google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, November 22, 2016 Janice Luttrell

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Nov 22, 2016

Tuesday, November 22, 2016 Janice Luttrell

Theme: Let's Build Something - You can find the tools we need in the grid.

17. One of a daily three at the table: SQUARE MEAL

41. Ten-spot: SAWBUCK

64. Reality show hosted by rapper M.C.: HAMMERTIME

11. Military marching unit: DRILL TEAM

34. Utmost effort: LEVEL BEST

Argyle the Builder here with Janice the Constructor. Very nice pinwheel project today with the all important SAW in the center. No plumb bob though. (Only seven three-letter words!)

Across:

1. Took a powder: LEFT

5. Wake-up call alternative: ALARM

10. Real estate ad abbr. after 2 or 3, commonly: BDRM. (bedroom)

14. Golfer Aoki: ISAO



15. Blender button: PURÉE

16. "Wonderfilled" cookie: OREO

19. __ colada: cocktail: PINA

20. Heart rate: PULSE

21. Tempo: PACE

22. Tar Heel State university: ELON


23. Hunting dog: SETTER

25. Israeli currency: SHEKEL. 1 Israeli New Sheqel equals 26 US Cents (Note the spelling change. We may see this in the future.)

27. __ out a living: EKEs. Had to wait on final letter, S or D.

29. Fiber-__ cable: OPTIC

32. Temperate: MILD

35. Jinx: HOODOO

39. Tokyo, long ago: EDO

40. Drink cooler: ICE

42. Ga. neighbor: ALA. (Georgia/Alabama)

43. Voting mo.: NOV. (November)

44. Ditching class, say: ABSENT

45. Visa rival, for short: AMEX. (American Express)

46. Mournful toll: KNELL

48. Former OTC market regulator: NASD. The phrase "over-the-counter" can be used to refer to stocks that trade via a dealer network as opposed to on a centralized exchange./ The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) was the self-regulatory organization of the securities industry responsible for the operation and regulation of the NASDAQ stock market and over-the-counter markets.

50. Trendy, with "the": LATEST

54. NFL team that moved from St. Louis in 2016: L.A. RAMS

58. Perfume that sounds forbidden: TABU

60. Foes of us: THEM

62. "The Bourne Identity" star Matt: DAMON

63. Universal donor's blood type, briefly: O NEG

66. "Golly!": "GOSH!"

67. Suggest: IMPLY

68. Salinger title girl: ESME

69. Aardvark fare: ANTS



70. Affectionate nickname: CUTIE

71. __-Pei: wrinkly dog: SHAR

Down:

1. Talks like Sylvester: LISPS

2. Suffix with arab: ESQUE


3. San Andreas __: FAULT

4. Like much breakfast bread: TOASTED or a CSO to Tinman.

5. Jungle chest-beater: APE

6. Sugar cube: LUMP

7. Real estate calculations: AREAS

8. Gunslinger's "Hands up!": "REACH!"

9. Brawl: MELEE. (clever Sunday offering)

10. Girl with a missing flock: BO PEEP

12. Gambling town northeast of Sacramento: RENO


13. Sound of pain: MOAN

18. Smell bad: REEK

24. Halfway house activity: REHAB. (Rehabilitation)

26. Oddball: KOOK

28. Spreads, as seeds: SOWs

30. Sitting around doing nothing: IDLE

31. Win over gently: COAX

32. Luxurious fur: MINK

33. Twitter's bird, e.g.: ICON


36. Brit. honor: OBE, (Officer (of the Order) of the British Empire)

37. Brooks' country music partner: DUNN



38. In base eight: OCTAL

41. Fries sprinkling: SALT

45. Costs for sponsors: AD RATES

47. Guffaws or giggles: LAUGHS

49. Iraq's __ City: SADR


51. Code of conduct: ETHIC

52. SeaWorld orca: SHAMU

53. Entice: TEMPT

55. Horse-and-buggy-driving sect: AMISH

56. Mother's nickname: MOMMA



57. Lip-curling look: SNEER

58. Frat party robe: TOGA

59. Very shortly, to Shakespeare: ANON

61. Mid-21st century date: MMLI. (2051)

65. Cornea's place: EYE


Argyle

34 comments:

OwenKL said...

{A-, B+, B, B.}

Hell was bespoke-built for the Devil
With carpenter's SAW, SQUARE, and LEVEL!
Used a DRILL to go down,
HAMMER deep underground --
But frickin' fracking is making it tremble!

Near L.A. EKES this farmer, a KOOK,
Who usually SOWS his acres with cukes.
This year, he sowed OREO,
The result was deplorable --
His harvest of hydrox was a fluke!

At a frat in ICE-cold North Dakota,
Upperclassmen each wore a MINK TOGA!
At the froshes they'd SNEER
Till they shivered in fear,
Which hastened their hypothermic coda!

The farmer could do naught but weep
His crop eaten or trampled by sheep!
BO PEEP was the FAULT
That the RAMS had got out,
And failed good ewes and bad ewe to keep!

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Janice and Santa!

Cool puzzle. No snags.

No more rain for awhile.

Anyone else watching Timeless? Fun show.

Have a great day!

unclefred said...

Started out racing thru it, then bogged down in the center and SE. HOODOO eluded me for a while, I've never used that word. In the end, got 'er done in just a bit over usual Tuesday time. Thank, Janice, for a fun CW. Thanx, Argyle, for your usual excellent write-up. Owen, you worked in a lot of the CW words, great job on that. The limericks seemed to strain a bit to get 'me all in there, though. B- on each. Thanx for the grins!

unclefred said...

"Get 'em in" not "get 'me in". Damn auto-correct!!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Yay! I got the theme! That helped with HAMMERTIME (is it one word or two?) -- not something I've heard of, or would watch if I had. Argyle, I was right there with you on EKE_, waiting on perps. Nicely done, Janice.

Anonymous said...

Four fouls (one more and you're out):

1. While Tar Heel can be a nickname for any North Carolinian, it is improper to apply it to ELON University, the athletic teams of which are known as the Phoenix. Tar Heels play for the University of North Carolina.

2. MOMMA is a misspelling of MAMA (sometimes misspelled MAMMA). You want an O, it's MOMMY.

3. Both "Golly!" and GOSH are euphmisms for taking the Lord's name in vain. Let's leave them out of the crosswords, please. Along with "Gee whiz!"

4. A cube and a LUMP are not the same shape.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Janice always provides an entertaining puzzle with, in this case, a not so obvious theme which eluded me until I read the write-up. I had pulse before purée which was corrected when the correct pulse showed up. Also waited on the E or S with Eke. Overall, a fun, smooth solve.

Thanks, Janice, for a Tuesday treat and thanks, Argyle, for unraveling the mystery for me.

Anonymous @ 6:51 - North Carolia is the Tar Heel State and Elon University is in North Carolina; the clue is correct, IMO.

Momma, mamma, mama, who cares? Certain words have a lot of flexible spellings in crosswords.

Golly, gosh and gee whiz are common, ordinary expressions that I (and many others) have used all of our lives with no intent or knowledge that they are blasphemous or euphemisms, as you suggest. Despite the Word Police, I will continue to use them.

I suggest you eat a CUBE of sugar to sweeten your disposition or else Santa may bring you a LUMP of coal. Maybe two!

Have a great day.


thehondohurricane said...


Like Uncle Fred, I too bogged down in the center and SE. Unlike Uncle Fred, my wags were wrong. I had hUNt for 37D, yielding test for 48A & vHOOhOO for 35A. Even though I filled in all the squares, I consider today's poor effort a DNF. My wags were more hopes and prayers then intelligent thought.

Thanks to 40A, ICE, I suspect I won't be the only DNF today....right Tin?

Don't know if I'll be able to post tomorrow so I'll take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Turkey Day. PIG OUT, the heck with the diet for one day!

thehondohurricane said...


Screwup on line two...test should be teSD.

Yellowrocks said...

Irish Miss, you go girl! Very similar to the post I just wrote.
More interesting than the usual Tuesday. Great expo, Argyle.
HOODOO took a minute, but I have heard it used this way.
HAMMER TIME was new to me but easily perped. I heard of Matt DAMON, but needed three perps to recall it.
In the 22A clue, State was capitalized so I took it to mean Elon is a North Carolina university, so no nit.
Variant nicknames for mother: ma, mama, mamma, mom, mommy, mummy, mum, momma. All are legit. As usual, there is not just one acceptable answer. Growing up we said Mama, unusual among my friends. My husband taught our kids to call me Mommy. Do you read the comic strip "Momma"?
Although lump does not seem close to cube, when sugar cubes are served with tea, the hostess asks, "One lump, or two?"So in this sense I give it a pass.
Today is the first prep day for the feast. Bake a pie, chop the celery and onions for the stuffing, break up the bread, make cranberry relish. Off to the kitchen.

Big Easy said...

Easy Tuesday offering that only caused me to slow down on HOODOO because I'm not familiar with it's use as a Jinx. But we do have a 'VOODOO' Museum in town. REHAB saved me. I did my LEVEL BEST (not really) but didn't notice the theme.

HAMMERTIME- set to the music of SUPERFREAK by Rick James

SHEKEL-SHE'Q'EL- if it's Hebrew so shouldn't it be LEQEHS?

AMEX above NASD- anybody else remember the American Stock Exchange, aka AMEX?
Well it's time for this KOOK to 'Boot Scoot Boogie' (by Brooks & DUNN) outta here.

anon@6:51- you must be one of the 'Snowflakes' out there and you need to go back to your safe room.

Tinbeni said...

Argyle, nice write-up. Thanks Janice for a FUN Tuesday puzzle.

D-N-F ... done in by a certain "3 letter word" (and I NEVER cool my drinks!).

Fave today, of course, was that PINA Colada ... "Yes, I like a Pina Colada."
(and I 'm playing that Rupert Holmes tune "Escape (The Pina Colada Song) in the background).

Hmm, I think it's time for Gal-Pal and I to meet at a bar called O'Malley's
where we can "Plan our Escape"

Cheers!

kazie said...

It's a sad day for me when on a Tuesday I manage to screw up in 3 places. Couldn't get past thinking the bedrooms had to be plural after 2 or 3, so had BDRS and couldn't make anything work for 13D. Am familiar with the stock quotes from NASD but not that it had anything to do with OTC as well as guessing LADR for the unknown city and not knowing how to end the in base eight answer, guessing EL rather than AL.

It seems to me all days are harder than they used to be. That might be mostly fine for us old hands, but not if new participants are to be encouraged to join us.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Had to erase sUgar for CUTIE, logo for ICON and TEase for TEMPT. One mistake - I had MaMMA for MOMMA and didn't catch it with Matt's last name. I blame my cardiologist's demand that I drink decaf.

IM has already fed the troll today, so I'll leave it alone.

I have a good friend who retired to the big city of Elon, NC. Didn't take long before he figured out that it snows there, and he moved to Inverness, FL.

Favorite clue was "Ga. neighbor" for ALA. Much better than the trite "in the mode of" cluing. Ironically, my least favorite was "suffix with arab" for ESQUE. Not only is that about as obscure as it could be, it is also a missed opportunity for a CSO to John Kennedy (Kennedyesque) who was assassinated on this date in 1963. Do you remember where you were when you heard he had been shot? I was watching my town's Thanksgiving parade with my mom and dad, one of the few times they were together outside of our home. We had a small business with a motel, restaurant, convenience store and gas pumps, and someone usually had to stay home to "mind the store".

Thanks to Janis for another entertaining exercise, and to Santa for the reveal. I had forgotten to look for a theme until I read his expo.

TTP said...


Good morning all. Thank you Janice and Argyle. CSO to JINX.

"Argyle the Builder here with Janice the Constructor."
And are we, the commenters, the County Inspectors ? If so, you both pass with flying colors.

1A. Took a powder: LEFT. Do you recall that on Nov 1st Janice gave us 55A. Leave hurriedly and, literally, what the first words of the answers to starred clues can do: TAKE A POWDER ?

Makes me wonder if Took a powder was her clue today. Or was Rich reinforcing the definition ?

I didn't have to wait to decide S or D for EKES. I started in the SW, went NE. Then from SE to NW to make the big X pattern. Had SOWS before I got to the clues for EKES.

The only slowdown today was that I couldn't type fast enough to get a time under 8 mins.

Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-HS Drill Teams have evolved into Dance Teams and that’s where the cool girls are now
-The ELON Phoenix went 2 – 9 this year
-The SAN ANDREAS Fault. The ground on one side of her is moving north and the other side is moving south
-The NFL audience dip has affected AD RATES
-Gosh, I see ANON is having a bumper year in harvesting nits and sour grapes. It just adds to the festivities here.
-I am subbing in high school today and no one seems to be so traumatized that they are ABSENT or in need of a safe place. When people got elected I didn’t support, I just went to work. Time for gym class!

CrossEyedDave said...

To catch up,

I enjoyed CC's Sunday puzzle,
just could not find anything funny to post.

I also enjoyed the Irish Miss & CC puzzle on Monday,
but again, nothing silly seemed appropriate...

(Sigh, tough times...)

But wait! Know your tools!

Also, Brooks & Dunn was a gimme due to
the hit they had with the remake of BW Stevensons My Maria.

Sometimes I have a hard time deciding which I like better
because the original had some great guitar licks if you listen closely.

Just turn down the volume during the Chorus...

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

I had shop tools for the theme. No matter. Three of the theme words shape or prepare the construction material; two, LEVEL and SQUARE, guide the process. Had mane before MINK. KNELL forced the correct fill.
Aardvark - Means earth pig in Dutch and Afrikaans.
HAMMER - same spelling in German.

Lucina said...

Hello. Thanks to Janice and Argyle for not only the TOOLS but also the building blocks for today's construction. Good job!

It was a fun romp and well under my normal time which I did quite early this morning and then returned to bed. My wretched sleep schedule has again forced me to awaken at ungodly hours then back to bed for another two or three hours.

But it was enjoyable to solve this.

Have a beautiful day, everyone!

MJ said...

Greetings to all!

Although I've seen the expression "take a powder", I couldn't remember what it means, so needed perps to help. Thanks, Janice, for an enjoyable Tuesday puzzle. And thanks, Argyle, for the expo. Great links today.

Enjoy the day!

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-BTW, I was in this same building as a High School senior 53 years ago when my friend tearfully told me JFK had been shot. In fact, on 11/22/2013 (which was also a Friday), fifty years to the minute later, I was on that very same spot at 12:30 pm

Whitey said...


I'm sure Mr. Anon at 6:51 is a blast at parties!

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

My PACE isn't 100% yet but I was able to DRILL-in and solve sans MOANs.

Thanks Janice for the fun puzzle and Argyle for another fun writeup (I just commented on yesterday via time travel ALA Abejo).

WOs: Logo b/f ICON (Hi Jinx!) which turned the West Central into an inky mess. MOMMY b/f MAMMA
ESP: +WAG - SADR. What's funny is I had NA_D for OTC. I was thinking about OTC drugs and wagged S for "safety." So it's right for the wrong reason :-)

Fav: SHEKEL - Pop uses that word all the time when things cost big $$.

Runner-up: Us and THEM (7m). Also, I find it funny that yesterday's @1a was RIGHT and today's @1a is LEFT. RICH being neutral? :-)

{B+, A, B+, B}

Right on IM! (Re: ANON)

Here's the "set to Rick James" video Big E mentioned: @2:10 M.C. says It's HAMMER TIME.

In and out of sleep last night listening to the Crazy People Show... They had Richard Belzer on and, apparently, he's a subscriber to the Grassy KNoLL "theory" re: JFK.

Cheers, -T

Michael said...

On behalf of all Crosswordom, I propose this amendment to the Penal Code:

"Any and all automatic spelling correctors must pass the following test: to not change 'apodictic' to 'appaloosa' involuntarily, without offering at least two fingers of Tinbeni's Special Calming Potion in recompense."

===

I was in line at the Ft. Benning Travel Office, to get a ticket to go to Ft. Meade, when we heard about JFK's assassination. At the time, what sergeants thought was of more immediacy than national news, but looking back now, so much was shifted -- not always for the better -- by his absence.

Tinbeni said...

It was my Father's 44th birthday back in 1963.
We didn't celebrate that night.

21 years later, Thanksgiving fell on November 22nd ... his 65th birthday.

Well as my Mother always said regarding a big family gathering: I know how to make Reservations.

So we went to the Treasure Island Yacht Club ... and as we walked in I told the Maitre'd: "Reservations for six."
My Dad stepped forward and said: "Andy, it is Reservations for five."

And then I pointed at my oldest brother (Who I had sent an airline ticket from LA to Tampa without telling him ...)

"Dad, don't you want your 'First-Born' son to join us?"

It was the first time we had celebrated his birthday since the JFK assassination.

And my "First Toast at Sunset" tonight is to my Father.
Cheers!

Anonymous said...

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that's all.”

Many of you need to figure out how to turn off auto-correct or stop your kvetching and learn to proofread what you are typing.

"You always had the power my dear. You just had to learn it for yourself."
— Glinda the Good Witch.

Jayce said...

Nice puzzle. I like Janice's work. Had BDRS until MOAN made it BDRM. I like it when ELON is clued as Mr. Musk's first name; it has that unique scent to it. Had LOGO before ICON, but had ESQUE right away.

Thanks for your informative and entertaining write-up, Argyle.

Anonymous T, sorry you were feeling so, um, shitty yesterday, and glad you are much better today.

Best wishes to you all.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Good 'un.
Forgot the name of ELON University. It's good to be reminded of how many institutes of higher learning our country supports. I think it was Mark Twain (I may be mistaken) who once made light of this. The story runs something like this:

A proud American traveler was on his first trip to Europe. He was in London when he attended a public lecture on the value of a "Life Informed by a Liberal Education." Afterwards he overheard a polite debate between an Englishman and a German. The German was boasting that his country had a great university--Heidelberg! The Englishman countered by naming TWO venerable English campuses--Oxford and Cambridge!
The American laughed them both off, puffing out his chest and claiming, "Aw that's nothing, only one or two universities? Why, back home in Ohio, we've got twenty-eight!"

Wilbur Charles said...

I never got a chance to knock off Monday's XW so I knocked them both off this morning, finishing about 830am. I thought Mon was harder. RAHM was to far back in my head.

I was in a geology class. First news had it as "multiple gunshots from a bridge in front of the motorcade".

My theory:. Onassis and Winston Churchill cookedup the plan on Ari's yacht.

You have to admit, it's on a par with most of the internet stuff.

Nice work IM and CC and Argyle and Owen. Liked your first, best. Lot's of imagination.

WC

Bill G. said...

Moosings...

I was noticing the background 'music' in the coffee shop and other places. We used to call it elevator music back than. This new stuff is much dreadfuller. I'd pay extra not to have to hear it. How about some Beach Boys or Chuck Berry or Big Band or Elvis or Sinatra or ...?

I was super impressed with the Medal of Freedom awards from the White House today; both with the recipients and the Presenter in Chief. Very classy.

Wikipedia says that among the most commonly-used English words, "like" ranks 54th. I'm sure it is much higher on the list with many young people these days.

windhover said...

Golly gee, IM, you are so much kinder than I could ever be. Or should I say, to be correct, more kind? Moreover, you are correct on every point. :-)

Bill G. said...

Years ago, one of my students, knowing I liked math and puzzles, said he had a puzzle for me. I said OK.

He said, Two guys go into a coffee shop and they both order coffee. There was a sugar bowl on the table with 11 sugar cubes. Each took an odd number of lumps of sugar. When they finished, the sugar was all gone. How many cubes did each one take?

I thought but couldn't make any sense of it. So I said, OK, I give up.

The boy said, One guy took one and the other guy took 10.

I said, But 10 isn't an odd number.

He said, Yes it is. It's a very odd number of lumps of sugar to put in one cup of coffee!

Anonymous T said...

Bill G: Want some coffee w/ that sugar? :-)

I caught the Freedom Metals repeat on CSPAN from "Gates" forward. Afterwards, Tom Hanks answered a bunch of questions. One was funny as someone asked about how he feels being back at the White House getting another award. Hanks looked perplexed until the reporter explained. Hanks then had to explain to the reporter that the "1st time" was in front of a blue-screen on the set of Forest Gump.

Hanks also reminds me of: About 8 years ago I was in LA during an NPR pledge drive. Hanks came on asking us to pledge. Only in LA :-)

Good to see you Windhover! Still sharp as any Tool in the shed.

Cheers, -T

Brianlas said...

Thanks for the thanks, Rich! Thanks for all of you for making puzzle-solving so enjoyable! And, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!