ and putting in TAZ. Also held my nose when I was forced to change GRaFT to GRIFT. Other than that I enjoyed the puzzle.
    /start rant/ Speaking of SOCHI, I wanted to strangle Bob Costas and others who insisted on pronouncing it as "Soshee." I attribute the popular mis-pronunciation of Beijing as "Beizhing" to Costas as well; he started it. What's with this need to pronounce everything as if it were French? The next thing you know we'll be bombarded with "Zhingle Bells" next Christmas. I realize I'm probably making too much of this, but I'm truly tired of hearing ALL the newscasters mis-pronounce so many words. Scott Pelley pronounced that panda's name as "tee ann tee ann" not long ago. Doesn't he have staff to tell him that is wrong? Didn't he have the initiative to ask the person who wrote the words on the teleprompter how to pronounce it? I wonder how he pronounced Tiananmen square when it was in the news. /end rant/
    Best wishes to you all.

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  35. Hi all!

    GRR... I messed up enough to make today's a "learning pzl." I was convinced that 46a had something to do with plurals which mess-ESS up 3 other downs - how does one spell portfolio? (Ah, there it yes, thanks iPad). How's your IRA doing? With oil low, mine's been TRAUMA-tic.

    Hand up for GRaFT. I may be the only one w/ 'e' for RAMSeY. Yet another time to learn. There's my FIW -- RECAP'd. Lot's of WOs, so I won't bother.

    Thanks Jerry for a fun puzzle. I liked some of the c/a-s but other's went thunk w/ me (see: -ESS and 'Real end' w/o a '?'). Thanks Steve for learning me (and the music!).

    Fav - 61d c/a == END. If only :-)

    Notables:
    ZOOT Suit (RIOT) (there you go Dudley). Too bad there's not a Smokin' c/a so I have a reason to link that :-)

    MAMA xing MIA .

    If 51a was V x V = XXV, then we'd had a SQUARE to ROOT ;-)

    Cheers, -T

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  36. "Puzzling Thoughts":

    First off, my comment at 12:08 was meant for Hahtoolah @ 6:51. On my iPhone it allows you to reply directly to someone's comment; when I view the CC on my laptop, everything falls in chronological order . . .

    Second, I, too found today's puzzle enjoyable but also quite easy. The Palm Beach Post paper view did have the circles, so getting the "SQUARE ROOT" was not too difficult. Actually the reveal came long before I had solved the entire puzzle. Today's was solved top to bottom, left to right, so the placement of END was indeed appropriate!

    A "no-brainer" for me was MAZ. Great video clip. Don't think the announcer used the word OUTTA when he talked about the home run, though!

    Forbes Field was one of the ball parks I saw often, but never to enter when the Pirates played there. I was actually at the University of Pittsburgh on June 28, 1970, when the Pirates played their last game at Forbes Field before moving to Three Rivers Stadium. I was at Pitt for my "Freshman Orientation", as I matriculated there that year. Since the game was played on a Sunday, and that was our "get acquainted/arrival" day before orientation, our dorm monitor found a way to open the rooftop door on the A Tower Dormitory, and a bunch of us went there to look down into Forbes Field from our perch, some 20+ stories high. If you look at
    this picture of Forbes Field, you'll see the three cylindrical tower dormitories just to the top and right behind home plate.

    Forbes Field stood for another year or so before the City/University tore it down and built what is now the Law School. The left field wall still stands, as well as part of the scoreboard. Home plate is encased in plexiglass and is inside one of the buildings used by the Law School. I did not grow up in Pittsburgh but became a huge fan of both the Pirates and Steelers then, and have continued to ROOT for them some 46 years later, despite having not lived there since I left in 1974/1975 following my graduation.

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  37. Steve - wait, Waaa?? Sorry, I was listiening to a speach, commiserating my FIW, and responding to emails while drafting my post and missed your follow-up

    Racial overtones in ZOOT Suit RIOT? I have the album,er CD, and some of their other songs are quite dark (if you listen closely - Drunk Daddy is pretty wrong), but I didn't pick up anything neg in ZSR (other than sailors have to worry about their girl while asea). Link or email me what I'm missing.

    Argyle - please delete my post if I offend anyone other than OKL's hating anon.

    C, -T

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  38. Thanks Jerry for a doable Thursday puzzle and thanks Steve for the great expo.

    Got it done without red letters today. Had to wait for perps to fill in a number of answers. Started with family nickname. Figured it was_A_A, so just waited for MIA to determine which one. Other perp fills were _SGT, GR_FT, SEAL_ (I thought it was SEALS) and some others.

    How many baseball fans remember who hit the one-hopper that hit Tony Kubek in the throat and made it to first base, thus keeping the Pirates alive and enabling MAZeroski's home run to win the 7th game? Here is the ANSWER.

    I also agree with CanadianEH about ASTERN. It's one of the A words that I think is actually used. I don't recall AROAR and ASEA being used a lot, except in crossword puzzles.

    Chairman Moe is partially right that TripTiks are a thing of the past. They are still available as an on-line product that can be printed, but are no longer put together by hand. I still get paper maps when I'm planning a trip and travelling. GPS is useful, but it doesn't present the bigger picture that a map does.

    Again, enough pontificating. Have a great Saint Patty's day.

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  39. Well, I FIW'd all over the place.

    Tsgt/msgt, I don't know didley about sports
    So I had Aron instead of Arod which gave me a puzzle location of ENN???
    (East north north? Wtf?)

    Oh well, but that brings up an editing question on my last FIW. 5d real end=ist,
    I has "ism." Which made 18a strains=taxes/maxes.

    Now maxes is not a bad solution for a strains" clue. What are the constructionists(isms) rules for when there could be 2 reasonable answers to 1 clue?

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  40. AnonT, I think Steve was referring to the actual riots and not the song. You can read the wiki about the riots in LA during WWII

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  41. And I am using my phone, so thanks Chairman Moe, I was wondering what was going on with that hi lighted reply out of sequence.

    Also, tx Anonymous T for that shipwreck link yesterday. But now I am wondering what the purpose was of that big copper alloy disc?

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  42. oc4beach @ 1:15

    The entirety of the 1960 World Series was something else again. The Yankees had three wins, two of which were shutouts, and all were totally lop-sided. 16-3; 10-0; and 12-0. The Pirates, OTOH, won 6-4; 3-2; 5-2; and the final game, 10-9. Even the final game was back and forth, with the Pirates ahead 4-0 before surrendering the lead to the Yankees @ 7-4. And then the Buccos going ahead 9-7 entering the top of the ninth. What is now known as a "blown save" enabled the Yankees to tie the game at 9-9, and then MAZ's homer won it with 0 outs in the bottom half of the ninth inning.

    In the 7 games played, the Yankees scored a total of 55 runs, with 91 hits. The Pirates scored only 27 runs on 60 hits. But what matters is not those statistics; just which team won more games . . . I'm not certain, but I have to believe that this series still has a record for highest number of total runs and hits scored for 7 games.

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  43. I love puzzles with circles, and this one was a lot of fun--although I needed the reveal to figure out what was going on. Many thanks, Jerry, and hope you have a safe trip, Steve.

    Loved your story about the STORKs in Germany, Spitz.

    Have a great St. Patrick's Day, everyone--especially you, Irish Miss!

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  44. I read aroar and asea quite often in newspapers and magazines, as well as in novels. I find the a words enrich our vocabulary.IMO banning them would make our language poorer.
    CE Dave, my thoughts are with you and your wife. Irish Miss, how is your hand coming along? PK, I hope you are soon back to normal. It is amazing how many Cornerites and/or their family members are having medical procedures.

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  45. Thanks Anon @1:28. WWII was way before my time... I thought I missed something in the song that may offend. The Wiki provides context. I knew about internment-camps, but Wow! - Americans turning every-witch-way on each other? Dang. C, -T

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  46. Good afternoon. Fun puzzle. Thanks Jerry and Steve.

    Cornell's athletic teams are known as The Big Red. Nevertheless, I don't think that helped them strike fear into the hearts of any of their football opponents.

    I went to our local supermarket yesterday. As I was headed around the end of one aisle to the next, who did I come across pushing her cart but Mia Hamm. I noticed her right away but I don't think she noticed me. Aw...

    Barbara pointed out the cute Google Doodle today.

    What is it with gluten-free these days? Is it just the latest food fad? A few years back, carbs were bad. Then water became critical. (Some of my students started to sip constantly from a plastic water bottle on their desks as if algebra was dehydrating them.) Then Acai berry juice became a fad. Now people seem to take avoiding gluten as a badge of honor. I know there is something called celiac disease where sufferers must avoid gluten. But is there any important benefit for the rest of us? Or is it just the last fad?

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  47. Hi all. Nice puzzle. I too ended up with eRTE due to RAMSeY. Great write up Steve, thanks.

    No confusion and certainly no pause for this lifelong Pirates fan in the contest that many baseball writers and experts have referred to as "The Greatest Game Ever" and even more so would refer to as the "Greatest Home Run Ever." Unlike many music, film, and sports rankings that fade in favor of more recent events as time passes, that bottom of the ninth homer by MAZ has stood the test of time and still sits atop most baseball writers and historians lists as the #1 greatest of all time.

    Had he been in the booth at that moment, future Hall of Fame Pirates broadcaster Bob "The Gunner" Prince would have most assuredly launched into his well known "You can kiss it goodbye!" catch phrase, followed by his "We had 'em all the way!" The home run call instead went to Yankees play by play man Mel Allen, and partially included his distinctive "Going, going, gone !" catch phrase.

    As the story goes, following the Pirates 5 run rally in bottom of the 8th inning that gave the Buccos a 9 to 7 lead, and because he had called the first half of the game for NBC, Prince was headed down to the Pirates locker room for post-game interviews.

    The Yankees then had their own rally and tied the game in the top of the 9th with RBIs by Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, so Prince was sent back to the booth. Before he got there, MAZ hit the game winning home run and Prince was sent back to the locker room. He never saw it. He'd barely learned that it was light hitting MAZ that hit the home run before this set of interviews.

    MAZ was the World Series hero, but Bobby Richardson of the Yankees was named Series MVP. Through the series, the Pirates had been outscored, outhit, out fielded and outplayed. But as Gino Cimoli said, "They broke all the records but we won the game."

    Mickey Mantle was quoted as saying it was the only time he ever cried because of a ball game, win or lose. Yogi Berra said "We made too many wrong mistakes."

    Since today is St Patricks Day, it is appropriate to note that Irishman Danny Murtaugh was the skipper of the 1960 World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates. He also led the underdog 1971 Pirates to another World Series Championship over the favored Baltimore Orioles and their four 20 game winners. MAZ pinch hit in the first game, but it was my all time favorite Roberto Clemente that stole the show and who was named Series MVP.

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  48. TTP @ 2:07

    Were you ever at any games at Forbes Field? As I said in my post @ 12:54, I "attended" one game, the final game, while sitting on a lawn chair atop the A Tower Dorm. I remember after the final out was made, the fans started grabbing whatever they could as a souvenir (chairs, numbers from the hand-operated scoreboard, et al) before exiting the stadium. It was kinda weird seeing people walking toward the O with a pair of box seats in hand, the crumbled concrete still clinging to the chair leg. The scoreboard looked like a beehive, with fans shimmying up the wall, occupying each and every "inning" as a foothold . . .

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  49. I'm sorry to say this one defeated me. It was enjoyable for the most part, and my fills were accumulating nicely, giving rise to a warm and optimistic spirit -- until I couldn't crack the theme clue at 36A. Not being a fan of this Square "SpongeBob" guy, I was only slightly aware of the "Pants" appellation often connected to him. That wouldn't fit, so I looked to the perps to solve it, but I couldn't see past GRAFT to reach GRIFT, so that meant I couldn't crack through on RIOTERS either.
    Now, ain't that the pits, how Xwds are so *#%@! interdependent!!
    Spitzboov, the stork report points to why it is that tales of storks--and their reputed bringing of babies--are prevalent in central Europe. Stork nests are a common feature along their migratory paths. (Imagine flying to Egypt whenever the urge strikes.) But--alas!--we don't get to see so many of these graceful creatures out here in SoCal.
    Occasionally I will spot a lovely tall egret wading in our nearby swampland, but they're quite rare now. When I do see one, I wonder if it hasn't mistaken its flight path.

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  50. The END is apt for "this puzzle location" because it's the last place (location) in the puzzle. Perfectly sensible if you think about what the clue really means.

    The Black Panther's had thousands of members across the country. To state that all but a few went to prison for bank robbery is an incomprehensible absurdity.

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  51. Bound to over-post today say:

    Jerome - that's why it's my fav. It's meta-meta...

    Thanks TTP & C. Moe for "before my time" baseball memories that I can wallow in before the season begins.

    When I switched from Caray to to Milo Hamilton (Cubs -> 'Stros) on the radio in'01-ish, I learned even more about my favorite game (outside of D&D :-)). Spring training games have been fun but real BB starts in ~15 days!

    I grew up w/ The Big RED Machine out of Cinci. But Ozzie Smith, Ozzie Smith, and Ozzie Smith (Cardinals' magical SS) was my personal-positional hero.

    I played Short and, was, well... well short of him. Ozzie was the greatest IMHO.

    Cheers, -T

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  52. Hi Y'all! Starting with MAMA MIA had to be a great puzzle, Jerry! Great expo, Steve! Liked the Irish ditty, but not the screaming.

    This went faster than usual for Thursday. I actually went to the LA site to see the circles after the puzzle was finished on Mensa.

    I didn't remember anything about the Black Panthers except Malcom X. He didn't fit.

    Got EQUUS only because my typing finger stuttered. I was planning to hit an "I" instead of a second "U". Probably my subconscious correcting me?

    I turn green if I drink any beer, so I'll celebrate St. Paddy's day only in my quarter Irish heart.

    Tried "plywoods" before SUBFLOOR. Well, that's what is commonly used out here. Except the idiot who flipped my current home. He used Masonite in the bathroom & kitchen which absorbs water then didn't get the toilet seated & sealed well. It was leaking under the plastic tiles. What a mess to replace everything. SUBFLOOR is an anger trigger for me as a consequence.

    IM & YR: Doing better. Went grocery shopping yesterday again. This time no weak knees.



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  53. Chairman Moe,
    Just read the posts from you and oc4beach. Steve's comments sent me down memory road and sent me off, and the posts from you two brought back more. All good stuff.

    That would have been a sight to see with fans carting off anything they could take including the box seats !

    And you betcha ! Can't remember the number of times to Forbes. Always took my glove. Never caught a game ball.

    My grandmother worked for and lived on the ranch of "The Grey Eagle" and my mother became a huge baseball fan. Much later, she, not my dad, passed the love of the game onto me. She always had the Pirates game on the TV or radio at home, listening to The Gunner. He was as much a part of Pirates baseball as were the players. I loved his stories. It was the end of an era when he was let go.

    Dad didn't care much one way or the other, but he often got comp tickets to Pirates games in the 60s. He didn't go. He was always working it seemed. Of course, most of the games were day games then. Mom and I went. We went in my mother's Rambler, and when we didn't go in that, we went in dad's Catalina or Bonneville. We sat in box seats almost every game. Later went to games at Three Rivers, but I never liked it as much as Forbes Field. Still haven't been to a game at PNC. Might take a road trip this summer now that I have time.

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  54. just thought it worth a mention, surprised no else did already... for those who do the syndicated NY Times puzzle, just last week we had the square root in the south west corner, but a much different take on the theme. For those who do the NYT on time, it was Feb. 4th.

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  55. @Anon T - no, don't worry - not the song, the riots themselves. I should have been clearer - don't panic! Wikipedia explains

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  56. Back home to make dinner, & then back to the Hospital.
    DW is scheduled to check out @ 11AM (This place is like a hotel!)
    & the food is good! Lunch was corned beef with buttery potatoes & key lime pie!

    As I left to get DW a step to get in/out of bed, she had graduated to
    crutches, & was ambling down the hall with the therapist for some practice
    going up & down stairs! Alas, they say no gardening this year...

    Bill G, my latest fad using the internet to look up old fads...

    Some square roots:

    (A)

    (B)

    (C)

    (D?)

    Can some one explain this to me?

    Oooh! Now I can smuggle beer into the house!

    Now where was I, I lost track...(E,F,G?)

    Well, enough of this, I have to get back to the hospital by 6pm.
    Now, Now what time is it...

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  57. Steve: Excellent write-up links. Sorry to hear you get "NO-Green-Beer" ... NO worry, I got-ya covered.

    Jerry: Thank You for a FUN Thursday puzzle with a nice "ROOT"ing around theme.

    Geez, this St.-Pat-Day puzzle seemed more like a Tuesday in the level-of-difficulty department. But your mileage may vary. LOL

    And yeah, I was hoping for an Erin-Go-Bragh, "Ireland Forever" theme ... BUT ... No Problem, Mon ...

    Got "tested" (during training today) ... needed a score of 75 to pass ...
    Only "scored" a 95 ... will find out which 1 (ONE!) question I missed tomorrow ...
    I really wanted, of course, a perfect 100 ...
    Our Trainer, Irene did tell US: "There is "One Question that is ambiguous, and we didn't cover it ..."
    (Hope that is the question I missed ...)

    Hope EVERONE enjoys my "Toast-To-You'all" at Sunset tonight.
    Cheers!


    ... time to read your comments ...

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  58. Dern it CED - C.C. & Argyle are going to hate me today... I still have a Bugs Bunny G-I-RAFFE clip to find/link today.

    The rebus (sp?) is "I Too Ate Some Pie". (i (SQRT(-1)== i) - imaginary #) 2 8 (2^3=8) sum (I can't find the Sigma-button) π.) It was XXV/0 yummy. -C, T

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  59. Chairman Moe @1:36 & 2:23
    I swear I can "close-my-eyes" and almost feel the agony of MAZ's Home-Run making "My Yankees" the loser's.

    55 years later ... and "I'm almost over it ... lol


    Steve, oops I meant to type "Excellent Write-up and links." Good Job !!!

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  60. ... It's Five O'clock, and SUNSET, Somewhere ...

    Time to crack open the Jameson Irish Whiskey ...

    Aaaahhhh ...

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  61. To those whose German is more current than mine, (55 plus years): can you give a more literal translation of Owen's German limerick? It is certainly not about cactus.

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  62. Hello Everyone, I had much the same experience with the solving of today's puzzle as everyone else. Especially JD. I also put in Dazed rather than Dazes for Bemused states. That left me with -idher. "Fisher"-Price didn't figure.

    Both my husband and I have been under the weather this past week, and so have been neglecting our regular daily chores and keeping up with the crossword. We're feeling better now but have to catch up on all those pesky things we let go for too long.

    The construction crew is starting to work on the underpinnings of the new deck. this is where the large tree was located and they are running into some big roots that were too far under ground for the stump grinders to see. Always something when you start a new project.

    Have a lovely St. Patty's day, everyone.

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  63. I agree with AnonT except I would parse it as I 8 Sum Pi or I ate some pie (and it was delicious).

    No takers on explaining the popular avoidance of gluten these days?

    I loved reading about your love affair with the Pirates. Meanwhile, due to corporate greed, only Time Warner cable subscribers can view the Dodgers games for the last several years. I feel so helpless. I could switch to Time Warner and solve my problem but they've made me so mad that I can't bring myself to do it. Damn...

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  64. @Bill - on the gluten question ...

    The problem with fad diets is that those people who are just looking for the next new thing do a disservice to those who genuinely have an intolerance or a serious allergy to some foods. If you suffer from celiac disease, you'll end up in hospital if you are exposed to gluten.

    If you're intolerant (like my friend), you don't end up in hospital, but you do spend an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom.

    Because I love to cook, and she loves to eat what I cook, I pretty much have a gluten-free pantry now, and trust me, you wouldn't do that unless you had to - it's expensive to buy gluten-free substitutes. That might be a factor of the fad-ism allowing manufacturers to charge a premium for the products, but the upside is that there are more products being developed for the gluten-intolerant market.

    What drives me nuts is meeting people who claim to be gluten intolerant, then quite happily enjoying the contents of the bread basket, having a beer or three or dousing their sushi with soy sauce.

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  65. Musings
    -Today I subbed for this man who is gaining a national reputation for research on the Underground Railroad. He is what all teachers should be. Scroll for the pix!
    -This summer Barry will hike a Underground Railroad path
    -AnonT – I loved √-1 23 ∑ π. My nephew gave me some today since he was gone from school on 3.14.16
    -Dave, the square root of -1 is not a real number since it makes no sense (no number times itself = -1) and is therefore called imaginary. It is only needed in some math formulas/formulae.
    -I wonder if anyone went out to find that pebble that made the ball bounce up and hit Tony Kubek? Ah, for the old days when games were played in the daylight with the long shadows.
    -I will retell the story of one year ago when I slammed down a sample of what I thought was a new soda at a local grocery. It turned out to be Irish Whiskey and my grandchildren were greatly amused at my surprise!

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  66. CED @ 1557: I ate sum pie. SqRt of -1 is imaginary, and expressed as i

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  67. PK- Malcolm didn't fit in with the Panthers because he was dead before they were formed.

    We can all agree or disagree on any subject, and the Black Panthers are close to never a fun or an appropriate topic on a crossword blog. However, They, along with Malcolm X, were a big part of American history during the 1960's. To let slide even unintentional falsities about that history is something I simply cannot do.

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  68. BASEBALL IS COMING!

    @anonT: great Ozzie videos! He was an truly talented athlete! I went to Cal Poly SLO many years after he did and still lived in the area when they named a plaza for him.

    @BillG: it's the last season for Vinnie! Living in Missouri I get the MLB TV package and watch all the games either online or with my smart tv or blu-ray player with an MLB app. There is a work-around where you sign up for the MLB package then hide your modem location. Sounds complicated but it really isn't. My mom figured it out based on the same article so I have faith you can too. (Legal? Not sure. Don't judge the Dodger fans though! MLB should have stepped in long ago to fix this.)

    Also,this guy puts out a weekly newsletter with fun inside-Dodgers stuff and has taken to listing numbers to call to complain about not being able to watch, check it out and make your voice heard.

    I'm on spring break and trying to be productive, but I'd much rather do just about anything else today!

    t.

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  69. Yellowrocks @ 4:44:

    My best interpretation of this would be:

    Es saßen am Ufer des Indus
    zwei philosophierende Hindus.
    Ihre Lage war fatal,
    denn sie fragten sich voll Qual:
    Ist ich's, bist er's, oder bin du's?

    They sat on the banks of the Indus,
    Two philosophizing Hindus.
    Their situation was tragic
    Because they wondered, so traumatic,
    Is I's, Are He's, or Am You's?

    But not quite sure if this is the meaning or not . . .

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  70. Jerome, I stand corrected. I'm really not well-informed on Black Panthers or Malcom. He just came to mind.

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  71. Bill: Gluten free means I seldom get to go out to dinner with my daughters any more since they are gluten intolerant. They also think I am and nag me about it. I went on their diet for two weeks and saw no difference in my health. My income is about 30% from wheat. Nuff said.

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  72. PK- The nice thing about this little bit of a chat between you and I is that it's civil and adult. We are good to go. Later.

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  73. Tawnya, thanks. My wife has already signed up for MLB so she can watch her Yankees. So I can get the Dodgers games delayed about an hour on my computer. It's better than nothing but I much prefer TV to the computer interface.

    Do your daughters have celiac disease or is their intolerance in their heads?

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  74. Fun puzzle. Good write up. I am late to the party!

    Jerome, I am with you on the black Panthers! Yes, they are not comfortable crossword material. But they did NOT all go to jail! The truth is enough. We really don't need to embellish.

    And incidentally I got Bobby Seales immediately! Did I mention I liked the CW?

    For whoever mentioned it....Roberto Clemente was one of my favorites, too!!

    Bill G, gluten is a fad. Like all fads, it has its fanatics and also those who truly have a need for gluten free.

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  75. Owen, I enjoyed the LAME poems! Not everything has to be brilliant. "Lame" was enough to bring me a smile. The picture in my mind of a giraffe and a stork....well.....it make me smile!! Thanks!!

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  76. Deutsch Dave, thanks. That is the way I translated it, too. To my mind the last line makes little sense.

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  77. Not surprisingly, IrishMiss got it right: St. Paddy's day not St. Patty, for the same reason it's a "Paddy wagon."

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  78. BillG: I don't know for sure about the gluten intolerance with my girls. I was told the elder girl was really sick until she went gluten free and the younger one thinks she feels better without it. Both had some really weird allergies when they were small, so I don't disbelieve them. I just don't like to be coaxed to join them. Then there's the granddaughter who is vegan. I also have food allergies. Takes all the fun out of family dinners. Old family favorites weren't gluten free or meatless.

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  79. Jerome, I google Malcom and now am better informed.

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  80. Bill G. You're right the "too" (2) was too much in CED's rebus. HG - where did you find the Sigma key?

    i is used plenty in waveform/magnetic calculations because the "imaginary number," SQRT(-1), helps to reduce complex equations to simple algebra. Feel's like a hundred years since I've needed/used it.... But, it reminds me of my favorite EE joke...

    Q. How many Electrical Engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
    A. Only one, but he has to do it in the frequency-domain.*

    On gluten and other food-fads: Yes, like lactose, some folks just can't. I, however, can't image so many folks exist who really can't eat it that you need an aisle of food-free-food (so what's in the carton?!?) at the grocery store.

    For the record, when Youngest had her stomach issues after a bout w/ bad well-water a few years ago it took about 5 months of yogurt and probiotics to build up her biome so she could return to her normal diet of Cheetos & cookies.

    As promised (or threatened) G-I-RAFFE link(@2:51). The toon also contains STORK @4:50 and of course, "AIN'T I a stinker?" Well, ain't I?

    Cheers, -T
    *Trust me, you can pick out the EE's in the audience if you use that as an opener - they're the only ones laughing...

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