google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, June 30, 2017, Dave Cuzzolina & Patti Varol

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Jun 29, 2017

Friday, June 30, 2017, Dave Cuzzolina & Patti Varol

Title: Add a letter - find an animal

Well it seems that we have a new Patti Varol (Rich's assistant) mentee debuting on a Friday. The gimmick is simple but I have not seen it before. The adding a letter to a word to make it into an animal related fill is skillfully done. CATTITUDE is my favorite and LAMBITION, not so much, but they are all good. We also have some nice fill like  HOME ICE,  MAUGHAM,  ANTIQUE, SATSUMA, CURSIVE and AS I SAID.

Since Ms. Varol is Rich's assistant, I wonder how many clues were changed? Well let's see what was left.

17A. Know-nothing swine? : PIGNORAMUS (10). Do people say Ignoramus any more? I guess so; LISTEN at your own risk.

22A. Puppet's desire to manipulate Shari Lewis for a change? : LAMBITION (9). This takes knowing LAMB CHOP was her lead sock puppet.

35A. Sass from a young lion? : CATTITUDE (9). I leave this for CED to go wild with.

51A. Lazy lady's man? : SLOTHARIO (9). Yes this is REAL.

58A. Cephalopod wizard's game? : SQUIDDITCH (10). The only one that has no google life. It is a portmanteau of SQUID and QUIDDITCH.

Finding five which could be placed symmetrically was great.


Across:

1. Actress Kaczmarek or Krakowski : JANE. It took me a minute, but I think the first was from Malcolm in the Middle and the latter from Ally McBeal and 30 Rock.

5. Friends abroad : AMIS. French.

9. Resigned words : AH ME.

13. Chihuahua cheers : OLES. Chihuahua, Mexico.

14. Point of view : SLANT.

15. Creep : TOAD. Not a meaning I know.

16. Woodshop tools : SAWS.

19. "Conan" channel : TBSTurner Broadcasting System.

20. Baja vacation spot : CABO. Both spring breakers and high end travelers go HERE.

21. Co-owner of the Pequod : PELEG. I do know my Moby Dick. But is he FUNNY?

25. Yale founder Yale : ELIHU. Hence Eli.

27. Come to light : EMERGE.

28. Cry of fright : EEK.
or 18D. Raise a stink? : REEKGame of Thrones?

30. GoPro product, briefly : CAMera.

31. Before thou know'st : ANON. Popular Shakespeare word.

32. The teensiest bit : A TAD.

34. One filling in : TEMP. Temporary help.

38. Conceal : MASK. The movie?

41. Piano recital piece, e.g. : SOLO.

42. Marine predator : ORCA.

45. Lead-in to roll or spree : ON A.

46. Moll's leg : GAM. Two words from the gangster world; moll has meant gangster's girlfriend since the 1500's. Gam appeared in the 30's.

47. Fast entry : IN RUSH.

49. Mink relative : OTTER. I knew this, not sure why.

54. Long Island airport town : ISLIP. I flew into Islip with my wife two years ago on our trip to my childhood haunts.

56. __ Domani: Italian wine brand : ECCO. Where is Chairman Mao, our wine expert?
57. Issuer of nine-digit ID nos. : SSA.

60. Tale spinner : LIAR.

61. Sport whose champions are called "yokozuna" : SUMO. A great MATCH featuring two champions.

62. CoverGirl competitor : ALMAY.

63. Car rental giant : AVIS. We use this more often than Hertz.

64. Suckling spot : TEAT. Oh My!

65. Come off as : SEEM.

66. Formally relinquish : CEDE.

Down:

1. Elbow one's way : JOSTLE.

2. "To Kill A Mockingbird" setting : ALABAMA. Have any of you read the sequel?

3. Ones turning in stories : NEWSMEN.

4. Small opening? : ESS. The S starting Small.

5. "I was home alone," perhaps : ALIBI. That is not much of an alibi.

6. Myopic Mr. : MAGOO.

7. Roadside retreat : INN.

8. "Knock it off!" : STOP. My father said that often in the 50's.

9. One bit : AT ALL. I used say that so much in the 70's and 80's.

10. Hockey advantage : HOME ICE. The cold version of home field advantage.

11. "The Razor's Edge" novelist : MAUGHAM. An interesting MOVIE as well.

12. Mad men? : EDS.

14. Flood : SPATE. I did not know this definition.

20. Aetna rival : CIGNA. Insurance giants.

23. Lou who stole 938 bases : BROCK. He was traded away by the Cubs. Sadly he has had one of his legs amputated.

24. "Sweet!" : NEATO.

26. One working at a base : UMP. Maybe Patti and CV.C. trade baseball stories.

29. Kin of gov : EDU.

32. Molecular particles : ATOMS.

33. Up to, briefly : TIL.

34. __ firma : TERRA. Latin for firm land - hence Earth.

36. Org. with body scanners : TSA.  And so much more now.

37. "Tiny Bubbles" singer : DON HO. From 50 years ago.

38. Farm sound : MOO.

39. It's not new : ANTIQUE.

40. Asian citrus fruit : SATSUMA. I have learned many new vegetables and fruits from my wife, including this mandarin orange type.

43. Gettysburg Address feature : CURSIVE.  Very deceptive. They do not even teach handwriting in schools now.

44. "Let me repeat myself ... " : AS I SAID.

46. Graph paper design : GRID. It was how puzzles were designed until the computer came along.

47. Like a mosquito bite : ITCHY.

48. Raspy : HOARSE.

50. "Adam Bede" novelist : ELIOT. This was George Eliot's first novel.

52. "Here, I'll do that" : LET ME.

53. Non-shaving razor name? : OCCAM. Of course this was easy for all.

55. BlackBerries, e.g. : PDAS. Personal Digital Assistant.

58. Former JFK lander : SST.

59. French landmass : ILE.

60. Fond du __, Wisconsin : LAC. I think John Lampkin should have had a bonus fill last week - Lake Winnebago!

We are done, as is the month of June. Some will have a long week-end for the 4th. Personally I am tired of being home, but these write-ups are fun. Have a safe and fun fourth! Lemonade out.


65 comments:

Bill G said...

Hi everybody! Well, this is a first for me. I didn't get up early enough to make the first post but I did stay up late enough. It's a big responsibility...

Thanks Dave, Patti and Lemon.

I'm too sleepy to have much to say except that I thought this was a great puzzle with a really good theme. SQUIDDITCH for goodness sake! Brilliant!

More later...

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thank to Dave, Patti and Lemonade!

Loved the theme!

Things that were not immediate: ISLIP, ECCO, SATSUMO and EDU. Don't get EDU. Help!

Have a great day!

fermatprime said...

That's "thanks." Duh.

Argyle said...

.gov, .edu

OwenKL said...

{A, B.}

An ORCA tried to feed upon an OTTER one fine day.
The otter thought he hadn't oughtter, and swiftly swam away!
Said the furred one, "Tho I play a lot
That doesn't mean I'm easy got.
If you want me for a dinner date, my otter ardor sway!"

JANE was a senorita from CABO San Lucas,
Who had a desire to gad with her suitcase.
But cars made her ITCHY,
And boats left her twitchy,
And flying was bad for her mucous!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Just popped in to wish our dear C.C. a very happy birthday. Hope all is well with everybody else!

Barry G. said...

Oh -- and thanks to everybody for the kind birthday wishes yesterday (which I just read)! It means a lot, believe me.

desper-otto said...

Good morning, and Happy Birthday, C.C.!

I liked this puzzle; the theme was so easy that even I got it. Yes, Lemon, IGNORAMUS is still in common usage, especially the last six months. My only over-write this morning was HIDE/MASK. Otherwise, this was a Friday quicky. Thanx, Dave and Patti.

Barry, good to see you. Drop in once in a while.

TTP said...


Puzzle seemed a bit on the easier side for a Friday.

Thank you Dave, Patti and Lemonade.

Happy Birthday CC ! You too Barry !

Anonymous said...

How 'bout "A bit of France" 'stead of "French landmass" for ILE?

Lemonade714 said...

Happy Birthday and many more C.C. and Barry G.

Off to doctor...

CrossEyedDave said...

Hah! Thought I had aced it!
(until I read the Blog, nuts!)

4d SSS (well small does start with S's...)
1a Jan"s" (Oh well, who Jane, me no Jane...)
20d"S"igna (20a Sabo? I know a Sabo, great guy to vacation with...)
40d Satsume/64a Teet? (hmm, looks like I bit off more than I could chew...)

Cattitude, hmm, believe it or not,
I have been saving this picture for about 4 years now,
just waiting for the right time to use it...


Happy Birthday CC! thought I would Snazz up the cake a little...

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-This took some time as per Lemon’s summation, plus I had to seek out my paper in the bushes
-I don’t remember Huntley and Brinkley having a SLANT
-My SLANT is that I do not find CONAN to be entertaining
-Note what occasional cwd visitor is rhymed with SPREE in this Cole Porter classic
-NEWS MEN/WOMEN were all over TV last night as baseball sized hail hit Omaha. I cringed when they spoke of car windows busted out instead of broken out. Am I in the minority?
-Awkward moment – We spent $80 on a beautiful Lou BROCK memorabilia display celebrating his 3,000th hit for my St. Louis Cardinal-crazy nephew and were disappointed when it did not make his Cardinal wall in his new house
-The UMP called grandson out on a pitch up in his eyes yesterday. AH ME…
-Lovely TIL(L) Then (2:18)
-CURSIVE as bad as mine
-My wife is the master of OCCAM’s razor. “Gary, maybe it’s not the remote but it’s the batteries!”
-I’m off to the Omaha Airport “Cell Phone Lot” to pick up granddaughter returning from D.C.

Yellowrocks said...

Happy birthday, dear CC. Thanks for all you do for the Corner. Happy birthday, Barry. I miss you. Please stop in from time to time.
Fast for a Friday. Lots of fun. Getting the gimmick at PIGNORAMIUS made all the theme fills easy and provided plenty of perps. I knew Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop.
I agree that IGNORAMUS has been used frequently these past six months.
I read Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman. I liked it even better than To Kill a Mockingbird. Great character development. Actually Go Set a Watchman was written first, submitted in the 1950's but not published until long after To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee was asked to rework it and so wrote To Kill a Mockingbird.

BunnyM said...

Good morning all

This was easier than most Fridays but still had some crunch. Loved the theme- thanks Dave and Patti!

Thanks Lemonade for being our faithful guide. I do use Ignoramus- what a great word. ( and had to Lol at desper-otto's comment)
"To Kill a Mockingbird " is one of my all time favorite books but I haven't read "Go Set a Watchman". I think because I don't want to ruin my view of Atticus; evidently the new novel paints him in a different light. I guess I'd rather remain oblivious and remember the original novel and the characters the way they were in it.

The animal theme was fun- no issue she other than having Pignorance for PIGNORAMUS. The NE corner was the toughest for me due to that and having Iota ( spelled Ioata - duh!) for ATALL and TOAD and MAUGHAM were slow coming to me. I can never remember PELEG. Finally got it all straightened out with HOMEICE and ELIHU.

My favorites were LAMBITION- daughter #2 loved Lambchop and Shari Lewis ( and "The MASK" - thanks for the clip, Lemonade. It brought back fun memories of watching it with her) and of course, SQUIDDITCH. For this Harry Potter fan, it was brilliant! Good timing, too as the 26th marked the 20th anniversary of the first book being published. Boy, does time fly!

Thanks perps for : ECCO, SUMO, SPATE, BROCK, SATSUMA and ELIOT. Good learning moments for me.

CURSIVE is a lost art form IMO. Sad that it's no longer being taught. I guess I'm old fashioned.

Nice to see you, Barry! Don't be a stranger :)

Irish Miss and Misty- thanks for your comments about Albus yesterday. He is such a sweet boy; the best dog we've ever had and we are blessed to have him. I imagine he had a rough life before we got him. It gives us a lot of joy to treat him like the prince he is :)
Misty -those fires sound scary! Stay safe- you and any others that are near them. I saw in the paper this morning that wild fires are in Arizona, California, Colorado and Utah.

Our beautiful weather is gone but it's not raining yet, just cloudy. I'll take it- it's a nice little break.
Hope everyone has a wonderful day and a safe holiday weekend.

BunnyM said...

Happy Birthday, C.C.! Thank you for all of your work. The blog and your puzzles are delightful. Hope you have a fabulous day :)

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Great puzzle today! Thanks Patti ad Dave. Just a little too tough for me though. Genied for JANE (never saw any of those shows, but do have a friend named Kaczmarek). I would have understood "megahit for Starship". Googled for MAUGHAM; again never heard of the book or author.

Erased adzs for SAWS, hide for MASK, PELEe, ELIas, cOARSE, and atom for A TAD (after I filled ATOMS at 32d). Lemony was right in his fine reveal - OCCAM is top-of-mind due to CW exposure. Unknowns were cephalopod, QUIDDITCH, yokozuna, and ALMAY.

Tin - Do you ever go see the Lightning on their HOME ICE in Tampa?

Am I the only one to welcome the demise of CURSIVE writing? I can barely write it, and can almost never read someone else's. I think I substituted printing after the third grade. I wanted to buy a very nice present for my DW one Christmas, but couldn't suss out the name of the store from their cursive logo on their newspaper ad. After the holidays I found out it was Lord and Taylor's.

Tomorrow will probably be too hard for me, but good skill to our more advanced solvers.

Yellowrocks said...

For me "Go Set a Watchman" makes Atticus seem even more heroic in "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Here is a man who grew up in the segregationist south and was a man of his times. The fact that he surmounted this upbringing and grew unto the righteous man he became is indeed heroic.
I, too, was disturbed that my icon was less than I had believed until I got well into the book. The growth of adult Scout was also compelling. After I finished the Watchman novel I realized that delving into Atticus's beginning and being informed by his later life in Mockingbird made him even more of an icon.
Atticus

MJ said...

Happy Birthday, C.C., and good day to all!

What a fun theme! PIGNORAMUS was my favorite. Unknowns were Lou BROCK and both JANEs. Thank you perps. In our local school district, cursive is still taught in the third grade. Some fourth and fifth grade teachers require its use. Personally, the only time I use cursive is to sign my name on a check or a contract. Thanks for the expo and links, Lemonade.

Enjoy the day!

CrossEyedDave said...

Pignoramus?

Lambition?

Slothario? Well, ya gotta luv it...

CrossEyedDave said...

Well, I give up!
I can't find a silly pic of a Squid on a broom...


Bonus link! Only $19.95 if you act now!

Anonymous said...

Fun but quick for a Friday puzzle. Got the theme with cattitude which helped the rest of the way. I wagged the intersection of 15a and 12d. Toad is an unknown meaning to me and I still don't get EDS - help? Maybe it's because I never watched Mad Men. Have a great Friday everyone! JB2

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

First order of the day is to wish our dear CC a very Happy Birthday and sincere wishes for many, many more! 🎂🎉🍾🎁🎈Hope your day is special.

I loved this oh-so clever theme, especially Cattitude (CED's bailiwick) and Pignoramus. Actually, they were all delightful! Slothario, indeed. I had Judo/Sumo and needed perps in a few areas but, overall, it was a relatively easy Friday. I thought Waugh was the author but then Maugham dawned on me.

Thanks, Dave and Patti, for ending June on a high not and thanks, Lemony, for the chatty commentary.

BunnyM ~ I share your dismay about the demise of cursive; I can't imagine not being able to read a hand-written document. I may be old-fashioned as well, but I fear our communicating skills are deteriorating in this digital world. (I still live in the "Palmer Method" world of beautiful handwriting.)

YR, ever since the book was published, I have been curious about the title, Go Set a Watchman: it seems vague, to me. Any thoughts?

Barry G, drop by more often and bring us up to date on Joshua.

Have a great day.

Spitfire said...

Nobody explained EDS for Mad Men.
Errctile disfunction would make me mad too. Is that it and is that why everyone avoided it. Or am I a dope.

Irish Miss said...

That should be high note, not not! Sorry.

Irish Miss said...

JzB2 and Spitfire ~ The Mad is Mad magazine and the men refers to Editors, EDS, abbreviation.

Irish Miss said...

This is not my day! Autocorrect is getting turned off for good. Sorry, JB2.

C6D6 Peg said...

Thanks, Dave and Patti, for a great Friday! Fav was CATTITUDE. Fastest solve for a Friday in a while. Fun, fun, fun!

Thanks, Lemonade, for the write-up. Continue to get better and soon you'll be up and about.

CED - Loved the "Cattitude" pic. Perfect!

Last, but not least, Happy Birthday to C.C. Have a great day!

Anonymous said...

Irish Miss, no worries! Thanks for the explanation. I remember/know of Mad Magazine; just didn't make the connection. JB2

CrossEyedDave said...

Well,

You asked for it!

But how do you write the downs?

Stephen said...

My problem with 'Mad Men'? clue is simple. Usually, abbreviated clues mean abbreviated answers. Not so for this clue. A good puzzle nonetheless, even if a it easy for a Friday. Have a great weekend.

Lucina said...

A very happy birthday, dear C.C.! I hope it's spectacular for you. Boomer, make it so.

I agree this was quick for a Friday except for the NE quadrant where I did not recall MAUGHAM as the author of The Razor's Edge so that was Googled then all else fell in place.

Another w/o was HIDE then MASK became apparent and I was ON A roll. But then SQUIDDITCH beat me. I haven't read any of Harry Potter so didn't make the connection and SQUIDpITCH seem ok and failed to notice PPAS. PDAS are familiar to me though I don't use one.

Thank you Dave and Patti as well as Lemonade! Fine Friday fare today!

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Lucina said...

Stephen:
The ? indicates a variation of some kind.

Yellowrocks said...

Why is the book called Go Set a Watchman?. I think this Bible verse is used somewhere in the novel. Read the text paragraphs between the pictures below.
Why?

Irish Miss said...

YR @ 11:14 ~ Thanks to you, i'm no longer curious. (I suppose readers of the book would better understand its significance.)

CED, how about some canineitude? 🐶

desper-otto said...

CED@10:57 -- What is a SPRAWF?

john28man said...

Happy Birthday, C.C.!

CrossEyedDave said...

Irish Miss, You asked for it...

(HaHa, just kidding! I will be an VK next week, so I am getting my linkage out...)

Anywho, I had a whole line of links set up of my favorite scenes from
To kill A Mockingbird. (& lost them with a keyswipe...)
which is just as well, because, like most works of art, the beauty is in the beholder...

My favorite thing about To Kill A Mockingbird is that it is told in the view
of childlike innocence, and grows into adult reality...
(If only we could maintain that babe in the woods view of life...)

I was going to link other views,
Somber, sad views of our past,
(Leo Frank)
and decided not to.

Why do we have to relive the past to avoid repeating it...

CrossEyedDave said...

Desper-otto @ 12:52

Sprawf?

why I use that word every day trying to complete crossword puzzles...

Unknown said...

TADA>>> But Creep equal Toad ???..even after reading the explanations I have know idea why eds equals mad men. I watched the first episode of series and couldn't stand the continuous smoking. My parents both smoked and I had bronchitis and recurrent ear infections. My doctor didn't make the connection but I did when I was 9 ! I have been an anti smoking zealot ever since. My dad finally quit when he was fifty...mom when she got cancer.
I LOVED PIGNORAMUS !!!

.edu is the internet address for educational institutions. I think even for profit schools can use it. .mil can only be used by the US military although some contractors could have a .mil if they were collocated. Not sure about that. There was a time you could buy ".coms" for a few bucks. I played poker with a guy that bought all he could think of that might have commercial appeal. I bet he made millions.

Hungry Mother said...

Punniest theme I've seen in a while, very enjoyable puzzle. After patting myself on the back for my supreme knowledge, I realized it was also very easy.

Unknown said...

If EDS referred to the editors of Mad magazine....its the worst clue since I started xword puzzles. And I was a avid reader of MAd from 1962-1967 !

Ol' Man Keith said...

A lot of folk weighing in this morning...

Ta-DA!-1 for me. The "minus one" is on account of 32A. I had ATAL, as an imaginary conversational slurring of AT ALL (which had already put in its formal appearance at 9D). I can't say it didn't trouble me, especially because it made no sense of the perp at 29D. But, hey, I got my comeuppance, didn't I? Minus one, indeed!

It took a bit of time to figure out the theme, but I got there - along with most colleagues before me. This wasn't a tough pzl for a Friday, so thanks for the break and the cleverness to Mr. Cuzzolina and Ms. Varol!
Thanks too to you, Lemon!

Ol' Man Keith said...

My email address ends in .edu.
Although I am now emeritus, the university lets us keep our email after retirement. I don't know if there is a limit - maybe forever?

Forever would be cool because I am the only one on my campus with this surname who doesn't need any other initials. And none of those numbers after my name. I don't know about your server, but around these parts to get by with just your last name is considered pretty much of a coup!

Spitzboov said...

Hello everyone.

Happy Birthday to C.C. and Barry G.

Agree with Chuck about EDS - Madmen. ESS - small opening, too, but it has a modicum of cleverness. Sorry. But I enjoyed most of the puzzle. Got most of it w/o help except for the NE. Did not know MAUGHAM, and could not think of TOAD either. Just too much of an agglomeration of fuzzy fill in one corner, I guess.
But I did appreciate that it is Friday.
TEATs - 4x per MOOer.

Misty said...

Well, I only got about a third of this Friday puzzle--not unusual for me--when I felt I had to cheat. I knew I knew the author of "The Razor's Edge" but couldn't remember his name, so I looked up MAUGHAM. That got me going again, and later I looked up SATSUMA. But that was all--which is actually pretty good for me for a Friday. So, many thanks, Dave and Patti, and Lemonade, it's always great to have you back!

Now that I think about it, I had a great start to my morning. Besides getting the puzzle with only two cheats, I got a "Diabolical" Sudoko--the first ever, in my memory. And a great Kenken and a Jumble too. It doesn't get much better than this.

Since I'm retired from the same university as Ol' Man Keith, my e-mail address also ends in EDU (for EDUCATION--would that be a good guess?).

Bunny M, as soon as I saw the animal theme, I thought of you and your sweet Albus.

Happy, happy birthday, C.C.! I wish we could all throw you a wonderful party! Wouldn't that be a delight? We'd need a two or three foot cake, I suspect.

And Barry G, a belated birthday to you too. Thanks for checking in today.

Have a great weekend coming up, everybody!

Wilbur Charles said...

The NE was particularly difficult. I agree with Chuck about EDS. I wasn't sure if it was the magazine or TV series but perped it in.

I thought IGNORANCE was solid. ALAS seemed pretty tight. The fourth time I put it down and picked it up I got MAUGHAM

Ok, with the relatively easy theme fills I can agree to an average Friday but NE boosted it to difficult.

Chuck I agree again about that second hand smoke that plagued me until in marine OCS I had an attack and forced my way through it. So at that point I decided I could now take up smoking.

Card fans forget who was traded for BROCK but Cub fans never will. I'll post the answer later.

Happy birthday CC.

There's CURSIVE and there's Sisters of St Joseph handwriting. Impossible for lefties with the ancient inkwells and fountain pens.

WC

Oh btw. I missed Mockingbird. Should I start with Watchman, first, then to the former? I guess I'm a literary IGNORAMUS not to have read Harper Lee.

Wilbur Charles said...

Speaking of CURSIVE. I sat behind a girl in 8th grade who'd solved the mess problem. She wrote upside down: beautiful, elegant strokes.

WC

Jayce said...

As BunnyM said, "Happy Birthday, C.C.! Thank you for all of your work. The blog and your puzzles are delightful."

I liked this puzzle and smiled at some of the answers.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

OH ME, Y'all found this easy? I guess it was the names and such that slowed me considerably... My 1st entry was OLES. I tentatively inked the north-central and had nothing in the NE. Off the the south... Started in the SE [CEDE, AVIS, LIAR was easy! - did Dave and Patti run out of steam at the end? :-)] and slowly worked my way up and over. SLOTHARIO (must be wrong but I'll fix it later ) gave me enough to build CATTITUDE. Aha! The game's a foot; LAMBITION, PIGNORAceS(?), and finally SQUIDDITCH. ISLIP was ESP & WAG as the fruit xing it.

Alas (not 9a!) I had to Google to get MAUGHAM (I was contemplating GrisHAM) to finish the NE. That sent me back to Mad Men? Ha! It is Ed.s! So with that one cheat the final GRID EMERGE'd. Thanks Dave and Patti! The theme was a hoot and I leant that Lothario is 1) a real word and 2) the word connects w/ DON Quxote [wiki].

Thanks Lem for your SLANT on the puzzle. Fun Expo but if I hear Tiny Bubbles one more time, well, it's already too many [in Basic there was an overweight white Drill Sargent that would mark cadence by singing it - my God!, that man sucked at cadence. The black DI's were so much better! -- They'd MASK a 20mi hump with their jodies.]

Fav: JOSTLE. 'Tis a fun word to say. //thought I was going for RUSH, didn't you?

BROCK was easy given the 'C' - I have his Cardinal card in the safe.

{A-, yech :-)}

Hello Barry G! Good to know you're still out there. Thanks for reminding us of the Corner's Consummate Constructor C.C.'s B-Day. Happy Birthday C.C.!

Re: Mad (magazine's) Men? Ed.s was my 1st thought but then tossed aside awaiting a perp (not ESS, that was obvious from both perps) and knowing there were no Ed.s @ Mad... The loonies ran the bin!

IM - Pop learned Palmer Method and taught himself calligraphy. I save both his cards and envelops; they're so pretty. Me? I print. It used to look draftman-nice but it was bastardized by Palm's Graffiti into scrawl.

CED - So, you're +5 posts on the day; I can call you names and you can't respond :-).
Keep the silly coming. We'll need those smiles while we await your vacation's end [where's you goin' mate?]

Cheers, -T

Jinx in Norfolk said...

I move that our birthday girl awards CED a special exemption for the 5-posts rule, but only for days that end in "y".

Anonymous T said...

Oh, on TLDs (Top Level Domains. Of the early non-ARPA domains...
For "The Real -T," I've had (in order) LaTech.edu, .af.MIL*, .ou.EDU [BOOMER! Oh, yes Misty, Education], .redacted.NET, NASA.GOV, USDA.GOV, and redacted.COM.
.COM pays the best :-).
I'm only missing .ORG (I think that would be a reduction in pay) to get Bingo!

WC - start with the movie To Kill a Mocking Bird w/ Gregory Peck and stop there. I heard ATAD about Watchman on NPR and I thought reading it would kill my ideal.

Jinx - HERE, HERE!

-T
*when I was in the Army Reserves in '88-'93, Pvts & Spcs didn't get email addresses; my .MIL was DOD [not a contractor] days. .GOVs were contractor addresses.

Bluehen said...

Clever, fun puzzle that was fairly easy by Friday standards(except for the proper names and SQUIDDITCH). Harry Potter is just too silly for me to take seriously or tolerate. Thanks Patti, Dave and Lemon. Well done, all of you.

A very Happy Birthday and all my best wishes to our leader, CC. Do you observe the Chinese version of the birth date? No matter; many happy returns.

Gotta go. DW is expecting and I pray to God it's only me.

Cya!

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Barry G et al,
Thanks for the sweet posts. You guys are the best. So good to see you again, Barry!

Bluehen,
You amaze me! When I lived in Xi'an, my family celebrated my birthday on May 8th (Chinese calendar). Now I don't pay much attention to the lunar date any more. Quite confusing. There were two Mays in 1971. I was born on June 30, 1971 (the second May 8).

Anonymous said...

This was easy for a Friday and a much better solving experience than I had yesterday. Thank you Dave, Patti and Lemonade.

The NE was the worst spot for me and I needed to check the grid to finish it. Not bad for a late week puzzle.

Happiest of birthdays to you, C.C.!

Pat

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Happy birthday, dear C.C.! You deserve all the happy you bring to us.

Enjoyed the puzzle, Dave & Patti. I sped through it like a house afire because the thunder was getting closer and I wanted to finish and unplug my computer. And this wasn't a speed-type puzzle. I did get and liked the theme.

CABO: my son's family went there. Didn't know he was a "high-end traveler" until Lemony said it. Son's tall so I guess his "end" would be "high". Thanks, Lemonade, for your work on the blog.

Not a Harry Potter reader. Saw one movie. SQUIDDITCH made no sense to me. Didn't take time to worry about it since it didn't turn red.

I read "Go Set a Watchman". I had just reread and liked "Mockingbird" better because I was once a kid in a small town in that era, sneaking around in the dark spying on people and running barefoot. I also lived in the south long enough (1959-1961) to be sickened by the deep-seated prejudice there then. Both books portrayed situations that had meaning for me.

Recently I printed a letter to my 13-yr-old grandson because he hasn't learned cursive. My husband had to print reports he did as a non-com in the USAF. He routinely printed anything that needed to be understood thereafter. His cursive was undecypherable.

Somerset Maugham was an author I read as a teenager because someone gave my mother a large volume of his collected works. She never read it. I sneaked it because she wouldn't have wanted me to read it if she'd known the content. "Rain" was very racy.

Bill G said...

I know I forgot to wish Barry Happy Birthday yesterday so here it is! CC too! Thanks for everything. I wish both of you had the time to stop by here and post something more often. Two HBs again!

I'm off for a short bike ride in balmy 69-degree weather. See ya...

One of you kind folks recommended a book you thought I would like. It's Count Down by Steve Olson. I ordered a used copy and it just arrived today. I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks.

kazie said...

Happy birthday, C.C.! I don't believe I ever knew when it was, so although I'm late to the party today, I hope it was a wonderful day for you.

This puz was not easy for me, as I struggled with several unknowns, and couldn't get hold of the theme concept. Then we were gone most of the day, and I couldn't give it all the time it demanded.

Happy 4th to all, in case I don't post until after it.

Big Easy said...

Late day for doing the puzzle but not finishing. Couldn't complete the NE- HOME ICE, MAUGHAM (unknown), PELEG (should have known) were left unfilled.

Caught the theme immediately in the NW on LAMBITION. Made the other theme fills very easy but it was still a DNF.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Happy Birthday to our friend C.C.
-As near as I can tell…
English Date : July 1, 2017
Chinese Date : Ding-Wei(Sheep) (6th month), 8, 4715
Chinese Year Name : Ding You(Rooster)

Wilbur Charles said...

I almost forgot to supply the answer to the Lou Brock question. It was Ernie Broglio, an excellent pitcher.

Unfortunately, Ernie quickly developed arm trouble and Lou blossomed. Of course the other long suffering fans, Redsox of course, recall a trade/sale of one Ruth that compares.

I'll spare you EDS talk other than to say that after thinking about it over, I've decided the clue was ok after all. Ok, from what I can tell,EDS is particularly prevalent among golfers.

WC

CanadianEh! said...

Very late to the party and was just going to lurk because WEES applies.
But I must wish C.C. a very Happy Birthday. I hope you have had a terrific day.

And a belated Happy Birthday to Barry G. (Glad that you dropped in.)

Celebrating Canada Day 150 all weekend here.

Anonymous T said...

HG, CC, YR, (and anyone else who can enlighten)... WTF is this?

Whilst in SFO's China town we found the fortune-cookie factory we visited 10y ago. I saw a bag of 'XXX - Adult Only' and, being the LOTHARIO [whoot! I get to use a new word!] Italian I am, got a bag for me & DW.

Well, tonight she's back from Toronto and we decided to crack a few open:

'Vicious circle is a wedding ring'
'When wine, women and song become too much for you, give up singing'
'Orgy is group therapy'
'It's hard to keep a good girl down - but lots of fun trying'
'The difference between a wife and a mistress is night and day'
'You never know how girl will turn out until her folks turn in'

All prefaced by 'Fu Ling Yu Says:'. No idea what that means either.

They're meh-cute but quite misogynist; DW was not amused and XXX-Adult means nothing like we expected ['fuzzy handcuffs are in your future' would be more apt :-)]. Is this what Chinese consider risqué? The sayings are things I consider 'Confucius say: Time to sleep on the couch' material.

Thank you Abby.
Signed, At a loss in Texas.
:-)

C, Eh! I heard about 150 today on BBC radio. I salute my neighbors to the North. I hoped you enjoyed the tone'd down (by comparison) day of Patriotism! Canada is a great place with great people (and Moose!). Happy 150!

Cheers, -T

Misty said...

CanadaEh, one reason I love watching "Jeopardy" every night is because Alex Trebek is Canadian, and always comments on Canadian issues when appropriate. Tonight I was shocked to see him wearing a red and white sports jacket, instead of his usual sedate suit, when the program started, but he quickly explained it was to celebrate Canada 150! Yea! After my recent great experiences in Toronto for the Joyce conference, this was particularly delightful. So I hope you had a terrific Canada 150 Day!

Picard said...

Hand up with BunnyM and WilburCharles that PIGNORANCE seemed solid.

Agree with Big Easy that the rest of the puzzle was fun and easy, but that NE was impossible at least for me.

Eventually got it with Red Letter help which I consider a cheat. It has been at least a year since I last used red letters. I normally solve with paper and pen.

I love TOADs, so it was not obvious that this was a creep!

Did not remember PELEG and did not know Razor's Edge, but I eventually could WAG MAUGHAM once I found out PIGNORANCE was wrong and figured out PIGNORAMUS.

Don't really see why CAT is a young lion in particular which had me hung up and doubting for awhile.

Never heard of either JANE, but crosses filled it.