google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, Jun 26, 2018 Mike Peluso

Advertisements

Jun 26, 2018

Tuesday, Jun 26, 2018 Mike Peluso

"FINAL APPROVAL"

20. "Fast Times" school (Japan): RIDGEMONT HIGH.    Hai  はい

35. 2014 U.S. Women's Open champion (France): MICHELLE WIE.  Oui

42. North Atlantic stretch with no land borders (Mexico): SARGASSO SEA

56. Permission from the big boss ... and a hint to the ends of 20-, 35- and 42-Across (in the country indicated): FINAL APPROVAL.

You have permission.  

Across:

1. Tug or ark: BOAT.

5. First assembly instruction: STEP A.  Aren't assembly instructions most often numbered ?

10. Mt. Rushmore's state: S. DAK.

14. Gas brand on the Trans-Canada Highway: ESSO. This one is in Ladysmith, BC.
 15. Word before basin or wave: TIDAL.

16. Actress Taylor: LILI.

17. "Now!" letters: ASAP.

18. Summer month in Argentina: ENERO.   January.  "Argentina is in the southern hemisphere, thus the seasons occur during the opposite months from Europe and North America. Spring arrives around November; January and February mark the peak summer months and March is the end of summer when children return to school." - Bradt Travel Guides.

19. "__ something I said?": IS IT.

23. South Korean capital: SEOUL.

24. Bootlegger's gin container: BATHTUBBootleggers, bathtub gin, and grape bricks during the Prohibition....   "One wine brick company, with a barely disguised hint, wrote on the packages of its product: “After dissolving the brick in a gallon of water, do not place the liquid in a jug away in the cupboard for twenty days, because then it would turn to wine.” 

27. Drag racer's fuel, briefly: NITRO.  Nitromethane.  World's fastest 1/4 mile Top Fuel speed:


31. Do penance: ATONE.

32. Actress Thurman: UMA.

38. Hip-hoppers Salt-N-__: PEPA.

40. Two under par: EAGLE.

41. Dexterous: DEFTNeatly skillful and quick in one's movements.  Origin: Middle English: variant of daft, in the obsolete sense ‘meek’. - Oxford Dictionaries.    

"Apparently, deft and daft shared a sense of "gentle, and becoming" in Old English. Their different pronunciations (which only later formalized into spellings) experienced different metaphorical extension in Middle English. Deft continued to develop the meaning of "skillful".
But daft seems to have experienced systematic semantic deterioration from "mild-mannered" (1200), to "dull and awkward" (1300), and eventually to "foolish and crazy" (1500) under the added influence of the third word daffy. "  - English Stack Exchange

45. Fleur-de-__: LYS.

46. Ohio natives: ERIEs

47. Skin care prefix: DERMA.

49. Counts up: TALLIES
"...Since fingers are somewhat limited to 10 , a new invention was introduced – the tally system (earliest known proof of that is from around 35 000 B.C.). The tally system revolves around scratches on sticks, rocks or bones. The number of scratches represents the number of items counted – five birds would be represented by five scratches, seven mammoths would be represented by seven scratches etc. The “modern” tally system, which we’re still using in this day and age, organizes the scratches (tallies) into groups of five – four vertical scratches and one diagonal (that is drawn across the vertical ones). Eventually, tallies were replaced with more practical symbols – numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5,...) – which are in wide use today." Mathemania -Counting

52. Thinning atmospheric layer: OZONE.

60. "Let's go!": C'MON.

62. "Chicago" actress Zellweger: RENEE.

63. Crass: RUDE.

64. Arctic chunk: FLOE.

65. News article intros: LEDES.  Origin in the 1950s as an alteration of lead, first used in instructions to printers, in order to distinguish the word from text to be printed.  Now lede is mainly journalism jargon for the introductory portion of a news story—or what might be called the lead portion of the news story.  We've had LEDE before in the LA Times crossword puzzles. Once.  Sept 22nd, 2017. Irish Miss was the only one of the regulars that knew it.  Did you remember it from last time ?

66. Tiger Woods' ex: ELIN.

67. Frying liquids: OILS.

68. Prefix with foam: STYRO.

69. Vaccine fluids: SERA.

Down:

1. Chicago NFL team: BEARS.   99 seasons.  Record (W-L-T): 749-579-42.   New head coach Matt Nagy and quarterback Mitch Trubisky are looking to lead the Bears to an NFC North title and the playoffs.  Their biggest rivalry is with the Green Bay Packers, who currently have the lead at 96–94–6.  It is the longest rivalry in the NFL, having started in 1921.  

2. Actor Davis: OSSIE.

3. Pollo __: Latin American grilled chicken dish: ASADO.

4. Cruise/Kilmer action film: TOP GUN.

5. Education acronym for four fields of study: STEM. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

6. Ex-Yankee Martinez: TINO.  Constatino.  
A key component of the 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 NY Yankees World Series Championship teams.  They lost in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series to the Arizona Diamonbacks, or he would have garnered a 5th World Series ring.

7. Genesis garden: EDEN.

8. Medicare option: PART B.

9. Honolulu hello: ALOHA.

10. Snubbed: SLIGHTED.

11. Kitchen cloth: DISH TOWEL.

12. Boxer Laila: ALI.

13. Do-it-yourselfer's buy: KIT.

21. Single __: tournament format, briefly: ELIM. Single Elimination.  The loser of the match or game is out.  The NCAA's "March Madness" tournament is an example.

22. Slanted type: Abbr.: ITAL.

25. Bring together: UNIFY.

26. Sugar sources: BEETS.

28. Deadlocks: TIES.

29. Some TVs: RCAs.

30. 1977 George Burns film: OH GOD.

32. Unexpected victory: UPSET.  Happens fairly frequently in the early rounds of the single elimination March Madness basketball tournament.

33. Stiller's comedy partner: MEARA.


34. Springtime prank: APRIL FOOL.

36. Ultimatum word: ELSE.

37. Sideways glance: LEER.

39. Facial wrinkles: AGE LINEs.

43. F-foxtrot link: AS IN.

44. Latin love: AMOR.

48. Islands west of Portugal: AZORES.  "The Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal, are an archipelago in the mid-Atlantic. The islands are characterized by dramatic landscapes, fishing villages, green pastures and hedgerows of blue hydrangeas."

50. British peers: EARLs.

51. Icy winter weather: SLEET.

53. Developing egg: OVULE.

54. Apex's opposite: NADIR.

55. Kagan of the Supreme Court: ELENA.  She was also an answer in Saturday's LA Times Crossword.  The clue was "John Paul's successor."   Saturdays can be so tough.

57. Mayberry's Sheriff Taylor: ANDY.

58. Look intently (at): PEER.

59. Durango dinero: PESO.


60. Corp. money manager: CFOChief Financial Officer.  What is a 'Chief Financial Officer - CFO' ?  - Investopedia

61. Mid-11th century year: MLI.  M = 1000,  L = 50,  I = 1,  thus MLI  =  mid-11th century year 1051.   Viking descendant William of Normandy was building and consolidating powers at the time, and strategically married the more noble Matilda of Flanders.   In 1066, he conquered England, became known as William the Conqueror and was the first Norman King of England.  Two of their sons - William II and Henry I - ascended to the throne as King of England.   The English word for agreement at the time was yea, and before the 1600s,  yes was often used only as an affirmative to a negative question.

That's a wrap.  Wait, one more link: How to say yes in many different languages.


75 comments:

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Mike and TTP!

A few hang-ups: NITRO, LEDES, TINO and ELIM.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! YES, this was a great puzzle from Mike! Very interesting and informative expo from TTP. Thank you both.

While I saw the FINAL APPROVAL and went back and studied the ends of the theme phrases, I didn't quite "get" the meaning of the theme because the spellings were different. Needed to say them aloud, I guess. Clever, but sailed right by me.

65a LEDES: never remember ever hearing this in my 20 years of writing for newspapers, three years as editor. Maybe because I came "in-house" just as the computer desktop publishing came into being.

Never heard of STEM either. UNIte before UNIFY. Only three minor TIE-ups.

Trans-Canada Highway brought back some happy memories of the beautiful two-weeks bus trip I took on the southern route of this road in 2003. We entered Canada at the NDAK border, stayed the first night in Calgary and eventually wound up in Vancouver then took the ferry to Victoria Island. We came back across the border in Washington State and made some great stops along the way back to middle USA. Spectacular scenery and a very congenial group of people, non of whom I knew when I first got on the bus. Stopped at a lot of ESSO stations.

TALLIES: interesting that counting systems were being used 35,000 years ago. Man came equipped with inbred intelligence?

Didn't know all that background on William the Conqueror? Very interesting.

Raining here. Hope to grocery shop before it gets too hot. My mechanic son brought me a belated Mother's Day gift Sunday: my very own personal car battery charger -- just what I needed after being without my car for a month. He's been traveling in and out of state the past six weeks and I didn't see him. Oh YES! I was happy to get that. Now if I can remember how to open the car hood next time... I used to be so vehicle savvy too.

D4E4H said...

Thanks Mr. Mike Peluso for this enjoyable CWP which I FIR in 23:47.

Thanks TTP for your excellent, and informative review.

I come to the Corner from my new "digs" My old computer made the move, and so did I. I have succeeded in connecting to the Wifi, and my gentle music is playing in the background. I am camping out minus extension cord, and nightlight.

Breakfast at 7:30, biscuits and gravy.

______
J
A rerun of the cartoon with new jumbles to solve.
_______

The Sargasso Sea is a region of the North Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre, (a circular or spiral motion or form; especially a giant circular oceanic surface current). Unlike all other regions called seas, it has no land boundaries.

45A - Fleur-de-__: LYS. - - In Louisville the fleur-de-lis are a symbol of the city. I had never seen it spelled LYS.

Ðave

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Easy enough, including the theme, but I for sure can’t recall seeing “ledes” in the puzzle TTP mentioned. I took a long look at that before moving on. Thanks for the explanation, TTP, and the links!

Lemonade714 said...

Your list neglected Thai - ใช่ Chı̀ - pronounced Chai like the tea.

OwenKL said...

Filled the puzzle easy enough (with ESPs, WAGs, and perps), but the theme eluded me. I didn't know Japanese yes sounded like HIGH, and thought 35a was MICHEL LEWIE. With only SARGASSO SEA to work from, seeing "Si" was beyond me!

While I love that Progressive gal known as Flo,
Some would love to blast her with NITRO!
They find her annoying,
UPSET that she's cloying,
They'd like to see Flo flow onto a FLOE!

ANDY was a Canadian hedge fund C.F.O.
Before a long drive, he'd fill up with ESSO
To a BOAT he'd say "OUI!"
For a voyage by SEA,
At leisure to lounge across the SARGASSO!

{B, B.}

Lemonade714 said...

Dudley, it was 64A- LEDE. It was a JW Friday.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, TTP and friends. After I got the FINAL APPROVAL I went back and looked at the related clues and "got" the gimmick.

Hand up for Unite before UNIFY, which gave me Dett for Dexterous. Dett didn't make much sense.

Count me in as one who didn't remember LEDES. I won't remember it the next time it appears, either, unless it is in tomorrow's puzzle.

QOD: You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea. ~ Pearl S. Buck (June 26, 1892 ~ Mar. 6, 1973)

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Nice puzzle, no Wite-Out required. No, I didn't get the theme. Yes, I failed to read the full reveal clue. Again. Thanx, Mike and TTP.

First Commandment of Reporting: Thou shalt not bury the LEDE. Yes, I remembered it from last time.

OZONE: The OZONE layer was expected to be fully recovered by mid-century. But recent testing shows that the level of banned CFCs in the atmosphere is actually increasing. China is suspected.

DURANGO: That answer could've been USDS. Durango is also city in Colorado.

thehondohurricane said...


Pretty much a walk in the park today excepting for two learning moments. I'm with Dudley on LEDES and is it LYS or lis? For 25D I began with Unite, but DEFT took care of that. That is what got me feeling LYS must be OK.


Gotta run, annual eye exam today.

See ya

Lemonade714 said...

Okay, I will comment on the puzzle which was cute, having located what I was looking for- namely this 2011 DONNA LEVIN PUZZLE which I blogged so many years ago. It is a reverse approach.

Dave 2, we have seen LYS
LA Times - Dec. 21, 2016, LA Times - Feb. 22, 2015, LA Times - Dec. 6, 2014 and LA Times - July 5, 2013.

Michelle Wie is the 6'1" golf prodigy who qualified for the Women's Amateur at age 10 and played in a men's event as a teenager. Heralded as the female Tiger Woods, she has been good but not great. MICHELLE IN ACTION .

Thnks Mike and TTP.

b said...

A local TV station is always promoting STEM in local schools. I'd prefer they promote STEAM to include the Arts.

If he'd been killed at Hastings instead of King Harold, the Duke of Normandy would still be known as William the Bastard.

I've seen "LEDE" a few times, at first I thought it was a misspelling. It's not in a 1977 edition of a Merriam-Webster dictionary I have.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased berg for FLOE, and (no surprise) LEadS for LEDES and UNIte for UNIFY. I didn't remember LEDES from the previous encounter, but of course remember "don't bury the LEDE.

If you find yourself in the Ocala area I recommend spending a few hours at the Don Garlis museum. In addition to NITRO-drinking monsters he has an amazing display of unusual antique street cars. He even has a car driven by a teenage acquaintance of mine, Darrell Alderman of Morehead, KY. Darrell won the Pro Stock championship, but got involved in some nefarious activities which crashed his career.

I want someone to make a movie "OH DOG". Maybe Rachel Ray is available.


Thanks to TTP and Mike for a fun, easy Tuesday outing.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Oh yeah. Norfolk has a new STEM academy and it appears to be on the right track. Strategically located near a huge public housing complex, most students are from low income situations. I think that this academy has the potential to finally break the cycle of government dependence and anti-achievement culture and allow more of these youngsters to pursue their potential.

I usually oppose spending tax money on "poor baby" projects, but I'm a big supporter of this one.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Pretty easy, but LEDES was new to me, and I was shaky on ASADO. Perps were kind, though.
Informative intro, TTP.

Anniversary today. Probably go out later for a light lunch. (I'm on a diet and BH is being careful after a bowel blockage recurrence last week [5-day hospital stay]). But the sun is shining brightly just like that June day 53 years ago…….

Anonymous said...

Coincidentally, I used "lede" in an email this week. Probably first time I ever used the word/spelling.

SwampCat said...

Interesting puzzle . Thanks, Mike. And thanks, TTP, for your very thorough expo.

Lemon, your research of LYS proves my suspicion that it is only spelled that way in CWs. I have never seen that spelling in real life. And yes, N'Awlins is also a Fleur-De-Lis city, with a Fleur-De-Lis football team.

I remember LEDES from journalism school but never saw it written out after that. Since the pronunciation is the same, who cares? We also had "hed" for headline, and HTK for "hed to come", but the real world was never that Cute.

Lots of spelling trials today!

Once again I had to wait for perps to give me "sugar sources" ...cane or BEETS. BATHTUB gin was fun.

Owen, I laughed out loud!

Our weather has been close to 100 degrees. And over 100 for the heat index . When is December coming?

Yellowrocks said...

I got the theme of this easily from the reveal. Although I normally approve most themes, this re-spelling of foreign yesses leaves me dubious.
There is a big Latin population around here so ASADO was a gimme.
I remember the discussion about LEDE last year. Wikipedia: "In writing, especially in journalism, a lead paragraph (sometimes shortened to lead; also spelled lede) is the opening paragraph of an article, essay, book chapter, or other written work that summarizes its main ideas." I know this concept, I am sure PK does, too, but I learned that it can be spelled lede.
Interesting article about prohibition. Thanks, TTP. You always have great info.
CRASS seems to describe our present culture to a T. I think Facebook and many blogs encourage the crass and irrational. Threatening to kill them or burn their houses down is way beyond an acceptable and reasonable reaction to those who have opinions and actions with which we disagree or even abhor. I really appreciate the standard of decency on the Corner.
Spitz and Betty, happy anniversary. Enjoy your special day. Betty, I am gald to hear you are on the mend. I pray you feel better and better.

PK said...

Well, I did know not to bury the "lead" so I guess it didn't matter how to spell it when I was writing. Best advise I ever had for writing newspaper articles was "tell it to mom" then take your ending oral summary & that's your lead. I'd go home from a complicated or just long session and tell it to my husband then I was ready to write. The pertinent points had emerged in the telling.

Happy Anniversary Spitz & BH and best wishes for many more. Hope she has no more occurrences of the dreaded blockage. No fun!

Yellowrocks said...

Fleur de lys and fleur de lis are alternative spellings found in Dictionary.com, The Free Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary and others.


fleur-de-lys in British
or fleur-de-lis
: plural fleurs-de-lys or fleurs-de-lis

Many referncers contain this spelling.

-The green flock wallpaper had a fleur-de-lys design, reminiscent, to Stephanie's mind, of a cheap curry house.Mark Burnell CHAMELEON (2002)
-Under its sills are rich panels, and it is capped by a slight crenelated cornice with a boldly-carved drip, from which springs a conical roof surmounted by a fleur-de-lys.
Dearmer, Percy
-It was made of coarse terra-cotta of a greyish buff colour, ornamented with patterns of squares, diamonds and crosses, with a fleur-de-lys in the centre of one side, emblematic of the Trinity.
Walter, James Conway

Big Easy said...

HI, everybody. No reason to throw in the DISHTOWEL today. An easy puzzle to start the week with only a FEW unknowns- LILI Taylor and TINO Martinez (I don't follow baseball other than my 12 year old grandson). I confused Yoga and Latin American chicken and filled ASANA before ASADA was corrected by the Korean capital and became ASADO, two words I know only from crossword puzzles. I look up the difference between ASADA & ASADO.

Fleur-de-LYS...….Not in New Orleans; it's fleur-de-LIS in these parts

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts":

No-name @ 8:34 ---> since you posted this anonymously, how do we know it's you that used this spelling?? Just saying ... 😀

I had an A/O problem today. I thought it was ASADA but SEOUL quickly corrected that mistake; DERMO > DERMA or else the OZORES would be the island chain off Portugal. Maybe related to the OZARKS?

Anyhoo, thanks to Mike Peluso and TTP for the Tues morning entertainment. I kinda got the idea when I saw MICHELLE WIE (France) emerge; I hadn't looked at the clue for 56a as yet, so I corrected WIE to OUI, only to re-correct again after realizing the reveal was dealing in homonyms ...

LEDES looked funny to me, but everything surrounding it was correct; not sure I had seen SARGASSO SEA before; ELENA is quickly becoming a redundant word in xword speak ...

DirecTV rep
Was recently fired for
Using DISH TOWEL

{groan}

Yellowrocks said...

Oops! Not referncers, but references. My typing and proof reading are becoming hopeless.
Time for PT. I believe this is as good as it gets at age 80 so I plan to sign out from PT this week. The time spent vs the result is not productive any longer. This new normal is not so bad. I just need very frequent rests during activities. I will still dance and clean and cook. I will not let myself be consigned to the rocking chair.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Yesterday, we had CC's Final Touch and today we have the similarity of Mike's Final Approval. Both were fresh approaches and fun to solve. My only w/o was Asada before Asado. Is there an Asada, Lucina; I could have sworn I've seen it spelled that way. Nice CSOs to Tin at Andy and Abejo at the ubiquitous Erie(s). Noticed Elim and Elin and the Michelle Wie placement over Eagle, which as clued as a golf term. Yes, TTP, I remember Lede as it is such a familiar term to me that I don't even hesitate to fill it in. I was in the dark about the theme until the reveal which brought an appreciative Aha! All in all, an easy, breezy Tuesday.

Thanks, Mike, for a smooth and satisfying solve and thanks, TTP, for the informative and fact-laden review with many learning moments, for me, anyway. I enjoyed the CFO job description as a niece is CFO for Farm Family Insurance and now I have a better understanding of her responsibilities.

Happy Anniversary, Spitz and Betty. Enjoy your special day.

FLN, Jayce, I chuckled at your mention of Cable and Chunk from "Bull" as Chunk is one of my favorite characters on the show. I, too, get a kick out of their odd names and was tickled with today's clue, Arctic chunk=Floe!

b said @ 7:43 ~ I'm not sure where you live but our local NBC station, Channel 13, does a STEM segment every week which is always interesting to this STEMless viewer. I agree that including the Arts would be icing on the cake.

Have a great day.

SwampCat said...

We have a STEM program at the WWII museum so I was quite familiar with that.

Adding Arts to it would be great.

Lucina said...

Pollo ASADO, carne asada. Yes, IrishMiss, you have seen it before. Spanish, unlike English, relies on agreement of adjectives according to gender. Pollo is masculine, hence the O, and la carne is feminine, so A is needed.

This was a nice ten minute canter; thank you, Mike Peluso. And thank you, TTP, for all those interesting bits. I had no idea race cars used a special fuel but of course, it makes sense; how else could they race at breakneck speed.

I saw the theme once I pronounced the end words aloud.

I've seen lis and LYS many times so no problem though I didn't recall LEDES but it emerged without my effort.

Not too long ago a friend explained the meaning of par to me so for now, anyway, I have a fresh understanding of EAGLE.

SERA, we know, also appears in a certain song but pronounced differently.

Spitz and Betty, congratulations on your anniversary!

Have a blessed day, everyone!

Misty said...

Bit of a Tuesday challenge, but even so, I got the whole thing without cheating or any mistakes! Yay! Many thanks, Mike, for a fun puzzle. I had the same puzzling moments with LEDES, LYS, UNIFY, ASADO, as others, answers which I knew but with different spellings. Well, you always learn something new on crosswords. Great write-up, TTP, and there were moments of detailed explanation that made me think of the research Yellowrocks often does--especially the discussion of TALLY and DEFT. So, all around a great puzzle morning, thank you, Mike and TTP.

Happy anniversary, Spitz.

I was so happy to have my television working again last night, and the second repairman did a brilliant job replacing only one cable and not making huge disfiguring changes in the setup. A great relief, and a wonderful evening as a result.

Have a great Tuesday, everybody!

Northwest Runner said...

Congrats to C.C. for two puzzles published in one week. I see a couple overlaps in NYT puzzle with this, but I know it's just a coincidence. It's kind of fun when that happens.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Mike Peluso, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, TTP, for a fine review.

Went through this pretty quickly. Never even looked for the theme until I was finished.

Only unknowns were LILI and LEDES. Perps helped for both.

ELENA Kagan has made more crosswords that any other Supreme Court Justice, IMHO.

Nice to see ERIES. They were also Pennsylvania and New York natives. Ahem, as in Erie, PA. All three states have an Erie County.

Looks like my wife and I will be signing up for Medicare Part B this week. I no longer work for Amazon, where I was getting health insurance.

Well, off to the rest of my day.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Picard said...

The theme was a bit thin. One reason: Most American solvers don't know many words in other languages. I do know a few Japanese words, and that was one of them! In any case it was a new idea which I applaud. FIR!

Lucina: Thanks for explaining ASADO/ASADA to non-Spanish speakers. I actually did take a year of Spanish at the University of California. Both Pollo ASADO and Carne ASADA are very popular here!

In 1993 I went to an amazing concert at the Hollywood Bowl with several big stars. The biggest star was Paul McCartney. But the opening act was SALT-N-PEPA who I had never heard of before. They seem to appear in these puzzles from time to time.

Here are my father's photos at the TIDAL BASIN in DC for the Cherry Blossoms.

Once again here are some of my photos in SDAK including at MT RUSHMORE.

From Yesterday:
Mike Sherline: Sorry for being dense, but what was the reference to my "bomber jacket"?

I thought those photos of my RURAL childhood home being built were cool. Not sure if anyone saw them.

WikWak said...

Hand up for wanting UNIte before UNIFY, and for not remembering ever having heard of LEDE.

TTP, thanks for the nitro clip. I used to go to Union Grove WI to watch these guys. I can’t believe that I don’t remember the name of the dragstrip after the number of times I was there.

It took a trip here to see the gimmick in today’s puzzle. I stared and stared at those entries and could not for the life of me see any connection to the country clues.

The SARGASSO SEA turns up in lots of mystery stories, as well as science fiction stories and "UFO sightings".

Thanks, Mike & TTP, for bringing a wee bit o’ sunshine to this otherwise dreary day. (So dreary, as a matter of fact, that we are under ANOTHER flash flood watch!)

Have a day, all.

Last second update: it was the Great Lakes Dragaway (still is now).

Wilbur Charles said...

TTP, nice write-up. Yes, I recall LEDES and the discussion that followed. It perped in today and I dimly remembered it.
Yep, like PK, I couldn't Grok the "ends". I'm no good at that nor Sudoku.
I did run through Mike's nifty xword fairly fast. I still have half a biscuit left and my second cuppa. Decaf of course.

Oh no. Mr Peluso apparently spelled LIS with a Y. I changed the Y in UNIFY because LYS was obviously wrong. I declare a foul subsequent to YR's showing me I'm wrong ��
Owen, #1 is my idea of a full W

I like the QOD today. So apt in a retirement community.
I see YR did exactly that. So oui on LYS.

Yes, like C-Moe I would have got the theme if I'd sussed MICHELLE WIE . I just didn't take the time nor had I gone out to the car to grab reading glasses. Speaking of..the louder the "Groan" the better.

And.. I'm thinking of getting out of DISH and trying an alternative.
Problem is I want my Golf channel and I want it taped.
Along with the baseball. But FLN, thanks to Misty I see there's good stuff on the net. 1890s-1920, right up my alley.

Picard: When I see Tidal Basin I automatically think of Fanny ? and the old Pol frolicking there. And , don't get us wrong, we love your colorful shirts and jackets. You have the rare ability to look natural in purple and magenta ��

WC

Wilbur Charles said...

PS .I see Preview doesn't like Smileys .

😁😂😊

jfromvt said...

Pretty straightforward Tuesday. But LYS and LEDES were new to me.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Does anyone else think of Fanny Fox when they hear TIDAL Basin?
-My hole-in-one was an EAGLE
-The rain has finally quit and I have some very tall grass to shorten

Lemonade714 said...

Happy anniversary Spitz and Betty and many more.

desper-otto said...

WikWak, is that the raceway that had the booming "Sunday!" radio commercials on WLS (or maybe it was WOKY)?

TTP said...

Hi all,

Taking a break from my projects. Rebuilding a framing gun this afternoon. Too wet and humid to continue painting the house. It's been too hot, then too wet, and then we had 3 nice days. Then rain and hot coming again later this week. Picked the wrong year to start staining the house. A month in, and I have 2 of 7 walls done. But, they were the toughest, since I had to build scaffolding to get to the top.

Anyway, I'm glad everyone seems to be enjoying the puzzle and write up, and thanks for your compliments.

WikWak, I remember the radio commercial so well. Sunday ! Sunday ! Sunday ! Great Lakes Dragaway, Union Grove Wisconsin" The same guy did the same commercial for other drag strips around the country.

Spitzboov, congratulations to you and Betty on your 53rd ! DW and I had our 29th two days ago. We went out for a hamburger. That's what she wanted, so that's what we did.

Gotta get back to that rebuild.

CrossEyedDave said...

Approval?

The CEO Approves...

Final Approval?

Cop gets his shoes washed...

Michael said...

To add to Lemonade @6:09, the 'Yes' list also omits Vietnamese ('Vâng') and Georgian (3 different 'yeses,' equal to our 'yes,' 'yep, and 'yeah' in formality).

CrossEyedDave said...

Happy Anniversary Spitz & Bety!

Bill G said...

Those cherry blossom photos are spectacular. What a beautiful city is our nation's capital.

Happy anniversary Spitz. We had our 53rd a few weeks back.

AnonymousPVX said...

I made the same mistake with UNIFY/UNITE, LYS didn’t look right but I left it as DETT made no sense.

Also didn’t see MICHELE WIE even though it was filled in until I came here....”who’s Michel Lewie” haha.

So a bit of crunch for this Tuesday puzzle, but still a nice grid.

Irish Miss said...

CED @ 2:04/2:09 ~ The canine cutie and Spitz and Betty's cake brought smiles. Thank you. 🤗

Ol' Man Keith said...

The Stiller/Meara clip takes me back. Thanks, TTP, for including the link!
And thanks also for explaining the theme. I hadn't a clue until reading today's blog.

Yes, I recall LEDES from before, although I still resisted the fill - until my Ol' Walnut coughed up the goods.

Mr. Peluso has given us a worthy Tuesday pzl, one that yielded its goods gradually but steadily. Ta- DA!

~ OMK

____________
Diagonal Report:
One. A straight slash (NW to SE).
Whenever her pets produce a fresh litter, Queen Elizabeth is careful to separate her pure-breeds from pretenders (aka “mutts”) by using a venerable House of Windsor formula, a special seasoning which when applied to the scruff of the neck turns a fake's toenails a bright pink.
This is what is meant by today’s diagonal anagram:

“SALT A BOGUS CORGI.”

.

Wilbur Charles said...

Someone did Gary, we overlapped . And I have Math for you coming

WC

Ol' Man Keith said...

The J was a breeze this morning. I had to do it with eyes only, no paper delivered today because of our street slurry program.
When I went on line to read the Jumble there, I found I was able to de-scramble the letters w/o my usual pen in hand. Either the challenge was slighter than usual, or I'm just getting that good.

The final answer seemed pretty evident even before solving the clue words. Did others find it easy, or am I the fluke?

~ OMK

Wilbur Charles said...

Lili link led to fascinating Kelly Cuoco(Penny in TBBT) talk.

As I perambulate around the walking pool my mind is constantly enlarging my original 40sec/lap-13 lap=1/4 mile>34 minutes per mile. So if the second hand begins on the 12 it returns every? lap at 40sec/lap; every ? Lap at 45 but at 35 sec/lap how often Gary, -T or? Misty? .
Next week, the wonders of the minute hand.

OMK, when I saw the diagonal I solved that way as a CSO. eg someone's paying attention

WC

Spitzboov said...

CED @ 1409 - Thank you so much! The nautical motif is apt.

Wilbur Charles said...

Well, for today my Jumble experience was similar. Especially getting the riddle. I write the words in as I solve in my head since I'll quickly forget them and have to unscramble all over again . Ironically #2 was the one to give me trouble.

WC

Jinx in Norfolk said...

TTP, it's rough when your timing is off. Here's Lloyd Bridges from "Airplane!" lamenting his timing for quitting a bad habit.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

OMK, I got the answer without considering the anagrams, so pretty easy. I should start tackling the Jumble as intended, but my DW already gets a bit impatient with the time I spend on puzzles (and the Corner) as it is.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Wilbur C

Ironic indeed.

~ OMK

Wilbur Charles said...

That CORGI thing was a fascinating mix of genius and wackiness . Btw . I have another"Sampson" quote . He's talking about something similar to the"New Crit" only Deighton used a German expression .

I'll find it . Sampson is a non "Public" School guy, self educated who mixes in the fast crowd (eg "Prince" Joppi etc)

I'm convinced that L.D. has embedded hints to the JFK assassination in his Sampson stories .

WC

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Mike and TTP.
Straight-forward solve but the theme flew over my head.

I was AWOL the last time we had LEDES, didn't know it today, and will probably have forgotten it by the next time it appears.

ASADO filled with perps thankfully, Lis changed to LYS when Unite changed to UNIFY.
LEER has the added meaning of Ogle, as well as "sideways glance" IMHO and I resisted the fill.

Dave- glad you are getting settled at your new digs.
Spitzboov - Happy Anniversary to you and Betty.

Hahtoolah said...

Regarding the discussion on Fleur-de-LYS /LIS/LES ... Years ago when I did the puzzle in the Boston Globe, often a clue would be followed by "Sp. var." That let us know that the answer was going to be spelled wrong!

Of course in Louisiana, it can only be Fleur-de-LIS.

Happy, Happy 53rd, Spitz and Betty. Wishing you a very special day.

CrossEyedDave said...

Bill G,

Did I miss your Anniversary?

Sigh, if only some one would put ALL of Lloyds running gag into one clip...

WikWak said...

D-O & TTP: That’s the one. Those commercials were on WLS, WCFL, WXRT, and several others that have undergone changes in ownership (some of them several times) and whose original call signs I have now forgotten. And yes, the guy who did the GLD commercials (Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!) also did the commercials for the US30 drag strip on US30 (natch) somewhere in Kane County (Sugar Grove, maybe?) Almost word for word identical commercials, except for the big names who would be racing there (Big Daddy Don Garlitz, anyone?).

I think there was also a US30 Dragstrip in NW Indiana—Hobart, maybe?

NITRO-burning funny cars played a big role at both tracks.

Husker Gary said...

Wilbur, I don't get the question.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

CED thanks for the medley.

I listened to WLS in my ute. I could only get it at night, and then not every night. Earbuds hadn't been invented, so I held my transistor radio to my ear so as not to get yelled at by my parents in the next room. (Go to sleep! It's a school night!) I remember Dick Biondi's risque (for then) comments, fake products (Greasy Kid Stuff hair gel) and those drag strip commercials. The two cars I remember were "hemi under glass" and "backaruda" - I guess it was a Barracuda body put backwards onto a funny car frame.

Jayce said...

Spitzboov, Happy Anniversary wishes to you and Betty!

Nice puzzle; some pretty nifty fill such as BATHTUB, SLIGHTED, and NADIR. I don't know who first decided to spell LIS (the French word for lily) as LYS, or why, but it smacks of pseudo-sophistication, trying too hard to seem hip. I feel the same way about the spelling of LEDE.

I got the theme, or thought I did, at the "Fast Times" clue, so I wanted to put in RIDGEMONT HAI, but it was a letter too short. Quickly the perps showed the correct entry was HIGH, but then I wondered what was the point: how is HIGH in any way Japanese? It took all three theme entries before I got it. (I often say "Ja" to my wife instead of "Yes." For some reason she likes it. So I continue to do it. Vicious circle? Self-feeding positive feedback loop?)

As Regis Philbin used to ask the contestants on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire "Is that your FINAL APPROVAL?" No... Wait...

Mike Peluso, thanks for a fun puzzle. TTP, thanks for an interesting and informative write-up. Interesting that LW and I were just having a discussion about William the Conqueror last night. I don't remember what brought it up, but I think it might have been an answer/question on Jeopardy, which led me to research the ancient Danish king, Knute (aka Canute) the Great (whose father had the interesting name of Sweyn Forkbeard and whose father's father, King Harald Bluetooth, also had an interesting name), which led me to researching the very early English monarchs.

Tonight we get to see Cable and Chunk in action again.

Best wishes to you all.

Misty said...

Actually, Ol'Man Keith, I got the Jumble words quickly without any problem but have still not been able to come up with the answer--probably because I don't know either Nascar or golf. Can you give me any help, any clues to help with the answer? I hate ending the evening without seeing it solved.

Yellowrocks said...

How true is Hahtoolah's quote. I am surprised at the reluctant acceptance of fleur de lys, thinking it somehow inferior. It is, in fact, older than fleur de lis.
Its origin is Middle Englih from Old French, flour de lys, flower of the lily. I have found more than a dozen quotes using this spelling. This is far from the first time I have seen it spelled that way. I think sometimes we see what we expect to see without noticing the difference. I know that is the problem with proofing my writing on screen. I see the spelling more readily on paper.

Chairman Moe said...

_J reveal: LONG DRIVE

Picard said...

Wilbur Charles and Husker Gary: When I hear TIDAL BASIN I think of the Cherry Blossoms and the Jefferson Memorial.

I looked up the woman you referenced. Her stage name was Fanne Foxe. I did not know about this. I was just a child then. Interesting how what counts as a "scandal" varies by country and by era. To say more would get quite political.

Wilbur Charles and BillG: Thank you for the kind words about my outfits and about my photos!

From Yesterday:
I love visiting San Francisco as often as possible. Usually at least twice a year.

Here is a photo of DW and me on a San Francisco CABLE car.

I like to stay in Union Square because it is within a mile walking distance of most of downtown. And close to every kind of transit. The first thing I do is store my car in a garage and don't use it! Everything I want to do in The City I can reach by walking or by the excellent public transit in the area.

There is a trick to getting a CABLE car near Union Square. If anyone is interested I can explain more.

Mike Sherline: Sorry for being dense, but what was the reference to my "bomber jacket"?

Mike Sherline said...

Picard - your house construction pics, nos. 4 & 11 - looks like a short leather jacket with a big fur collar, like WWII bomber crew wore on high altitude missions in their freezing unpressurized aircraft cockpits & cabins.

By the way, I've always known it as flour de lys, since 7th grade French class (1956-7). And what's with all the hyphens everywhere lately?

Mike Sherline said...

Damn auto correct. Obviously I typed FLEUR, not flour.

Misty said...

Thank you, Chairman Moe. I feel so dumb--I should have gotten that. But I'm glad to have the answer.

Picard said...

Mike Sherline: Ah! Thanks for the explanation! The cool jacket guy was my older brother! I am the smiling little 18 month old!

The guy on the roof was the builder who built everything with his own hands! An impressive man! Ole Olsen, Norwegian immigrant. He was our neighbor in the woods. His teenage son Chris would help him, too.

In one photo you can see a 1950s Plymouth Belvedere. That was our car. One time my mother said she drove off the dirt road (no paving out in the woods) into a ditch. She swears Ole Olsen came along and lifted that massive car out of the ditch with his bare hands!

Here again is the link to my father's wonderful photos of our RURAL house being built!

Lemonade714 said...

Art Roberts used to tell bedtime stories on his show on WLS. I loved them so much, I started writing them and he bought a few and used them. very cool for me; very bad puns.

Chairman Moe said...

👍

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thanks Mike for the fun diversion while my computer whirled today. Had I been paying more attention, I'd a been more DEFT and caught UNItE that never changed. FIW. I did get the theme and though "cute."

Thanks TTP for the great expo. I finally had a minute to watch MEARA & Stiller; great stuff. Like D-O, I recalled LEDES (after 3 perps) and remembered PK hadn't heard of it then either :-)

WikWak- I knew SARGASSO SEA, Wide; 1ea. from DW's dissertation chapter on Jean Rhys. I bet Misty knows it too.

WOs: WAS I(t) (D'Oh!). UNITE woulda been.
ESPs: AZORES, OSSIE, AOSADO, LILI, and I had to wait on perp for PART-
Fav:

{A-,A} {ha!}

Happy Anniversary Spitz! (And Betty too!)

Abejo - I hope Amazon was your decision(?)

Great OH, God! Clip CED; check the Airplane! medley Jinx put you up to later.

I'm listening to this morning's 1A (NPR) now inre: STEM and the gender gap...
I find the idea of STEAM funny... You mean like a classic education? STEM seams to focus too much on "job skills" [oooh, I can program in {insert hot-for-now tech}] w/o educating folk how to learn. When the Jesuits were done w/ Pop in '69, he knew Latin, classic lit, architecture, drafting, and art. When I got to HIGH school our education was more like this. :-)

Cheers, -T

Ol' Man Keith said...

Misty,
You just have to know that NASCAR drivers can go for 500 miles a race. Compare what they do to what a golfer would like to see when teeing off.

~ OMK

Wilbur Charles said...

-T, did your Dad go to Boston College? The STEM idea is exactly that, a reaction to non-Science educations. The best programmer I knew was a Philosophy major.
Come to think of it, syllogisms might very well be a relief vis a vis the "logic" employed today.
Airplane is a movie I missed.
Gary, the question was in re. to my walking pool. 13 laps = 1/4 mile. Instead of trying to count I decided to time a lap and use elapsed time to compute my distance travelled. I posted this earlier as an algebraic exercise. Of course with the ubiquitous cellphone it can be calculated. eg
For a 40 second lap and 34 minutes elapsed we have
34*60/40 or 51 laps(13*4=52). One more minute puts us over a mile.
The algebra is simply 2/3m=l. M=1+1/2 L. 34m=34+17=51 .
But, as I walk I start thinking. How often at this pace will the second hand return to it's starting position fe 12? How often for a 45 second lap? And lastly, how about if I pick up the pace to 35 seconds. (7,2;9,4;11,6;1,8,3;10,5;12.
The first two are simple: eg 3 laps = 2 minutes; 4 laps =3 minutes. But for the oddball 35/60=7/12. So, as noted, it takes 12 laps for an even 7 minutes.

I thought this kind of mind-bending would be good sub-teacher fodder. And, perhaps an (excellent?) introduction to Algebra.

So, those were the questions and answers.

WC

PS. I think there was a reference to STEM and the Sex gap? Even at the age of 13(ideally one would pose this to 8 or 9 yrolds) you probably would get a very different reception from girls vs boys.

Wilbur Charles said...

Oh,btw. For OMK, Jayce and perhaps Misty, my Deightonism of the day:

Sampson's at a party and someone says "What does ' die neue Sachlichkeit' mean? (The New Realism). Sampson explains that it is 1920s jargon for a reaction against Impressionism in Poetry and Art.

I was NOT an English major though I did read a lot of Doestoevsky.

So... Here's tomorrow's STEM and non-STEM discussion material.

WC.