google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday March 26, 2017 Garry Morse

Gary's Blog Map

Mar 26, 2017

Sunday March 26, 2017 Garry Morse

Theme:"Secretly Jealous" - NV spans across each theme entry.

29A. Sure thing : CERTAIN VICTORY.  The first theme starts in Row 4 rather than the traditional Row 3.

52A. Oath : SOLEMN VOW

54A. Titanic undertaking : MAIDEN VOYAGE. Is this article too gossipy?
 
77A. City NNW of San Diego : MISSION VIEJO. I just learned that Viejo means "old".

80A.Gourmet : BON VIVANT. Thought it just means "man about town".

104A. Many a side dish : GREEN VEGETABLE

3D. Tanzanian flowering plant : AFRICAN VIOLET


58D. Hollywood adaptation : SCREEN VERSION

Reveal entry:

123A. Word homophonically hidden in the eight longest puzzle answers : ENVY

Two pairs of theme entries intersect one another. Very nice. The reveal is also perfectly placed as the last Across entry crossing one more theme entry.

We've seen ENVY puzzles where the theme entries are all in N* V* pattern. Nice change of pace.

Not many long fill. A pair of 8's. But lots of solid 6's and 7's.

Across:  

1. Plush carpet : SHAG

5. Lunchbox staples, initially : PBJs. Very American. No such thing in my childhood.

9. Two-time Argentine president : PERON

14. Piglike rhino relative : TAPIR. Have any of you read "Sapiens?"


19. Sword handle : HAFT. Not HILT.

20. Beat but good : ROUT

21. Texas Revolution battle site : ALAMO

22. All-page link : ON ONE. Some partials are tricky to clue. All on one page.

23. Field: Pref. : AGRO

24. Scrape in the sandbox : OWIE

25. Hold fast, as one's attention : RIVET

26. Get behind, as a desk : SIT AT

27. Pouilly-__: wine : FUISSE. Learning moment for me.


32. Sam Spade type : TEC. Short for "Detective".

33. Wrote to, nowadays : EMAILED

35. Low-tech travel guide : AAA MAP

36. "You can't fool me!" : AHA

38. Explorer Ericson : LEIF

39. Washroom item : BASIN

43. Nine months, for some tots : AGE

44. "Lou Grant" star : ASNER. His surname and full name have very grid-friendly letter combo.

46. Wash. neighbor : ORE

47. Language of many mottos : LATIN

48. Spikes : LACES

50. Reduce in importance : DEVALUE

57. Really gets to : IRKS. We also have the wobbly 79. Riles up : IRES

59. Native of Nigeria : IBO. I learned this word from Maron's interview with Godfrey, whose parents were from Nigeria.


60. Sloppy kiss : WET ONE

61. Cause of a close shave : RAZOR

64. Epidemic-fighting agcy. : CDC

67. Belief sys. : REL (Religion)

68. Investment descriptor that should sound alarms : NO RISK. Also 13. Homework shirker's punishment : NO TV

69. For instance : NAMELY

70. Actor Stephen : REA

71. Suffix with stamp : EDE

72. Order to swabs : AVAST. Sailor swab.

73. Donizetti opera "L'elisir __" ("The Elixir of Love") : D'AMORE. No idea. But the bracketed "Love"  helped.

74. Poet's adverb : E'ER

75. Emotion indicator, often : TONE

84. Hardly fleeting : ETERNAL

85. Casual tops : POLOs

88. Work well together : CLICK. Like "they just clicked immediately".

89. '60s protest org. : SDS (Students for a Democratic Society)

91. "If I Were a Rich Man" singer : TEVYE

92. Pasta ending : INI

93. Pal : CRONY

94. Longfellow's bell town : ATRI. Our old pal.

95. Half a fly : TSE. Our old pal.

96. Like some ancient Celts : GALLIC

99. Dessert square : BROWNIE. Oh Dudley and MJ, my friend Roberto (Project Manager with Kraft then) ate an Oreo Pie every morning. They were widely sold in China.
101. Long John Silver creator's monogram : RLS

109. "__ Fideles" : ADESTE

111. Little bits : IOTAS

112. Base lines : X-AXES

113. Oater actor Jack : ELAM. Our old pal.

115. Capital south of Helsinki : RIGA. Put in OSLO. Dumb!

116. Lycée student : ELEVE

117. Industry leaders : CZARS

118. Hieroglyphics bird : IBIS

119. Rise in a big way : LOOM. Bad thing, normally.

120. Cold fall : SLEET

121. Exaggerated on stage : HAMMY

122. "Eli's Coming" songwriter : NYRO (Laura). Drew a blank. Read her Wiki page. She died quite young.


Down:

1. Harsh treatment, with "the" : SHAFT

2. World Court site, with "The" : HAGUE.  "The" echo.
 
4. Classic muscle cars : GTOs

5. Introduction : PROEM. Not a word I use.

6. Acknowledge applause : BOW

7. Better, as gossip : JUICIER

8. Metal marble : STEELIE. Our old pal.

9. Medicare Rx section : PART D

10. Lamb pen name : ELIA. Our old pal.

11. Indian musician who influenced Beatle George : RAVI. Our old pal.

12. Symbolic warning : OMEN
 
14. Puccini heroine : TOSCA

15. "West Side Story" girl : ANITA. Same letter count as MARIA.

16. River to Chesapeake Bay : POTOMAC

17. Hitting the roof : IN A RAGE

18. Enters again : RE-TYPES

28. Pfizer-owned trademark : SEARLE. They made Celebrex. Oh My God the side effects.

30. One crying foul? : REF. Great clue.

31. James' creator : IAN. Bond.

34. Skin-treatment plant : ALOE VERA. Nice to see the full name.

37. Go : HEAD. Also 97. Go : LEAVE

39. Field unit : BALE. Not ACRE.

40. Dined : ATE. The Prime Rib Loft changed their menu, Steve. The classy orange-glazed salmon was replaced by the ordinary tasting roasted salmon.  


41. __City: computer game : SIM

42. Vacation spot : INN

44. Look up to : ADMIRE

45. Wet floor : SEABED

47. Theater option : LOGE

48. Irish truck : LORRY Also. 61. Trucks with ovine logos : RAMS

49. Parrot's cry : AWK. New sound to me.

51. Not yet interlaced, as yarn : UNWOVEN

52. Putted into the hole : SANK. Boomer never practices his putting/chipping. Not a good strategy when you're losing driving distance.

53. Like some bad weather : VIOLENT

55. Up-and-down inventor? : OTIS. Nice clue also.

56. 2015 World Series winning manager Ned : YOST. Gary's KC Royals.



62. Mine, to Mimi : A MOI

63. Refines one's aim : ZEROES IN

65. Dance runner : DEEJAY

66. King of pop : CAROLE. Carole King. Not that JACKSON fits.

68. Smallish iPods : NANOS. My 10-year-old iPod Classic gave me another scare last week. Finally reset to Factory Settings.  Do you listen then delete, Gary? I've saved so many episodes. Thousands.

69. Tammany Hall Tiger artist : NAST

73. Childless couple's acronym : DINK. "Dual Income, No Kids"

76. "I'll take what I can get," in classifieds : OBO. Or Best Offer.

77. R&B singer Gray : MACY. Stranger to me.


78. Authenticated : VETTED
 
81. DVD predecessor : VCR

82. U.N. workers' gp. : ILO. International Labour Organization

83. Cru output : VIN

85. Tot's toes : PIGGIES

86. Hot : ON A ROLL

87. 1992 Kentucky Derby winner : LIL E TEE. Was this a gimme to you? Never heard of it.

89. Entered on tiptoe : STOLE IN

90. Med. man of '70s TV : DR WELBY. Got via crosses.

93. MML ÷ X : CCV. 205.

94. NYSE trader : ARB (Arbitrager)
  
98. A metro area may be shown in one : INSET

99. Low in pitch : BASSY

100. Playground dispute words : I AM SO

102. St.'s second-in-command : LT GOV. At this moment, I can't remember ours. I can picture how she looks like though. Man! OK, Tina Smith. That's our Governor Mark Dayton to her left. Such a compassionate guy. His great-grandfather founded Dayton's (now Target).



103. Sordid : SEAMY

105. Part of NYSE: Abbr. : EXCH (Exchange).

106. __ Strip : GAZA

107. Final __ : EXAM

108. Semester, e.g. : TERM

110. First name in legal fiction : ERLE. Erle Stanley Gardner.

114. Tune : AIR

C.C.



33 comments:

  1. Greetings!

    Thanks Garry and C. C.!

    Cute theme!

    Perps help me get: IBO, NYRO, SEARLE, DINK, MACY and LIL E TEE. Not too time consuming.

    Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good morning!

    My first thought for "Low tech travel guide" was AAA MAP -- I put it in, but just knew it'd be wrong. Same with IBO. Hand up for MARIA until ANITA showed up. My first thought for "Like come ancient Celts" was GAELIC -- I put it in, but just knew it'd be wrong. And it was. DNF. LIEETEE looked as good as LILETEE to me.

    Yes, I have read Sapiens, C.C. Harari makes some very insightful observations. Hadn't heard of the book when I added it to my Kindle -- it was one of those "Today only" $0.99 deals. I'm a sucker for cheap books.

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  3. CERTAIN VICTORY was not to be today. I slogged through rest, not knowing but filling Pouilly-FUISSE , DAMORE, SIM City, YOST, PROEM, MACY Gray, ANITA (I just met a girl named MARIA- not ANITA), NYRO, or understanding the 'all-ON ONE-page fill until C.C. e 'splained it. But the cross of the unknown racehorse LILETEE and GALLIC got me. I filled GAELIC. After I finished (incorrectly), I looked up GALLIC and it referred to France. Never new the Celts were from France-GAUL.

    As for the ENVY, I noticed the Vs early on but was more concerned with finishing. Close but no cigar.

    G.D. SEARLE- manufacturer of Ambien, Equal, many early birth control pills- Ovulen & Demulen, and your mentioned CELEBREX. The side effects are what I would put in the category of 'Fake News'. The media jumped on some stories about it and VIOXX, and Pfizer sold Celebrex to another company to get rid of the bad press. After extensive tests were done, it was found to be safe and effective. They BOUGHT IT BACK when they bought the company- King Pharmaceuticals- that they sold it to. Merck never bothered with the VIOXX. There's not a drug or food that somebody isn't allergic to.

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  4. i think in the end, Sunday puzzles are best done with a partner. just reading yhe clues aloud helps me stay focused.

    "The hilt (rarely called the haft) of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard, grip and pommel." Wiki. Not sure why but I put HAFT in; the HAGUE, maybe.

    LIL E TEE was not in my brain, but MARCUS WELBY with Robert Young, a young James Brolin and a different simpler world was easy. Wet floor SEABED was all perps.

    Thanks C.C. and Garry

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  5. A tad shorter time than most Sundays. I saw the NV with the second theme answer. Thanks, Garry and CC.
    MACY and NYRO were all perps.
    I knew L'elisir D'amore. I have it playing in the background now. Having experienced my ex's huge collection of classics comes in handy for crosswords.
    I remember the old Marcus Welby MD show.
    I wagged and perped CAROLE before it dawned on me who she is. Clips of her Broadway show, Beautiful, are advertised constantly. I was thinking of a male king.
    I needed CC to understand all-page link/on one. That N was my last fill after an impatient ABC run. My first guess was ALITA , but the N was two letters past that.
    Our square dance club is having our annual Chinese restaurant dinner this afternoon. So delicious for us Chinese food bon vivants. And the companionship is priceless. There is more talking over dinner than over dancing. The tradition was started by a Taiwanese member many years ago and we carried on when she moved out of state.

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  6. Good morning all

    Nice Sunday CW from Gary. Liked the theme, assumed all of the V's would figure in somehow. Got the reveal and Voila!- eNVy. Clever :)

    Thanks C.C. for your fun tour- always a pleasure!

    Hand up for Maria before ANITA. Big Easy- I also put in Gaelic for GALLIC.
    Other W/O's - Emote>HAMMY, VHS >VCR, In a rage >ONAROLL, Sneak in>STOLEIN and Are so>IAMSO

    Learning moments: Pouilly-FUISSE, LILETEE, the DINK acronym and the All ONONE page reference (thanks C.C.!)

    Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

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  7. Good Morning:

    I saw the NV theme after filling in the second theme answer which helped with some of the less obvious fill. I didn't encounter too much trouble and even though there were some unknowns (Nyro) and some goofs Maria/Anita), perps and wags saved the day. However, after all that effort, no Tada! The crossing of Gallic/Lil E Tee earned me a FIW. I never heard of that horse and I, too associate Gallic with France. Wasn't fond of Hammy and Bassy.

    Thanks, Garry, for a Sunday stumper and thanks, CC, for your interesting commentary.

    I watched "Genius" last night with Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Laura Linney. It was about the relationship, personal and professional, between the legendary editor, Maxwell Perkins and the gifted, if somewhat eccentric writer, Thomas Wolfe. I've never read Wolfe but if the movie's depiction of his writing style was factual, I think his novels might be more Faulkneresque than Hemingwayesque.
    I never knew he died so young, in his late thirties, I believe. The movie was interesting to a point but sort of dragged; I can see why it wasn't (as far as I know) a box office hit, despite the stellar cast. (I'm partial to Colin Firth.)

    Have a great day.

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  8. Thanks C.C. and Garry. I had a DNF with nanos (unknown to me) and tone. I thought that bassy was a stretch, but no, the Urban Dictionary has an interesting definition of it,long with more mundane explanations.
    Have a lovely day, everyone.

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  9. Just curious. Is the TAPIR so named because of the shape of its nose?

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  10. Had "aim" instead of AIR and "basso" instead of BASSY.

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  11. Musings
    -The theme tree hid in the fill forest but I had fun!
    -GALLIC/GAELIC and PROEM?/PRO AM kept me out of the winner’s circle
    -Pouilly FUSSIE for everyone if I was the only one who chose Maria over ANITA first
    -Fred Haise told me the SCREEN VERSION of Apollo XIII had more conflict than the actual events
    -The ALAMO was a ROUT but provided inspiration
    -Shipbuilders saved money by using inferior RIVETS in Titanic’s hull
    -JFK’s ETERNAL flame has gone out twice
    -Do ELEVES get a ETE break from ECOLE?
    -I Got The Shaft (3:21)
    -After many BC/BS calls my med on PART D went from $699-$649-$450-$300-$106
    -I knew it was TOSCA but didn’t know if it was a city, river, a person or what
    -The view of the POTOMAC from the Custis/Lee Arlington House we saw last week
    -The KC world series win had a lot more to do with the players than YOST
    -The military ZEROES IN with satellites and GPS these days
    -I delete my podcasts all the time and keep only the music
    -What inspirational song contains, “Let this be my SOLEMN VOW”?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gallic and Gaulic are synonyms. There are many articles and books about the Gallic Wars.

    For PROEM see PREFACE in Wiki. A proem or preface is written by the author. A foreward is not written by the author.

    Someone please explain why GO is HEAD. Could it be that GO in that direction means HEAD in that direction? In a ship you go to the head to go.

    Off to our Chinese dinner.

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  13. "Go in that direction."
    "Head..."

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  14. I happened to try to comment above today and it worked. Yay! Great puzzle, Garry! Great expo, C.C.

    YR: Too funny about the GO.

    Now that I'm on, I don't have time to write anything. On my way to lunch with my daughter for a belated birthday feast. Maybe later if the gremlins don't get me again.

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  15. Fun grid from Garry Morse that turned into a sashay and quite easy. Since I had TOSCA, Maria didn't make the cut so ANITA danced into place. MISSIONVIEJO was tricky because I looked for SAN something and finally realized that wouldn't work. VIOLENT convinced me. MACY is unknown so had to research that and finished with CLICK and CRONY.

    One bad cell when I misspelled GAZA as GiZA. Drat! Hand up for HILT before HAFT. It was a surprise to me, too, that BONVIVANT equals gourmet.

    Thank you, also, C.C., for your always interesting insights.

    Have a spectacular Sunday, everyone!

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  16. Good day to all!

    So many complete unknowns today--Laura NYRO, Ned YOST, MACY Gray, LIL E.TEE, and IBO. Thank you, perps. Was also unaware of the connection between Pfizer and SEARLE. Hand up for Maria before ANITA and Gaelic before GALLIC. Favorite clue/answer was "Up-and-down inventor?" for OTIS. Thanks for a fun puzzle, Garry, and thanks, C.C., for the wonderful expo and links. I think the TAPIR looks more like an anteater than a rhino.

    Enjoy the day!

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  17. We had PROEM a few times before, but it still does not tickle my ivories.

    LA Times - June 5, 2016
    LA Times - May 13, 2016
    LA Times - July 22, 2015

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  18. Of course I knew LIL E TEE and CAROLE King.
    I'm heading to the head, I gotta go
    HAFTs made of dogwood were considered inferior ergo the term doggerel for limericks etc. Give me the doggerel. Btw

    Calling Owen, calling C-Moe
    Re. YOST.
    Yep. If he wins it's the players, if he loses it's him
    As in Joe Madden is the toast of Chicago instead of being run out on a rail

    Garry knew CC was hosting so he threw in the obligatory baseball clue. Btw. Nice job, both.

    WC

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  19. Well, I found yesterday's puzzle so difficult that it took endless cheating to finish, and when I came to the blog and saw postings of how easy people found it, I didn't even have the heart to post.

    But this morning's Sunday puzzle was great! I had to work really hard at it, and had many of the re-writes that have already been reported (e.g. MARIA before ANITA)but in the end cheated only on a single item, to look up that 1992 Kentucky Derby winner. Like others, GAELIC kept me from getting LIL E TEE. But how great to get the whole puzzle with just a single cheat! Yay! Hurray! And many thanks, Garry. And thanks, especially, for explaining DINK, C.C.--never heard that expression.

    Once I got the ENVY reveal, last item on the bottom, the NV helped me with some of the larger theme answers. And perps helped me with many unknowns like MACY, DINK, and NYRO. I also loved seeing TEVYE--the "Fiddler on the Roof" songs will now be in my head all day.

    Have a wonderful Sunday, everybody!

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  20. Sheesh, so many unknowns. Even so, I managed to finish this monster without using Google. Sure enough, I put in GAELIC and never got the tada. Turning on red letters revealed that the E was wrong. I had to try different letters until L worked. Learning moment.

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  21. Musings 2
    -Was Garry’s puzzle done in, uh, MORSE code?
    -Ned lost some really great players after the 2015 Series win and then they had a very mediocre 2016. Managers do get too much credit or blame but I know you can’t win without horses. Bill Belichick was a big failure before he got Tom Brady and a good owner.
    -We’re getting ready to HEAD or HEAD OUT is said often around here
    -D’AMOUR instead of D’MORE (2:59) by a group many of us here love.

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  22. Misty your absence was noted. I love your comments. Saturday was a classic Saturday slog. It took me a long struggle.

    My goal in Vietnam was to come home and run a Kentucky Derby pool. I gave everyone a number and at each s end someone showed me the number, I gave him the money and ten minutes later someone else showed up with the number.

    End of Wilbur's pool idea.
    WC

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  23. H-G, in Central Texas, some of us would say, "We're fixin' (getting ready) to GO" or "We're fixin' to HEAD out."

    Speaking of fixin'... Did you see Dustin Johnson and John Rahm play the Par 5 585 yard 12th at Austin Country Club in the WGC Match Play Championship ? Dustin hit driver (424 yds) and wedge (161 yds) while Rahm hit driver (436 yds) and gap wedge.

    Those kind of numbers probably don't mean much to people that haven't played golf or don't regularly tune to it on the tube, but suffice it to say they are incredible.

    Dustin is fixin' to win the championship, even though Rahm just drove the green on the Par 4 13th and won the hole.

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  24. REALLY disliked today's entry. Too many oblique, silly defs. Finally gave up and had to cheat my way through the SE corner( something I NEVER do on a Sunday. Better luck next Sundat

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  25. "Homophonically hidden"? Possum pucky.

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  26. Ironically, I came across a TB Times for April 24, 2016 and who's the constructor? Garry Morse. I got started at the restaurant. APSE showed up early.

    I'll finish it tomorrow morning

    WC

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  27. Wilbur, how kind of you to notice I didn't check in yesterday. You make me feel as though I have a family on the blog! Many thanks!

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  28. Sunday Lurk say...

    Hi all! DW's Cousin (LA-CA) and Aunt (SFO) were in over the weekend and what fun; food, family, more food... We've already made plans to fly out to CA in late June for seconds.

    HG - Sounds like you had a great time in DC. Welcome home.

    TTP - you can take the boy outta TX but not the TX out of the boy :-). LOL fixin' tos.

    Misty - Don't not post 'cuz you didn't get it. Shucks, some puzzles are in our wheelhouse and some are from Mars. Yesterday was "easy" for me 'cuz I got >60% before cheating. That's better than par for my Sat solve (if it was a Monday, I'd hide my head in shame but post never the less and kvetch). Don't feel so bad if a pzl kicked-in your teeth (and others thought a park-walk) that you don't post. We love ya and your $0.02.

    Wilbur - LOL! Re: I gotta go (to the head).

    Cheers, -T

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  29. Oh, and Misty, You (and others) kvetching about a solve is what make folks like me thing "Ok, I'm not the only one....; these guys is smart and didn't "get it" either." That's what gave me the courage to go Blue and eventually build a puzzle with C.C.'s help. The Corner is special that way; results like that wouldn't happen on that "other" blog - dopes like me would just be beaten down.

    What I'm sayin' -- Post for your fellow wo/man!. :-)

    Cheers, -T

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  30. Thank you, Anonymous T. You're right, I should stop being a big baby and just fess up if I had trouble, as other colleagues on the blog do. I'll keep that in mind from now on.

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  31. Got the theme, but too many obscure crossings did me in. Fun theme, ruined.

    I tried to pick between GAELIC and GAULIC and missed GALLIC. LIL E TEE is impossible to parse and I have no idea why that is a name at all. Any ideas?

    Missed IBO/SEABED cross just because I was so annoyed by that point. Too bad. SEABED was a funny one.

    Never heard of PROEM or FUISSE but WAGGed that evil crossing.

    Likewise with ELAM/NYRO/AIR. Ugh.

    Only got ADESTE because we just saw it! Hand up for MARIA before ANITA. Don't remember ANITA.

    I have managed to get by without a smart phone so I still love my AAA MAPs. Anyone else?

    Never saw DR Marcus WELBY, MD. But as a kid I remember the takeoff in MAD Magazine: Makeus Sickby, MD!

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  32. Good Wednesday evening, folks. Thank you Garry Morse, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

    Finally finished this puzzle on Tuesday morning. Took me a while.

    Got the theme early on, but did not help with the puzzle.

    For 39D tried ACRE, then BASE, then BALE. Big inkblot.

    Tried GAELIC instead of GALLIC. Had no idea who the horse was at 87D.

    MISSION VIEJO reminds me of all the California missions. I think I saw them all while living and working there. Impressive history.

    I like the spelling of CZARS at 117A.

    Anyhow, since no one will read this, I am closing.

    See you Thursday.

    Abejo

    ( )

    ReplyDelete

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