(Sunday puzzle is now in the Comics section in L.A. Times.)
Theme: "Hold the Tomato" - T is changed into BL in each theme entry.
Theme: "Hold the Tomato" - T is changed into BL in each theme entry.
23A. Warning technologically unavailable in Titanic times? : BLIP OF THE ICEBERG. Tip of the iceberg.
31A. Passionate maintenance of one's Cuisinart? : BLENDER LOVING CARE. Tender loving care.
56A. Forgetting how to stay up? : FLOTATION BLANK. Flotation tank is a new word to me. Looks like a spa device.
67A. Feline snitch? : BLABBY CAT. Tabby cat.
77A. Junkyard guards? : BLIGHT SECURITY. Tight security.
101A. Haul in à la the Big Bad Wolf, as a wrecked vehicle? : BLOW BACK TO THE SHOP. Tow back to the shop.
113A. Where a chant of "Well done, blokes!" might start? : ENGLISH BLEACHERS. English teachers.
Reveal entry:
116. Sandwich that hints at this puzzle's theme : BLT
I forgot to look at the title when I downloaded the puzzle. Big "Aha!" when I came to the reveal. So unexpected.
I forgot to look at the title when I downloaded the puzzle. Big "Aha!" when I came to the reveal. So unexpected.
Out of the seven theme entries, five have the first word changed, two have the last word changed. Three multi-word entries, four two-word answer. Nice mix. No odd man out.
Six of the seven entries are quite long, so Garry had a total of 103 theme squares to deal with. 94/95 remains my magic number.
Across:
Six of the seven entries are quite long, so Garry had a total of 103 theme squares to deal with. 94/95 remains my magic number.
Across:
1. Like some felonies : CLASS B. Google says "A Class B felony is a category of felony that applies to crimes that are severe yet not the most serious of crimes." I got via crosses.
7. Get whipped : LOSE
11. "The Nutcracker" garb : TUTU
15. Missile with a flight : DART. 9. '80s missile prog. : SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative). Missile clue echo.
19. Rep's bad news : NO SALE
20. Vegas bigwig : ODDS MAKER
22. Asian nurse : AMAH. Most of Amahs in Hong Kong are from Philippines.
25. Second start : NANO. Nanosecond.
26. Half-__: coffee order : CAF
27. Island band The __ Men : BAHA . The annoying "Who Let the Dogs Out".
28. Plastic __ Band : ONO
29. Helps keep track : REMINDS
35. "This fortress built by Nature for __": Shakespeare : HERSELF. Got via crosses.
39. Suspicious of : ONTO
40. It merged with SAG in 2012 : AFTRA. OK, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
41. Kind of TV personality : ON AIR
42. Pitney's partner : BOWES. This stumped me last time.
44. Prince __ Khan : ALY
45. Prince Buster music genre : SKA. I thought it might be EMO.
48. Tetra- doubled : OCTA
49. One who doesn't get out : LIFER
50. At age 88, Betty White was its oldest host, briefly : SNL
51. Jah worshipers : RASTAs. Jah is Rasta's God. Hallelujah.
54. Fired by a waiter? : FLAMBE. Lovely clue.
59. University of San Marcos city : LIMA. Drew a blank. Wiki said it was established on May 12, 1551. Pretty old.
61. Form 1040 fig. : AGI
62. NASA, for one : ACRONYM
63. Out at the station : ALIBI
71. "Shucks" : AW GEE
72. Second Amendment word : MILITIA. Got via crosses.
74. __ Tomé : SAO
75. Migratory herring : SHAD. Hmm, pickled herrings.
81. Rhinos and hippos : BEASTS
86. Ducks : ELUDES
87. Hunk's pride : BOD . We also have 76. Six-pack you can't drink : ABs. And 92. Recently stolen : HOT. This model is 79 years old. Hottest grandpa in China.
88. Sharpens : WHETS
90. Six-time Hugo winner Frederik : POHL. What a creative brain.
91. __ sleep : REM
93. Link up with : TIE TO
94. Hooded snake : COBRA
95. Butter-yielding bean : CACAO. So many beans in one kernel.
98. Micro- ending : COSM
99. Finishes : WRAPS UP
106. Leeds lot : CAR PARK
107. Letters in an arrest records database : AKA
108. En __: in the lead, in French : TETE. Makes sense.
109. Early Beatle Sutcliffe : STU
112. Within: Pref. : ENTO
118. China neighbor : LAOS. Like Chinese, Lao does not have S plural form. No article "the". No tense conjugation. Life is much simpler there.
119. Kitchen whistler : TEA KETTLE
120. Just as planned : TO A TEE
121. Specks on a screen : LINT. Not computer screen.
122. Schumann quartet: Abbr. : SYMS. Alright, symphonies. Gluey fill.
123. This, in Toledo : ESTO
124. Text __ : EDITOR. NotePad is one. And 97. Marks for a 124-Across : CARETS. ^
Down:
1. "Power Lunch" airer : CNBC
2. Kinks title woman with "a dark brown voice" : LOLA
3. Like : AS IF
4. Patsy : SAP
5. Kiss like a dog, perhaps : SLOBBER. Fun word.
6. Happen to : BEFALL
7. Actress Lindsay : LOHAN
8. Neruda's "__ to Wine" : ODE
10. Lines of squad cars, maybe : ESCORTS
11. Simply not done : TABOO
12. Lute family member : UKE
13. Evoke screams from : TERRIFY. What's the most terrifying movie you've watched? To me, it's "Deliverance".
14. Pressing : URGENT
15. Patrick on a track : DANICA
16. Introducer of the first side-by-side refrigerator : AMANA
17. Dr.'s orders : R AND R
18. "God helps __ ... " : THOSE
21. __ Park: Edison lab site : MENLO
24. '60s-'70s crime drama : THE FBI. Was it good?
30. Dugout VIP : MGR (Manager)
32. Carpentry pin : DOWEL
33. Warm Argentina month : ENERO
34. "My Eyes Adored You" singer : VALLI
35. Place for a shoe : HOOF. Horse shoe.
36. Like many cks. : ENCL. I did not know "cks" stands for "checks".
37. Pro __ : RATA
38. Site of the "Shall We Dance?" dance : SIAM
43. Butcher's waste : OFFAL
44. Marx Brothers staple : ANTIC
45. Ford muscle car, to devotees : STANG
46. West of Atlanta : KANYE. He was born in Atlanta.
47. "If you __ ... " : ASK ME
49. Floral neckwear : LEI
50. Like saltimbocca, flavorwise : SAGY. Wiki says saltimbocca is "a dish (popular in southern Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Greece) made of veal lined or topped with prosciutto and sage or basil; marinated in wine, oil or saltwater depending on the region or one's own taste. This dish is also occasionally topped with capers depending on individual taste."
.jpg/1280px-Saltimbocca_cooked_(3).jpg)
51. GOP org. : RNC
52. Rub the wrong way? : ABRADE
53. Deliberate : SLOW
55. Carefree : BLITHE
57. Drum played with a fife : TABOR
58. Promise : OATH
60. Yale School of Management degs. : MBAs
63. Brew hue : AMBER
64. City in northern France : LILLE. De Gaulle's birthplace.
65. Pelvic bone : ILIUM. I sure don't know my bones.
66. Cowboys' home, familiarly : BIG D
68. Foppish accessory : ASCOT
69. Data transfer unit : BAUD
70. To this point : AS YET
73. "__ so you!" : IT'S
78. Tablet download : E-BOOK
79. "If only" : I WISH
80. Central idea : THEME. All Sunday LAT puzzles have a theme.
82. Informal pricing words : A POP
83. They may be choked back : SOBS
84. Word on a fast food sign : THRU
85. Waves-against-dock sound : SLAP
89. Bunting relative : TOWHEE. Hello!
92. London taxi : HACKNEY
93. As you like it : TO TASTE
94. New England tourist mecca : CAPE COD
95. Grape-Nuts creator : C. W. POST. Learning moment for me.
96. Lawyer's org. : ABA
98. Journalist Roberts : COKIE
100. What some spits do : ROTATE
101. Bone marrow lymphocyte : B CELL. Not T CELL.
102. Polynesian porch : LANAI. Beautiful.
103. "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" playwright : ORTON (Joe)
104. Negotiations : TALKS
105. Fifth cen. pope called "The Great" : ST LEO
109. Paving stone : SETT. Our old pal is back.
110. Palm Pre predecessor : TREO
111. Password creator : USER
114. Pinup's leg : GAM. You guys get plenty on Saturdays.
115. Stats in NBA bios : HTS (Heights)
117. Yokohama yes : HAI. Cantonese "Yes" also.
C.C.
34 comments:
Oh, that kind of bunting.(89-Down) Painted Bunting
Greetings!
Thanks, Garry and CC!
Did not do as well as most previous Sundays. Did not know what a bunting was. Never heard of ORTON. A few other disasters. Ah well!
Have a great day!
FYI, cruciverbalists:
Creator of General Tso's Chicken dies at 97.
Peng Chang-kuei | 1919-2016
Blrew in blhe blowell.
Good morning!
Zipped right through this one to a DNF. Didn't recognize the playwright, and thought "Within: Pref" should be ENDO. Bzzzzzt! Sezst Lah Vye.
Cold 'n' rainy here. Temps probably won't get out of the 50's. Good day to stay indoors.
FIW. Misspelt MaLITIA, KeNYA*, RASTeS, and didn't know LaLLE, so two red cells. Got the gimmick with BLENDER, which helped with the other theme entries, but only after I had several perps in place first.
*how is his name pronounced? Is it like Kenny?
{A, A, A-.} Late start, so only 3 poems today.
Hippos and rhinos are ponderous BEASTS,
Not someone you'd want to invite to a feast!
A happy hippo, being BLITHE,
Would eat all with one bite!
And a rhino won't pay, he'd charge what he eats!
The Indian poet, Omar Khayyam
Was known from the Indus to the mounts of SIAM!
Asked if he was SAGY
He answered, "AW, GEE.
If you mean am I all-wise? Then yes, I am!"
Oh pussy, oh pussy, where is she at?
Is she bragging of HERSELF, like a BLABBY CAT?
Or using her browser
To find pics of Bowser,
Organizing her SCREEN BYTES, like a real "tabby" cat?
OwenKL, it's pronounced Kahn'-yay.
NYT Spoiler: Interesting that the same French city appeared in both puzzles today. Kwinkydink.
C.W. Post was the namesake of the Long Island college that now labels itself LIU-Post
I know it's listed as an alternate spelling for sagey, but SAGY still grates.
Good Morning:
TTP, thanks for the chuckle!
Based on the title and having filled in BLT, when I entered Iceberg, I thought the theme was going to be the makings of a BLT. Doh! After a few other theme entries, the lightbulb went on. This was my second in a row FIW because of one cell, the crossing of Towhee/Tete. Silly mistake because Tête is French and Tote is not and, apparently, Towhee is a bird as is a Bunting. Who knew? Certainly not Moi! I did enjoy the clever theme and solve, despite my faux pas.
Thanks, Garry, for a Sunday stumper and thanks, CC, for the breezy expo. I don't know if I was terrified by any movies, but I've seen a few that were pretty scary; "The Silence of the Lambs;" "The Shining;" "Psycho;" "Shutter Island." I'm sure there are others, as well. I don't actively search out this genre; I prefer a strong, straightforward drama, a believable love story, or a good comedy. Unfortunately, most of today's comedies are not the least bit funny to someone of a certain age, IMO.
Our weather forecast for the coming week is a potpourri of rain, snow, wind, and cold. What can I say? It's December, after all.
Have a great day.
Hello Puzzlers -
Argyle, thanks for making sense of this meaning of bunting. I had no idea. Now, can you explain the link between junkyard and blight?
Morning C.C., I have seen so few horror films over a lifetime, I can't even think of a title I have seen.
SDI was a fascinating project from an engineering point of view. I worked on two major components of the system as a subcontractor to Hughes in the 80's.
Oh, hand up for that Endo/Ento mixup.
One man's blight is another man's parts repository.
Lots of fun today. With decorating season here I too did not consider the possibility of bunting being a bird. "Out at the station" took me a while to process, so I needed perps (to borrow a cop term) for it to make sense. I thought the misdirection with "quartet" in the clue amply redeemed any filliness of "syms" as a response. Misread "SAG" as "SAC" so I somehow decided NORAD would work there. Acronym for NASA was another clever clue. Amber came in before eludes, so I started with eiders. Can we get a clecho for having Ono and Stu in the same puzzle? Nice original cluing for enero forcing us to remember our geography and earth science as well as our Spanish. Perhaps the most historically difficult item was Treo. I remember watching "The FBI" as a child, but I barely remember those days before smart phones when PDAs were all the rage. Stay warm my friends.
I really enjoyed the puzzle and the clever theme. Thanks Garry and CC.
We love BLTs.
Shad is delicious, just cooked and served as a regular fish. I think my mother baked it in the oven in a big pyrex dish and wrapped in aluminum foil. It did need some careful deboning. You would peel out the backbone with lots of little bones (ribs?) attached. That would get most of the bones but you's have to be alert for a few more. It was a pretty big fish, about as long as the oven shelf and weighing a couple of pounds. It tasted sort of like a big trout or bass or bluegill.
CC finds Deliverance terrifying. We agree. Barbara alse similarly hated "Play Misty For Me." Very scary.
I remember The FBI quite well. It was one of those ubiquitous Quinn Martin productions. It starred Ephrem Zimbalist, Jr -- the son of a famed violinist and soprano Alma Gluck of cw fame. His daughter, Stephanie, co-starred in Remington Steele. Quite a talented family.
PDA reminds me that I got a message from AT&T that they are going to send me a free phone. My present emergency phone is 2G (whatever that means -- second generation?), and AT&T is going to stop supporting 2G phones at the end of this year. I'm suprised they didn't tell me that I had to buy a new phone.
Great puzzle! For the life of me, I could not imagine what the saltimboca flavor was. I was stuck on the sweet, sour, salty, bitter bunch. I was also picturing the red, white and blue buntings folks hang from their porches on the 4th of July and my brain would not budge from that.
One nice aspect of this puzzle for me was the relative dearth of proper name clues. I am always lousy at those.
Whew, this one was quite a workout. Damn clever cluing and some nifty fill, such as SLOBBER and HACKNEY. One of the news anchors on a local TV channel is named Brian Hackney. I thought the clue "Schumann quartet" was especially fiendish; too bad the answer had to be a lame abbreviation. Another favorite clue was for LIFER. Still don't quite understand the clue for DART; I know a dart is a missile, but what does "in flight" add? "Bunting" was nicely misleading, and of course made me think in terms of fabrics, not birds. I've never heard of a Towhee, however; took six perps to get it.
The most terrifying movie I recall was Alien. As I walked out of the theater my knees were still rubbery. The second time I saw it, it wasn't as frightening, of course, but I still liked it.
I actually remember the Treo. I think the best product Palm ever made was the Palm III. I still use mine, and it still works beautifully in spite of being more than 16 years old.
LW and I used to frequent a local Cuban-Jamaican restaurant and one of the dishes we often ordered there was the owner's version of saltimbocca. It was delicious but I don't recall being particularly aware of a sage taste. Unfortunately it closed a few years ago. A Madras Indian restaurant we liked very much also closed several years ago. We have been unable to find another that we like as much. Come to think of it, a dimsum place we liked a lot also closed and we haven't found another as good. Sheesh. At least we still have the wonderful Shanghainese restaurant where LW and I can get almost anything we want. It's a hole in the wall with very peremptory service but man oh man, the food is outstanding.
Best wishes to you all.
Nice puzzle, fun theme. But isn't "missile with a flight" a bit redundant?
SYMS is a pretty lame abbreviation for symphonies.
And AW GEE takes (one of) the Lord's name(s) in vain again. What's that "no religion" criterion for?
Hi Jayce,
The flights on a dart are those doohickeys at the back end that help in the aerodynamics and flight of the dart. they are easily swapped out should one get damaged in competition. Highly decorated artwork on them...
Dart flights are the little tabs on the tail end of a dart, sort of like the feathers (fletching) on the back of an arrow. In both cases, the flights or feathers provide more air resistance at the back of a dart or arrow to keep the missile flying true.
Anon (2:54), geez, you sound like you'd be fun guy at parties.
Well, I again got about 4/5 of the puzzle this morning--not bad for a Saturday, but not great for a Sunday, where I usually do pretty well. The problem was the tons of unknowns (at least to me): DANICA, POHL, BOWES, ORTON, CW POST, and didn't know SETT or TREO, or AFTRA. But I did enjoy the BLT minus Tomato theme, which is cute.
One of my gardener's helpers just put up my Christmas lights. So the house is beginning to look at least a little festive.
Have a great Sunday, everybody!
I'm with you Misty. No chance with Danica, Pohl or Orton, Got CW Post but the theme eluded me. and for me "bunting" is what I did when I couldn't hit a pitcher !
IMO this was more challenging than Friday and Saturday puzzles this week, but I filled it accurately, no dumb cells. I have been out and about all day, so had to fill it in several sittings.
I went to a fun Christmas square dance dinner party this afternoon. Good food (rare, tender roast beef), interesting dance figures and good friends.
Musings
-D/T – enDo/enTo with orDon/orTon and I guessed the wrong consonant on Garry’s fun,punny puzzle. One bad cell? It must be Sunday.
-NASA’s FLOTATION/weightless tank (1:17)
-The Nutcracker and Manheim Steamroller are Xmas music I enjoy all month
-Vegas ODDS MAKERS can adjust point spreads depending on the betting pattern
-My iPhone REMINDS me when to do something if I remember to enter the REMINDER…
-Big Bang Theroy ON AIR peeps are in the front of this picture
-I had singer Gene Pitney partnered with Sal Mineo (_ _ _ E _)
-I have friends who argue vehemently over the 2nd amendment
-Some try to TIE big groups TO the action of a few of that group
-STU and Pete Best missed the Beatle gravy train
-This movie TERRIFIED me for months! James Arness had the title role
-DANICA just wanted to be known as racecar driver and not a sex symbol. You can use Google to see she got over that!
-Many baseball fans will know the dugout VIP who didn’t wear a uniform
-LILLE would have been more active if the Allies had landed at the Pas de Calais as Hitler feared instead of Normandy
Online crosswords are more that just "computer blech"
TTP and Bill G, thank you for the explanation of "flight".
Rare, tender roast beef is terrific. I, too, love it that way.
Jayce, as usual, I'm with you. Rare roast beef is a favorite of mine. Barbara bought a prime rib roast (boneless) from Costco for Christmas dinner. It was over $100. We cut it in two so as to enjoy it twice. After prime rare roast beef probably come rib eye steaks.
I just found Love Actually again on cable and I'm watching it again, maybe for the third or fourth time. Love, humor, poignancy, all centered around the Christmas season. What could be better?
Lurk say:
Looking at some of those c/a's I'd have needed some serious perpitude. Thanks C.C. for doing what you do.
{B+,A-,A}
Jayce - My Palm IIIx still works (keyboard, modem, and all) I wish I could say the same for my Treo 650. I beat that poor thing up over the years but it was a damn good PDA.
Bill G. DW keeps watching the Hallmark Channel. I have to leave when things get too "sugary" - diabetes might set in :-)
OK, Now I'm going to get sap'y. Eldest leaves for university next fall and to deal I wrote this:
An orbit about the sun
Took
so long
When I was five.
Now each day
Passes quickly away
And another year goes by.
She's to college
Shortly after my personal epoch
And moves on
With Triple-A, a box of tools, and my
Credit card
But she was just five.
Be honest, but nice... Drivel or decent?
D-O - Yep, it's cold so I built potato soup. Folks, this is easy:
1 stick butter melted in pot;
1 large onion cut up a lot.
When onion cooks,
+5cups of chicken stock and 5lb peeled cubed potatoes
+Black pepper and dill
Boil 40 min
Cream the potatoes (an immersion blender is your friend)
1.5c shredded cheddar cheese
1c heavy cream
1/2 lb (or so) of cubed cured (see deli) ham
Top w/ fresh dill
Eat, sleep, and dream warmly.
Have a great week y'all. -T
AnonT, I liked your poem. Who knew? The soup sounds good.
Barbara watches the Hallmark channel too. I like some of them in small amounts. There's one called The Christmas Card (I think) with Ed Asner that appealed to me.
Can't believe I screwed up on "Flotation (bl)Tank" area since I'm having this repeated problem after having the "new and improved" innards installed (Home Depot product-go figure). And then again I try to erase from my memory any mention of Kanye West.
TTP, Bill G, thanks for the info on a dart's "flight," but I'm sure I will never remember it.
D-O, yes, I got the same reminder but from AT&T. It seems my "Get Smart" flip phone has been running on 2G signals. Got a 4G "smart"(looking) phone, and so my niece sends me a 5-minute video and burned up a lot of my minutes. Now, where is my cave?
Anon-T, thanks for the yummy potato soup recipe - it will come in handy this week - yikes! 30 degrees! Although I usually substitute cauliflower for potatoes to satisfy my badly-needed veggies requirement.
Good night or good morning to any and all.
Wow! We just had two short power failures. I could see a flash outside at a power pole. I'm guessing it was a circuit breaker. It's all back on after about two minutes. No harm done except a few things to reset. I was worried though. No lights, no furnace, no computer, no TV, no electric stove, no microwave, etc. But all OK now. Whew!
Tony:
An orbit about the sun
Took so long
When I was five.
Now each day
Passes quickly away
And another year goes by.
She's to college
Shortly after my personal epoch
And moves on
With Triple-A, a box of tools, and my
Credit card
But she was just five.
Very decent, good enough to bear repeating! I usually feel about the same towards free verse as Moe feels to my anti-pest limericks, but this one was really nice!
Finally got to this after a full day of Christmas chores. Yes, I was exhausted, but after this "puzzle", I was exasperated and angry! What a waste of newsprint. Gave up after two hours with on a third of the fills. Never shoulda
wasted my time!! A new low for the LAT. Maybe l LAT needs to farm out their puzzle making???
Two hours not nearly enough. It was a toughie. Messed up the NW. I had Patrick Motivated(sic) the Karate kid guy.
Very good poem, A-T it rolls. Perhaps try to rework the second part but it achieved pathos.
I think I'll call my son up in Boston
WC
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