google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke

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Apr 26, 2016

Tuesday, April 26, 2016 Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke

Theme: Multiple Use - Various meanings for the same word.

20A. Keep in suspense : LEAVE HANGING. Hanging File.

35A. Department store fixture : DISPLAY CASE. Case File. Often found in a hanging file.

42A. Shingle securer : ROOFING NAIL. Nail File. (relevant at 2:50)



59A. It may be affixed to an email ... and, literally, what the last word of 20-, 35- and 42-Across can have : ATTACHED FILE

Argyle here with Gail and Bruce. Pretty straight forward Tuesday puzzle.

Across:

1. Doorbell sound : DONG. Mrs. Wiggins is the DING.

5. Radio switch : AM/FM

9. Pop out of the CD player : EJECT

14. "Young Frankenstein" helper : IGOR

15. "Deck the Halls" syllables : FA LA la la la, la la la la.

16. Use crayons : COLOR

17. "The West Wing" actor Alan : ALDA

18. Fed. agent : G-MAN

19. Best way to sing : ON KEY

23. Maker of Fiesta Flats taco shells : ORTEGA

24. Gorilla who learned sign language : KOKO

25. "__ you for real?" : ARE

28. Half a Mork-to-Orson farewell : NANU. There is an interesting connection between Robin Williams and Koko.

30. Symbol : EMBLEM

32. Suffers from : HAS

38. Tunnel effect : ECHO

40. Actor's prompt : CUE

41. "We gotta move!" : "C'MON!"

47. Roulette bet : ODD

48. Like a spoiled child : BRATTY

49. Didn't need to guess : KNEW

51. Weekly NBC offering since 1975, briefly : SNL

52. Takes notice of : SEEs

55. Like some country songs : TWANGY

61. Drummer Ringo : STARR

64. Sheepish smile : GRIN

65. First name in bike stunts : EVEL Knievel.

66. Japanese verse : HAIKU

67. Tupperware tops : LIDS

68. Harvest : REAP. Wild oats?

69. Kentucky Derby racer : HORSE

70. Sporting weapon : ÉPÉE

71. Lacking, in Lorraine : SANS. Sans Souci (French for "no worries" or "carefree")

Down:

1. Old way to place a collect call : DIAL O. While Mother's Day has the highest number of phone calls, the most collect calls are made on Father's Day.[

2. Creepy admirer : OGLER

3. Signal silently to : NOD AT

4. Sculptured, as an image : GRAVEN

5. Kabul native : AFGHANI

6. Wee one's word : MAMA

7. __ steak : FLANK

8. Tropical fruit : MANGO

9. Political debate topic : ECONOMY

10. "Fear of Flying" author Erica : JONG. She's 74 and living in Manhattan.

11. Antlered animal : ELK

12. Two-time 1500-meter gold medalist Sebastian : COE

13. Give it a whirl : TRY

21. "My stars!" : "EGAD!"

22. Maker of NORDLI furniture : IKEA

25. Texas tourist spot : ALAMO

26. Fix a green : RESOD

27. Revise : EMEND

29. Shoreline protection gp. : USCG. (United States Coast Guard)

31. Discreetly send a dupe email to : BCC. (Blind Carbon Copy)

32. Chef's flavorings : HERBS

33. Oak-to-be : ACORN. Mighty oaks from little acorns grow.

34. Sandbar : SHOAL

36. Lewis Carroll specialty : PUN. Favorites?

37. Security issue : LEAK

39. Time and again, to a bard : OFT

43. "Honest!" : "IT'S TRUE!"

44. Kremlin rejection : NYET

45. Passionate : INTENSE

46. R-rated, perhaps : LEWD

50. Thin cookies : WAFERS

53. Sharp-eyed flier : EAGLE

54. Rx, for short : SCRIP

56. Skin lotion brand : NIVEA

57. Collect incrementally : GLEAN

58. Sounds from a kennel : YELPS

59. Sacred chests : ARKS

60. Hole up : HIDE

61. Librarian's warning : [SHH!]

62. Confucian "path" : TAO

63. Go public with : AIR

Argyle


48 comments:

  1. Greetings!

    Thanks, Gail, Bruce and Santa!

    Fun puzzle!

    Only unknown was forgotten KOKO.

    NYT offering today was cute. (No, I can't work them ALL w/o cheats!) Fun theme.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Curly bracket left and curly bracket right
    Encloses the grades for the limericks that I write.
    Come on, old son,
    And join the fun
    No comments needed, just an {A to F} rite!

    A fob on a ring you'd ATTACH ON a KEY
    Or watch, on a chain you LEAVE HANGING free.
    In waistcoat vests
    In a pocket it rests
    An EMBLEM that only a few people see!

    For want of a ROOFING NAIL a shingle was lost.
    The shingle hit a HORSE, whose rider was tossed.
    The dogs then YELPED,
    (As if that helped),
    Called the roofer who replaced the nail, at cost!

    {B+, B, A.}

    ReplyDelete
  3. Morning, all!

    Blew through this one faster than yesterday's offering, and this time the theme was the type I was expecting yesterday's to be, so that was nice. I was a bit surprised to see DONG in a family friendly puzzle, but that's just because I have a dirty mind, I suppose...

    ReplyDelete

  4. Another breeze today. Blew threw without any hesitation. Barry, clue would have been more fitting for your dirty mind if it had been clued MALE BIRD.

    Rainy day so I get to focus on all the stuff I promised Lucy I would do while she was away. But first I will cast my vote as it is primary day in CT.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good morning!

    Thought it was MUSIC coming out of the CD Player. And, no, I didn't get the theme, so that was familiar. Thanks Gail and Bruce.

    Argyle, what's the special connection between KOKO and Robin Williams?

    ReplyDelete
  6. They were friends. You can find it on YouTube.

    ReplyDelete

  7. Easier than yesterday. Thanks Gail and Bruce and Argyle.

    It was also easy to make a neat pattern with this grid. I did the diagonals from SW to NE and then from SE to NW. Then filled in each of the corners and the middle. I left rows 5,15,18 at the top and 64,67,70 unfilled at the bottom. Same with columns 32,33, 34 on the left, and 25,26, and 27 on the right. Kind of looks like the letter X (with the ends squared up) on a child's block letter set.

    This would have been an easy one to just fill the letters in the three diagonals from the SEW to the NW, and then leave it like that.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "Puzzling thoughts":

    Cute theme and interesting clueing; I had to switch LA LA to FA LA when I realized Kabul is not in ALGHANI. Had KONG before KOKO but ECONOMY soon fixed that (as did IKEA). Thanks Gail and Bruce for a nice start to the day! And since HAIKU is a solve, here's one that hopefully will bring a GRIN:

    Husband is in jail
    I tried to send him email
    Can't attach a file

    Enjoy your day!

    ReplyDelete
  9. George Costanza received the nickname KOKO from Kreuger because he resembled her when arguing with T-bone about stealing his desired nickname. Clear?

    ReplyDelete
  10. No comments on today's puzzle, but I have to share a quick story. Last weekend, I came across a storage box that had some items covered in newspaper. I recycled the newspapers but noticed one page had a NYT Sunday puzzle, so I clipped it and later completed it. It was indeed a tough one, and it turned out to be the infamous "Natick" puzzle (July 6, 2008), which caused Rex Parker to coin the "Natick Principle". [Bill S. in KY]

    ReplyDelete
  11. Musings
    -Some CASE FILES on a student are as thick as War and Peace and are kept in his CUME folder
    -This device dispenses ROOFING NAILS at an amazing rate
    -I always COLOR inside the lines. You?
    -If I ever played roulette, that would be ODD
    -I dropped my PBJ yesterday and I KNEW how it would land. It did.
    -Ringo and his All STARR Band will be in Lincoln this summer
    -My friend said Argentina just had a big freeze and so the beans he will REAP this fall should be more valuable
    -Hobson’s wonderful ECOMONY of words (:32) line
    -Wombmates for my wife and her twin is probably my fav, Argyle
    -A very famous EAGLE flyer
    -FORE!

    ReplyDelete
  12. That was not the only LEWD entry, Barry.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Gail and Bruce, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

    As others said, breezed through this quickly. Liked it.

    Theme was good. Clever, as always.

    Did not know KOKO, but got it easily.

    I like TWANGY C&W songs.

    HAIKU came with perps. As did NIVEA.

    DIAL O was reminiscent of my lifetime livelihood. Telephony.

    Cooler today in Illinois. Yesterday was in the 80's.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

    ReplyDelete
  14. Good morning everyone.

    Forgot to Welcome Aboard Len Poche. Hope your visits will be many.

    Easy Tuesday. No real issues. I think we've had all the words before.
    DONG. Some bells go "Dong"; others go more like "Ding". Then, some go "Ding Dong"
    USCG - Felt the clue was awkward re: 'shoreline'. Coast and shoreline are not really interchangeable any more than golf course and putting green are. Shoreline has a very localized denotation while coast is much more regional. IMHO

    Bill G - Hoping for a good outcome with Barbara's situation.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Well after a MAJOR Computer Snafu yesterday ... geez, what a problem, now corrected, it is nice to be back to enjoying a Crossword Puzzle.

    Argyle: Great write-up and links.

    Gail & Bruce: Thank You both for a FUN Tuesday puzzle.

    Needed ESP (Every-Single-Perp) to get the 56-d, Skin lotion brand, NIVEA.

    When I sing, I kinda sound like Bob Dylan, ergo NOT ON-KEY ... maybe a little TWANGY. LOL !!!

    Stuck again with perfect, beautiful, sunny weather ... 73 degrees.
    Dang, this is getting boring ...

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Ergo (Husker Chuck)April 26, 2016 at 9:48 AM

    Hello puzzlers. Recently I approached CC about a concept for a puzzle. She immediately identified George, Jerome and John from this site as individuals best suited to providing insight to my theme. If one of you could email me at cgstepanek@aol.com I would be grateful for your savvy observations.

    Thank you,

    Chuck

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thumper and I will sit this one out.

    Loved the poetry today, Owen.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Been pretty busy, yesterday DW went back to work 5 weeks after her hip replacement.
    Todays Dr. visit resulted in no more restrictions verdict...
    No cane
    Ok to drive
    Ditch the (PIA) high toilet seat...
    more Phys T,
    See local Dr.for diuretics to reduce swelling (still a problem)
    but the answer apparently is "keep moving!"

    Spent yest. @ NYU for Daughters orientation, & p/u DW on way home
    so she doesn't have to surf the NJ Transit system.

    Bill G, Scary news, hope everything works out OK.

    Belated HBD Kazie!

    Attached file? What attached file?

    Thank you Argyle for leading the way,
    I found this,

    & This...

    ReplyDelete
  19. This puzzle was fun and even faster than yesterday's puzzle. It was done before the coffee finished perking. Cute theme which at first I thought would be HANGING CHADS. IT'S TRUE!

    My doorbell sound is ding DONG. OOh, Barry. Tsk, tsk.

    Thank you, Gail and Bruce and Argyle, too. It's a lovely way to start the day.

    Have a terrific day, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Went back and did the Monday puzzle ...

    Belated Happy Birthday Kazie ...

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  21. A fast, fun puzzle from what is quickly becoming one of my favorite construction duos. Thanks also to Argyle for a sparkling expo. Argyle, re: your comment about acorns. My grandmother's favorite take on that saying was "Big aches from little toe-corns grow."

    My therapy got a minor setback yesterday. The little wren of a Pakistani woman PT Drill Instructor introduced me to a new series of exercises. It seems that I can no longer do some of my old standards in my recliner with my feet up on the footrest. I now have to do them standing up, fighting gravity as in real life. I was in the middle of doing my side leg lifts when something popped and the whole quad suddenly hurt. Before I could even finish saying "Darn, that hurt (or something to that effect)" she yelled "Stop" and helped me to my chair. Then she lit into me. "That's supposed to be a side leg lift, not a side kick. You're not a llama. You can't do side kicks. Why do you always have to push your PT so hard?"
    I gotta admit, that's the first time I've heard that one. My only comeback was "Because I know that the more I push myself, the better I will get sooner." OK, I know. I just don't think well on my feet. But I did have the presence of mind to bite my tongue and not finish the thought with "And get you out of my life sooner."
    Oh, well. We parted friends.

    Happy belated birthday, Kazie!

    TTFN

    Cya!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Nit. Technically, one would dial 0 (zero) for the Operator, not O (oh), The MNO button maps to a 6.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hello Puzzlers -

    Easy enough, thanks Argyle!

    Husker's Apollo 11 image got me thinking about daylight on the Moon. I noticed the shadows are long, indicating that the sun must have been low on the lunar horizon. Daylight at any spot on the Moon lasts for about two Earth weeks, so that lighting condition would have seemed unchanging to the astronauts for the 21 hours they spent on the surface. I imagine it would have been convenient for the sun to be overhead during the mission, but surely there were bigger priorities in selecting the landing site (such as surface smoothness). I don't know whether it was lunar morning or evening at Tranquility Base - Husker, do you know?

    To the best of my awareness, no lunar landing craft had exterior lights. Missions would always require sunlight.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi Everyone:

    Easy, breezy Tuesday offering from G and B. Cute theme which needed the reveal but no hiccups along the way.

    Thanks, Gail and Bruce, for entertaining us so pleasantly and thanks, Argyle, for the guided tour.

    We have a miserable, rainy, raw day today; maybe April is the cruelest month!

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Two easy puzzles in a row. I'm not gonna get used to that.

    Only quibble is I always thought you sing "in key" so I had that wrong until ECONOMY fixed that.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Good morning all,
    Always a good start in the day with a Gail/Bruce puzzle, and Argyle's follow up. There are always a few things that make me smile and remember when...this time it was Koko. This gorilla made all the headlines in our area since she was born at the SF zoo, and then moved just a little ways down the peninsula to Woodside, a wealthy and beautiful community. Many skeptics still today do not believe that this gorilla actually understands her signing. Koko was supposed to be moved to Maui but have no idea if that ever happened.

    Erica Jong was in a fear of flying class with my teaching partner. Don't know if it worked for either of them. I have never had that fear...I love to take pictures from the window of the coast line, clouds, etc.On our last flight it was heaven to see how green our CA hills were. That won't last too long.

    I love the trivia games on cruises, and one of the questions was how many syllables are in a haiku? 17, of course. I wrote some pretty sappy ones in college. Later, my 6th graders wrote some beauties.

    Enjoy your day.....and...almost forgot again...Happy Birthday Kazie!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  27. AnonymousPVX, I think of it as an in/out on/off sort of thing. You'd could sing on key or off key, but not in key or out key. I'm quite talented at the off key variety.

    ReplyDelete
  28. -Back from 18
    -Dudley, as you can see by this calendar, Apollo 11 landed during a 1st quarter Moon (51% lit) so the shadows would be long and give better perspective on the surroundings. Lunar pictures taken during a full moon can lack depth.
    -Probably staying home tonight from Elise's 12th birthday party as dangerous weather is in the offing.

    ReplyDelete
  29. I thought I knew Lewis Carroll very well, so was surprised to see PUN given as his specialty. His brand of fantasy is so distinctive that it is hard to narrow his work to any particular type. I had to check on line to find examples of his PUNning. I found a few, including the Mock Turtle's answer to Alice's inquiry about a teacher: "We called him Tortoise because he taught us."
    But Carroll's puns really occur as a small sub-section of the more general category of "Word Play." An example of this from the same chapter is when the M. Turtle goes on to list the kinds of subjects taught by Tortoise: "Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with... and the the different branches of Arithmetic - Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision."
    The classical master "taught Laughing and Grief, they used to say."

    ReplyDelete
  30. I have some difficult stuff to deal with this week, so having a speed run puzzle both on Monday and on Tuesday has been a real blessing for me. Many thanks, Gail and Bruce--always love your puzzles, but this one especially. And thanks to you too, Argyle.

    I met Erica Jong decades ago when she attended an MLA (Modern Language Association) party in New York. Don't remember talking to her--just saying hello.

    Chairman Moe, loved your HAIKU.

    Have a great day, everybody.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hi Y'all! Thanks everyone for your contributions. Fast & fun puzzle!

    Erica JONG: I read fear of flying way back when. Found it disturbing. Didn't know she wrote others. Wouldn't have read them anyway -- too neurotic. Googled her to see. Yup, she did. Also married 4 times. One child. Nuf said!

    ROOFING NAIL: Years ago son had his new house roof shingled with asphalt composite shingles. Next day big winds blew most of the shingles off. That handy dandy nail gun was set wrong and punched the nails through the shingles. Poof! He hired a different crew to replace them.

    Tried Coco before KOKO. Robin looks so peaceful and focused on KOKO -- SANS manic activity.

    CED: good to hear your DW is doing so well. You sound a little frazzled being all things to all your people. Bless you.

    BillG: praying for the best for you and Barbara.

    Bluehen: OW! Hang in there.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Dear Bill G,

    Hoping for you and Barbara - to read some good news soon about her situation. Please keep us posted.

    ReplyDelete
  33. JD: Fear of Flying was about sex, not about airplane flying.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Erica, yup. Especially the chapter titled "Zipless..."

    Easy outing today. No erasures, no hangups. Didn't get the theme until the reveal, but that made it clear.

    Bracing for serious weather tonight on the plains. Stay safe if you're in the path.

    I too forgot to say Happy Birthday to Kay. Sorry for the omission, and a belated HBTY!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Fun puzzles these last few days, and interesting conversations. Happy birthday, kazie. Bill G, I hope Barbara will be 100% all right; I know you worry. Please recover fully, Bluehen. Best wishes to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Hi All!

    First, I was remiss yesterday: HBD Kazie! I hope the day was great. So in Carroll's tradition "Happy Un-Birthday!"

    BTW, Kazie, you share your birthday w/ Eldest.

    CUE another easy pzl that was fun. Thanks GG & BV! Thanks Argyle for the writeup and kicking off the party.

    C'MON perps!...
    ESPs: 10d, 12d, & 56d.
    (What are the ODDs I'll be so lucky tomorrow?)

    WO: O'er b/f OFT. The BRAT fixed that (IT'S TRUE).

    Fav: "One WAFER-thin mint Mr. Creosote?" I won't link but if you really want disgusting, "Python Meaning of Life Wafer Thin" is you google-fu.

    BlueHen - didn't I say don't over-do it? :-). Hope you didn't have a bad setback.

    OKL & C. Moe - both of you in fine form today.

    CED - glad to hear things are lookin' up.

    Argyle, for your pun collection (warning a bit off-COLOR / LEWD):
    Youngest's Ballet company had an Eastern-EU guest male-dancer one year for the Nutcracker. Um, things out front were prominent.

    When trying to recall where he was from afterwards, DW quipped, "It's obvious he's a Hung-Garian."

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  37. Erica, I did not make up that story. She attended a fear of flying class in SF. It had nothing to do with the book.Seeing her name just reminded me about her going to that class.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Maybe it was somebody else ?

    ReplyDelete
  39. Maybe it was a different class ?

    ReplyDelete
  40. -T@7:34:

    Thanks for the compliment! Funny story about the ballet; maybe this HAIKU would fit:

    Ballet dancer shows
    His European package
    Got a nutcracker?

    ReplyDelete
  41. This is something new: Cruciverb comes up as a blank white screen just now. Has anyone else tried it?

    ReplyDelete
  42. They had this on screen this afternoon.

    The cruciverb.com server is undergoing maintenance. It will likely be unavailable for the rest of the day. Sorry for the inconvenience.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Thanks Argyle! Good to know it's not some new devilry in my machine.

    ReplyDelete
  44. I'm done beating my head against the wall on work tonight (I'm trying to do a masterful transformation in Splunk and failing miserably - I'll consult my Ninja tomorrow).

    Did y'all see/hear that SNL is going to be SANS two commercials / episode and do product placement ala Colbert?

    C. Moe - perfect HAIKU. I related the thread to DW and she loved it.

    Thanks CED. For what, um, I don't recall :-)

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete

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