google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, April 26, 2017, Bill Zagozweski

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Apr 26, 2017

Wednesday, April 26, 2017, Bill Zagozweski

Title: COMPLETE THE PHRASE



Husker Gary here to fill in the blanks on Bill's very clever puzzle. If you knew going in that every themer had the word BLANK in it and that the actual single clue word had to be mentally placed in/over that BLANK, it would have made for a faster solve. It worked that way for me after I got the gimmick. What a hoot!

As you can see in the grid at the right, I have put the Clue word over (rather than in) the BLANK and that generates a familiar phrase.


I thought INCUS and BALATA were mighty meaty words for a Wednesday and I had to research PET and SHIN used in unfamiliar contexts, but learning is an great adjunct to these daily exercises. Opposed to popular opinion, I am trainable.


Now before I BLANK out, lets examine what the theme fills, one layer at a time.


20. NOTHING : BLANK BUT NET - NOTHING fills in for BLANK and we get NOTHING BUT NET which is a baseball phrase shown here in a fun way



56. NAUGHT : ALL FOR BLANK - NAUGHT fills in for BLANK to give us ALL FOR NAUGHT. Like when Andy Hawkins threw a no-hitter for the Yankees but got beat because of errors

11. SPACE : OPEN BLANK -Drop SPACE in the BLANK and you get OPEN SPACE. Tom Lehman took the OPEN SPACE of Nebraska's Sand Hills and built the 35th best public golf course in America.



31. EMPTY : BLANK NEST - EMPTY fills in the BLANK to give us EMPTY NEST. We at least waited two days before we moved the computer desk into her room and to make it an office.


38. Provide missing info ... and what four clues do to their answers : FILL IN THE BLANKS - A round of Mad Libs:


FILL IN THE BLANKS: This was a(n) ADJECTIVE puzzle that gave me ADJECTIVE NOUN. I thought it was ADVERB ADJECTIVE for a Wednesday because the fill was ADVERB ADJECTIVE than usual. 


My answers - Wonderful, Great Joy, Particularly Difficult, More Challenging


Now you get to read my ADJECTIVE review/exposition 


Across


1. Reduce drastically : SLASH


6. Skyscraper girder : I-BEAM - They just pulled up an I-BEAM for lunch 



11. Bobby on the ice : ORR


14. Willowy : LITHE


15. Impudent : NERVY


16. Baltimore Ravens mascot named for an author : POE - Baltimore? Ravens? Makes perfect sense!


17. Attendant who invites Hamlet to duel Laertes : OSRIC - Peter Cushing playing OSRIC to Olivier's Hamlet

18. Blubbers : CRIES

19. Potato part : EYE


22. "Stillmatic" rapper : NAS - His lyrics ain't exactly Gershwin


23. Equinox mo. : SEP - On or about the 21st





24. Secure at the pier : LASH - Bill Murray had to be LASHED to the mast to overcome his fear of sailing in this hilarious film



25. Small bite : NIBBLE


27. Sulky state : PET - There it was, it had to be, but wha...? My research showed it as a shortened form of in a PETulant mood. Sample: Bill is really in a PET today.


28. L.A.'s region : SOCAL - SOuthern CALifornia 


29. Jessica of "Fantastic Four" films : ALBA - Let me get this straight. You give her this special power? Really? 

32. Waimea Bay island : OAHU

35. First sound of the day, for many : ALARM - Mine is a hungry kitty


41. Author Asimov : ISAAC


42. Ratio phrase : IS TO


43. Boxing stats : TKO'S


44. Explosive experiment : N-TEST - Here's one on Bikini Atoll with some VIP observers miles away


46. Vote for : YEA - An important prop in the play 1776

48. "I wanna go too!" : TAKE ME

50. "Psst!" kin : AHEM


52. These, in Nantes : CES - CES croissants sont délicieux 


55. Roadside respite spot : INN


59. Word with Iron or Bronze : AGE


60. Enter on a laptop : KEY IN


61. Tropical porch : LANAI - Where I first heard the word

62. Hi-__ image : RES


63. Año Nuevo month : ENERO - El desfile de las rosas es el 1 de ENERO. (Desfile = Parade)


64. Ham it up : EMOTE


65. Cockpit abbr. : ALT


66. Building leveler, to a Brit : RASER - Wait a minute, we're going to RASE that barn that grandpa helped RAISE?


67. Like horses : MANED - Farrah's coiffure was described as a feathered MANE in this picture




Down


1. Neatniks' opposites : SLOBS


2. Stocking thread : LISLE - How many times did I have to see this before I wrote it in right away today?


3. "It's __!": "They tricked us!" : A TRAP - Admiral Ackbar's warning



4. Climb, in a way : SHIN - This ranks right up there with the obscure (to me) usage of PET above. From dictionary.com 



5. Badger from the bleachers : HECKLE - I saw an umpire take off all his equipment and throw it down in front of a HECKLER in the bleachers and say, "You do it!" He declined and shut up.


6. Anvil-shaped ear bone : INCUS - Thar she blows in the canal!



7. Ocean bed? : BERTH - It costs extra if you have a porthole or a balcony


8. Burnett of CNN : ERIN


9. ACTIVE NATURALS skin care brand : AVEENO


10. Otherworldly : MYSTICAL


12. Fit for a queen : ROYAL


13. Piece maker? : REESE - Mars Candy rued the day they turned down the tie-in with M&M's because they thought, "Who'd want to see a movie about an alien adopted by a lonely kid." Turns out, millions did. Hershey gladly cashed in with this blockbuster movie.



21. It may be passed : BATON


26. Golf ball material : BALATA - The sap harvested as you see here from these Central/South American trees was formerly widely used for a golf ball covers. Pros could control these balls better but amateurs just kept cutting them.

27. Sense of taste : PALATE

28. Bird feeder food : SUET - Part of our bird buffet


29. John Williams won its 2016 Life Achievement Award: Abbr. : AFI - American Film Institute


30. Fleur-de-__ : LIS


33. Busy, busy, busy : AT IT - After giving an assignment, I usually said, "Now, get AT IT!"


34. Dept. that oversees the FDA : HHS


36. "Citizen Kane" studio : RKO - William Randolph Hearst was so incensed at this movie that used him as a model, he leaned on Hollywood to make sure this "greatest American movie ever made" lost the Oscar to How Green Was My Valley in 1942


37. Ed.'s backlog : MSS - An Acquisition Editor with a backlog of unsolicited ManuScriptS

39. Fridge feature that needs water : ICE MAKER - Didn't you just hate wrestling with ice trays?


40. Bergman's "Gaslight" co-star : BOYER


45. Title Tejano singer in a 1997 biopic : SELENA


47. Starbucks' mermaid, e.g. : EMBLEM


48. Sparkly crown : TIARA


49. Broadway backer : ANGEL - The premise for making money in The Producers was Max Bialystock bilking money out of his stable of elderly ANGELS

50. Blazing : AFIRE


51. Roll out the red carpet for : HONOR


52. Pachelbel work : CANON - His CANON (a repeating melody) has graced many a wedding - I paid for two of them 


53. Related on mom's side : ENATE


54. Hit the slopes : SKIED - I would hit the slopes hard if I SKIED! 


57. Caustic cleaners : LYES


58. Tibetan spiritual adviser : LAMA - Carl (Bill Murray) was a looper (caddy) for the LAMA and admired his golf game in Caddyshack



Now it's time for your ADVERB  ADJECTIVE comments: 

51 comments:

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Hi everyone!

Thanks to Bill and Husker!

Didn't know BALATA and ERIN. This took a while!

Have a great day!

OwenKL said...

FIR! I was almost done in by BALATÁ, a new word for me. Learning that it is an obsolete golf ball material, replaced by Surlyn and urethane, would have helped me BLANK!

You shinny up a post using your SHINS. But I've never heard the leg parts verbed. I'd need to ride a shanks' mare a piece to get to that!

The theme, once I had enough perps to fill in one of the answers, was easy to guess without the reveal. I was bemused that three of the phrases referred to some sort of void, while the odd one was about filling the void (in a hoop with a bball).

{C-, A-.}

TAKE ME back to that ROYAL AGE
Where OSRIC was a MYSTICAL sage!
I'm a knight at arms
When CRIES of ALARMS
Call me with a SLASH to battle engage!

The censors are watching, totally AT IT
To ensure that nothing offends a PALATE!
No NERVY blog cretin
Will NAUGHTY words KEY IN!
The censors are grinding to show they're A TIT!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Just realized that I was AWOL yesterday. No excuse. ERIN Burnett showed me that SASSY was wrong. Is it LIS or LYS? Only the perps know for sure. I'm familiar with both PET and SHIN, as used in this puzzle, though I think PET is a little old-timey.

Last week I didn't even know I had a sway bar, and now I now I need to have the end links replaced. Who knew?

Anonymous said...

Great comments and photos!

inanehiker said...

Enjoyed this creative puzzle and the informative write-up! PET was a use of that word that had a vague place way in the back of my brain, but I definitely used the perps to confirm before I scribbled it in. WEES about SHIN- but it could be deduced from shinny and perps.

Now that it's getting light earlier, the birds breaking into their morning song wake me up long before the ALARM.

Thanks HG and Bill!

billocohoes said...

Why is ACTIVE NATURALS in all caps? It looked like another themer and I spent time wondering how to fit BLANK in there.

Only knew the ear bones as hammer, anvil and stirrup, so needed perps for INCUS. Learned more than I wanted about that drawing this past winter, as my daughter had a (non-cancerous) tumor on the auditory and adjoining nerve bundle. She's recovering now from a 12-hour operation, has lost the hearing in that ear but luckily still has control of her balance and facial muscles.

Tinbeni said...

Husker: Great Job on your very informative write-up.

D-N-F ... here at Villa Incognito there is no need for that 39-d,"Fridge feature that needs water" ... Why the hell would I need an "_ _ _ MAKER" ???

Needed ESP (Every-Single-Perp) to get AVEENO, OSRIC, NAS and Bergman's "Gaslight" co-star BOYER.
Learning moments I will forget by noon.

Fave today was that golf balls are made from BALATA and I knew that ...

A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset ...
Cheers!

Yellowrocks said...

HG, great visual aid and explanation of the theme, which was unusual, but clever. When I sussed the gimmick I moved along quite well.
I hesitated between ERIC and ERIN. BALATA was all perps.
I have often heard and read, "She is in a pet." "Don't get in a pet." Also I knew shin in the sense of climbing. My mom used to say it. She used shin in the sense of moving quickly by foot, too. I think that last sense is old fashioned, but the shin in the puzzle and pet seem common, enough.
Having been a teacher, I remember some things from elementary school, such as INCUS, than some other adults may not.
Billo, I, also, wondered about the all caps, in 9A.
Happy belated birthday, Kazie.
PK, I am glad your daughter came through the operation successfully. It must be frustrating not to know the cause of DIL's symptoms.
I just heard that we have had only the normal amount of rain for April, even it has been gloomy and rainy more days than not. I hope the rain brings on plenty of May flowers.

Big Easy said...

Well HG, I am currently about 75 feet from the cart barn and 50 yards from the driving range, waiting for our shipments to come in. So I worked the puzzle. Too easy for a Wednesday. The volunteers have to sort the balls for the Pros by Mfg.- Titlest, Srixon, Taylor-Made, Bridgestone- but I guarantee that there is not a single BALATA ball at the TPC. I haven't seen one in at least 15 years. Anybody remember WHITE tennis balls? They both belong in museums.

SHIN- all perps. Never heard it used except when you bump your SHIN. ouch!
PET- also all perps. Never heard of that either.

See you 'nice' people later.

kazie said...

Hi to all my blog friends!
My performance on this CW was less than stellar, so less said the better.

However, I must thank all who offered me birthday wishes yesterday, and apologize for not responding earlier. We were gone for the day, celebrating, and on our return, I came here and saw all the nice wishes. Now that my DH is semi retired, I don't seem to find the time to visit all of you so often any more, but I do attempt the CW daily, and check the blog when unsure of any answers.

A special thanks to CED for the cake, and yes I think those were Kit Kats! Quite a feat to get them all on there.

I'm sad to hear of your eye problem, Montana. Our BIL lost an eye in 2015, and he drives all over without problems, although I don't think I'd do that well. Hopefully you will gain back normal vision soon.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Thanks HG for what must have been a somewhat time consuming intro. Much appreciated.

Didn't care for the theme but overall, enjoyed the solve. NOTHING BUT NET appears to be a basketball phrase with which I was unfamiliar. A much juicier connotation is available in the Urban dictionary.
Don't think we've had a puzzle by Bill before; at least I can't remember one.
Had 2 mos, ENERO and SEP in the same puzzle.
Another fridge feature that needs water is the water dispenser.
LANAIS - are all over Florida. Many have pools within the LANAI.
INCUS was a learning. Think we just learned 'anvil'.

Anonymous said...

The clever theme allowed filling in lots of space quickly. But....balata, shin, incus, Boyer, Erin were all perps. And had Biel before Alba as I'm not familiar with the movie. Still a fun puzzle and great write-up. JB2

Chairman Moe said...

"Adjective/Noun":

First off, kudos to HG for his scintillating synopsis! Second, without the clever conundrum from Bill Z, HG's comments would've been moot

As much as I wanted to utter some (____fill in the blank), I actually finished it, but not without a few write overs and googles. INCUS tripped me, though I knew the word had to begin with an I. Interesting that I actually "got" the theme after filling in 11d and 26d. Saw the BLANK/BLANK crossing and 38a became an easy fill. Then, it was filling in the other blanks.

As a golfer, BALATA was a gimme, but it's been decades since these have been used. As HG suggested, most amateur golfers "sliced" these ... twice, actually! 😜

I knew Tinbeni would react to 39d!! :-)

27d is a mini-CSO to yours truly. While I am not a certified sommelier, I do have a rather good PALATE.

Daily Haiku:

It's really easy
Solving a crossword puzzle:
Just fill in the BLANKS

Daily limericks:

Ex-NBA'er accepted a bet
To make one free throw to settle a debt.
He's a guard, mostly dribbles,
Shots for him are like NIBBLEs;
But when he does, he hits NOTHING BUT NET.

Was an elderly fisherman, Hank,
Whose expressions are usually rank.
While awaiting a NIBBLE,
We decided to quibble;
But he lost it! (you can fill in the BLANK)

Argyle said...

This may help explain 9-Down. ACTIVE NATURALS® skin care brand : AVEENO®. As you can see, they are registered trade marks and the caps are part of that trade mark.

Gumbo Gal said...

20 A I think you meant basketball phrase.

Chairman Moe said...

Limerick #3:

While unloading the boxes from pallet,
The designer got hungry. His PALATE
Was craving a snack.
One with color, not black.
'Cause he pictures his food on a palette.

Hungry Mother said...

I liked the theme and it helped with the solve. Somehow, without knowing three of the answers, I was done in no time.

Chairman Moe said...

My WC PG-13+ daily limerick:

The conductor was having a fling
With violinist. And here's the thing
That just drives him insane;
Makes sex hard to abstain
When she's caught fingering her G String.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thanks, Bill, for a mental workout. Didn't exactly like the theme although it sure was easy to fill in all the BLANKs once understood.

Thanks, Gary, for another great expo. However, I can't believe only two of us caught your word is shown as "baseball" rather than "basketball" over your great NOTHING BUT NET clip.

I remember Ingrid Bergman in "Gaslight" from when I was a kid. Couldn't remember who her mean husband was. Charles BOYER wasn't one of my "heartthrobs".

HHS was all perps. I had to google to remember that is Health & Human Services. Why didn't I know that?

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Bill Zagozewski, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.

Puzzle went along fairly easy. Discovering the Theme really helped. BLANK NEST is what gave it to me.

Tried SEED for 28D. Fixed that to SUET.

Tried LOG IN for 60A. KEY IN won that battle.

The North was my bugaboo. Tried SASSY for 15A. Wanted MOOR for 24A. Could not remember INCUS. I BEAM was obvious. MYSTICAL appeared. That worked. Finally tried CRIES for 18A. Tried NERVY for 15A after SASSY bombed out. Wrote in LASH for 24A after I got HECKLE. BERTH seemed the only answer to 7D. ERIN seemed the only answer to 8D after I had the first three letters. I do not watch CNN, so I am not aware of who is who. Anyhow, NOTHING BUT NET was a stretch for a Wednesday.

Nevertheless, I really liked this puzzle and the different theme.

BALATA was a learning moment. Got is with perps.

RKO was easy.

See you tomorrow. Might storm here later today. I am helping a friend load his truck for moving. Might get wet, but will not be the first time.

Abejo

( )

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I have an abiding fear that I will make a big mistake on the puzzle write-up and will celebrate if baseball/basketball is my only error today. As usual, thanks for the gentle reminder.
-I certainly have SHINNIED but have never SHINNED, but what else was it going to be?
-Part of a letter in the 1840’s from Abe Lincoln – “I am neither jaking nor in a PET when I saw we would thank him to transfer his business to some other.  
-I showed up to sub today and there were no lesson plans or any way to hook up his computer to show a DVD. Just before the kids came in another teacher showed up to tell me she would Gmail me the lesson plans that got sent to her and not me. I then used my MacBook to show the DVD and all is good.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Easy to start; tough to finish - nicely chewy in the middle.

I never heard the expression NOTHING BUT NET, although I have often marveled at videos like the one posted by Husker G. That one is a fine example of the miraculous trajectory of a ball tossed, then kicked, and finally sailing with nothing more than a whisper through a tiny opening so far away. Of course it has to be what we may slightingly call "dumb luck." But the set-up was surely well-practiced, and when you think about it, there were a limited number of courses that ball could take. To figure the odds, all you have to do is eliminate all the other directions - and you wind up with the one true course. Right?
Piece o' cake.

Thanks Mr. Z, and thanks, Husker!

AnonymousPVX said...

Another much disliked gimmick puzzle where the gimmick is the be all and end all for the puzzle.

Got the solve, so what, I really disliked this.

JD said...

Good morning all...well, it looks like morning,

Best thing about today's puzzle was Gary's informative write-up. I found most of the puzzle very frustrating. Besides not seeing the theme, some phrases( nothing but net) and words (pet, shin) did not make sense. Add in those abbreviations that everybody should know(NAS,AFI, HHS, MSS..) I found them meaningless unless I can get a foothold with some solid perps. I found myself researching more than filling in.

After looking up balata, I remembered all those smiles on those soft Titlest balls that were usually thrown away. I never hit hard enough to create a smile. sigh.

Thanks Gary for all the added information which made me glad I followed through to finish this puzzle.On a side note, I hope you left your daughter her bed and some personal things . I've heard some very sad stories from my daughters' friends who lost their space in their homes before they were ready.

Katie, I meant to write yesterday to wish you a happy birthday. Hope it was lovely.

Misty said...

Well, this was a Wednesday toughie for me, although I did better than I expected, and in the end messed up only four letters in the top middle. The problem is that I had LAND instead of LASH for "secure at the pier"--hey, I'm not a boat person. But although I had I BEAM, NERVY, and CRIES, I just couldn't figure out how to end that first BLANK. Oh well, it was only four letters, and there was a lot to enjoy--so, thank, Bill Z. And great pics, Husker Gary.

Billocohoes, sorry to hear about your daughter's problem.

Dad's house gets checked out tomorrow by the rehab folks to see if it needs work before he can go home. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he'll be able to do that soon--he's really tired of being in hospital care.

Have a good day, everybody!

CrossEyedDave said...

Hmm, this puzzle reminds me of a book I read....

CanadianEh! said...

What a Wednesday workout. Thanks Bill and Husker Gary.
I did get the theme but DNF today because of the N Central. Like Abejo, I had Sassy instead of NERVY, could not remember INCUS and did not know CNN's ERIN.
Mr.Google to the rescue, but as Spitzboov has commented, you may find more info than you wanted if you Google NOTHING BUT NET (another meaning and even song lyrics which I will refrain from linking!)

Hand up also for Seed before SUET, Weeps before CRIES, and never having heard PET used as a "sulky state". Also not familiar with SHIN as a verb but I do know Shinny. Fortunately, perps filled in BALATA.

If RASER is clued as "building leveler, to a Brit" should HONOR be clued as "roll out the red carpet for, to an American"??? LOL

Have a great day.

Wade said...

I should take up a new hobby.....see you Monday.

Bill G said...

I enjoyed most of the puzzle. The theme was almost too clever for me to understand at first so I appreciate Gary's help. Thanks Bill and Gary.

Owen, I read your post late last night. I don't know what to say except my sympathetic thoughts are headed your way.

Lemon, I hope things continue to improve for you.

Good luck and best wishes to all of us with issues, medical or otherwise.

Keith, I think that amazing basketball shot owed more to editing than dumb luck or practice. I'm guessing they tried a large number of shots and showed us only the one that was successful. I think that happens a lot on the Internet.

Yellowrocks said...

Gary, that was a mere mental hiccup, not an error. You had that fantastic basketball shot. No worries.
Billo, sorry she lost her hearing in one ear. I am glad there were no further problems.
Alan's counselor told him that problems are par for the course in life. If you have a long spell without problems, that is a bonus. Looking at us Cornerites and our near and dear that seems to be true. In our small church where we all know one another, I frequently looked around the congregation and could name social, economic, family or physical problems in a large majority of the people.The Corner and the camaraderie here are a wonderful bonus in my life.

Misty said...

Forgot to say that I loved seeing that picture of "Golden Girls," Husker Gary. It was set in Florida, wasn't it, and they did have a LANAI. Wish the show was still on, now that I've reached that time of life myself.

Anonymous T said...

What JD said... ++DNF.

Lookups: OSRIC, ALBA (I had -LBA and -FI xing), and INCUS and that was just to get started!
WOs: Brain-fart at AYE b/f YEA
ESPs: PET (and the P was the final WAG b/f I TITT), BOYER, MSS.
DNF: The SE corner - didn't know CES, CANON, ENATE w/rt mom's side, nor LANAI [actually, LANAI looks familiar now that HG gave it to me]

Thanks Bill but I'd rather tackle this [FILL IN THE BLANK] puzzle on a Friday with BALATA, OSRIC, INCUS, et.al. where I wouldn't feel like such a ROYAL failure. [Am I HECKLE'n' Bill or giving myself 40 LASHs for being a dolt today? :-)]

Thanks HG for the great expo w/ all the pics... I think I might recall ALBA in future pzls. The one-L'd LAMA Caddy Shack pic is priceless!

Can someone 'splain BERTH w/rt to Ocean? I've heard "He's mad, give him a wide-BERTH today." That's it. Oh, too, I thought it was SHImmy up a tree; not SHINny.

Fav: c/a for REESE was pretty devious but ISAAC Asimov is one of my favorite (dead) writers; Nothing beats good SciFi, right OKL?

{B+, A} {L:nice, cute, smile; moan, um...? :-)}

Billo - sorry to hear about daughter's turmoil. Was it the surgery that would have cause the face-control issue or the ear? You don't have to answer, just curious if the ear plays a role in face-control.

Welcome JB2.
Are we going to see
more of you?
If so,
Go Blue!
{F-}
Wade - LOL... But, 'common, stay, play, and learn. Took me two years of solving to consistently nail a Wednesday. I batting .800 'till today, then NOTHING BUT NET :-)

FLN - Picard - Boomer is a bowler, I'm into my '86 Alfa Spider [when it runs :-)], OKL & C.Moe write the 'licks & HAIKU [is HAIKU plural by itself?]

Back to work; play later. Cheers, -T

Spitzboov said...

Anon -T - I was briefly stymied, too, on BERTH, but it's a very good clue. A bed on a cruise liner or a destroyer is called a Berth. Upper BERTH, Lower BERTH; whatever.

CANON = Pachelbel's Canon in D. Popular around the holidays.

Jayce said...

I was thrown by seeing BLANK multiple times in the answers.

Anonymous T said...

Spitz - Thank you! That ASEA bed the best I could come up with with what little God gave me. But I wasn't sure. Thanks.

C. Moe - I was just running out of "grades" :-). The WC was YR in my book; though my kids are warp'd. -T

Anonymous T said...

Er, YR==Young Reader, not Yellowrocks. C, -T

CanadianEh! said...

Thanks AnonT for explaining the CSOs for Picard (welcome to the blog!). I had missed referring back to yesterday's comments.

OwenKL, hope that in sharing here you find as YR expressed,, "The Corner and the camaraderie here are a wonderful bonus in my life."

Argyle said...

Erin Hills is the host of the 2017 U.S. Open.

Chairman Moe said...

A do-over:

Suddenly inspired:

The dove flew on by
And landed on church steeple
Uttering high coo

JD said...

Chairman Moe, loved your Hai-coo.

Sorry Kazie that your name was rewritten by the computer who thinks it knows better. When I write to my friend, Jimmie, it ALWAYS changes it to...yes, and it did. The J is a K! Again, hope you had a nice day. You know I love hearing about your grand babies and your trips. And yes, these puzzles are becoming more difficult. Who knew 9 years ago that our CC would be the queen of some of the most difficult puzzles we solve(?). I'm just trying' to remember words like enero and lisle for the next time. She must know that we are so very proud of her.

BTW, Bill, I hope I didn't sound too harsh about this CW. Although, not my favorite, there was lots to like. Great clues of berth and reese.

PK said...

Billocohoes, such a delicate operation your daughter had! Is there any hope that the hearing might return when healing is complete? You would know better than I, but I'm guessing damage to the nerve bundles would cause the facial problems she doesn't have. Tell her we are praying for her best outcome.

In my daughter's laparoscopic hysterectomy they found a lot of adhesions and stuff not expected but at least no "Big C". I am
relieved.

Misty, Golden Girls is still in rerun on cable here. I watch it sometimes since I missed it the first time it aired.

Owen, I went back and read your late night post. Hang in there. All my life I've had to "get real" and make the best of the hand I've been dealt. I don't understand why so many people today choose expensive fantasy moves. Crazy!

Wilbur Charles said...

Some time this morning I realized there was no BIT NET BUT... Took a lot of SUSSing to figure out the most excellent theme.

Misty, you have some Golden candidates to pick from for your Florida house-mates. The pilot episode is when you accompany YR to advanced "Calling".

Speaking of most excellent... Another great job Gary. Owen, I echo Bill G, keep "grinding". You could have borrowed my "nary"(A TIT) on that last line.

C-Moe, you've mastered the TOOLs of the limerick trade I see. You make Haikus seem easy.

Btw. I FIWed by thinking a REEVE produced Pieces. Apparently, he's some kind of archaic constable as in an apocryphal Chaucer "The Reeve's Tale"

I could go on and on into that dark night

WC

Misty said...

Thank you, PK and Wilbur. I'll do my best to track down "Golden Girls" in the next few weeks.

Wilbur Charles said...

Wow, lots of posts since I fell asleep reading earlier. I forgot my guy Asimov showed up. As ISAAC himself said "It's not sci-fi it's history" The key is in deciphering Hari Selden.

And the "Mutant" is astonishingly a propos vis a vis the current political state of affairs.

Speaking of sitcom episodes perhaps WC could be "Weird Cousin" as in BBT's rehab cousin of Sheldon.

WC

Chairman Moe said...

Thanks WC. It's a labor of love! 😜

Wilbur Charles said...

Heh, heh. I was watching my taped Celtics game and realized that NOTHING BUT NET was my ticket to the following Haiku???

When asked, the LAMA-Like KC Jones said

NBA success?
It is in how you handle
All the referees

Chicago was a textbook example of how not to handle same.

Chairman WilburCharlie

Anonymous T said...

C. Moe - Nice shot on the Mulligan! [High coo]. Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

WInding down w/ the comics says...

C. Moe - G-STRING is perfectly fit for YoungReaders -T

Chairman Moe said...

😜

Chairman Moe said...

Nice! See my basketball entry below.

Picard said...

NOTHING BUT NET?? PET?? BALATA?? I actually got the two hard ones, but missed PET. Too many weird unknowns in this puzzle.

Hand up that seeing BLANK more than once made me think I was wrong. But I was wrong. It took awhile longer to realize the substitution being made for each BLANK.

Close, but FIW.