google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Dec 17th, 2016, David C. Duncan Dekker

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Dec 17, 2016

Saturday, Dec 17th, 2016, David C. Duncan Dekker

Theme: DCDD

Words: 72 (Pangram~!)

Blocks: 31

  This is the second LA Times contribution from Mr. Dekker, his last being a Saturday grid back in April 2016.  That was also a pangram -  in fact, it was a double pangram, which I did not recognize at the time, but the phenomenon did not occur this time.  It was also April (of this year)  when we last had a pangram puzzle on a Saturday.  I was not hopeful at the start of this construction, but some really healthy WAGs and a few proper names that I knew outright were a big help; the crossings then allowed me to cruise through the second pass in short time.  Pretty pinwheel grid, with nothing longer than 8 letters;

14. Symbol on viola sheet music : ALTO CLEF

11. Quilting technique : APPLIQUE


35. Sleeveless smock : PINAFORE - I know what a pinafore is, since we used to have to wear either a red or blue one when playing team sports in schools and such - but I never really considered one to be a "sleeveless smock".  Then I went looking for an image - I like it, almost as much as a romper

Not the kind I wore

57. Message to a loser : GAME OVER

Help~! I've fallen and can't reach my wallet~!

ON credit W(c)ARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Bud holder : BEER KEG - was not sure which "Bud" we were looking at (see 4d.), but once the "EE" showed up, it became obvious

8. Horrified : AGHAST - threw it right in, and it counted~!

16. One who always finds himself over a barrel? : COOPER - the "avowal" (see 40d.) of one who makes barrels

17. Pessimistic sort : NAYSAYER

18. Take down : TOPPLE

19. Kitchen counter : TIMER

20. Ball : WAD - oops, not "ORB"

22. Guy : FELLA - my first thought, but was not sure if the "slang" was going to fly

23. "The Dukes of Hazzard" deputy : ENOS - I grew up on this show - had to get my weekly dose of the orange Dodge Challenger with the doors welded shut jumping over the inept sheriff's cruiser, or the local ravine with the bridge out, etc.; could have been another "Dukes" reference if 16a. was "COOTER"


24. __ Penh : PHNOM - knew it from reading books, but was not sure of the spelling exactly

26. Disorderly conduct : RIOT

27. Excitable toon canine : REN - I guessed the DOWN crossing ended in "R", and that helped remind me

28. Examines informally : QUIZZES

30. Who, in Quebec : QUI - Frawnche, all perps

31. Product of New Orleans : JAZZ - I was introduced to "rock-fusion jazz" and Mahavishnu Orchestra back when I was 16; here's my favorite song from them - the guitar might be a little harsh for some ears, but the drum intro is awesome....
Vital Transformation

32. Do : EXECUTE - with nothing filled in, "Do" as a clue is extremely vague; "Run" is another one

34. Little squirt : SPRITZ - SHRIMP, no, SPRITE, no SPRITZ - the literal spray of liquid

37. "Sure, why not" : "I GUESS."

38. Parti-colored : PIEBALD

40. Passed perfectly : ACED

41. So-so connection? : AND - so-AND-so

42. Process of elimination : REMOVAL

44. Links org. : PGA

47. Truck parts : CABS

49. "The Martian" star : DAMON

50. Links mounds : TEES - not the little wooden stick kind

51. Option for a return : eFILE - IRS type returns

53. Moses, for one : JEW

54. Reznor of Nine Inch Nails : TRENT - I knew this proper name, which helped

55. Destructive beetles : BORERS

59. Zealous : ARDENT

60. It can help with the healing process : ALOE VERA

61. Concluded one's case : RESTED - dah.  Went with CLOSED

62. Sooner or later : SOMEDAY

DOWN:

1. Kidding : BANTER

2. Seinfeld character who ordered the "big salad" : ELAINE

3. Word origin : ETYMON - doesn't look right, but I knew it was the right word

4. Romantic buds? : ROSES - see~?  Which "bud" is which~?

5. '80s Chrysler : K-CAR - I had one, a Plymouth Reliant, which my dad gave to me when the floor rusted out on my Subaru Brat; I ended up replacing the engine, then the transmission in the thing.  Not good.  Dodge/Chrysler have come a long way since then - I still have my Stratus with 293,640 miles on it, and now the newly purchased Grand Caravan


6. Cambridgeshire cathedral town : ELY

7. "Aw, shucks" : "GEE WHIZ~!"

8. Fake being : ACT - ooh~!  I put this in, and it worked~!  I pondered ETs, or something along the lines of an "alien" being - the noun, not the verb

9. "Oops!" evoker : GOOF

10. Optimistic sort : HOPER - one who "hopes"

12. Smash hits, often : SELLOUTS

13. Pacts : TREATIES

15. __ Ferdinand, whose assassination set off WWI : FRANZ

21. Nod : DOZE

24. At a loss : PUZZLED

25. Salma Hayek, by birth : MEXICAN - did not know this, but the crossings were in place

28. Doha is its capital : QATAR - oops, went with YEMEN - and a shout out to our Doc~!

29. Franklin Mint founder Joseph : SEGEL - only unknown, and the last "L" was an "R" first, so I did not get the 'ta-DA~!' until I reviewed the grid

31. Spinnaker relative : JIB - I knew this was a sail boat reference, but thought a spinnaker was a type of boat; here's a pic of a colorful spinnaker

Learned another new word; TWING

33. Jersey chew : CUD - Jersey as in cow; had the "D" from ACED

34. Elongated key : SPACE BAR 

36. Cards nickname : RED BIRDS - the St Louis Cardinals, if I am not mistaken

39. Key of Beethoven's Violin Concerto: Abbr. : D MAJ - the "A" was already in place, so I went right to "E MAJ", figuring "E" was the most likely of final letters for 38a.

40. Professions : AVOWALS

43. Homer's final character? : OMEGA - Homer the Greek poet, not Mr. Simpson; D'oh~!

44. Mad : PEEVED

45. Family subdivisions : GENERA - Yeah, GENUSI did not seem correct; Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species; can you tell me what I'm thinking of~? It's classified as Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Odonata/ Libellulidae/Pachydiplax/Longipennis - phew~!

46. Off the mark : ASTRAY

48. Hard weather to deal with : SLEET - that would be rain in solid form; definitely 'harder'

50. Cache of cash, perhaps : TROVE - I had TR---, tried TRUST

52. Seaside glider : ERNE

54. Brim : TEEM

56. Norm: Abbr. : STD

58. Stock response? : MOO - More cow humor


Splynter

50 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIR! Took a lot of passes, and ironically 1a was the final word filled!

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

A good crossword is one that QUIZZES the mind
That keeps you PUZZLED by words entwined!
AND then you're AGHAST
With the ta-da! blast --
Not realizing GAME OVER was so close to find!

A BEER KEG is made by an experienced COOPER
Who bends the copper that's used to hoop 'er
Construction is ACED
When the staves are placed,
AND it TEEMS with enough beer to bring on a stupor!

A FELLA who lives in PHNOM PENH
Wants to visit old Saigon again.
I GUESS that's his biz,
But he knows, GEE WHIZ,
That Saigon is, *sigh*, gone from our ken.

A saloon in orbit would be far out, by far!
Shots could be served by a shooting star!
Would a SPRITZ have a fizz
Where no gravity is?
We'll fill in that blank when we have a SPACE BAR!

Scientists say fish oil, with OMEGA-three,
Is a TROVE of nutrients pulled from the sea!
Make our cheeks red as ROSES,
AND unblock our noses,
AND dress us in PINAFORES, cute as can be!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I was "in the zone" and zipped right through this one in near record time. Only writeover was SEGEr/SEGEL (hi, Splynter!). Thanx, DCDD.

Longipennis, Splynter? Had to research that one. It refers to a moth, not a porn star. Whew!

Anonymous said...

WOW, finished in record time! Are we sure today isn't Thursday? Puzzle seemed so easy today. Maybe it's just me!

BunnyM said...

Thanks DCDD and splynter! This was a record solve for me as well for a Saturday. Although it was a rough start even knowing ELAINE, ENOS and DAMON. Once I got to TRENT things started falling into place.

I also grew up watching The Dukes of Hazzard :) Another staple was Little House on the Prairie and the type of pinafore worn by the Ingalls girls is what I had in mind. Never knew it is also a romper. I had a ruffled apron type one worn over an Easter dress as a child.

Loved all the Z's and the quilting clue. My Grandma made me many quilts with appliques - one even had little girls dressed in bonnets and pinafores :)

Happy Saturday to all. We are enjoying the rising temps here today even with the rain. At least it's not snow and or ice!

thehondohurricane said...


After an initial look over of the cluing I darn near said the heck with it, but during the initial run I nearly finished the south so I began to work going north. All the Z fills in the center were a big plus.

BEER KEG takes me back to the frat days at the U. As I recall, they were a fixture at Friday mixers.

Was thinking baseball for the 12D fill and wanted Line OUTS. When I came up with COOPER & FELLA it gave me the right direction.

But, I have to take a DNF. I verified PHNOM by googling. It just did not look right even though the surrounding fills made sense. I thought 25D s/b tEXICAN, not MEXICAN & I had no idea who Salma Hayek is (or was).

Snow's arrived, rain on its way by mid-day. My four legged friend is having a fun time in the white stuff.

inanehiker said...

This was a pretty steady solve in good time for me - not my usual Saturday experience.
I was thinking of the same pinafore as BunnyM - worn over a dress either for protection to not mess up the dress or dressy with lace for a dress at Christmas or Easter.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/267796905/primrose-pinafore-pdf-pattern-6m-12m-18m?ref=market

Last night was icy around here - but it's supposed to get up over freezing so hopefully some of it will melt! Youngest is supposed to be driving up from Texas from college so hoping the roads are okay.

Thanks Splynter and David!

Big Easy said...

I did complete the PUZZLE(ED) today but learned a few things. The only PINAFORE I had heard of was the HMS; didn't know it was a dress. I never knew the Viola's sheet music as a half-note above the treble clef. EGBDF now reads FACEG for ALTO CLEF. The NW gave the most trouble because I knew Archduke Ferdinand but not FRANZ, the spelling of PHNOM Penh is hard to remember; SOME DAY I will remember. I was thinking AMOS before ENOS made it, and I only know REN and ELAINE from X-word puzzles. After that it was GAME OVER for the puzzle. tada!!!

I only know of TRENT Reznor because he lived here for about 10 years and the local press was always quoting him. SEGEL- I doubt anybody knew this guy-all perps.

If you have an idle Saturday night, on HBO at 7 pm Central- 6 eastern, the movie that had scenes filmed at my house will be broadcast with a repeat showing at 2am Central time.
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL, with Kirsten Dunst. I saw it and had no idea about how the movie would end and it surprised me.

oc4beach said...


Everybody must be sleeping in today. 11:00 am EST and only 7 responses so far. I wanted to stay in bed this morning because of the snow, sleet and now freezing rain.

I was actually able to finish this today, but I needed a little Red Letter Help, so officially a DNF. But it was still a fun solve.

I had heard the term PIEBALD, but didn't know what it was. DW was an equestrian and explained it to me. All I knew about horse coloring was whether it was brown, black, white or a pinto. City guy vs. a Country girl.

I wanted BEERCAN vs BEERKEG, and I tried a number of names from the Iliad and Oddyssey like PARIS, HELEN, HECTOR, AJAX, etc. before the Greek alphabet showed up.

Roads are very slippery here today with the freezing rain, so I think I'll stay in and watch some basketball and lesser football bowl games.

Enjoy your day.

Anonymous said...

I too grew up on The Dukes of Hazzard. But it was a 1969 Dodge Charger that was the featured car. Harder to find one now since they destroyed so many performing the stunts over the years

RetFizz said...

Probably a record Saturday fill for me, if I kept track. Got the middle first, with all those Z's, which turned out to signify... nothing.

During the early 2000s, GAME OVER! was flashed on the Dodger Stadium scoreboards when closer Eric Gagné entered the game. He scored 84 consecutive saves over a nearly 3-year period. I won't mention the other thing.

I wonder if CC comes from Crossword Corner or the old transliteration of Zhouqin, which I think would be Chou Chin. CC?

Thanks to DCDD (theme???) for a fun solve and to Splynter for his usual excellent explication.

When are we going to get some real rain?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Neat Saturday puzzle. Finally got it all with only 2 lookups, TRENT and BANTER. Some really great cluing phrases: kitchen counter, beer keg, and space bar. There were many other good ones, too; fun to suss.
AUTO CLEF was a new learning.
'
SPRITZen - in German it means 'to spray.'
MOO - While we had Jersey chew earlier, the cows depicted in Splynter's visual here seem to be Ayrshires, by coloring.

Great job as always, Splynter. Regularly look forward to your Saturday ruminations.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Well, at first pass, I wasn't too optimistic but, surprisingly, I just kept filling in here, there and everywhere and the Tada came well under normal Saturdat time. Splynter confirmed my thought of it being a Pangram; the Q's, Z's and J's stood out like a sore thumb. Didn't know Trent or Segel but I did know that Selma Hayek was Mexican and despite never having seen "Seinfeld," I entered Elaine without hesitation. Never saw "The Dukes of Hazzard," either, so Enos was unknown, as well.

Thank you, David, for a satisfying Saturday solve and thank you, Splynter, for guiding us along.

It's still snowing but very lightly with a few inches on the ground. Temps are supposed to rise (40's tomorrow) but then drop again on Monday.

Have a great day.

Yellowrocks said...

Like so many of you U found that this was a quick Saturday puzzle. I was amazed but enjoyed it.
No newspaper, so I printed the Mensa version. I like to solve on paper. When I finish I Google or red letter just the iffy parts. If there are no mistakes, I get a FIR, Any changes, FIW. Today I aced it. Fun puzzle, great expo, as usual.
The snow was TEEMING down in the wee hours of the morning, It stopped here about 9:30 with no SLEET or rain following. I could easily get out if I shoveled my own driveway. It looks like our maintenance man saved us for last. Oh, here he is now.
My take on pinafore is like Bunny's and inane hiker's. I especially think of the fancy, frilly ones. Now that Splynter mentions it, teams wear pinafores to ID the sides. We called them pinnies. What boy wants to wear a pinafore?
Bunny,my grandma made a quilt just like that.
Owen I loved #2.

Lucina said...

Thank you, DCDD, for a doable Saturday puzzle! I finished it in record time with very sussable words and no obscure names or titles. SEGEL and TRENT were unknowns but easily guessed, er, perped. However, BEERMuG did me in and I didn't notice until reading Splynter's commentary. Thank you, Splynter!

The plethora of ZZs was interesting and unusual. My idea of PINAFORE is also a ruffled apron-like attire which we wore as children. The Arizona cardinals (football team) are also called REDBIRDS. Not for a moment did I think of the Simpsons; of course, the OM was in place so OMEGA fell right in.

Hurray! PHNOM was right on the first try; it's taken me a long time to master that one. Thanks to Doc (I wonder where he is)he educated us on Doha.

PGA/TEES was cute. And IGUESS only on Saturday would we see ALOEVERA spelled out.

OwenKL:
Your poems today are outstanding, especially the concept of SPACE BAR.

Have a lovely day, everyone! It's chilly even here; 55 at the moment.

Anonymous said...

Moses was not, in fact, a Jew. That is a term and concept which dates to the time of the Roman Empire. Moses was an ancient Hebrew, and a member of the tribe of Levi. The modern Jewish people include descendants of the Levites, but in the time of Moses, the tribes of Judah and Levi were separate entities.

Lucina said...

It's hard to believe someone has never heard of Salma Hayek! She was a successful actress on MEXICAN novelas before moving to the U.S. and becoming a star here.

TTP said...

Good morning all. Thank you David and Splynter.

Long time to solve. NE and SE areas proved toughest for me. It also didn't help that I was off the mark (ASTRAY) on a number of entries.

SCALE before TIMER

FRANZ took a bit of time to recall.

Where is Vegas (DOHA) Doc ?

CAPS LOCK before SPACE BAR

HORDE before STASH and finally TROVE.

Guy ? FIERI of course.

ALF before ART.

I WOULD before I GUESS.

IN LAWS was an another initial idea that turned out to be wrong.

My idea of PINAFOREs are those little decorated cakes. Yum !

Wilbur Charles said...

I was shocked to finish in one sitting.
Lots of Chelseas. Elaine, Phnom, Franz and of course the Z's and Q.

Hondo. You have baseball, COOPER and FELLA on the same line. I love names and Walker COOPER immediately came to mind. Ans if course, Bob Fella(er). Now, if you can just bring Sibbi Sisti into the conversation.
Splynter, great write-up but I wasn't picturing you in a PINAFORE.

Owen. All the licks were 9s.

Midnight Special is just about my favorite movie. It did have a scene at a house, I vaguely recall. The opposing bounty hunter made the movie for me.

I'll be back. The pen and ink game are finishing up whilst I post so I'd better get outta here.

WC in real time

Yellowrocks said...

TTP, I know you meant petit fours, sometimes written as petits fours. The name of these teacakes means small oven. Although I bake a lot, I have never made these.
I see some of you can still link since this site changed. I would love top be able to. Is is very complicated?

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-DETENTES and AFRAID held up the NE corner but seeing ACT (Duh!) and GOOF gave me a “got ‘er done”
-PIEBALD and D MAJ was a victory in Natickville
-I saw GAME OVER many times here
-Our kitty was AGHAST at our 7˚F weather and declined going outside
-My favorite DAMON line (:07) from The Martian.
-Before wooden TEES, players used SAND (or dirt) to make literal mounds on the tee box
-Prosecution began on January 25, 1995 and RESTED on July 6, 1995 in OJ case
-ULM was not the three-letter house of worship as it is in Germany. Doh!
-That HOPER really believes there’s a pony hidden in that horse manure
-Garth Brooks had six SELLOUTS (over 100,000 tickets sold) in 4 days in Omaha last year
-I suppose Archduke Ferdinand did have a first name
-The SPACE BAR is my pause button for computer videos
-Oh, YR, now I now know why these are called pinnies and I can erase my image of Splynter in a dress! ☺

Big Easy said...

TTP- the little cakes are PETIT FOURS, not PINAFOREs

Lucina- I only know of SALMA HAYEK from the puzzles.

Anonymous T said...

INK BLOT-fest today. Thanks David, but I gave up after I couldn't read over the Ink and let Splyter lead the way. Thanks Splynter!

Let me count my GOOFs:
1. Not AFRAID
2. AFRAID let to FART for 'Oops evoker'; I knew Rich wouldn't let that pass* in polite company so I tried Perry's DOE/ Dept of ENGR "moment." 2x Bzzt.
3. I kept seeing Love not LOEV in my perps and went down the "shoulder to cry" on rt.
3. Not a Wren (I knew that was wrong going in)
3. Using 3 three times...
4. Boss HOGG was not the deputy - D'Oh! ENOS!
5. GEE WIZ? Can't a guy get an H?
6. Ball isn't FUN - I had both trying to solve...
7. EMAJ is right out

Fav: Toss up - NOLA JAZZ or GAME OVER. I GUESS both evoke memories of fun days...

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

Lucina - I tried to cheat and look up Salma Hayek. Even after seeing her face I have no idea who she is and her real name doesn't fit the blocks.

YR - I draft in notepad/Notes and type the following for a link:
<a href="link to URL">Blue stuff/expo </a>

Then I cut and paste the whole post to post. If I mess it up; I can't "re-edit" 'cuz I get a 404 from the site. Blogger is still 'broken' but we get what we pay for I GUESS :-)

PINAFORE? Like Bunny, I recall this from Little House on the Prairie. But, even if wrong YR, I like TTP's version better.

Cheers, -T
*pun intended :-0

Santanico Pandemonium said...

OK -T, I'll give it a go:

Please allow me to introduce Salma Hayek to y'all.

Lucina said...

AnonT:
Salma Hayek is an outstanding actress but usually it's not her face people (especially of the male species)notice. She also has an outstanding figure.

Jayce said...

There sure are a lot of Z's in this puzzle, a puzzle that I enjoyed solving. Knew some names and didn't know some names. Since I already had GEEWHIZ and FRANZ in place, I had no trouble correctly spelling PHNOM. I also help myself remember by (mis)pronouncing it in my head as "Fnom."

This is a test of linking to Selma Hayek.

More later.

Jayce said...

Yep, the linking works just fine.

Anonymous T said...

YR: For example I just typed
<a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3pSZGCuHA">My favorite use of I GUESS</a>

To get:
My favorite use of I GUESS. -T

desper-otto said...

Jayce, I notice from your wiki post that Salma Hayek hails from Coatzacoalcos. Back in the late 70's I had to spend a month there one week.

Daily Sex said...

Jayce, I notice from your wiki post that Salma Hayek attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, USA, at the age of twelve. In school, she was diagnosed with dyslexia. Back in the late 70's I had to spend a month there one week.

TX Ms said...

Nice Saturday cw. But not totally awake this a.m., I was thinking parts of a barrel: staves and hoops. Duh-immediately entered Hooper instead of Cooper without thinking, and never went back to correct it.

Bunny, thank you for the Isla condo info - I've forwarded it to my brother, and he's going to check the condos out when they get to Isla.

Hope all in the Midwest and Northeast are able to stay inside this weekend.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

I came pretty close to finishing today. I got stalled early, then put it down and went Christmas shopping. Came back and filled a lot more, but stalled again. I Googled TRENT Reznor and Homer's OMEGA. Erased PeNOM for PHNOM, Martain DAriN for DAMON and Joe SEGEr for SEGEL. I got the first part of PIEBALD from PIEd (mottled) piper and parti-colored (mottled) dogs, but had to consult Mr. Webster for the final D.

The only things I really remember about the Dukes was 1) that it was supposed to be in Hazzard County, and I once lived in Hazard, Perry County, Kentucky and 2) Catherine Bach giving life to shorts that would forever be known by the name of her character - Daisy Duke. One of these items is still burned into my memory.

Thanks David and Splynter for a good workout, even though it was a bit beyond my abilities.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Nowhere near a Ta-Da! on this one. Not even close. Probably my worst showing since 1994. I needed cheats in each of the corners before I could finish.
Not sure why this was so much harder than the usual Saturday hardness. Looking back over Mr. Dekker's handsomely arranged creation, I don't see more than the usual number of proper names, and what there are were paired with reasonably do-able crosses. Lesser-known special words were not in abundance.
Colleagues Irish Miss, desper-otto, et al are sounding today an awful lot like Yrs Truly on a good-solving day, so it seems to be moi-- rather than the pzl. [Sigh] Maybe the old walnut is beginning to cash in...

Boo LuQuette AKA Boudreaux in Eunice, La. said...

Hey all Long time ~!~! Been busy with the granddaughter and peppers.

Finally finished in 75 minutes.... BEERMUG for KEG, DOLT for GOOF had BOOB also but came out.
QUI was a gimme so was PIEBALD. Hands up for STASH, I knew AMERICAN was too easy so took a stab and put in AFRICAN thinking she was born there. Then MEXICAN feell into place.

PEEODE for PEEVED. GENRES for GENERA. EDGE for BRIM then BERM then BEAM then it hit me TEEM. Didn't know TRENT had BRENT cause of BERM then got the TADA ~!~!

Bad weather all over ya'll stay safe and warm up north ~!~!

Stay dry down South ~!~!

Plus Tard from Cajun Country ~!~!







Jayce said...

Back in the mid 90's I had to spend a month in Cincinnati, Ohio. While there, I learned about the Anderson Ferry, which became part of my daily commute between the hotel, which was in Kentucky, and where I was working, which was in Cincinnati. Some of the best restaurants and night clubs were across the Ohio River in Covington, Kentucky. One of my colleagues there was an official Kentucky Colonel. (He was also gay, and loved to call the executive administrator "that skinny bitch.") Eeenteresting times.

The only place in Mexico I have any familiarity with is a lovely little sleepy town on the coast of the Sea of Cortes called Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point). Our son's wife's parents live there.

I laughed out loud at your moth observation, desper-otto@6:46AM.

Keith, I suspect your old walnut is a good as ever.

Since our little discussion about Scotch whiskies the other day I have researched Pinch and Dewar's. I think I might like the Dewar's White Label and perhaps the 12-year old "The Ancestor."

Best wishes to you all.

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody. I liked this a bit more than the usual Saturday stumper. I thought there were some especially clever clues like "Message to a loser, Bud holder, One who always finds himself over a barrel?, Little squirt, Seinfeld character who ordered the 'big salad,' Jersey chew, Elongated key, Homer's final character, Stock response?" This seemed more light-hearted than the usual slog. Thanks DCDD and Splynter.

I found more reruns of Dirty Jobs on cable. I still like them better than more fare on TV these days. I was pissed that Designated Survivor ended with a cliff hanger. I hate when they do that.

Go read a Dave Barry book. "Dave Barry is Not Making This Up" or "I'll Mature When I'm Dead" are good ones. But heck, I think they're all good.

I just finished watching "Love Actually" for about the fifth time. It's still delightful and so much better than most of the dreck that passes for romantic comedies these days. I do have one good idea for a little change that would have made it even better in my opinion...

Some of the newer denizens here seem to feel insecure about how to link something. I learned how to do it easily and I'll be happy to explain it to you if you e-mail me.

Argyle said...

Gee Whiz!

Yellowrocks said...

Images of Ely

Yellowrocks said...

Ta da! Anonymous T, thank you. After so many years of doing it the old way, we have to learn new tricks.

Jayce said...

Bill G, I agree about Designated Survivor and cliffhangers. Upon seeing the very fist episode LW said that the way Designated Survivor is written there's a mini cliffhanger at each commercial break. It's like a Dan Brown novel; each chapter ends with something like, "As he stepped through the door he couldn't believe what he saw." In Designated Survivor there is the addition of the obligatory music crescendo that signals the mini cliffhanger and the onset of a commercial. It blatant to the point of being manipulative. Not as annoying as the canned laughter on some comedy shows, though, which actually drives me away from even watching them.

TTP said...


DOH !

I'm blaming it on the meds.

I couldn't quite recall, and vaguely remembered the little cakes being called pinafores.

I even went so far as to google pinafore cakes. Then I scanned some of the hit results, and looked at the Images tab to check. Sure enough, there were pictures of the little mini cakes ! Do you get the same results ?

What is the world coming to when you can't trust what you read on the internet ?

Anonymous said...

The Duncan Dekker was my favorite yoyo growing up.

AnonymousPVX said...

I was on the same wavelength as the constructor for 75% of this puzzle, blew right threw it.

Then the NE, which was a blank. Put in AGHAST and worked it out.

I thought this a bit easier than yesterday, but still a bit tough.

Splynter said...

Hi again~!

D'oh~! I looked up the General Lee to make sure I did not confuse my Charger/Challenger, and did so any way.

Hi Bunny M, I meant I liked the look of the pinafore as much as a romper, but did not mean to imply they were the same item of clothing.

Santanico, I, too, thought about linking the table dance, but I figured because of that scene, everyone knew who Salma was....

D-otto, I was going to leave off the "species", but couldn't resist the temptation, and I was actually looking for this "moth"

Only 6 more days of UPS Christmas~!

Splynter

Anonymous said...

My tablet was deregistered last night. So I had to sign into my Google account. I used my personal email instead of my crossword email and had to create a new password. Now I can 't switch it. I do not want my personal email exposed.If you can help please email me. My avatar has my crossword email.
Yellowrocks

TTP said...

Yellowrocks,

I'm not sure I understand, but you can edit your Blogger profile at:

https://www.blogger.com/edit-profile.g

You can change your email address there.

You can sign out and sign back in with the other id if that's what you need to do. Upper right corner, select your name (avatar).

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts":

This PUZZLED me in several areas; perhaps I was unable to EXECUTE properly. Had I not cheated on 14a (had BASS CLEF as TENOR CLEF did not fit, and I was unaware of ALTO CLEF); 11d; 34a; and 28d, it would've been GAME OVER!

Fortunately, once I got all of these answers on Google, the clues were solved and I could post on the Corner. Thanks DCDD and Splynter for making me feel like a very ordinary FELLA. And Splynter, glad I saw all of the posts - especially the one that showed the PINAFORE worn in gym class. Our school didn't have those; we chose "shirts or skins" instead. Which was always a better option when we had co-Ed gym days! 😜

Probably too late for many to enjoy or critique but here's my "lick" - as Wlibur Charles likes to call them:

Munich man went to spa for a schvitz.
Wet the rocks, which were hot, with a SPRITZ.
But he made a big GOOF:
Unit's not waterproof;
And the sauna is now on the Fritz

Yellowrocks said...

I

Yellowrocks said...

I am back as Yellowrocks. I finally found the place to remove the other sign up.

Wilbur Charles said...

C-Moe, did you recall FRITZ appearing either Fri or Thur? I think our Limerick gang should be able to use xwords for several days.

Oh well, back to sleep

WC

Ps. I think 'licks' is no more working than 'Chelseas' eg the opposite of a Natick.

Anonymous said...

"Fake being" three letters... GOD?