google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, May 17 2016, Jeff Stillman

Gary's Blog Map

May 17, 2016

Tuesday, May 17 2016, Jeff Stillman

Theme: Picture Perfect.

20. Outgoing sort : PEOPLE PERSON
 
33. Extra-earnest entreaty : PRETTY PLEASE
 
56. Clerical worker, facetiously : PENCIL PUSHER


41. KP duty need : POTATO PEELER  

Two word phrases in which each word is six letters beginning with P. I can think of lots of P* P* phrases, but only PETER PIPER fits the six letter rule. Otherwise, there's Pentagon Papers, Pleasantly Plump, Personal Pronoun, Polling Place, Poison Pen, Pickled Peppers, Priscilla Presley. 

Melissa here. Got through this one in record time - in large part because I realized the theme early on with PEOPLE PERSON. My one bad entry was misspelling WIENIE as weenie. 

Across: 

1. Negotiated agreements : PACTS

6. Coagulate : CLOT


10. Cry of disbelief : WHAT

14. Wake-up call alternative : ALARM

15. Talk wildly : RAVE


16. Dance that tells a story : HULA

17. Arm bones : ULNAE

18. Sign of things to come : OMEN

19. Wild goat with recurved horns : IBEX. For many solvers, this is one of the first memorized answers.


23. Spews : EGESTS

24. Sets upright : ERECTS

28. Danger color : RED

29. Body shop fig. : EST

31. Feel remorse over : RUE

32. Chop (off) : LOP

36. Crate component : SLAT

39. Multivolume ref. work : OED. Oxford English Dictionary. From their website, "The OED is the definitive record of the English language, featuring 600,000 words, 3 million quotations, and over 1000 years of English."

40. Common diagnosis for distracted kids: Abbr. : ADHD

46. Back in time : AGO

47. Black __: spy doings : OPS

48. Critic Reed : REX

49. Punching tool : AWL

52. Sales enticement : REBATE

54. National park on the Maine coast : ACADIA

60. April honoree? : FOOL. Cute.

63. German automaker : AUDI

64. Occupy, as one's time : SPEND

65. Bridges in Hollywood : BEAU

66. TMZ twosome : ITEM

67. Creepy : EERIE

68. Vexes : IRKS

69. Gather in the fields : REAP

70. Expression of disdain : SNEER

Down:

1. Prince's lookalike, in a Twain novel : PAUPER. Little bonus, The Prince and the Pauper.


2. Assert without proof : ALLEGE

3. Enjoyed a ride in a birchbark : CANOED. Don't think I've ever heard this as a verb before. This author can make anything fascinating.



4. Police stings, e.g. : TRAPS. Or this Police Sting.



5. Metal refinery : SMELTER

6. Edit for size, as a photo : CROP

7. __ duck : LAME.

8. "Back to you," in CBspeak : OVER. Or a tune by John Mayer.


9. Stiffen in fear : TENSE UP

10. Moan and groan : WHINE

11. Center of activity : HUB

12. Draft pick : ALE

13. Price add-on : TAX

21. Latin 101 infinitive : ESSE

22. Sports analyst Hershiser : OREL

25. Unlike Lady Godiva : CLAD

26. Poppycock, to a Brit : TOSH. Didn't remember this, perps to the rescue.

27. Made tracks : SPED

30. Car roofs with removable panels : T-TOPS


31. Golf's __ Cup : RYDER. Biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the U.S.

33. Class-conscious gp.? : PTA. Parent Teacher Association. Clever.

34. Golf ball support : TEE

35. Musical gift : EAR. See 61 Down.

36. Box for practice : SPAR. So sneaky. Wanted RING, but waited for perps.

37. Theater section : LOGE. Private box for seating.


38. Get from __: make slow progress : A-TO-B

42. Carryall bag : TOTE

43. Outdoor : OPEN AIR

44. Spring : LEAP

45. Reasons that may be flimsy or lame : EXCUSES

49. Cling : ADHERE

50. Dog at a roast : WIENIE. That spelling just looks funny to me.

51. Kitchen storage area : LARDER. Vaguely familiar with this word but needed perps for help. A storage room for food, commonly used before refrigeration.

53. Top grade : A-PLUS

55. Colorado skiing mecca : ASPEN

57. Baby-faced : CUTE

58. Invention beginning : IDEA


59. Like overcooked pasta : LIMP.  ew.

60. Justice Dept. agency : FBI

61. On top of, in an ode : OER. As in, "O'er the land of the freeeeeeee" (certainly unconstrained by *pitch*).  I'm pretty sure this is exactly how I sound when I sing. The piano was hilariously added later, "It was clear that what the singer really needed was just a sympathetic accompanist."


62. Furniture wood : OAK


Note from C.C.:

Please click here for Blue Hen's quick cheater's porcini risotto recipe. I thought it's a genius idea to re-hydrate porcini in white wine. Thanks for the recipe and the story behind it, Blue Hen!

45 comments:

  1. Greetings!

    Thanks, Jeff, mb!

    Cute theme!

    No problems!

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Morning, all!

    Speed run for me as well. Started off with RANT before RAVE, which had me briefly scratching my hear about ONER as something CBers say. And hand up for WEENIE before WIENIE. But that was really it for this one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Puzzlers -

    Hand up for Rant before Rave. Wiener went in first, until perps forced a change. Everything else was a zoom-fest.

    Morning MBee, how'd you think up all those double P examples so quickly? Hmm, maybe you're on the road to expert puzzle constructing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Raise the ALARM, beware the OMEN,
    The witches have convened a coven!
    Herbs have they called on
    To nourish their cauldron,
    For HULA practice to trim the abdomen!

    Down on your knees, and nose to the ground,
    A crowd of people gather around.
    Hands on your back,
    They open the sack --
    For POTATO-PUSHER race, fastest nose will be crowned!

    PEOPLE, PLEASE, don't misbehave,
    This is no solemn, grave conclave!
    Let me be clear,
    What we have here
    Is PRETTY PERSONS at a RAVE!

    {B+, A-, C+.}

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good morning!

    Here's another hand up for WEENIE until ACADIA fixed it. Got the P-P theme right off. There's a rescue kitten living here temporarily -- wish she'd get the sandbox P-P idea. Thanks, Jeff, for reminding me.

    Never read The Prince and the Pauper, but remember it from the old Authors card game; also first heard of Idylls of the King from that game. It was a high falutin' version of Go Fish.

    Didn't recognize TOSH, though my grandma used to say "pish-tosh" to indicate her disdain for something.

    Melissa Bee, good to see you back. That rendition of the Star Strangled Banner brought tears to my ears.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well only the Pitter Patter of little feet could have slowed down this Tuesday solve. Great write up and nice to see all the PP

    TOSH was all perps, done before I saw the clue. Push fish I say.

    On to Wednesday
    Be well all

    ReplyDelete
  7. Started with DEALS which slowed the NW for a bit, and made it the last to get resolved, but all else fell in place nicely. With all the PP I thought "URINALYSIS" was gonna pop up as a unifier, but no. All-in-all, a fun CW, thanx, Jeff, and very nice write-up, thanx, Melissa!

    ReplyDelete
  8. One advantage of doing a puzzle in the newspaper is that sometimes you've just seen an answer on the previous page, as in today's Beetle Bailey for 41A
    https://safr.kingfeatures.com/idn/cnfeed/zone/js/content.php?file=aHR0cDovL3NhZnIua2luZ2ZlYXR1cmVzLmNvbS9CZWV0bGVCYWlsZXkvMjAxNi8wNS9CZWV0bGVfQmFpbGV5LjIwMTYwNTE3XzkwMC5naWY=


    The action of rowing a canoe is often in the gerund form (we went canoeing), less often but not unheard of standing alone (we canoed down the stream).

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes, the theme stood out like a brick in a punch bowl and I too had to change WEENIE to WIENIE because ACADIA looked right. BTW, we are trading in our Acadia today on a new car.

    Musings
    -Phil Everly and his son (3:58) cover Buddy Holly’s RAVE On. Great pix too.
    -Of course the colorblind bull is irritated by the cape’s movement not RED hue
    -I was really IRKED by the final price of a brake job after the EST. and I got 5 free oil changes as compensation
    -Remember the car REBATES by the panicky car industry in the 70’s?
    -Didn’t we have a puzzle once that didn’t have EERIE or ERIE?
    -TENSE UP? Oh, so you have seen me putt
    -Test your musical EAR
    -Check out the big names that will play in Lincoln’s OPEN AIR Pinewood Bowl this summer
    -Nice touch as always, Melissa B

    ReplyDelete
  10. Fun puzzle this AM with Jeff and Melissa. I'd rate them both A PLUS. Thanks for sharing the easy risotto recipe Bluehen.

    Hand up for having to retype to WIENIE.

    Did you see the movie about the hot dog? It was an Oscar Wiener.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks, Jeff. Fun fill today. I am not so much a PENCIL PUSHER as a pencil hoarder. I don't want anyone in my cache of Dixon Ticonderoga 2.5's! They are too hard to come by! ;>)

    Nicely done on two counts, Melissa, today's explication and Sunday's puzzle with C.C. Thanks so much.

    Here's to a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good morning everyone.

    No WHINing today. Good easy march through the grid REAPing the fill along the way. CUTE theme.
    Never thought of getting from A-TO-B as "slow". More like, perhaps, as denoting an initial or intermediate leg of a solution.
    Guess there weren't enough squares for Peloponnesus Peninsula.

    Thanks Jeff and Melissa for a good start to the day.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Fun puzzle today. Thanks Jeff and Melissa.

    Hand up for Rant before RAVE. My misspelled Weiner went to Wiener and Wienee before arriving at WIENIE. I had Oh No before WHAT. I was misdirected at 12D thinking of the hockey draft (Toronto has first pick)(Tin would never be misdirected here!). 43D and 44D had me thinking about being outdoors on this lovely spring day until LEAP appeared. I smiled at the PTA clue. My first thought at 1D was the late Prince.

    A to B does not necessarily mean slow progress to me. I would use Pantry before LARDER. This Canadian does not use TOSH but is very familiar with CANOE used as a verb.

    Owen, your first verse reminded me of the witches that we will see in Macbeth at Stratford Festival this weekend.

    Enjoy the day.

    ReplyDelete
  14. 8d: I was a CBer during the craze and rarely, if ever, heard anyone say "over". I always heard that used in films about pilots when they did radio communication.

    Or maybe this

    ReplyDelete

  15. Today was a fast fun run by Jeff and a neat expo by Melissa B. Like others I got the double P early and entered them in the lower half of the puzzle before reading the clues.

    Like Canadian EH I had RANT before RAVE. Today my only RANT is the way CASTLE ended last night. It looked like they were going to have a cliff-hanger to end the season before they decided to end the series, so they had to add the last 30 second clip to bring some kind of closure. Although I liked the show I think it had run it's course and the plots were sort of off. Oh well, there will be the re-runs on TNT.

    Time to take my DW for her doctor's appointment.

    Have nice day everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Of course, RANT then RAVE but had ACADIA so WIENIE slipped right in place. My hesitation was JEFF or BEAU Bridges but FBI decided that one. The P factor was handy in starting each theme word. I also had ACCUSE before ALLEGE.

    Loved the cluing for PTA. For my Puzzle Pencil I use a graphite stick 2B.

    Thank you, Jeff Stillman and Melissa B.! This was all fun.

    Have a very special day, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank you, Blue Hen, for the risotto recipe.

    OwenKL:
    Excellent!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Perfect Puzzle.
    PP was evident with the first theme answer.
    I know LOGE often refers to separate private box seats, but I am more familiar with LOGE being "the front section of the lowest balcony, separated from the back section by an aisle or railing or both, " from my experience of NYC theaters.
    For a long time LARDER has been firmly in my listening and reading vocabularies, which are much larger than my speaking vocabulary. Again I say that it is a shame that we have to be so careful not to use much of our vocabulary in everyday discourse lest we be considered snobbish.
    We used to play AUTHORS. That came in handy when taking a publisher prepared literature test in my senior year of HS. Many of the books and authors were not mentioned in our class, but I knew them from the game. I was tied for first place for the literature award, but it was given to someone else, because I already had an award in another subject.
    You can spell German words with EI and IE by remembering that the first vowel is silent and the second vowel is long. WIENIE is a corruption of WIENER.
    It is short for Wiener Wurst, German for Viennese sausage. Vienna is VIEN in German.
    WEENIE is also use in America.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Easy and fun. Thanks Jeff and Melissa.

    Owen, the Potato Race was just wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  20. My puzzle implement of choice is a Pilot G-2 07. My second choice is Wite-Out.

    ReplyDelete
  21. For those who do not like to cut and paste BEETLE BAILEY

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thank you for a puzzle that was finishable (new word)

    ReplyDelete
  23. A fun Monday level speed run today. After the first theme fill, it was obvious, so then the game became trying to figure out the others without reading the clue. The only real hold up was at Bridges in Hollywood. Like Lucina, I wanted Jeff, but it wouldn't prove. So I thought about Loyd (sic). When A Plus filled, it was a "Duh!" moment. Fun! Thank you Jeff, and Melissa B.

    I heard a few minutes ago that one of the best song writers that most people have never heard of has died, Guy Clark. He wrote a lot of familiar songs, such as L.A. Freeway. My favorite is a little song called The Guitar RIP Guy.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Melissa bee, Thank You for a wonderful write-up and informative links. Good Job !!!

    Liked how there was a TEE next to the RYDER Cup.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  25. It's a good thing i like Peas...
    (especially in risotto!)

    Wees, re: Wienie. To each , his own...

    Ah yes, I remember my CB days long ago,
    I would buy this magazine & not even notice the girl...

    Hmm, always wanted to know how to build a birch bark canoe.
    Here is a one hour video on just that!

    Did I watch it? Heck no! I don't have an hour to spare, let alone time to build a freakin' canoe!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hi Everyone:

    This was easy and fun with an obvious theme early on. Hand up for rant/rave and, for some unknown reason, tried paper before pencil pusher. Otherwise, smooth sailing.

    Thanks, Jeff, for a Tuesday treat, and thanks, Melissa, for the expo.

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hi All!

    WHAT? I know I'm a FOOL, but the NE & SW corners were my last fills and those should have been the easiest. That IRKS me.

    Thanks Jeff for a Party-time-Puzzle. I was looking for the Panama Papers, but alas (for Iceland's PM) they're already out. I liked that today the ball LIE'd on a TEE.

    Thanks Melissa for the writeup - swell job and I enjoyed the tunes.

    WOs: ULNAs; RiDER b/f it was PRETTY-fixed; hand-up for RAnt. I also had DEA b/f FBI (OAK made me asKS if it was a hard vexing question).

    ESPs: LOGE, IBEX (WAaaaT?), and ACADIA.

    Fav: TOSH. I did not know that. I guess TOSH.0's parents didn't love him. // there would have been a link for TOSH.0 but I couldn't find anything that wasn't offensive, even to me :-)

    BlueHen - Thanks for sharing the risotto recipe. I tried to find it Sunday under C.C.'s olio section to pair w/ the salmon. I'll try it next go-round.

    D-O: we're so close... I use the Pilot G-2 0.05 or their 0.38 in a Pinch.

    Those of us in IT are not PEOPLE PERSONs.

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  28. Great Tuesday puzzle, Jeff, with lots of fun clue misdirection and a fun PP theme. I also enjoyed your write-up, Melissa, but am still puzzled by Body shop fig.= EST. What's that all about?

    I too had WIENER instead of WIENIE, at first, and as a dachshund lover and owner, I hoped the clue referred to a WIENER DOG visiting a roast, not being eaten at one. Did you all see that cute Heinz catsup commercial a while back with all those WIENIES?

    Have a great Tuesday, everybody!

    ReplyDelete
  29. OK, I watched the whole one hour canoe video...
    (well, somebody had to...)
    & I must say, from previous experience, (on a small scale)
    it is a labor of love to build from scratch any watercraft...

    My only problem was not having enough patience to complete
    the finishing details. I always want to get on the water asap.
    (once she floats, hey I'm done...)

    Hmm, do I have enough time and patience to fall in love again?

    (Aw, what the heck, what is life for anyway...)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Misty @1:08. EST. stands for estimate which is what the body shop gives you (or your insurance company) before a repair.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Add me to the WEENIE boosters.
    Even knowing that the perp, ACADEA, was wrong, I left it that way in tribute to good spellers everywhere. Popular usage -- in the English, not Deutscher, version-- is the master here, and I owe too much allegiance to Sister Angelica and to the Spelling Badge she awarded me in second grade to betray the trust now.
    On this score, count me as finished and correct - and Mr. Stillman, with all due respect, as DNF.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Many thanks, CanadianEh--I should have figured that out for myself, but it never occurred to me. Good to know.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Wiener is the main spelling. Weenie is alternate. Spellchecker rejects weenie. Look at all the brand names, such as Oscar Mayer weiners. Are you sure Sister Angelica endorses weenie?

    ReplyDelete
  34. As infantile and stupid as this is, I bet you smile...

    Witches don't get pregnant because their husbands have hollow wienies

    ReplyDelete
  35. Keith: "Man is not so much a rational being as a rationalizing being." But I did laugh right out loud (and this is from the 5th grade county spelling champion, I would add :-)

    YR: re-read your final sentence 4 or 5 times. Are you sure you want to start that conversation here. We might not have enough time......

    ReplyDelete
  36. Am I the only one that thinks Melissa b's example of Peter Piper does NOT fit the six letter format?

    ReplyDelete
  37. YR: I am shocked that you would suggest such a thing.

    Now children, let us forget about spelling weenie and just eat them with relish.

    ReplyDelete
  38. I'm with Ol' Man Keith about WIENIE. Melissa said "That spelling just looks funny to me." I think it looks funny because it's wrong.
    Hand up for entering DEALS at first and for checking perps to find out if Mr. Bridges was JEFF or BEAU.
    I loved the clues for FOOL and PTA. The clue for ALE was pretty good, too.
    Bluehen, thanks for the recipe and the story.
    TTP, good joke!
    Anonymous T, I didn't see anything offensive when I googled TOSH.0
    Best wishes to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Yellowrocks -
    The specific spelling of WEENIE never arose at St. Vincent's, but Sister Angelica would have endorsed it, I have no doubt, based on the rule of usage.
    And, for shame! While the back row boys might snicker, she would have defended it without even the hint of a smile.

    ReplyDelete
  40. If WIENIE is a shortened form of wiener schnitzel then the spelling is correct. My dictionaries, both print and online, confirm this.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Ah, but mustn't we keep in mind the words of the inestimable Molière?
    "Les dictionnaires, rappelez-vous... ils sont tellement prétentieux."

    ReplyDelete
  42. Keith, I'll have you know that even though I may have acted the class clown, I did it from the front row....like I meant it :-)

    I'm still dealing with Guy Clark's passing. So....in tribute :-(

    L.A. Freeway

    Maybe I can Paint Over That

    The Cape

    Step Inside This House Can't find a version of this by Guy, so Lyle will have to do. It's an incredible song.

    Desperados Waiting for a Train

    I'm out. I've got beer to cry in.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Understood, Avg Joe,

    Guy was a poet for our souls.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Anon@4:37 pm
    I noticed that (5,5) too. Guess everyone else was too polite to mention it.

    Desper-otto said...
    "My puzzle implement of choice
    Is a Pilot G-2, a nice pen to hoist.
    The width's oh point seven,
    That rubber grip is heaven.
    Wite-Out would be my second choice."

    ReplyDelete

For custom-made birthday, anniversary or special occasion puzzles from C.C., please email crosswordc@gmail.com

Her book "Sip & Solve Easy Mini Crosswords" is available on Amazon.

Please click on Comments Section Abbrs for some blog-specific terms.

Please limit your posts to 5 per day and cap each post length at about 20 lines in Preview mode.

No politics, no religion and no personal attacks.