google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday, Feb 12, 2017 Ed Sessa

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Feb 12, 2017

Sunday, Feb 12, 2017 Ed Sessa

Theme: "First Things First" - The first word can follow "First".
 
23A. Trust builder? : ESTATE PLANNER. First estate. The clergy.

31A. Result of losing two points, perhaps : LOVE- THIRTY. Unfamiliar to me. Common Tennis term?  First love.

52A. Concern for gardeners : FROST WARNING. First frost. No change of meaning on "frost" here.

75A. Wriggler on a hook : NIGHT CRAWLER. First night.

92A. Teacher's bane, at times : CLASS CLOWN. First class.

104A. Mozart's "The Hunt," for one : STRING QUARTET. First string.

37D. Any one of the NFL's top 25 career scoring leaders : PLACE KICKER. First place.
 
40D. They're spoken in anger : CHOICE WORDS. First choice.

I don't recall seeing a word that can precede/follow type from Mr. Ed. First for me.

Ed Sessa, Xword Info
Ed is one of those few constructors who are experts at building both themed and themeless puzzles. This Sunday puzzle showcases his skills nicely. Lots of sparkly long fill in this 140-worder with 8 themers.

Across:

1. Unflappability : APLOMB.. Fantastic start.

7. Responds to an alarm : AWAKES

13. Bliss : ECSTASY. Love this word as well.

20. Counterman? : GEIGER. Gimme for veteran solvers. Geiger counter,

21. On deck : UP NEXT

22. "Raging Bull" fighter : LAMOTTA (Jake). We also have 38. Descendant of the English Bulldog : BOXER

25. Clink : SLAMMER . 24. See 25-Across : PEN

26. Sent messages, before faxes and email : TELEXED. What's the first time you had internet access? 1999 for me.

27. Bit of body art : TAT. "Bit" indicates an abbreviated answer.

29. Julia of "Legends of the Fall" : ORMOND. First encounter with this actress.


30. Meat cut : LOIN

35. Convey : IMPART

39. Son of Donald : ERIC

40. Shares an email with : CCs

43. Pigeon hangouts : SILLS. Not COTES/COOPS.

44. Voice of TV's Fat Albert : COSBY. Not a welcome name.

45. Get online shopping help, say : HAVE A CHAT. Had an interesting experience with a company based in China last year. Asian sizes tend to be smaller, hence the online chat.

47. Sports org. with three major divisions : NCAA. Division I, II and III.

48. Student of Socrates : PLATO

49. Hired car : TAXI

50. TV exec Arledge : ROONE

51. Tolkien monster : ORC

55. Protest gone bad : RIOT. Still sad about the 1989 protest/riot.

56. Piggy : TOE

57. Gambling game : LOTTO

58. Veers : ZAGs

59. Pound units : OUNCES

61. Urban of country : KEITH. Happy couple.


63. Rooting area : STY. Great clue.

64. Shot with English : MASSE. Give it some English (spin),

65. Reach by schooner, say : SAIL TO

67. Canal through Oneida Lake : ERIE

69. Half of a record : B SIDE

71. Trap that's spun : WEB

74. Gremlins, e.g. : AMCs
 
78. __-Wan Kenobi : OBI

79. Some price changes : HIKES. Minnesota is giving a 25% relief on the health insurance hikes last year, D-Otto!

81. Whoop-de-__: lively parties : DOOs

82. WWII issue : E BOND

83. Suffix with Jumbo : TRON

84. Glacial expanses : ICE SHEETS

86. Night noise : SNORE

87. Edge along : SIDLE

88. Happy hour sponsor : BAR

89. Kyrgyzstan range : ALAI. I confused this range with Altai. That Wiki articled mentioned Chinese mountain range Tian Shan, meaning "Mountain of Heaven". Tian = Heaven. Shan = Mountain.

90. Refrigerant trade name : FREON

91. Troubles : NAGS AT
 
94. Celebrity : FAME

95. Like Jack and Jill, ultimately : FALLEN

98. __ lepton: physics particle : TAU. Stranger to me. We also have 68. P-like letters : RHOs


99. Fiber source : OAT BRAN. Never had it or any bran. I have a question, Steve. In this Jamie Oliver clip, did he use our old-fashioned rolled oats? Judging by the time, they seem to be steel-cut oats in sliced pieces.

102. The littlest bit : ONE IOTA

109. Verify : CONFIRM

110. Colored tee, perhaps : TIE DYE

111. Bawled (out) : REAMED

112. Aflutter : IN A FLAP. Got via crosses.

113. Hill group : SENATE

114. Border maintainers : EDGERS. Not GUARDS.

 Down:

1. Time of one's life : AGE

2. Fruit fly or gnat : PEST

3. Loser's ad word : LITE

4. Nebraska city named for a Native American tribe : OGALLALA. I just noticed the Sioux tribe name is spelled Oglala. Always thought it's Ogalala.

5. Streakers in showers : METEORS. Smiled at this clue.

6. Withdrawal in 2016 headlines : BREXIT. Great fill/clue as well.

7. "Should __ acquaintance ... " : AULD

8. FDR program : WPA. Always need crossing help.

9. Gothic novelist Radcliffe : ANN

10. Understanding : KEN. Beyond my ken/understanding.

11. Oxford college : EXETER

12. Classic Fender guitar, briefly : STRAT. Gimme for Bill G/Splynter.

13. Golfing countryman of Player : ELS. Gary Player was in our 3M tournament last year. Quiet.

14. Unit of heat : CALORIE

15. Diminutive two-seater : SMART CAR

16. "Pinball Wizard" opera : TOMMY. Drew a blank.


17. Spherical opening? : ATMO

18. WWII British firearm : STEN

19. Spot to spot Spot : YARD. The art of cluing, Irish Miss!

28. WWII alliance : THE AXIS

31. Was beaten by : LOST TO

32. U-shaped river bend : OXBOW

33. "Oy __!" : VEY

34. Monte of Cooperstown : IRVIN. Old timer. I don't think we have any of his original cards.


35. Schoolyard argument : IS NOT

36. Itsy-bitsy : MICRO

38. Bit of braggadocio : BOAST. Poor Boomer lost all his matches to a 80-year-old on Friday night. He always tries hard though, but the nerve pain sometimes is unrelenting.

41. Transport for Chingachgook : CANOE. Got via crosses. "The Last of the Mohicans". 

42. Editors' marks : STETS

44. Quilter's need : CLOTH

45. Dangle : HANG

46. Pedal problems : CORNS. I sure was not thinking of "foot".

48. Subatomic particle : PROTON

49. Serving convenience : TRAY

52. Flutter by like a butterfly : FLIT

53. Templo Mayor builder : AZTEC

54. Driven to act : GOADED

60. Tablet buyer, usually : USER. And 94. 60-Down's info source : FAQ

62. "It's nobody __ business" : ELSE'S

63. Poses : SITS

64. Pooh creator : MILNE

65. Ahmedabad address : SAHIB. Wiki says that "In 2012, The Times of India chose Ahmedabad as the best city to live in in India".

66. Livorno lady friend : AMICA. vs. Amico.

67. Hard one to work with : EGOTIST

69. Thick-furred primate : BABOON

70. Like court testimony : SWORN

72. Virus first identified in Zaire : EBOLA

73. IQ test pioneer : BINET (Alfred). Learned from doing crosswords.


76. Thoughts : IDEAS

77. Extend one's Self? : RENEW. Self magazine.

80. Petroleum produced from rock fragments : SHALE OIL

83. Jazz standard that became an LSU fight song : TIGER RAG. Guessable. LSU Tigers.

85. Hyundai compact : ELANTRA. Word without meaning.

86. "No seats" letters : SRO

87. Performed a ballroom dance : SAMBAED

90. 1984 Heisman Trophy winner Doug : FLUTIE

91. The great outdoors : NATURE. Getting warmer here. So happy to walk outdoors again.

92. Site of an ascent : CLIFF

93. Playbill listings : CASTS

95. Central points : FOCI

96. In short order, in verse : ANON

97. Dunham of "Girls" : LENA

99. Ornate arch : OGEE

100. My way : AT ME. Can you give me an example of how the clue matches the answer?

101. __-do-well : NE'ER

103. Band accessory : AMP

105. Neurotic toon pooch : REN. Ren & Stimpy,

106. Potato source: Abbr. : IDA (Idaho)

107. Paper read on the LIRR, perhaps : NYT

108. Cardinal points, briefly? : TDs. Arizona Cardinals.




Happy Birthday to dear LaLaLinda, a die-hard Red Sox fan. Linda still reads our blog faithfully, but health has prevents her from posting daily. Your presence is very much missed here, Linda!

C.C.

38 comments:

  1. FIR. Easily enough that declaration doesn't merit a bang. The SW corner did give me some difficulty, but only for an iota of time. As usual, forgot that Sunday has a title-reveal, so poured long over the longest entries trying to figure out what they had in common. It came clear once I noticed the title, but obscured because some are explicit phrases (FIRST ESTATE, FIRST CLASS, FIRST STRING, FIRST PLACE) while others are just words that often appear together (FIRST LOVE, FIRST NIGHT) and the rest sort of in between (FIRST FROST, FIRST CHOICE).

    "Some came AT ME from the west, and some came MY WAY from the east."

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

    A ghostie and ghoulie and beastie
    May keep our dreams from ECSTASY
    But the noise that shakes
    And with PESTilence AWAKES
    Is that SNORE from your insensate spousie!

    Oh shirt of white, I come to thee
    Thy cotton fits me, to a tee!
    But rainbow colors
    Are my druthers,
    Knot for TIE DYE now I've TIED YE!

    A political scholar there was from EXETER
    Who had rather not be known as a BREXIT-er.
    At a party, to hide all,
    To Terrance he did SIDLE
    And ask, "Would you call me a TAXI, Ter?"

    A NIGHT CRAWLER tried to be home before morning
    But took no notice of the FIRST FROST WARNING.
    By Early Bird he was chosen
    But he was too solid frozen --
    So he lived to BOAST that he was FREE ON defrosting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Greetings!

    Thanks to Ed and CC!

    Nice puzzle, but took a bit longer than usual. That Nebraska town?

    Happy birthday to La La Linda! Feel better soon!

    Pool in operation again. Had a lovely swim!

    Have a great day!

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  3. Good morning!

    Forgot to read the puzzle title, and never got the theme. D'oh! Ed gave us some really nice fill this morning. Thanx. Didn't really care for "Pedal problems" and "My Way," though. (C.C. -- Throw the ball at me. Throw the ball my way. No, I don't like it much, either.) ERIC -- tried UDAY first. Thought BINET's partner was named Stanford -- double D'oh!

    C.C. no such deal on health insurance in TX. We just changed insurance companies for DW to get her policy down from $900+ to $700+/month. That'll keep it under $10K this year...but barely.

    Happy birthday, LaLaLinda! Stop in when you can. We miss you.

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  4. The NW was a hard start, not knowing if it would be BIO or AGE, DIET or LITE, and I was unfamiliar with the misspelled OGALLALA town, as I had heard of the OGLALA Sioux tribe. The rest of the puzzle fell with one write over- AMIGA to AMICA. Didn't know 'Amico' either.

    The usual amount of perped unknowns- TAU, RHO, SELF( magazine for narcissists?), Julia ORMOND, LENA Dunham, Monte IRVIN- but the hardest was CORNS for 'Pedal problems'; problem pushing a gas or bike pedal? No comprehende.

    SMART CAR- I cringe when I see one of those pass me on the interstate doing 80mph.

    Nice CSO to C.C. and her clones at 40A and another to 96D-ANON- because he will cowardly snipe later today.

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  5. BE, the "pedal" is an adjective -- relating to the foot.

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  6. This took about ten minutes longer than most Sundays, but I got it all without help. Fun.
    I liked seeing PEDAL used as an adjective. I have seen feet referred to pedal extremities. This phrase is in the dictionary and in some science books.
    I liked FIRST LOVE, especially near Valentine's Day. The first person you were in love with deserves category of its own. Do you remember your first love? I do. Rodney and I sat with our arms crossed on the library table at school to hide our hand holding.
    I have not seen tie dyed tees in ages.
    I know of the Ogallala Aquifer in the Great Plains and the Oglala Sioux. So this was easy to suss. I don't believe the town's name is misspelled, just spelled differently. As we often remark here many towns pronounce their names unlike the original town they were named after. The same goes for spelling. As a teacher, I have found more and more parents choose creative spellings for traditional baby names.
    Happy birthday La La Linda. Miss you.

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  7. Good Morning:

    I'm always happy to see an Ed Sessa offering because I know it's going to be an enjoyable solve. Ed didn't disappoint today with this fun challenge. The theme was quite obvious but there was still enough crunch to put those brain cells to work. I had Amore before Amica, Julia Stiles before Julia Ormond and a few other w/o's but, overall, it was smooth sailing. As CC pointed out, the cluing was top-notch. (I'm still working on "The Art of Cluing", CC! 🙃)

    Thanks, Mr. Ed, for a pleasant Sunday stroll and thanks, CC, for guiding us along and for the picture of Ed and his adorable canine. (Speaking of adorable canines, the Westmister dog show is on Monday and Tuesday. This year, there are going to be some "cats" but I don't know in what capacity.) As far as internet service, I believe we got our first computer in 1997. Wow, where did those 20 years go?

    Happy Birthday, Linda, hope it's a special one. We do miss you and it's nice to know that you keep up with the blog.

    I play Words With Friends with a woman in Oz and she mentioned this morning that the temp was 106! Their heat wave has been mentioned on the news. Is this unusual Kazie or just a weather anomaly? As they swelter, we're getting blanketed with the white stuff!

    Owen, A+ on #4.

    Have a great day.

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  8. Yes, if the player serving loses the first two points of a game, the score is LOVE-THIRTY in traditional tennis scoring.

    "TOMMY" is a gimme if you're of a certain age. Pete Townshend did not, as far as I can tell, play Fender STRATocasters

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  9. Thanks, Ed Sessa, for a Sunday puxyl that even I was able to get without help or error. I did struggle, not knowing LAMOTTA, Julia ORMOND, ALAI, TAU lepton,"The Hunt", UGALLALA, Monte IRVIN, Chingachgook, or BINET. And I'll still just say "hmmm" for AT ME and CORNS.

    I bought my first computer, an Apple II, in 1978. I still have it. I bought it because I was in a 13-week, 8 hour per day class covering a new computerized switching system. The instructor did a poor job of explaining "push" and "pop" operations, and when I found out that the Apple had those instruction codes I bought one to play with. I used Compuserve in the old days. I had to replace the Apple in the late '80s because to log on to the company's mini I had to use an underscore, and the Apple keyboard didn't have one.

    My company bought a private email system called Telenet, and I used that system for a couple of years. The best thing about that system was that you could do an "unsend", as long as none of the recipients had read the message. It interfaced with other proprietary email systems as well, but with long, complicated addresses. My wife's email address started "Country=USA, Domain=COWBOY1", and had several other components before getting to her user ID.

    I think that the first internet-based email system I used was around 1992. We used Banyon Vines as our email system. At home I had some DOS-based mail client until Windows 3.0 came along. I think I got Outlook then, and remember that I had to upgrade to Windows 3.1, but before I could do that I had to upgrade DOS as well.

    Enough ancient history. Thanks to CC as well for your reliably wonderful write-up.

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  10. Musings
    -What FIRST String Husker defenders are called
    -Derisive comment on foreign-born PLACE KICKERS – “Keek ball, get check”
    -About CHOICE WORDS spoken in anger
    -Monte IRVIN fouled out, HONDO’s namesake was on third and Willie Mays was ON DECK when baseball’s most famous HR was hit by Bobby Thompson
    -Have any two men FALLEN faster than COSBY and OJ?
    -Nebraska only will tolerate gambling like LOTTO where the state gets a cut
    -Hoop De Doo was a cheesy Perry Como polka hit in 1950 and the Fontane sister
    -Sport’s biggest JUMBOTRON
    -OGALLALA used to be a tourist trap before I-80 was built
    -No one would bring a 1954 STRAT here (1:34)
    -SMART CARS used to be a big draw the Omaha car show. This year there were none.
    -Native American actor/activist Russel Means played Chingachgook in 1992’s Last of the Mohicans
    -FDR was sitting for this unfinished portrait when he died
    -Bobby Richardson – “McCovey would have won the game if he hadn’t hit the ball right AT ME.”
    -HBD LALA from those of here at the LA Cwd corner!

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  11. Happy birthday, Linda! I'm sorry you're ailing and hope you feel better soon.

    Thanks to Ed Sessa for today's fun fest. Since I awoke at 5 and had no coffee, I admit to a plethora of errors which I failed to see and shame on me because they are all doable. OFALLALA held me up for a long while until I checked the Atlas.

    I liked the repeat clues of SLAMMER and PEN.

    Thank you, C.C., for an excellent review.

    Have a splendid Sunday, everyone! It's in the 70s here.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi everybody. Not too many posts yet. As always with Ed constructing and Rich at the helm, I appreciated the puzzle though parts of it were hard for me. The theme didn't jump out at me. I agree with the small complaints regarding AT ME.

    Yes, I got STRAT (Stratocaster) but electric guitars are not my specialty. I had a really nice classical guitar that now sits unused.

    Yes, happy birthday LaLaLinda! I hope things improve for you.

    Odd spellings of given names may be appreciated for their originality but I'm guessing they produce lots of problems too. A local newscaster is Elex Michaelson. Can he ever give somebody his name orally without spelling it too?

    I too started on an Apple II+. I still have it but I wouldn't know how to use it anymore.

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  13. Good morning ! Thank you Ed and thank you CC.

    Happy Birthday LaLaLinda ! You are missed.

    Most of the puzzle was a breeze, but the NW corner kept me at bay for quite a while. Nebraska City ? Omaha, Lincoln, North Platte, Grand Island, Sidney... OK, I'm outta bullets... Streakers in showers ? Mascaras ? No MASCARI. :>) Yeah, that's the ticket. D'OH ! And then, Withdrawal in 2016 headlines ? Presidential candidates are... Nope. Also got stuck on the wrong kind of loser.

    Got the theme, but it didn't initially help me with ESTATE, even though that had to be the answer.

    Didn't help to have ENT before ORC.
    If a unit of heat is a therm, couldn't thermals be the answer ? No.
    Earlier had PEN before STY for rooting area. Pig pen.
    MASSE, a shot that can be played when you are STYmied.
    CC, I would think it's hard to construct with EGOTISTs.
    Most of the ANONs that comment here are decent and respectful. Some, not so much.

    Was that harsh comment directed AT ME ?

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  14. Happy Birthday to LaLaLinda and good day to all!

    Fun Sunday puzzle from Ed Sessa. The NE corner was a struggle for me as Julia ORMOND and "Raging Bull" fighter LAMOTTA were both unknowns, coupled with the fact that I had heMi for "Spherical opening" before ECSTASY brought it all together. And though I've heard of the opera TOMMY, "Pinball Wizard" was another unknown. Favorite clue/answer was "Counterman?" for GEIGER. Thanks for the thorough review, C.C.

    Enjoy the day!

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  15. Thanks Ed and C.C.
    The northwest corner was last to fall. Aplomb was a great entry along with Brexit.
    I love the "aha" moments when the light bulb goes on.
    Have a lovely day, everyone.

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  16. @OwenKL: you were PORING over the longest entries, not POURING over them. Sorry--it's just one of my personal nits. It's one of the most frequently misspelled words in many e-books these days.

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  17. Nice one, Ed! I couldn't for the life of me see the theme, so thanks for the expo, C.C!

    Jamie's using rolled oats - you can use either rolled or steel-cut for porridge, just not the instant oats, the texture's way better.

    Happy Birthday, Linda!

    @Jinx - my first email account was with Compuserve towards the end of the 80's. You had no choice about your email address - it was your 10-digit account number @compuserve.com. I could never remember mine. 156213.9832@compuserve.com or something equally unmemorable.

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  18. I remember using Compuserve in the early to mid 80's, but never had an email account with them -- just visited some of their software forums. Didn't get email until the mid 90's, and that was on a private network at work...not internet-connected.

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  19. Bill G - I didn't have a newfangled +, just the plain old Apple II.

    I forgot to mention my favorite: the French word MASSE was clued with "shot with English".

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  20. Excellent puzzle with some awesome fill. I love stuff like BREXIT, APLOMB, CALORIE, and SLAMMER. SIDLE made me think of Lucina, even though she doesn't sidle, she sashays. Got ELANTRA quickly, as our granddaughter owns/drives one. I like the word FLIT; my wife flits. I remember OGALLALA from "Lonesome Dove." Always get a kick out of the way it's spelled. Didn't get the theme, but it didn't matter. The solve was fun.

    Happy birthday, LaLaLinda! We do miss you, sheesh!

    Damn that ta-ma-de nerve pain!

    Based on that picture, Husker Gary, Russel Means was a better Chingachgook than Daniel Day Lewis was. Although you can't beat Wes Studi as the evil MahGwah.

    I believe my first access to the internet was about 1995, a dial-up connection to Netcom, which was later bought by MindSpring which was later bought by Earthlink. We were Earthlink customers for many years. My first computer was a Commodore PET.

    Best wishes to you all.

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  21. Well, Ed Sessa puzzles are always toughies for me, but I got a fair amount of this one before I had to start cheating. Would not have guessed OGALLALA in a million years if I hadn't looked it up. Same with some other names and things like SMARTCAR, which I've never heard before. Never heard of Mozart's "The Hunt," either, and I'm Austrian, for goodness sake. But still, a lot of fun, thanks, Ed--and thanks for the always great expo, C.C.

    Happy Birthday Linda--I'm guessing you don't live in La La Land?

    Have to run off and make appetizers (endives with goat cheese/yogurt and lox) for Gourmet Club tonight.

    Have a great Sunday, everybody!

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  22. Puzzling thoughts":

    Quite a few interesting clues in this puzzle; still, I had no major problems solving. Although when I did my check on the Corner recap from CC, I inadvertently had a typo in the crossing of BINET - NAGS AT, so technically, I FIW. I liked both puzzle and explanation - thanks!

    My write overs included COOPS > SILLS, SPORT CAR > SMART CAR, and INCAN > AZTEC.

    If you look carefully, LOIN is nearly vertically positioned above CLOTH, and BOXER is nearby as well.

    I know TIGER RAG pretty well, being an LSU football fan.

    I think we stayed in or stopped at OGALLALA, NE back in 1994 when we did a "Griswald"-esque family vacation. We embarked from Cincinnati and drove as far west as Flagstaff AZ. Took a "southern" route going and a northern route to return. 3 week road trip ...

    Quite a few words appeared which have been used by me in limericks (APLOMB, FALLEN, VEY, to name a few).

    I'll echo IM in saying that OKL's #4 is noteworthy

    And speaking of Owen, I think one of his earlier poems inspired today's limerick. Hope he doesn't have any CHOICE WORDS for me for borrowing his IDEA:

    When the Greek symbol P was displayed
    Next to scales, a snide comment was made:
    "Is this an "abortion"
    Or just a distortion?"
    "Since it looks a lot like 'Rho v Weighed'."

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  23. TA DA ! Good day for physicists, sport fans, and tennis players !

    Had some trouble with the NW but somehow got Ogallala right away. Only when my internal physicist got GIEGER did the rest of the corner fall. I am so US centric that I went through all 19 ? or so presidential candidates before EXIT hit me !

    Seriously hats off to any non-physicist, none sport fanatic that finished. Gieger, TAU lepton, Monte Irvin ( must have had some Negro league stats) as his NL stats are far from HoF worthy, Doug Flutie and even "LOVETHIRTY" are so obscure. Even the Tiger Rag is pretty obscure unless you are an NCAA football fan.

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  24. Musings
    -Many pool halls don’t allow a MASSE shot (1:33) because the cue stick might dig into the felt
    -Daniel Day-Lewis did give a nice portrayal of Hawkeye in The Last Of The Mohicans (93% Rotten Tomatoes) but it was nice to see a real native American like Russell Means get the role of Chingachgook. Hollywood had not done this for years such as when German-born Henry Brandon played Chief Scar in The Searchers

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  25. Fun First Things today. Thanks Ed and C.C.

    Like others, the NW was the last to fall. OGALALLA was unknown, I had Poise before APLOMB, and I wanted Time of Life to be Now before AGE. Eaves before SILLS compounded the whole mess in that corner.

    Canadians are hoping that our Justin will have the trait of unflappability when he meets your Donald in Washington tomorrow (and I tried to fit in Barron before ERIC).

    Smiled at LITE and CALORIE, BINET when I was on the Mensa site, and Slammer today not Cooler like yesterday.

    Our potatoes are from ONT or PEI not IDA.

    Other changes were Eats AT to NAGS AT, Elbow to OXBOW, Stair to CLIFF, URAL to ALAI (I always try Aral or Ural first for anything in that area!)
    NCAA March Madness will be upon us soon.

    Border Maintainers reminded me of this photo that has been going around my Facebook feed. Probably from British Columbia where the snow has been unusually severe.
    Canada'sSide

    Doug Flutie had a stellar career with the Canadian Football League and it was a sad day when he returned to the NFL.

    I think we got Internet around 1997 when the kids needed it for school research because the Encarta was not sufficient.

    Happy Birthday LaLa Linda.

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  26. Gary, you are right, and so kind and gentle, too. Daniel Day-Lewis did play Hawkeye, not Chingachgook.

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  27. My first experience with the Internet and e-mailing was with small First Class bulletin boards. I still use one out of loyalty and stubbornness and dislike of making changes.

    Barbara has finished with her chemo treatments but still experiences periods where she feels a bit nauseated with no appetite. She was feeling better today so I suggested we try our local Cuban restaurant for lunch. She had our traditional favorite of roast pork while I tried their other specialty of garlic-and-citrus-marinated chicken with sides of rice, black beans and plantains. Really good as usual. We split her favorite flan for dessert.

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  28. Loved aplomb! One of those great words I seem to forget about. Loved Urban of country clue. Still don't get Ken.

    Did some reading up on actor Jerry Orbach yesterday. Loved him in "Law & Order" and had the pleasure of seeing him perform in "42nd St" on Broadway many years ago. Quite a brilliant man. I'm sure most of you know his son, Tony Orbach, is a crossword puzzle constructor, mostly for NY Times. Does he ever contribute to LA Times? Just curious. Thanks.

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  29. Canadian Eh, that's some wall !

    Jinx, watch DeNiro in Raging Bull and you will not forget LaMotta, and if you are like me, won't forget the movie either.

    Husker Gary, to atone for earlier, I have also now remembered Columbus, Kearney and Beatrice. Knew the last one from Beatrice Foods history. Also, but had to look it up, Fairbury. A soldier I served with was from Fairbury.

    Anon@4:53. Ken is a fossil word. It is broadly obsolete but remains in currency because it is contained within an idiom still in use. In common usage, it is found only in the phrase beyond one’s ken. (Beyond one's knowledge, perception, or sight.) Source: Wiktionary and Wikipedia.

    Inre: Tony Orbach, last time was June 22, 2012, Jeremy Horwitz and Tony Orbach.

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  30. Boring bit of twaddle today. Lacked any cleverness. Not difficult but rather ho-hum.

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  31. Musings
    -TTP, et al, Ogallala is now best known for its proximity to this this incredibly huge facility that has revolutionized recreation, electric generation and irrigation in Western Nebraska

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  32. For those who may or may not recall, my limerick for one of today's favorite words was:

    Little Jack Horner (whose now famous thumb)
    Appears at book signings; for money he'll come
    To show off his digit,
    And try not to fidget,
    So everyone sees that he does have APLOMB

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  33. Husker Gary, I read this article Nebraska's Kingsley Dam after viewing your links. I'd use impressive too. Thanks.

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  34. I knew I'd be getting here late and I was sure someone would point out the QOD of FLUTIE. ie He's from Natick Mass.

    I believe Whitey Lockman broke his ankle sliding into third. Alvin Dark I think was on first. My mother got all excited in the kitchen and when I changed the station all I saw was 'The agony of defeat as the Dodgers skulked off the field. 1951. I was six.

    Btw. Lefty Odoul was mentioned as a previous winner of the Pro-Am at pebble Beach. We had him the other day.

    Oh. The xword. What a mess I made of the group of ORC vs ENT, ESCORT vs IMPART, ETC. (Yesterday). As a would be Tolkien purist I was looking for something bigger for Monster. Of course, the ENTS were good guys.

    Ed, when Wilbur says nice job that should mean something.

    Our POETS were red-hot. Yes A for that #4

    WC

    Ps. Oops I've already forgotten it.

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  35. If I ever figure out tennis scoring..... I mean, "Love-Thirty"???

    My first computer was a Kaypro, running CP/M at 4 mhz, and also the last computer I understood ... when the Z-80 CPU went obsolete, and they put 100,000 transistors on a chip, well, it's just a black box now. And using a 300-baud modem, watching as 1 character would show up per second or so, priceless -- NOT!

    Speaking of lakes, Ororville Dam here in northern California is (maybe, depending on which media we watch) going to lose the emergency spillway's integrity, and flood. All that snow that CanadianEh! awed us with is nice as long as it stays frozen, but liquid, not so much.

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  36. Sunday Lurk say...

    We miss you La La! Happy Birthday!

    {B, B+, C+,A}. {funny; knew it...}

    That's all I wanted to post, but then Jinx, et.al got me all nerd'd out...

    Jinx - I was there w/ you in the Banyon days... We had that at DOD. I always wondered why we had UNIX with a full TCP/IP stack at school and BV & Novell crap at the office. BTW, I got to read (and comment on) the "Death of GOSIP" [that's what I called it] memo from NIST in '96(?). Finally!!! .gov accepted TCP/IP.

    Steve - Yep, looked like rolled oats masterfully presented. I'm hankerin' for some now...

    My first email address was REDACTED@latech.edu in '89. Next was REDACTED@REDACTED.REDACTED.mil in '92.

    Apple ][e was my 1st love. My bud & I peek'd and poke'd the hell out of memory and had a hoot hacking a bank and railroad switches -- we lived in the Midwest; there wasn't much cool in our exchange in '84.

    Michael - The Z-80 was a fun microchip. We played with those in the lab.

    Bill G... God Speed to Barbra's full recovery.

    Cheers, -T

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  37. Here's why I gave up quantum physics for Lent:

    "The lepton is an elementary, half-integer spin (spin  1⁄2) particle that does not undergo strong interactions.[1] Two main classes of leptons exist: charged leptons (also known as the electron-like leptons), and neutral leptons (better known as neutrinos). Charged leptons can combine with other particles to form various composite particles such as atoms and positronium, while neutrinos rarely interact with anything, and are consequently rarely observed. The best known of all leptons is the electron.

    There are six types of leptons, known as flavours, forming three generations.[2] The first generation is the electronic leptons, comprising the electron (e−) and electron neutrino (νe); the second is the muonic leptons, comprising the muon (μ−) and muon neutrino (νμ); and the third is the tauonic leptons, comprising the tau (τ−) and the tau neutrino (ντ). Electrons have the least mass of all the charged leptons. The heavier muons and taus will rapidly change into electrons and neutrinos through a process of particle decay: the transformation from a higher mass state to a lower mass state. Thus electrons are stable and the most common charged lepton in the universe, whereas muons and taus can only be produced in high energy collisions (such as those involving cosmic rays and those carried out in particle accelerators)."

    From Wikipedia. Clear as mud.

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