google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, Jul 1, 2017, Greg Johnson

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Jul 1, 2017

Saturday, Jul 1, 2017, Greg Johnson

Theme: None

Words: 64 (missing J,Q,W,X,Z)

Blocks: 44~!

Second Saturday in 2017 for Mr. Johnson - and despite a slow start, I ended up breezing through today's offering.  I reviewed his puzzle from March 25th, and also his debut back in 2013, just to see if there was any reference to him being Australian - which has been a topic of his clues/answers these last two constructions.  None that I could see.  Unusual grid design, sort of a backwards "S" ( or is that "Z"~? ), which again strands us in corners and little to work with getting into the others.  Lots of long across answers, which leaves us with nearly 60% more down clues and answers;

14a. Elaborate sci-fi costume component : FULL BODY MAKE-UP - big fan of the show "Face Off" on SyFy, and much as I like making movies, make up was not one of my strong points - but I certainly would like to try


46a. Spicy meatless dish : VEGETABLE CHILI

24a. Australian Stock Horses, perhaps : POLO PONIES - enough downs to figure this out


36a. They may be excuses : SOB STORIES

ONWARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Annual July 1 celebration marking the 1867 signing of the British North America Act : CANADA DAY - the "DAY" part appeared via crossings, and then it was a sensible WAG being that it was North America

10. Some Australian carvings : ABORIGINAL ART - "ART" showed, so I figured this was another sensible WAG

16. Supermarket count : AISLES - ITEMS was too short - and appears at 21d.

17. Old Andorran currency : PESETA

18. Arrive : GET IN - first thought, but hesitated

19. Dickensian denouncement : BAH~!

22. Guided : LED

23. Get out of Dodge : FLEE - in my case, I have to get IN the Dodge to get out of Dodge - my Grand Caravan, that is

28. Annex : ADD - oops, not ELL

29. Yusufislam.com musician : CAT STEVENS

30. Having a short cut : BOB-HAIRED


31. Like home, say : FOUR-LETTER - yes, but it's such a pleasant four letter word

33. Hang (around) : PAL

37. Didn't miss, as a bus : MADE - I didn't miss my putt on the 3rd hole last Wednesday, and as a result, had my first birdie - yay~!

38. "Gr8 joke!" : LOL

39. Unisex nickname : SAM - I tried "PAT"

40. 4/8/74 record breaker : AARON - half perps, half WAG

41. Brie who played Trudy on "Mad Men" : ALISON - half perps, half WAG

45. Home Depot work apparel : APRONS - I used to don one (Don Juan~?) when I was a kitchen designer back in 2002

50. Legacy Hartsfield-Jackson tenant : DELTA AIRLINES - looked like one of those "huh??" clues until I had half the crossings, again

51. Thinking indicator : LONG PAUSE - ah, not LIGHT BULB (which connotes "idea"), not HOUR GLASS (like the Microsoft icon)
DOWN:

1. Beardie, for one : COLLIE

2. Former senator Specter : ARLEN

3. Twizzlers pieces : NIBS

4. Ancient history adjective : AGO

5. Completed : DID

6. This, that or the other : ANY

7. Not soaked yet : DAMP

8. Winglike parts : ALAE - first of a couple 'plural' misdirections (no "S" ending)

9. Centuries-old Asian wool sources : YAKS
10. Off-topic : AFIELD

11. Out of order : BUSTED

12. Catch from the pier : REEL IN

13. Learners, hopefully : TUTEES

15. Shoulder protection : PADS - "singular" clue with a plural answer

16. Imaging company once big in film : AGFA - the Wiki

19. Bugs : BOTHERS

20. Ancient French region : ALSATIA

21. It flies off store shelves : HOT ITEM

24. Artist Picasso : PABLO

25. Netanyahu's predecessor : PERES

26. CBer's punctuation : OVER - always reminds me of the movie "Airplane!"


27. Friend of Homer : NED - Flanders~!

29. "Harold and Maude" co-star Bud : CORT - perps

30. Mover of many : BUS - ah, not "ARK"

31. Misled : FOOLED

32. Do a favor for : OBLIGE

33. Sentence ender : PAROLE - good one - not PERIOD

34. Head turner : ADONIS

35. It helps you focus : LENS - ah, a singular noun with an "S" ending~!

36. Many a Balkan : SLAV

37. Nautical : MARINE

40. Plant-ruining genus : APHIS

42. Make believable : SELL

43. Palindromic fellow : OTTO - and a clecho;

44. Palindromic bread : NAAN

45. Rights org. : ACLU

47. Lunch holder : BAG

48. In most mammals, the upper one has a groove called a philtrum : LIP - ha~! I knew this

49. Memorable time : ERA

Splynter

44 comments:

Bluehen said...

My solving experience was very much like Splynter's. Confidently entered CANADADAY and prepared for a speed run. And then, "Thud", the sound of my face hitting a brick wall. Very few across clues were low hanging fruit. Fortunately, the downs were much more forgiving, providing me some much needed toeholds. Despite some troubles in the middle, I still finished in less than 30 min., which might be a personal best for a Saturday. Great fun. Thanks Greg and Splynter.

4:30 in the morning and I'm prepping Sunday's pork roast for the sous vide. Insomnia has me in its grips again. Nothing to do but make the best of it and get some work done. Think I'll also prep for Tuesday's wienie roast 'round the pool.

Cya later!

OwenKL said...

FIR! Didn't think I was going to! NW was last to fall, though I had trouble everywhere. But I DID it, no red letters nor even crickets for a ta-da!

{A-, B.}

VEGETABLE CHILI was on the back burner,
And meat on the spit for the non-vegan yearner.
To cook on each side
ADONIS had to OBLIGE --
On his spit-tender's APRON was blazoned: "HEAD TURNER!"

Technology, Entertainment and Design are LED
By speakers who give talks labeled "TED".
To listen each episode
Folks come by BUS-load! --
Would a talk given enroute, out-of-order, be BUSTED?

OwenKL said...

Oops, almost forgot --
πŸ‡ RABBIT, RABBIT! 🐰
🍁 CANADA, CANADA! 🍁

fermatprime said...

Hi everyone!

Thanks to Greg and Splynter!

OK, a bit over 30 min. for me. (At one point I thought it was hopeless.) But it worked out OK!!!

CANADA DAY was a gimme thanks to tonight's Jeopardy.

Ell first for me, too. AARON another gimme from initial A.

Funniest looking COLLIE I've ever seen.

Missed the T in ALSATIA the first time around. Had a C. Tsk.

CORT was all perps.

Hope to see you all tomorrow!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Interesting puzzle, Greg, thanks. I wondered if you were Canadian or Aussie or had spent time there. Thanks, Splynter.

The puzzle had a big white ice field in the middle for awhile, but I kept chipping away at the edges and WAGd my way across.
With AL___IA, I tried ALgerIA before ALSATIA. Hand up for period, also pardon before PAROLE. APHId before APHIS for which I just had to spray my petunias.

Never heard of BEARDED collie. Had to google after it filled by perps. Looks like an English Sheep Dog to me. If it herds, I guess you could call it a collie.

YAK: Niece and her husband had a "buy a YAK" charity for awhile in American churches that sponsored them as economic missionaries in Tibet. Later they went to India, now headed for Thailand. Don't know what happened to the YAKs.

Fellow nocturnal animal Bluehen: you made me hungry for roast pork. Had to google sous vide. I used to pressure cook beef heart and tongue, but I guess it's not quite the same cooking method.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Had trouble getting started up top, but things started to fall together down below. Tried SERB and VAN briefly. Finally worked my way back up and WAGged CANADA DAY, and that brought it home. CSO to CanadianEh! with CANADA, BillG with TUTEES, plus one for me. Thanks, Mr. Johnson, and thanks for your yeoman service, Splynter.

TTP said...


Bonne FΓͺte Canada!

CANADA DAY was easy this morning after catching up on yesterday's comments.

Nailed DELTA AIRLINES. Flew in and out of there frequently in the 80s.

AARON was a no brainer. Hammerin' Hank.

ALAE = winglike. Learned when I first started doing crosswords about five years ago.

Having ELL where ADD belonged tripped me up.

CAT STEVENS - "Morning has broken, like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird." Pretty song.

Anonymous said...

Already had SA, and tried SAL before SAM for "unisex nickname."

AGO is an adverb, not an "adjective."

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Happy CANADA DAY to Canada Eh et al!
-I had to wait for DELTA AIRLINES to really get going and then I got on a roll heading north
-Sheldon explains CHILI (:53)
-We’re getting out of Dodge County at 10:30 am today for the final baseball game of the summer
-Making sure 100 adolescents did not miss any bus was de rigueur for me in Orlando
-Replacing this defective ITEM should be completed by noon today
-I remarked yesterday that I thought using “BUSTED” in place of broken BOTHERS me but I must be a party of one
-Shoulder pads make her seem even more formidable
-“Much OBLIGED, maam”
-Which is correct – All (SERBS/SLAVS) are (SERBS/SLAVS)? Or neither

Northwest Runner said...

Tutees is word? Bah! Unless it means that you can tut someone who misunderstands what original words mean. At least we haven't seen mentee in place of protege. I suppose to be true to source rather than protege, we should refer to the client of a mentor as a telemachus.

BunnyM said...

Good morning all!

A slow start with this one. Once my brain warmed up and I'd gotten a few of the answers in the SE corner, it started falling into place. For awhile though I was like PK with the middle a white wasteland. A couple of cheats, some good WAGS and my old friends perps saved the day.
Thanks Greg- I always enjoy a puzzle with so many long fills and this one didn't disappoint.
Thanks Splynter for a fun tour. I love that scene from "Airplane!" Cracks me up every time LOL πŸ˜‚

My cheats were AGFA and CORT
Thanks perps for ALAE, ALISON, PERES, PESETA and ALSATIA
W/O's : Ell / ADD, Old/ AGO, Serb/SLAV, Period/ PAROLE and Aphid/APHIS. Those pesky buggers are quite prolific this year. Neem oil has helped some by I'm going to try the water/soap/cayenne pepper mixture I found here
I was trying to tell my Mom about wooly aphids: "They look like they have cotton coming out of their rear ends" and told her the name. She thought I was saying "wooly asses". Guess that works, too !

DELTAAIRLINES was a gimme as we always choose ATL for our layover to Cancun when we can't get a direct flight. We think the lay out is efficient and the place runs like a well oiled machine despite its size. We've never had any issues there (knock on wood!)

CSO to CanadianEh - Happy Canada Day! πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦
CSO to my daughter SAMantha - my lovely girl is named for my Great Grandmother

YR- thanks for the info and links regarding "Go Set a Watchman" I think I may have to give it a try after all :)

Hoping the rain and storms hold off for tonight. Our local community fireworks are back after a four year hiatus (due to budgetary issues) so we're really looking forward to the show!

Happy Saturday- have a wonderful day everyone!

Lemonade714 said...

White rabbit, white rabbit and Happy Canada Day.

An efficient Saturday themeless with my only meh being BOBHAIRED.

I eat countless spicy meatless dishes made by my wife, with PAPAYA SALAD made without the shrimp or fish sauce - often too spicy for me.

Splynter and all, Greg introduced himself as being from Zeliniople Pennsylvania and employed by USPS when he has his first publication in the NYT.

A happy, healthy July for all. Thanks Greg and Splynter.

Yellowrocks said...

More than thirty minutes, but done, a fine challenge. I was hung up in the middle because I was reading DENOUEMENT instead of DENOUNCEMENT for a long time. CORT was all perps, as was POLO.
I had AGE first at 4D, but AGO is both an adjective and an adverb, so it fit.

From The Free Dictionary
AGO
1.adj. gone; gone by; past (usu. preceded by a noun): five days ago.
2.adv. in the past: It happened long ago.

Tutee is a legitimate word in common use today.
But, Mr. Duncan discovered, his tutee also was functionally illiterate. Washington Post,Jan 14, 2015
Sometimes the tutoring can be reciprocal, with pupils alternating as tutor and tutee. BBC, Nov 26, 2014
There he depicted an extramarital affair between a teacher and his tutee. Seattle Times, Jul 23, 2014

I'm not much of a vegetarian. Just a quarter pound of ground meat in a big pot of chili is enough to give it that special flavor, but I miss it when it is absent.

Happy Canada Day, Canadian Eh.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I can't believe how quickly I finished this (19.25) after getting off to such a rough start. On the first pass, I had only 10 answers filled in but, fortunately, the "light bulb" came on when it was replaced by Long Pause and, shortly thereafter I filled in Vegetarian Chili. I threw in Canada Day immediately, as our own CE has mentioned it frequently. Cat Stevens was a gimme as was Delta Airlines and Polo Ponies, thanks to perps. Having so many of the long fill answers is what made the whole puzzle come together so fast. Had aphid/aphis and ell/add but they were short-lived.

Thank you, Greg, for a fun Saturday solve and thank you, Splynter, for the fun tour. (That dog is beautiful but it doesn't look like a collie, at least not the collies I'm familiar with.)

Happy Canada 150, CanadianEh, hope you enjoy all of the festivities! πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦

Have a great day.

Lucina said...

Happy CANADA DAY to Canadian Eh! and her compatriots!

Thank you, Greg Johnson for this Saturday quickie which seemed daunting in the beginning but as one cell after another filled, the whole thing came together quite easily.

My experience was similar to those already described, filling some downs first then connecting the blanks to complete the long fill.

CORT and ALISON are unknowns but readily perped. VEGETABLE CHILI would never be a HOT ITEM at our house.

CSO to desper-OTTO!

Thank you, Splynter! Your Saturday sojourn is much appreciated.

Everyone, have a spectacular day and weekend!

C6D6 Peg said...

Thank you, Greg, for a fine puzzle. Didn't think we'd even come close to getting it done, but things fell into place.

Nice write-up, Splynter, and congrats on the Birdie!

Anonymous said...

Well the edges went fast. The middle was a real slog. I don't like clues like 31a - legit but somehow my brain isn't wired right for them. Had sob stories and bob haired (I agree with Splynter - meh) so it eventually fell but... Still overall a fun puzzle and wonderful write-up by Splynter. BTW - congrats on your birdie Splynter. They pay me not to go near a golf course so not something I'll ever accomplish! Have a great Saturday everyone! JB2

CanadianEh! said...

WOW! I started today's CW and got no farther than The 1st clue and had to come here. Thanks Greg and Rich for the CANADA DAY salute.
I may not get a chance to finish this puzzle today. The rain has passed, the celebrations have begun in Ottawa, we have a local parade this afternoon and fireworks tonight.
Canada celebrates today. Thanks for all the good wishes.

Spitzboov said...

Hello everyone.

CSO in spades to Canadian Eh with the lead-off clue/fill. Hope you have a great long weekend in a super country.

Liked the puzzle for all the reasons Splynter stated. # of clues across and down were each at ~50, a low number (to me.). WAGS had a high batting average; no searches were needed.
Palindrome - OTTO and NAAN were next to each other. These can be turned inside out to get TOOT and ANNA, both meaningful words in English. Is there a word for and inside-out transform?

Talk about timing. Just got the cable/internet back a few minutes ago, or I would have posted earlier. Yesterday I connected a HD antenna to our TV, mainly to experiment on alternatives to expensive cable; so we had TV all morning. I get all four major network stations plus a dozen others. It is so clear and sharp, some scenes seem almost like 3D. (It is a Terk model 209HDTVA; available @ 49.99 from Crutchfield.). No, I'm not shilling for them.

Big Easy said...

It started off very easily today, thanks to Alex Trebek announcing on yesterday's Jeopardy show that today would be CANADA DAY, which I had never heard of. That made the North a fas fill with NIBS being the only fill completed by perps. Nibble?

I only had two unknowns- ALISON and CORT, really wanting CURT but BUB HAIRED just looked wrong but I had never heard the term BOB HAIRED before and was tempted to use CURT.

DELTA AIRLINES- a gimme. Someone once wrote that 'It doesn't matter if you are going to heaven or hell, if you are flying Delta you will changing planes in Atlanta. It got started as a crop dusting service in Monroe, LA. I knew a lot of people who got extremely rich many years ago from Delta stock before it became a national carrier and eventually went Chapter 11.

MJ said...

Happy Canada Day!

Like PK and BunnyM, I had a big white hole in the middle. Googled for Bud CORT and CAT STEVENS (I enjoyed his music in my college years) to finish up. Hand up for PeRiod before PAROLE. Thanks for the Saturday challenge, Greg, and thank you for your faithful Saturday guidance, Splynter. Congratulations on the birdie.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Argyle said...

50. Legacy Hartsfield-Jackson tenant? Is it Legacy or legacy? I find it is a legacy of two Atlanta mayors but is it usual to use 'L/legacy' when speaking of it?

desper-otto said...

Argyle, perhaps legacy refers to Delta rather than the two mayors. I've heard of legacy software referring to original types/versions. Delta may be an original (legacy) tenant of the airport.

tawnya said...

Hello Everybody!!!

It's been awhile since I checked in, been a little behind on the puzzles but life should slow down a little now so I can catch up. Today's puzzle was my easiest Saturday ever and I really liked the layout of the grid. Guess I'm on the same wavelength as Mr. Johnson so thank you! I had a few hangups but nothing that really stood out as perps helped me fill it all in quickly. Definitely not a normal Saturday puzzle for me!

Yusuf Islam (formerly CAT STEVENS) is quite an amazing artist. Peace Train

The Coasters did Yakkity YAK

Sorry I've missed out on so much the last few weeks, hoping all is well with the cornerites. Off to find some nourishment and caffeine!

t.

WikWak said...

Husker @ 8:55-- you are not alone in your dislike of BUSTED.

Yellowrocks @-- hand up for DENOUEMENT instead of DENOUNCEMENT. Held me up for quite a while.

Loved the backwards S shape for today's puzzle.

alexa shortbush said...

history is a noun, thus the adjective is appropriate

Jayce said...

Happy Canada Day! I liked this puzzle. I usually don't keep track of how long it takes me to complete, but today the clock shows 15:50. I really like the long answers and am always amazed at how a constructor can put them together so they also form real words (or parts of real words) in the perpendicular direction. CANADA DAY filled instantly due to our discussions of it yesterday. I also knew CAT STEVENS. Having just watched a rerun of Foyle's War last night, SAM came easily. For the rest I had to fill some of the downs first. Thanks to Greg Johnson for a fun time.

I agree with Northwest Runner about TUTEE(s). To be used that way, it would have to mean "one who is tuted," just as TUTOR would have to mean "one who tuts." Interesting that the quote that Yellowrocks posted ("Sometimes the tutoring can be reciprocal, with pupils alternating as tutor and tutee. BBC, Nov 26, 2014") uses the word "tutoring." To be totally consistent, they should have said "tuting." Anyway, please don't get on my case; I'm not saying it is wrong, I'm just saying I don't like it much, just as Husker Gary said he doesn't much like BUSTED.

Best wishes to you all this fine first day of the month of Julius Caesar.

Jayce said...

Argyle, I think "Legacy" is capitalized simply because it is the first word of the clue.

Misty said...

Well, after I loved seeing Alex Trebek last night, wearing that surprising red and white jacket for CANADA DAY, I should have gotten that top clue and gotten off to a great start on this Saturday toughie. But 'twas not to be. It was the bottom part that filled in for me first, and the top that took a lot of cheating. Since I had ARLEN, I kept thinking 10 across would start with MAORI, and that sure didn't work. And I sadly didn't know CAT STEVENS. But, hey, Saturdays are always tough for me, and I enjoyed this one even if I didn't do so well. So, thanks, Greg, and you too, Splynter.

Have a wonderful CANADA DAY, CanadianEh!

And have a great weekend, everybody!

Argyle said...

D-O, I believe you are partially right. Legacy refers to the tenant of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport but not because it was there first.

A legacy carrier, in the United States, is an airline that had established interstate routes before the beginning of the route liberalization which was permitted by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, and was thus directly affected by that act. Also, One of the five remaining legacy carriers, Delta is the sixth-oldest operating airline by foundation date, and the oldest airline still operating in the United States. All found on Wikipedia.

Unknown said...

Gallia est omnes divisa in partes tres. Una parte estt Gaulia, una partes est Aquitania, una partes est Belgae....

Caesar did not recognize Alsatia !!

Southeast was last to fall as PERIOD for 30d fir perfectly with two early fills PAL and AARON. When a down fits twice I hate to change it. But Hartsfield could only mean Delta....Fixed and TADA !

Living my first 25 years only 6 miles north of Canada, July 1-4 was a big festival on the river. But I only heard it referred to as "dominion" day. Do I misremember?

Spitzboov said...

Alsatia, while ancient, is post classical. That is probably why Caesar did not know what to call it. The name is of uncertain origin, but comes from the German. There's a theory that it was named after the well known Alsatian dog breed which are excellent guard dogs. But I also heard they were developed in California, and, if so, they are not actually Alsatian.



Ol' Man Keith said...

Splynter, your COLLIE looks an awful lot like my Old English Sheepdog, Beowulf. Beo (his nickname) was a sweet-tempered amigo. We had him for many years. I would take him for long walks in Ohio snowfalls, back when I needed a pal. I called him my "shaggy Yes-man." In a later year he loved to go swimming off the Florida gulf coast, so much so that his long hair became so tangled I had to get a vet to shave him.
There is nothing quite so sad as a naked Old English. Except for a little roof of hair to protect his eyes, Beo looked like a skinny Dalmatian. He tried to hide behind furniture until his hair started back in.
It was a sad day when we moved into a city home and had to give him up. (He wasn't used to neighbors.) I drove several hundred miles to give him to an old friend in Vermont. Happily, Beo ended his days living out a true version of that old story, "Now he's living on a farm." RIP, faithful pal.

As for the pzl, today's monster from Mr. Johnson, it was a Lulu! Whoo-EEE! No way could I get beyond a few (literally 4) fills without cheating. Still, after just a few lookups, the rest yielded pretty quickly. The thing about long fills is that you only need one or two letters in the right place for the whole edifice to crack and crumble.
Thanks, guys - Fun for Saturday!

TX Ms said...

OMK - that must have been the most difficult and saddest decision, but I'm very happy Beo enjoyed his last years running free and not cooped up within the confines of a house or back yard. Truly a loving and selfless choice on your part.

Great puzzle with a lot of original cluing. Canada Day, Aboriginal Art, Cat Stevens and Vegetable Chili immediately filled. The rest was plug-away fun. Never heard of Beardie collie and meant to google. Never heard of the Cort guy or Brie Alison, but perps came to the rescue. As others have said, great CSO to D-Otto.

Yes, HG - no beans EVER in Texas chili! Eaten it once, and never again - yecch. Love beans, love chili, but never the twain shall meet. Thanks for the Sheldon clip. That must have been from one of the early seasons that I missed.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Front and Center - CANADA DAY! Have a great weekend C, Eh! Like us, Your Country has much to be proud of [see RUSH] and some things to be ashamed of [see Beiber :-)]. Kidding aside, y'all live up to the same ideals we espouse. It's nice to have good-friends as neighbors. Happy 150!

Thanks Greg for a fun puzzle that I just couldn't finish without a Google and glimpse of Splynter's GRID. I did pretty well on the -T-scale in the 90min I spent puzzling.

Thanks Splynter for the final grid. Mort @29d never let me see CAT STEVENS and having Broken (gee - so yesterday... Thanks a lot HG! :-)) never let me GET IN the finish. Those two cheats got me there. The Airplane clip was a nice touch considering 50a.

Other WOs:
I was going for Corgie[sic] b/f COLLIE;
Madam, I'm 'Adam' @ 43d b/f Google gave me ALISON which lead to to OTTO
VEGETABLE Curry @ 46a
I was going for Elvis Aron for '74 Record breaker when I recalled he was only a 1-A'd Aron - V8! It's Hammerin' Hank!
BOB HeadED b/f fixing it for HOT ITEM.

Fav: CANADA DAY
Runner up- FOUR LETTER word. There's many: Home, Pool, Boat, Alfa - ask anyone who owns one or more. :-)

{A, A++}. Did you too notice Bus used at 30d answer and 37a's clue?

BlueHen - Ah, I've not played with my sous vide tool in a while. I planned to build pork-chops with apples this week... Sous vide would would make it better. Thanks for the Light Bulb [not 51a :-)].

Spitz - I got an HD antenna too to dump cable until I realized I'd lose C-SPAN :-(. The extra channels on PBS's spectrum are nice.

Thanks for the tunes Tawnya!

Y'all have a great Sat.

Cheers, -T

Yellowrocks said...

Our glorious, illogical inconsistent language. Words are not what they SHOULD be, but what is really used. A word is initially used by some, becomes more widely used, is adopted for informal usage and finally is considered good formal usage, with no rhyme or reason. There are words that grated against my sensibilities at first, but have become so common now I do not bag an eyelash.

Anon @ 11:07, clues like 31a are not my favorites, i.e. four letters, hard g, silent e, esses. To me they seem to be constructor's cop outs. Jayce, each of us has our prejudices.

Lucina said...

Today's puzzle introduced me to ALISON Brie and later I saw a clip of her in a new movie which I'm sure I shall never see, The Little Hours, about some apparently depraved 13th century nuns. I thought at first that her name was Brie ALISON.

OwenKL said...

Tony asked, "Did you too notice Bus used at 30d answer and 37a's clue?"
No, dang it, I didn't, and it would have been easy to fit MADE into my l'ick, too!

SwampCat said...

Is it too late to say Rabbit Rabbit? Or maybe, as others have said,, Canada Canada!

The puzzle was interesting (thanks, Splynter). But way above my pay grade!!

Owen, both A+.

Happy July everyone....

CanadianEh! said...

Chuck@2:29. You remember correctly. July 1 used to be called Dominion Day. But in 1982 when our Constitution was repatriated from Britain (and we got our Charter of Rights and Freedoms), the name was changed to Canada Day.

By the way, where could you have lived that was 6 miles north of Canada? Alaska? I was thinking that only the North Pole could fit that description. LOL!

Wilbur Charles said...

PESTERS, for one, did me in. Splynter, what is the connection between Australia and POLOPONIES?
Anyhow, I forced in CASTANET. I should have gotten CAT STEVENS. And I wanted POX as in, both their houses as I'm sure some CANADA folks opine about our politics.

I really slogged through this one. I even cheated with CORT, an all time Natick.

I can see the tenor of the corner in quickly getting Cat but not Hank (whom was stolen by Milwaukee in 1953)

Alas, oops I mean AHME

Wilbur

Wilbur Charles said...

PS. I notice Mentees is commonly used in here. Greg, great job but I see your not a mentee.

PPS. Nice pair Owen.

And exactly what is "Sous vide"?

WC

Anonymous T said...

WC- Sous vide is a method of cooking under water (I think that's literal Fraunch [disclaimer - I barely know the language of daily play; right YR?!?]). In sous-vide cooking, you put your food in a plastic BAG and then under hot water. The cool (hot?) thing is that food hits a perfect pre-set temp over a few hours whilst you do something else; no risk of over cooking the meat. The drawback: your food still looks raw - it is cooked- but still looks funky.
That's where the real fun comes in - you get to play with a blowtorch to char the yummies for aesthetics.

OMK - I find it peculiar-cute you named your pup Beowulf. We had a black Labrador Pop named Sinbad and a mutt named MacDuff. Literary name'd pets MAKE for good mates. We lost MacDuff after he bit a neighbor and was put down in ''80 and Sinbad in '89 - Sinbad was a great PAL. Pop has Tinker now and she's a good girl (unless there's food afoot)

OKL - I'm sure you'd try to MADE it gooder, but #2 was spot.

TXMs. Ah, the Beans in Chili - It unMASKS my Midwest roots. I like red kidneys in Chili unless it's a topping for.a chili-dog (with mustard & onions!). On lazy-Dad days, I'll add a can of kidneys to stretch the can of chili to eat with Saltines. On Dad "Rocks" days, I'll build chili from scratch (basically pasta sauce sans fennel + chili powder).
Tonight, I built a Chickpea salad with 1/3 of the goodies fresh from the garden. The red-wine vinegar & lemon was perfect to balance July's Houston humidity. [hungry yet Steve? :)]

-T

Picard said...

At first this seemed impossible, but I went on to FIR!

Last weekend DW and I went to watch POLO locally! Where else can you watch a world class sport for ten dollars, including free champagne?

Here we were posing with one of the POLO PONIES:
http://swt.org/events/polo-2017-0625/divot/20170625-114.JPG

OTTO took awhile because I was trying to think of a palindromic word for "fellow" rather than a particular fellow's name.

Only know ADONIS from a Star Trek episode.

Unknowns: CORT, ALISON.