google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, May 10, 2017, Agnes Davidson and C.C. Burnikel

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May 10, 2017

Wednesday, May 10, 2017, Agnes Davidson and C.C. Burnikel

TITLE: MUSH!


Our own Irish Miss and C.C. have doggedly produced a lovely Wednesday puzzle that provided a fun exercise for me while their theme escaped my blood hound instincts. There was also just enough challenge to make my solving experience enjoyable.

What these ladies did was to supply five two-word theme answers wherein both words can serve as a "LEAD" for the word DOG. This is all tied up in their theme reveal:

37. Iditarod front-runners ... or what both parts of the answers to starred clues can do? : LEAD DOGS - As you can see by the picture here, being the LEAD DOG does have its advantages!

The previous puzzle I blogged was last Wednesday's where the phrase OUT OF could precede each word in a two word phrase to give two new phrases and so there was some similarity. 

Now let's take a look at the theme fills, some of which are canine related and some not so much:

18. *Suffering harsh criticism : UNDER ATTACK which yields



55. *Highway patrol group : STATE POLICE and we also get



 3. *Deep trouble : HOT WATER 



6. *Member of a 1960s Chinese paramilitary group : RED GUARD


36. *Hard-to-control blaze : WILD FIRE where Agnes and C.C. also give us




Let's see what else is in their, anything but shaggy, dog story:

Across

1. __ Wednesday : ASH - The day after Mardi (Tuesday) Gras (Fat)

4. Rock of comedy : CHRIS

9. Miata automaker : MAZDA - The star of the movie Husker Gary's Midlife Crisis



14. 6-Down leader : MAO

15. Moocher : LEECH

16. Cannes concepts : IDEES - En France, les bonnes IDEES peuvent impliquer des vin (In France, good ideas can  involve wine)

17. CPR pro : EMT

20. Attach, as a patch : SEW ON 



22. All skin and bones : GAUNT

23. See 39-Down : LEE 39. With 23-Across, "Life of Pi" Oscar winner : ANG - ANG LEE - Lots of CGI required



24. Put up, as wallpaper : HANG

25. Fleecy boot brand : UGGS - Tom Brady was a spokesperson at one time



26. Word on a sample check : VOID

27. Sneaky guy? : PETE

28. Charlotte of "The Facts of Life" : RAE

29. Lawman Earp : WYATT

31. Portable gifts for book lovers : E READERS - Do you like turning the pages like I do?

33. Very long spell : EON

34. Part of mph : PER - Do you really want to get your 'vette going this fast?



35. Exchange rate abbr. : USD - Your Canadian loonie is worth about .73 USD

36. Like some smiles : WRY

37. NYC airport code : LGA

40. Cat, often : PET - We have one of those


LILY

41. Clam : SIMOLEON - Ah, the euphemisms abound

43. "Sailing to Byzantium" poet : YEATS - I did better understanding calculus and relativity



45. Where LeBron plays home games, on scoreboards : CLE - Has any athletes ever meant as much to one city as LeBron has to CLEveland?

46. Yin partner : YANG

47. Standard : NORM

48. Passed down, as folk mus. : TRAD - I didn't understand TRAD until I saw mus. Hence TRADtional music

50. Antique shoppe adjective : OLDE

51. Wilder's "__ Town" : OUR

52. "Mrs. Dalloway" novelist : WOOLF - I ain't afraid of her

53. Bicycle part : PEDAL - Once you attach your foot to the PEDAL there could be issues



58. Have debts : OWE

59. Ancient Aegean region : IONIA


60. Bugs of crime : MORAN - George "Bugs" MORAN was on his way to the garage on Valentine's Day 1929. Good thing he was late.

61. Came down with : GOT

62. Chopper blade : ROTOR  - One horizontal and one vertical

63. Gushes : SPEWS

64. Caution to drivers : SLO 



Down - Picture seemed appropriate here with the clue direction and the theme...



1. Iowa college town : AMES

2. "One for me, too" : SAME HERE


4. Held tightly (to) : CLUNG

5. Coop resident : HEN

7. Glacial periods : ICE AGES

8. Show of indifference : SHRUG

9. Baker's accessory : MITT


10. Electronic security corp. : ADT - The telephone ran them out of their original business

11. Fanatic : ZEALOT

12. Duplicity : DECEIT

13. Posed a question : ASKED

19. Mom's demand for an explanation : ANSWER ME - Been there, heard that!

21. Top draft status : ONE-A - This IV status card was "found" on him on 11/22/63 using an alias



26. Moving vehicle : VAN

27. __ rally : PEP 

28. Road trip convenience : REST STOP


30. Go up and down : YOYO - A lot of this motion is NOT up and down

32. Tune for two : DUET

38. Left base illegally : GONE AWOL

40. Kitchen spray : PAM

41. Edible mollusk : SCALLOP

42. Country singer Lovett : LYLE - Yeah, I know who he was married to for two years and I don't know why either



43. "Right back atcha" : YOU TOO

44. Off the mark : ERRANT - William Tell pulled two arrows and told Gov. Gessler that the second arrow would have been for Gessler if the first shot was ERRANT and had killed his son and then... 



47. Respectful refusal : NO SIR

49. Destinations in Clue : ROOMS - The original ROOMS



50. Pops the cork from : OPENS

52. Be dressed in : WEAR

54. Jared of "Suicide Squad" : LETO

56. Juan's uncle : TIO - An Almost Perfect Uncle



57. Bit of cornfield cacophony : CAW

Now, after my DOG and pony show, let's have some good comments 

THE GRID






51 comments:

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Hi everyone!

Thanks to Irish Miss and C. C. and Gary!

Most pleasant puzzle!

No problems! Cool theme!

Have a great day!

OwenKL said...

Don't think I was aware of FIRE DOGS or STATE DOGS, and only vaguely aware of WATER DOGS, so I went through this thinking the theme was something like things to be stressed by. The LEAD DOGS caught me by surprise! I notice each clue had one actual DOG (WATER, ATTACK, WILD, POLICE, GUARD) and one metaphorical one (HOT, UNDER, FIRE, RED, STATE[?]). The puzzle was easy -- several unknowns but all solidly perped and recognized.

"Twelve states of the United States have designated an official state dog breed. Maryland was the first state to name a dog breed as a state symbol, naming the Chesapeake Bay Retriever in 1964. Pennsylvania followed the year after, naming the Great Dane as its official breed."

"Andiron: They are usually used in pairs to build up a firedog in American English, sometimes called a dog or dog-iron, intended to hold logs above the hearth in order to improve air circulation for better burning."

"firedog
(archaeology) Bronze Age artifact used in worshipping either bulls or the moon, or as a holder for wooden logs to be used in a fire altar.
(US) Either of a pair of horizontal metal supports for holding logs in a fireplace"

"Water dog, a general type of gun/working dog, including various specific breeds and landraces; some are themselves named "water dog"
Waterdog, the gilled, aquatic larval form of the tiger salamander, often sold as pets or fishing bait. By extension, the gilled, aquatic larva of any species of salamander, used as a generic term. Through confusion, the term is sometimes also applied to the gilled, aquatic mudpuppies and other members of the Proteidae family, and the axolotl, all salamanders that are entirely aquatic throughout their lives.
In various translations of Kalevala, the giant mythical pike fish slain by the heroes Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen are referred to as "water-dogs".
Water-dog, a former colloquial term for otter, especially the giant otter."

{C+.}

His talkative tailor would challenge ANG LEE on
Trivia, but never bet ought but a SIMOLEON.
If his ANSWER was ERRANT,
He'd make excuses transparent,
He'd stitch them together, and so forth and SEW ON!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

The theme (and reveal) totally escaped me. No news there. No dogs in this house, but there are too many CATs...way too many. One of 'em is my alarm clock. He sits outside on the bedroom window ledge and tells me it's time to get up and open the door for his imperial majesty. Thanks I.M. and C.C.

I didn't know they'd changed the rooms in Clue. Our copy is very old and must have the original rooms.

ADT has evolved into a company that manufactures yard signs.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Good one, IM & C.C.! Fun to do.

Fun expo, Gary. However, reading your theme explanation, I felt like I hadn't done the same puzzle. I thought I understood the theme so didn't make any notes. Now I wonder what was going through my head at midnight that seemed so different? Wasn't sleep that's for sure.

How far are you moving, Moe? We'll miss your posts.

BobB said...

Very easy. Was all finished before I thought about the theme.

thehondohurricane said...


Like DO, no clue about the theme. It's par for the course for me.

Can't imagine not having a dog or dogs in my residence. Lucy same with cats. Fortunately, our current menagerie all get along.

I was sure TRAD was wrong, but the perps all looked OK so I left it alone.

Thank you to both CC & Irish. You have become a challenging pair. Look forward to the next offering.

Nice write up Husker. By the way, how is the early season Golf game?

Big Easy said...

The puzzle was an easy Wednesday fill but as usual the theme eluded me. The REST STOP was an easy fill but my newspaper's clue's comma after 'Cat, often' looked like 'Cat. often' and the cross of TRAD was a perp, as I first filled ORAL.

RED DOG- that's what coaches called it when I was about 12; it's a BLITZ now.

Golf game Hondo asks H.G. Mine sucks. Shot 103 Monday with five balls in the water.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Irish Miss and C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.

Worked this last night via cruciverb while watching Perry Mason. Got through it quite easily. Did not even look for the theme. Went to bed. After coming here, theme looks great. Clever.

SIMOLEON is a good word.

You can keep all the SCALLOPS. I am not into them.

Wanted WENT AWOL. GONE worked better.

Have to run. Have to get dressed and head out to the school to guard the crossing. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

inanehiker said...

Another clever puzzle from Agnes and CC! Challenging to have both words go with dog - only one it took me a moment to get was WATER DOG - I had never heard it without the Portuguese in front of it like the Obama's dog Bo!

Thanks HG for the write-up!

BunnyM said...

Good morning all

What a wonderful puzzle from our dynamic duo! And a DOG theme to boot- thanks Irish Miss and C.C. Nice work, ladies :)

I never knew there were STATEDOGS.
Also never knew there were different rooms in CLUE. Curiosity led me to this

Thanks, Husker Gary for your witty and informative review. I always enjoy your comments :)

TRAD was via perps and an aha moment. Couldn't dredge up IONIA from my memory. Other perps were YEATS, MORAN and REDGUARD.

My UGGS make another appearance, lol . I just boxed them up not too long ago. As much as I love them, life is better in flip flops!

My EREADER is loaded for vacation. And lucky for us the USD= 19.15 MXN peso right now. Our meals and any souvenirs will be inexpensive. We always use pesos; I love the colorful bills but still have trouble with the coins, as some of the larger ones look similar.

My DOG Albus knows we're leaving. I tried to sneak the suitcases out of storage and keep him away while packing. For a blind dog, he "sees" a lot. We go through this every trip- he is my shadow, so is aware of me packing, the excitement and change in our schedule. He then starts pouting and letting out the occasional heavy sigh. Such a dramatic little guy :) He will be in excellent hands with our daughters who are taking turns house/dog sitting. He loves his "sisters" and they spoil him and let him sleep in the bed while we're gone, which is a no-no otherwise. Funnily enough, he never tries to get in our bed while we're home but I suppose he likes the comfort they offer him while we're away. Then upon our return, he will get overly excited for a few minutes, then back to pouting and giving us the "silent treatment " for a day or two. The cat, Mia is actually more affectionate when we return. Those two PETs crack me up.

Chairman Moe- I will miss your posts. Good luck with the move and hope to see you here soon!

Thanks everyone for the happy traveling wishes. I'll be back on here when I return. Irish Miss- I will send some sunshine your way :)

Yellowrocks said...

Well done, Irish Miss and CC. I really liked the theme, actually, a kind of CSO to you, Irish Miss, for your love of dogs. HG, super blog, as usual.
NJ has many state symbols, but not a state dog. The Seeing Eye in Morristown, NJ is the founding member of the U.S. Council of Guide Dog Schools. The four primary breeds this school uses for training are German shepherds, Labrador retriever, golden retrievers, and Labrador/golden crosses. I would vote for the German Shepherd or the Labrador for our state dog.
Simoleon is a wonderful word, but it was filled before I got to it, as was CLE.
Gary, I am with you on the Miata as my mid life crisis, but I can't afford two cars. The Miata is great, but not practical as the sole car in the family.
I'm off to PT. My lumbar spine has been added to my regimen.
And then on to Alan's PC to see why he has low lung function, preventing his endoscopy yesterday. These past two years Murphy's Law seems apropos 90% of the time relating to his medical outlook.
CE Dave, Alan was thrilled with your birthday cake. It received the biggest smile of the day. Thank you so much. Alan ate so much ziti, we had to save the ice cream cake for today. Here our supermarkets carry these Friendly cakes.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Hondo, my iron play in my golf game is a better grade of mediocre this year but my putting has been great. I’m doing better than my Royals and your Giants
-Big Easy, of course I knew that RED DOG was a dated reference but it was the first thing that came to my mind and I found nothing better.
-YR, I’m not sure how well I’d fit into that Miata these days. The clutch gave out on mine and I sold it after I found out how it operated in the snow. It doesn’t!

PK said...

Husker, don't you know Clifford, the Big Red Dog books for children?

YR: tell Alan a happy belated birthday from me. I didn't get back to the blog yesterday until very late. If Alan learns that a cough gets him out of endoscopy, he may get one anytime he thinks that form of torture is coming. I sure would. LOL! Hope his weak lung is not serious, but didn't he have pneumonia earlier? I got mucous plugs after pneumonia more than once and none of the doctors could see them until I coughed one up and could breath better again.

MJ said...

Good day to all!

An enjoyable Wednesday offering from I.M. and C.C.. WATER DOG and RED DOG were out of my wheelhouse. Favorite clue/answer was "Sneaky guy?" for PETE. Thanks for the expo, Husker Gary. Very thorough and informative, as usual.

BunnyM--Cute story about your dog and cat. Have a wonderful vacation.

Enjoy the day!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Ditto to what Fermat said. Liked the longer downs, and some misdirection. Favorite was the clue / ANSWER: SIMOLEON.

Well, off to play some bridge.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Hi Pat! Clifford is on the periphery of what I laughingly call my memory but I the football maneuver was much more familiar to me from my yute. I went with what I knew. It is also the first entry here, so…
-I hope all of our family members here get through all their medical issues. I am making progress on my big issue (can stop my $300/mo. pills) but I keep worrying that something else that is “out of warranty” will fail me.
-p.s. I am subbing today and have absolutely nothing to do but it’s raining and so I’ll take the $140 and bear up. Netflix will get a workout!

TTP said...


Good morning all. Thank you ladies. And you too Husker Gary.

Sciatic related calve and thigh pain woke me up just after 2 AM, so I did the puzzle after walking around for awhile and waiting for the ibuprofen to kick in. Finally got back to sleep around 4:30 AM. Hi PK !

Pretty much a straight top to bottom solve today, but I wasn't paying attention to the theme answers other than filling in the blanks.

Loved seeing all of the dogs, but especially the GSDs. Bunny M, enjoy your trip. I enjoyed reading your comments about your pets. Especially about your dog lamenting with the heavy sighs. I can relate to that !

A very young-at-heart friend of mine bought a new Corvette about three years ago and sent me pictures. I kidded him about going through a middle-age crisis. Hardly. He was approximately 66 at the time. He will be celebrating his 50th anniversary with the company next month.

Husker Gary, was that a picture of Lilly ? Also, 62A. Chopper blade : ROTOR - One horizontal and one vertical. Not always. Look at this bad boy.

My golf game is still rusty. I've only played one eighteen and one nine, with another on tap for this afternoon, so hopefully it will get better. So far this year I've mastered inconsistency.

Hungry Mother said...

Easy one today. I encountered a pack of WILD dogs while running on a deserted golf course in 100 degree heat in Botswana. Through no fault of mine they didn't attack. I also ran past crocodile-infested water holes.

desper-otto said...

TTP, what took you so long? I mastered inconsistency ages ago. I'm consistently inconsistent.

CrossEyedDave said...

It's good to be the lead dog...

Get a dog, and you will never be bored...

TTP said...

Desper-Otto, the only silver lining is that ours is a handicapped league and my handicap keeps going up. Looks like I'll be getting strokes from my opponents for the foreseeable future. It doesn't do much for the ego.

Off to the dentist for more replacement parts.

PK said...

Bunny, I wanna go too. Could you swing by and pick me up? I promise I'll be good.

D-O & TTP: you crack me up. If nothing else, golf seems to keep you humble.

CED: How on earth did they get that many dogs to sit still long enough for a picture? The second dog picture looks like one belonging to a homeless guy I see a few blocks from my home. Dog seems better fed than the guy.

Rainman said...

Can one of you please help me with a grammar question? You do not have to be an English scholar but it may help. This is also a personal pet peeve when I see something like "While I greatly appreciate you informing me... ", should it be corrected to "your informing me"?

And could someone please tell me the rule of grammar so I can look it up perhaps? In my youthful days it seems this was a rule pertaining to objective gerunds or something. Or am I way off base here?

I greatly appreciate the input. Thanks.

And great job today by Agnes, C.C. and Gary. Best to all.

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning,

Thanks Irish Miss and C.C.. I really enjoyed working through this one today. It was just enough to create the level of frustration I like. Digging deeper into what left of the little grey cells. I especially liked SIMOLEON! Wow! I didn't even see the theme and certainly not at Gary's level. In retrospect, I admire the complexity. Nicely done.

I never thought of a Miata as a solution for a mid-life crisis. Apparently, with teenagers, grad school, and a new teaching position, I forgot to have one. In retrospect, I think a Tom Brady-type might have been a good idea. Ha!

Indeed, it looks like some better weather is moving in after a stormy transition. Have a great day.

oc4beach said...


Great puzzle IM and CC. Gary's explanation added to the enjoyment. I didn't get the theme until the explanation, but I really wasn't looking for it.

I liked SIMOLEON's. I remember it being used in some old gangster movies and it was very popular in cartoons, like Bugs Bunny cartoons and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." "Simoleons," is a portmanteau that combines Simon, a slang word for a dollar coin, with the name of a French gold coin, a Napoleon. Who knew?

TRAD had me stumped. It didn't make sense until HG's write-up. Perps filled it in.

I also tried KINDLES and TABLETS before putting in EREADERS. The first tries weren't long enough.

Who remembers Broderick Crawford from the "Highway Patrol" TV series from the 1950's? It was one of the Crime shows that we watched then along with Dragnet, Boston Blackie, The Naked City, Mike Hammer, Richard Diamond Private Detective and a whole bunch of others.

TTP @ 9:38am: When I was a Co-Op Structural Test engineering student working at Boeing Vertol Helicopters (Formerly Piasecki) in the 1960's, I got to break a lot of Chinook Rotor Blades. It was a lot of fun.

Again, I hope all of the teachers on the blog (and everyone else) have a great day.

Chairman Moe said...

To Owen @ 4:50am --> your "Owen" was much better than a C+. A- at the very least. Only grading it there because of the meter, but quite clever

Chairman Moe said...

PK @ 6:57 --> I'm staying in FL. Not too far, but any move is a combination of stress and inconvenience. I just need to focus on it and stay off of social media for awhile. I hope to be back in a few months, and may poke my head in every once in awhile. Thanks!

Lucina said...

Very nicely done, Irish Miss and C.C.! This was a quite enjoyable solve with a clever theme which I thank Gary for fully explaining. I'm a bit distracted right now because the hard drive on my PC apparently quit. It's a good thing I have a laptop computer. Apparently my appliances are taking turns quitting. Just last week the microwave was replaced after the old one of 22 years stopped working.

Working the puzzle was delightful with names that, luckily, I knew: CHRIS Rock, WYATT, Charlotte RAE, YEATS, PETE and MORAN. I have to admit, though, it's a toss up between Keats and Yeats until checking the downs.

As with others, SIMOLEON was my favorite fill. Thank you,OC4beach, for parsing it. I didn't know that.

BunnyM
Have a wonderful trip. Do you speak any Spanish?

Rainman:
You are exactly on the right track about a gerund; when it is a noun, it requires a possessive adjective.

YR:
My heart goes out to you and Alan. It has to be so difficult to attend to his ongoing problems. You should be MOTHER OF THE YEAR!

Have a splendid day, everyone!

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts":

Great work, Agnes (aka Irish Miss) and CC (aka Zhouqin --- or is that the other way around!!). Today's puzzle was Wednesday easy, but not so simple that I didn't have to think a bit before inking in my answers. No write overs or WAGS; needed a few perps, and sort of figured out the theme as I saw the starred clues reveal.

Kind of a double CSO to yours truly today with my alter ego's real name as well as a reference to another Chairman

The clue for 38d "caught me trying to steal", as I figured it had to be baseball related! Good "pick-off"!

HG, thanks for your recap. You're our LEAD DOG, IMO, on piecing together the clues, answers and themes

As I wind down my time here (will be AWOL for about two months or so), I'll throw out a few limericks (not Owens or WC's) I've had "in the bullpen". Plus a Moe-Ku.

Limerick:

Welch's factory worker named Sam
Was found stealing. He went on the lam;
Tried escaping through door
Of the Company Store.
Don't you know he got stuck in a jamb?

Moe-Ku:

A Wild West lawman
Had frequent indigestion.
His name? WYATT (urp)

Bill G said...

Thanks Irish Miss, CC and Gary. That was an enjoyable puzzle and writeup.

Rainman asked: "While I greatly appreciate you informing me... ", should it be corrected to "your informing me"?

My vote is yes. I learned that you use the possessive before a gerund though I think that rule is ignored in most informal speech these days. I'm sure you can search for it and find a thorough discussion on the GRAMMAR GIRL website.

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

Glad so many of you enjoyed the puzzle and your kind words are appreciated. It continues to surprise me how much I forget between the submission, acceptance, and publication time frame. I stumbled in a few places, believe it or not, mainly because of some clue changes by Rich. That's fine, though, because the solve wasn't a slam dunk.

Thanks, Gary, for your always-witty and wise write-up and the amazing number of visuals, especially darling Lily! 🐈 Well done! And thanks,CC, for another fun and successful collaboration, with you being the "Leading Lady."

CED, thanks for the cute canine clips! 🐶

YR, please wish Alan a very Happy Belated Birthday! 🎂🎉🎁🍾🎈

Have a great day.

AnonymousPVX said...

Nice puzzle today, the theme wasn't even noticeable, the best kind.

CanadianEh! said...

What a fun ride today. Thanks Agnes, C.C. and Husker Gary. I did get the theme although I had to change Sled Dog to LEAD DOG.
Straight-forward fill but SIMOLEON required perps.

CLE was a given after TOR Raptors were swept by LeBron's superior play!

I was telling Misty that she will benefit from the exchange rate when she visits Toronto.

We saw OUR Town at the Shaw Festival last summer. Very well acted. A very serious play that forces you to think about mortality and mindfulness.

Off to clean up the perennial flower beds on another sunny afternoon.
Enjoy the rest of the day.

Misty said...

Just a quick post to say Woohoo! Woohoo! An Irish Miss and C.C. puzzle--Yay! I loved it and got it all, although I had a bit of anxiety about the southeast corner. But a total delight. And great expo and pictures, Husker Gary--thank you too.

Michael said...

Dear Rainman:

" This is also a personal pet peeve when I see something like "While I greatly appreciate you informing me... ", should it be corrected to "your informing me"?"

You're right -- the only way I could make your first example work, was to parse it as "... the informing of me by you ...." This is a bit stilted.

OTOH, we may have reinvented the Ablative Absolute or the Invisible Instrumental in English!

PK said...

As a former newspaper editor, I probably would have rewritten the sentence to say, "While I greatly appreciate being informed by you" or "While I greatly appreciate your information..." or probably leave out the "greatly altogether". Or "Thank you for the information. Your input is very much appreciated." When in doubt, throw it out and rework the sentence.

Tinbeni at Library said...

WOW !!! What a great write-up for a wonderful C.C. & Irish Miss FUN puzzle.

Good Job Husker!

Fave today was ZEALOT for political reasons. So I won't say any more about that.

Cheers!

Argyle said...

Get your own lead dog Here.

Yellowrocks said...

Lucina, and PK, thank you for the support of Alan and me. The doctor sent us for a chest X-ray this afternoon to rule out pneumonia. Otherwise, it seems to be a bad cold. Alan has felt weak and miserable for two weeks without respiratory signs and has been absent from work. We though it was stress, but perhaps something was "brewing."
Thank you all for his birthday wishes.
Lucina, what a pain to lose your hard drive. Appliances and electronics seem to fail in batches.
YOUR is most often used with a gerund. YOU changes the meaning, as some have said. PK, I like your common sense editing. When I am in a quandary, sometimes reworking the sentence works better.
Chairman Moe, good luck in your move. No matter how nearby you move it is a real PIA. I liked your limerick about Sam. Very punny and multi-layered.
HG, I am glad that you are off the $300 meds. It seems to be good health-wise as well as financially. I hope the rest of your "parts" hold up. That applies to all of us seniors.
I liked Our Town and have seen it several times.
I fondly remember the TV crime series from the 1950's, such as Hioghway Patrol, Dragnet, Boston Blackie, The Naked City, and Mike Hammer.

Rainman said...

Thanks to each of you that helped me with the grammar question. That incorrect phrase came out of the Orange Führer's termination letter to the FBI director. At least he didn't fire him with a Tweet nor across a conference room table. And I suppose this issue will continue as a minor annoyance to many. Thanks again.

One thing I like about this site is that you are all exceptionally gifted. Thanks too for the hint to use Grammar Girl. I look forward to checking it out. Best to all.

Spitzboov said...

Rainman - I agree your and other's gerund analysis. Tricky one. However we should be mindful not to allude to politics in a citation, as specified in the 'Leave your comment' section.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Another great IDEE from Agnes & C.C. The North was done before I stopped for a second sip of coffee. I shouldn't a' stopped, the South went more slowly. Thanks you two

Nice Expo HG - LOL'd re: pic of the rider clip'd into his PEDALs; been there done that* :-)

WO: LEaCH
ESPs: MORAN; SIMOLEON (learning moment!); LETO
Sparkle: ZEALOT, PETE (as clue'd), clue for CAW was alliterative

On TRAD, NO SIR, I didn't like it :-)

Fav: Com'on, considering the theme, how can you not love WOOLF :-)
Runner-up, Rotate 39d -90deg and ANG falls into YANG.

{B+ and thanks for firedog info} {cute, :-)}

D-O: LOL! ADT == manufacturers of yard signs! They are about as useless as LifeLock.

Rainman - when in doubt change it up... "While I greatly appreciate the info,..." :-)
I do agree with "your informing," though IANAEP**, I just married one.

BunnyM - funny re: DOGS sulking; they know don't they? MIL's dog would get "mad" when left overnight and would take all the shoes out of the closet and pile them in the
living-room. Have fun! - send us an ePostCard for our E-READERS!

Cheers, -T
*On the MS150 I was pulling into the gravel-"paved" lunch stop. This was my 1st time with clips on a long ride (50mi to lunch and I rode non-stop). Bunched-up we stopped quickly... Guess who forgot to un-clip? I limped over to the Team-lunch tent with a bloodied leg - it looked worse that it was but got me an immediate chair :-)
**I Am Not An English Professor

Wilbur Charles said...

I was just agreeing completely when I saw the reply. It gets better on the second reading.

Anonymous T said...

Refresh b/f post -T! How many times b/f I learn?...

Rainman - OK, so changing it up won't help you...; but I have to agree w/ | add to Spitz - some of us may agree and some of us my not... Save the poli-colour for another blog Mate.

YR - Happy belated to Alan; I had it in my notes and yet again forgot. Lucina's right - Mother of the Year.

C.Moe - I feel you re: move. Did you know, 3 Moves == 1 FIRE? So consider a third of your shit gone (it's your shit, my shit is stuff) :-). [full Carlin bit]. C, -T

Jayce said...

Good puzzle! Well worth 42.5 SIMOLEONS.

Jayce said...

BunnyM, would your dog Albus be a "Velcro" Vizsla?

Anonymous T said...

Making Argyle work says:*

Jayce! Now I (think I) know SIMOLEON!!! Thanks. I always thought it was pronounced 'Simole' (?). Dad use'ta say that [or shekels] when referring to money. So, based on you using 42.5, One Clam = 1 SIMOLEON = 1¢; 8bits = 1USD; where a bit = 1/2 $0.25 = 12.5¢. You paid 3bits for the puzzle.

Am I close or not? - they say it's 1USD.

Cheers, -T
*Sorry Argyle; I did the math and then re-re-read what Jayce actually said 2x...

Anonymous T said...

Oh, hell - nevermind... That'd be 37.5¢=3bits; so much for my arithmetic :-). Now where the heck did you get 42.5? -T

Wilbur Charles said...

I slipped this one in earlier before lunch at the golden corral. Golf at the players is on so I'll add my prediction: Jason. Ok. Dufner. The other night Triplett was featured and he was asked for his favorite CD: Rush, 2112. That's a QOD to this blog.
Oh. The xword. Cruised thru, knew there'd be a theme, finally noticed Agnes and CC from the cluing. My big problem is Minnie Bottoms syndrome*. I put answers in the wrong columns, misread the questions and with CC got fooled.

I see a word like gerund and I shudder. I knew YR would straighten that one out. Talk about right in one's wheelhouse.

How'd that song go: we're sure gonna miss ya when you're gone chairman Ku. A shudder runs through the blog at the thought that Wilbur will sub for the l'ick and just. Speaking of...

$130/day? Hmmm. I think I got$60 in Nashua until Sgt Flashback showed up.

WC

* Minnie Bottoms is a bridge character who mistakes Kings for Jacks
Speaking of the funnies page. LuAnn was great today in case you missed it.

Bon soir

Wilbur Charles said...

A good example of Minnie Bottoms syndrome is Bunny's sentence on $-Mxn peso conversion: I thought she was talking about Camera pixels.

So I was cruising east through Canada with Phil when he was 13 and I have to get off for one last Tim Hortons"rush". And I'm in hopeless tourists traffic. I find this obscure bridge. It's the bridge Tarzan used to cross that NIGER River. Except it didn't actually have ropes. And I had my height phobia still. Phillip thinks this is as droll as shaking the Ferris wheel at Santa's village.

What was my other story? Hmm.

G'night

Picard said...

Thanks for the excellent write-up Husker Gary. The dog illustrations were helpful as I was unfamiliar with FIRE DOG, RED DOG and STATE DOG. Interesting history of ADT history, too!

Never heard of SIMOLEON. Funny for a slang word to have twice as many syllables as the word it replaces!

Tomorrow my fiancee and I will be getting married!