google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday April 22, 2018 Victor Barocas

Gary's Blog Map

Apr 22, 2018

Sunday April 22, 2018 Victor Barocas

Theme: "Number One Fan"- EGO  is hidden in the very middle each theme entry.

23. Neighbor of Montenegro: HERZEGOVINA.

34. Knew unfavorable things about: HAD THE GOODS ON.

43. Put the blame on: SCAPEGOATED.

56. In the "Other" column: UNCATEGORIZED.

67. Solving a problem boldly: CUTTING THE GORDIAN KNOT.

77. Tony Gwynn, notably: SAN DIEGO PADRE.

94. Ill-advised: MISBEGOTTEN

102. Complaint about monotony: HERE WE GO AGAIN.

117. Narcissistic trait exhibited perfectly by this puzzle's eight other longest answers: EGOCENTRISM.

In this type of hidden theme, often the hidden word span across two or more words. In today's case, we have a few one-word entries due to extra "centrism" layer.

Nice to see Victor Barocas' byline again. He's incredibly talented and self-effacing.

Left to right:

C.C., Tom Pepper, George Barany, Victor Barocas, Michael David & David Liben-Nowell. Missing David Hanson (Rosebud).

Across:

1. Jennifer Saunders Britcom: AB FAB. Absolutely Fabulous.

 
6. Supporting structure: TRUSS.

11. When tripled, "and so on": YADA. "Seinfeld".

15. Scandinavian language: SAMI.

19. PowerPoint unit: SLIDE.

20. Greek goddesses of the seasons: HORAE.


21. K.C. Royal, e.g.: ALER. American Leaguer. Gluey.

22. Snapchat co-founder Spiegel: EVAN. Husband of Miranda Kerr.


25. Gaiety: MERRIMENT.

27. Fleeced female: EWE.

28. Put up: ERECT.

29. Goalkeeper's success: SAVE.

30. Mournful melody: DIRGE.

31. Fleece-seeking vessel: ARGO.

37. Cabinetmaker's cylinder: DOWEL ROD. We also have 4. Carpentry tool: ADZ.


41. Obama : Bo :: FDR : __: FALA.

42. Pre-riot state: UNREST.

45. Bamm-Bamm's mom: BETTY. The Flintstones.

47. Like Chichén Itzá pyramids: MAYAN.

48. Harp constellation: LYRA.

49. Brought in: HIRED.

51. "Don't Bring Me Down" rock gp.: ELO.

54. Comparison phrase: IS TO.

60. Knuckler's lack: SPIN. R. A. Dickey was a Twin, ages ago.


63. T or F, maybe: ANS. The initial of our TTP.

65. Astronomer Hale: ALAN.

66. Japanese comics: ANIME.

73. Favorite's surprise: UPSET. Dupe with 126. Beginning: ONSET.

74. Learning method: ROTE.

75. Knee-injury initials: ACL.

76. Uncle __: BEN'S. Not BUCK.

82. Sailor's saint: ELMO.

84. U.N. worker protection gp.: ILO. International Labour Organization.

85. Normand of silents: MABEL.

86. Part of Q.E.D.: ERAT.

88. Port near Sapporo: OTARU.


92. Holy, to Henriette: SACRE. I have fond memory of this place.


96. "A Fish Called Wanda" actor: CLEESE.

99. Important pipe: MAIN.

101. German state named for a river, with "the": SAARLAND. The Saar River.

106. Audible alert: BEEP.

107. Greek marketplace: AGORA.

108. Plot measure: ACRE.

109. "Swell!": NEATO.

112. Caraway-flavored bread: RYE.

115. Exam for intellectual property lawyers: PATENT BAR. Debut entry.

120. Medical suffix: ITIS.

121. Actress Fanning: ELLE.

122. Eatery freebies: MINTS.

123. Command to attack: SIC 'EM.

124. Japanese PCs: NECS.

125. Useless, battery-wise: DEAD. Yay, my 11-year-old iPod came alive again.

127. Imitation: APERY.  Not a word I use.

Down:

1. 1975 Wimbledon champ: ASHE.

2. Botched: BLEW.

3. "Ask me anything": FIRE AWAY.

5. Wax maker: BEE.

6. "__: Ragnarok": 2017 superhero film: THOR. Chris Hemsworth.


7. Meander: ROVE.

8. Robert of "Vega$": URICH.

9. Resident of America's highest capital: SANTA FEAN. Hi there Owen!

10. Coral __: SEA.

11. Piano brand: YAMAHA.

12. Advil alternative: ALEVE. Boomer's hands sometimes have these spotty purplish spots. They often go away in a few days. His bowling buddy Don said it's due to various pain killers. Boomer had another bad fall a few weeks ago due to the stupid snow. Hurt his shoulder/elbow pretty bad. He had to take those pain killers.


13. Reduction of legal constraints, briefly: DEREG.

14. Part of ETA: Abbr.: ARR.

15. With a touch of sweetness: SEMI-DRY.

16. Opposed: AVERSE.

17. Tropical fruits: MANGOS. I once bought two mangoes that refused to ripen. Very weird.

18. What manslaughter lacks: INTENT. That would be murder.

24. Composer Telemann: GEORG.

26. Words of denial: I DON'T.

29. Mo.'s largest airport: STL.

32. Did some home maintenance: REPAINTED.

33. Narrow valleys: GLENS.

35. Pops: DAD.

36. Surpass: OUTDO.

37. Mil. award: DSM.

38. Plant also called a New Zealand yam: OCA. Still have not found these tubers in our local grocery stores.


39. Wuyi Mountains tea: OOLONG. Gimme for me.

40. It breaks in the morning: DAY.

44. Play about Capote: TRU.

45. Actress Vaccaro: BRENDA. Stranger to me.


46. Mind reader?: EEG.

49. Anaheim baseball cap feature: HALO.

50. Name dropped by TASS in 2014: ITAR.

51. Paperless periodical: E-ZINE.

52. Subpar car: LEMON.

53. "Waiting for Lefty" playwright: ODETS.

55. Earth tone: TAN.

57. Not free-range: CAGED.

58. Fled on foot: RAN.

59. Item gifted with a fountain pen: INK BOTTLE. I used to dread our calligraphy class.

60. "Pardon me, Giulia": SCUSI.

61. Post-larval: PUPAL.

62. "__ problem": IT'S NO. Tiny dupe: 68. "Lord, is __?": Matthew: IT I.

64. Dance floor flasher: STROBE.

69. What optimists don't give up: HOPE.

70. List-ending abbr.: ET AL.

71. Summer brew: ICE TEA. Or ICED TEA. Spring is finally here. Reaching 60s today. Our first 60s in five months.

72. Every one of: ALL.

78. Roast host: EMCEE.

79. Needlefish: GAR.

80. Controlling: REINING IN.

81. RN workplaces: ERS.

83. "S.W.A.T." star Shemar: MOORE. Unfamiliar to me.


87. Crunch targets: ABS.

89. Not for free: AT A PRICE.

90. Toon canine: REN.

91. Grand Forks sch.: UND. University of North Dakota.

92. One looking ahead: SEERESS. Great clue.

93. City near Lake Nasser: ASWAN.

94. Hamm of soccer: MIA.

95. Neighbor of Cameroon: GABON.


96. "Cat's in the Cradle" singer Harry: CHAPIN.

97. Papal representative: LEGATE.

98. Designed to light a fire?: EROTIC. Oh!

99. Damaged: MARRED.

100. Iron __: AGE.

103. Triangular building feature: GABLE.

104. City including the former site of a Seminole War fort: OCALA. Vowel-rich.

105. Glowing signs: NEONS.

110. Entr'__: ACTE.

111. Evaluate: TEST.

113. Flemish river: YSER.

114. One of 11 for Julia Louis-Dreyfus: EMMY.

116. Texas senator Cruz: TED.

117. Moody rock genre: EMO.

118. PreCheck org.: TSA.

119. Swindle, in slang: RIP.


I don't have any update on Argyle. I got overly optimistic last Sunday when he replied quite a few emails. Since then I have not been able to reach him. His friend Jennifer said he's doing OK and he's been using his computer. So let's hope he'll stop by the blog when he feels like it.

Thanks again for the well wishes and cards (weekly from Agnes!) you've sent to him.  And your tablet gift, D-Otto. And your ready-to-Amazon external keyboard, Anon-T.

Thank you so much for the kindness and generosity.

C.C.

38 comments:

  1. Hello Puzzlers -

    Pretty much zoomed through, but I was slow to suss the theme. I noticed only the G near the center of each answer, until the reveal turned the light on. Prof. Barocas must have worked hard to get the ego centered exactly - great craftsmanship!

    Tried Ghana before Gabon. I definitely don’t know African geography. Come to think of it, African rivers don’t show up in crosswords much, probably a good thing.

    Morning C.C., thanks for keeping us posted about Argyle. I hope he can chime in soon.

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  2. Good morning!

    Worked this one left-to-right, top-to-bottom. The only mystery was who this Sandie Gopadre guy might be. Thanx for parsing that, C.C. Nicely executed, Victor. I'm impressed!

    YADA: I've learned that judges don't like to hear this while they're administering the oath.

    YAMAHA: Owned a Yamaha motorcycle and several Yamaha amplifiers, but my piano was a Sohmer.

    MOORE: He's probably better known for playing Derek Morgan for 11 seasons on Criminal Minds.

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  3. Good Morning, C.C. and friends. I really enjoyed this Sunday puzzle. I forgot to look at the name of the puzzle, but easily got the EGOCENTRISM, which helped me to look for the EGO in the theme clues.

    I liked seeing the Fleeced Female near the Fleeced-Seeking Vessel.

    It was also interesting to see the Papal Representative next to EROTIC!

    Shemer MOORE was on Malcolm on The Young and the Restless many years ago.

    QOD: Only one letter divides the comic from the cosmic. ~ Vladimir Nabokov (Apr. 22, 1899 ~ July 2, 1977)

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  4. Thanks for the expo, CC.
    I couldn’t sleep last night. Finally just got up and worked the puzzle. I didn’t remember *ala = FALA but perp helped. Amazingly, there were perps that helped at every hesitation. As I read the blog this morning, there were a lot of clues I didn’t know on their own, but with a letter or three, the answers popped to mind.

    C.C., we reached near 70° yesterday. That weather should head east to you!
    Last summer/fall we suffered extreme drought. Then we had record breaking snowfall. Now many areas around me are under floodwater. Interesting year—I'm glad I'm retired.

    Montana

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  5. Thought it was a pretty straight-forward puzzle, but enjoyable. Maybe finally getting some Sun in this miserable Spring has brightened my spirits!

    Lots of commonly used fill-in answers in this puzzle made it easier for me....YADA, ALER, ARGO, FALA, ROTE, EMCEE, OCALA, YSER...yada yada yada...

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  6. Good Morning:

    I was impressed by the long theme fill while doing the puzzle and even more impressed after CC pointed out the dead center placement of "ego". I can't imagine the time and effort that went into this construction. I was stymied for some time about the theme until I came to the reveal and that helped with getting some of the theme answers. My w/os were Wilma/Betty, As to/Is to, Bopp/Alan, Scusa/Scusi, Osaka/Otaru, and Keitel/Cleese. My biggest headache was Tony Gwynn as I was looking for something to do with the TV show, "Scandal." I believe the actor who plays the president is Tony Gwynn; he also played the smarmy "friend" of Patrick Swazy in "Ghost." Anyway, knowing that "ego" was required gave me San Diego Padre. Big CSO to Owen.

    Bravo, Mr. Barocas, (autocorrect wanted, Bark As) for creating such a challenging and rewarding solve and thanks, CC, for your detailed and informative review. Thanks, also, for the updates on Argyle. Hope he's feeling better each day and will soon pay us a visit.

    We're finally turning the corner on our long, drawn out winter weather. Lots of sunshine today with the temp around 60, and much of the same for the coming week, except for some April showers here and there.

    Have a great day.

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  7. Good morning. Thank you Victor Barocas and thank you CC.

    Didn't sleep well last night, and it showed. Had a hard time keeping focus. Made five or six typos. Those errors created my own little mini puzzle. Finally only had the SW corner to solve. Got CHAPIN but couldn't recall CLEESE. Got HERE WE GO AGAIN, but couldn't get LEGATE and SEERESS.

    Still had fun though.

    Was up and out of the house early yesterday. Worked on my BIL's shed. Almost done now. Sore and achy today.

    Didn't get to solve Saturday's puzzle. May try it a bit later.

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  8. Excellent puzzle; excellent write-up. Many thanks to both of you. I didn't get the theme until I saw the reveal. It was a great help because I could go back and fill in the ego in entries that had previously stymied me.
    In case anyone else was wondering, I googled 50 down and ITAR stands for Information Telegraph Agency for Russia.
    Have a lovely day, everyone!

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  9. BRENDA Vaccaro was in many films and TV shows (mostly guest shots) from the 1970s thru 2005 before health issues slowed her down. She did a few shows again last year

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  10. Good morning everyone.

    My biggest take away was that the EGO centric theme is exactly centered in each theme fill phrase or word. NEATO. Otherwise the solve went tout de suit. On the easy side for a Sunday.

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  11. Musings
    -SACRE Bleu! I got M_OORE/_TARU but not AL_N/IT_R. Gary-1, Natick – 1
    -My SIL told me he has 40 Tony Gwynne rookie cards among his collection of 500,000+
    -JFK was the SCAPEGOAT for the MISBEGOTTEN Bay of Pigs operation
    -In two weeks, 700 kids will see my NASA Power Point Slides and hear my stories
    -It seems to me that all this equipment makes a SAVE much more likely than a goal
    -My Uncle always made me wear a mask if he was going to throw his knuckle ball
    -A BEEP alert that is sometimes hard to stop
    -Another SANTA FEAN is constructor is Dr. Pawel Fludzinski
    -Airline DEREG has made that mode of travel affordable
    -M*A*S*H - Winchester to Pierce, “I have a father. You, Hawkeye, have a DAD”
    -A ground breaking ad by BRENDA
    -Oh! The feature was triangular not the building!

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  12. Well, I got the northeast corner and quite a few other chunks here and there before I had to start cheating. But a delightful Sunday puzzle with a fun theme--many thanks, Victor. Great seeing all those EGOs in the middle of the theme answers. And I loved some of the misleading clues: "Designed to light a fire" was my favorite, and I laughed out loud when I got the answer. Dudley, I also started with GHANA before GABON. Anyway, fun puzzle and great write-up, as always, C.C. Thank you for the update on Argyle, and hope he checks in with us today (Hi, Argyle!). And sorry to hear about Boomer's fall, hope he's okay.

    Didn't have a chance to check into the blog yesterday, but found the Saturday puzzle very difficult but enjoyable. No problem, Ol'Man Keith--you didn't promise me an easy Saturday, just a hope for one. But I now understand why we had that difficult, difficult Mike McHugh puzzle on Friday. Rich would probably have loved to post it on Saturday, but since Saturday puzzles can't have themes, it had to appear on Friday. Well, it's been a tough puzzle week all around for me, but the blog always makes it fun.

    Have a great Sunday, everybody!

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  13. Hi everybody. I got the theme OK and most of the tricky clues. Thank you crosses.

    Argyle, if you are reading this, I hope things are going OK for you. I miss hearing from you.

    Growing up in Virginia, the preacher at our church had been a minor league pitcher. One day he threw me a few knuckle balls. Geez, they were hard to catch.

    I remember Brenda Vaccaro from several movies. I always thought she was sexy, especially her voice.

    One year, the door and windows in my classroom opened onto a patio. There was a construction site off a ways. The constant beeping whenever one of the construction vehicles was put in reverse became super annoying day after day.

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  14. Thank you, Victor Barocas and C.C.! I like a puzzle that's fun to grok.

    All the three and four letter fill helped to link the long themers together. HERZEGOVINA was challenging to spell but I got it and BEE, wax maker, made me chuckle. That was my last fill as I was looking for a brand name.

    The EGO in the center is impressive!

    Drat! I had NALA instead of FALA and didn't notice the problem with SANTAFEAN.

    C.C., I'm sorry to hear about Boomer's fall and hope he is healing well.

    Argyle, hand in there! We're rooting for you.

    Have a happy day, everyone!

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  15. Greetings to all!

    What a delightful Sunday puzzle. I think it is especially impressive that Victor was able to find words and phrases with the word EGO directly centered in each theme entry. Bravo, Victor!

    C.C., thanks for the thorough expo, as well as for the update on dear Argyle. If you are reading, Argyle, best wishes for continued healing.

    Enjoy the day!

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  16. Greetings!

    Thanks to Victor and C.C.!

    New computer erased all of my comments. Was zooming in and out causing me to screw up. Must call Apple again.

    Anyway, there were several unknowns. I had to Naticks also. Yesterday was horrible disaster. Am losing it!

    Feel better, Argyle and Boomer!

    Hope to see you tomorrow!

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  17. Good puzzle. Cute clues. I am bad on African geography also. Oh well.

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  18. Wow! Three days in a row for puzzles that were far too difficult for me. Today there was just too much geography and show biz for me to have a chance.

    I live about a mile from a shipping pier. There are about a dozen railroad locomotives marked CAMRAIL that appear to be awaiting shipment. I LIU, and they are from Cameroon and represent about a quarter of all their locos. I assume they are here for overhaul.

    I thought Wilma was Bamm-Bamm's mom until Betty squeezed in.

    It was great to see my favorite Florida city make another appearance. I didn't know that Ft. King was part of the Seminole War, but I use Ft. King Street often.

    I'm hoping for a Monday puzzle that even I can do. I'm teaching Tuesday through Thursday so I probably won't have time to work those puzzles until Friday.

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  19. Sunday lurk say...

    We're all still pulling for you Argyle. Just a "yo!" will suffice :-)

    HG - Argg! Smoke detectors!
    It chirped, so I put a new 9v battery. But it kept chirping. Is it because it's wired to the burglar alarm system? Does it need a special battery? Is it because...? - Argg!

    I actually had to Google & read the manual (to change a battery?!?).

    Seems you have to push & hold a button, insert a new battery, sacrifice a chicken, spin three times while reciting Beowulf, and push another button to get the BEEPs to cease [p152 of said manual :-)].

    Have a great Sunday all!

    Cheers, -T

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  20. "Puzzling Thoughts":

    Just a quick visit from your resident stooge. I DNF due to not WAG'ing a few answers: SAMI, HORAE, SEMI-DRY (and as the resident sommelier, I should've known THAT one). ITAR + GORDIAN KNOT were unknowns, too. Guess I'll have to Google those or HOPE someone else here will explain ... Other WO's included INCAN/MAYAN; EGG/DAY; DENVERITE/SANTA FEAN.

    More busy times ahead. The creative side of my brain's been taking a nap lately. No puns, limericks, or ku's to speak of. My only one for today is pretty lame, but I'll give it a go, nonetheless ...

    Cupid had problem.
    Couldn't get people aroused,
    Due to "arrow-tic" (EROTIC)

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  21. Isn't it rather egotistical to clue "resident of America's highest capital" to refer only to the United States of America?

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  22. LSC, I had that question myself once so I asked a few Canadians. They had no idea what I was talking about. Apparently, the USA and America are synonymous.

    I FIW 'ed . NE. I need to have a handy list of rules. #1. Check for a double word like SEMI DRY when one word makes no sense. I also missed PUPAL and SCUSI and of course ILO . And I spelled UNCATEGORIZED with the A like it's pronounced. (by me) .

    Rule #2. Don't be so dumb. But...

    This was so difficult and I despaired of even coming close I'm not bummed out. EGO in the center bailed me out .

    In my unwritten essay on how Fenway Park is a replacement for the Catholic Church I include the use of the biblical SCAPEGOAT. A great example is Bill Buckner in 1986(It was the 6th game).

    Ferma-T, this was a tough weekend even for a Mensa like you. One thing about posting on blogger: it's probably best to compose in Text-app and paste to blogger

    Oh the posts I've lost .

    And.. I've suggested Aloe Vera capsules before for arthritic hands. I didn't believe it either*

    WC

    * But don't get Aloe-lax like Phil ordered . Unfortunately, one has to use Amazon . No one has the capsules in the stores .

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  23. WC - I no need remind you about the literal Goat Scaping about Wriggly Field. Cubs are at the Rockies today and so is my Bro in attendance. Go Cubs! [I can root for them again now that Astros are AL].

    Moe - keep noodling :-). This too, is {meh}, but may bring your ERATO forth:

    Cupid's Problem,
    as discovered,
    Erotic isn't the arrow's Prick
    Gentle titillation does the trick.

    //Seeing myself out now.
    -T

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  24. The puzzle today was waaaayyy above my pay grade! The clues I got were fun, but too much geography for me. (I did get YSER River!). And I loved mind reader for EEG.

    Thanks for the challenge, Victor, and thanks for the sparkling expo, CC. Also for the update on Argyle.

    Anton T, I once had that problem with am alarm that simply would not quit, even after I knocked it off the ceiling. Of course it was the middle of the night. I drove to the nearest fire station to ask what to do. They said they would have to look at it. Okay. But they followed me home in a fire truck! ("Lady, this is how we travel."). They went up in the attic and worked some magic and the dumb alarm finally quit.

    But I never lived down the embarrassment with my neighbors about the fire truck.

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  25. WC - thanks. Will you also query friends in the South? :)

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  26. Im just re-reading my post and I'm horrified that I did not catch the auto correct to "Anton T". Who is Anton? My auto correct does not like Anon. I always have to wrassel it in. (It also did not like Wrassel! It took three tries!

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  27. Anon T, you made me laugh. Twice!!

    Becky

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  28. Hi Y'all! Enjoyed this puzzle, Victor. Very clever. Thank you, C.C., for explaining the EGOCENTRIC theme. I was too dense to figure it out this morning at 2 a.m. when I thought I was pretty mentally sharp. A real blow to my EGO.

    Lot of unknowns for me too, starting with Jennifer Saunders Britcom = ABFAB - nothing familiar there. I just WAGd, pecked here & there, perped & red-lettered my way through. BETTY & BRENDA were about the only proper names I knew.

    Hand up for Denverite before SANTA FEAN. I didn't limit my mental search to the USA for a high capital. Just couldn't find a Canadian or South American capital that fit the spot or the description.

    Thinking of you, Argyle & Boomer.

    Tony, so impressive that you can recite Beowulf. My smoke alarms are imps who only sound off in the dead of night if I am asleep. The last one I got to replace an expired alarm doesn't fit my ceiling receptacle. It resides on my kitchen cabinet after I almost fell off the step stool trying to make it fit.

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  29. Good Sunday workout. Thanks for the fun, Victor and C.C.
    (Hello Argyle, if you are lurking!)

    I got the EGO theme (clever that it was centred), which helped with the solve.
    Thanks maripro for reminding me of the meaning of ITAR.

    LSC and WC, I had the same pause at "America's highest capital". (Better clue would have been "USA's highest capital".) But Canada's highest area is around Banff and it is not the capital of Alberta (Edmonton is). So I ruled that out. But then there is South America. Thus LaPaz (or Sucre), Quito, Bogata and Mexico City were eligible but would not fit.
    Yes, Canadians often think of the USA as America or The States.

    Enjoy the rest of the day.

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  30. PK, I didn't refresh before posting. I see that you also had the same problems with Santa Fean.

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  31. CanadianEh: I've been to Banff, Alberta, but couldn't remember the capital. Gorgeous scenery in those mountains. I did try Regina & variations thereof.

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  32. I actually thought of Quito. Which is The Americas highest. I do think Mexicans and other North Americans use America for USA. I think it's symbolic .

    Re. SWELL . I'm old enough to remember it's ubiquitous use. IMO, the modern synonym is "Wonderful" .

    Yes, T, I immediately thought of that chap who leaned over the railing. My take on the Cub curse is Evers* making poor Myrkle synonymous with "Boner".

    And, IMO, the Redsox curse occurred when the owner, Yawkey, allowed the phony tryout in 1945 abruptly ended with the shout "Get those (African American gentlemen) off the field" . Followed by collapses in '46,48,'49...Dent in'78 and Buckner in '86. Not to speak of 2003.

    The sound you here are Redsox lurkers wringing their hands. Symbolic again .

    WC

    *1908 . He of Tinker to Evers to Chance fame

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  33. It is always so nice to have a Victor Barocas puzzle especially partnered with a fellow Minnesotan (C.C.) writing it up. But it was not easy. First, I only know of the HORAI and thought AE was only a Latin (Roman) ending. Live and learn.

    Then came - Scandinavian language: SAMI. In Thai, สามี, S̄āmī means husband, which I am. Next, Snapchat co-founder Spiegel: EVAN; Port near Sapporo: OTARU; Composer Telemann: GEORG; and finally one I did know - Shemar: MOORE who played Derek Morgan on CBS's Criminal Minds from 2005 to 2016. SHEMAR

    And as the icing on the cake, a CSO with fleece-seeking vessel: ARGO. Oops, I forgot, I knew Alan Hale,Jr. This MAN not Astronomer Hale: ALAN.

    Have a great week all, and keep healing Scott!!!

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  34. Anon-T, your description of changing the battery reminds me of one of my favorite Dick Van Dyke Shows, where fixing the telephone involved putting it in a paper bag, waving it around your head, and screaming like a chicken.

    Swamp Cat: "Lady, this is how we travel"—I really chuckled at that.

    I have such a hard time with sports and show business names (nearly always have to rely on perps) that it was nice for this former geography teacher to see some questions I could answer with no sweat.

    Very busy weekend here kept me from posting, but I did enjoy the challenges (yes, even Saturday's... mostly). Having some surgery tomorrow morning and may or not get to the blog.

    Have a great week, all!

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  35. WikWak, good luck with your surgery. We'll be thinking of you.

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  36. CC: Thanks for the latest Argyle update. Sorry the news is not better. Glad he is getting our cards and other goodies!

    Got the EGO CENTRISM theme quickly! It helped speed the solve along! Some unknowns filled by crosses: FALA, EVAN, SAARLAND/MOORE (WAG for that), ELLE, LEGATE, MABEL, HORAE, THOR, ODETS. Some interesting learning moments!

    On our recent big road trip we visited the George Ellery HALE Observatory at Mount Wilson. Learning moment about ALAN HALE who is NOT related! He is the one who discovered the HALE-Bopp Comet! And yes, Lemonade, he was not the Gilligan's Island Skipper!

    As a teen I played with high voltage and learned of St ELMO's fire on ship masts due to high voltage storm clouds.

    I also built this STROBE from a Radio Shack kit and did a lot of experiments with it.

    So sad that kits and Radio Shack and Heathkit are all gone today.

    Here are some of my photos from Chichen Itza and some other nearby MAYAN sites in the early 1990s

    My favorite of all was TIKAL in Guatemala. I will save those for another time!

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  37. Swamp: Sometimes dyslexia is beautiful - I didn't notice a typo and I read exactly what you meant. It's like when DW told me about her 1st day with eye-glasses:
    "Oh, grass isn't so pretty - it's all just jaggy blades"
    ??
    She apparently saw the world in smeared shades. Eventually, she tossed the glasses and went back to her "pretty world." (Lucky me -- I'm still cute! :-) [see: Dorian Gray])

    WC - Bartman broke my heart when he robbed ALOU that catch. //let bygones be and all that. I no longer wish Bartman Hoffa's fate [It's an IL (Chicago) thing, most wouldn't understand :-)].

    Becky - I'm smiling because you enjoy'd my little stories.

    PK - It's always in the dead of night things make you go "huh?" Murphy's Law says so.

    Picard - once again I enjoyed travel vicariously. Thanks for the pix.

    WikWak - LOL! I had to look it up 'cuz apparently I missed that episode on 90's Nick At Nite: The Impractical Joke. Folks, it's worth the 30m.

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  38. AnonT:
    I, too, laughed heartily over your battery changing drama and am duly impressed that you can recite Beowulf!

    Picard:
    Your photos of Chichen Itza brought back a flood of memories of an idyllic time I spent there with my sister and her daughter. We stayed in Merida and rode the bus to the ruins then stayed at the local inn there, a most charming place. The rest of the story another time. . .

    ReplyDelete

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