google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, November 8, 2017 C. C. Burnikel

Gary's Blog Map

Nov 8, 2017

Wednesday, November 8, 2017 C. C. Burnikel

Theme - CONVERSATIONS of a sort. The circled letters that book-end the theme answers to the asterisked clues are all synonyms for TALK.  Hence today's theme song.




Let's check them out.

16 A. *Golfer's guide for measuring distances : YARDAGE BOOK.  I'm not familiar with this term, but it's clearly a record of tee to green distances.  To YAK is to overdue the talking.

28 A. *Philatelist's find : RARE STAMP.  A philatelist is a stamp collector.  A rare one can be worth a fortune.  About 50 years ago the word RAP meant to have a casual conversation, perhaps involving some vocabulary lubricating substances.  Now it indicates a music genre in which rapidly and rhythmically delivered words are presented over some sort of music background.

44 A. *Hybrid retriever : GOLDEN LAB.  Labrador retrievers are hunting and working dogs that make good pets.  They come in black, brown and various shades of yellow.  In a quick search I couldn't come up with anything about hybrids.  There is a mixed breed dog called a Goldador, which is a cross between a Lab and a Golden Retriever. It's a smart and easy going type of dog, but I don't think it is quite the same thing as a Golden Lab, which looks to be a naturally occurring variant.   To GAB is to talk overlong about trivial matters, or engage in idle chatter.

61 A. *Winter warming spell : JANUARY THAW.  The calm between the winter storms.  To JAW is pretty much the same as to YAK or GAB.  The English language is rich in unnecessary synonyms.

Usually it can be hard to grasp this type of theme if your puzzle source doesn't include the circles.  But today's unifier, tucked into the southeast quadrant, is helpful in figuring it out.

38 D. Popular mobile app ... and, as shown by circles, what the inner parts of the answers to starred clues do : SNAPCHAT.    This is an app for sharing pictures and messages.  Unlike on other social media platforms, SNAPCHAT items automatically are deleted after some time.  The sense of the clue is that the interior letters have been snapped and trapped, alligator style, leaving the circled letters as a free-standing word.

Hi Gang, JzB here to start the conversation.  Now - who would come up with such a snappy theme idea?  Why, it is our own C. C.!  With split-word themes I always look for symmetry or balance. Here, the first two entries split after the first letter of the 3-letter target word; and in the last two, it's after the second letter - a nice, elegant touch. Let's SNAP our way through the rest of the puzzle and CHAT about it in comments.

Across

1. "That cracks me up!" : HAHA.  Real or feigned laughter.

5. "__ and the Swan": Rubens painting : LEDA.  In mythology, LEDA was an Aetolian princess who became queen of Sparta.  Zeus raped her in the form of a swan.  Devine sexual abuse.  What kind of an example does that set for mere humans? This subject seems to have fascinated many other artists.



9. Paper Mate product : PEN.  The write answer.

12. 1936 Olympics standout : OWENS.  Jesse [1913- 1980] was a gold medalist in track and field events.

14. Goes it alone : SOLOS.  As pilot trainees or musicians.

15. "Te __": Rihanna song : AMO.



18. Playful bite : NIP.

19. House vote : AYE.   Or NAY, depending on how you feel about the issue.

20. Like much store-brand merchandise : LOW END.  Less than top quality in materials or workmanship.

21. Contact lens solution brand : RENU.  Bausch and Lomb product.

22. Soft boot material : SUEDE.


24. Winner's wreath : LAUREL.  An aromatic evergreen shrub, related to the bay tree, common to warm and tropical locations.



26. Church seating : PEWS.  Usually wooden and hard.

31. On __ of: for : BEHALF.  In the interest of or representing some one or some thing.

34. Family guys : PAPAS. Dads or granddads, depending on your family's preferences.

35. Overhead expanse : SKY.  You can find stars there.

36. Superhero in an armored suit : IRONMAN. Tony Stark [no relation to the Winterfell Starks] was captured by an evil enemy who forced him to build a weapon.  He instead built for himself an advanced suit of armor that he used to escape and go on to a life of heroism.

38. Place for a hot stone massage : SPA.  A commercial enterprise offering various health and beauty treatments.

41. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" novelist : STOWE.  Harriet Elizabeth Beecher STOWE [1811-1896] American author and abolitionist.

42. Became clear to, with "on" : DAWNED.

48. Tough to learn : HARD.   Like calculus or many real life lessons.

49. "Finally!" : AT LAST.   What took you so long?

50. One of his stories is the source of the "sour grapes" idiom : AESOP.  Ancient Greek fabulist.

53. Relax in the tub : SOAK.  [Ahhhh]

54. Sonny and Cher, e.g. : POP DUO.  From back in the day.



57. Sulu portrayer John : CHO.  [b 1972] Korean-American actor and musician, portrayor of Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek reboot film series.

60. Kin of net : COM.  Web site suffixes.

63. Fla. neighbor : ALA.  So. Sts.

64. Athlete's rep : AGENT.  Contract negotiators

65. Facebook option : SHARE.  A way of reposting something you see.

66. Mario Bros. console letters : NES.

67. Exercise break : REST.  Catch your breath.

68. Casino conveniences : ATMS.  Automatic Teller Machines, located so you can hand over even more of your hard earned cash.

Down

1. Georgetown hoopster : HOYA.  Georgetown U. basketball player.  The story is that long ago the school teams were called The Stonewalls.  A student, relying on Greek and Latin came up with the slogan "Hoya Saxa!" meaning "What Rocks!"  The rest is history.  Or perhaps myth.  You decide.

2. On the road : AWAY.  Out of town.

3. "These are the reasons" : HERE'S WHY.

4. "Go on ... " : AND.  Tell me more.

5. Place for a hoop : LOBE.   This gives me an earie feeling.

6. Musk of Tesla Motors : ELON. [b 1971] A South-African born Canadian-American businessman, inventor, engineer and investor.

7. Kid's drawing tablet : DOODLE PAD.

8. Pose a question : ASK.

9. Bakery-café chain : PANERA.

10. "8 Mile" rapper : EMINEM.  Marshall Bruce Mathers III [b 1972] is the best selling American recording artist of the previous decade.

11. Orange juice specification : NO PULP.  I like mine with pulp

13. Customer-drawing sign word : SALE.  Presumably, prices are reduced.

14. Waste conduit : SEWER. Disposal system.

17. Supreme being : GOD.

21. Road grooves : RUTS.

23. "Miracle on Ice" team, for short : USA.  American 1980 Olympic Hockey - a different kind of cold war.

25. Yoga position : ASANAPostures.

26. "Masterpiece" network : PBSPublic Broadcasting System.

27. "There's a mouse in our house!" : EEK.  Human squeak.

29. Sleep study subject : APNEA.  Breathing interruption during sleep.

30. Ewe guy : RAM.   This elicits a sheepish grin.

32. Low-calorie brews : LITES.  Might as well drink water.

33. Place for big headlines : FRONT PAGE.  First thing you see in a news paper.

37. Hooting bird : OWL.  Who? Raptors of the order Strigiformes, which are mostly solitary and nocturnal.  That's who!

39. __ capita : PER.  For each person, taken collectively; typically averaging some countable item or phenomenon over the population as a whole.

40. Mix in : ADD.

41. Badlands Natl. Park site : S. DAK.  South Dakota.

43. Detective's question : WHO?   Or WHY?

44. Garage container : GAS CAN.

45. 1962 Lawrence portrayer : O'TOOLE.  Peter [1932-2013] Anglo-Irish stage and film actor.

46. Peruvian pack animals : LLAMAS.


47. Not skilled in : BAD AT.

51. Lux. setting : EUR.  Luxembourg is in EURope.

52. Tofu beans : SOYS.  If you soy so.

55. Change for a five : ONES.  Dollar bills.

56. Fourth-down play : PUNT.  American football.  The team currently in possession of the ball kicks it to the other team in the hope of moving them farther away from their goal line.

58. Inflict pain on : HARM.  Do damage to.

59. Is in arrears : OWES.  Has overdue debt.

61. Cookie container : JAR.  Ours has yummy home made pumpkin cookies.

62. Article in some hip-hop titles : THA.  Variant of THE, I assume.

That RAPS up another Wednesday.  Let the GABS, YAKS and JAWing begin.

Cool Regards!
JzB




48 comments:

  1. FIW¡ SOYa instead of SOYS was my error. I was so sure of that one. I knew the perp aHARE was wrong, but figured one of the other letters was a more likely culprit. Also thought 65a would be one of the 71 fabulous gender options Facebook offers, not one of the more mundane selections!

    As for the theme, it was pretty obvious from the bubbles early on, but the reveal is one of the weakest I've ever seen. Sure, the bubbles were CHATs SNAPped in two, but what the letters in between had to do with it I don't see.

    The prescience of the Blog: GOLDEN LABs -- Lucinda & TX Ms talked about GOLDEN retrievers yesterday, while Tony made two references to LABrador dogs.

    I mostly write limericks, HERE'S WHY:
    What can be said is as wide as the SKY!
    But the width of the span
    My attention can stand --
    Of more than five lines, it is shy!

    Once a LOW END lawyer sued dudes on BEHALF
    Of an Swedish SOAK WHO had been served decaf.
    The jury was swayed
    By the Swede dressed in SUEDE,
    But the shyster's SHARE of the affair would BE HALF!

    {A-, B.}

    ReplyDelete
  2. How contemporary to refer to the great character actor Andy Devine who lives on thanks to enormous number of cable channels. Who can forget Jingles. What he has to do with Zeus and Leda,is beyond me

    I loved this puzzle and think RAP artisticly is the same as YAK GAB and JAW. And as a bonus they are,all three letters with A in the middle.

    Yardage books measure distance to the green from the tee, the fairway the bunker all of which I visit

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. Greetings!

    Thank to C. C. and JzB!

    A fun puzzle. Never heard of a YARDAGE BOOK, but no problems.

    Hope to see you all tomorrow!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good morning!

    SNAPCHAT, because "break in the conversation" was too long. No real problems with this one. I tried SOYA also, OKL, but SHARE fixed that. Thanx, C.C. and JzB.

    Old TV watching, how did Andy Devine get into the conversation? Maybe a link got repaired before I got here this morning.

    ReplyDelete
  5. With the circled YAK and RAP the theme was an easy guess. 'Yakety Yak Talk Back'- is that song about a YAK? And speaking of RAP, I don't listen or follow EMINEM or know that THA is an "Article in some garbage titles'-perps. AMO & CHO were the only other unknowns filled by perps. As for SHAPCHAT, their shares dropped 20% yesterday. Their problem? No new users and they haven't figured out a way to make a profit.

    YARDAGE BOOK? Fermatime, there's a good reason you are unfamiliar with it. Nobody but PGA pros use them any longer. Golfers either have a 'Sky Caddies', which uses GPS or one of the LASER range finders which give them their exact yardage to the pin. Do they really help? Not for most golfers. Scores are just as bad.

    'Casino conveniences'-ATMS- convenient for the Casino, not you. They get your money.

    Andy Devine? Where does he come in?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Agree with OKL about the reveal. I spent a lot of time trying to find a secondary gimmick between the circles before giving up. FIR, but erased BEHest for BEHALF, SOYa (hi guys!), HuRt for HARM, and late for OWES.

    George Takei is Sulu. Period.

    To belabor a point, the yardage book also shows the distance TO a hazard and the distance to CLEAR the hazard. So do you want to hit an easier club that won't reach the hazard, or one that is harder to hit but that will fly over the hazard if you hit it well? Are you feeling lucky, punk?

    I loved all the canine petty thievery stories from yesterday's blog entries. I had an Irish Wolfhound named Merlin who was 6' 10" tall when he stood on his back legs and stuck his nose in the air. The only reason leftover pizza was safe on top of the fridge was because we taught him to stay away from the top of the fridge. People look askance when we say that Zoe is our small dog, but she is about 1/3 the size of Merlin.

    Thanks, CC for a fun puzzle (even though I was chagrined when I read the reveal). And thanks JazzB for another witty cover.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Curious, are there any American-Canadians or even any African-Canadiens?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anon, once in Niagara Falls, Ont. I passed an Italian-Canadian restaurant, I briefly wondered what was Canadian food - beaver lasagna? poutine and meatballs?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I figured with YAK that the circles would contain synonyms for talk. The reveal SNAP(ped) CHAT was clever. I didn't expect anything from the middle letters. I have seen clues set up this way before.
    JzB, punny write up. I agree that English is rich in synonyms. Strike the unnecessary. When I write a paragraph in which the same word appears over and over I try to substitute a synonym. Did you ever notice that in many two language dictionaries, the English section is longer than the other one? We have more words, which makes English so interesting.
    The expo reminds me of the old meaning of rap. We had rap sessions in college.
    My first hearing of BEHALF was in a speech when I was a kid. The speaker pronounced it BEHOF. He used it many times in the same speech. He was a big bag of wind. I still associate BEHALF with him.
    Yesterday we had cookie tin, today we have cookie jar. At Christmas I used to make 6 different kind of cookies and store them in tins. I have cut back to just two kinds of very delicate labor intensive traditional cookies, a once a year effort. Alan and I need to be careful of our sweets and we receive many cookies as gifts. I make an extra batch for David. He and his wife make tons of Christmas cookies, but not that kind.
    My very favorite kitten was one which had been returned to the shelter for being mean. He would playfully NIP you without causing pain. He was not at all mean, but the most loving cat I ever owned. I still miss him after all these years.
    That swan in Leda and the swan is surely a COB not a PEN. You can LIU.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AHEM. I worked for 25 years for Trader Joe's, and our store brands were most certainly not LOW END.
    Agree that there is only one Sulu: George Takei.
    One of these days I'll remember which landmarks are in SDAK vs NDAK.
    I own a YELLOW Lab. Not a GOLDEN Retriever.
    Didn't know THA was a thang. I mean thing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Musings
    -C.C., Jazz and Jack Frost were welcome visitors this morning!
    -A page from a YARDAGE BOOK pros carry with them
    -My SIL is a master of GAB. She never met a 30 sec. story she couldn’t turn into 5 min.
    -A student used SNAP CHAT to stream the State Championship SB game back to school where I was subbing for the coach
    -These ridiculously cheap Paper Mate PENcils are my CWD tools every morning. Both ends work well!
    -I was told to SOLO as a student teacher 5 minutes after I arrived in 1968. Yikes!
    -I take the LOW END stuff every time here but not for some things like catsup
    -If you love Jesus (or America, or kitties), you will SHARE this. Go Away!
    -C’mon, some of you also thought of this drawing tablet
    -I just emptied my GAS CAN into my snow blower and fired it up last week!
    -Joann does not do “store bought” cookies for our Tupperware “JAR” very often.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good Morning,

    WOOOSH! That was the sound of the theme flying right over my head! Some was easy for me: GOLDEN LAB, JANUARY THAW, RARE STAMP AND OWENS. Others, not so much. YARDAGE BOOK? I thought that was on the score card. Thanks for the link, HG. POP DUO really escaped me. Nonetheless, C.C., this was a fun Wednesday. Thanks.

    Thank you for another in-depth explication, JzB!

    The frost last night means the hostas have to go. Better get at them on this sunny day.

    Have a good day, all.



    ReplyDelete
  13. "What took you so long?" I dunno JzB. Perhaps because I slept long, and then had to get the garbage out to the street.

    Here's the essence of yesteryear's RAP captured in this 1970 Hit Song by The Jaggerz - The RAPPER. "The song is addressed to a girl, or girls in general; it describes the method of a man who seduces women with untruths ("rapping".) The singer says, "You know what he's after."

    The band's name derives from the Pittsburgh English slang term, "jagger bush," meaning a thorny bush. - Wikipedia. Yinz know what I'm talking about ?

    Thanks CC and JzB.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Good morning everyone.

    Nifty theme from C.C. but not familiar with SNAP CHAT. Got it from the perps. Good "conversation" from JzB, too.
    No solving problems. Couple unknowns like NES and THA came from perps.
    NO PULP - I like my OJ with MOST PULP; Florida's Natural brand. No imported juice is blended in. No substitutes.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Misty - Confession: TxMs and I have been talking behind your back... :-)
    Please! post your pear-salad recipe and settle a side-bet. TxMs says it's a salad - a salad like this one w/ Dijon or this one while I think it's num-nums spread on a platter then drizzled - you could eat w/ your (albeit, sticky) fingers...

    Inquiring, hungry minds, wanna know... //There's no money riding on this - just our taste buds' curiosity; also, I plan to test drive it for Thanksgiving this weekend.

    Puzzle play later, Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  16. Excellent write-up Jazz.

    C.C. Thank you for a FUN Wednesday puzzle. I enjoyed the theme.

    We NEVER have a JANUARY THAW here in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Another snappy sashay and this time from our fearless leader, C.C. Thank you! And many thanks to you, Jazzbumpa, for a most comprehensive conversation.

    Not much time to comment, again, because I'm going to meet my sister to buy tamale-making ingredients. Yes! It's that time.

    I can remember EMINEM since he is the only white rapper I've seen. There may be others, but they're unknown to me.

    My NIT is with SOYS. It's likely correct, but my mind wants SOYA or SOY beans.

    Have a pleasant day, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Well this was a fun Wednesday. Thanks C.C. and JzB.

    I thought I was safe on the Mensa site today because we have had so many circles lately and then I got to 38D . . . . Oh well, it did not affect the solve.

    Hand up for SOYa before SOYS.
    I'm not sure if previous questions about Devine (Old TV @3:52, d-o @6:34,Big Easy @7:10) are serious but I think JzB just had a typo and meant Divine in 5A discussion.

    I briefly thought of Chinook before JANUARY THAW. (We got our first frost last night too.)

    Of course, you all know by now that Canadians do not get ONES as change for a five. We get Loonies and Toonies!
    LOL billocohoes @7:59 re Canadian food. This link has a good list.
    IconicCanadianFoods
    Anon @7:49 - Canada is multicultural; we have American Canadians, African Canadians, French Canadians, Ukrainian Canadians, Italian Canadians, Syrian Canadians and many more. But we are all Canadians (or Canadiens if you are French)!

    AnonT, I agreed with your interpretation of Misty's pear dish. We'll see what she says.
    Lucina, tamales sound great! They are not on my Iconic Canadian food list. LOL!

    Enjoy the day.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi everybody. I liked the puzzle very much. Thanks CC and JzB.

    Count me in with those who didn't care for the reveal. It seemed tortured and strained. It sounded like it was going to be something interesting; more interesting than splitting three-letter words for chatting. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Good Morning:

    This had a bit of crunch but nothing that perps couldn't handle. I had to read the reveal a few times before I truly understood the wording, but it makes perfect sense. From the little I know about rap "music", it seems to revolve around misogny and violence, expressed by every four-letter word known to man and some, heretofore, unknown. To each his own, I guess.

    Thanks, CC, for a mid-week challenge and thanks, JzB, for the "talking points", so well expressed.

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Good Morning all!

    I got thru this puzzle pretty quickly with only a few stumbles. Thank you CC for the fun and thanks JazzB for the write up!

    JANUARY THAW had too many spaces for HEAT WAVE

    OWENS reminded me of one of my most favorite books ever The Book Thief. Looks like there is also a movie, but I haven't seen it. Have a new box of tissues ready.

    Have you seen RAP star Ludacris "read" LLAMA LLAMA Red Pajamas? It makes me giggle uncontrollably.

    Some people confuse their yellow lab's color and call their purebred a GOLDEN LAB. A lab mixed with anything is generally a wonderful dog - happy, easy to please, and the potential to be really smart! I tried to fit Labradoodle or Goldendoodle but there were not enough spaces. *I have to go back to read all your stories about "counter surfing" from yesterday! My 3-legged rescue, Trace, has stolen a whole pineapple and a whole cantaloupe off the counter (in separate incidences). If it weren't for a few leaves from the pineapple and a few seeds of the cantaloupe, we wouldn't have known what happened.

    @Lucina - let us know when you will sending out our packages of tamales so we all know when to wait for the delivery ;)

    I buy store-brand stuff all the time, especially at Aldi. They are not the LOW END products we were accustomed to years ago. Often they are name brands that have a slight formula variation but are produced and packaged by the same people.

    I am not on SNAPCHAT and am currently on a "break" from FB, Twitter, and Instagram. It just became too overwhelming with all the violence and political statements lately. I'm sure I'll start reading again eventually but I'm rather enjoying the break.

    Off to lunch with a friend!

    Happy Wednesday!

    t.

    ReplyDelete
  22. @Anon-T yesterday - thanks for Thomas Dolby! I give you TMBG

    t.

    ReplyDelete
  23. I'm also on break from FB, Twitter, SnapChat and Instagram. I've been broken forever.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Good morning, folks. thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for a fine review.

    Got through pretty easily. My last to fill were SNAP CHAT and CHO and HARM. Theme eluded me for a while. I got the words in circles, but the theme description was not easily understood. After a while I figured it out.

    41A was easy. Harriet Beecher STOWE. Famous Abolitionist.

    GAS CAN. I have quite a collection of gas cans.

    You can keep all the LITE beers. No taste.

    ELON at 6D was unknown to me. Perped.

    I definitely like all the pulp I can get in Orange Juice.

    Have to run. See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )



    ReplyDelete
  25. C-Eh, thanks for the link of Iconic Canadian Foods. They all looked delish (haven't eaten yet), but cod tongues?! Gotta run.

    ReplyDelete
  26. TX Ms @12:18
    I must admit that I have never had Cod tongues but I have had Cod cheeks on a trip to Newfoundland and they were delicious. Bigger than I expected (those fish are large!).

    YR @8:21
    LOL re your Cob vs. PEN comment.

    ReplyDelete
  27. There is nothing more exciting than finding a C.C. puzzle in the paper on a Wednesday (did I get the day right?)--unless it's one with circles, and 1 and 2 circles at that! Took me a few minutes to get into this one, but then it just flowed without any problems until the very end, when I had a letter missing in the cross between PAN_RA and R_NU. Didn't know the bakery chain or the contact lens solution---aarrghh--it was going to be so disappointing to goof on just a single letter. But then it occurred to me that RENU might be ad speak for RENEW, so I put in the E and got it! Tadah! Woohoo! You've made my morning, C.C. And JazzB, I really appreciate your careful explanations of various items.

    My only other funny goof this morning was reading "hot stone MESSAGE" instead of MASSAGE. I kept thinking "this is going to be a learning moment" until the SPA filled in and I saw my mistake.

    Owen, I really enjoyed your first limerick.

    I had my first robo call this morning, since I got my new phone number a few weeks ago. It's been so wonderful having the house quiet all day, and knowing that when the phone did ring it was going to be friend or family calling. I kept praying that my new number wouldn't get noticed by marketers, but I guess 'twas not to be. Sad.

    Have a great mid-week, everybody!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I'm so flattered by your pear salad question, AnonT and TxM! Since my salad has no bacon or spinach its ingredients are more like the first one. But the shape is different from either--I just wish I had a photo to show you. Because it's served with other platters of food, I serve them not in a salad bowl but on a flat square white plate.mI cut the pears into quarters and then slice those into thin (not too thin) wedges. I strew the large (pretty large) square platter with a thin layer of salad greens. Then I place the pear slices in three rows, one next to the other, about 8 across and 3 rows down the platter. Then I sprinkle them with the pecan halves and the dried cranberries, and then I pour a streak of the dressing across each of the three rows of pears. Finally, I top the whole platter with a sprinkling of crumbled feta cheese. As I say, I wish I could post a picture, but hope the description makes sense. Thanks again for asking, I am very flattered.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Andy Devine has nothing to do with the puzzle except that “divine” was misspelled and the poster decided to call him on it. Geez.

    “Golden lab” - I googled this, first hit explained it as a cross between a Golden Retriever and a Labrador Retreiver. Goldador is one of a few names for this hybrid.

    A nice Wednesday puzzle with an unneeded theme.

    ReplyDelete
  30. While solving this puzzle I had to look at the calendar to make sure it isn't Monday. It seemed extra easy, for some reason, but enjoyable nevertheless. I have a feeling C.C. was pondering the term SNAPCHAT and got the idea of snapping (like a ginger cookie) the chat into two pieces for the theme entries. She's done it before, of course; it's a common gimmick. I'm rather fond of her "Side Orders" one.

    Jazzb, thanks for your write-up; entertaining and informative, as usual.

    I have never used Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, Instagram, or any other of that ilk, and never will. I'm with desper-otto on that score, and applaud tawnya on taking a break from them.

    Jinx in Norfolk, those are some BIG dogs!

    Nifty Canadian food.

    I keep forgetting that Devil's Tower is not a SDAK landmark; it's in Wyoming.

    Best wishes to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  31. The SOYS/SOYa problem was the only item to give me pause. Otherwise C.C.'s fine pzl provided naught but pleasure.
    I admit to some self-inflicted confusion over mis-reading "Lux." (51D) as an abbreviation for "Luxor" (and therefore wanting to fill with EGY instead of EUR), but that was set straight by the perps.

    Today's the day I should get delivery of my new keyboard and so be reprieved from one-finger typing on my iPad screen.
    As Misty would say, Woo-Hoo!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Hi Y'all! Fun & fast, C.C.! No circles but it was a SNAP to see the CHATty parts! Yay, I got it! Reminded me of the unknown YAKker I encountered in the grocery store yesterday.

    Chuckle-worthy as usual, JzB. Thanks for the info on HOYA. I've watched them in year-end tournaments and wondered.

    Would a New England Kid have a Yankee DOODLE PAD?

    Old TV watcher: I had to check back up with LEDA and the swan to get your Andy DEVINE Sexual Abuse reference. I thought "Oh no, not good old Andy, too", then realized he is dead. LOL! Now we know how rumors get started.

    Well, all the TRASH talk yesterday had me loading up my garbage can & my recycling can and hauling them to the curb early in the evening yesterday. Looked out at midnight and saw none of my neighbors had their stuff out. Realized it was Tuesday, not Wednesday and our usual collection day is Thursday. I was embarrassed to be dumb again, but I left it there. This morning the trash can was out in the street so I went down to move it and found it was empty. Recycling bin also empty. Confused, I went back in the house and checked the card with collection dates for holidays. Our trash was picked up a day early because of Vet's Day holiday for garbage men. So I'm the only one who did it right. Yay! Without the blog CHAT yesterday, I wouldn't have been collected. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Dear Misty:

    Robocalls are the antithesis of civilization.

    I wish I could say that I'm working on a counter-battery solution to robocalls ... I'd make so much money! (In the artillery, when someone drops a shell on you, if your counter-battery people are up and running, their radar finds the route, and the source, of that shell, and then delivers a 'thank-you note' right back to the enemy. The trouble nowadays is that most of the robospammers are using false numbers to call from, so there is no true source to work with.)

    ReplyDelete
  34. When I first came across the tale of LEDA and the Swan, I wondered if it was inspired by observed swan behavior. I mean, are swans particularly horny little beasts?
    Being a city boy, my only run-in with swans was occasionally to feed them stale bread down at the Palace of Fine Arrs in San Francisco. One bit me once, so I was ever after inclined to think the worst of them - but I can't say I ever noticed any particularly rude manners.

    LLAMAS are wonderful animals. Unless mistreated, they are docile and patient, more like pet dogs than donkeys I would say. I enjoyed watching them in a Peruvian market, heeling along on leads behind young kids. Alpacas are the Disney-fied versions, similar to their larger cousins, but with those long fluttering eyelashes.
    Do they use mascara, I wonder?
    At a fiesta once, my wife got on my case after I was YAKking away about how "dear" and "sweet" I thought alpacas were. She pointed out I had just eaten alpaca on a BBQ skewer, so I should know!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Misty, go to nomorobo.com and check if your phone company is compatible with their service. It's been a dogscent for us.

    ReplyDelete
  36. There is always something to learn on this blog. I had no idea that there was a Museum of Fine Arrs in San Francisco, OMK. I'd have guessed Tampa....or maybe Nawlins.

    And then there's "dogscent" courtesy of DO. I'm stealing that one!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Hi All!

    Whoot! A C.C. Puzzle to start the hump-day. I got most the north in my head while waiting on traffic to move [hey, at least I'm not texting]

    Thanks JzB for the expo - especially HOYA's background and Sonny & Cher.

    WOs: ELoN, WHy b/f WHO, Tin b/f JAR, Hurt b/f HARM (Hi Jinx!)
    ESPs: LEDA, AMO, HOYA

    Fav: Not sure which I like best, 'OWL & WHO' or 'HERE'S WHY, AND GOD!' juxtaposed [what a weak argument! :-)]. But then there's The WHO xing It's HARD. Too hard to pick - C.C. always has a plethora of fun words.

    {A,B+}

    Thank you Misty! Now let's hope HEB Groceries has nice pears.* TxMs - I think we both win :-). AND, C,Eh! offered us more food-porn! [hope Steve see's that too!]

    Jinx: Of no other Sulu do I know - AND how fun ADD to yesterday's KIRK.

    Tawnya - thanks for the TMBG... The LLAMA RAP was um... :-). //maybe if I knew that book.

    CED - LOL Stream of conscious.

    Michael - AND that's the same reason we don't 'hack-back' - it's HARD to get attribution. [and you could start a war as former director of NSA Alexander mentioned in re: SONY's N.KOR hack]

    HERE'S WHY I'm anti-social media - I'm the product not the customer. HG, that's the other reason! Nothing but Fake-BOOK accounts for me when I need it for hacking, er, research...

    Cheers, -T
    *they will now 'cuz Google will tell them I blogged about it w/in the next 42msec. Yes, this blog is a form of social media and I except it 'cuz of present company.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Didn't refresh b/f posting (again) says...

    LOL, AveJoe!

    DO - are you dyslexic too? Have insomnia? Agnostic? Me too - I'm up all night self-debating if there is really a DOG.
    //I found that RECYLED joke where CED admitted to his (FLN). Arr - the jig is up! [and gone!]

    .-T

    ReplyDelete
  39. P.S. to mine of 3:43 pm --

    That's why artillerymen don't stay in one place for more than 4 or 5 minutes at a time, because there is COUNTER-counter-battery fire as well.

    So that's another reason, Anon-T: the spammers could counter-spam us.

    There are times when I wish we could just stick our tongues out at each other ... and be done.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Fast and fun today, courtesy of our own C.C.!, Thanks! My favorite, of course, was that fourth down PUNT. Though no one ever wants to do that!

    JzB thanks for the tour. I always learn something new.

    Owen, A, A!! My attention span is about five lines also....or less.

    Anon T and friends....y'all are making me hungry.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Michael - unfortunately I'm not talking about SPAM; these are nefarious AGENTS trying to usurp our systems for their gain... In my ute, I'd bounce through systems so fast no one knew it wasn't the Chinese attacking 'em. [this was before the Great Firewall and those systems were wide open for exploit - now I think they were watching us for methods. Sun Tzu++;]

    OKL - funny re: prescience: My 1st draft last night talking about TP or Towels or whatever was "my rule even if you want to do it wrong" was tongue-in-cheek. I wasn't sure it would come across so I, initially, had parenthetically wrote "well, it Cracks me up." Imagine my LOL @1a this morning in traffic.

    So no one linked IRON MAN?. OZZY is the poster-boy for "Just say no." :-)

    Tonight I broke down and admitted...
    I was trying to buy a battery for my fob and couldn't read the fine print re: cross-compatibility. So, I went to the "eye care section" and tried on +1.25 spces - holy cow! I can read!... I bought THA lenz!.
    Sigh, the eyes is failing. Funny thing -- the CVS (yes, LOW END specs) label has a graphic of a crossword on it. #ImOfficiallyOld :-)

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  42. AnonT:
    Trust me. You are far, far from old if weak eyesight is your only worry!

    ReplyDelete
  43. AnonT: I had to chuckle. My son born in 1970 has started hauling his low-end spectacles out of a pocket or hanging on his T-shirt neck every time he encounters small print. I don't know whether he got them at a drug or grocery store. He always buys the best of everything, so this tickles me. I'm thinking of you driving your Alfa Romero in cheap store glasses. But whatever works!

    I'm at the point where I call donning glasses, "putting on my eyes".

    ReplyDelete
  44. HAHA Lucina... Yes, I'm just feeling sorry for myself :-). Actually, I'm I'm Feelin' Alright [Cocker]

    If I did this OKAY... LOW END CVS specs label. Pix is Proof!

    Night. -T

    ReplyDelete
  45. Not sure if anyone will see this. Was too busy today to post.

    Thank you for the kind words about my photos, PK, Lucina and TX Ms!

    Thanks, CC, for the enjoyable theme and puzzle. My phone cost ten dollars and plugs into the wall, so no apps for me. But I have heard of SNAPCHAT.

    Several unknowns like YARDAGE BOOK. Hand up that George Takei is the only Sulu. I was very honored to get to see him speak not too long ago. He is way more amazing even than I realized. I published an article about his talk that I will have to find.

    One of my co-workers is of Greek ancestry and her name is LEDA. I came across the painting years after I first knew her and she confirmed she was named for that LEDA.

    Is one who sews a SEWER?

    Here are a few of the LLAMAS I encountered in Peru, along with quite a few alpacas

    LLAMAS are generally bigger. Alpacas are prized for their wool. The lovely lady in the photo sold me two of those alpaca sweaters which I treasure.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Crud, I should know it's too late for everyone to play along and link this Cocker and Belushi .

    Oooh, I should have waited for Picard - nope he was in Peru. :-)

    PK - yep, that's me AND you've put a data-point together re: DOB year. You're the AI in the social network :-). Sadly, the Civic is in the shop, the Alfa won't start (and it's rainy) so I had to take DW's kid-mobile. Yep, #ImOld :-) -T

    ReplyDelete
  47. T, this is LATE. And, I had NOODLEPAD. As Misty would say"AAAARRRGGGGHHHHH! After three weekend FIRs.

    Agree, FB holds no interest except to wish HBD to my "Friends".

    That Amazon pop-up is the internet answer to robo-calls.

    I was at the VA but DW had come over* and forgot her cell phone and borrowed mine. Problem was I has shut off volume (Church) so my calling was useless.

    But I had my trusty TBtimes to keep me happy. But the xword didn't keep me occupied for long. Btw, CC can do really hard ones for us and surely will. Soon.

    Owen, I notice the prescience often too.

    WC either really late or really early

    * We "come over" the Skyway bridge to cross the bay from Hillsborough to Pinellas.

    PS. I noticed a little X in the top left of that Amazon ad and it got me out. Left arrow at the bottom gets disabled. I use Chrome btw.

    PPS. JzB, that was a very good write-up.

    THA, THA, THA That's all folks!

    ReplyDelete

For custom-made birthday, anniversary or special occasion puzzles from C.C., please email crosswordc@gmail.com

Her book "Sip & Solve Easy Mini Crosswords" is available on Amazon.

Please click on Comments Section Abbrs for some blog-specific terms.

Please limit your posts to 5 per day and cap each post length at about 20 lines in Preview mode.

No politics, no religion and no personal attacks.