google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 Mark McClain

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Feb 14, 2017

Tuesday, February 14, 2017 Mark McClain

Theme: Dunkirk - Anything that would float joined the flotilla used for the evacuation.

17A. Crude early version of a work of art: ROUGH SKETCH

30A. Computer programming glitch: ENDLESS LOOP. I learned this one because of discussions here on the blog.

46A. New York City zoo locale: CENTRAL PARK

61A. Lakeside launching aid ... and, literally, each set of circled letters: BOAT TRAILER. I found the circled letters weren't much help.

Argyle here. Well, maybe an ark wasn't used for the evacuation. I found this to be tough for a Tuesday. The reveal doesn't relate that well to the theme entries. But it was just a 'J' shy of a pangram.

Author:

1. Bindle-toting migrants: HOBOs. Bindle was the bag holding his sundry.

6. "Oliver!" no-goodnik: FAGIN. The mastermind.

11. Bygone intl. carrier: TWA. (Trans World Airlines)

14. Face in the crowd, in film: EXTRA

15. With no help: ALONE

16. A, in Aachen: EIN. Aachen is traditionally known in English and French as Aix-la-Chapelle.


19. Bottom-row PC key: ALT

20. Natural salve additive: ALOE

21. Slightly: A LITTLE

23. Financial claim: LIEN

26. Coin-in-a-fountain thought: WISH

28. Pakistani language: URDU

29. "The Lord of the Rings" beast: ORC

33. What marathoners load up on: CARBS

35. WWII conference site: YALTA


36. Like swimming competitions: AQUATIC

39. Getting by: DOING OK

43. Rants and raves: RAGEs

45. Bold: NERVY

51. Slithery fish: EEL

52. Et __: and others: ALIA

53. Harp constellation: LYRA

54. Daly of "Cagney & Lacey": TYNE

55. Sun protection for kissers?: LIP BALM

58. Former Russian ruler: CZAR

60. "__ no use!": IT'S

66. Pot pie veggie: PEA

67. When Macbeth kills Duncan: ACT II

68. French-speaking Caribbean country: HAITI


69. FDR successor: HST. (Harry S Truman)

70. 2000s TV series set in California: "THE OC". (Orange County, CA)


71. Snooze: SLEEP

Down:

1. Seagoing pronoun: HER

2. Good Grips kitchenware brand: OXO

3. A/C capacity meas.: BTU. (British thermal unit)

4. Church instrument: ORGAN

5. Satirist Mort: SAHL

6. Secret agent's passport, say: FAKE ID

7. Some craft beer: ALE

8. Advanced in one's career: GOT AHEAD

9. At no addl. cost: INCL. (Inclusive: used to say that a price includes everything.)


10. Grape soda brand: NEHI 


11. Italian playhouse: TEATRO

12. "I'm on it, boss": "WILL DO"

13. Pre-poker deal demand: ANTE UP

18. Planted, as seed: SOWN

22. New Orleans university: TULANE

23. "Livin' La Vida __": Ricky Martin hit: LOCA. "like a bullet to your brain"



24. Baghdad's land: IRAQ



25. Beige shade: ECRU

27. Crafty: SLY

30. To be, in Barcelona: ESTAR


31. __-mo replay: SLO

32. Perform miserably: STINK

34. Bill for drinks: BAR TAB

37. "Hometown Proud" supermarket chain: IGA. (Independent Grocers Alliance)

38. Roomie in prison: CELLMATE

40. Earl __ tea: GREY

41. Pizza cooker: OVEN

42. Actor Chandler of "Bloodline": KYLE


44. CIA operative: SPY

46. Muslim bigwig: CALIPH

47. Upper crust groups: ELITEs

48. Attacks, puppy-style: NIPS AT. Ankle biters.

49. Super cold: ARCTIC

50. Motorola phone: RAZR

54. __ by jury: TRIAL

56. Blind as __: A BAT

57. Ness, for one: LOCH

59. Massage reactions: AAHs

62. Padre's brother: TIO. Uncle.

63. Whopper: LIE

64. Summer, in 68-Across: ÉTÉ. French-speaking HAITI.

65. Fabric mishap: RIP

The travelogue is over.

 Argyle
 


Notes from C.C.:

1) Blogger team finally fixed the Comments section Preview glitch yesterday. Now you can Preview & Publish again. Thanks for the various Blogger posts, TTP! I'm sure your analysis helped them.

2) Happy Birthday to dear Marti, who used to guide us on Thursdays. I'm not sure Marti still reads our blog. We miss you, Marti! 

57 comments:

OwenKL said...

The reveal could have replaced the circles -- the boats were all at the TRAILING end of their entries.

If a collective noun for EELS is a battery, would a pair of them be CELL MATES?

{A, A, A, B+.}

Gok the ORC with FAKE I.D. had fled to IRAQ.
He'd been DOING O.K. up until that fat ox!
When he said, "She don't STINK,"
Captain RAZR RAGED pink!
"You insult my daughter! Boys, DO IN GOK!"

Some day, a smart car CALIPH may reign,
The monarch would be a "Two-door" again!
In an edict as CZAR
This NERVY king car
Could decree New Orleans' roads all be TULANE!

Should ever you visit the CENTRAL PARK ZOO
Here is a hint at what you WILL DO!
Be sure that you visit
The ARCTIC exhibit,
And note the ELITE penguins dress better than you!

She wanted some sushi, something raw and AQUATIC
That NIPS AT her taste-buds in a manner dramatic!
As her WISH for a meal,
She had PEA soup with eels.
But one eel objected with electrical static!

desper-otto said...

Good morning! (Happy Valentine's Day to those of you who celebrate, and Happy Birthday, Marti, wherever you are!)

I liked Mark's puzzle, though I flew through it so fast I never noticed the circles. Earl GREY was a nice CSO to Abejo. ENDLESS LOOPs were pretty easy to diagnose (program loops are very powerful programming tools, but you've got to find a way to exit the loop at some point). Uninitialized pointers were much trickier to find. We've got several OXO Good-Grips gizmos -- peeler, tongs, mandolin, bench scraper. They make good stuff. Thanks for the tour, Argyle.

Gotta run...

TTP said...

Good morning. Thank you Mark and thank you Argyle. Happy Valentine's Day to all !

Happy Birthday Marti !

Back to normal sleep last night. That was good. Ended up with a T in IRAQ. Ir was entered as ITAQ. That was bad. Fingers haven't found the home keys yet.

Yes, Argyle, when I look at the online timer, the solve took longer than a typical Tuesday. Tells me that I had to think a little deeper on some of the answers or their spelllings, and waited on perps more than usual.

Mark, the MENSA and the Merriam Webster sites don't have circles, but I think that many of us know to open the LA Times site when there is a clue that indicates there will be circles. I recall you asking about that before.

No idea on FAGIN. Never read it. Perps. Know of Donald Fagan and Walter Becker. Think AJA.
Had MOTO before RAZR.
Earl GREY tea. Abejo's favorite !

NERVE to NERVY because KeLE didn't look right, but you never know with many names these days.

Thanks CC. I try.

From yesterday. Thank you for passing that along, Husker Gary. PK, we miss you. Sorry you can't chime in.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Mark and Santa!

A bit chewy for a Tuesday.

Happy Valentine's Day all!

Happy Birthday, Marti! Miss you!

Have a great day!

unclefred said...

I wake up very early, get the newspaper, read the first section then crawl back into bed to read the comics and do the Jumble and the CW. Later, get up and work on the computer. Which means for many years I've done the CW lying in bed. The South Florida SunSentinel has raised its price for home delivery every year, and this year, when they wanted $565/yr for home delivery, I finally switched to the Miami Herold at $192/yr., which has a different CW puzzle (Universal CW). Long story as to why I haven't been posting here lately. Today I did a first (for me): did the Universal CW in my usual way, then used my iPhone to do the L.A. Times CW. Unlikely to have as much time every day. Anyway, I'll be here less often. Don't really like doing the CW on the iPhone, can't see the whole CW at once, and don't have it in front of me if I come here to post on my iPhone: the CW's gone! Anyway, I hope everyone's doing well.

Hungry Mother said...

Theme helped a bit. Too many names for my taste, but got through it.

CartBoy said...

Speed run today. Never heard of an "endless loop" in programming. Always called it a "do loop". Code keeps "doing" it because there is no way out.

CartBoy said...

@unclefred since you work on the computer, just go to http://games.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword/ and print the puzzle. You only have to endure a 15 second ad and the benefit is - just like the newspaper with no newsprint! I do it every day and "catch up" when I'm back from work travel.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

I used the circles as a double check after completing the fill. I liked the puzzle, but I got sloppy and had gOING On instead of DOING OK and didn't catch it before I looked at Santa's reveal. I should have known that "nyle" Chandler wasn't right, but I've never heard of Kyle Chandler (or Bloodline, for that matter). I REALLY should have known that GOT AHEAg wasn't right.

I also didn't know FAGIN, TEATRO or CALIPH.

Thanks to Mark for a puzzle that was better than my efforts to solve it. And thanks to Argyle for another informative reveal.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Agree with Argyle about the reveal - not much help - and difficulty - especially the RAZR/CZAR cross. Perps and the only way I could get the rest of it to work. Luckily, it all did. Otherwise, no issues.
EIN - A gimme as you can imagine. Aachen is one of my favorite German cities to pronounce - next to Düsseldorf. A Canadian army militia friend once told me that he had seen Charlemagne's throne in Aachen. (it was not on public display)
ESTAR - Somewhat got from perps. Latin esse?, French être. The circumflex over the e signals there was a vestigial 's' at an earlier time.

Anonymous said...

Usually we get TSAR for the Russian ruler and CZAR only for the business or government mogul. It was fun to see a Russian CZAR for a change.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

CartBoy,

A "do loop" is a normal part of some languages. DO (some desired computer operations) UNTIL (some condition is reached). You will be in an endless loop if the operations you define can never produce the UNTIL result.

Oas said...

Good quick puzzle when you're running late. Only write over czar for tsar , never sure what spelling will work when it shows up in crosswords.

Yellowrocks said...

This was a Wed/Thur. level for me. It took a little more time. I was hoping for a Valentine puzzle instead of a boat puzzle.
I knew FAGIN from seeing the movie, Oliver Twist. Fagin was a Jew who instructed and led children in crimes such as being a pickpocket. When Israeli Menachem Begin first started appearing in world news, people had trouble pronouncing his name. It was suggested that Begin rhymed with Fagin. Begin and others were highly insulted because of the negative connotation, but it certainly helped with the pronunciation of his name. I liked the device even though Fagin's and Begin's characters did not match.
It is interesting that NERVY can have almost opposite meanings, bold or nervous.
Weather is just amazing. After California's extreme drought now we have the danger of extreme flooding from the damaged spillways at Lake Oroville.
Happy birthday, Marti. Miss you. I often think of you.
I got Kyle from perps and wags. K was the only choice that made sense. KYLE and The OC were the only unfamiliar words. RAZR needed to be dredged up from the depths.
This will be a whole day devoted to medical/dental visits for the both of us.

BunnyM said...

Good morning!

Thanks Mark and Argyle (I liked all of the maps today). This was pretty quick and easy- finished in my usual Mon/Tues time of about 10 minutes and only had a few perps : FAGIN, ACTII and TEATRO.

Glad to know the preview function is working. Thanks blogger team and TTP!

Happy Birthday to Marti �� and Happy Valentines Day ❤️to those who celebrate. DH and I don't really do anything special. However I did awake to find a sweet card and big box of chocolates that he'd left for me. I bought a "cheesecake for two" box mix that I will make for dessert but have no ides what I'm making for dinner yet. I suppose I should go figure that out!

Have a wonderful day

MJ said...

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

A solid Tuesday puzzle. KYLE Chandler and "Bloodline" were both unknowns, but easily perpped. Thanks for today's entertainment, Mark, and thanks for the expo, Argyle.

Enjoy the day!

Big Easy said...

After the circled KETCH filled its spaces I had a pretty good idea it would be a 'boat show'. Easy Tuesday puzzle that I worked waiting for the kitchen floor to dry. The SLOOP- John B and Noah's ARK made my guess correct. One double writeover- FAGAN to FAGEN to FAGIN ('enclosed' became 'included')- and three unknowns- THE OC, KYLE Chander, & ESTAR. And something is always happening in ACT I, II, III, IV, & V. Always filled by perps.

TULANE- as we locals say about the undergraduate school: A place for rich northern kids to go to school so that they can party and 'pay their fees to get their Bs'. But, the Medical School and graduate school are top notch.

Yellowrocks said...

Bunny M, that's the way we celebrate Valentine's Day, too. In addition I wear heart earrings with a red sweater and red shoes. Wise guys, I wear slacks, too. LOL
Owen KL, A+ for # 2 and #3.
unclefred, as Cart Boy advised, when I don't have the newspaper early I print out the puzzle from the Mensa site. Works well.
In a sense we might think of Noah's ark as providing an evacuation from the world as we know it, saving its passengers from the Flood and landing them safely at Mt. Ararat 150 days later, after the Flood subsided. Of course, not an evacuation from Dunkirk.

Tinbeni said...

Argyle: Great Job on the write-up. Really enjoyed the "map" links.

Happy Birthday Marti ... 21 Again? ... I'm not surprised!

Needed ESP to get KYLE and RAZR, both complete unknowns (to be forgotten by noon).

Of course I thought of Radar when I filled in NEHI ... Grape was his favorite!

Cheers!

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-KETCH stood out like red socks in the ECRU bin. So when this landlocked solver had only _ _ _ _ _ S_ L _ _ P, SLOOP fell right in. Thanks Beach Boys!
-Conflicts in and around IRAQ seem to be in an ENDLESS LOOP
-Noah had a TRAILER? ☺
-Scroll down to see filmdom’s most famous EXTRA
-I made a WISH at the Trevi Fountain but haven’t gone back yet.
-FDR endangered his health to meet in CZAR Nicoholas’s Livadia Palace in Yalta
-Ralph Kramden threatened “Pow, right in the KISSER!” many times
-My student and my infusion nurse have both done medical missionary work in HAITI and were amazed by the wonderful Haitian people living in abject poverty
-Oldie but goodie – “She chased John around the church and caught him by the ORGAN”
-To GET AHEAD as a teacher you don’t need great skill, just years and college hours
-If you don’t ANTE UP, someone will say “Pot’s light!”
- Hurry Down Sundown with lyric My seed is SOWN now, my field is plowed(2:57). A PPM fav of mine.
-Al Capone’s CELL MATE Red Rudensky’s business card had “Crime wouldn’t pay if the government ran it” after he got out
-Ditto about dear Marti!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This was a pretty typical Tuesday with a tad of crunch but, as usual, perp friendly. The circles were superfluous, IMO, but maybe not for a novice solver. I'm sure that's one of Rich's decisions. Nice CSO to our resident Tea Tsar, Abejo, wi Earl Grey, and to our Louisana Cornerites with Tulane. No nits, no complaints.

Thanks, MMc, for a fun solve and thanks, Argyle, for taking us around the world with the many maps. Well done, Mr. Fogg.

Happy Valentine's Day 💘 to all and Happy Birthday to Marti, hope it is full of fun and joy! 🎂🎉🎈🎁🍾

I've been reminding everyone about the Westminster dog show last night and guess who forgot it was on? When I finally remembered, it was after 10:00 and then I couldn't find it. Does anyone know what network is airing it?

Unclefred, my suggestion to keep you visiting the blog daily is to take the savings on switching newspapers and buy an iPad! You'll love it, I promise! 😍

Have a great day.

Tinbeni said...

Irish Miss

The Westminster Dog Show is on Fox Sport 1 this year.

Have to tell you ... when I watch ... I like ALL the dogs.
I could never pick the winner.

TTP said...

Irish Miss, Fox Sports 1 (FS1) and NatGeo Wild.

BunnyM, forgetting Valentines Day was a mistake I made once. Okay, twice. But in my defense...well, there is no defense. At least not here.

The local news was reading some internet stories about the worst Valentines Day gifts ever. Some were hilariously bad.



Mark McClain said...

I'll agree with those who found this a little hard for a Tuesday - I think we started out thinking Wednesday, but went through several changes (had RAFT initially, in addition to the others, but that made for a pretty muddled fill) - the circles I think were an afterthought . . . I also think Rich is a bit short on early week entries. I have a couple more in the works. That CZAR thing is confusing - CZAR is the preferred spelling by most dictionaries, but TSAR is nearly as common in usage (and is so darn handy in crossword construction, seen way more than CZAR).

CrossEyedDave said...

Oooohhhhh! Thank you OwenKL for "splainin" boat trailer...
(I never saw it!)

HG, Excellent cameo pics. (but wait, where is the Rear Window one...)

Happy Birthday HeartRx!

I have seen many versions of Oliver Twist, including
a Junior High play where Daughter #1 played Fagin
& ad libbed a perfect rendition of Gollum's (LordOf The rings)
"my precious" when looking at his hidden loot that cracked up the audience.
But my 1st thought was Bill Sykes, wasn't he more of a no-goodnik than Fagin?

Anywho, in looking how to spell "Sykes,"
I came across a 1948 version I never knew
in which Alec Guiness played Fagin!" (I must investigate...)

Hmm, I dunno if I will watch the whole thing.
at 30minutes, that fake nose... I dunno...)

(and nobody called me Scrooge for my Mr. Feziwig reference yesterday:(

Oh yes, the theme,
I could never afford it...

So I made do...

As I got older, & less fit, I had to rework it.
Hey! It works, but getting it in the water is still a pain...

Steve said...

Nice one Mark - I thought yesterday's was more crunchy than this one -it's all the eye of the beholder!

Thanks for the expo, Argyle - I didn't know that Aachen and Aix-en-Chapelle were one and the same. There are plenty of "Aix" towns in France, they're all spa towns. Aix-en-Provence is probably the best known, Aix-les-Bains my favorite for restaurants.

@Cartboy - as Jinx said, you can have a DO-loop, you can also have a FOR-loop which tests the exit condition at the top of the loop rather than at the bottom. You can also have One Infinite Loop, which is the address of the Apple Headquarters in Cupertino.

Northwest Runner said...

Started with Sykes instead of Fagin, wrong in two ways, but I eventually worked it all out. A clever and original theme and a great write-up.

Dudley said...

Adding to Steve's comment: Seagate corporation built their headquarters at One Disk Drive. Love a sense of humor

CrossEyedDave said...

Argyle,

before I repost,
could you please check the Spamfilter? (It's my worst critic...)

(I hope it's my links and not my commentary that dumped me there...)

Thanks.

Dave

Lucina said...

Happy Valentine's Day! And happy birthday, Marti!

Thank you, Mark McClain, for a semi-crunchy puzzle and for stopping by the Corner. Mostly I was DOING OK and even caught the EIN and unknown KYLE but know TYNE very well.

RAZR is familiar because when it first came out Charlie Rose interviewed the CEO and talked about it and cell phones for the entire hour. They marveled at the slimness.

Nice CSO to Hahtoolah ET AL on TULANE and Earl GREY for Abejo.

Argyle, thank you for all the maps. It etches places in my memory and in the case of Barcelona, brings back memories. It's such a beautiful city. YALTA or MALTA, thanks to SLY, that was decided. Lots of Ys in this puzzle.

My ALOE plant is so huge I have to divide it and it's blooming right now.

TEATRO is the same in Spanish as in Italian.

ETE is one French word that's firmly set in my memory bank.

Have a joyful Valentine's Day, everyone! It's friendship day for all, not just couples.

Argyle said...

Dave, we got cha.

Local station has M*A*S*H on an endless loop. It just restarted and Radar was a booze swilling, cigar smoking hustler then. He morphed into the country boy from Iowa later.

Picture.

Spitzboov said...

Argyle @ 1200 - that episode played on our MeTV last night. It was the one where Blake made Hawkeye Chief Surgeon. The general played by Sorrell Booke (think Boss Hogg - Dukes of Hazard), visits the camp to check out a Burns Houlihan complaint. One of my favorite reruns to watch.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Hey CC - The best four words in sports are uttered today. Pitchers and catchers report!

Misty said...

Fun Tuesday puzzle, although I goofed when I put FAGEN instead of FAGIN. You'd think I'd know my "Oliver Twist" by now, and I did wonder how an ENCLosure assured no additional costs. But I got everything else even though I've never heard of a program LOOP.

Felt bad for poor Tinbeni having to deal with BAR TABs two weeks in a row, and I too thought of Radar right away when I saw NEHI.

Great maps, Argyle, and have a wonderful birthday, Marti--we miss you!

One of our gardeners is named VALENTIN, and I learned today that he was born on Valentine's Day. Sweet!

Have a great day, everybody!

Jayce said...

Happy Valentine's Day!
Argyle's commentary exactly expresses how I felt about this puzzle.
Happy birthday, Marti.
Best wishes to you all.

Jayce said...

Oh wow, the company I work for, and the work we do, got published in aitrends on-line magazine.

Lucina said...

Jayce:
That's wonderful news from your company. Congratulations to you and them on doing that kind of research. Thank you for posting the article.

Michael said...

Jayce, I really, really, hope you and your company succeed! Living near the Green Valley fault, and having lived through a number of quakes, any credible advance warning would be such a boon.

What CartBoy said @ 7:56... the drawback with the LAT website, though, is the endless ads ... some insurance company in Chinese for a week in a row, for one. Print media are in trouble these days, yet their solution winds up driving people away.

Tinbeni said...

Misty
I have "no problem" with BAR TAB ... I just NEVER carry one when at the pub.
(Good habit ... "Pay Cash & Tip Big" as you go ... then when it is time ... Go!)

What I do have a problem with is that certain 3-letter word that changes my
Scotch from NEAT ... to "on-the-rocks."

Ol' Man Keith said...

When the allies met in YALTA during WWII, we just thought of it as a part of Russia. We had no sense of the national divisions within the old USSR. It is only in recent years that we've come to understand that this famous vacation city (on the Black Sea, a resort where Chekhov would go to recuperate) was on the Crimean Peninsula and historically part of the Ukraine.
I found this Tuesday-easy, not as tough as Argyle did. I got snagged a bit early on at 6-A ("'Oliver!' no-goodnik"), which like Dave I wanted to fill with SYKES. It took a few failed perps before I came back and went with FAGIN.
But, as I say, this proved to be a smooth Tuesday, and I thank MMcC for the diversion and Argyle for the response.

AnonymousPVX said...

As a retired programmer I enjoyed all the loop talk. I kind of miss it, it was the only work that appealed to me and made sense.

Kind of easy even for Tuesday, but still a nice puzzle.

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody. We got an advertisement in the mail for a new build-your-own-pizza store. So, why not? They have a machine that rolls a lump of pizza dough into a ball, then presses it into a flat circular shape. One of the workers loads on their predetermined combinations of stuff or you can put any toppings of your choosing. I started with their basic white pizza and added sausage, green peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. Then they stick it into a million-degree oven and about four minutes later, your pizza is ready. Pretty good too.

Irish Miss said...

Tin and TTP ~ Thanks for the info on FS1 which I've never heard of but do get. Unfortunately, my favorite group, Non-Sporting, aired last night so I didn't get to see my beloved Bichon entrant. Oh well, I can tune in tonight and catch up.

An interesting tidbit to pass on: The constructor of today's NY Times puzzle is 13 years old and he is the youngest person they've ever published.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thanks Mark for a fun puzzle and stopping by for inside-baseball [Yes! Pitchers & Catchers report today! (I wonder how their wives feel about that on Valentine's Day?)]

Thanks Argyle for the Expo and kickin' off the after party.

Same WO as TTP (NERVe-Y)
ESPs: FAGIN, TEATRO (Hi Jinx!), KYLE; apparently ESTAR too - didn't even notice it until the Expo.

Fav: We're DOING OK after a tornado touched down a few miles from here this morning. Kids' school was on lock-down for an hour and DW was at home (I was already at the office)... So I'll count my blessings and go w/ that.

Minor nit... CS guys call it an iNfinite LOOP (Steve, I thought of Apple too).

{A-,A+,A+,A}. //snicker - CELL MATE EELs

IM - You may be able to find last night's FS1 On Demand in a day or so to see your fav breed.

HG - LOL! Noah needed one hellava truck to tow the ARK!

Happy Birthday Marti. You still out there lurkin'?

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Jayce - I forgot. Cool article. Did you guys write your own PA software or use a tool? C, -T

Bill G. said...

Jayce, very interesting. Let me know when an earthquake is heading my way! Things have been quiet here lately. Almost too quiet...

CanadianEh! said...

Very late to the Valentines' party so WEES today. Thanks for the fun Mark and Argyle.

I did this puzzle in the newspaper with the circles and I saw the theme early. Filled in fairly quickly but I see that I spelled Fagin as FAGAN and didn't notice the ANCL perp error.

Happy Birthday Marti.

Argyle said...

Where in the world is Marti? (use today's maps)

Argyle said...

I watched NCIS New Orleans tonight and I think I saw the girl singer someone here said to watch for. She was very nice.

Carmen said...

Wait...Argyle...is this a real where's HeartRx"?


Djibouti?

Anonymous T said...

Leafing through the paper b/f bed (I know early for me, but I's gots a 7a mtg - that means up at 5a!?!), I came across Vinegar Valentines by Kyrie O'Conner. [If you're a fan of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, HER name will ring a bell]. Never heard of such a mean thing, but there it is. Cheers, -T

Argyle said...

Carmen, I have no idea where she is.

Abejo said...

Good evening, folks. Thank you, Mark McClain, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

Hey, one of my favorite words today, GREY, as in Earl Grey Tea, at 40D. Thanks for remembering, TTP. It is not only my favorite tea, it is my ONLY tea. I carry it with me wherever I go.

Liked the theme.

TEATRO was a tough word.

Finally CZAR spelled the right way.

Have to run. Perry Mason is coming on. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

OwenKL said...

Anon-T: The Vinegar Valentines article you linked to is behind a paywall, but here is a free copy. I didn't care for the conclusions, since I see a lot more of the Vinegar ones (online or in greeting card aisles -- I've never received one either nice or nought since grade school).

Oldies stations were added to my cable sub* a few months ago, and I've been catching up on shows I never watched the first time around (MASH & Night Court) or often had to miss because of conflicts (Star Trek: V, DS9, E).

*Actually probably added years ago, but I just found out about them by accident 3-4 months ago. #$%^& Comcast!

OwenKL said...

A website I check out regularly that always has v-day cards.

Avg bear said...

Omk. Is there a mouse in your pocket?

Wilbur Charles said...

Anon-T, I bit the bullet and looked up Tacitus. Apparently, the current pronunciation is TA see Tus. But, in the original(Classical) Latin it's Takitus .

Which, is why I suspected the high brows with Latin in their schooling backgrounds would be invaluable.

Why Tacitus? Because, along with Asimov, his work is so current to the new politic.

And, I suspect we'll see that as a Natick soon.

Speaking of Naticks. Did I mention that yesterday's FLUTIE played for Donald Trump's WFL football team?

This unfortunately has nothing to do with Tuesday's xword. I did one of those diagonal solves and threw in FRIGID and used the I for IVAN as the CZAR.

It seems like after Catherine they became TSARs and before,like Ivan, they were CZARS.

I agree that Owen's #s 2 and 3 were great as was C-Moe's 1. Must be great stuff you two smoke 😍

WC who's so late because I fell asleep at the blog again last night. I actually dashed off the xword about noon.