google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, December 9, 2016, Tony Caruso and C. C. Burnikel

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Dec 9, 2016

Friday, December 9, 2016, Tony Caruso and C. C. Burnikel

Title 2 + 2 = 4.

In their third LAT collaboration of 2016, Tony (Anon-T) and C.C. take well known phrases or products which include a number and add 4 (four) to get the theme answer. The reveal is really cute, especially if you like golf. Not an easy puzzle, but it went smoothly. And we have a mini-Trojan War theme. It does feature quite a bit of interesting intermediate fill such as ALKALI,  DUELED, ORTEGA,  B.B.KING,  AENEAS, CLAUDE, EAT DIRT,  UPBRAID, COROLLA,  KNESSET, LIONS DEN, TENOR SAX...where do they all come from?

On with the show:

17A. Dutch vodka brand : KETEL FIVE (9). Ketel One plus four equals the joke.

24A. End of an Ernie Banks catchphrase about doubleheaders : LET'S PLAY SIX (11). Let's PLAY TWO showed the enthusiasm he always had for the game, and how nice to see Mr. Cub so soon after the Series.

36A. Powerful Detroit group : THE BIG SEVEN (11). The old line automobile BIG THREE are back on top after Toyota and Honda peaked.

47A. NCAA hockey semifinal group : FROZEN EIGHT (11). The FROZEN FOUR are the four finalists who vie for the NCAA men's hockey championship.
The reveal -
57A. Traditional golf pants, and a hint to why certain puzzle answers are wrong : PLUS FOURS (9).
Plus-fours are breeches or trousers that extend 4 inches (10 cm) below the knee (and thus four inches longer than traditional knickerbockers, hence the name). As they allow more freedom of movement than knickerbockers, they have been traditionally associated with sporting attire from the 1860s and onward, and are also particularly associated with golf. wiki. Revived in golf by Orville Moody and the late Payne Stewart.

Across:

1. Photoshop maker : ADOBE. Perhaps more famous for PDF.

6. Late __ : FEE.

9. Average Joes, e.g. : MALES.

14. Fishing needs : LURES.

15. Bill's future, maybe : LAW. No not our bicycle riding macchiato swigging Bill G., but a bill offered in congress.

16. Troy story : ILIAD. I love the simplicity and subtlety of this clue dredging up both the ancient myth and the modern myth - Toy Story.

19. Coin receivers : SLOTS. And that is why they are called slot machine.

20. Round orders : ALES. This round is on me!

21. Extraction target : ORE. There are no three letter teeth and SPY just did not work.

22. Hide in a crowd : BLEND. (in?)

23. Piano part : LEG. Piano leg has become a pejorative.

27. State bordering six others and the Canadian mainland : IDAHO. I was sorry to see the number in the clue. Canada gave away the answer for me.

29. Beam : RAY.

30. Beats Electronics co-founder : DRE. Only in America...BILLIONAIRE?

31. Rebuke : UPBRAID.

35. Checks out : VETS. In the strange history of American English, this term comes to us from horse racing. To vet was originally a horse-racing term, referring to the requirement that a horse be checked for health and soundness by a veterinarian before being allowed to race. Thus, it has taken the general meaning "to check" various.

38. Powerful pair : ACES. Bullets.

40. Parliament of Israel : KNESSET. They have a unicameral legislature. Formed in 1949, from Mishnaic Hebrew keneseth "gathering, assembly," from stem of Hebrew kanas "he gathered, assembled, collected."

41. Former Texas Rangers manager Washington : RON. He is the most successful manager in their HISTORY.

42. Grafton's "__ for Alibi" : A IS. The alphabet mysteries which started when she was 42 and have made it to X.

43. 2014 Olympics city : SOCHI. It was exciting then but NOW?

52. Chuckle online : LOL.

53. Borneo swinger : ORANG.

54. Jessica Rabbit feature : GAM.

55. Composer __ Maria von Weber : CARL.
                                                    I am not an expert on OPERA.


56. Mascot once awarded a Doctor of Bovinity degree : ELSIE. From the Ohio State University, I am told.

59. Santa __ : CLARA. Who lives there?

60. Charged particle : ION.

61. Bhopal locale : INDIA. Looks kind of dead center to me?

62. Burdens : TAXES.

63. Sitter's charge : TOT.

64. In dire straits : NEEDY.


Down:

1. Caustic potash, e.g. : ALKALI.  More than you need to KNOW.

2. Fought, in a way : DUELED.

3. Company with a Taco Club : ORTEGA. I have linked their bottle a couple of times.

4. Contests whose competitors stand in place : BEES. While they do stand in a spelling bee, not so much in a quilting bee.

5. Course for some U.S. arrivals : ESLEnglish as a Second Language was very important for my wife and I. Without it we would not have been able to successfully....

6. Tease : FLIRT.

7. Gutter sites : EAVES.

8. Woolly mama : EWE. Another sounds almost like clue (woolly mammoth).

9. Lose : MISLAY.

10. Way behind buildings : ALLEY. I like it!

11. Hostile place : LION'S DEN. The image comes from the Torah where Daniel is cast into the lions den by the Babylonians.

12. Swallow one's pride : EAT DIRT. A straight forward metaphor, but nice phrase.

13. Campus org. revived in 2006 : SDS. Popular once again.

18. Un-friend? : FOE. Another use of modern slang to beef up a simple fill.

22. Grass components : BLADES.

24. Bound : LOPE.

25. Finicky sort : PRISS.

26. Marks with two intersecting lines : XES.

28. Confused sounds : HUHS.

32. Blues singer in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 1987 : B. B. KING. Link.


33. Word before repeat : RINSE. On every shampoo bottle.

34. Sensitive subject for some : AGE.

35. Reject : VETO.

36. Clinton's instrument : TENOR SAX. I thought Monica said it was a cigar...

37. A tie may be partly under one : VEST.

38. Pound sound : ARF. Nice rhyme.

39. Toyota model : COROLLA.

42. Trojan who survived the sack of Troy : AENEAS. Aeneas was the son of Anchises and Venus. He was a cousin of King Priam of Troy, and was the leader of Troy's Dardanian allies during the Trojan War. After the fall of Troy, he led a band of Trojan refugees to Italy and became the founder of Roman culture (although not of the city of Rome itself). The story is told in this WORK.

44. First name in impressionism : CLAUDEMONET. He did not do a good King Louis.

45. Plain awful : HORRID.

46. "Amen to that!" : I'LL SAY.

48. Rumble in the Jungle setting : ZAIRE. Where Ali unveiled the "rope-a-dope" to defeat George Foreman.


49. Inuit home : IGLOO.

50. More than skinny : GAUNT.

51. Bounty title : HMS. His/her Majesty's Ship.  True STORY.

55. Pine __ : CONE. Tree fit too.

56. Outside: Pref. : ECT. Endo and ecto...

57. Casino area : PIT.

58. Shark feature : FIN. Fin is also French for the the end, which means it is time for us to say adieu. Always such fun to blog a puzzle from C.C. University. Thank you Tony, C.C. and  all of you.




Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Hahtoolah, who never comes to the blog without an inspiring quote. Like Lucina, Hahtoolah has traveled extensively. She is also an avid reader.

The Corn Poppy

66 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIR! Not too bad for a Friday, though the NW almost got me. LID > LEG led to ORE-IDA > ORTEGA, and K.eEL was unknown with any letter, so that left me flumoxed by DU..iD and A.iS > DUELED and ALES!
I also missed the theme. I saw the progression FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT, but FOUR? I avoided reading the reveal until after I'd finished the puzzle, and didn't even realize any of the numbers were wrong! SIX was the only one I wondered about, that I thought should be 18 (innings).

Yesterday was a very bad day. Several problems, but what set off the Depression was my printer. I bought it in May 2015, wireless because there was no way I could safely run a cord to it. Off and on I tried to figure out the password it demanded, while my need for a printer gradually gave out. Until May of 2016, when I finally ran a cord across the walkway. The cord was only in place when I was actually using the printer, so from May to now, I'd only used it 3 times, less than a dozen pages total. The cord, however, was ankle height, so my wife has tripped on it two of those times, once falling herself, once pulling the printer to crash to the floor! Fortunately, no injuries either time. Wednesday would have been the 4th time to use it, but there was a mysterious paper jam. Nothing I could see, and I went through all the diagnostics in the manual. The last thing it said was, send it to a service center. Right. A $100+ repair cost plus the significant hassle, for a printer that only cost me $40 to begin with! So I've ended up paying about $4 per page for what I got out of it! Yesterday was one of those black days when I couldn't rouse myself to get out of bed or even turn on my 'puter. Today doesn't look like it's going to be much better.

{F-.}

The sitter's FEE for watching the TOTS
She blew in Vegas PLAYING the SLOTS.
To get out of the jam,
She flashed her GAM,
And joined the legion of HORRID harlots.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Tony, CC and Lemonade!

This one got me. Had to cheat!

Have a great day!

fermatprime said...

Happy Birthday to Hahtoolah!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Tony and C.C. served up a tough one this morning. Like OwenKL, I never noticed that the numbers were wrong -- thought the theme was 4-5-6-7-8 with the four out of place. D'oh! Didn't help that I read "Round Orders" as "Round corners." Figured the "mascot" was a sports figure, so ELSIE didn't occur to me until she showed up. Couldn't remember how to spell SOCHI, so tried sORdID before HORRID filled in. Thanks, guys for a tough outing.

Lots of info this morning, Lemon. I liked it. Although folks sit at a quilting BEE, it's not a contest, so no foul. ESL: CSO to Lucina.

OwenKL, our printer/scanner also bit the dust this week when it began eating pages. I couldn't see any way to disassemble it to clear whatever was causing the jams. We have a laser printer that I use for most things, but DW said we absolutely must have a scanner, so I ordered a replacement that'll arrive today. The old one was a $30 wonder that lasted more than five years. Only regret -- I'd just installed a new ink cartridge in the old printer, and the new printer takes a different cartridge.

Happy Birthday, Hahtoolah!

thehondohurricane said...

A fun Friday offering.....thank you CC & Tony. I have to disagree with Lemon a wee bit, I found this puzzle pretty easy, especially for a Friday. I was having difficulty with the down clues until the PLUS FOURS appeared. LETS PLAY TWO was Ernie's exact quote, but the down fills into were driving me crazy until the AHA moment.

The sports references for the theme and two of the clues really helped. Once I had the theme, 36A was a gimme.

CC, didn't RON Washington have some kind of personal issue during his time in Texas? Maybe the grape...I recall something was going on with him.

Never realized IDAHO's borders had so many different neighbors.

FIVE Ketel One's would sure do a number on me today......One is my limit these days no matter whose name is on the label.

First snow due this weekend, may change to rain which I hope it does....we need it.

thehondohurricane said...

Dang it, I did it again.

Hahtoolah, a very happy birthday. Always look forward to your Quote of the Day.

TTP said...


Good morning all. Thank you Tony and CC. Thank you Lemonade.

Happy Birthday Hahtoolah !

Filled In Wrong. FIW. In the middle. Started by initially entering gNoSSET instead of KNESSET. That led to sensitive subject eGo instead of AGE. Changed it to KNoSSET when I realized we were looking for BB KING, and then eGo to AGE because it made sense. That left me with U-BRAID, and I thoughtlessly threw in an N. No tada. FIW.

Ciao for now.

Anonymous said...

Lame, lame, lame! Not only do we have to come up with four wrong answers, but one of the clues, too, was wrong: LET'S PLAY [TWO] was not the "end of an Ernie Banks catchphrase about doubleheaders," it was the whole phrase. And it wasn't just about doubleheaders; it was about baseball, and life.

XES? Simply misspelled. Try EXES (or X'S). Or where was "in short"?

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

It took me a bit to figure out the theme but, once I did, it was smooth sailing. Did not notice the number progression, though, until Owen pointed it out. Neat theme and execution. Nice to see Troy-related clues.

Thanks, Tony and CC, for a fun Friday and thanks, Lemony, for guiding us along.

Happy Birthday, Hatoolah, hope it's a special day. 🎁🍾🎈🎉🎂. (There sure are a lot of December birthdays on this Corner!)

Dusting of snow this morning with lots of sunshine. Much colder temps coming, though.

I'll finally get to light my Christmas tree again as all of the original pre-lit strands have been replaced. 🎄

Owen, I hope you feel better. 😉

Have a great day.

BunnyM said...

Long time reader, first time poster here. I must say I love reading the write ups and comments ( unless they're negative and nitpicking. Not sure why people want to come here to complain!)
Not too hard for a Friday but was thrown off in the NE corner - had 'Eat Crow' for 12D but knew that Dre was correct as well as 'Blend' Had no idea what the Ernie Banks phrase was so had to figure out the reveal and go back to clean it a up.
Not a golfer and only know basics ( from my Father -in -law & crosswords) so had to Google Plus Fours :) Something quite charming about those!
Had Santa Claus instead of Clara for a bit. Really gearing up for Christmas so that must have been why, lol
All in all a fun puzzle - I thought the theme was quite clever!
Now of to face the cold, dreary outdoors with a dusting of snow - our first of the season here.

Big Easy said...

Well I play golf and have occasionally seen knickers, I've never heard of PLUS FOURS. Not being a vodka drinker I thought that maybe the 'Ketel' distillers had numbered brands after KETEL FIVE was solved by perps. You never know. By the time I got to FROZEN EIGHT, it was obvious that the math was wrong. PLUS FOURS filled by perps. I'LL SAY, I had a hard time scrambling to finish today, as I found the clues harder than usual.

CARL Maria was the only unknown for me today. I don't want to sound PRISSy but LOPE for 'Bound' just doesn't sound correct; LOPE is a stride or pace while Bound would be to LEAP, which is what I originally filled.

IGLOO- those were never homes for Inuit-Eskimo people- just temporary shelters.

Owen-they give away those cheap printers hoping you will but ink. I bought a B&W laser printer and order cartridges online for 1/4th the price.

D-O, I did notice the number progression and was looking for NINE.
HONDO-RON Washington is a local guy from NOLA and had both an alcohol and drug problem.

Lemonade- the former BIG THREE are not on top. According to auto sales released for November the order was GM, Toyota, Ford, FCA (Fiat-Chrysler), Honda, Nissan, with FCA being the only automaker whose sales declined. As for Bill's cigar, it probably wasn't the only instrument he used with Monica. I think he also was an 'organ' user, I mean player.

Montana said...

Good morning from Connecticut.
Thanks you CC & Tony for the crossword.
I did pretty good for a Friday, but bogged down in the middle & used help. I know nothing about golf. I didn't get the theme at all until reading Lemonade's blog. Thanks.

Happy Birthday Hahtoolah!

Montana

MJ said...

Happy Birthday Hatoolah, and good day to all!

Since the SE corner was my first solid fill, I got the theme early which really helped with the theme answers. However, like most Fridays lately, I needed Google help to finish. I really liked the progression of five, six, seven, eight. Thanks Tony and C.C. for a great puzzle, and thanks Lemonade for guiding us through it today.

OwenKL-I hope today and future days are better for you.

Thanks for the kind words from yesterday, Misty, Lucina, and AnonT. Today I will be focusing on my many blessings. :)

Enjoy the day!

MJ said...

Happy Birthday Hahtoola! Sorry for misspelling your name.

Laura said...

Who lives in Santa Clara? I do! It is a city and a county in the San Francisco Bay Area, and yes, people live there/here.

desper-otto said...

MJ, don't feel bad. C.C. also misspelled it today. Our lady from N.O. spells it Hahtoolah.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Greetings from Subville! I forgot my newspaper and so I had to do it online with two commercial interruptions.
-Me too, Lemon! I saw the numbers but didn’t know KETEL ONE but did know LET’S PLAY TWO and so the fun theme was no help and then very helpful!
-LAW/VETO has been supplanted by LAW/Filibuster. One party always complains about filibustering until it’s their turn
-Lure advice to fish and people – “Sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut”
-Oh yeah, you BLEND! (:20)
-Cmon, Piano part _ E _, you put KEY first. Didn’t you?
-I can think of many peeps on whom a poor VETTING job was done
-The SF 49ers play in SANTA CLARA
-Pols don’t say TAXES, they say “revenue enhancers”
-Good Luck on these!
-Several Facebook “friends” demanded I UNFRIEND them if I voted a certain way the last month. Friend?
-What distinguishing characteristic did the girl have of whom Longfellow wrote “When she was good, she was very, very good and when she was bad she was HORRID.”
-HBD, Hahtoolah! (I am still explaining Hahtoolah to my Spell Checker. Will your name ever be in a, uh, BEE?)

oc4beach said...


A real stumper from CC and Anon-T. I didn't get the PLUS FOUR added to the other numbers until I read Lemon's expo. So the number clues had to be totally filled in with perps and Red Letter Help, so, officially a DNF.

A few missteps along the way were BEER vs ALES, EATCROW vs EATDIRT and CLAUS vs CLARA. I tried BEVO, the UT at Austin mascot before ELSIE became apparent. Also Jessica Rabbit appears to have more features than just GAMS (which I didn't get until perps filled it in.)

Most of the other clues were fresh and different.

Happy Birthday Hahtoolah.

Have a great day.

White House said...



HG: and when you can't get a law passed, you go with an Executive Order to get your way anyhow.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Happy Birthday, Hahtoolah.

Bravo Zulu to Tony and C.C. on a fine puzzle; basically hard but clued so it was interesting. A few strategic gimmes like ALKALI, TENOR SAX, KNESSET, INDIA, and SOCHI, gave enough starting points, to sustain a decent solving bloom. Never heard of KETEL ONE - a new learning. Got the other theme phrases, just by ending them with a number higher than four. Adding 4, per Lemonade's review, didn't register with me except for THE BIG (three) SEVEN. Good brain teaser today.

Have a great day.

David said...

I started at the bottom and got the reveal before I hit the remainder of the theme so that allowed me to know where we were going before I hit the remainder of the puzzle. The rest of the fill overall felt pretty easy and didn't really have any difficult spots with the NW being the last to fall.

Anonymous said...

I live for Anon@7:52's wit and wisdom!

There's an old joke:
It was nice that God let Mr and Mrs Smith find each other. That way, there's only two people miserable, instead of four.

RIMSHOT.

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts":

Tony (and CC): great job and a cute theme (OK, I cracked a smile, too!! 😜)

WEES, it took me a few passes to see the FOURest FOUR the trees, but once I did (after the V-12 can hit me in the head) the answers filled quickly. A FIW as I did not get UPBRAID/LOPE x-ing. Loads of great words and one of them fit into this lim (or as Wilbur Charles calls it, "lick"):

Amputee was once known as a felon,
And spent most of his life in a prison.
And while there, doing time,
Tried to refute his crime;
But he doesn't have a LEG to stand on

Irish Miss said...

HG @ 10:07 - That little girl had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead.

Anon @ 10:51 - Amen.

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody. I really enjoyed this puzzle from Tony and CC. Very clever theme. I was stuck when I couldn't get "Play Two" to fit because I was pretty sure it was correct. Ya got me...

Happy birthday Hahtoolah!

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Yes, Irish!
-Radar, “What do Major Burns and Major Houlihan see in each other?” BJ replied, “Fortunately they don’t see in anyone else.”
-Here’s more 7th graders yearning to learn inequalities!

Lemonade714 said...

A very happy birthday to Hahtoolah (who changed the spelling of her Avatar over the 8 years she has been posting) and a warm welcome to Bunny M and to Laura from Santa Clara- though it would be from if you were Lara from....HG do you have any Santa Claravoyants on your map?

Lucina said...

A very happy birthday to you, Hahtoolah!

Tony, congratulations on another triumph for you and C.C.! It was mostly easy EXCEPT FOR ALL THOSE PESKY SPORTS CLUES! Yet, with some savvy WAGS and perps I actually got it all especially when realizing the number progression. I filled in all the numbers and waited for the modifiers. It didn't take long and I saw all those CSOs: BILL, ESL, Average Joe and some favs for Tinbeni though I've never heard of that particular brand of vodka. Well done!

I would have posted much earlier but had to take my vehicle for a new battery after the roadside assistance person jumped it. That took an hour's wait but it's done and I can get on with my tasks.

Owen:
I'm so sorry about your bad experiences with your printer. Electronics are so necessary in today's world but so often more of a scourge. I hope you and your wife feel better.

I hope all are having a splendid day!

Yellowrocks said...

Great puzzle. Working from bottom up helped a lot. I thought PLUS FOURS were very old fashioned. Lemon showed us they are used again these days. I liked the gimmick of adding 4 to phrases that ended with numbers. Slightly easier than a normal Friday.
Very informative review. Thanks, Lemon.
More info:
Modern Inuit mostly live in small, prefabricated wooden homes. In the past in some areas Inuit did live in igloos all winter. In the summer some lived in tents with whale rib or driftwood frames covered with skins. In other places these frames were covered with earth or turf. In parts of Greenland the Inuit had homes of stone covered with sod.
I have no nit with bound in the sense of walking or running with leaping strides. The deer bounded away.
Eat crow before eat dirt.
I associate Ortega with taco makings. I am not sure of the other reference. Anyone?
A very happy birthday, Hatoolah.
In re Ernie Banks, here is the first half. “It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame. Let’s play two.”


Yellowrocks said...

Visited the doctor this AM.. This past year Alan is having about 30% good days, other days not so much. I insisted that his symptoms have to be considered together with, most likely, an overarching malady. Lately the clustering is becoming more evident and less random. Playing whack-a-mole, treating the symptoms individually, is not working. Now we will try to rule out MS.

Owen, I hope your spirits revive. I know electronic glitches are maddening. I find "Music has charms to soothe the savage beast." Also exercise helps by releasing endorphins and serotonin.

Anonymous said...

. . . for my wife and me.

Misty said...

Welcome, Bunny M!

Happy birthday, Hahtoolah!

Fun Friday puzzle, Anon T and C.C., even though I didn't quite make it. But I got close, with cheating mainly in the Northwest corner (had to look up ADOBE and KETEL FIVE, I clearly don't know my vodka--or any vodka, for that matter). But I got everything else, so many thanks! And you, too, Lemonade--as always.

Desper-otto, I think that BEE might be a SPELLING BEE rather than a quilting bee, and that would be a contest, wouldn't it?

Have a great day, everybody!

Jayce said...

Wow, this puzzle really tickled my pleasure bone and gave my brain plenty of work to do. Thank you Tony and C.C. for dreaming this one up; excellently clever, devilish, and original. Another good thing: there were just enough known-to-me entries to give me a fair foothold, such as ILIAD, KNESSET, CARL (although I put in KARL at first), SOCHI, and INDIA.

Husker Gary, Yep, I did enter KEY before having to change it to LEG. Also had EAT CROW at first. And Santa CLAUS before CLARA.

Santa Clara, which is right next door to San Jose where I live, is fortunate to have a very strong "Silicon Valley" business tax base. Not only is the new Forty Niners' Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, so are Intel, National Semiconductor (now part of Texas Instruments), Nvidea, Applied Materials, Synaptics, Great America, and Sun Microsystems, to name a few. The famous Mission Santa Clara is there, as is the University of Santa Clara which has an excellent law school and is the Alma Mater of Brandi Chastain, Shemar Moore, and Khaled Hosseini.

Happy birthday wishes to you, Hahtoolah, and happy unbirthday wishes to you all.

Hungry Mother said...

The best thing I had going today was ignoranace, I didn't know the right numbers and got the puzzle answers by perps and guesses. It all worked out anyway.

CrossEyedDave said...

Dnf...

I did all the math ok,
but i just could not come up with:
BB King
Zaire
Claude
Carl
Sochi
Aenaes
& 24d bound = Lope was a big Huh?

All in all the premise was excellent, & it did add up to a lot of fun
& aha moments...

I don't play golf, but hey! I could use a pair of plus fours!

HBD Hahtoolah!

Owen, I hear ya,
I just got my &%$#@ printer to work (again)
but now the toilets broken!
(do you want to trade problems?)

Here's something guaranteed to be a pain in the neck!

Gmony said...

EAT DIRT! I live in Santa Clara home of Levi stadium and one of the best kept secrets to live in the world. SF to the north(less than an hour), Vegas to the south east and the beach in 40 minutes west!!!!

CanadianEh! said...

Thanks to Tony and C.C. for a fun Friday CW. Thanks to Lemonade for the explanations. I saw the number progression but did not entirely get the theme until coming here.

Like Lucina, I saw a lot of CSOs (hey I'll even take one for the IDAHO clue or maybe even IGLOO since the popular joke is that Americans think all Canadians live in Igloos!)

Hand up for Crow before DIRT, Lid before LEG (could you refer to a piano leg as a GAM?!) and ORE IDA before ORTEGA.

Daughter wanted a dependable vehicle for her first car and DH found her a used COROLLA. She traded it in recently after 8 years for another COROLLA, she was so pleased with it.

Welcome Bunny M. & Laura.
HBD to Hahtoolah and belated HBD to windhover and JzzB.
YR, I hope some answers can be found for Alan.
OwenKL, I hope some light shines in the darkness.
MJ, I love your attitude of counting your blessings!

Betsey C. said...

What a clever puzzle! I was able to finish it without cheating, and really enjoyed it. And as a lifelong Chicagoan and Cubs fan, what a pleasure to log on to this blog and see Ernie's absolutely adorable face. Thanks!

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Drat! DNF! ...Just kidding :-)

Thanks (most) everyone for the kind words and glad you had fun. You'll note every day I mention the fun I have solving (unless is was a fun-sponge, right Splynter?) someone's effort. I'm delighted to give a bit back.

As some of you (who've collaborated with C.C.) know, C.C. is a real pro and a hoot to work with. She amp'd my original idea and we went from there. Rich, of course, polished some of our clues and changed others (both for the better). I'm sure Patti had her role in edit as well. Construction is big collaboration [at least for mine :-)].

I am proud of our clues for 8d, 10d, 16a, 38d, & 35a.

Lucina & C, Eh! - They're not CSOs today*... Just some of the extra fun in constructing.

WOs: Key b/f LEG, FinalN(?)EIGHT [hey, we made this way-back-when!]

{A} - Brother makes an inexpensive laser printer. Toner costs about 1/3 of the printer so, overall, not a bad deal [I've had mine 8 years].

C.Moe - Plz don't parenthetical-ize C.C.; she did a lot of the heavy lifting. Puzzle is as much (more?) her's as mine. {LOL}

YR - IIRC we didn't have a deer in the clue for LOPE but something about Squirrel!

Hi Laura & Bunny M. Welcome, stay and play.

CED - Last link (and your text leading to it) is funny on so many levels! Get your plumbing here.

Happy Birthday Hathoola! Your QODs are one of the Corner's many highlights. Hope you have a great day.

Cheers, -Tony
*we can't get everyone in :-)

desper-otto said...

Misty, my comment about BEES was directed at what Lemon wrote this morning: "While they do stand in a spelling bee, not so much in a quilting bee."

YR, sure hope that you can get a definitive diagnosis for Alan soon.

Anonymous T said...

D'Oh! Lem, thank you for the great expo! Loved the tunes. Cheers, -T

TTP said...



I always like it when a constructor stops by and offers insight. Great job Tony ! Those two RFCs last night were funny. Loved both.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Afternoon, Lemonade and friends. Interesting puzzle, and congrats to our Tony on the puzzle. Getting PLUS FOURS helped with getting the numbers at the end of the theme clues, but I didn't get the connection until reading the commentary. I had heard of a vodka called KETEL-something, so KETEL FIVE sounded reasonable. I wasn't familiar enough with the other expressions, so the didn't try to subtract 4 from the final number.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes. I have been pre-occupied recently and haven't checked in often. I lost my mother just last Wednesday, a little over a week ago in a freak accident. It has been a very difficult time for us.

QOD: Sometimes, the thing that ties you down, sets you free. ~ Kirk Douglas (b. Dec, 9, 1916) Happy 100th, Kirk!

Tinbeni said...

Happy Birthday, Hahtoolah ... My "first" Sunset-Toast is to You!

C.C. & Anon T. Thank You for a FUN Friday puzzle. Enjoyed the PLUS FOURS themes.

My brother, who looked like Payne Stewart, (they could have been twins) always wore PLUS FOURS when he played golf ... he even had some people ask for his autograph (who thought he was Payne) ... he would oblige ... and sign his name then enjoy the looks or comments he got since he was named Jamie ...
Actually, it was pretty funny ... especially when we played a Florida course the day after Payne won the U.S.Open.

Cheers!

Rainman said...

Congrats again, Tony and C.C.
Very likable puzzle with plenty of obvious forethought.
Slogged through it in less than 15 minutes so I was satisfied.

tawnya said...

Happy Friday!

Great job -T and C.C. on a puzzle well done! I thought I recognized the name but I'm so used to our avatar names that I forget what the rest of the world calls you! Super fun and I enjoyed all the references.

I have great memories of Dire Straits' groundbreaking video playing on MTV way back in the day. Romeo and Juliet is one of the prettiest and most touching songs...

BB King was introduced to a whole new generation by U2 on Rattle and Hum.

@owen - I've wanted a new wireless printer for awhile now. I've got stuck on the price of the replacement ink cartridges. And I have an HP that's pushing 10 years and I just can't part with it. It's old enough that it will still print even though it hasn't had color ink in three years, and a black cartridge lasts for months. DH had a printer that we got for free from Circuit City - the catch was we could only buy the ink from Circuit City. When they went out of business the printer went to the recycling place. I hate printers and the ink racket! I am so sorry you've had a rough day. You are never alone in your frustrations. Keeping you in my thoughts today. And - the poem was at least a B :)

HBD Hahtoolah!!

Welcome, Bunny! Everyone starts out as a lurker, glad you decided to pipe in!

Hope you have a good weekend everyone,

t.

Whitey said...


From Wikipedia for our good friend Mr. Anon (emphasis on the "A"):

"Banks was known for his catchphrase, "It's a beautiful day for a ballgame ... Let's play two!", expressing his wish to play a doubleheader every day out of his love of baseball."

Mr. A completely wrong, but with Attitude!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Veddy clever, this team of Tony C. and C.C.! A most amusing pzl today.

It had me going from breakfast time to now, well past lunch. But there was never a moment when I wasn't captivated - and always able to peck and pick away at it, with so many small gimmes and not-quite-misdirections. (Like short proper names & clues like "Piano part," which could have any number of fills.)

I didn't understand the theme until I got KETEL FIVE. I guess it's because I knew what the brand should be. (Now, why would I understand a vodka brand and not all those sporting and industrial references? I wonder... hmm.)

I join in wishing a HBD to Hahtoola.

Lemonade714 said...

Rainman, I hope all is well, good to see you.

Hahtoolah, my personal condolences for your loss- tomorrow is the the 43rd anniversary of my father's death and first for my oldest brother. It does not get easier.

TX Ms said...

Hahtoolah, I am so very sorry for your devastating loss; what a sad birthday for you. I've not been checking in lately, so this is terrible news to me.

Anon-T and CC - brilliant puzzle! The clues were all so fresh and creative. Not into sports other than football and a bit of baseball, so the "plus-fours" answer was a head-scratcher, and of course I never got the theme until checking in here. Got almost all with perps, except I had to look up "knesset" as I was on a time-crunch. Much thanks, Lemonade, for your fun 'splaining.

Never would have thought much about the segment on World News Tonight (yesterday) about the federal lawsuits filed against four retail stores, alleging sales price misrepresentation: JC Penny's, Macy's, Sears, and KOHL'S. I remember a blogger's DW
loves Kohl's "sales." He was correct in his assumption! I'm sorry I can't remember which gentleman - maybe a year ago he posted how Kohl's jacks up the "sales price," then has all these attractive coupon offers.

Have a pleasant weekend everyone, and stay warm!

Lucina said...

Hahtoolah:
I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. Our parents' passing is certainly one of the most difficult to deal with; I am with you in your grief.

Lemonade:
I believe I forgot to thank you for your always illuminating commentary. Without your explanation I never would have understood the underlying theme.

Anonymous T said...

Hathoola - oh, so sorry. I can (thankfully) only imagine thus far. My sympathies. Apropos QOD.

TTP - those two RFC are my go-tos during interviews - let's just see how sharp/nerdy this guy is... "What's 1st bit in the Flag byte in IPv4 mean?" If they bluff, no chance; an honest don't know == maybe pile; says Evil Bit == hired :-). [Our current head of networks knew it was a trick Q and answered "Evil Bit? It's still reserved for Future Use."]

Good to see you back Rainman!

TxMS - Yep; they ain't no "sale." Macy's was the 1st sued years ago.

OKL - glad we could hold you attention to the FIN and glad you enjoy'd. BTW, KETEL, at once, had 'Snobs sot's vodka' [no offense :-)] as the clue. If Glenfiddich fit the theme we'd have had alliteration!

Tawnya - you found the Easter Egg! [I Want My MTV]. Yes, I thought Brother's In Arms when cluing. Also, B.B. King's clue originally was something like 'Lucile's mate' - maybe too vague save us music nerds.

Nap time b/f .corp House of Blues 'Holiday' Party tonight.

Later, -T

Anonymous said...

Happy Friday! I thought this was easier then Wednesday or Thursday. Had some of the same initial errors: EATcrow/EATDIRT, Leap/LOPE, CLAus/CLARA. Having grown up outside of Detroit I got the theme with the BIG SEVEN.

Great job, Anon-T., C.C. and Lemonade.

Belated birthday wishes to Lucina, Windhover and JzB! I hope you had great days.

Happy Birthday to Hahtoolah. I'm sorry your mother passed so close to your day. Cherish the memories. I understand how hard sudden deaths are to deal with because you don't get a chance to say "Good-bye".

Have a nice evening.

Pat

Irish Miss said...

Hatoolah - My sincere condolences on the tragic loss of your mother. I'm so sorry.

Anonymous said...

Hatoolah, I also offer you my sincere condolences. I recently went through the same. Look to friends and family to lean on. I found much support from my church. Those people were invaluable. And rest assured that it DOES get easier. It'll never be the same and the loss is strong at first. But as time passes the grief turns to fond memories and thankfulness for all the times shared.

Bill G. said...

Hahtoolah, I lost my parents years ago, my father to old age and my mother also suffering from dementia. I remember that was a very tough time for me so my sympathetic condolences and best wishes for you.

Tinbeni said...

Hahtoolah
My most sincere condolence.
My Mother died over 20 years ago ... and I think about her every day ...
and miss our conversations as if we just had them ...

Mothers are like that ... they are special ...
Mother's Day is still one of my favorite days of the year.
I really get a joy saying: "Happy Mother's Day!" to all of the wonderful Mother's of that day.

CanadianEh! said...

Hahtoolah, sincere sympathy in the loss of your mother.

"The death of a mother is the first sorrow wept without her." Author unknown

TTP said...

Hahtoolah,

There's a clarity that comes with the loss of a loved one. Sharp. Keen. Piercing. Painful. Focus is singular. All else seems trivial. Then the procession. The days. The nights.

The sorrow will wane.

Embrace your remembrance. That which no one else can ever know. Loved ones stay with us forever.

My deepest sympathies.

Wilbur Charles said...

Hahtoola, HBD and my condolences. When my mother died I'd just read Wordsworth's "We are Seven". Having four sibs it fit.

The XW? Well, as you late readers know I've been behind, especially Sunday's. So, I noticed we had a CC today and was psyched.

And Tony2. Excellent. Lived up to my expectations. Sorry Lucina, I just love those sports refs. I think there were none on the weekend toughies.

OK. ORIEDA was forced in because I'm not a drinker and when I did C-Moe's alphabet trick I ran out of gas before T.

Anyone have AtKINS(Chet). Or GUM before ORE? I also had PRUDE and forgot to fix it. But, a very doable first class XW

I knew Hondo would jump on that Ernie Banks ref. Old Cub fans tell me that he was a great defensive ss before they wisely decided to save his legs for home run hitting.

I think he played in the old 'Negro' league.

Liked both Licks today. I've got one percolating

WC.

VirginiaSycamore said...

Thanks to everyone for the puzzle and comments.

Hahtoolah, so sorry for your loss.

Well, even though it is late, I just had to post a link to this famous trio in PLUS FOURS:
PLAY_GOLF_WITH_YOUR_FRIENDS

Getting Lake Effect snow in Cleveland,
VS

Lucina said...

Wilbur Charles:
I'm sure that Tony knows I was just teasing about the sports clues although I do find them frustrating since I know nothing abot them. I loved the puzzle, however.

Anonymous T said...

Proof even a constructor is a dope - I meant OMK re: holding attention... I also transposed the t/h in Hahtoola's handle 2x... Yeah, I needed that nap!

Wilbur / Lucina - It's all fun and games [until someone loses an eye :-)]. C, -T

Wilbur Charles said...

The subjects that I know Nada are legion.

And I forgot kudos to Lemonade for his great write-up. Enjoyed the Ali rumble clip.

WC

BunnyM said...

Hahtoolah- Happy belated birthday and I'm so sorry for the loss of your Mother. I lost my Father almost 12 years ago and my heart is still broken. My dear Grandpa passed away the day after my birthday (the 27th anniversary of that will be next week) so I sympathize with losing a loved one so near your birthday. Wishing you peace and comfort.

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I truly enjoy reading this blog everyday. The write ups and comments are both educational and entertaining :)

Picard said...

Fun, original theme! But it was mostly lost on me because I only knew THE BIG Three (SEVEN)

Never heard of KETEL One, FROZEN Four, LET'S PLAY Two nor have I heard of PLUS FOURS.

Santa CLARA is near where my brother lives, so I knew it. But I still tried Santa CLAUS first. Not sure how people elsewhere in the US would get this.

I agree with Big Easy that I don't think of LOPE when I think of bounding. I looked it up, though, and it is correct. I suppose this counts as a learning moment.

My COROLLA Wagon turns 21 years old this month and I still love it! I wish they still made the Wagon! I don't like those newer Selfish Useless Vehicles (SUVs)!