google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday Nov 26, 2017 Erik Agard

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Nov 26, 2017

Sunday Nov 26, 2017 Erik Agard

Theme: - "Outside Shots" - PIC bookends each theme entry.

24A. *Trademark on Sealy's home page : POSTUREPEDIC. See here. I presume they just trademarked the name, not the technology.

38A. *Like the "Hunger Games" trilogy : POST-APOCALYPTIC

45A. *1998 Bullock/Kidman film involving sorcery : PRACTICAL MAGIC. Never saw the movie.


60A. *Certain pie lover : PIZZAHOLIC. Do you guys love Hawaiian Pizzas?


64A. *One might help find a lost animal : PET PSYCHIC. Our local WCCO used to have a psychic on from time to time. Not just a pet psychic. She dealt with all kinds of questions.
 
80A. *Checkout choice : PAPER OR PLASTIC. I always bag myself.

88A. *Furry, green baseball mascot : PHILLIE PHANATIC. Alliteration. This will bring a big smile to Barry Silk.


104A. *Like a 107-Down : PHOTOGRAPHIC.

Reveal entry:

107. Shot surrounding the answers to starred clues : PIC

Veteran solvers can often figure out the theme without the reveal. But often editors require constructors to put a reveal in the lower right, just in case some of the newbies can not grok the theme.

Erik's puzzles are often tricky and nuanced. His grids often have an extra layer. At times, he also makes this type of simple but fresh themes. Treat yourself with his Food for Thought. 

Our grid today is also very Erik, clean and modern. And as always, he debuted a few new sparkly entries. Not often do we see a pair of 11's, 10's, paralled 9's, four 8's fill in Down fill alone.

Across:    

1. Security gp. with wands : TSA. And 96. 1-Across check : SCAN.  Not an ideal cross-reference due to TSA abbr.


4. They can print rcpts. with check images : ATMs

8. Hooch : BOOZE

13. __ Spumante : ASTI

17. Minor league ice org. : AHL. American Hockey League. Calder Cup for the champions.

18. Asked too much : PRIED

20. Chinchilla, e.g. : RODENT

22. Give temporarily : LOAN. Had LEND first.

23. Los Angeles athlete : RAM

26. Lamb pen name : ELIA. Charles Lamb.


27. "Show me the evidence!" : PROVE IT. Great fill.

29. Green Giant morsels : PEAS

30. Some oral meds : GEL CAPS

32. Perfect places : EDENs

33. Nearly 25% of a marathon : TEN K. About 6.2 miles.

34. Marvin Gaye's label : TAMLA. Unknown to me.


36. Understand : SEE

37. "We need to talk" : A WORD. Partial clue would be easier for me.

41. Chocolate __ cake : LAVA

42. Oinker : PIG

43. Is yet to be decided : PENDS

44. Descartes' sum : I AM. I think, therefore I am. I like our Jayce's interpretation. His "donc" makes more sense to me.

49. Make it necessary to decrypt : ENCODE

52. Pepper typically hotter than a jalapeño : SERRANO. I planted them once. The shifted to Thai peppers the next year.


53. Paddle : OAR

54. Conestoga traveler : WAGONER

55. Bars in aisles, briefly : UPC

56. Good name for a funeral director? : MORT. Thought of D-Otto's pop.

57. See 80-Down : BEAR. And 80. With 57-Across, storied hot-porridge eater : PAPA

59. "Ugh, I've heard enough" : TMI
 
67. "Law & Order: __" : SVU. I've only watched "Law & Order".

68. Walk with a pack : HIKE

69. Brown rectangle? : QUAD. Brown University.

70. "Ben-__" : HUR

71. Outlook alternative : AOL MAIL. Both Rich Norris and Will Shortz use AOL.

74. Joe dispenser : URN

75. Part-time player : SEMI-PRO. Same letter count as AMATEUR.

79. Most loyal : TRUEST

84. "Every kiss begins with __": jeweler's slogan : KAY

85. Trash : WASTE

86. Long swimmer : EEL. The most delicious food in the world!


87. Gauge on the dash : TACH

93. Toast opener : HERE'S

94. Swanson on "Parks and Recreation" : RON

95. Retract : UNSAY
 
97. Bespectacled "Scooby-Doo" character : VELMA. Stranger to me.


98. Downward dog surface : YOGA MAT. Another sparkly 7-letter fill.

100. Two-part tune : DUET

101. Mechanics' jobs : REPAIRS. Wish I were efficient as Splynter/TTP/D-Otto. They DYI everything. I could not even take out a bad deck board.

103. Ends' partners : ODDS

108. Came into : GOT

109. End of a bed : FOOT

110. Classic palindrome ending : PANAMA. A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!

111. Tuscan hill city : SIENA

112. "__ takers?" : ANY

113. Acronymic anxiety about being excluded from the fun : FOMO. Fear of Missing Out.

114. Progress tracker : METER

115. Team of players : CAST

116. Veto : NIX

Down:

1. Rain delay cover : TARP

2. Some free downloads : SHAREWARE

3. "Talk to Her" Oscar-winning screenwriter Pedro : ALMODOVAR. Probably the most famous Spanish filmmaker. "Volver".


4. Tack on : APPEND

5. One below quatre : TROIS. "Quatre" is hard to pronounce for me.

6. Ocean spray : MIST

7. Chess player's pride : SET
 
8. Lose cohesion : BREAK APART. Opposite 69. TV drama partly set on a Louisiana farm : QUEEN SUGAR. A great pair of 10's in the middle.


9. "My bad" : OOPS

10. Tribute in verse : ODE

11. Alphabetiser's ending : ZED

12. Puzzles : ENIGMAS

13. Guinness of "Star Wars" : ALEC
 
14. Embarrassingly outdated : SO LAST MONTH. Fresh fill.


15. Tamsui River capital : TAIPEI. Tamsui means "freshwater". Sui=Water, same as the Shui in Feng shui.
 
16. "Gimme one moment" : IN A SEC

19. Fools : DUPES

21. Protective lymphocyte : T CELL

25. Pay for a pad : RENT

28. City named by Cortés : VERACRUZ. Got via crosses.


31. Placing, as bricks : LAYING

33. Ancient wrap : TOGA

34. Author Morrison : TONI

35. Power couple? : AC DC. Nailed it.

37. Swiss high points : ALPS

38. __ de gallo : PICO. Looks so fresh.


39. Board game piece : PEG

40. Rabanne of fashion : PACO. Unfamiliar figure to me.


42. Go to bat (for) : PINCH HIT

46. Spanish snack : TAPA

47. Barracks officer, slangily : LOOIE

48. Artist Chagall : MARC

49. Another name for abalone : EAR SHELL. Makes sense. It does look like an ear.

50. God head? : DEMI. Demigod.

51. Benét or Bellinger of R&B : ERIC

54. Hip-hop hitmaker Fetty __ : WAP
 
56. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" initials : MLK

57. Bingo relative : BEANO. Notice Rich never used "Gas remedy" or something similar?

58. Airport screen no. : ETD

60. H.S. exam : PSAT

61. Novello for whom British music-writing awards are named : IVOR. Used to stump me.

62. Former South African monarchy : ZULU KINGDOM. Another fresh fill.

63. Engine stuff : OIL

64. Engine sound : PURR
 
65. Arizona retirement city : YUMA

66. Comedian Alonzo's self-named sitcom : CRISTELA. Wiki says "She is the first Latina woman to create, produce, write, and star in her own US network show".


72. Square serving? : MEAL

73. Refuge : ASYLUM

75. What a script may be written on : SPEC

76. Grouse family bird : PTARMIGAN. So well-blended.


77. Pilaf-like product : RICE-A- RONI

78. Publisher Adolph : OCHS

81. Pale : ASHY

82. School gp. : PTA

83. Free __: carte blanche : REIN

85. The Irons of soccer's Premier League : WEST HAM. Wiki says "The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United". Irons sounds better than Ham.


88. Remove with force : PRY OFF

89. African American folk magic : HOODOO

90. Like Candy Crush purchases : IN-APP. In-app purchases.

91. Taiwanese PC brand : ACER. I'm using one.

92. Lines at the door? : TA TAs. Not the Black Friday lines.

93. Jazz devotee : HEPCAT

97. Blood lines : VEINS. Literally.

99. Regarding : AS TO

100. Head : DOME

101. Long-necked pampas bird : RHEA

102. River of Hades : STYX

105. First character in this clue : ONE. The clue number 105.

106. Bit of body art : TAT

C.C.


Here are a few more sweet photos of Lemonade's cute grand kids. Owen sure grows up quickly.

Charlotte
Harper
Owen
One more sweet picture of JD's grandsons:

Left to Right: Grady (Truman's little brother), Truman, Cameron and Dylan (Cameron's little brother)

61 comments:

  1. Anon,
    Thank you for your concern raised yesterday regarding my status at the corner.  You contend that Argyle, Melissa, and Splynter are Bloggers.  I agree with you.  Argyle commented yesterday so it was easy for me to confirm that he has been at this since may 2008.  the other two hadn't commented in the last few days so I can not quote their length of time.

    Somehow you feel that I am only a poster because I merely comment.  Would you be more pleased if I gave the blow by blow of my puzzle solving?  The Oxford Dictionary defines  blogger as a person who regularly writes material for a blog.  I write, and I have been regular now for two weeks.  It sounds to me that my effort meets the definition ergo I am a blogger.

    Dave

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  2. Hi everyone!

    Thanks to Eric and C. C.!

    Took a bit longer than usual, but got 'er done!

    Several things were perped and WAGged: PHILLIE PHANATIC, AHL, TAMLA, LAVA (really?), MORT, VELMA, YOGA MAT and FOMO.

    Still having Indian Summer here! Still sick with horrid chest cold. (Donation from best friend.) Can't sleep very well.

    Hope to see you all tomorrow!


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  3. I enjoyed the puzzle and the theme was tight and consistent- BUT what does "107. Shot surrounding the answers to starred clues: PIC mean?" I know of no such shot.

    Power couple: AC DC was cute. WAGONER was for me - Meh. CRISTELA, TAMLA, ERIC all unknown but filled. I also do not think a semi-professional is part time.

    D4E4H - first, what does it matter what you call yourself? Why do you need to be a blogger? In our world, bloggers are the people chosen by C.C. to provide the write-up. It is then uploaded and you and the others comment. You are a poster, commenter not a blogger. If you want to be a blogger, do what C.C. did back in 2008 - get a platform and start blogging. LINK .

    Have restful day all. Thank you, Erik and C.C.

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  4. Gee, Lem, he does have his own blog. Dave was pointing out that he is blue now, blog speaking

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  5. Good morning!

    This newbie managed to get the theme once the reveal appeared, but not before. C'mon, tell me you wrote PIONEER before WAGONER barged in. Nicely done, Erik.

    C.C., I think "quatre" is hard to pronounce for almost everybody. TROIS is no slouch, either. My dad wasn't a MORT. Maybe he should've run a nursery; his name was Forrest.

    A couple of years ago PICO de gallo was to blame for an ecoli outbreak at local Mexican restaurants. Took a long time to get the public trust back.

    IM and Mark S, thanx for the steerage to Megan Leavey. Watched it yesterday afternoon -- very wart harming.

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  6. It is Philly, not Phillie.

    Hawaiian pizza. Nope, pineapple does not do it for me. If you want good, go with white clam pizza.

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  7. Good morning all. Thank you Erik and CC.

    Three in a row with no TADA. I was a hot mess yesterday, exhausted and sore all over from my Friday eave construction project. All I could do was watch great college football games all day, graze and have a few beers.

    Thought a good nights sleep would get me back on course, but I couldn't bring home the TADA trophy. Trouble in the south and southeast. Notably around the unknowns Queen Sugar, Cristela and Ptarmigan. Did perp in WEST HAM United FC, but perhaps few, excepting Steve of course, probably knew it from the clue.

    Loved the fresh fill but favorite turned out to be the answer ONE. Hadn't seen that one before.

    CC, I suffer from Pittsburghese, aka Western Pennsylvania English. Don and Dawn are pronounced the same. Cow, Cal, cowl, and Kyle are all pronounced the same. Ditto cot and caught. And others.

    Lemonade, PIC as an abbreviation for picture. Shot as a substitute for photograph.

    Think I'm going to have to take another day off and watch pro football all day.

    See all y'all later n'at !

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  8. TTP, thank you. It is amazing how I can blind myself at times.

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  9. thanks everyone for solving and C.C. for the kind write-up! hoping that @fermatprime feels better soon & that i can find somewhere to try this white clam pizza.

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  10. Musings
    -Like everyone else I saw the title and P…C but it took the reveal to see “Oh, that shot!”
    -A real PSYCHIC: “I see a DUPE about to give me money for something worthless”
    -There’s a safe ground between PRYING and TMI
    -The drive to where I sub is about ¼ of a marathon
    -Eliza singing PROVE IT! (2:41)
    -When town team baseball was big around here, small towns used to hire SEMIPRO pitchers out of Omaha
    -A superb DUET to soothe your savage breast (6:50)
    -I had to communicate “I need a electric converter” to a non-English shop owner in SIENA. He was amused and gracious.
    -Did everyone eat an Ocean Spray® product this week?
    -Fidget spinners are “SO LAST YEAR” at schools
    -Granddaughter’s one semester home is at the FOOT of the ALPS in Grenoble
    -Famous PINCH HITTER line (:23)
    -We watched our ETD creep farther and farther away in Minneapolis as Delta was fixing our “broken airplane”. C.C. almost got a call. :-)
    -Does sleeping on the couch counts as ASYLUM or banishment?
    -With apologies to the Bard and counsel to D4E4H – “What’s in a name? That which we call blogging by any other name would be just as welcome!”

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  11. Rarely is a Sunday puzzler tougher than a Saturday but it was today. I'm glad I caught the PIC theme early because the unknowns were all over the place.

    I'd never heard of PRACTICAL MAGIC, PHILLIE PHANATIC, Chocolate LAVA, RON Swanson, VELMA, Fear Of Missing Out (aka FOMO), Pedro ALMODOVAR, PACO Rabanne, ERIC Benet (Erik sorta wanted his own name in the puzzle), Fetty WAP, IVOR, TAMLA, QUEEN SUGAR, EAR SHELL, BEANO, WEST HAM, or Alonzo or his sitcom CRISTELA. I won't remember them but they made the puzzle challenging. Thanks.

    HOODOO I've seen in crosswords but it's VOODOO everywhere else.
    ONE- thanks for the explanation because I got it but didn't understand why.
    UNSAY- I would call it a 'non-word' because it's impossible. Kind of like a judge saying to the jury: "disregard that last testimony". Hell, they already heard it. And they will not disregard it. UNSEND is okay, if you're quick enough.
    AOL MAIL is web based email but Outlook resides on your computer (unless there is some new type). You can use OUTLOOK to download the AOL MAIL. If Rich and Will use AOL, they are in a very small group that still uses it. I use gmail and att mail-both web based.

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  12. Good Morning.

    Erik, thanks for a challenge this day. I usually find Sunday pretty easy, but. . . . My favs today: Brown rectangle, bars in aisles, walk with a pack, and power couple. Learning moment: Abalone is also known as EAR SHELL. Makes perfect sense. I really appreciate this construction today!

    C.C., Thanks for all you do for our entertainment and edification. Today's tour was helpful to me. Actually, TSA and SCAN most certainly work hand-in-hand for me and my DH. I have two hip replacements, and he has an "on-board computer"--pacemaker and defibrillator. No metal detector for us--right to the scanner.

    I used to teach MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail, both for its content and its perfection as rhetorical writing--not to mention the conditions under which he wrote.

    Well, now, after reading your comments, I must add Megan Leavey to my list. Thanks everyone, have a sunny day. It sure is here in Chicagoland.

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  13. Good Morning:

    Despite the inordinate amount of pop culture and unknowns (Ptarmigan, e.g.) I finished in normal Sunday time but, alas, it was a FIW due to my Lace cake. Lava? I never heard of either but Lace sounded reasonable when I filled it in. There were too many unknowns to mention, at least to me, and several difficult Naticks that required a few WAGs. Catching the theme early on helped with the solve, as did the title. I wasn't keen on wagoner or unsay.

    Thanks, Erik, for a challenging Sunday solve and thanks, CC, for your sparkling summary and striking visuals. I've never had Hawaiian pizza but it doesn't appeal to me. My favorite toppings are mushrooms and sausage. Onions and peppers would be acceptable in a pinch.

    DO @ 7:19 ~ I'm glad you enjoyed "Meagan Leavy." If the movie was an accurate portrayal of her personal life, let alone her military experiences, she deserves a lot of credit and admiration. On a side note, I never saw "The Sopranos" or "Nurse Jackie" but Edie Falco was at her nastiest "best" as Megan's mother. She was also outstanding as the lawyer for the Menendez brothers in the recent TV mini-series.

    Ferm, hope you feel better.

    Have a great day.

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  14. Hi Y'all! This was very engrossing & challenging. Thank you Erik. Thank you, C.C.

    I surprised myself by getting a few I didn't think I knew. It took longer than it should have to figure out the theme, even with the title. Like Lemony, I was hung up thinking of another kind of shot. Pretty obvious. Also got hung up on some I didn't know without perps like TAIPEI & ZULU KINGDOM. Overall satisfying solve when TADA sounded.

    wiLMA & zELMA & sELMA before VELMA. vOODOO before HOODOO. Only place I ever saw the word HOODOO was in Utah around Bryce Canyon. The odd rock formations are called HOODOOs. Wanted LAyer cake before LAVA cake. V was a natick with unknown ALMODOVAR.

    Didn't know PHILLIEPHANATIC, 90d INAPP was "Hunh?" Hooch was HOUSE for the Vietnamese hut before BOOZE.

    Slept off and on all day yesterday then couldn't sleep more than an hour at a time during the night. I'm up now but think I need another nap before I try to push a grocery cart. Isn't PAPER OR PLASTIC really SO LAST MONTH or year or decade? I take my bags.

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  15. I know it has become a verb through constant use, but technically, LOAN is a noun. LEND is a verb.

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  16. Alert the dictionaries, they have had it wrong for hundreds of years!

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  17. This was partly easy and partly difficult. The SW was really tough for me and had to look up PHILLIEPHANATIC and PETPSYCHIC though I had the PHANATIC part. I should have gotten all of them but frankly I was a little tired of the cleverness and just wanted to finish. Sorry, Eric, I know this was brilliant construction but I'm too out of touch with modern culture to appreciate fill like INAPP, WAP and some others.

    On the other hand, the entire top and middle filled quite easily, TAMLA with perps. Loved seeing SERRANO and ALMODOVAR. I love his movies and have the DVD of Talk to Her.

    Time to go. Thank you, Eric and C.C.!

    Have a marvelous Sunday, everyone!

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  18. For e.a. - white clam pizza menu. You have to come to Cossayuna Lake to get it.

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  19. This was tough, many unknowns and many wags, but FIR w/o help.
    NO, CC, I cannot stand Hawaiian pizza.
    On the other hand, I like LAVA cake, cake with molten chocolate in the center. Yummy!
    We had no canned Ocean Spray, but did use Ocean Spray fresh cranberries to make a relish with oranges, a family favorite.
    I have heard people say "A word," meaning they'd like to speak with me. "I'd like a word with you" is more common.
    UNSAY can mean recant, but it is more often used in the negative. When you say something mean or foolish you cannot unsay it. It is akin to not being able to unring a bell.
    According to Grammar.com "In formal writing, many writers use loan as a noun form and lend as a verb form. The verb loan is permissible, however, when referring to money as opposed to things.
    But in America today, most usage panels of dictionaries point out that loan may act as a verb, even when loaning your car to a friend." The Grammarist agrees.
    The times they are a changin'.
    Bob, you must not be from around here. Phila. is the abbreviation for Philadelphia. Philly is the nickname, but according to Wikipedia, "The Phillie Phanatic is the official mascot of the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team. He is a large, furry, green bi-pedal flightless bird with an extendable tongue."

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  20. Thanks Eric and CC. I finished and enjoyed the puzzle though a number of the clues seemed a little 'off' to me even after I got them figured out. I agree with Anon (11:20) in that I always understood a 'loan' to be the thing you 'lend' to someone. I know YR will be able to quote examples where it is used either way. Still...

    I'm not a fan of pineapple on a pizza though Barbara likes it. When we order a pizza, we get it half-and-half.

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  21. Good morning Cornees,
    I don't normally read each comment before I write, but I will today to see if someone has previously answered Lemonade's question. Ready, Read!
    LEMONY714,619A
    -Why 714? What does it mean? TTP757A Answered the PIC question. There might have been a better word than "Surrounding" to describe how PIC brackets at the ends of the answers, but then the poetry of it would be lost.
    -I will add that the word is a shortening of the word PICture. We Americans want all words to be no longer than 4 letters. Have you read the French section of the instruction book written in 10 different languages. It is at least twice as long as English. As an example of this shortening, I could write how the F. word brassiere is in E. bra, but I won't lest it offend. It is a shame to waste such a good example.
    -You are correct. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. You are indeed a blogger. I studied a bit on the one tied to these puzzles. CSO ARGYLE652A for blueing me. I shant use the word blogger in reference to me further. I am a poster, but not an imposter.
    -How do you pronounce your lovely wife's name? Thanks for your PICs.

    Dave

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  22. D4e4h.

    L714 is a reference to the date rape drug of choice of Bill Cosby. L714 thought it was cute to use it as a screen name.

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  23. Anon 12:52 you are so mean spirited. The screen name is not L714, it is Lemonade 714. The number could quite possibly be an important date, such as July 14. Why post slurs when you do not know the actual facts?
    I am really bummed that these days slurs, unsubstantiated opinion, and gut reactions are substituted for actual facts. Then these ideas are spread exponentially by social media. We are becoming a post fact society. It is ever more difficult to separate fact from fiction, even with all the resources we have at our disposal.
    BTW On the Corner I wish we could say that such a word or phrase offends my ear or sounds off to me, or I don't care for it. In the same way I don't care for Hawaiian pizza. It is out there. Some people love it. It indeed exits. Declaring words we don't care for wrong, obscure, or not used is anti-factual. They are frequently well used, just not by us.They have become in the language, like it or not.
    My bugbear is, "YOU LOOK WELL in pink." The next time I am ailing I will wear pink and look "in the pink." I would look unwell in brown.I believe that during the short period of what is left of my life time this use of well will become acceptable. The language advances and I must advance with it.

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  24. Yr. It's a reference to Lemmon 714, a name brand quaalude from the 7os and 80s. Jason has personally explained this a few times in the past. It is most definitely a reference to the drug. Just repeating what he has said.

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  25. In the LA Times today, Sunday, I got a puzzle by Nora Pearlstone, with the solution to last week's as Outside Shots. Anyone else?

    Becky

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  26. Oh, gosh I just noticed that that page is dated Dec. 3

    Becky

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  27. Becky, you can take next Sunday off.

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  28. Quicker solve than usual for a Sunday since I got the P...IC early on and made the theme answers fill much quicker. Some really unique fill like PTARMIGAN.

    Recupe day after being gone since last Wednesday- the week looms ahead.

    Thanks CC and Erik!

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  29. Becky - Nora Pearlstone: "Not a Real Person"

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  30. WBES, except that I knew PRACTICAL MAGIC, PHILLIE PHANATIC and FOMO. Gave up and Googled CRISTELA, QUEEN SUGAR and WEST HAM. I used to despise AOL. A guy I had to communicate with for setting up regattas had an AOL.com address, but AOL didn't want me to "talk" to him. I had to send my messages meant for him to his wife (who also was an AOLer), with a "please forward to your hubby" message. Now that Verizon owns AOL, I LOVE it. Not that I have (or ever will have) an account. But they DO pay part of my retiree health insurance, so I encourage everyone else to sign up.

    I would find it harder to give up pizza than it was to give up alcohol. Hello, my name is Jinx and I am a PIZZAHOLIC. But I'm not fond of the words coined with "aholic" (workaholic) or "gate" (delfategate).

    This wan't my favorite Sunday puzzle. It did, however, cause me to revisit my medical advance directive. I added a clause that if I should ever show signs of knowing anything about any show from the OWN, just euthanize me.

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  31. "Puzzling Thoughts":

    WMOS: plenty of unknowns today. Won't elaborate. Didn't look up any answers but I did FIW when I missed APOCALYPTIC/PEG cross. Plenty of WO's too; SARGE > LOUIE, MESA > YUMA, IM ADAM > PANAMA (didn't we just have PANAMA yesterday?). I had DOG > PEG but never got PEG/PENDS. Not sure what to call a "double Natick"?

    SEMIPRO - I used to know some guys who played semi-pro football, but their regular 9-5 job was the real money-maker. Not upset with the clueing for this

    My Moe-Ku du jour:

    We rented movie
    On TV. Options to buy:
    Pay per or plastic

    Tony should like this a lot

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  32. Whew, too many things I simply didn't know in this puzzle, so many that even getting some letters via perps didn't help. Getting perps did help sometimes, though. Five perps and I had TAMLA; five more and I had PENDS. Eight perps gave me CRISTELA. And it took all three perps to get WAP. Hand up for entering PIONEER and then getting shot down. PRY OFF was BUY OFF and PAY OFF at first. Had PAPA and BEAR reversed at first. IMADAM had to be changed to PANAMA. I loved the clue for MORT. Loved the fill SO LAST MONTH and PTARMIGAN. But a FIW in the end. Tough tough tough.

    Okay, I like "Hawaiian" pizza.

    I knew the TAMSUI River because I used to live in Taipei. We pronounced it DanShui.

    Good wishes to you all.

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  33. Just posting to keep my place as to how far I read the Blog...
    (Yes, I am a poster, not a Blogger...)

    HG mentioned "Airplane," &, of course, we have have discussed this
    many times before. "But," I just found a Youtube post that saves you from having to
    watch both the original (Zero hour) and Airplane for comparison!
    14:17 long, only true aficionados need watch...

    CC, I would recommend you see Practical Magic, why? I don't know...
    It is the true definition of "Smaltz..."
    But it does have a great soundtrack, get the CD! Great stuff...
    So, how can I get you to watch Smaltz? The trailer does not do it justice...

    Maybe this clip,
    You see, back in the 1700's, a witch was sentenced to death, and she placed a curse on her family line that every husband would die (out of revenge, it's a long story...)
    and those two kids, knowing the curse, created there own spell that would make
    it impossible for them to find true love, and have there husbands die...
    But,
    The detective that shows up to investigate the death of her sisters abuser
    turns out to be the true love she created in the spell as a child...

    (It gets more complicated after that....)
    Well, the music is good anyway...

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  34. It is bold of me to italicize.

    Dave

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  35. Whew! A friend and I went shopping today and the crowds are already out there! But I found and bought most of the kids' clothes with sizes sent by my daughter. Just a few more things and I'll be done.

    I love Hawaiian PIZZA! The combination of ham and pineapple is tasty; for all the good it does me since I can no longer eat PIZZA, at least no more than one slice.

    My first fill on the palindrome was also IMADAM but PANAMA came along. Terms like FOMO are annoying to me but I guess I'll get used to them since TMI and LOL are now common. I loved TAPA crossing SERRANO. Too bad Tin doesn't do Sunday puzzles; he would have liked BOOZE. MORT was brilliant.

    I hope you're all having a good Sunday.

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  36. Doo-dah zippity-yeah my o' my ...the ugly trolls today.

    PSA - don't feed 'em folks.

    Quatre? Um, Quat is 4, tre is 3, but they share a Tau and thus a U, ergo it's 1/3 of 3/4ths if my maths is right. Right? :-)

    I'm posting to a web-log, ergo, I plog.

    CED - I can't believe I'm saying this... You've provided the sanity today. I did not know about Zero Hour / Airplane!... my head just exploded. That was funny ('peculiar' and 'ha! ha!') Thanks mate.

    Sunday Lurk says... -T

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  37. DO719A 
    -If you have been at this since 2011 and are still a Newbie, when does one come out of newbieessence? (spell check is going to love that one).
    -A quatre of the population can pronounce it easily because they hable Espanol.
    -Your dad could have also been GRUMPy. To make sure I spelled grump correctly, I g-d Forrest. I was surprised to see pictures of forests. It seems that rr came before r.
    -You were supposed to PICO out the ecoli and I mean it right from my wart. Warts new with you?
    Bob Niles757A 
    -Where do you find white clam pizza? I would eat one. My food statement is "I'll eat anything that doesn't eat me first, and If you like it I will taste it." Also "What's leftover pizza?" I am a charter member of the Clean Plate club. My gsearch failed to find any clams of color. What I did learn is that clams are infauna. There is a video from a wormcam. How do they hold it without opposable thumbs?
    TTP757A 
    -"Trouble in the south and southeast." Don't worry. They will rise again.
    e.a.1001A
    -"We have a two letter screen name over here. Do I hear a one?" Your blog looks like a lot of pun.

    Dave

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  38. Becky - I forgot to ask... Did your paper also give us market rates for Oil & Gas futures on 3 Dec? Lotto numbers? [Early Edition trailer]. The price of gold? It's just us here, pray tell. -T

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  39. OUCH! Not a puzzle to relax with after Turkey Day, tail gating, cleaning house, shopping and, finally sleeping in. OMG, the SW corner was unsolvable! Had to cheat on four answers! How tragic is that. Does the LAT lay in wait for tough weekends to spring such a toughie on us? Well, tossed the paper and out to put up Christmas lights. Will miss next week (out of town), which gives me extra time to recover

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  40. Jinx- America Online was an early ISP that tried to keep their customers 'inside' their system. Their message boards were mainly used by porno groups. They had a great idea but they were limited to dial-up connections. Cable connections did them in. But many 'older' people kept their @aol.com email addresses.

    F.F. a few years and Facebook has successfully copied their "inside system'. Apple has tried to do the same with their Facetime App by making it hard for others to have an app to use with non-Apple hardware. But they just copied Skype.

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  41. To me white and red clam sauce describes the sauces, not the clams. White is based on olive oil and garlic and red is based on tomatoes. I like both.

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  42. Yr. I accept your apology

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  43. D-O - I saw what you did there. Har har.

    BE - I never thought of the "inside game", but you are, of course, right. I remember getting "coasters" from AOL and Net Zero. I wished they would just send me blank CDs.

    I remember the early days of email (mid - late 80s). I used a system we owned called Telenet (not to be confused with telnet) which was supposed to be a closed system, but there were hooks to the outside world. My wife's email at a different company's closed system started "Country=USA; Domain=Cowboy1". Not an "@" in sight. We used a dumb terminal to access the system via dial-up, then soon with IBM PCs with the mighty 8086 w/8087 math coprocessor.

    Anon -T - Good advice. I try to follow that rule (don't feed the trolls) too, with varying degrees of success.

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  44. Anon-T, Jinx, et al.,

    Good Advice, indeed.

    Merci.

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  45. Anon T, there has been a negative vibe on the blog for a week or so. It's not just the trolls...though they are out in force. We all seem to be on guard somehow.

    Thanks for bringing sanity back. Yes! If we just don't answer things we don't like , we are free!

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  46. Suggestion to C.C. Would it be possible to eliminate the anonymous category?

    HG1030A
    -The first video was fun, but the duet of Elina Garanca and Anna Netrebko singing the Flower Duet from the opera "Lakme" was memorable. The ladies sang, and they weren't even fat.
    -The "Pinch Hitter" got me started on "Airplane" videos. What a funny movie.
    ARGYLE1140A
    -Cossayuna Lake, NY is too far for me, but only 13 min, 9.1 mi for you. Do they deliver?
    JINX257P
    -I checked the texting abbr. for WBES. What does World Business Environtmental Survey have to do with this puzzle? It got 5 stars so it must be right.
    -Do euthanasia reach puberty before euthaneurope?
    CM329P
    -WMOS What does West Midlands Organized Sports have to do with the puzzzle?
    -multilingual Moe-ku du Jour, Japanese and French. You need a croissant tied up with an obi for that. It was good. Thanks.
    CED435P
    -Your video topped off my note to HG. Zero Hour and Airplane are identical.

    Dave

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  47. Tough puzzle. A lot of unknowns; but I really enjoyed the challenge. Thanks Erik and CC.

    Cheers,

    Mark

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  48. Don’t understand Panama being classic palindrome ending. Madam, yes; but Panama?

    Mark

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  49. Mark S. 'A man, a plan, a canal, PANAMA'. C.C. had this in the fine expo. Cheers, -T

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  50. A MAN A PLAN A CANAL PANAMA
    The letters are the same going backwards.

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  51. !amanaP ,lanac a ,nalp a ,nam A

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  52. Skipped the blog today because I didn't finish the puzzle until late afternoon (FIW with an ill-WAG at the natick of ALMODOVAn + SERnANO). But amazed no one has mentioned the prescience of the Blog on PIC, mentioned in that very abbreviated form by Lemonade, Yellowrocks, Tony, & CrossEyedDave!

    D42.7184H : Congrats on going blue!

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  53. YR - we must'a posted at the same time. Argyle - LOL. Tawnya - I palindrome I [TMBG]. C, -T

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  54. BigEasy @6:23 -- Speaking on behalf of the United Fogies of America, it isn't that AOL.com is attractive; some of it is inertia, and a larger part of this inertia lies in the reality that each time I change some program -- or have change foisted on me involuntarily [AppleWorks' demise a case in point] -- I have some new command set/program philosophy/idiosyncracy to deal with.

    After over three decades of these changes, I want programs that are transparent in use and familiar, so I can just use them easily and concentrate on what I am doing, not on whether, say, will start the coffee pot....

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  55. Oh, my -- this program chopped out my example because it was in the HTML tag markers: "... not on whether, say, Alt-Shift-F4 will start the coffee pot...."

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  56. Gently toeing the political deep end says...

    Jinx - Those X.501 addresses are still quasi-used in Exchange. I vaguely recall the UUCP '!' (read 'bang') addresses used before my time / SMTP (RFC (821?)).

    In re: the AOL / CompuServe / Prodigy walled gardens... Ah, yes, thank you Pai for proposing "innovation" that was SO LAST MONTH 20 years ago.

    Folks, this is for real. Write your congress-critter, submit a written letter to the FCC - the FTC cannot handle what Pai proposes. The FCC (or someone!) should maintain net neutrality (read: open "tubes" for the interwebs)... No pay-to-play, no walled gardens, no Great Firewall.

    Or, just just put your IRA into ATT, Verizon, Comcast and giggle on your way to the bank -- while you pay an extra $2 "internet fee" because Wells Fargo/BOA/your credit union isn't a "preferred" financial institution* in the eyes of "The Provider."

    Orwell nor Huxley could come up with a better Post apocalyptIC scenario.**

    Cheers, -T
    *Think I'm making this up? Do you recall AOL, like, for real? First-tier and last-mile providers already tested throttling and tried shaking-down companies like NetFlix for peering traffic. Slapped wrists is what they got... TimeWarner - my eyes' on you.
    **OK, maybe that was a bit like yelling Nazi in a crowded theater. :-)

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  57. Good evening, folks. Thank you, Erik Agard, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for fine review.

    This puzzle was mostly doable, but there were a few tight areas.

    The theme appeared after quite a while. Once I got it a few unknowns appeared.

    Had to change SARGE to LOOIE at 47D.

    Had to change DEPOSE to PRY OFF at 88D. These were not even close. Big inkblot.

    CRISTELA? Not known to me. Perps.

    PTARMIGAN? OK. New one on me.

    As was EAR SHELL. Man oh man, am I learning a lot!

    IN APP? I guess I am not with it.

    Thanks all. See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

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  58. Michael at 10:58 p.m. 2nd paragraph: I'll second the motion and vote with you on that!

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  59. Ptarmigan, a bird in the grouse family, also called a snow chicken. The T is silent, so it is pronounced Ptarmigan.

    White clam pizza is common in Connecticut. Pepe's Pizza in New Haven on Wooster Street is the epicenter.

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  60. Not sure anyone will see this, but this was crazy difficult for me. By my definition I DNF because I basically gave up in the South.

    Hand up for IMADAM instead of PANAMA. My next thought was something with that ELBA palindrome. I Googled "ELBA palindrome" and saw the PANAMA one by accident. I then FIR, but by my definition that is a cheat.

    Why is DOME = HEAD? I do not get it.

    Huge thanks, CC, for explaining why ONE is the first character in 105A. Crazy! Also for explaining INAPP which I could not parse. I don't do phones. I know the term APP, but this was un-parse-able for me.

    This mess of crosses was just insane!
    INAPP/UNSAY/WESTHAM/PANAMA/METER/ONE/DOME/QUEEN SUGAR
    At least I was able to WAG QUEEN SUGAR

    Other bizarre unknowns: LOOIE, WAP, FOMO, VELMA, HOODOO, IVOR
    Other unknowns: KAY, BEANO, RON, TAMLA, ERIC, SERRANO, AHL

    I spent way too much time on this and still agree with Lemonade:
    what does 107. Shot surrounding the answers to starred clues: PIC mean?

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