google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday May 9, 2017, Victor Barocas

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May 9, 2017

Tuesday May 9, 2017, Victor Barocas

Theme: On the Fence. Each theme answer hides a word (in circles) for a type of fencing sword.

17. Gadget used on carrots : VEGETABLE PEELER

28. Deepwater Horizon catastrophe : GULF OIL SPILL

44. Inhales : TAKES A BREATH

58. Activity one might see at a circus ... or in the Across answers containing circles? : SWORD SWALLOWING

Melissa here. Clever theme - must have taken a lot of effort to come up with phrases that contained these hidden words. Reminds me of the Cross Swords puzzle in the Wordplay documentary.

Across     
   
1. TV drama whose title appeared on a California license plate : LA LAW
 
6. Beatrix Potter's "The __ of Peter Rabbit" : TALE
 
10. "Right away!" letters : ASAP
 
14. Yellow-and-white daisy : OXEYE

 15. Goat with recurved horns : IBEX
 
16. Circle dance : HORA (spelling variation HORAH)


20. Inventor Whitney : ELI
 
21. No-win situation : TIE. Favorite clue.
 
22. Expression of woe : LAMENT
 
23. Seasonal sack toter : SANTA
 
26. Whisperer's target : EAR
 
27. Utter : SAY

32. Slanted type : ITALIC
 
33. Bronze component : TIN. Damien Hirst's Verity sculpture.



34. "Baseball Tonight" network : ESPN
 
38. Swamp reptile : GATOR
 
39. Lobbying gp. : PAC
 
40. __ New Guinea : PAPUA
 
41. Mets' home through 2008 : SHEA
 
42. Roguish : SLY
 
43. Arcade machine inserts : TOKENS

47. Key near Caps Lock : TAB
 
50. Spy org. : CIA
 
51. Time to chill, briefly : R AND R. Rest and relaxation.
 
52. Dozing : ASLEEP
 
54. CDX x V : MML
 
55. Extinct New Zealand bird : MOA

62. Sharp flavor : TANG
 
63. Rummikub piece : TILE
 
64. React to pain : WINCE
 
65. Wraps up : ENDS
 
66. Attacking the problem : ON IT
 
67. Soft drink size : LITER

Down

1. Adore : LOVE
 
2. Skater's leap : AXEL
 
3. Make laws : LEGISLATE
 
4. Shipboard affirmative : AYE
 
5. Like an unfun blanket? : WET
 
6. Related to the shinbone : TIBIAL
 
7. Up to the task : ABLE
 
8. Calm side : LEE
 
9. Clarify : EXPLAIN
 
10. "If I may interject ... " : AHEM
 
11. Shoe undersides : SOLES
 
12. Sports venue : ARENA
 
13. New Year's Eve staple : PARTY
 
18. High point of a home tour? : ATTIC
 
19. British nobleman : EARL
 
24. Bobbing on the waves : AFLOAT
 
25. Gritty film genre : NOIR. Literally 'black film or cinema,' developed during and after World War II, taking advantage of the post-war ambience of anxiety, pessimism, and suspicion. It was a style of black and white American films that first evolved in the 1940s, became prominent in the post-war era, and lasted in a classic "Golden Age" period until about 1960. Classic Film Noir title screens.
 
26. "Iliad" or "Aeneid" : EPIC
 
28. Jobs for a band : GIGS
 
29. The Beehive State : UTAH
 
30. Corset stiffeners : STAYS. Corset vs. Stay.
 
31. Released without authorization : LEAKED
 
35. Gum flavor : SPEARMINT
 
36. Many a fourth-down play : PUNT
 
37. Singer with Crosby and Stills : NASH
 
39. Courtroom entry : PLEA
 
40. Lewd literature : PORN 

42. Reaches without reading the intervening pages : SKIPS TO
 
43. Pre-Little League game : T-BALL
 
45. Scored 100 on : ACED
 
46. Sleeve band : ARMLET


47. Sense of style : TASTE
 
48. Egypt's __ High Dam : ASWAN. New to me.


49. Fair-haired : BLOND
 
53. Work units : ERGS
 
54. The Niger River flows through it : MALI


56. "__ upon a midnight dreary ... " : ONCE
 
57. Stress, so they say : AGER 

59. Come out on top : WIN
 
60. Nocturnal hunter : OWL
 
61. Nintendo console : WII

42 comments:

  1. Greetings!

    Thanks to Victor and mb!

    No problems. Shout out to our Santa.

    Had not heard of an ARMLET.

    Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. {A-.}

    Said the IBEX to the GATOR, "Your BREATH will make me WINCE!
    Close those jaws, or better, TAKE A lozenge of SPEARMINT!"
    "If your PLEA I'm following
    I can't be you a-SWALLOWING!"
    "Well, VEGETABLES are healthier, and only cost six-pence!"

    [Guess I could have capitalized that A-, since the puzzle does have A-words with AFLOAT and ASLEEP. ¦-I ]

    P.S., A scam artist would also con A-SAP, a dog would growl A-GER, an ornithologist would see A-SWAN, a sewer would stitch A-HEM, and a town crier would hear A-YE! Don't think anyone would want to A-XEL, A-BLE, A-RENA, or A-RMLET. Could we have A-RGYLE for SANTA?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good morning all.

    Thank you Victor and thank you Melissa.

    Melissa, I especially liked your Film Noir movie site list and have bookmarked it. I couldn't find "Human Desire" listed. It starred Glen Ford and (believe it or not) a very stiff acting Broderick Crawford. Anyway, found it after seeing the next page arrow at the bottom of your link.

    Oops, no circles, so I missed out on that. Also missed some of the clues and answers until I read the write up.

    Shout out to Argyle. SANTA makes quite a few appearances here. Maybe that's why I like this place so much.

    Liked the "unfun blanket" clue.

    Had smut before porn. Urban Dictionary is full of that garbage.

    Loved the smell of the crushed SPEARMINT that wafted through the air as I walked along the side of Honey Creek while hunting snapping turtles with my dad in my youth.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good morning!

    +Zipped through this one at warp speed. Had the circles, so catching the theme was pretty easy. It also assured me that SPEARmint wasn't part of the theme. Thanks, Victor and Melissa.

    Always thought the "stays" were the hard-bony parts of the girdle. Learning moment. Thanks for that link, Melissa.

    Never thought of Vertigo or High School Confidential as NOIR genre films.

    ReplyDelete

  5. Thanks for explaining the theme Melissa. Never would have guessed it was the tools for swashbucklers.

    So Rummikub is one of 104 tiles needed for a game. My initial thought was it was a Newspeak word I missed in Orwells 1984.

    33A a shout out to a certain Fla resident in the Tampa area.

    Never thought of a PUNT as a play. It was giving up possession because the plays preceding it did not score a TD or earn a first down. Orwell would call it "coach speak".

    On that bit of irrationality, I wish a good day to everyone.



    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Y'all! Yay, I got the theme and found those sharp answers without circles. Good one, Victor.

    Thanks, Melissa, for the expo and especially liked seeing the "Verity" statue. New to me. Very thought provoking as well as provoking to some of the neighbors.

    I knew ASWAN High Dam. Remember reading about it when it was being built.

    Niger River: knew it ran through Niger & Nigeria, but they didn't fit. Tried Chad since it's 4-letters but it turned very red. Let perps fill in MALI.

    LA LAW was a great WAG. Never watched the program.

    I never heard the term NOIR until the past 20 years or so. Most films we got in the boonies were low budget black & white when I was growing up. I don't think b&W became a cult fad until more recently. I was thinking Technicolor didn't come out until the '50's. Google said it was first used in the 1930's. I guess "Gone with the Wind" came out in color in the 1930's but I wasn't born yet. I didn't get to see it until I lived in Massachusetts in 1961.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Victor Barocas, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Melissa Bee, for a fine review.

    Worked this via Cruciverb while watching Perry Mason last night. Got through it quickly.

    When I finished I was tired and never looked at the theme. i do see it though. I had the circles.

    LITER of pop. I do not ever remember drinking that much pop. I hardly drink any at all. Now Earl Grey tea on the other hand.......

    TIBIAL was a good word. One to remember.

    Liked WET blanket.

    ASAP sure gets overused in our real lives.

    I have to cut out of here to guard the crossing. See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good morning all

    Nice puzzle from Victor- I zipped right through it with no issues; very clever theme!
    Thanks Melissa Bee- great review. Interesting link for the Corset vs. STAYS. They both look tortuous to me ;) Great Film NOIR link as well. I'm a huge Hitchcock fan, nice reminder of his movies, especially "North By Northwest" which is one of mine and DH's favorites. We usually watch it once or twice a year. Cary Grant is always a pleasure!

    Only unknowns gotten via perps were ASWAN, MALI and ARMLET.

    This BLOND will be getting some RANDR soon. Less than 48 hours until take off- Mexico, here we come! I will miss the CW and blog but will try to check in from time to time. I have some puzzle books to hold me over. It won't be the same but I have to do at least one CW a day :)

    Raining again here. I'm meeting my Mom for lunch to celebrate Mother's Day early since I'll be gone then. I have a pretty good sized Mandevillaplant in the back floorboard of my car for her. It's one of her favorites but she hasn't been able to find one, so I'm surprising her with it. Should be fun getting that into her vehicle in the pouring rain and both of us with bad backs, lol

    Bill G- I agree with your comments yesterday about TBBT. DH and I were just saying last week how disappointed we are with it. I feel like it's a chore to watch anymore but we also still enjoy Modern Family. That show knows the formula for success.

    Welcome back, Lucina!

    Off to work on more packing and cleaning. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Musings
    -SWORD SWALLOWING made easy
    -ELI’S Cotton (en)GIN(e)’s unfortunate consequence
    -“SANTA, Easter Bunny and tooth fairy? How can I ever believe you mom?”
    -Do the PAC’s get a receipt when they buy a LEGISLATOR?
    -Did anyone else ever set TABS manually?
    -A PARTY WET Blanket (:11)
    -The Maltese Falcon is the film NOIR that leaps to my cinematic brain
    -LEAKED documents are often trial balloons
    -AGER? I could see an AGER as someone who stresses items to make them look old but as a verb? I never doubt Rich.
    -FORE!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I tried to find my error in the 5-letter word that had only one vowel. Finally the V8 can hit me squarely on the noggin: Oh, R AND R!

    Erased oil for GUL(F OIL SPILL), roc for MOA, and TIBIAc. Only unknowns were PAPUA New Guinea and rummikub.

    A PUNT is indeed a real play in (American) football. The play is planned, practiced, and involves specialists on both sides. Fake punts are seen several times every season. Quick kicks are punts that are done on third down, usually when the ball is near the offense's goal line. Only saw it once, in Dallas. It was one of the Superbowl years, and the Cowboy's defense was fearsome. The hated Eagles punted on 3rd down and it rolled all the way to the Dallas 15 yard line, because all the defense was stacked up to stop the third-and-long play. the best thing about the play was that the Cowboys marched down the field for a touchdown. One of those "I was there" moments.

    Thanks to Victor for the good Tuesday puzzle, and to Melissa B for her solid review.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Creative puzzle with a little crunch thrown in to keep it fun. Having the circles I put
    in the other types of swords before I had the longer clue after I got EPEE. Really impressed
    that Victor could find a SABRE phrase that spanned 3 words!
    HG - I was thinking of AGER as a noun- one of the things that can age you. (eg stress,
    smoking). I've heard that the presidents often seem to age quicker while in office due to
    the stress.

    Thanks Melissa and Victor!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good day to all!

    No circles, so had to search out the SWORDS after getting the reveal. Very impressive construction from Victor. Favorite clue/answer was "High point of a home tour?" for ATTIC, with WET blanket a close second. Thanks for the expo and links, Melissa. So grateful to have not lived in the era of corsets.

    Enjoy the day!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good Morning,

    AND it is. Despite an overcast sky and light rain, the sunrise magnificently provided a full, solid red/pink sky to the East. The leafing trees are beginning to impair my view, but this one was exceptional.

    Thanks, Victor, for some fine Tuesday fun. Nice shout out to SANTA. I didn't have the circles, but it was, indeed, a brilliant application.

    Melissa, the tour was fun. Thanks for all the perfect links. Stress is definitely an AGER. I have lived longer than all my grandparents who aged greatly due to the hard lives they lived both before and after they emigrated to the US. I remain grateful for their decisions.

    For the record, I will not watch TV shows with a laugh track. It's either well-written and funny or not. I do not need "claquers" on a laugh track!

    FLN: Madame D loved Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq. Hilarant!!!!

    TTP: I see we have traveled the many of the same roads and attempted to make a pleasant game of it. Golf runs right into Evanston, and was originally called Evanston Elgin Road. There are still several homes along Golf in E-Town with an Elgin Road address.

    Do enjoy this day, everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great Tuesday run. I loved ATTIC. And WET. Thanks Victor and MB. I had one little nit. At 38A, it always bothers me that GATOR never seems to be identified as an abbreviation. Has it really become so ubiquitous that it is a word in itself? Ah well. I got it anyway so can't complain

    Owen, I laughed out loud. Thanks. You always cheer me.

    I'm having surgery on both my eyes later today. Can't imagine how I'm supposed to see, but they assure me it works out well. (Whoever "they" are.). And some would say there is nothing much to see down here in the swamp anyway.

    Madame D, I agree about the laugh tracks! Seem to be an admission that the show is not too funny if they have to tell us when to laugh.

    ReplyDelete

  15. No circles on the Mensa site, so I didn't get or even look for the theme. It was still a good puzzle without the theme.

    I didn't know OXEYE, but perps filled it in along with a bunch of other words. I wanted TART vs TANG, the British spelling of LITRE vs LITER, and I wanted QUARTERS vs TOKENS but it was too long.

    The spy organization could have been OSS, KGB, GRU, DIA or a bunch of other 3-letter organizations depending on the country or time period.

    Today, Tuesday of the first full week of May, is National Teachers Day. So, I'd like to honor all of you "hard working, patient and understanding people whom we entrust our children to. Teachers mold our kids in a positive direction, affecting who they are and who they become. From Kindergarten through college, teachers are an important part of our children's lives." I know I owe a lot to the many teachers I learned from over the years.

    I hope teachers and everyone else has a great day today.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Good morning everyone.

    Well, the solve flowed right off the pen today. A varied fill selection with a unique theme. Alway liked the word OXEYE. Can AXEL be far behind?
    MML - Always wondered how Caesar's CPA that handled the funds for his legions did his job.
    WINCE - I winced last Thursday when Doc inserted a Lidocaine needle into my right temple scalp area to numb it for a biopsy scraping.
    .

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks, Melissa and Victor! The circles indicated a fencing theme but the reveal surprised me. SWORD SWALLOWING? I have seen it ONCE and it gave me chills. It's not for the faint-hearted!

    Like most of you, I liked the shout out to our SANTA and one to TIN. In Carmel I saw OXEYE of many colors, predominantly blue.

    Since LA LAW aired on Tuesdays and that's when I taught night classes, I never saw it but know many details about it from CWs. Rummikub is today's new word for me.

    WII means nothing to me, but it emerged. I also recall the time when the ASWAN Dam was built with all the controversy about filling in pyramid sites. I believe they moved some artifacts to a museum.

    Have a spectacular day, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  18. "Puzzling Thoughts":

    Pretty straightforward and happy I knew 1a, as it's always nice to get the first clue. I started to ink LIKE > LOVE in 1d, but re-read the clue and realized the emotion was greater!

    No write-overs; one WAG for the intersection of MOA - AGER. As I filled in from top to bottom and saw the various SWORDS being "swallowed", 58a was all but a tap in (or gimme in golf speak)

    I too, liked the clueing for 21a. 38a --> shouldn't the clue have had some sort of abbr. ?? Is GATOR an acceptable word, or contraction of ALLIGATOR?

    My last week of posting for awhile. After next Tuesday I am off on a brief trip north for uncle's memorial service, and then back home to start packing up for my eventual move in June or July. I'm going to cancel my newspaper so I won't have access to the puzzle. I know I could get it on-line, but I prefer solving on paper, and my printer is pretty unreliable

    Today an Owen and a Moe-Ku:

    One of our posters has a big fear,
    Whenever ice cubes and Scotch gets near.
    While some think ice completes,
    Mr. 'Beni likes "neat";
    Thought of mixing the two's his "TIN EAR"

    The carrot reads PORN.
    His favorite book right now?
    VEGETABLE PEELER

    ReplyDelete
  19. Good Morning:

    Well, this was a fast and fun Tuesday treat. Theme was obvious early but the reveal still brought an Aha with its cleverness. Nice CSO to Santa.

    Thanks, Victor, for an enjoyable solve and thanks, MelissaB for an informative and enlightening expo.

    BunnyM, enjoy your days in the sun and surf; we'll miss your always-cheery posts!

    Swampcat, good luck with your surgery!

    Spitz, ditto winces in the last month.

    I'm considering offering a substantial reward to anyone who can locate and return the Sun! ☀️

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Speaking of dermatologists, I notice that they no longer carry around the container of liquid nitrogen. Used to be whenever I had a visit with one they were always looking to "freeze" something. Now, their "favorite" remedy is to take a small biopsy (involving a shot of lidocaine and then a tiny incision) to see what's what. I had my total body exam yesterday, and sure enough, the last thing she did was to excise a small piece of a mole. Hoping it will be benign; don't miss the liquid N but I still have to re-dress the incision area twice a day until end of week

    ReplyDelete
  21. Good morning all,
    What a smooth puzzle . I was impressed with the circled words, but didn't notice them until I completed sword swallowing.
    Like Jinx, I was baffled at 1st with randr. I thought I must have an error somewhere. I do know we've seen that before, but it doesn't always click right away.

    Having taught ancient history, I vividly remember the National Geographic that showed how they moved Abu Simbel away from the area that would become Lake Nasser. That temple was carved right into a mountain, similar to our Mt. Rushmore, but all the seated figures were of Ramses. The temple of Nefertari was also moved, but many are probably underwater.

    Thanks Victor and Melissa.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Cross Eyed Dave, just watched the video about the building of the dam. So easy now-a-days to come up with this information. While teaching we had to use movie reels, and the films were always breaking.

    Lucina, I'm with you on sword swallowing. Whenever anyone on those talent programs shows up with ANY sword, saber, epee... I quickly FAST FORWARD. YUK! Who thought that would be a real job?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Very delightful Tuesday puzzle, Victor--many thanks. I pretty much breezed through it, and enjoyed seeing the theme emerge in the circles. Then the reveal was still a bit of a surprise. And great pictures, Melissa B, many thanks.

    Rowland's niece is coming for lunch today. I asked the gardening crew to come early to tidy the patio but no sign of them yet. Hoped for a sunny day but it rained during the night, and looks very gloomy this morning. Makes me laugh, when I have expectations of how a day ought to go, and then real life sets in.

    Have a great day, everybody!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Seeing EPEE today made me think the theme might be swords. The reveal answer completed the theme. My grandson used to have four or more Star Wars light sabers for sword fights with his friends.
    GATOR is informal and common. I often hear them called that.
    inane hiker, I had the same thoughts about stress being an ager. Did you ever look back to many of the Presidents' first inauguration days? They looked so much younger then and aged so quickly.
    HG, interesting article about the cultural effects of the cotton gin.
    Swampcat, good luck on your eye surgery. Moe, I hope for a clean slate for you.

    At the last minute in the surgery suite for Alan's endoscopy this morning the anesthesiologist said it was a no-go because Alan's lung function is weak. He developed a cough last night. I hope that is all it is, but probably not.

    We were home by 8:30 and Alan is enjoying his birthday the rest of the day. We went to Rose's coffee shop for breakfast where they gave him a small gift certificateand then to Mickey D's for lunch. Later we will take a trip to the mall. I will soon start making baked ziti for dinner with a Friendly's ice cream cake for dessert. Everyone gets his own request for birthday dinners.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I always feel a little guilty when I solve a pzl with a hidden theme w/o spending any time thinking about the theme.
    This one should have grabbed my attention because fencing was my sport in college. I liked to impress people by mentioning that I was captain of our team. I rarely followed up with the fact that in my senior year we were nearly 100% un-won, i.e. with a formal record of Zero Wins.
    We only fenced with foils. We would do some sabre practice, but our old Belgian fencing maestro thought them too favored by "jocks." "The foil, ahh, she is Art...," he would say. Epees came into vogue after my time.

    Thanks for the memories, Mr. Barocas! (And the elucidation, Ms. Bee.)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Tinbeni using "The Library Computer" ...

    Melissa: Nice write-up.

    Victor: Thank you for a FUN Tuesday puzzle. Enjoyed the "SWORD" theme.

    Faves today ... I guess the 13-d New Year's Eve staple, PARTY.
    Can't remember the last time I went out on New Year's Eve ...
    probably a couple years ago in Red Square.

    Cheers!


    PS Still haven't even started trying to get the Laptop "Up-and-Running" after the "hack-attack."
    It is surprising how:
    (1) Going to the Library, or ...
    (2) Using the complex "Business Center" computers
    is OK and full-fills my computer needs.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Tinbeni!

    I'm impressed! Red Square on New Year's Eve! I've been there (just once) but can only imagine the crazy crowds and celebratory spirit to be experienced there - below St. Basil's and in front of Lenin's tomb! - on a New Year's Eve.

    Nowadays we play it way down and cool on New Year's, sipping champagne at home. The only historic place I've been to, back in the day of course, was Times Square.
    This was in the '80s, and I am glad I got it out of the way. Once is the right number.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I slashed my way through this CW with ink on newspaper and thus had the circles. Thanks for the fun, Victor and Melissa bee. I smiled at your theme of ON THE FENCE.
    The Verity sculpture is quite interesting and she is holding a SWORD too!

    Like MJ, I am glad that we do not have to wear either corsets or STAYS.

    You really made me smile today, OwenKL. Loved all your A words.

    I started to Skim over the pages at 42D before SKIP TO appeared.

    This Canadian is getting used to LITER (instead of Litre) and BLOND (without the E)
    in CWs, but then we had SABRE spelled "correctly". LOL

    Irish Miss, we have the sun back but it is still cool. One consolation is that the fruit blossoms are lasting longer and the Niagara area is beautiful.

    Happy travelling, BunnyM.
    Don't stay away too long Chairman Moe.
    Misty, I am sure that your luncheon will be wonderful even if the setting is not what you envisioned. Being able to get together with Rowland's niece is the best part.
    Happy Birthday to Alan.

    Wishing you all a wonderful day.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Misty, I found good TripAdvisor reviews for a day tour from Toronto to Niagara Falls that also visits Niagara-on-the-Lake. There are options to add Hornblower Cruise (used to be Maid of the Mist) which is highly recommended. Helicopter ride would be great also if you are brave enough! (I haven't done that yet)
    TripAdvisor

    BGTours

    There are other tours available also but this will give you an idea.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Canadian Eh, we had a wonderful few days in Niagara Falls, Canada last summer. There is so much to do there that it is hard to fit it all in. We could not use up all our coupons included in the tour package. We enjoyed the Hornblower Cruise, the butterfly exhibit and many others. We spent a day in Toronto and ate at the CN Tower Restaurant. Nice, but the side trip prevented us from seeing either city properly. I would have preferred to stay at Niagara Falls the entire time and visit Toronto on another trip. I bought a wonderful book at the Daredevil Museum in Niagara Falls detailing the history of attempts to go over the falls in a barrel. Very interesting reading.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Another fun, easy puzzle. Thanks, Victor. Enjoyed your expo, MB. Good pics and links.

    LEa/LEE and AdrifT/AFLOAT. Other than those w/o's, I had no problems.

    We do nothing for New Year's Eve so I'm usually in bed by 10:30.

    CED- thanks for the videos. I've heard of the Aswan Dam but had no idea about relocating the temples.

    Bunny M, I hope you have a great vacation and get to see the sun. Looks like we have better weather coming next week.

    Have a nice evening.

    ReplyDelete
  32. YR, yes I remember that you were going to Niagara Falls last summer and neglected to ask you more details about how you enjoyed your time there. The Niagara Falls tourism people would love your comment as they want to encourage people to not just come for a day trip but stay for a few days and enjoy the whole area. (IMHO, Clifton Hill can be avoided!)

    ReplyDelete
  33. This was a very smooth Tuesday, perfect for a newbie. I'm trying to encourage people to try it. I ECHO Jinx in RANDR

    I remember getting in the plane in Saigon and my classmate was the stewardess. And she says "Billy-what are you doing here!"

    Yes, TBBT doesn't have the bite of the early episodes. I'd say it's much LESS raunchy.
    Owen, thx for the snappy l'ick. C-Moe, we will miss you. Nice pair today. Speaking of.. good thing the WCs are retired what with the swallowed sword, spilt oil, held breath and the LAMENT.

    Gas prices are cascading down despite the solid jobs report. There goes Wilbur-nomics.

    YR, aren't you lucky to have a Friendlies
    And Misty, don't forget Tim Hortons on your trip. I have Friendlies story and TH story but I'll skip em.

    Maybe later in the gloaming.

    Look for Wilbur about 3am.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Good puzzle! I expected goodness when I saw it was one of Victor's works. Liked the clues for WET and ATTIC.

    We stopped watching TBBT years ago, both because it stopped being funny and the laugh track was extremely loud and annoying. Like Madame DeFarge, we will not watch TV shows with a laugh track.

    People who LEAKED classified information should (but won't) be vigorously and relentlessly prosecuted.

    I just spent 3 hours answering questions that my boss asked me, which he had already asked and I had thoroughly answered 15 months ago. Giving him the answers was easy; I pretty much copied and pasted what was said in our old emails. Doing some additional work that he wanted, to supplement my answers, is what took most of the 3 hours. I don't really mind, though, since I bill by the hour.

    Best wishes to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Hi All!

    Victor, that was fun! I loved the Themers SWALLOWING the SWORDS - nicely executed. Thanks.

    mb - excellent EXPLAIN'n' expo. I know what collar STAYS are but didn't understand re: Corset [made sense, but didn't know different things].

    WO: I thought Rummikub had dIcE b/f TILEs
    ESPs: MALI & MOA
    Perps & WAGS: ARMLET, TIBIAL
    Sparkle: LEGISLATE, LAMENT, SPEARMINT

    Fav: WEES - c/as for WET & ATTIC

    {A, funny A-Words} { :-) , cute}

    Swamp & C. Moe: do you order Alligator or just a mess o' fried GATOR at Cajun joints? [For those who've never had Gator, kinda like chewy frog's legs, or sweet(er)-chicken; add Crystal Hot Sauce for some TANG!]

    C, Eh! - LOL Liter / SABRE.

    IM - This is the best I can do for your order of Sun.

    Have fun BunnyM!

    Oc4 - The Google Doodle celebrates Teacher's day. Mr. Catalano really touched me [what, that sounds wrong]... :-)
    Mr. C, Ms Treese, Dr. Buzzy Roots, and the two married Calc. profs who came out of the Los Alamos "rocket racket," were all great educators who let a nerd shine. A toast to them tonight!

    Cheers, -T

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  36. LOL Wilbur, how could I have forgotten to recommend Tim Hortons. The double-double is a Canadian icon!

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  37. CanadianEh, many thanks for the great suggestions and helpful link. I'm not sure the conference program will allow me to make a long trip like that but we'll see. And Wilbur thanks for the suggestion of Tim Hortons--never heard of the chain before today. It is really exciting to go to Canada!

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  38. Misty - If Toronto is like Calgary, Tim Horton's is like Starbucks - there's one on every corner. TIm's has Duncan Donut+ quality and isn't over-roasted like (I think) $4-Bucks is. Worth a stop if you like good Joe. Funny (peculiar, not ha! ha!), I just found out DW is going to Toronto in June straight from our trip to SF & LA (CA is to to visit her AGEing Aunt (SF) & Cous'n (in LA)). I wanna to go to Toronto - 'tis the home of RUSH! :-)

    Happy trails... Cheers, -T

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  39. And, Misty, if they still do the in-flight radio call letters, you can hear YYZed on approach....... [That's some RUSH for BunnyM who's going the wrong way ;-)]. if you listen to the symbols at the beginning, it's YYZ, Toronto's Airport, in Morse [ sorry OKL, no lyrics to the instrumental.] -T

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  40. I didn't get to this one until late Wednesday due to a busy Tuesday. Very nice puzzle, but I filled in SABRE immidiately after EPEE and FOIL.

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