google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, January 2, 2018 ~ John Lampkin

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Jan 2, 2018

Tuesday, January 2, 2018 ~ John Lampkin

Theme: A Pressing Issue - if you want to look your best.

16A. Celebrate with abandon: LET OFF STEAM

27A. Lift a few weights: PUMP SOME IRON

46A. Sunday NBC public affairs show: "MEET THE PRESS"

60A. Like a shirt condition suggested by the ends of 16-, 27- and 46-Across: WRINKLE-FREE

Argyle here. For some reason, I was surprised to see a Lampkin puzzle. It doesn't appear to be a typical Lampkin puzzle either.

Across:

1. More hot under the collar: MADDER

7. Topper with a tassel: FEZ


10. Managed care gp.: HMO. (Health Maintenance Organization)

13. Repetitive World Cup cheer: OLÉ OLÉ

14. Commuter vehicle: AUTO

15. Alley __: OOP. Basketball play, comic strip, or this by The Hollywood Argyles.



18. Boring routine: RUT

19. Teen sleuth Nancy: DREW


20. Exchange for cash: SELL

21. Deep opera voice: BASSO

23. Razor sharpener: STROP


25. Corn serving: EAR

26. "Uh-huh": ISEE

31. "Wheel of Fortune" purchase: AN 'I'

34. High-priority task: MUST DO

35. __ Jones' locker: DAVY

36. Mob enforcer: HITMAN

38. Girls in the family: NIECES

40. Island off Tuscany: ELBA

41. Arts and __: summer camp activity: CRAFTS

45. Before, poetically: ERE

49. "The Well-Tempered Clavier" composer: BACH. Here is just a taste.



50. Long-armed primate: APE

51. Bit of prevention: OUNCEAn ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

55. Soak in the tub: BATHE

56. Ignoring, with "to": DEAF

58. Parliament member: LORD

59. Ride for Jesus on Palm Sunday: ASS

63. Edge of a glass: RIM

64. One shaken to seal a deal: HAND

65. Keen judgment: ACUMEN

66. SSW's opposite: NNE

67. Tweeter's "Wow!": OMG!

68. Parable messages: MORALS

Down:

1. Jell-O shapers: MOLDS

2. Warn: ALERT

3. Ward off: DETER

4. "Grease" music genre: DOO-WOP

5. Munchkin kin: ELF

6. Gridiron zebras: REFs

7. Nuclear reactor tube: FUEL ROD

8. H-like Greek vowel: ETA

9. "Shaun of the Dead" creature: ZOMBIE. Title is a riff on "Dawn Of The Dead".



10. Kentucky Derby, e.g.: HORSE RACE

11. Position the cursor without clicking: MOUSE OVER

12. Vision: Pref.: OPTO

14. "About time!": AT LAST!

17. Goes (through) slowly: SEEPS

22. "All kidding __ ... ": ASIDE

24. Saucony rival: PUMA. Athletic shoes.

28. Chew noisily: MUNCH

29. Three-card game: MONTE. A shell game played with three cards.

30. Wall St.'s "Big Board": NYSE. (New York Stock Exchange)The big shell game.

31. "Pardon me": "AHEM"

32. River drainage region that covers 11 African countries: NILE BASIN


33. "I haven't a clue!": "IT BEATS ME!"

37. Fire lighter: MATCH

39. "That __ awesome!": IS SO

42. Poetry performance: READING

43. Add as a supplement: APPEND

44. Flip (out): FREAK

47. "Pinball Wizard" band: THE WHO. From the rock opera "TOMMY".



48. Gunpowder element: SULFUR

52. Bellini opera: NORMANorma Synopsis.

53. Angler's basket: CREEL

54. Utopian places: EDENS

55. Place for a Deere, but not deer: BARN

57. Hoax: FLAM. Three-card montge.

61. Crash into: RAM

62. Green prefix: ECO


Argyle

64 comments:

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks to John and Santa!

Fun puzzle. Didn't know PUMA and THE WHO, but, no problem!

Happy New Year!

See y'all tomorrow!





j

OwenKL said...

From Google et al.: flam (Music) one of the basic patterns (rudiments) of drumming, consisting of a stroke preceded by a grace note.

Wikipedia et al.: Flåm - Flåm is a village in Flåmsdalen, at the inner end of the Aurlandsfjorden—a branch of Sognefjorden. The village is located in the municipality of Aurland in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway.

Urban Dictionary: FLAM -- Farts Like A Man-- when a child or female farts like a grown man. Loud and stinky.

Dictionary.com: Flam -- noun
1.a deception or trick.
2.a falsehood; lie.
verb (used with or without object)
3.to deceive; delude; cheat.
Origin of flam -- First recorded in 1615-25; short for flimflam
Historical Examples.
Deuceace's flam about Prince Tallyram was puffickly successful.
Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. Yellowplush William Makepeace Thackeray.
“All soft soap and flam,” said Bob to himself, as he went out on deck.
Middy and Ensign G. Manville Fenn.
A red-haired, green-eyed, tanned, sinuous young woman called Flam appeared from time to time to renew brandy glasses and pass iced fruits around.
Legacy James H Schmitz.

British Dictionary definitions for flam
noun 1.a falsehood, deception, or sham
2.nonsense; drivel
verb 3.(transitive) to cheat or deceive

Online Etymology Dictionary
1630s, "sham story, fabrication" (n.); also "to deceive by flattery" (v.); see flim-flam.

OwenKL said...

To say Venus is hot would not be lyin'!
Your pan would melt if pancakes you tried fryin'!
Metal SEEPS out of the ground.
Lots of he-men there are found --
Ferrous wells there are the place to PUMP SOME IRON!

The flim-FLAM man was SELLING "WRINKLE FREE".
BATHE in the lotion, wrinkles would all flee!
His demo on a pup
Cured the wrinkles, sure enough,
But he got sued for ruining a pedigreed Shar-Pei!

Decay had rotted off the ZOMBIE'S EAR.
To be a FREAK and also DEAF his fear.
A.S.L. he tried to learn,
But signs he had to spurn.
His HAND kept falling off into his beer!

{B, B+, B.}

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thought this was going to be hard on first pass, but then got on John's wave-length the second pass. Thanks. Thanks, Argyle for all you do.

With single digit temperatures, we are definitely not getting "hot under the collar" or anywhere else unless you are working up a sweat shoveling snow. We're dry here. But I'm getting MADDER about the cold by the minute. Luckily, my furnace has decided to work as it should after two refusals to ignite until the temp was 66* yesterday. On a holiday!

Last to fill: DEAF/APPEND/FLAM crossings. Thank you, Owen, for all the info on FLAM. Have only ever seen flim FLAM.

ZOMBIE: a description of me now after only six hours of sleep since the 31st. Up for hydration now. No beer so my hand stayed on.

Oas said...

Thanx , not too difficult after holiday break. Dancing new years eve , visiting friends on New years day, a long standing tradition. To -fermatprime- The Who is a very successful Band who started in Winnipeg as The Guess Who by Burton Cummings . They shortend the name to The Who when they moved to US. - I really enjoy the xwds and look forward to the posts thanks.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Argyle and friends. Ironing shirts? What is that all about! I think I have a flat IRON somewhere in my closet, but it hasn't seen the light of days in years.

Shout out to Abejo with the FEZ.

MOUSE OVER? Is that a real phrase?

My favorite clue was One Shaken to Seal a Deal = HAND.

The Houston Grand Opera will be performing NORMA this spring. It doesn't look like an uplifting show.

QOD: The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!”, but “That’s funny …” ~ Isaac Asimov (né Isaak Yudovich Ozimov, Jan 2, 1902 ~ Apr. 6, 1992)

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

"Hows the weather?" she inquired. "Colder, Nell." he replied.

DOOWOP? You gotta be kidding. Otherwise, this was a smooth Tuesday solve, but where were the bugs? Thanx, John and Argyle.

I read part of that opera article, Argyle. Couldn't believe that Norma's last name was Synopsis. Hmmmmm. It wasn't.

desper-otto said...

Hahtoolah, A Word A Day also had an appropriate Asimov quote today: There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -Isaac Asimov

D4E4H said...

Good COLD morning you shiverers,

I was going to start with Mr. Full moon, but first this health alert.
The new word of the day is "Bombogenesis" which comes from the merging of two words: bomb and cyclogenesis. All storms are cyclones, and genesis means the creation or beginning. In this case, bomb refers to explosive development. Altogether the term means explosive storm strengthening.

For an explanation of the serious nature of this storm see WXYZ Detroit

Dave 2 deg. F

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but had to erase WRINKLEd tEE for WRIKLE FREE. Thanks, SULFUR. You also need saltpeter and charcoal to make black powder.

OKL, thanks for the FLAM info. I preferred SBD (silent but deadly) in my ute, but after I had some plowing performed on my lower forty, "silent" is not in my repertoire.

OAS, I always liked the Guess Who and the Who, and didn't know they were the same until today. I remembered that The Who was so popular that kids stampeded to get into an arena in Cincinnati. Two days later tee shirts went on sale that said "I'd Walk Over You to See the Who".

Hahtoolah, "mouse over" is a generic term for what Microsoft trademarked "Screen Tips". You place your cursor over some screen element and some info pops up.

D-O, Thanks for the quote. Back in 1982 the government issued a report titled "A Nation at Risk". Here's a portion: "...the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people."

Big day yesterday for the much maligned (at least here in the Corner) SEC, with South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama being victorious in big games.

Thanks to John and Santa for a fun Tuesday.

Anonymous said...

No religion? OMG! Ye have taken the Lord's name in vain two days in a row!

D4E4H said...

Station WXYZ, Detroit leads me to Object MOON, sky.

Yesterday we had 55D. Pizza pieces in London?: ZEDS

Today it is Moon pieces in London?: OEDS

Which is more important the Sun or the Moon? The Moon 'cause it is out at night when you need it.

This morning it was so bright that the man in the Moon was wearing Moon glasses.

Now on to the CW. Thank you Mr. John Lampkin for this enjoyable Tuesday CW that I FIR. Thanks A+ for linking us to your musical group for "Alley Oop."

"Prelude I - The Well-Tempered Clavier" [Piano Tutorial] (Synthesia)
It was interesting to see the upcoming notes.

Dave 2

Montana said...

When I saw John Lampkin, I thought the puzzle would be a tough one for me. I worked harder than I remember Tuesday puzzles being, but working across, down, across, down, over and over, I did solve the puzzle.
I also got the theme. That's two puzzles in a row! I remember when I rarely figured out a themes.

8° here this morning and weather forecast predicts it won't drop below zero during the next 10 days.

Thanks for iPad suggestions. I used Cruciverb.com and Across Lite this morning.
I used to have an app to get them, but now have to go to them separately. Cruciverb 'remembered' me. Didn't have to register. I also remember Marti (HeartRx) telling me about the StandAlone product. I had success with Cruciverb so never checked out that app.

Thanks, Argyle, for your expo this morning. I always learn something.

Montana

Lucina said...

Thank you, John Lampkin, for this interesting puzzle. But I protest! "Grease" is definitely NOT DOO WOP! It is disco, pure and simple. Just ask the BeeGees. In fact, that movie and music started the disco era.

I agree on CSO to Abejo at FEZ.

"Shaun of the Dead" is foreign to me but ZOMBIE perped its way into the grid. The same with MOUSEOVER. Thank you for the explanation, Jinx.

Cute clue for BARN. Sadly, I often have to IRON some of my clothes. Even after being in the dryer, they need a PRESS.

Thank you, Argyle, for always being there for us.

Have a splendid day, everyone!

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, John Lampkin, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

OK, folks. 13 below zero at 8:00 am in NE Illinois. Won't cut the grass today.

Madame DeFarge: Is it that cold in Evanston, as well? You are closer to the lake, may be a little warmer.

Puzzle went through in typical Tuesday fashion. Not too hard, but not a breeze either.

WRINKLE FREE. Well, let me state that I always iron my shirts. I don't care what the package says.

Thanks for the shout out Hahtoolah. I enjoy wearing my FEZ.

Of course I wrote in SCAM before FLAM became obvious. Only inkblot. Oops one more, I wrote in FARM before BARN appeared. NNE fixed that. I should have read an across first.

I was baffled by SAUCONY. Got PUMA with perps.

Have a slow drain. Will work on that when my wife gets home. I do not like to stand on top of things in the basement while alone in the house. Just in case.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Yellowrocks said...

Thanks, John and Santa for a pleasant romp today. I needed the reveal to guess the theme. No unknowns, except for FLAM, which I seriously doubted. The perps were strong so FIR. OKL, thanks for connecting flam to the known flimflam. It makes sense.
I do iron occasionally when a garment looks bad and will be worn in a special place.
DO, agree that anti-intellectualism has always been present in our modern society to a lesser or greater degree. Unfortunately it is especially rampant today. There no longer seems to be objective truth. Truth to so many is whatever they happen to feel. I am truly worried about our present society. The Asimov quote is so apt and up to date.
Lucina, I agree. I was surprised to see that Grease was listed as DOO WOP instead of DISCO.
I would not like to take a long walk in this unusual cold, or heaven forbid, work outdoors. as some must do. But I have become inured to the cold for the short time it takes to walk through large parking lots. Stay warm.

TTP said...

Thank you John Lampkin and thank you Argyle.

This puzzle theme made me recall the heavily starched fatigues and spit-shined jump boots we wore for inspection.

Didn't know NORMA, but it perped in.

Argyle, I didn't know of riff in that sense before today.

OAS, The Who was an English rock band with Pete Townsend, Roger Daltry, John Entwistle et al. The Guess Who was a Canadian rock band with Burton Cummings, Randy Bachman et al. They were not the same band.

Michigan lost so the B1G went 7-1 as a conference in bowl games. The SEC won 3 games yesterday to improve to 4 wins and 5 losses, but will be guaranteed to have a national champion crowned this year.

We have a corner lot. The grade school children get on the bus there. Ran the snowblower to get the street corner clean for them. Found out this morning they don't go back to school until next Monday.

Irish Miss, did you see this in the news ?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

No serious DETERants to the solve. No searches or erasures (other than spelling) were needed. Spelling FREAK correctly coughed up DEAF and FLAM and it was done.
HAND - German - Hand, L. German - Hand, Dutch - Hand. Names for parts of the body are often quite similar. Arm and Finger are some others.

TTP said...

Abejo, I slept late this AM and checked my fancy schmancy weather station after I got up. It said -9. Then turned on the TV and and it showed your town at -13, and others around me also in double digits below. My cheapo analog thermometer was more accurate.

Also, (FLN), you said voted for Perot twice. Was it in the same election ? :>) The old Chicago joke: "Vote early and vote often."

Anon-T (FLY), I used your pop's "It's so cold here..." joke when talking to my sister in central Texas today. She laughed so hard. Thanks for sharing.

Husker Gary, I missed most of the Michigan game because I was zoned in on watching Scott Frost's UCF Knights beat the Auburn Tigers to go undefeated for the season. Winless 2 years ago and undefeated this season. What a turnaround ! I liked what I saw. Nebraska fans must be looking forward to his arrival. Seems to be a class act.

Yellowrocks (FLN), pork and sauerkraut has been our family's traditional New Years meal for as long as I can remember. Started mine at 9:00 AM yesterday. Scaled back this year and roasted country style pork ribs instead of a larger roast, and half of the sauerkraut. Still have plenty of leftovers. Yum !

MJ said...

Good morning to all!

I always enjoy John Lampkin's puzzles, though I found today's offering a bit challenging for a Tuesday. MOUSE OVER is a new term to me, too, but it makes sense as Jinx explained. Thanks for the tour, Argyle.

Enjoy the day!

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Zoomed right through in Tuesday style. Hand up for being surprised at Grease and Doo-wop being linked.

Morning Argyle, smiled out loud at the Shaun trailer. I noticed the “Romzomcom” at the end, seems clever to me.

So, did everyone see the Vienna broadcast yesterday? What a beautiful place.

D-O, I’m unfamiliar with the Asimov quote, but I think he was right.

oc4beach said...


A hot theme for such a cold morning. Good one by John and our tour guide Argyle.

I didn't need the theme to solve the puzzle. My only unknown was NORMA. Everything fell into place with perps.

Not much else to say.

Stay Warm.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-A well-tempered puzzle, song selections and write-up today
-Miami coach Mark Richt LET OFF STEAM (:21) Saturday with strings of “F-bombs” and actually grabbing a REF. Tsk, tsk!
-RUT – my head cold and subzero weather has kept me in the house for a week
-HITMAN (19 murders) turned rat, Sammy “The Bull” Gravano was released from prison last September
-Chimps played small APES and men played large ones in this Stanley Kubrick masterpiece
-DEAF TO – “Yes, and how many ears must one man have, Before he can hear people cry?” Song?
-Here we eagerly await spring training, The Masters and The Kentucky Derby
-A súlfur cauldron NNE of Pocatello, Idaho
-Hahtoolah – “That’s funny, the bacteria near the penicillium mold stopped growing”

Husker Gary said...

Musings - APPENDED
-TTP – The return of Scott Frost to coach the Huskers seems to be a miraculous alignment of the stars. He QB’ed the last National Championship here and his mom and dad were both former star Husker athletes that will welcome their newborn grandchild to Lincoln.

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts", 2018 debut:

A belated HNY, Cornerites. I had a very busy two days off (NYE/NYD), and am just now getting back into my routine. Hope all had a pleasant "good riddance" to 2017, and are, like me, looking forward to bigger and better in this New Year.

Today's puzzle ended up being a cakewalk, as all fell into place rather easily. The last letter was the "F" at the intersection of DEAF and FLAM. DEAF seemed correct, so FLAM "MUST DO". Thanks OKL for the various dictionary definitions. I wouldn't have known the Urban Dict one (Fart Like ...) if you hadn't posted. I admit I'm a bit slow when it comes to texting/modern-day acronyms, although the MOUSE OVER solve seemed quite logical. I know I've done it a time or two. I always use a detached MOUSE when I'm on my laptop ...

I still have a couple of cute limericks "on deck", but for now I will attempt to regale you with a trio of Moe-kus:

The group of jockeys
Had laringytis. Of course,
They ran a "hoarse" RACE

The Honda execs
Wanted to offer upgrades.
Were dubbed: ACU-MEN

Mafia HITMAN
Who will sing '50's music
Was called a DOO WOP

Misty said...

Great to see a John Lampkin puzzle on a Tuesday, and this one was a delight. I worried about FLAM (didn't think of flim-flam until Owen's post) and was hugely relieved that it was right. But I sadly goofed by putting STRAP instead of STROP, since the spelling of DOOWOP didn't occur to me. So still no WOOHOO for me in the new year, but still enjoyed the puzzle--thank you, John. And great write-up, Argyle.

A neighbor who gets the New York Times gave me an amazing Sunday December 17 section of the paper yesterday, that has a whole part called "Puzzle Mania" with the biggest crossword puzzle called Super Mega that I've ever seen in my life--taking up four entire pages of the paper. Did anyone post about this back then? I've been working on it, but it's so huge that I have to spread it out across the table and roam around trying to find the clues for the different sections. An amazing experience. I don't know if I'll ever finish it, but I won't be buying any more puzzle books for a while this year with this toughie to deal with.

Have a great day, everybody!

Lemonade714 said...

Thanks, John Lampkin for an early week entertainment.

Oas- I have had the pleasure of seeing both THE GUESS WHO a Canadian band and the superband THE WHO and they are not the same bands.

Interestingly (perhaps) Keith MOON was the WHO drummer, appropriate for our MOON discussion. After Keith died he has been replaced by Zak Starkey, who is Ringo Starr's son.

Roy said...

The ends of the clues gave me WRINKLE, but I was looking for the before state, not the after until perps gave me FREE.

I had MUSCLE before HITMAN.

Hands up as not familiar with FLAM without fllim.

Husker Gary: The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.

Lucina said...

Misty:
That extra large puzzle usually appears in our Thanksgiving Day newspaper as a bonus. Enjoy!

IrishMiss:
Well, it looks like you won't be bothered by any Nigerian princes or other hooligans any more. We truly must have the most persistent, dedicated and outstanding police and FBI forces in the world! I'm impressed that they caught that culprit.

Picard said...

Fun theme. I was stuck awhile in the SE with unknowns NORMA and CREEL but eventually WAGs and perps took care of it.

ELBA has been appearing a lot lately. I have some photos there, but not today.

SAUCONY unknown. Must be a shoe given the PUMA answer. Hand up have only ever seen Flim-FLAM. Will try to forget the Urban Dictionary definition, OwenKL!

Thank you Hahtoolah and Desper-Otto for the Asimov quotes. Both so true and indeed very apt today. And thank you for the BACH piece, Argyle. I listened to it as I read the comments.

This beautiful FIRE dance was part of our New Year's Eve experience.

No high-priced event. Just some friends performing their art among friends. No MATCH needed when Devin lights his torches from wife Krystal's.

Here are some of my photos in FEZ, Morocco

I was playing the role of "husband" to a friend with an import business who did not want to be hassled as a single Western woman. FEZ was a magical place for me. It felt like being in an ant hill, where there were no boundaries between buildings. And it seems little changed in the last thousand years.

CanadianEh! said...

Some crunch today. Thanks for the fun, John and Argyle.

I was working in the newspaper and had several inkblots. One was WEES Scam to FLAM.
My shirt was originally Crinkle free but the band was not The Cho and that was fixed.
(Thanks for clarifying THE WHO and The Guess Who, TTP @9:21 and Lemonade. I think AnonT likes The Guess Who and BTO).
Speaking of AnonT, he will either love or hate your 3rd offering, CMoe@11:22! And we had "Ere I saw ELBA" again.

My Topper was a Tam before a FEZ (sorry Abejo!). Velvet Doctoral Graduation Tams have tassels.
My Parliament member was an Earl before a LORD. Canadian Parliament members are neither.
This Canadian thought SULFUR looked wrong. I spell it as Sulphur.

Per Wikipedia, "The Nile, which is 6,853 km (4,258 miles) long, is an "international" river as its drainage basin covers eleven countries, namely, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt." Argyle's map shows 10 countries and must be pre-2011 when South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan. My son and DIL had just finished a 1-year work term there (they were on the White Nile) in December 2013 when S. Sudan erupted into civil war which still continues with accompanying human rights abuses and famine. Sad.

Off to brave the cold and get some groceries.
Enjoy the day.

CanadianEh! said...

Thanks for the FEZ and Fire Dance links, Picard. Beautiful.

Misty, that puzzle sounds like a challenge. Enjoy!

Actually, the Answer is Blowin' in the Wind!

Re "Grease music genre= DOO WOP": this article might explain the clue by referring to Those Magic Changes as celebrating Doo Wop, but requires some stretch IMHO.
DooWopInGreaseMovie

Unknown said...

fast as I could write again today...slowed a little at DOOWOP. The musical was set in the DOOWOP era but the songs didn't seem to me to have the tight 4 part harmony of doowop. I didn't think disco either. Would have tried "Broadwayshowtune" but it wouldn't fit. Then came the SE corner. Didn't know NORMA or CREEL either despite being forced to fish as a Michiganian youngster. Nothing came to me in the SE then I reakized I misspelled SULFeR. Change to "u" ...got ACUMEN and 2 for 2 TADAs.

My nit is "flam". Has the word ever been used without "FLIM ? Never heard "War of the Worlds" described as a great flam !

Sorry you guys are cold. Got down to the 40's last night here. Debating weather to wear or carry a light sweater to the golf course. I tee off at about 1. May not finish but the course will be empty.

Anonymous said...


@Lucina and Yellowrocks et.al.
"Grease" is set in the 50's. Doo Wop has all those nonsense syllables.
WE GO TOGETHER
@Lucina You'e thinking of "Saturday Night Fever" which was all about Disco dancing, music and the BeeGees.

D4E4H said...

Chairman of the Moes you've done it now at 1122A
It's time to put on your Mafia snow tires. Dago thru mud. Dago thru snow, and when dago flat, dago wop, wop, wop.

Lemonade714 1201P
Thank you for just the encouragement I needed to complete the Moon Trilogy. When you next see the moon, I would like you to have at hand the ability to tell whether it will be larger, or smaller tomorrow. It has two phases, Wax and Wane.

You smart ones know what wane means, but here is a way to remember that Wax means it will be bigger. You are in the cabin dipping taper candles. You start with the wick, dip, and dry until you have made a candle. Each dip makes it larger hence Wax.

Now take the last letter of waX and wanE. The E opens to the right. If the portion of the moon is to your right it will be smaller tomorrow. The X opens both ways, but look only to the left. The moon will be larger tomorrow.

Contrary to art a star cannot hang in the crescent, and when the Moon looks pregnant, it is the Gibbous Moon.

CanadianEH! 115P
Thanks to you we have Mooning.

Dave 2 moons for you

Spitzboov said...

Dudley @ 1014 - We saw the New Years concert from Vienna last night. Loved the zither player, and piccolo player. Very oppulent digs and nice video of the outlying palaces and grounds. The ballet footage was obviously filmed during the summer so I was wondering how they synched the moves accurately to what the orchestra was playing in the New Years concert.

Anonymous said...

@Lemmon714

After Keith Moon died, Kenney Jones replaced him as the drummer for The Who. Zak Starkey came later. Maybe in the 90s or so.

Lucina said...

Anonymous@1:38
You're right! I was thinking of Saturday Night Fever. My daughter loves them both so in my mind they blend in together. She has watched them so often she knows the dialog of both.

Picard:
Thank you for always sharing your photos. Those are marvelous. I never got to FEZ, only to Tangier but they actually both look alike, small alleyways between crowded buildings and open bazaars, etc.

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

Late to the dance due to beauty "salon" appointment and a trip to Dante's Inferno, AKA, my least favorite supermarket. (Today's gripe: no milk in the quart size and not one package of center cut rib porkchops! Probably just as well on the pork chops as they are usually tasteless and tough, to boot.) To say it's cold outside would be an understatement, although it's at least double-digit cold! Back to the single-digit ice-box by Thursday or Friday, I believe.

Anyway, to JL's warming puzzle! There was a bit of a crunch with unknowns (as clued) asI never heard of Saucony, "Pinball Wizard", or "Shaun of the Dead." But, with perp help, no problems. W/os were Recital/Reading, Tam/Fez, and Scam/Sham/Flam. Flam looks odd without the Flim. Bottom line: cute theme and a fun solve.

Thanks, John Lampkin, for aiding some warmth to a freezing day and thanks, Argyle, for keeping the fires stoked!

TTP @ 9:21 ~ I read your comment before I left for my appointment but didn't have time to reply. Yes, I did see that news article and had quite a chuckle.

Lucina @ 12:35 ~ I read your comment when I finally got back home. In between TTP's and your comments, I received an email from some Nigerian dignitary exhorting me to claim my $2,000,000.00 immediately, as an imposter is trying to get her hands on it! Alas, Lucina, these scammers are like the Energizer Bunny; they just keep on going and going....I'm glad, however, at least one ring has been put out of business. I also received a notification that someone tried to buy something at the App Store using my account, so would I please verifify my account information so my account can be "reactive" (sic).

Have a great day.

John Lampkin said...

Thank you all for the kind comments, and Happy New Year!
Thanks for blogging, Argyle. If it doesn't seem like it's a JL puzzle it's because on Tuesdays tricky word play is not allowed. Hey, I could lose my union membership. It's a Tuesday type of theme which demands a Tuesday type of cluing. I've put all my tricky clues under my pillow until a late-week idea comes along.

AnonymousPVX said...

I thought this a typical Tuesday puzzle, nicely clued and constructed. Kind of an easy one at that, IMO.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Nope, no diagonals today. The 116th row black block broke my attempt to descend either from the NW or NE.

But this was a fine Tuesday pzl from Mr. Lampkin who, despite offering lots of gimmes, somehow managed to lure me and others into several wrong first attempts. ALARM before ALERT, STRAP before STROP, SCAM before FLAM ... Were there more? It always feels more!

Anyway, it led to a neat Ta- DA!

Gotta run. Time to help my wife take down the tree!

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle and enjoyed solving it. Fast and easy. Some nifty fill.

Yellowrocks said...

I listened to the music form Grease again after all these years and did some research earlier. I agree that the music is doo wop or doo wop influenced. I learned that the original play was racier and less glitzy. There has been quite a bit of revision.
John L. well done, great for a Tuesday.

Oas said...

Thanks to TTP and Lemonade714 for correcting me on the Who and Guess Who I was under the wrong assumption for years , hate when that happens and I opine before I research .

Bill G said...

Thanks John and Argyle. That was an enjoyable early-week puzzle. I was expecting fun, high-quality puzzling when I saw Mr. Lampkin's name.

I used to participate in an online puzzle forum. Another active puzzler named Elliott lived in England. We seemed to enjoy each others' online personality and sense of humor and we began to e-mail back and forth about other stuff besides puzzles. I was making small talk one day and told him Barbara was going to be at a math conference for teachers all weekend and why didn't he drop by? I was just being silly but he wrote back and said he had found an inexpensive ticket. He would arrive on Friday and could I meet him at the airport? I was gobstruck at the prospect of enjoyable company over the weekend. I told my students. They were very excited to warn me of the dangers of meeting people on the Internet. He might be a serial killer! I told them not to worry but if I didn't show up on Monday, that they might have been right.

I went to the airport and stood with all of the chauffeurs awaiting their arrivals. They were holding up signs reading Mr. Jones or Dr. Smythe or somesuch. I had brought a sign reading A squared plus B squared equalled C squared. Elliott arrived, we met up and had a very pleasant weekend. He wanted to go to the beach (never having seen the Pacific). We did. While walking, I saw one of my students skating along the Strand. She saw Elliott and me and began to stutter, "Is, is that the guy you told us about...?" Elliott smiled and said that he was sorry to disappoint but that he could never find the training to become a serial killer.

The reason I thought of telling this story about Elliott is that he has had some fun with Nigerian scammers, leading them on and on with encouraging words about his enthusiasm to participate but never quite managing to give them all the information they want. He comes close but never quite manages to close the deal. I have been tempted to try it myself but never had the courage.

PK said...

"Grease" was set in the '50's. Having grown up in that era, I tried to cram 'rock & roll' in the DOOWOP spot. I don't remember hearing the term DOOWOP back then, but we were isolated. Most of the kids in my little high school didn't even have TV and had never seen Dick Clark's show. We were dancing away anyway. One of my friends moved away and wrote me saying we'd been doing it wrong. Nobody cared. Fun tops correct, right?

Gary: I'd like a dollar for every time I played "Blowin' In The Wind" on the guitar back in the olden days when I could still play guitar.

Picard: your friends are a lot hotter than any I ever had. Playing with fire scares the heck out of me. I would have had to leave.

Thought it was a FLAM Lampkin puzzle because there were no "bugs" in it. MOUSE was close enough, I guess. MOUSE OVER explains all those ads popping up when I drag my mouse across the screen. Always mystified me.

sanfranman59 said...

Hi ... I'm new to this blog, but have frequented the Rex Parker blog in the past, so the name may look familiar to some. I've enjoyed reading through today's comments, though I think my head spun a couple of 360s when Oas said The Who and The Guess Who were the same band and Lucina said that "Grease" is disco.

I've tracked my LAT solve times since February 2010. Assuming there's no (or at least not much) objection here, maybe I'll try to get in the habit of posting a few numbers here and a semi-objective evaluation of the relative difficulty of each puzzle.

Day, Solve Time, 26-wk Median, Ratio, %, Rating

Mon 4:06 4:05 1.00 52.4% Medium
Tue 5:18 4:27 1.19 87.7% Challenging

The columns are that day's solve time, my 26-week median solve time for that day of the week, the ratio of that day's solve time to the 26-week median (higher means it took me longer than normal), difficulty percentage and difficulty rating. The difficulty percentage is sort of like a percentile. I rank order all of the ratios in my current NYT spreadsheet (back to May 2015) and divide today's rank by the total number of days in the spreadsheet.

For example, today's solve time was 5:18 vs my 26-week Tuesday median (4:27), yielding a 1.19 ratio. That ratio is the 341st lowest of the 389 Tuesdays I've tracked back to July 2010, the difficulty percentage is 87.7% (341/389) and the rating is Challenging. The difficulty rating is based on the percentage as such:
1-20 = Easy
21-40 = Easy-Medium
41-60 = Medium
61-80 = Medium-Challenging
81-100 = Challenging

CanadianEh! said...

sanfranman59 - are you an engineer by any chance? Those spreadsheets make me think so.

D2 - LOL re Mooning.

sanfranman59 said...

@CanadianEh! ... Statistician/Database manager

CanadianEh! said...

Welcome to the Corner sanfranman59. Your stats may put us all to shame!
Personally, I am just glad to finish in any time. LOL

Mike Sherline said...

Sanfranman59 - I too welcome you, but I'm with CanadianEh! - I don't time myself but notice the time on the Mensa site while saving the completed puzzle, and am usually pleasantly surprised when it's 10 or 12 minutes. I don't think I can type fast enough to finish even the easiest puzzle in 4 or 5 mins.

Picard said...

Thanks for stopping by, John Lampkin. It is quite an honor that the constructors visit here!

Thank you for the very kind words about my FEZ photos and video of my friends FIRE dancing CanadianEh, Lucina and PK. Good that you also had a taste of Morocco, Lucina.

Yes, PK, I feel very fortunate to have friends who share their wonderful talents. And who offer such special opportunities as my friend who took me to FEZ and other Moroccan points with her.

Here is one more photo share. Of our FAMILY over the holidays. My NIECE is on the far left; my nephew next to her.

We don't do Christmas, but my brother's birthday is right before the birthday of that other Jewish guy. My NIECE and nephew were both out from New York for the occasion.

Ol' Man Keith said...

sanfranman59:

And there I was, drawing heat for pointing out the pleasure of Xwd diagonals ...

Your handle leads me to suspect you're from my hometown. We used to breed poets, musicians, and artists. I guess math whizzes are now carving a place for themselves.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Bill G, I enjoyed your tale of the untrained serial killer.
Especially the ending about playing tag with Nigerian scammers. I never gave it much thought, but it strikes me as a fair and fun way to get a little wicked pleasure at the expense of uninitiated intruders.

D4E4H said...

Picard FLN 141P
"Dept and Investment" looked like a link that did not make it. I posted one like that yesterday. Why is it not blue? I had missed one letter in the link lingo. Thanks for making your links bold.

Today 1247P & 739P
I second Lucina's praise of your photos.
the fire dancers even still have hair. I have accidentally singed it off my fore arms several times. Never tried my face.

PK FLN 865P
I found the London NYD Parade and saw your grandsons. Their uniforms are impressive. You must really be proud of them. Did you know that Marty, one of the white horses pulling a carriage spooked, reared, got caught in his lines, and fell to the pavement. It caused quite an internet stir, but he was uninjured, and enjoying extra carrots in his stable holding court at his table today.

Lucina 207P
You said "My daughter" etc. Please forgive me for prying, and tell me to "Blow off" if my questions are too personal, but how old were you when you became a Nun, ended your period as a Nun, married, and had said daughter? Does she have siblings?

I - M 223P & Bill G 436P
I got a notice once that I had won a foreign lottery. Doesn't one have to play to win? I played along on a scam one time like Elliott and received a fake certified check via Fed Ex for products if I would simply order items from Nikken for the scammer. My banker said the check would fail upon attempted deposit, and I would be charged a fee.

sanfranman59 528P
I'm not sure we want someone on the Corner who's head can spin a couple of 360s, but CanadianEh!, Mike Sherline, and Ol' Man Keith seem to like you so "Do the math!"

Mike Sherline 719P
Do you live on the ShOreline?

Dave 2

Argyle said...

Here is the link to C.C.'s interview with John Lampkin.

PK said...

Bill G: One good thing, while your friend is engaging the scammer in nonsense, the scammer isn't gouging money out of some poor unsuspecting soul.

Keith, I had to kid you a little about diagonals. No heat intended.

D4: didn't know about the horse fall incident. I was a little concerned that the sparkly confetti they were blasting out in the performance square would be slippery underfoot for marchers and cheerleaders. I also was surprised that the parade planners didn't know it's a good idea to have horses last so they don't leave nasty surprises for the marchers. Thank you for your interest in my grandsons' big adventure.

Sanfranman59: good grief! I won't object to you, but I don't understand what you are talking about. Tilt!

Lucina said...

D4E4H:
If you e-mail me I will be happy to share those details with you. I'm not sure that everyone here would be interested.

Dudley said...

PK, you are so right! Having been a band kid, I’ve marched in many parades, in crisp white sneakers. Seems we always got stuck behind horses - big, well fed ones.

Spitz 1:43 - exactly! It’s got to be a complicated video production effort. And they don’t have much time to assemble the ultimate product, just a few hours.

Bill G - fun story! I like the airport sign especially.

Misty said...

It was nice of you to check in with us, John Lampkin--many thanks!

Mike Sherline said...

Dave Two @ 2111 - about a mile away and 1,000' up. But I have been called that many times over the years, along with Shortline and Serloin.

Dow Jones said...

FYI....

The Wednesday (January 3, 2018) edition of the Wall Street Journal has a C.C. Crossword Puzzle (Naughty, Naughty). The puzzle may be solved or printed at wsj.com (mouseover Life & Arts and click on WSJ puzzles).


p.s. C.C. constructed today's NY Times puzzle

Wilbur Charles said...

Somewhere in a McDonald's far away and on ago I finished John L.'s cleverly clued but relatively easy xword.

I did founder a bit in the SE. I had penned ACUITY. To make it work, I tried IDYLS and meanwhile was thinking like C-eh, of SULPHUR. I finally straightened it out.

I'm sharing my insomnia with a Frazier marathon.

As I recall, I think it was"Still of Night" that had the words DOOWOP.

WC