google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday May 24, 2017 C.C. Burnikel

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May 24, 2017

Wednesday May 24, 2017 C.C. Burnikel

Theme: CONNECTS THE DOTS ( 37. Makes sense of a situation ... and, literally, what the quartet of answers to starred clues does) - DOT spans across each theme entry.

18A. *Submarine weapon launcher : TORPEDO TUBE

20A. *Catchall phrase : AND OTHERS

53A. *Martial arts maneuver : JUDO THROW.  For a ground finish.

57A. *Guacamole source : AVOCADO TREE

Hello everyone and welcome.  Boomer here, live from Minnesota.  No 300's to report, no hole in one to brag about. 
Across:       

1. "No great shakes" : MEH - Questionable word

4. Croque madame meat : HAM- Almost a backward 1-Across.


7. Red Cross supply : PLASMA

13. Often hoppy brew : ALE

14. "The Reader" actress Lena : OLIN

16. Yell : HOLLER - Give a holler for the Minnesota Twins.  First place in the AL Central.  But it's a long season.

17. Vote of support : YEA - Just a fancy word for "Yes".  I think Congress invented it, or made it up. 

22. Pyeongchang's peninsula : KOREA - I cannot figure out how so many men and women from South Korea make a fortune in the U.S. playing golf, while North Korea spends its time and money on weapons.

23. Parts of hearts : ATRIA

24. Satisfied sighs : AAHS

26. Find a place for : USE

27. Country that shares a 3,300-mile border with Argentina : CHILE - I have a golf buddy named Jorge who is from Chile.  Great guy and a good bowler as well.

29. Quiet time at day care : NAP

32. iPhone talker : SIRI

34. Small battery size : AAA - overused in crosswords, but sometimes you need three vowels back to back to back.

35. Works on one's plumage : PREENS

40. "Anchors __" : AWEIGH - I learned something, I always thought it was Anchors Away.  Now I wonder what aweigh means ??

41. Leaves for socials? : TEA - Another frequent crossword filler

42. Sweater, usually : KNIT - Is a knitting needle a Knit Pick ?

43. Legal profession : BAR - the legal exam is a bar.

44. Mocha's land : YEMEN- When I see coffee, I think of Brazil - but yes, Yemen produces mocha coffee.

46. Bespectacled friend of Snow White : DOC - Did you know that Dwarfs and Dwarves are both accepted plurals of Dwarf.  Doc is the only one of seven who is not named with an adjective.  If you did not know this important fact of life, you may be Dopey.

47. Bun or beehive : UPDO - I cannot believe this is a word.

48. Praline piece : PECAN - Remember Jimmy Carter?  He and Miss Lillian raised pecans in Plains, Georgia. Not sure if he made as much money as when he was President, but he never called anyone a nut. 

50. "I __ thought of that" : HADN'T

59. Cleanup hitter's stat : RBI. Here I am in uniform for the Hopkins Babe Ruth League age 13 or 14. In my 15-year-old year, Honeywell no longer sponsored and my team became Hopkins Merchants. I think I was #10 Center Drug.


60. Illuminated like some domed structures : TOP-LIT

61. Crumb carriers : ANTS- spend their lives under hills. 

62. Told too often, as a joke : OLD - Reminds me of Milton Berle who told the same jokes for years.

63. Snarky expressions : SNEERS

64. East, in Munich : OST - I was in Munich once.  Oktoberfest 1969. Never liked the taste of beer, but still had a good time.  

65. Short shirt : TEE - No Way - Tee Shirts are not short. 

Down:

1. Early Yucatán dweller : MAYA- I would have clued "Miss Moore of the Minnesota Lynx".

2. Justice Kagan : ELENA - Supreme woman of the high court!

3. Eye candy : HEAD-TURNER - Atlanta Braves owner

4. Eye candy : HOTTIE

5. Wahine welcome : ALOHA - A bit generic.  Wahine is a woman, normally a girlfriend or a wife

6. Swampy ground : MIRE

7. Prof.'s degree : PHD - A PHD is a doctor of Philosophy.  Why is it not DPH ?

8. "Listen to me!" : LOOK HERE - When I was in Tennessee, many of the good old boys would say "Lookie here".

9. Choir voices : ALTOS - Sopranos never fits.  I was a Bass. Not a fish. 

10. Disparaging remark : SLUR

11. "Don't Let __ Lonely Tonight": James Taylor : ME BE

12. General vicinity : AREA - Ground that Byron Buxton covers in center field.  "Put me in coach, I'm ready to play--Today". John Fogarty

15. "TED Radio Hour" broadcaster : NPR 

19. Morales of "NYPD Blue" : ESAI - Constructors love those four letter names with three vowels.

21. Family name of three popes : ORSINI - I'll take your word for this

25. Greek leader? : ALPHA - Second letter is BETA.  I have also found it interesting that  ALPHABET is our word for the whole bunch

27. Laser pointer chaser : CAT

28. Quickness : HASTE

29. Crayola shade similar to Atomic Tangerine : NEON CARROT - Amazing!  When I was a kid we had red blue green yellow orange purple, etc.

30. Opposing : ANTI

31. Wordless whisper : PSST

32. Wound covering : SCAB - Never liked this word.  BandAid did not fit.

33. Skunk River state : IOWA - Somewhere south of me.  Land of pork and corn - yum.

34. Needed a massage : ACHED

36. Subject of the musical "Mayor" : ED KOCH - presided at Simon and Garfunkel's Concert in the (Central) Park.

38. Carrier to Cairo : EGYPTAIR - I wonder if they overbook and drag people off their planes.

39. Much-used base : TEN - I would clue "Number of pins in a rack".

45. Magic spell : MOJO

46. Not fancy at all : DETEST - For those of you who might detest this puzzle, Take up Golf and see how you like that.

47. "I give!" : UNCLE - I wonder if pro wrestlers hollered this when caught in a four figure leg lock.

48. Keats and Yeats : POETS -  He's a poet but he don't know it, but his feet show it--- they're long fellows.

49. Highborn : NOBLE - We have a "Noble Avenue" a half mile from our house.  I think you have to be a Duke or Earl to live there.

50. They're sometimes felt : HATS

51. Mary Kay rival : AVON

52. Lowdown : DOPE - Finally, and adjective for me preparing this blog.

54. Actress Hagen : UTA

55. Beijing-born Bond villain : DR NO - Roger Moore, RIP

56. Off-target : WIDE - An adjective for my golf shots.

58. Rehab hurdle : DTS

Boomer


Notes from C.C.: 
 
1) The Sixth Minnesota Crossword Tournament will be held at the beautiful Landmark Center in Saint Paul on Sunday, June 11, 2017. 

Constructors include Christopher Adams, George Barany, Victor Barocas (also our editor), David Hanson, Andy Kravis, Mark McClain, Andrea Carla Michaels, David Liben-Nowell, Tom Pepper, Andrew J. Ries and our own Jeffrey Wechsler, who's flying to MN again this year to help the tournament. Hope to see some of you there.

2) Indie 500 Crossword Tournament will take place on June 3, 2017. Angela Olson Halsted is PuzzleGirl who used to run the LA Confidential blog.

2) To foodies on our blog, hope you check out "The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods", co-authored by Liz Alpern, daughter of the great Mike Alpern, who organizes the annual Cru Dinner. Liz appeared on the cover of last month's Hadassah Magazine. What fish is that?


45 comments:

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks to C.C. and hubby!

Didn't know HAM, ED KOCH or NEON CARROT. But everything filled in nicely.

AWEIGH means free of the bottom.

A neighbor (new to block) is demanding $200 because he had someone lop off a branch of one of my trees that was hanging in his yard. (Fellow too dumb to get a very useful chainsaw.) Afraid he will poison my dog if I do not pay, or something equally obnoxious. He is an immigrant, I gather.

No dinner for three days. Harv away. Sob.

Have a good day!

OwenKL said...

FIR, but ORSINI, not medIcI?! NEON CARROT? (But catchy, I like it!) My LW has TEEs so long she uses them as nightgowns! Short sleeved maybe, but a crop-top is short! Ah well, all those are just nits.

The reveal across the center meant I read it before I'd even tried to guess the theme, but it would have been obvious enough anyway, I think.

Orsini include popes Celestine III (1191–1198), Nicholas III (1277–1280), and Benedict XIII (1724–1730).
Medici produced Popes Leo X (1513–1521), Clement VII (1523–1534), and Leo XI (1605).

{C.}

He was a DOPE, but he took to the law, though.
Passed the BAR, learned a legal JUDO THROW.
Once a clerk went to PREEN,
Found him made up in green!
He explained, he'd been appointed Devil's AVOCADO!

TTP said...



Good morning all. Thank you Mr and Mrs Burnikel. A bona fide tag team today !

I liked this puzzle and successfully connected all the dots.

Favorite clue was "Not fancy at all" for DETEST, followed by "Works on one's plumage" for PREENS.

Boomer, it was Little League to Pony League, and then on to Colt League for us.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Wanted AND SO FORTH, but it wouldn't fit, not to mention wrong. Don't know in what corner of my cranium it lurks, but ORSINI came bubbling up. Lena OLIN evokes Chocolat for me. Enjoyed it, C.C., and nice recap, Boomer.

I thought Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer.

Boomer, I always took it to mean that the full weight of the anchor was on the chain. That happens once the anchor clears the bottom. But that could be totally wrong.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Like TTP, my favorite clue was "not fancy at all". Erased aorta for atria (odd, since I knew that aorta isn't part of a heart, and even odder as I have atrial fibrillation), "wish I" for HADNT, and Inca for MAYA. Don't know much about crayons or popes, and the only mocha I know is overpriced coffee.

Where I'm from, "HOLLER" is a valley; flatlanders say "hollow".

Never too late to add congrats and best wishes to Bill and Barbara from yesterday. Health scares can put everything else into prospective.

Thanks to Mr. and Mrs CC for a fun Wednesday. Best puzzle so far this week, IMO.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Boomer and friends. Interesting puzzle with lots of fun clues.

My favorite clue was Leaves for Socials = TEAS. Another favorite was They're Sometimes Felt = HATS.

I was sure that Law was the Legal Profession.

I'm not up on all the surnames of the Popes, but I knew several members of the Medici family served as Pope. Can anyone name the ORSINI Popes?

QOD: We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. They do not exist. ~ Queen Victoria. (May 24, 1819 ~ Jan. 22, 1901)

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. thank you, Boomer, for a fine review.

Extensive write-ups, Boomer. Thanks.

AWEIGH means just clear of the bottom. I knew it was spelled that way because I have played that song many times.

Caught the theme pretty much after I was done.

Had a problem getting DETEST at 46D from the clue. Must be I am not thinking right. "Not fancy at all."

I love PECANs. And, pretty much any other nuts.

SIRI is fun to listen to when a question arises. I did not know I had that feature on my phone and my grandson showed it to me. I am never to old to learn.

Supposed to rain again here in NE Illinois today. I may work in my garden anyway. Rain or shine.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Big Easy said...

Super fast fill today. ORSINI- I'll take your word for it. That, and HAM, ED KOCH, and NEON CARROT were perped.

Did I CONNECT THE DOTS? No. My wife says that I can never 'connect the dots'. I tell her don't give me hints; tell me what you want.

Boomer- Crayola never called their purple 'purple'. It always annoyed me when I was young that they named it VIOLET. And when I was a kid it seems that every classroom only had one or two boxes of crayons.

fermatprime- tell your neighbor that it was HIS decision, not yours. His cost, not yours. My son had a similar situation where his neighbor's huge oak was hanging over his cars. He informed his neighbor that he was cutting everything hanging over his property. It cost him $1,000.00 but no limbs fell on his cars again.

Yellowrocks said...

I didn't find the theme until near the end of the solve. Its cleverness made me realize it was a CC puzzle. Great job!
YEA: The earliest form of the word was recorded in writing in the year 731, according to the OED, which makes it nearly 1,300 years old! yea
Phrase finder agrees with DO. "The word 'aweigh' or, as it was often spelled in early citations, 'a-weigh', is now only used in this little phrase. An anchor that is aweigh is one that has just begun to put weight onto the rope or chain by which it is being hauled up. Sailors were fond of adding 'a' to words to make new ones, for example, 'astern', 'aboard', ashore', 'afloat', 'adrift', 'aground', etc."
I knew croque monsieur had ham in it. I learned this from historical novels. So I guessed that croque madame did also, which turns out to be a croque monsieur with an egg on top. We served a similar Monte Cristo (no egg) where I waitressed.
sandwich
Those who answer arguments with a SLUR must not be able to think of an intelligent comeback.
Big Easy, I am with you. Just come out and say what you mean. Don't expect me to connect the dots.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-A lovely time with both members of the Burnikel household. They may have to confer on the cluing for TEE. :-)
-Every C.C. puzzle has enough ingenuity to entertain and be MEHLESS
-DOT stood out even to me and I wondered how the reveal would be worded
-I’ll take Ironic Answers for $1,000 Alex. “The answer is DOC” “What do you call the person who graduated at the bottom of his med school class?”
-My former friend not only kept telling the same old racist JOKES, he laughed uproariously every time he finished.
-Isn’t using FANCY as a verb more common in Britain?
-My lovely bride fancies the occasional game of “Can you guess what I’m thinking?” The answer is seldom YEA.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

What a great way to start the day, I say! A CC offering and a Boomer oratory! This wasn't easy by any means but, as usual, the perps were right there to get me to the Tada. I had never/hadn't and needed perps for neon carrot and Orsini. Ham was slow in surfacing for some unknown reason and Olin/Olen always trips me up. There was some great clues/fill and surprise, surprise (NOT), a clever, fresh theme. Even after reading the reveal, I kept staring at the four theme entries, trying to figure out how they were connected. At first, I thought the Torpedo tube and And Others were connected, somehow, as was Judo throw and Avocado tree. It took several minutes for the penny to drop: Aha, D O T S!

Thanks, CC, for another fun and challenging solve and thanks, Boomer, for the witty write-up. You brought some sunshine into a dreary again, yet, still!) day.

I'm off to the ophthalmologist and those pain-in-the-neck dilating drops!

Have a great day.

Anonymous said...

For the term Anchor's Aweigh: Aweigh is when the anchor has broken ground and is taking tension on the anchor chain(just starting the lift to recover the anchor). :)

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Talk about a dynamic duo! And all in the family. Thanks for fun, C.C. & Boomer!

I forgot to look for the theme DOTs after the puzzle disappeared when I was almost done. I reconstructed it, finished and got outta there.

"Not fancy at all" wasn't "plain" but DETEST which took me a minute to adjust my mind to British when I might have expected Chinese from C.C.

Never heard of Croque Madame -- sounds like she's choking to death. HAM was a WAG because it was the only 3-letter meat I could think of.

Love the picture of young Boomer who doesn't really look thrilled to wear that uniform.

MAYA was a gimmee thanks to 2 exchange students we had from Yucatan one summer. Both had Mayan blood heritage.

Never heard of TED. Never listened to NPR. I like silence.

Hand up for MedIcI before ORSINI. Also hand up for misspelling AWay all these years. I did know they "WEIGH anchor" and leave from reading sea novels.

"They're sometimes felt": Tried HAnd before HATS. I was mentally picturing a groper.

Lucina said...

Fun! Fun! Fun! We have not only C.C.'s brilliant puzzle but Boomer's witty commentary for a Wednesday family affair.

As soon as DOTS appeared at the end of 37A I filled in the phrase. Clues I really liked were leaves for socials, TEA, not fancy at all, DETEST, and they're sometimes felt, HATS.

Medici came to mind before ORSINI. I also thought President Carter was a peanut farmer.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love guacamole?

Have a splendid day, everyone!

MJ said...

Good day to all!

Fun puzzle today. Did not know Croque Madame,but as PK said, HAM was the only three letter meat I could think of. Thought "They're sometimes felt" for HATS was clever. "Not fancy at all" for DETEST took awhile as I was parsing "fancy" as an adjective. Thank you, C.C. and Boomer, for an enjoyable solve and great write-up.

Enjoy the day!

TTP said...



Who said, "I was going to give her a piece of felt for her birthday, but I didn't know if she wanted felt or not." ? Was that a Rodney Dangerfield line ? Henny Youngman ?

Anonymous said...

Fun puzzle and great write-up! Took a while to suss out lowdown as in "the scoop" and not lowdown dirty dog. Also, 46d - not fancy as in ..not like. Both good clues! 1d- clue is singlular isn't it? So answer should be too? JB2

C6D6 Peg said...

Thanks, C.C., and Boomer, for a fun Wednesday offering and write-up. Theme was cute, but took a while to get.

Thanks the the Burnikel's for all you do on this blog!

TX Ms said...

Fermatprime, I agree with Big Easy re the tree. In Texas, legally any tree limbs/vegetation hanging over your property/fence line is fair game for cutting and your responsibility for costs in removing them. Don't know if that is on the books in your state. You might want to Google your state's laws and print the page and show him if that would help. My sincere condolences to you - he sounds like he's going to be a real PITA (pain in the ...)

Enjoyed the puzzle - lots of twisting and fun clues - hat, detest, tee. Perps to the rescue on Orsini.

Dynamic duo - The Burnikels - enjoyed equally the clues and write-up.

CrossEyedDave said...

!st,my apologies for posting before reading,

2nd, Excellent, Excellent, theme for a puzzle!

3rd, I got side tracked at "Croque Madame."
(never heard of it...)
Being Cross Eyed Dave, I get sidetracked easily...
(my friends get used to it...)
Wow! it is one sexy meal!

Oh well, before I continue reading the rest of the Blog,
I think I will make a ham sandwich for lunch (to enjoy?) while reading.

Hmm, I think I have finally learned the meaning of Meh!

(Can I ever eat a plain ham sandwich again?)

Argyle said...

Lest we forget our old friend, ATRIP:

As adjectives the difference between atrip and aweigh is that atrip is (nautical|of an anchor) just clear of the ground while aweigh is just drawn out of the ground, and hanging perpendicularly.

Yellowrocks said...

Canadian Eh, from yesterday, here is our favorite

Miso salmon recipe.

Preheat broiler. Spray the pan with PAM.
For sauce combine ¼ cup white (mild) miso, 4 tsp. rice vinegar, 2 tsp minced fresh ginger.
Broil salmon 5 minutes. (If the salmon has skin on it I broil it 1 minute and remove the skin and then broil it 4 minutes more.)
Top with half the sauce and broil 1 minute.
Turn and cover with remaining sauce, broil 3 or 4 minutes or so until done, depending on the thickness.
I like mine served on top of rice because the sauce flavors the rice so well.


desper-otto said...

Argyle, I just looked it up. I found several instances where "aweigh" is listed as a synonym for "atrip."

TEE -- a short word for a shirt.

CrossEyedDave said...

So, we have sailors to blame for all these "A" words...

Still trying to connect the dots...

Fermat, the say fences make good neighbors, but I think it's the shrubbery...

CrossEyedDave said...

Also, what the hell happened to politics?

I miss Ed Koch.

Hungry Mother said...

A bit crunchy today, but got through it. The clue for DETEST was just great.

??? said...

Apparently I failed DETEST. I didn't understand it.

Jayce said...

Nifty puzzle; some brilliant clues and original fill. Well made.

Bill G, add me to the list of us who are happy that your Barbara is out of the woods. That ole Damocles sword is a real stressor! Glad it's gone.

So, does anybody here know anything about the Kia Sorento or Hyundai Santa Fe Sport? Are they good vehicles?

Best wishes to you all.

Trubrit said...

I must say I enjoy all your comments almost as much as doing the puzzle.
I enjoyed todays CW but absolutely could not get "Never"(50a) out of my head, even though I knew Mary Kay rival had to be Avon.
Got my Tada moment whenI filled in 'uncle'.
Off to Palm Springs on Friday for a long weekend to celebrate my daughter's birthday.

Misty said...

It doesn't get any better than this--does it? A C.C. puzzles with lots of clever mis-directions and a funny, delightful Boomer write-up! Yay! And, thank goodness, I got the whole thing even after many of the false starts others have already reported (e.g. AORTA before ATRIA). The one that threw me especially was putting LAW instead of BAR at first. But at least I got PH.D. (might have lost mine if I hadn't). In the end I got it all, and found all the theme dots--great fun! Many thanks to you both!

Have a great middle of the week, everybody!

desper-otto said...

Jayce, CU gave the Kia Sorrento an 82 and said it was "among our top-scoring midsized SUVs." The Hyundai Santa Fe Sport rated a 75...not as good in the crash test, and rear visibility was so-so. Both have a comfortable ride and quiet interior.

UAAlum72 said...

Yellowrocks and Dave, it wasn't just sailors adding "a-", it's a remnant of Old and Middle English, a reduced form of a preposition meaning on, of, or in.
see Dictionary.com http://www.dictionary.com/browse/a-
an old point-action prefix, not referring to an act as a whole, but only to the beginning or end: She arose(rose up). They abided by their beliefs (remained faithful to the end).

Its use often sounds archaic nowAdays.

AnonymousPVX said...

Kind of another easy one today. Again, the gimmick theme was unneeded and unobtrusive.

46D "not fancy at all " i.e., not like at all, fancy = like, not fancy, not like, detest.

CrossEyedDave said...

I dunno,
this puzzle got me on a cooking frenzy...

What started at Croque madame, led to how to make buffet style omelets
with this guy. I really like him, he says,"if I can do it, you can too..."
With a lesson on how to flip stuff in the pan. (I still can't do it...)

That led to egg rolls, (which actually have no fresh egg in them)
I dunno, the braised cabbage is intriguing, but I have second thoughts
on adding Garlic under such high heat.
(there is nothing worse than burnt garlic...)

But the final plating, with the sauce, ooohh...

Plus I like his mantra: Don't be afraid!
(Although the cognac would never have lasted long enough to reach the pot...)

Anyway, off to practice flipping stuff in a pan.
(I will be back after I clean the ceiling...)

TINBENI at the Library said...

C.C. Thank you for a FUN Wednesday puzzle. My "New Favorite Puzzle of 2017."

Boomer: Excellent write-up. Good Job!

Fave today was 50-d, They're sometimes felt, HATS.
Though there were many, many, clever clues and answers.

Cheers!

Jayce said...

desper-otto, thanks.

Ol' Man Keith said...

C'mon! Really! - who made it a rule that popes' family names must all be six letters long? First we went with BORGIA, then had to try MEDICI - before a forced landing on ORSINI. ORSINI? "Little bear"? It's maybe the least known, even if among the more common, of papal monikers.

Hahtoolah, you asked for someone to name the ORSINI popes. Check with OwenKL. Was there a mention of a reward?

Otherwise a solid and worthy Wednesday pzl from our own C.C.! Some tricky cluing added delight - as with 47D and 50D. Boomer adds a crisp commentary and looks ready for action in uniform!

OwenKL said...

The Borgias produced only two Popes: Alfons de Borja, who ruled as Callixtus III (1455–1458), and Rodrigo Lanzol Borgia, as Alexander VI (1492–1503).

Lemonade714 said...

Enjoyed the double header today with C.C. and Boomer WEES, very fun. My day has been once again dedicated to doctors. Not encouraging when they do not agree.

Meanwhile, since Kia is owned by Hyundai, the rating is puzzling. OTOH I have enjoyed my KIA Optima very much. Good luck.

Thank you B and C.C.

Lucina said...

Another Borgia, though his surname is different, was Innocent X (Giovanni Battista Pamphilji) 1574-1655, was the great, great, great grandson of Alexander VI, who as Owen noted, was a Borgia.

There have been 267 popes, so the options are almost unlimited!

Wilbur Charles said...

First. Owen, I (G)reatly enjoyed your l'ick of the day.
As I enjoyed the Wed xword and Boomer's write-up.
The DOTs came in handy for AVOCADO TREE I do not FANCY, in fact I heartily DETEST all things avocado.

WC

Yellowrocks said...

UAAlum72, interesting article about a words. Thanks. I seem to be in the minority here of those who like a words.
Lemonade, that is frustrating. I hope you can resolve it soon. My bil has the same experience all the time. Alan finds doctors saying that the symptoms are in another doctor's speciality. Then that doctor points back to the first doctor.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Late today... I got out the puzzle and Pop pop'd his head in. "Work before play, grab that hammer." The OL' Man worked me like a rented-mule (on my own house!). We fixed doors, changed light fixtures and other minor chores. We never got out the power tools (except drill) and fixed every door-strike in the (crooked) house with hammer&chisel so they all now latch. Then I built a pasta-salad, and we grilled burgers and brats.

Abejo - You'd like my dad; like you he can't stay still and gets more done in a day than most do in a week.

Thanks C.C. for my after-work play-time (yeah, dad's in bed :-)). This was a fun puzzle only trainted by names that I'd no clue of (UTA, ORSINI, OLIN) that really held up my solve (ESP. The Pope-people!). I echo WEES on the great mis-direction clues!

Boomer - You "complete" C.C. :-). Great Expo. I was expecting HG or JzB and realized early on it was your style.

WOs: law b/f BAR, info b/f DOPE; before I got MEH (NW was my last area to fill) I put in bEE - thinking PK would get some BEEF CAKE HOTTIE - and then counted letters... Ooops.
ESPs: Names and USE; I wasn't thinking along employment-lines. 'We can USE you'; 'find a place for you' and kept thinking of where I was going to put the new toys I got from the hardware store at the clue.

{A+}. Funny OKL.

CED - here's a burger for you... 1/8" X 1/8" chopped onion, garlic, bell pepper sautéed; let cool. Add to ground beef + salt & pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and mix. Grill baby, grill. 2lb meat == 6 man-burgers.

Everyone who dug into AWEIGH - thanks. I, like boomer, thought it was away. I HADNT thought to look that up before.

Have a good night.

Cheers, -T

Bill G said...

You may remember that I'm a fan of Sofia Vergara. She was on Jimmy Fallon. He talked her into speaking after inhaling helium. Funny!

Sofia Vergara

Anonymous T said...

I'm not sure how I stumbled upon Kyle Escen but that's his TED talk. Funny stuff; a magic act that's more than. -T