google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, June 15, 2018, Ethan Cooper

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Jun 15, 2018

Friday, June 15, 2018, Ethan Cooper

Title: I'm bored and from the 50's. Are there any magazines around here?

This looks like another Friday debut puzzle, and I do not have any info on the constructor. This is the only  ETHAN COOPER of whom I have heard. I hope Ethan stops by. We have a consistent placement of the magazine- the first two in the first word, the last two in the second word. And the joy of a grid spanning reveal which is cute if you do not think about how annoying those stupid inserts that keep falling out of the magazines are. I find some real wit in the ROYAL WINCE. Ethan was limited in his magazine choices because they had to be 3 or 4 letters. Life, Jet, Mad and Teen the only others that came to mind.  The best part of this debut shows in the glittery fill like AT ISSUE, CARED TO, EURASIA, MEMO PAD, SILENT N, AGE LIMITS and NERD ALERT. Well done. We also continue with Steve's critical chase for diacriticals.

17A. Literary agents who sold "Catch-22"?: HELLER REPS (10). Joseph Heller wrote the book, and Mike Nichols (we had Elaine May last week) wrote the MOVIE. Both were excellent.  ELLE magazine is inserted into the phrase HR REPS.

27A. Defective Chatty Cathys?: RASPING DOLLS (11). RAGDOLLS incorporates SPIN into that phrase.

45A. Hanging out by the lockers, etc.?: HALL PASTIME(11). HALL PASS is needed in many high schools to explain their absence from the classroom. TIME  in its 95th year is added. 

62A. Uncomfortable look from the queen?: ROYAL WINC(10). The ROYAL WE = an accepted tradition, and adding INC leads to this bizarre but fun fill. 
The reveal:
37A. Perfume samples, maybe ... or what this puzzle's circles are: MAGAZINE INSERTS (15).
on to the rest...

Across:

1. "__ talks!": "Anna Christie" tagline: GARBO.

6. Pond floater: SCUM.

10. Fox Business competitor: CNBC.

14. 2015 boxing film: CREED.  The sequel is coming soon.

15. Ditty: TUNE.

16. Total: REAL.

19. Cuyahoga River outlet: ERIE. A CSO to our own.

20. Still unresolved: AT ISSUE. Lawyers and Judges use this all the time.

21. Were so inclined: CARED TO. Interesting definition.

23. Gumshoe: TEC.

24. Dates: SEES.

26. They test the waters: Abbr.: EPAEnvironmental Protection Agency.

32. "Six Feet Under" creator Ball: ALAN. He also wrote TRUE BLOOD and the movie American Beauty.

35. Like metal concerts: LOUD.

36. ___ de parfum: EAU. A bit of a dupe with 37A.

42. NYC's Lex, e.g.: AVE.

43. Steam producer: IRON.

44. 42-Across et al.: RTES.

50. Note from someone in a hole: IOU.

51. Gerald R. Ford Award org.: NCAA. Last January it went to ROBIN ROBERTS, but not the old Phillies pitcher.

52. Dadaist Jean: ARP.

55. Note taker's need: MEMO PAD.

59. Home to Iberia and Siberia: EURASIA. Eurasia is a combined continental landmass of Europe and Asia. The term is a portmanteau of its constituent continents (Europe and Asia).

61. "Oh, ri-i-ight": AS IF.

64. Casual farewell: TATA. TTFN.

65. Party mix staple: CHEX. Cereal.

66. Sorbonne concepts: IDÉES. French for ideas, idées. And, 2D. Glacial ridge: ARÊTE.  A semi-regular Friday word from the French a·rête. 69. Swashbuckler's word: GARDE. When paired with EN, French: on guard.

67. "Can it!": HUSH.

68. "My only love sprung from my only __!": Juliet: HATE. Act 1, Scene V. Our Friday Will S.
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me
That I must love a loathèd enemy.

Down:

1. Popular IM service: G-CHAT. Not to be confused with the g-spot.

3. Museum piece: RELIC.

4. Units named for ATT founder: BELS. You are probably more familiar with the decibel. LINK.

5. Ukrainian port: ODESSA.

6. "The Deer Hunter" actress: STREEP. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Michael Cimino, and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken, and marked Meryl Streep's first Academy Award nomination (for Best Supporting Actress) (imdb).

7. Reminder: CUE.

8. Insensitive, briefly: UN-PC.

9. Erosion formation: MESA.

10. Shudder-inducing sort, slangily: CREEPO. Like

11. "Check out the brain over here!": NERD ALERT. Big Bang has made Nerd popular.

12. Part of a sting: BAIT.

13. 1963 Liz Taylor role: CLEO. Elizabeth/Cleopatra.

18. Is sorry about: RUES.

22. Fruity ale brand: REDDS.

25. Column part that's strictly ornamental?: SILENT N. Really well thought out and structured deceptive clue/fill as there ornamental columns, but it is the letter "N" that has no purpose in the word column.

27. Genetics lab subject: RNA.







28. "__ won't back down": Tom Petty lyric: NO I. Verse 1. May he rest in peace.
Well, I won't back down
No, I won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down

29. __-shy: GUN.

30. Rushing, perhaps: LATE.

31. Work (out): SUSS. I critically important word for all solvers.

32. Indian nanny: AMAH. Not to be confused with amas or amat.

33. Volcanic flower: LAVA. Too timely with all that is flowing in Hawaii.

34. Features of many kids' menus: AGE LIMITS. Tuesdays kids eat free.

38. Close, as a duffel: ZIP UP.

39. Glass of "This American Life": IRA. He gets paid to talk.

40. Primes, e.g.: Abbr.: NOS. Numbers.

41. Hectic hosp. zones: ERS. Emergency Rooms.

46. Shower tool: LOOFAH. If you use a loofah to get clean, it may be time to rethink your shower routine. That spongy, handheld scrubber meant to exfoliate and lather suds around your naked body is actually the perfect home for bacteria.

47. Mountaineering tool: ICE AXE. Some violence with this image, and the next.

48. Hammering tool: MAUL
This tool which appeared yesterday in Steve's write up is one with a heavy head and a handle, used for tasks such as ramming, crushing, and driving wedges; a beetle.




49. Crop-eating insect: EARWIG. This EPISODE od Rod Serling's NIGHT GALLERY is one of the most frightening things ever shown on television.

52. He played a TV newsroom boss: ASNER. A rare double, playing the same character (Lou Grant on the Mary Tyler Moore Show - a comedy, and then on LOU GRANT where he returns to his newspaper roots in a drama.

53. Cut to bits: RICED. This sounds much less dramatic than cut to bits.

54. Country, in Italy: PAESE. Paesan, countryman. Yiddish, landsman, pronounced "londsman" rhyming with bondman. Thank you Barry T.

55. Course where kids check products?: MATH. Nice trickery and CSO to Bill G. and others; in mathematics, a product is a result of multiplying.

56. Old Testament redhead: ESAU. With a substantial beard.

57. Prefix with rival: ARCH.

58. City where Al Jazeera is headquartered: DOHA. We had our own DOHA Doc as a regular for a while. He moved around but apparently has moved on.

60. Verdi princess: AIDA. Aida is actually the Ethiopian slave of Princess Amneris, the king’s daughter. However, she is the daughter of the King of Ethiopia.

63. To this time: YET.


I cannot blog a puzzle with circles without thinking of our longtime early poster, Barry G. who hated them as the Mensa site does not have them. Well, I had them and this was easier than yesterday for me. Welcome Ethan, come to hang out at the Corner. Thank you all. Lemonade out.


63 comments:

Barry T. said...

"54. Country, in Italy: PAESE. Paesan, countryman. Yiddish, lanceman." - I hear it as "landsman", rhyming with "bondsman"...?

KS said...

Saturday puzzle on a Friday? Hmmmmm, toughie today.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I got it after a mighty battle. Saw the magazine names in the circles, but never thought to remove them from the theme answers. Some old dogs just can't be taught. Thanx, Ethan (nice debut, BTW) and Lemonade.

ARETE and AMAH: Old cw friends back for encores.

EARWIG: Lemon, I remember that episode. He suffered, struggled and miraculously survived the EARWIG crawling from one ear to the other. He was momentarily relieved at his good fortune, but then he learned that the EARWIG had crawled into his brain to lay its eggs. Great ending. Serling sterling.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I am in the camp with Barry G (we miss you). I am really not a fan of circles. We have had too many circle puzzles recently. I can appreciate the cleverness of this puzzle, however.

My favorite clue was Note From Someone in a Hole = IOU.

I was also amused by Column Part that's Strictly Ornamental = SILENT N.

QOD: In the computer field, the moment of truth is a running program; all else is prophecy. ~ Herbert Simon (recipient of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences; June 15, 1916 ~ Feb. 9, 2001)

Kazie said...

This is a test. After yesterday, when my normal sign-in with my name wasn't here, and I'd forgotten changing my google password recently, I got messed up with the capchas and it only accepted my real name. So here goes, I'm trying the google pw this time.

Kazie said...

Obviously it still won't give me my old I.D. Help!

Anonymous said...

What a slog.

Yellowrocks said...

I found the NE difficult. Three empty cells. Never heard of G CHAT. Even with the -ARBO I had to look up Garbo. I didn't guess the C in CREED and forget the H in Heller. I didn't do alphabet runs as I should have. The four-letter magazines I remember fondly are the old glossy picture mags, LIFE and LOOK.
Like DO, early on I got that the circles contain magazine names, but I missed that they were inserted into common phrases.
I miss DOHA DOC and Barry.
After ESP, I remember seeing REDD ale in the store. David offers me samples of many beers and ales, but not that one.
My parents liked BEL PAESE cheese. It means beautiful country. Thanks, Barry, for relating it to PAESAN, a word I have heard often.
I hate magazine inserts so much that I pull them out and discard them immediately without reading them. They are just so much clutter and they make the pages hard to flip through. The perfumed ones are most unpleasant.
The silent N didn't fool me for a change. Not my favorite type of clue.
I liked the MATH and IOU misdirections.

Lemonade714 said...

Barry T., the world of autocorrect eliminated my typing "londsman" which was my transliteration of the Yiddish. As you say it rhymes with bondsman so I spelled it that way. The word "Land" has such a different sound. I will correct the blog.

Lemonade714 said...

YR there actually never was a G-CHAT . There is no more.

JJM said...

I misread the first post and thought it was Barry G and then thought "Wow, he's back". Maybe another day.

This was crunchy. Took longer than a usual Friday. Had to RED letter two cells. Not sure how I feel about this one yet.

Gotta get my bike ride in now. Supposed to be in the mid to high 90's today here in Chicago.

Barry T. said...

Lemonade: Darn that autocorrect! I can still hear my grandparents speaking Yiddish... and, my parents, too, when they "didn't want the kids to understand". I learned a good deal of Yiddish that way... deciphering!

;)

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Thanks, Ethan for quite a challenge. I especially enjoyed AGE LIMITS as a feature of children's menus. Of course, I was looking for a food item and was completely flummoxed by the crosses. I liked the misdirection for MATH, and IOU. Misdirection in CW's makes me chuckle. ROYAL WINCE was quite timely with all the Royals talk of late.

Lemonade, I certainly needed your help with the theme. Even with MAGAZINE INSERTS, it flew right over my head. All I really had to do was pick up the paper from my hub in the other room, so I didn't use the circles. Thanks so much.

FLN: OMK--Wow! New Criticism took me way back. I remember how high school teachers spent days on the author's life before ever getting to the work itself. Old school. When I taught AP English, I pointed to the many lenses though which we can read literature. I had a great Lit Crit Prof in college. Never thought about applying New Criticism to crosswords, but it works for me.

Have a sunny day today. Enjoy the weekend. Especially all the dads, who are either supposed to be grilling or playing sports. According to all the ads, anyway.

Lemonade714 said...

Yes Barry T. they never directly taught us anything, it call came from curiosity and not wanting to be left out. Luckily I have always been very nosy. I appreciate the help explaining

Big Easy said...

Circles? Who cares. I couldn't finish the puzzle. The NE & SE were not completed. I wouldn't let go of ALGA and SONG instead of SCUM and TUNE, don't even relate REAL to 'Total', and even with CREEPO and NERD ALERT filled I couldn't finish. REDDS- an unsolved unknown.

I shot myself in the foot by filling PAST TIME instead of PASTIMES. I wanted SABER for GARDE; never knew that it was a weapon. BEETLE, WEEVIL, LOCUST, and a million other insects eat crops. I'm not familiar with EARWIGs or the word PAESE. I had ASIA in place but the R in EURASIA wouldn't fall even with _C_AXE in place.

Somehow the NW was completed by guessing GARBO, CREED, G-CHAT, & BELS- all unknowns. Thanks for the DECI-BEL link. 1/10 of a BEL= 1 decibel.

Time to watch pro golfers suffer on a very tough course the same way I suffer on an easy course.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This was quite the Friday workout which ended up being a DNF because of the Garbo/G Chat crossing. I had A R T O, the T being for Tels (telephones). I tried I Chat and E Chat but G never entered my mind. I may have run out of patience after trying to understand what Rasping Dolls had to do with Detective Chatty Cathys. I think my eyes are Defective! My only w/o was I Bet/As If and Redds was the only unknown. It took me a few minutes to see the surrounding stand-alone phrases and that brought an Aha.

Thanks, Ethan, for a Friday challenge and thanks, Lemony, for making sense of it all.

Have a great day.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Finally figured out the SILENT N. Wanted DEC for TEC. Although hard, only needed one red letter. Whew!. The solve grew slowly like a Rorschach blot. First 'insert' was the ROYAL WINCE. a favorite. Good to see our friend ARÊTE again.

Hava a great day.

kazie said...

Apparently I still exist here again. The name has returned below the comment box. After going through the instructions to create an account and worrying about making a duplicate, I entered several passwords, not knowing which was in use here, I finally added my phone and that was what was recognized. Trying to backtrack to this page, I lost the site completely, so went online afresh and typed in "crossword corner blogspot", and lo and behold, my name was back where it used to appear.

After all that, I have to say I had a lot of trouble with today's puzzle, you have heard enough from me without those details.
Happy weekend!

Hahtoolah said...

Irish Miss: I, too, misread the clue as Detective Chatty Cathys. The answer didn't make sense when read that way, but I know that RASPING DOLLS had to be correct due to the perps.

Anonymous said...

Learning moment for me. I had always thought Odessa was in the Crimean Peninsula, and was about to pop off to the effect that it was, until things changed, a Russian - rather than a Ukrainian - port. It is, in fact, not in Crimea. Thank you Google Maps.

CrossEyedDave said...

Apologies:

I seem to have awoken today in a fog.
Daughter#3 alarm way to early...
Daughter#2 never woke up, 10am and late for work!

Breezed thru the puzzle and only got about two fills...
I was so totally off wavelength with the constructor, nothing seemed
to jive. Out of my wheelhouse, Might as well have been in French!

Friday is my busy day, so maybe I just didn't have the time to do some serious sussing.
But my go to for mysterious puzzles (The Blog) left me equally puzzled.
Lemon, I read the whole dang Blog and I still don't understand what this puzzle was about!

I am at a loss, don't even know what to do for a silly link.

Oh well, Have to take the neighbors Siberian Husky to the dog park.
Maybe the Sudoku will be kinder to me...

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Wow, A gimmick inside a gimmick. What a hoot!
-Pond SCUM – You can’t find your golf ball in the water after May
-My barber of 30 years has let me leave a verbal IOU when I have forgotten my billfold. He got his money within 20 minutes
-Garbo changed Ichat IARBO) to Gchat (neither of which I have used)
-For some DECIBELS equals entertainment. My semi-deaf drummer friend would argue the point now
-The vacuum cleaner placed in front of my golf bag is a pretty big CUE
-100˚F + today on the Great Plains

Lucina said...

Whew! I can't believe I finished this mostly right! The SILENTN got me; I didn't know NCAA was the Gerald Ford award! Learning moment.

The bottom got me started when I couldn't fill any of the top and it slowly creeped upward. I saw the MAGAZINES inside the circles but none of that helped.

My only LU was STREEP as I've never seen The Deer Hunter.

LAVA, flow-er, a sad CSO to Hawaii and Guatemala. IOU was my favorite, too.

I'm in a hurry today; going to help my sister pack for her move.

Have a pleasant day, everyone!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! No circles and had no idea of the mags. I did see TIME but never heard of SPIN or INC periodicals. Very clever, Ethan, after Lemony kindly explained it all. This was not an easy puzzle for me, but I just kept plugging in letters and was surprised by the TADA.

Did not know where the Cuyahoga River flowed, ALAN Ball, REDDS, IRA, STREEP or PAESE, but thought of PAESano which I've heard in movies.

Tried meant before CARED TO. Yay, I got SILENT N for once altho I wanted some decorative corbel at first.

Kazie, glad you prevailed.

I am a happy camper today. A very nice man came and brought me a couple weeks worth of groceries. Woohoo! I conquered the computerized grocery list that has evaded me for eight mos. Only problem: he brought me meatloaf with chipotle sauce instead of regular. Won't fuss. I'll try it. Meanwhile, my car battery is still dead. Hope I can visit with my mechanic son this weekend. Having lived with mechanics and then worked at a dealership/garage, I am so spoiled.

Know when to quit said...

I think this puzzle has convinced me to QUIT wasting time on crosswords.
I'm so tired of those circles. I've also come to loathe clues that end with question marks and clarifiers like "maybe?" and ridiculous puns. Think I'll just go on hiatus. This was the worst slog I think I've ever attempted.

Yellowrocks said...

Did I formerly teach geography and map reading? You'd never know it. Of course, G CHAT and GARBO are in the NW, not the NE. I see some other Cornerites had a problem there. I am chagrinned to realize that ABC runs could have made it possible. My lame excuse is that I was in a hurry to take Alan to work.
He went to the Y Wednesday and did well. Then he went to work yesterday and today. I guess this episode is over after two and a half weeks.
Kazie, glad you are blue again.
Big Easy, I see you got that NW corner and not some other fill. It is interesting to see how we are all so different.
The ---EEP set up STREEEP, one of my favorite actresses.
Lemon and Barry, we kids picked up some PA Dutch the same way. We didn't let on we understood.
Gary said, "For some DECIBELS equals entertainment." That is why there are certain restaurants I won't patronize. Some places you can put your mouth six inches from your friend's ear and still can't be heard. If I can't talk to my dinner companion without shouting, I won't go there.

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts":

Nice test for a Friday; had everything correct except my Natick (same as IM's) of 1d/1a. I had TELS in 4d, but regardless, no alphabet run was going to make a sensible phrase for 1a. Lots of perps helped in filling out words/phrases with which I was not familiar. PAESE, was certainly one of those. I had TIE UP before ZIP UP, but MAGAZINE INSERTS revealed itself long before I finished the rest of the puzzle. Thanks, Lemon, for the recap.

Moe kus du jour:

Hippies suggest: use
Perfume samples in GUNs, as
MAGAZINE INSERTS

On "Let's Make a Deal",
We enjoy reruns of the
Monty HALL PASTIMES

Are there AGE LIMITS
On being a RELIC? Would
You please do the MATH?

Statement from a guest,
Before picking up BAR TABS:
"Give me the CHEX, please."

thehondohurricane said...


Hi,

Ugly, ugly, ugly. 1 Started out ok in the NE, but the rest of it n ended up looking like my yard after a winter blizzard. Get a break from puzzledom tomorrow, but will try again on Sunday.

First heat wave of the year coming Sunday and lasting to ?????. AC has been serviced and is ready, but I'm not. The AC started causing me health issues last summer. I'm sure my better half and I will be having "discussions" regarding comfort levels.

Picard said...

This was tough and hand up some of the clues were odd at best. Agree with Big Easy: REAL = TOTAL? No, GARDE is not a weapon. Hand up REDDS unknown.

But I did enjoy the clever theme and I was pleased to FIR. I was on the constructor's wavelength getting SILENT N right away! And I laughed when LAVA made sense. More funny than the real threat of LAVA now in Hawaii!

Lemonade: Were you starting to make a comment about CREEPO? You had the word "Like"

Here I was on Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska using an ICE AXE

Here are some of my MESA photos on our recent visit to Sedona, Arizona

Once again here I was with Ed ASNER. In real life he is very kind and generous.

We lived near this HELLERUP when I was a child.

Apparently this area of Copenhagen is considered very "upscale" now. We were not wealthy by any means. It was very beautiful!

Rainman said...

Lemon,

Nice job, and nice photos of you and yours on FB yesterday.

Yes, I miss Barry G. and his disdain for the lack of circles. Today I slogged through in less than 23 minutes on the Mensa site and was satisfied. Lots of misdirection and cleverly-clued answers. No circles, but thanks to Ethan Cooper anyway. Nice job.

When I lived on California's Central Coast, there was a LOOFAH farm next door, so did that help me get the answer today? Nope. Well, finally.

Recovering from cataract surgery/lens implant. Lucky me. Maybe I can do more puzzles soon.

Picard said...

From Yesterday:
Wilbur Charles: Thanks for explaining about my teal top! Actually, it is not a sweater. It is just a snazzy shirt I wear on special occasions. I was wearing it over a blue t-shirt so it looked like it was a sweater. Not made of YARN!

You were referring to this cool photo of us with the band Chicago

AnonymousPVX said...

I just have to say, I’m getting plenty tired of puzzles that are just trivia. There’s a game called Trivial Pursuit, is there where all the clues came from?

CrossEyedDave said...

An accurate synopsis of my attempt to do todays puzzle...

Jayce said...

This is what I call a well-made, true puzzler puzzle, namely a puzzle that is challenging yet can be solved by thinking, trying out different answers, and letter-by-letter, word-by-word, phrase-by-phrase, finding the solution. No gratuitously obscure cluing or answers that fewer than 25% (Rex Parker's "Natick" percentage?) of the general population would reasonably be expected to know and that cannot be sussed even from the perps. "Amos Oz" I'm looking at you. (REDDS comes pretty close to being one of those un-sussable entries, though. As Abejo used to say, five perps and I had it!) Terrific job, Ethan Cooper; I hope to enjoy more of your creations in the future.
I loved ROYAL WINCE!
Good wishes to you all.

CrossEyedDave said...

Just keeping my place as to how far I read the Blog...

(you may use bookmarks, but I prefer something sillier...)

SwampCat said...

Good job, Ethan, and welcome. The puzzle was way over my head but a fun challenge. Lemon, thanks for making sense of it. And thanks for finally explaining Aida. Yes she was a princess but not THE princess. CW clues are always vague.

I did have one nit... and it is only a nit. 37A, perfume samples are not really the same as magazine inserts. You can’t spray magazine inserts behind your ear or on your wrist. Magazine inserts are just smelly pieces of paper. YR, I agree with your diatribe against them!!

Yellowrocks said...

Jayce @ 1:39, I agree. I like puns, misdirections, question marks and maybes. The trivia fill was amenable to solving by perps and wags. I failed through lack of patience and time, not through the puzzle's construction. A straight vocabulary test would be boring, I enjoy playing with the language, even if that gives me a few bad cells. I like themes and circles. I can see the frustration of those who do not have circles, but here is a solution. When I don't have my newspaper and am frustrated by the lack of circles on Mensa, I go to
//playgames.chicagotribune.com/games/daily-crossword.
Rainman, I hope your eye surgery is a complete success and that you heal quickly. Now I understand why we haven't "seen" you lately.
Picard, you have been so many fascinating places and met so many people, I am astounded. If I may ask, what is you career path that allows you time to do all this? Besides, you must have boundless energy.

WikWak said...

Yup; a toughie today. There came a time when I was pretty well convinced that I wasn’t going to be able to pull it off, but I just put it down for a while and I guess it must have percolated long enough because I was then able to finish. Thanks for the challenge, Ethan, and welcome to the Corner. Thanks too to Lemonade for 'splaining it all.

Pretty much WEES about everything; I did like SILENT N and this old geography teacher liked seeing HALLPAStimeS, DOHA, ODESSA and EURASIA. Never have liked TEC and I guess I never will.

It’s looking like we'll head up to nearly 100 degrees tomorrow—and we have to go up to Wisconsin for a great-nephew's graduation. Ugh.

Have a great weekend, all!

Jayce said...

Rainman, good to hear from you.

I have to report that the LA Times website for doing this crossword puzzle ( http://games.latimes.com/games/daily-crossword/ ) has resulted in the site being hijacked several times during the past couple of months. Apparently some of the advertisements (of which there are far too annoyingly many) redirect the browser to their page, the same as if you have clicked on the ad, even though you didn't actually click on their ad. I installed Malwarebytes which it prevents that from happening by intercepting the hijack attempt and then nicely reporting the fact that there had been an attempt to hijack the page. I don't remember which ad or ads engaged in the hijacking; I wish I had noted them down so I could report them. The next time it happens I will try to do so.

CrossEyedDave said...

Yes Picard, obviously you are a professional photographer,
but who are you affiliated with that enables you to get chummy with
the likes of Chicago, and Ed Asner?

Michael said...

Dear Jayce:

Aha! So that's what's been wrong with the LAT page ... been quite frustrating, as the Mensa site only prints out a teeny version of the puzzle.

Wilbur Charles said...

I liked the scene in C-22 where the plane crashes and burns and the two Officers never pause or look.
I caught TIMES etc but not the phrase minus the insert. 😞
I couldn't come up with Meryl Streep even though I knew it.
AAAARRRGGGGHHHHH. It's an AMAH. Isn't there an OMAH?* I thought I FIR
And...
I thought this was Saturday tough. I got rear-ended on my ego trip

YR, the NE was no picnic either

CED, in five minutes I was bolloxed again in Sudoku. I'm so bad at it. I'm going back to Jumble. So much for easy peasy J_. Is it me. ? I'll head back and try to finish it

I didn't get LAVA Flow-er until Lucina pointed it out
Btw, we had the Silent N in Column before. Anno WC
I certainly did have problems and wondered when I'd start filling boxes.

Btw, I tried WHODA NERD at first. And I thought"The end of the sting is the" BUST**
I guess as an adjective REAL can be Total as in "The REAL Thing".

WC

* I think I DNF'ed on that before
** Substitute Slip and Drink and you have an old Splynter adage

Wilbur Charles said...

Ok . I finished the J. Finally got #4. Then filled in the riddle . Does this mean _J gets tough as XW gets tough ?

Anybody want a hint or are you too busy?

WC

Chuckle

Terry said...

Great video, thanks, what a hoot.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Started off easy, became too hard for me before the end.
Thanks, anyway, to Mr. Cooper for giving us this intricate pzl. It may just be that I didn't have the patience to really dig into it. It's a busy day here today, getting ready for the Fathers' Day weekend.

This year my son is coming out from his Texas home and bringing my two grandkids with him! They are both young teenagers now, no longer the cute, cuddly things I remember - so I hope we all get along.

~ OMK

____________
Diagonal Report:
One slash, on the mirror side. No time to anagram it!

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Ouch. When you have to ask-the-Google on 1a and 14a... Then FIW in the SE; not Ami Jean nor mI[n]CED //I visually added the 'N', I just noticed. Double-D'Oh!

Thanks Ethan for the fun learning-day puzzle. I didn't get a paper this morning so I had to print it @mensa #NoCircles. I did figure out we were adding letters but I couldn't figure out the pattern until the reveal.

Thanks Lem for the expo; I really enjoyed the IRA Glass interview.

WOs: iCHAT, Song b/f TUNE, MSNB (oops!), and, embarrassingly, Dubi [sic] b/f DOHA and, @53d, iaDA
ESPs: ALAN, AMAH, ESAU, ODESSA - hey, we have one in TX too. It's the sister "city" of Midland in the heart of Texas Tea.

I knew REDD's from their stupid Apple Ale commercials (where someone doesn't know what to order and gets hit in the head with an apple) but never noticed two Ds (and will never try it).

Am I the only one who thought "Anna Christie" was a radio host? I Googled to find out what program and realized it was a play/movie. #LearnedSomethingNew

Fav: c/a for IOU. //MATH's clue didn't phase me except for the ?

{} {Peace, cute, meh, LOL}

Lucina - I haven't seen (nor plan to) the Deer Hunter either. I had ST-E-- and guessed STREEP based on all you discussions of her over the years. I had nothing anyway so the WAG cooudent houit. :-). I OU for 1/2 the Northern Solve (that opened up RASP, AT ISSUE, etc!)

Before SILENT N came into view I was on Corinthian, Doric, and, um, what's the other? path.

Jayce - Yes, get me those. There are mal-ad networks that buy their way into regular sites. The good news? RansomeWare is on the decline; Hackers are making more money infecting your browser with xCoin miners.

Picard - where do you get weapon at GARDE? En GARDE is a Swash's word.

Rainman - been wondering where you've been - Nice to be seen :-)

YR - Amen! Re: MAGAZINE INSERTS.

I've gotta be pushing my line limit. Cheers, -T

Bill G said...

Hi everybody. We just got back from our anniversary (#53) lunch at our favorite up-scale local restaurant, Il Fornaio. Excellent food and service except for a pedestrian soup-of-the-month. We shared a pear, baby greens, walnut and feta cheese salad and a blackened red snapper main course with tiramisu for dessert. The wait staff is always excellent. Money well spent. Time for a nap...

Jayce said...

That's a good story and excellent result about the check, Ol' Man Keith. By the way, you and Madame have got me started on a "course" of study about the New Criticism. So far, at this early juncture, I am finding it interesting. I don't know yet how it might, if at all, affect how I look at and enjoy The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service and The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, two of my favorite stories told in verse.

Jayce said...

Bill G, anniversary congratulations to you both! So glad you like Il Fornaio; there's one in Palo Alto that my wife and I liked to go to when I was a student, when we could afford it.

Lucina said...

Lemonade:
This morning I didn't have time to read your complete commentary so thank you for that.

My sister, who lives with her daughter, husband and their five children, are moving to a larger house so I went to help them pack. We didn't even make a dent and they already had about 25 boxes packed. I'll return tomorrow.

YR:
Amen! But then, I usually agree with you on language and crosswords. They are fun and challenging and to me, the more tricky the better.

No time to do the Jumble yet.

Lucina said...

Bill G:
Congratulations on your anniversary! I hope Barbara is doing well.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Mme Defarge:

Glad you agree. Nice to see someone pick up on the New Crit approach. When you get right down to it, it is the same as reading a contract. Whatever the intent of the parties in drafting it, it is only the actual language of the doc that matters.

On a different slant, this reminds me of a court case to which I was once a party. It involved some money my nonprofit was awarded by the City of Richmond (Va). The city treasurer routinely signed the check but then told the city council he was not endorsing our grant.
He initiated a suit to stop our cashing the check. The judge decided quickly: "Sir, all that was required of you was your signature, not your good wishes."

In all these instances, the act of writing sends the words (crossword, contract, signature) out into the world to make or break it on their own. Whatever was passing through the author's mind, whether conscious or unconscious, has no bearing on what a reader may perceive.
This is contrary to what constitutional "originalists" may believe, but even they must depend on how their brains re-construct meaning.

~ OMK

Ol' Man Keith said...

Jayce,
I would guess your enjoyment of those poems would not be much different with a New Crit perspective. Essentially, we are all amateur New Critics when we read something for the first time, with no background data on the theme or author.
You may not get your richest reading on the first go-through, but your experience won't be tainted by distracting info regarding the poets' intentions.

~ OMK

PK said...

Rainman, hope your recovery from eye surgery is very successful. My only problem with LOOFAH was where to put the "H".

Happy Anniversary, Bill & Barbara! May you celebrate many more.

YR: My one daughter picked a high decibel restaurant for two birthday parties for me. I couldn't understand much of what any of my family members were saying around me. I went home disappointed and frustrated. When I said something to her about not hearing something she thought she had told me, she quit having parties for me because I wasn't appreciative enough. Her way or the highway. Oh, well!

Stay cool, ya'll.

Wilbur Charles said...

Re. Music. No one is ever happy but better be unhappy with lower decibel. Beatles > 1966 is the closest to universal ok .

- T . Ionic

I'll have to check New Crit .

Is it late enough for a little Jumble talk? I had no warning that it would be difficult.

WC

Picard said...

Yellowrocks and Cross-Eyed Dave: Thank you for your admiration and interest regarding my varied lucky situations. Each case is unique in a way and yet there is a common theme: I try to keep my eyes open for new opportunities.

I have had quite a few different day jobs. My degrees are in physics, math and philosophy. My main work was engineering, but now I am a research specialist at the University of California. I have worked in factories and done grounds keeping. I have been a high school science teacher. And, yes, I have been a professional photographer. Among other things.

I have also always been involved in social justice and environmental work. Ed ASNER has always been on the cutting edge of such work, going where few dare to go. I got to meet him a number of times in the 80s and 90s through that work. He was very generous with his time. That work has taken me to some wonderful situations and locations. Helping others can be rewarding in many ways.

As for the photo with Chicago, that was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. And paying a bit extra for the VIP treatment. It was so funny to watch people walk right past that opportunity. People are so focused on whatever they are doing at the moment they miss chances to do truly memorable things.

AnonT: Sorry if I was not clear. Big Easy had written "I wanted SABER for GARDE; never knew that it was a weapon." I was replying to his comment, explaining GARDE indeed is not a weapon.

Lucina said...

WC:
It's ok with me. I finished the Jumble after dinner. It was a bit crunchy but doable. You can e-mail me if you wish.


Anonymous T said...

Happy #53 Anniversary Bill G & Barbara!

WC - I finally remembered; it was Corinthian I couldn't think of :-)
//I couldn't find the Brooks' History of the World Part I Busker-clip isolated:
//Columns. Columns. Get your Columns here.
//Ionic, Corinthian, Doric!
//Get your columns...

Picard - AHA. I was afraid the 's was too close to 'word' in your paper that you read sword. //sometimes the paper comes with a print-crease and it does that to me too.

MDM & OMK: DW's been under the weather so I can't ask my English goto re: New Crit. Based on what I've read from y'all I'm thinking a Yelp! review from someone not familiar with the cuisine...(?)

"Meh, the salad was just tomatoes, cheese, and some herb"
"You mean caprice?"

I think it's nice to approach something afresh but to be open to the why. Sometimes the why is just the authors' fantasy (and not him/her) but other times* there are so many layers and things upon which were built a deep understand evolves.

Cheers, -T
*why is sometimes one word but other times two? #justNoticed :-)

Anonymous T said...

Stupid spell check - ruined a perfectly good joke... caprese. Oh, well; between that and the puzzle, I'm getting good at losing today :-)

Irish Miss said...

It's late on the East Coast but if Bill G doesn't see this tonight, he will tomorrow. Happy Anniversary to you and Barbara and best wishes for many more! I enjoyed hearing the menu for your luncheon celebration.

Lucina said...

AnonT:
I knew that's what you meant!

Wilbur Charles:
Are you still interested in solving the Jumble? I'll provide some hints.
1. butterfly stage
2. _______ and quartered
3. powerful
4. not idly
Final answer: look at the 365 days

Michael said...

Ah, Lucina, for your sister's move, remember what we shall call Picard's Lemma: the rate of increase of pediatric tonnage is 1/2 ton [metric or English - doesn't matter] per child per year. I've been through 3 children, and the amount of debris we accumulated -- sports equipment, outgrown clothing, stuff we're saving 'just in case', etc. -- simply was amazing.

Then add in all the household stuff -- the spare china, that old gadget we might need again, the extra towels, etc., etc. galore -- and it is no wonder that self-storage facilities are springing up like mushrooms after some rain.

gmony said...

Me too. I hate dtump the chump ones like volcano flower.