google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, March 2, 2017 Kevin Christian

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Mar 2, 2017

Thursday, March 2, 2017 Kevin Christian

Theme: Regal Roosts - five places where various kinds of "Queens" can be found:

17A. Queen's domain : CHESS GAME. White is checkmated by the black queen in two moves, known as "Fool's Mate".


26A. Queen's domain : BEEHIVE. Hopefully not the hairstyle!

36A. Queen's domain : DECK OF CARDS. Four of these in your poker hand wouldn't be too shabby.

51A. Queen's domain : ENGLAND. Here's the splendid Miranda Richardson with a reminder to Lord Melchett from Blackadder II.

60A. Queen's domain : ARENA ROCK. Here's Queen singing about another Queen, which seems appropriate. Not in an arena though, from the BBC's studios at Wood Lane in London.

Nice clecho theme from Kevin. There are four cheater (aka helper) squares padding out the middle theme entry but you can't help that when you're working with one 11-letter phrase across the center.

Across:

1. Bleach container : JUG. I'd never thought of my Clorox container as a jug before, but so it is.

4. Shed door attachments : HASPS

9. Like iceberg lettuce : CRISP. Due to the 96% water content. Food! - almost.

14. Freudian topic : EGO. Went for SEX first, that didn't work.

15. Marginally ahead : ONE UP

16. Relative of bongos : TABLA

19. Cause of a skid, perhaps : SLEET

20. Tom Jones' "__ a Lady" : SHE'S

21. Payroll service co. : ADP

23. __-à-porter: ready-to-wear : PRET. There's a chain of ready-made sandwich stores based in the UK, and now expanding, called Pret A Manger (Ready to Eat) which I think is clever. The sandwiches are great too.

24. Keep from happening : THWART

28. Corporate big shots : SUITS

29. With false modesty : COYLY

31. Bubbly opener? : AER-ated. Popping corks.

32. Hide from a hunter : PELT. Nice.

33. Coppertone's 30, e.g. : SPF

34. Bit of IM mirth : HEE. Went with LOL first. Was wrong.

40. Versailles monarch : ROI. Here's Louis XIV, the "Sun King":


41. West __: high-end furniture retailer : ELM. New to me. Part of the Williams-Sonoma/Pottery Barn group.

42. Related : AKIN

45. Actress Arthur : BEA

48. Slyly disparaging : SNIDE

50. Back of a single : B-SIDE

53. Picked up : SENSED

54. De Matteo of "Sons of Anarchy" : DREA. Crosses all the way.

55. One in favor : YEA

57. Baseball analyst Hershiser : OREL

58. Odyssey on the road : HONDA

64. Of yesteryear : OLDEN

65. Keep down : LIMIT

66. Writer who inspired the Raven Award : POE

67. Pineal or pituitary : GLAND

68. Chef's creation : SAUCE

69. Soufflé need : EGG. That's going to be one small soufflé with one egg.

Down:

1. 39th pres. : JEC. Jimmy Carter. Not one of the most common presidential monograms that we see - rarely appears in crosswords.

2. "Bummer" : UGH

3. Runs amok : GOES WILD. Fresh entry.

4. Uncouth types, in Canadian slang : HOSERS. I'm sure Canadian Eh! can enlighten us, but I understand the origin of the term is unclear, and it has nothing to do with resurfacing hockey rinks, siphoning gasoline or getting drunk.

5. Severe anxiety : ANGST

6. Yellow __ : SEA

7. Adidas rival : PUMA. My first pair of soccer boots were made by Puma. The company's been around for quite some time, evidently.

8. Left in the dust : SPED BY

9. Nos. that are beside the point : CTS. The cents in a price tag after the decimal point.

10. Actor Fiennes : RALPH. The splendidly-monikered Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes to give him is full credit.

11. It's across the Pyrenees from France : IBERIA. The Iberian Peninsula comprising Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. There's also little sliver of France at the southern side of the Pyrenees

12. Tailor's measure : SLEEVE. You need to get this measured correctly to keep your cuffs out of your soup.


13. Auction spiel : PATTER.

CANIGETA10geta10geta10getanow15now1520attheback202020anymore25thankyouinthebalcony30onthe phone30itsonyousireanymoregoingonceat30goingtwiceSOLD.

18. Destroy : SHATTER

22. New York suburb bordering New Rochelle : PELHAM. I only know this from the book/movie "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three".

24. Recipe amt. : TSP.

25. Tinge : HUE

27. Once-over giver : EYER. Really?

29. USCG rank : CPO. Chief Petty Officer.

30. Took out : OFFED. I just saw this when I came to write up the puzzle, crosses filled it in for me.

33. Gossip : SKINNY

35. Santa portrayer in "Elf" : ED ASNER

37. Alguna __: something, in Spain : COSA. New one on me. Thanks you, crosses.

38. Cavs, on a scoreboard : CLE. Cleveland's NBA franchise, the Cavaliers.

39. White way : SKI SLOPE

43. Chem class suffix : -IDE

44. "Game of Thrones" patriarch Stark : NED. Finally remembered this! Yay me!

45. Covers stealer : BED HOG.  I don't remember seeing this before - nice phrase.

46. Join the club : ENROLL

47. Guide for a chair : AGENDA. The road-map for a meeting chair.

49. High standards : IDEALS

50. Scold : BERATE

52. Weighted down : LADEN

53. __ boom : SONIC

56. Met delivery : ARIA

59. "Then what happened?" : AND?

61. Critter on the Australian 50-cent coin : EMU

62. Machine part : COG

63. Beer source : KEG. I liked the COG/KEG/POE/EGG corner.

I think I'll go and see if you can make a soufflé with one egg.

Bon appétit and heeeere's the grid!

Steve


57 comments:

OwenKL said...

{A, B(!), C+.}

The QUEEN of Hearts recruited some tarts,
    All on a summer's day.
She taught those tarts the courtesan's arts,
    And sent them on their way!
They sought men in SUITS,
    Who they COYLY seduced,
Then by ANGST of exposure,
    Were to lackeys reduced!
AND the QUEEN of Hearts, she ruled those parts,
    As the pimp who held all sway!

A SHE-drone named BEA from an ENGLAND BEEHIVE
Made some remarks that were rather SNIDE!
Said "French ants cook CRISPS
That were better than this --
But if it comes to war, I'll take the B-SIDE!"

In OLDEN days an EMU lived in an ELM.
(If he had any reasons he wouldn't tell 'em!)
He drank from a KEG
And once laid an EGG --
For molesting, he spent time in the prison at PELHAM!

TTP said...


Good morning all. Thank you Kevin and thank you Steve.

TABLA is new to me. Had all but the last A and verified everything in that corner while trying to recall another word for an auctioneer's chant.

My first thought when I read 4D ? Now we have to know Canadian too ? And slang no less ? Oh wait, the McKinsey bros.

Feel good movie "Maid in Manhattan" was on TV again a day or so ago, and I caught the last half hour or so. A predictable story line, but fun to watch as it unfolds.

Pro before YEA. Inseam before SLEEVE. At least those had a solid basis.

Enclave was entered before ENGLAND and made no sense. Entering words based on letter patterns, eg EN-LA--, doesn't always work out well. Perps, the theme, and the clue all told me it was wrong.

That would be a small soufflé, eh Steve ? My bigger question would be why do you player soccer in boots ?

fermatprime said...

Greetings!!

Thanks to Kevin and Steve!

Steve: You didn't watch The Sopranos?

Didn't know ADP, HOSERS. Otherwise OK.

Have a great day!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Went wrong in several places on this one. Hand up for LOL, Steve. Thought maybe it was West END, and the one in favor started out as PRO. My biggest screwup was inking in E.A. POE at 68a when it should've been simply POE at 66a. At the end, the P in ADP and the H in HEE were lucky WAGs which finally gave me the unfamiliar PELHAM. Thanks for the brain crunch, Kevin.

Taxing day. Gotta run...

Hungry Mother said...

No writeovers today, rare for a Thursday.

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling thoughts":

An early morning for me as I was awake to see my daughter and s-i-l depart, after their brief but fun-filled day we spent together on Wednesday. They were in town to do a Master's class at a nearly music conservatory, and after 1:00 we had the whole rest of the day to hang out. Has quite an enjoyable visit with lots of laughs, hugs, great food and drink, and even a walk along the Atlantic...

So since I was already up and alert @ 6:30, figured I would have breakfast and do a leisurely solve of the xword. Leisurely I guess is pretty accurate as it took far longer to solve than most Thurs puzzles.

But save for a few write overs and the need for using ESP in a few areas, I came away "unscathed". I knew 1a was JUGS, and assumed that 1d was JFK - but counting back among the presidents, I soon realized that "39" had to be someone more recent. I tried DEC (for decimal) in 9d; INE in 43d; and mistakenly used SDF in 33a. All were easily corrected.

Clever clues from KC; great recap from Steve. I questioned 60a - would've liked a better use of connecting "Queen" to the rock band of same name. But that's a minor nit

BED HOGS don't bother me as I rarely use a blanket when sleeping

B SIDE has appeared more frequently but I liked today's clue - nice redirection. I was thinking a $ bill (single), and all I could recall was the eye and pyramid

Does anyone remember this reference to 3d?

Kevin Christian said...

Hi, this is Kevin, I made today's puzzle.

There was a very similar puzzle in the NYT not too long ago. Sorry about that. Pure coincidence. I sent this one to the LAT long before that one appeared in the NYT. Surprisingly, I don't think any of our theme entries were exactly the same.

Hope you all enjoyed solving.

See you at ACPT in a few weeks?

inanehiker said...

A little slower, but steady solve today. Enjoyed the theme. Had the EE and waited for TEE or HEE, also waited for the P in ADP - was going to put in ADT but then remembered that is a security system. I lightbulbed the PELHAM from the same movie.

Thanks Steve and Kevin.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

I thought the northeast corner was Saturday-level, while the rest was Wednesday-level. Guessed wrong (I had an L) at the natick PELHAM and ELM for my only bad cell. Also didn't know TABLA, PRET-a-porter (erased PorT), alguna COSA, or NED Stark.

Hand up for LOL and PRO. Also erased nATTER for PATTER CPl for CPO, and InE for IDE.

Consulted my DirecTV DVR for RALPH Fiennes. For someone I have never heard of, he has been in a LOT of movies (a few of which I have actually seen).

DREA De Matteo's undies-clad torso as Christopher Soprano's moll is etched into my brain. She's been cast in other roles?

Thanks for a very tough Thursday puzzle, Kevin. And thanks to Steve for another neat reveal.

Yellowrocks said...

Fun puzzle. I didn't realize there are so many queens. I used many perps and wags today but was successful without help. Quite a few write overs. I often write unconfirmed guesses very lightly to erase or write over later. It helps me to solve.
I prepared our payroll input to send to ADP for a year or two, but still needed one perp to recall it.
Honda reminds me of Hondo. I miss your daily posts, Hondo. I hope you are okay.
JEC was all perps. When I finished I had to Google it to see who it was. V8 can, please.
My sister who lives near Charleston, WV had a terrible storm yesterday which downed trees and ripped off roofs. Luckily, she only suffered a 7 or 8 hour power failure and small branches littering the yard.I hope all of you are safe in this goofy weather.
Yellowrocks (hugs) from YELLOWrocks, not YELLOW SEAS.

Oas said...

Nice puzzle today thanx . Slow start but came around alright . Only write over was sleet for speed till I saw 10 down would be Ralph. ADP and Pelham were new as well. Off to the insurance adjuster after getting run into by a deer on Sunday evening. The deer lost the race.

Big Easy said...

It was a WAGfest & PERPfest this morning and I got lucky. The 'queen' fills were easy but the rest wasn't. Writeovers were everywhere. The ADP, PELHAM, HEE, & ELM intersections were lucky guesses, as I knew none on them. Further ( or is it farther?) up the NE I had heard of PRET-A-Porter but wasn't sure of its spelling; RALPH & TABLA were complete unknowns. Filling ESPANA before IBERIA really slowed me down in that quadrant.

HOSERS, DREA, COSA, NED- all new to me;solved by perps. ED ASNER-not new but was perped.
JEC- I only know Bush 41 & 43; just went backwards from there.
Steve- going for SEX first never works
PUMA & Adidas- run by two brothers who hated each other.

Tinbeni said...

D-N-F ... ran out of "Solving Time" ...

Steve: Nice write-up ... had the same write-overs.

Kevin: Thank You for a FUN Thursday puzzle. Enjoyed (and got) all the Queen themes.

Fave today, of course, was 63-d, Beer source, KEG. Go figure ...

And ya gotta like a grid with HOSERS in it. Nice CSO to Canadian'Eh.

Cheers!

Northwest Runner said...

Hoser was just the subject of a Jeopardy clue. Apparently it derives from a term for gasoline thieves. Anybody else have bland as the first response to describe iceberg lettuce?

Jinx in Norfolk said...

NR - I first thought "green" for iceberg. First cousin to bland.

MJ said...

Good day to all!

Enjoyed today's puzzle, but found the NE corner to be a bear. Finally Google searched for RALPH Fiennes to open up the corner and finish it off. Many other unknowns, buts perps to the rescue. Nice write-up, Steve. Thanks.

Enjoy the day!

oc4beach said...


Kevin provided an almost Friday level puzzle today. Good one Kevin. Steve's tour through the puzzle added a lot to the enjoyment of barely being able to finish it with only one look-up with ITranslate for PRET.

I had a few erasures (electronic) today.
- LOL vs HEE
- ADT vs ADP
- GOESNUTS vs GOESWILD
- YENTA vs SKINNY (YENTA was too short)
- INSEAM vs SLEEVE

I didn't know TABLA at all. Even with TABL_ from perps I was still scratching my head for the last letter.

I had HOSER right away because of the Jeopardy clue from Tuesday in the category "Talk Like A Canadian". the contestant from Calgary got the answer wrong. NR is right about it relating to depression era gasoline thieves.

Wind is trying to blow my house away with 50+ mph gusts. I'll be glad when the front finally moves through. I had to have a lot of shingles replaced because of a storm about three weeks ago. I don't want to do it again.

Have a good day.


Anonymous said...

"Cavs, on a scoreboard : CLE. Cleveland's NBA franchise, the Cavaliers."

More accurately stated, that would be the NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers.

Enjoyable puzzle today, though I agree with the prior comment that the NE quadrant had Saturday-level entries.

CanadianEh! said...

Almost SPED BY with this CW but NE corner tripped me up with cross of TABLA and IBERIA. Thanks for the fun Kevin and Steve.

Smiled at my CSO. (I also noted CSOs to Argyle at 35D and Irish Miss at 34A!). HOSERS was an answer on Jeopardy just the other day (Feb 28) and the Canadian contestant bet her Daily Double on knowing the answer in the Talk Like a Canadian category and lost! That's because Canadians don't use the term HOSER. It was made popular by Bob and Doug Mackenzie in the Great White North skits on SCTV. (I think the "losers hosing the hockey rink before the advent of Zamboni machines" is a better origin than "gasoline thieves"!)
I think Cavaliers was an answer on Jeopardy the other day also.

JEC filled in with perps because I don't know my American presidents. The E is for Earl. I had Cooly before COYLY with SPED To before BY. Avert was too short and then THWART emerged.
Canadians have no CTS so that took a while to appear.
Favourite clues were for BEDHOG and AGENDA.

Did anyone else notice all the rhyming today? OwenKL only used a few of them. I found DREA/YEA, OLDEN/LADEN, PATTER/SHATTER, BEDHOG/COG, KEG/EGG, SNIDE/BSIDE & IDE.

Have a great day. (Second attempt to post as I got a Whoops error, hence some duplication to oc4beach. Fortunately I saved.)

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Cable outage all morning, so not able to post until now.

Tough one, but eventually got it all without look-ups. Lots of fresh fill as Steve mentioned. Had 'roo' before EMU. LLiked the Queen theme. BEE HIVE was first domain entry, followed by ENGLAND. Favorite fill was SKI SLOPE.
SUITS - On Seinfeld, Frank Costanza says to Kramer: "Who are the SUITS?"

Have a great day.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This was a fun theme with some clever cluing and fill. I remember the NYT's puzzle Kevin mentioned. I believe it had the chess, rock group, card game references but with different cluing, of course and it also had Queens location with Manhattan as an answer. Anyway, in no way did this knowledge detract from solving Kevin's offering. My w/o's included In seam/Sleeve, LOL/Hee, Goes amok/Goes wild, but Ralph, Pret, Pelham were all gimmes because of their movie connections. (Ralph Fiennes is forever etched in my memory because of his chilling role in "Schindler's List.") Never heard of West Elm or tabla but remembered Drea from other puzzles. I have heard of hosers (just recently) but had no idea what it meant.

Thanks, Kevin for the challenge and for dropping by and thanks, Steve, for your spot-on summary. Not much of a food fest, though, with that lonely egg and lowly Iceberg lettuce!

Have a great day.

WikWak said...

"Bland," "lowly" iceberg lettuce? Why? It's crispy and tasty and you don't have to fight it to eat it. Yum!

Along with COG/KEG/POE/EGG, I also liked the DEN/DEN crossing in LADEN/OLDEN.

NOT a smooth run for me today. Took nearly double my usual time for a Thursday; unlike so many of you, it was the Northwest corner that was the last to fall for me. No new words/names for me today, but dragging them out of my unwilling mind was another matter all together. Whew!

Lemonade714 said...

What a fun Thursday. I am still on my wheel of pain and pain killers, so I am never sure if I have commented lately or not, but this was a wonderful puzzle and write up. Like Kevin I am amazed and yet no longer surprised that people come up with the same theme ideas and they are published by competing editors around the same time. While we have seen abuses by some editors, I know enough constructors to know it just happens. I also know 90% of my theme ideas end up being someone else's. Thanks for stopping buy Kevin and keep churning out the puzzles.

Steve, sorry to hear about your problem, but I am sure it will pass. We all face it. (Freudian topic : EGO. Went for SEX first, that didn't work.)

To Jean at 90 (my-ex m-i-l reached that milestone Tuesday) and all the anniversaries and birthdays I have missed- my best wishes for a great year ahead.


Bill G. said...

Hi everybody. Geez, this seems to have been harder for me than for most of you. I guess it depends on where you start and whether the first few words you come across can be filled in confidently. I had trouble in lots of areas.

Are you aware how Ralph Fiennes's first name is pronounced? Like 'waif' or 'safe.'

Speaking of pronunciation, how come Brits pronounce 'scone' to rhyme with 'con' or 'yawn'? They pronounce 'phone' and 'drone' the same way we do. So what's up with 'scone'? Just another thing I don't quite understand.

Lucina said...

Nice one, Kevin, thank you, though PELHAM and ELM along with ADP were my Naticks today. All very obscure for me. And even IBERIA gave me trouble and TABLA was another unknown. Otra COSA? No trouble at all. I managed all the regal locations which I found amusing. I learned a lot today.

Thank you, Steve, for your inimitable and sparkly review. No time to read all your comments until later.

Have a fantastic day, everyone!

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang, and

Hi Kevin,

Always nice to see a constructor stop by.

I like the theme, Good challenge today, I surprised myself by making it through, with a couple G-spots and a lot of perp help.

Somehow, I like the puzzle more in retrospect than I did while solving.

A couple entries were a bit too obscure, but that happens sometimes to get the rest of the grid together.

IIRC, once C.C. and I had a puzzle similar to one that appeared in the NYT at around the same time as ours. This is going to happen occasionally, especially with long publication lags. It's not surprising that more than one constructor will catch the same theme idea.

Gloria has a bad cold and I'm trying to not catch it. Have had a headache off and on for a couple days now. I think it's time for a nap.

Cool regards!
JzB

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Fiendish cluing and Steve’s review made for a fun day.
-My SIL constantly uses the word TEE (IM humor) in her messages, which I think is too precious but I couldn’t get off it. Do I get a participation trophy for two bad cells?
-Tom Brady is now ONE UP on Montana and Bradshaw in super bowl wins
-Wealth and EGO make Oscar attendees eschew PRET à-porter
-His body guard could have THWARTED this plot if he had stayed where he was supposed to have been
-The ash borer is doing today what Dutch ELM disease did in my yute
-Can you SNESE how each girl is feeling?
-Many think the Nixon pardon gave JEC the election against Ford
-DJ’s are the master of PATTER
-Name the song with LADEN in these lyrics: “If I'm LADEN at all I'm LADEN with sadness That everyone's heart Isn't filled with the gladness Of love for one another”
-Here come some seniors. Working three days in a row this week

CrossEyedDave said...

Wees,

I was not on Kevin's wavelength at all today,
lots of blanks that made for a very fun crossword solve,
right up to that NE corner...

Iberia crossing table & pret?
Bubble prefix?
Ouch!
It did not help that I thought 9d No.s beside the point were DEC(decimals?)
and 13d was banter,
but I still think 19a "cause of a skid perhaps" was something to do with a wino...

(Major cheating ensued)

Queen's realm?

Meanwhile, in Queensland...

Also...

Friends: Joeys tailor (3:21)

Steve, here is the closest I could find to a one egg souffle recipe.
(I am sure it could be scaled down, but why bother...)

Misty said...

Like Jinx and MJ, the northeast corner made this a real toughie for me, more Saturday than Thursday. But I found the Queen theme a delight, so, many thanks, Kevin--and thanks for stopping by. I always enjoy your write-ups and pictures too, Steve--many thanks. Your "Auction Bid" totally cracked me up.

I still don't understand TABLA. Does it have to do with music or musical instruments, or something else?

Well, back to trying to get my tax info finished up--not my favorite chore of the year.

Have a great day, everybody! We have lovely sunshine today--the flowers are blooming, the tortoise is out eating his salad--all making for a not so bad day.

Ol' Man Keith said...

This was fun.
And sad too. When I look at the pic of the Sun King that Steve posted I can't help but marvel at the loss of status and stature (not to mention one's head) between Nos. 14 and 16. How grand, how mighty No. XIV was! I mean, could anyone get closer to the ideal of a god on earth?
Poor Louis XVI! He tried hard to pacify his people--and then tried extra hard to git outta Dodge before his loyal subjects grabbed him & would Not. Let. Go.
I always wonder how these grand historical figures who own fortunes in cash and have scores of security guards can't seem to manage a smooth getaway. Charles I, Louis XVI, Czar Nicholas, Mussolini, Nicolae Ceaușescu... How the mighty fall! Is it because they can't leave their families, lovers? You'd think they'd plan better: they'd have perfectly forged fake passports, split up, wear lower class clothes, tunnel out from any fancy digs, and not trust their true IDs to anyone. But no ...

TTP said...

Bill G, I got it, but it wasn't easy. I spent probablt spent fifteen minutes in that northeast corner.

Needless to say, I'm not ready for the ACPT quite yet. I think Desper-otto and Irish Miss should go. Others too, but not me. Not yet.

Canadian Eh, thank you. I kept thinking McKinsey looked wrong. Bob and Doug Mackenzie.

Here's one that baseball fans will like, especially if they are Cubs fans:

Frank Virzi - Fly the W !

Spitzboov said...

HG:

He Ain't Heavy... He's My Brother"

…………………………………………………

Re: CHESS GAME - -

Old Italian proverb:

After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box.

Michael said...

For Misty and others, about the tabla, check out < https://youtu.be/ZtRPB8xHP8M > to see a master at work. The first minutes will give you the idea -- the clip is over 50 minutes long -- but Hussain has to have hand muscles beyond what us mortals can aspire to!

Unknown said...

North East was my Waterloo as well. Tabla...never heard the word except in Latin...never really thought of lettuce being especially crisp...tried "leafy" and then "green". Since "Green" fit for Ralph then "Slick" fit for cause of a skid..

Auctioneer "patter" ???? I might have gotten Iberia eventually...Like after two days in jail...across the Pyrenees are Spain and Andorra, Iberia just contains those two countries...oh well ...and what about "tailor's measure ???...Isn't that a possessive so the answer has to be something that belongs to the tailor not something he does. Substandard and misleading clue ! Where do I go to correct this injustice??

AnonymousPVX said...

Tough puzzle with tough, misleading clues, solved with effort.

You know what tunes me up? People who post up "what does xxxx mean?". Because no one has a PC or a phone where one can GOOGLE anything. Like TABLA.

End of hissy fit.

Anonymous said...

Husker Gary @ 1:15

what amazed me about the Lincoln at the theater link, was that the artist who painted this could get the two couples, plus John Wilkes Booth, to hold their poses for that amount of time until he finished the painting . . .

Michael said...

Dear AnonymousPVX:

"You know what tunes me up? People who post up "what does xxxx mean?". Because no one has a PC or a phone where one can GOOGLE anything. Like TABLA."

Yes. I know that ... sorry that I offended you -- I just thought people would like to see a master at work on the tabla.

Steve said...

@TTP - they used to be over-the-ankle boots way back when - they're still called boots back in the UK. We'd call them cleats here!

Jayce said...

Chairman Moe, how nice that you spent a wonderful day hanging out with your daughter and s-i-l yesterday. Yesterday afternoon we had a wonderful time hanging out with our son who's in town for a conference. He treated us to fabulous Chinese dumplings, and we hung out and chatted for over 5 hours before we had to take him back to his hotel so he could get some sleep.

Hard puzzle today, with many missteps similar to those many of you tripped over. LOL had me flummoxed for a long time. Even after I finally got ARENA ROCK (thanks to the R in ED ASNER) I still don't know what it is or how it could be considered a domain. (Yes, I know who the band Queen is.)

Best wishes to you all.

TTP said...

Thanks Steve. Got it. Cleats. Some of those puzzle I do over at the Best Crosswords site are the British style, and I run into words and clues that have a totally different meaning than my norm.

Irish Miss, I meant to say that "Maid in Manhattan" was where I first saw Ralph Fiennes.


In full disclosure, I finished that Frank Virzi "Fly the W" in 18:25 and scored 97 %, so I am a long way from being ready for the ACPT.

Misty said...

Michael, thank you--I appreciate that. And, of course, I am embarrassed now for asking about TABLA. Had I googled it, I would have gotten all the info I needed along with pictures. I'll try to hold off in future until I've had time to check things out.

Lucina said...

What? No love for iceberg lettuce? What would tacos and tostadas be without them? It's not my favorite for salad but Mexican food relies on it!

OwenKL:
You were inspired today! I like the way you cleverly melded so many of the CW answers.

Anonymous said...

I'm on board with lol/HEE, inseam/SLEEVE, several previously mentioned unknowns, but I thought it was easier than usual Thursdays.

My favorite clue today is 9a Like iceberg lettuce: my dog's favorite treat! She also likes grapefruit. Weird puppy!

Thank you, Kevin, for the fun puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for the great write-up.

Have a great evening.

Pat

Lemonade714 said...

Michael, this LINK is for you. This way anyone who visits the Corner can just click on the link.

Steve do you say Scon for scone?

C.Eh. while my brain is in and out, I did watch an episode of jeopardy this week with a Canadian contestant who did not know the word "hoser" being a Canadian term.

Lemonade714 said...

Ooops, can't hold on to a thought in a bushel basket....I enjoy iceberg lettuce many ways. Like chicken and many other food it is how you use it.

Anonymous T said...

Hi all!

UGH! - A Google and still FIW. Go ahead, point at tEE HEE at me; I really thought PELtAM could be a place...

Thanks Kevin for Queen-sized puzzle. I could have done w/o the NE tho, RALPH was my Google that help'd me finish. Thanks for stopping BY.

Great expo Steve. Love me some Blackadder and you picked (in my book) the perfect Queen song for the puzzle. [BTW, Jayce, Queen is the King of ARENA ROCK - Live Aid Story...]

WOs: PeppER b/f PATTER, in sEam [LOL Friend's clip CED!], and I had Papa Elf, Newhart, in b/f all the perps told me it was way wrong re: Santa [Hi Argyle!]. Almost had GOES nuts, but that was THWART'd.

ESPs: PRET, COSA, NED, DREA
++: c/a for PELT & AGENDA. Nice Kevin.

Since we're on bands from ENGLAND, Stones stone'd on uppers? [SHATTER'd].

IBERIA, I only know the New one next to Avery Island, home of Tabasco. Hi NOLA Cornerites!

{A+, B+, B-}

When do you get fixed Lem?

C, Eh! Rink Hosers sounds good enough for me.

C.Moe - Sounds like good times. Cherish 'em.

TTP - I agree, IM, Lucina, & D-O always ONE UP me late week. Last year, I thought about planning for the ACPT - I'm still not worthy.

You know it's coming... Fav: The McKenzie HOSERS w/ RUSH's Geddy Lee.

OK, I'll Take OFF, eh? -T

Michael said...

Dear Lemonade:

Bless you! I knew that there are how-to explanations buried somewhere in one of the Corner's nooks or crannies, but I was heading out and didn't take the time I should have.

I am still amazed at Hussain's drumming ... how can a human hand move that fast? Ah well, another stumper from the Mysterious East.

trubrit said...

Not easy for me today, know nothing of Chess, had the British monarchy in mind.
got 9a immediately 'crisp'. I love the the chicken wraps at P.F. Changs. The lettuce is always SO crispy.

TTP said...



Lucina, I'm with you. I happen to love iceberg lettuce. CRISP came to mind before any of those other adjectives, and combined with often seen IBERIA, broke open the northeast corner.

Misty, say what's on your mind, and ask any questions you want to ask. It's part of the fun here.

Anon - T, I was going to link it, but was pretty confident you would !

OwenKL said...

WEES, plus, across the center I was trying to put some form of DEtective story for Ellery QUEEN.

Wilbur Charles said...

I was driving back and forth from Sarasota. I had all but that pesky NE left and finally PATTER dropped and CRISP replaced BLASE. I had CTS but not because of Cents.

And I too had no clue about TABLA and didn't know RALPH Fiennes. But I absolutely should have known PRET as in

Par l'odeur alleche Lui tint a peu PRES ce langage
From 'Maitre Renard and Monsieur de Corbeau'. La Fontaine

Misty, I was reading down the posts and was so grateful that you asked about TABLA. As TTP said (duh)of course we can google, but we come HERE for the discussions.

My brain has been a little slow. Do xwers have solving slumps?

WC in the gloaming

Misty said...

Wilbur and TTP,

Thanks so much for the kind words. I guess I do sometimes ask questions with the hope of stimulating discussions even though I could look up the answers myself, so I found your understanding very kind. I really appreciate your response--many thanks!

Misty

Anonymous said...

Hey, would anybody know why I used to be able to work 2 different puzzles everyday (LA Times and Washington Post) but now when I pull them up they are both LATimes puzzles. Is this a computer problem on my end or are they both now the same puzzle?

Lucina said...

Misty:
Ask away! Yours and others questions often lead to some of the most interesting discussions here at the Corner. Our Bloggers come from such diverse backgrounds and possess such fonts of knowledge (such as yourself with your wealth of literary background) that it is often more intriguing than reading it from Wikipedia or other source. So I say, if you have a query or a doubt, ask!

Anonymous T said...

+1 Lucina. I've always learnt there's denotation and connotation. The the former may be IDEAL but the SKINNY on the latter is always more fun. Ask away Misty! Cheers, -T

OwenKL said...

Anonymous@11:10 PM:
The Washington Post Crossword was also the CrosSynergy puzzle, which ceased publication (after 20 years!) February 28, 2017. An eulogy for it is at Crossword Fiend, before and after the review of the final puzzle. It took me a while to find this, and I'm still looking to find an announcement of why, and whether the LAT replacement will be permanent.

Picard said...

Hand up for LOL before HEE, but the tip-off was that it seemed to want a fragment.

Urban Dictionary claims:
[HOSER] is derived from the pre-zamboni days, where the LOSING team would have to hose down the ice after the game.

A good friend is a TABLA player. Not obscure out here where Indian music is fairly common.

Here in California I have heard "hose" used to mean "f-ck" and not the one used by firefighters.