google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, August 14, 2017 ~ Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke

Advertisements

Aug 14, 2017

Monday, August 14, 2017 ~ Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke

Theme: Bookends - Same letters at start and end of theme entries.

65A. Wander aimlessly ... and a hint to a divided word in the answers to starred clues: BUM AROUND

17A. *Half a percussion pair: BONGO DRUM

24A. *Fill-in-the-blanks agreement, e.g.: BUSINESS FORM

34A. *Cake soaked in alcoholic syrup: BABA AU RHUM

44A. *Brand for bubble blowers: BAZOOKA GUM

52A. *Security device that may be silent: BURGLAR ALARM

Argyle here. A lot of entries for a Monday but little trouble. Gotta love a puzzle with FONZARELLI.

Across:

1. Rifle range rounds: AMMO

5. Rainfall measure: INCH. Lately, that should be plural.

9. Transitional state: LIMBO

14. Bread buy: LOAF

15. NYC area above Houston Street: NOHO. Not as famous as SOHO.

16. Hunter constellation: ORION

19. "__ bleu!": SACRÉ

20. From India, say: ASIAN

21. Civil uprising: RIOT

23. Account exec: REP. (representative)

28. Post-WWII feminine flier: WAF. Women in the Air Force (WAF), organized in 1948 and active until 1976.

31. Small swallow: SIP. No, not a bird.

32. __ bubbles: SOAP

33. Bigheadedness: EGO

39. Cake pan trademark: BUNDT


42. Zilch: NIL

43. Africa's Sierra __: LEONE


47. Trivial point: NIT

48. Yet again: ANEW

49. High-arcing tennis shot: LOB

51. Purported UFO fliers: ETs. (Extra-Terrestrial)

57. Opposite of WNW: ESE

58. __ about: roughly: ON OR

59. Soothed: EASED

63. Golf analyst Nick: FALDO


68. Get ready to compete, bodybuilder-style: OIL UP

69. Parting words?: OBIT. (Obituary)

70. Actress Hayworth: RITA

National Screen Heritage Award of the National Film Society (1978)

71. Crisscross frameworks: GRIDS. The answer is right there in front of us!

72. London gallery: TATE


73. __-bitsy: ITSY

Down:

1. Actress Jessica: ALBA


2. Cattle chorus: MOOs

3. Salon service with a pedi: MANI. (pedicure/manicure)

4. Gift __: chattiness: OF GAB

5. Hoosier St.: IND. (Indiana)

6. Here-there link: NOR

7. Butter-making device: CHURN. I found one like this in our horse barn.
8. Bro: HOMIE

9. One in need of spiritual guidance: LOST SOUL

10. Gershwin brother: IRA

11. Emcee's need: MICROPHONE

12. Destructive insect: BORER

13. Hr. after noon: ONE PM

18. Burden: ONUS

22. Mount of Greek myth: OSSA. In Greek mythology, the Aloadaes attempted to pile Mount Pelion on top of Mount Ossa in an attempt to scale Mount Olympus.

25. Bro, to a sis: SIB. (sibling)

26. "Brusha, brusha, brusha" toothpaste: IPANA

27. Cab ride price: FARE

28. Jack of "Dragnet": WEBB

Jack Webb Harry Morgan Dragnet 1968


29. Water, to Juan: AGUA


30. Full last name of a "Happy Days" cool dude: FONZARELLI



35. Gargantuan: BIG

36. __ in the conversation: A LULL

37. Self-storage compartment: UNIT

38. Citi Field team: METS. The New York Mets, National League East division.

40. Doorbell sound: "DONG!" (the DING! is broken.)

41. Figure skating jumps: TOE LOOPS

45. Nine-time U.S. skating champ Michelle: KWAN



46. Extinct emu-like bird: MOA


50. Uncle Remus rabbit's title: BR'ER

52. Confuse: BEFOG

53. TWA competitor: USAIR. Both names are no longer in use.

54. Many a modern assembly-line worker: ROBOT

55. Caribbean resort isle: ARUBA


56. New Zealand settler: MAORI. What they think of us? Pic

60. Hearts or clubs: SUIT

61. Sinus docs: ENTs. (ears, nose, throat)

62. WWII turning point: D-DAY. June 6, 1944.

64. Defective firecracker: DUD

66. Cambridge univ.: MIT. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)


67. Munched on: ATE


Argyle

34 comments:

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Gail, Bruce and Santa!

Didn't know FALDO. BEFOG took awhile. Otherwise no problem.

NYT puzzle must faster for me.

Hope to see you all tomorrow!

OwenKL said...

ARGHH!¡!¡ DNF/FIW on a MONDAY?¡?¡ FALDo & aURHUM & TOE LooPS were complete unknowns to me, OSSa & FONZARELLi were known, but not how they were spelt, and I knew eNOR (ON OR) and GRaDS were wrong, but was so sure of the perps that I let them stand! That's more mistakes than I usually make on a Saturday puzzle. A hard Saturday puzzle!
On the plus side, I did catch the gimmick early, but wondered how the reveal would be done.

Three little Hobbits out for some fun,
FALDO and LIMBO and bimbo!
Going to try their BAZOOKA gun,
So Faldo has gone for some AMMO!
One's asked to make a political run,
So Limbo is drawn by his EGO!
Only one left, and she's offered some mun,
She tells the creep, "HOMIE, I ain't NO HO!"

{B-.}

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Figured the theme was two-word phrases beginning with B. Worked for me. Only write-over was HOMEY / HOMIE. Thanx, GG, BV and Argyle.

MJ said...

Good day to all!

Fun puzzle to start the week off. I did stall in the SW as I did not know FALDO and even with _ILUP in place I had to do an alphabet run to get OIL UP. Gotta love a puzzle that can fit in FONZARELLI. Thanks for the expo, Argyle. Michelle Kwan was certainly a graceful skater.

Enjoy the day!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

An easy Monday puzzle and all's right with the world. Another wrap-around gimmick, but it was fun to suss. No look-ups, no strikethroughs. For ONE PM, wanted 'thirteen hundred hrs.', but, it wouldn't fit.
Had Siierra LEONE (lion mountain) again. (Freetown a couple weeks ago)
BUM AROUND - Hard to think of words or phrases which fit the clue. I got Barium, an element, and Borkum, a North Sea barrier island on the Dutch German border area. I guess Bermuda Rum would work, too.

GJ said...

Nice solid Monday. Like D-O, I first filled HOMEY but corrected it when RIOT appeared. Also, first had BAZOOKAJOE. I remember chewing a ton of it as a kid. You unwrapped it to reveal a hard pink slab of gum and a small comic featuring Bazooka Joe. Fun!

AnonymousPVX said...

A nice Monday puzzle with thanks to the constructor for a theme/gimmick that blended in and was not necessary to "get" to complete the solve.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Really enjoyed this fun puzzle, Gail & Bruce. Thanks, Argyle, for adding to the fun.

Nothing subtle about this theme. It practically jumped out and grabbed you. I'm not BUMmed out about this puzzle.

Nick FALDO was a champion golfer and now a TV golf analyst. He's my favorite sports commentator with a nice easy style and British accent. Heard him yesterday with the surprise win at the PGA Championship.

Funny thing happened yesterday evening. I couldn't get into my email. I kept typing in my password which has a few numbers in it. The control kept insisting that wasn't my password. I finally went on to my internet browser which was okay. When I came back to the email, I realized my caps lock had been on so my password numbers turned into whatever was on the uppercase and it really wasn't my password. Duh!

LB Ron said...

Stumbled awhile on babaaurhum but finished in usual Monday timeframe.

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

Late to the dance for the usual reason: getting sidetracked. I am a Pro when it comes to that!

It's always a pleasure to start the week with a GG ~ BV concoction. I don't think I had any w/o's which means it was an easy, breezy Monday offering. Didn't see the theme until the reveal, probably because I was half asleep while solving. Being a night owl brings a price.

Thanks, Gail and Bruce, for another fun and enjoyable solve. Thanks, Argyle, for guiding us along.

Have a great day.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Oh geez. FIW with two bad cells even after two erasures. Erased "tit" (aren't they like swallows?) for SIP and "rUn AROUND" for BUM AROUND. Still had BABA oU RHUM and BURGleR ALARM, crossed with OSSo and KWeN. I only know of BABA from crosswords, and never heard of the term with "au rhum". The only mountain I know in those parts is ETNA, and that only from crosswords. But I still should have known by looking that BURGLeR was wrong, and I thought KWeN could be wrong.

I think of Peter Sellers whenever I hear sacre bleu. I don't remember if he actually had that line, though. May be just stuck in my mind like "play it again Sam" or "billions and billions", which were never said by Bogie or Carl.

I liked seeing bro, brother, brer, sis and sib today. I miss mine.

Thanks Gail and Bruce for a fun puzzle. Not too hard, just not in my wheeelhouse. Thanks, Santa, for another great review.

Lucina said...

Fun with Gail and Bruce! Thank you, both.

My only write over was SOHO as I've not heard of NOHO but the Hoosiers set me straight with IND. I, too, loved seeing FONZARELLI! BABA AU RHUM is an old CW staple though it's usually BABA RUM or other variations. And BAZOOKA GUM brings back some memories as mentioned by GJ.

FALDO came to mind immediately so I must have seen or heard it before.

Yesterday I didn't have time to post as dinner preparations took the afternoon then my daughter and her family arrived. We had an early birthday celebration for her step-son who turns 11 on Thursday. Whew! Busy day but I finished the puzzle.

Thank you, Argyle. I really enjoy the photos and are you sure about the accent on SACRE? I've usually heard it pronounced with the accent on the first syllable but then I don't really know French.

Have a fantastic day, everyone!

Jayce said...

Nifty puzzle today. Not surprising, since it is a Gail and Bruce creation. BABA AU RHUM caught me off guard; I had only remembered it as RHUM BABA. I probably would not have been caught off guard by it if I had known the BUM thingie first. Being very weak in sports knowledge, I did not know FALDO. I agree ya gotta love a puzzle with FONZARELLI in it.

Lucina, unlike Spanish, the accent mark in French does not indicate a stressed syllable. In this instance, the accent mark over the E means the E has a more EH-like sound than it being silent or or sounding like a schwa.

I chewed a lot of BAZOOKA GUM when I was a kid.

Best wishes to you all.

Jayce said...

LW and I had a wonderful, terrific, lovely, fantastic, awesome telephone conversation with our granddaughter yesterday. She is engaged! Her boyfriend of several years proposed to her about a week ago and she (obviously) said yes. So sweet; he even went down on one knee and everything. Her ring is beautiful and very unique. They won't be setting a date or venue for a while yet. Everyone is very happy for her, and I don't think we have ever before heard her sound so happy. His and her careers are strong and developing, so all is good.

Just wanted to share that with y'all.

CrossEyedDave said...

Re: Yest, Belated Happy Birthday to:

Betty. Didn't have time to bake a cake, so I just went with the frosting...

And Chickie...

Re: Today,

Total Natick: Ossa/BabAUrhum, on a Monday?

Reminds me of other strange things I have seen...

CrossEyedDave said...

Bum Around?

Really?

Well, the only thing I can add is...

Unknown said...

Baba a what? Guessed on ossa so I guess its a TADA. I first read the clue as cake soaked in CHOCALATE syrup...all I could think of was "I want some".
Two learning moments for me Babaaurhum of course and NOHO. TV and books use SOHO all the time as if its common knowledge but not for me. I knew the boroughs. I knew where Ebbets, POLO grounds and both of the YAnkee Stadiums were. I road the subway and walked Times Square pre clean up. But could not fathom what the "H" stood for. I guess I could have googled it but thats its not my preferred learning experience. Now I just have to figure out where Hudson St. is. Guess is Grenwich (sp?) Village. NY is a grid layout like Detroit. NY is even easier with all the streets and Avenues having numbers, except in some of the "corners" of the Island. Everyone should go to NY at least once. No one should stay !

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-BABAAURHUM is a thing and I’m good to go.
-FONZARELLI is now giving this a thumbs up. Hey!
-One dealership in town calls its car sales staff account executives
-School is starting ON OR about today around here
-A 1908 FB game on an actual GRID
-Yesterday the puzzle had METS IN THE MIDDLE!
-Off to grandson’s 14th birthday party in Lincoln. No matter what he gets, nothing will top getting his Learner’s Permit

Anonymous said...

North of Houston St. Pronounced Howston.

rb

Misty said...

Exciting to get a Gail and Bruce puzzle on a Monday! Not a total speed run for me, and also never heard of FALDO which created a bit of a problem with the downs. But I got the BUM theme early, so that made solving a lot of fun. Many thanks, Gail and Bruce. And Argyle, your pictures were terrific this morning.

I miss the Fonz. It was nice seeing Henry Winkler again on a program about house-doctors set in the Hamptons--can't remember the name of it. It didn't last more than a couple of seasons, but it was nice to see him again.

Have a great week, everybody!

Irish Miss said...

Swampcat ~ Would you please email me as I have a question. Thanks.

Wilbur Charles said...

On top of not recognizing the cake as three words, I didn't know whether it was OSSE or OSSA. I did know but my formerly rumsoaked brain* forgot.

And on top of that I couldn't read my handwriting so my W in KWAN read like N and I had ANON. And all the time I wanted TOELOOPS.

Can you imagine conveying the above to anyone other than a cornerite?

PK, I had a the PGA on tape but I've already peeked so your use of discretion is appreciated. I spend the end of the week catching up with weekend sports.

Jayce, did you know Owen's new hobbits?

I'm giving Owen a solid W for his tale of sordid action in the NOHO burrow.

I was scratching my head for the definition of NOHO. Thx Anon.

Isn't there a Jessica BEAL? I'll have to hunt up Sunday's NYT xword. A week late.

(Sir) Nick Faldo was an unsmiling, hard-nosed golfer who has greatly mellowed in the booth. He got into the BABA when he decried Sergio's poor Ryder Cup performances. Garcia then turned in a terrific performance in 2016.

WC

Tinbeni said...

Always like to start the week with a FUN Gail& Bruce puzzle.

Also enjoyed the wonderful Argyle write-up.
I agree, any puzzle with FONZARELLI in it is a good one.

Cheers!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Who-oa!
What's with the new format!? Is it the same on everyone's computer? The comments are now printed on the same page as Argyle's blog.

Well - here goes, anyway. I guess this will come out all right.

As to today's pzl: Ta- DA! Another from Ms. GG and Mr. BV continuing the new tradition of crunchy Monday pzls. This was perfect - just challenging enough to keep it interesting from start to finish.
And, thanks to Argyle's MAORI link, an opportunity to see where the rock band "Kiss" got their inspiration.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

OMK - No change on my comp. (Win10 Home Edition, Version 1607, Chrome version 60.0.3112.90).

Jinx in Norfolk said...

OOPS - Didn't see that the question regarded "print". I don't print anything at the Corner so I can't comment.

desper-otto said...

OMK, if you delete one of your comments and then go back to redo it, you'll find the comments are at the bottom of the blog-of-the-day. And if you look at a prior date's blog, the comments are always at the bottom.

Anon@1:22, New Yorkers pronounce many things, like Houston, oddly (incorrectly?). Example: Lawn Guyland. Bostonians, too, when they pahk the cah. Here in Texas, all words are pronounced and enunciated with the utmost of precision. Y'all got that?

Lucina said...

Jayce:
Congratulations on your granddaughter's engagement! No doubt you'll be preparing for a wedding in the future. And thank you for the information about French accents. I had no idea!

PK said...

Desper-Otto: Too funny about the area accents. When I was 19 I had been living east of Houston, Texas and moved to west of Boston. I got so I could do both accents pretty well. Once a guy in Mass. said to me, "Where are you from anyway?" He could hear the south in my mouth along with a midwest flat "a" modified by "Pahk my Cah". I had a lot of fun where I worked.

Jayce, Congrats to your granddaughter. Always elating to see and hear young love. Fun time for you.

tawnya said...

Hello Everyone!

I always enjoy a Gail and Bruce creation, thank you both! And well done! Like others I particularly enjoyed filling in FONZARELLI! I got hung up on the cake (that I will not attempt to spell again) and BEFOG just wouldn't come to me. Thanks for the expose, Santa.

I had no problem filling in SACRE as I am currently reading SACRE BLUE by one of my favorite authors, Christopher Moore.

Can't have HOMIE without Homey Don't Play That. I don't think so!

Happy Monday!

t.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

DO - When I moved to Ft. Worth I was told that in Texas there are two football seasons - "sprang" and "reglar". Some of those high school stadiums rivaled many found in small colleges.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Whew, this was crunchy one for the -T. Thanks Gail and Bruce for a puzzle I thought I ink'd right. Thanks Jinx for pointing out I spelt BURGLeR wrong too.

Thanks Argyle for the expo. I loved the Pic [funny re: 'Gene Simmons' OMK]

WOs: I don't know 'em all (left puzzle at the office); I do remember wALDO b/f gALDO b/f FALDO.
ESPs: ibid. MAORI is likely one and I know BABA AU RHUM is too.

Fav: FONZARELLI spelled out.
Runner up: Jack WEBB; can you tell I watch a lot of TV in my ute?

{B}

Congratulations to you and your Granddaughter Jayce!

CED - LOL "Sitting room only."

Jinx - at least one Clouseau said SACRE BLEU.

Remember our cursive v. print conversation a couple weeks ago? Freakonomics episode on writing. I heard this re-run on the radio on the way home from dinner and thought of YR, IM, et.al. in that back and forth.

Cheers, -T

Lucina said...

AnonT:
Thank you so much for posting that link on writing! It contains a lot of information and examines the basic reasons for and against handwriting. That's interesting! I don't think I have to tell you which side I favor though "the handwriting is on the wall" as they say in there. Some day no one will understand what that means and it will require a footnote to explain it.

And I should like to visit CW Pencils the next time I visit Manhattan.

Abejo said...

Good Tuesday evening, folks. Thank you, Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

Puzzle went quite easily. Theme was clever, as always, with these two constructors. Great team!

Tried ROC before MOA became the word. My only inkblot.

BORER is a destructive insect. I lost five Ash Trees to the Emerald Ash Borer.

TOE LOOPS took me a while. Perps helped.

IPANA is the only toothpaste I recall ever seeing in a crossword puzzle. And, it's been discontinued.

Hey, ARUBA again. We get that a lot.

BABA AU RHUM was not hard to get. The BABA was easy. The RHUM was easy. Couple easy perps and I had the AU.

Since I am a day late I will sign off. See you on Wednesday.

Abejo

( )