google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, July 10, 2018 Bruce Haight

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Jul 10, 2018

Tuesday, July 10, 2018 Bruce Haight


"DJ Set"

18. Ideal occupations: DREAM JOBS. Job recruiters promise them.

20. Scrambled words newspaper game: DAILY JUMBLE.  Disorganized units of language in a game format, with a helpful illustration.

38. Fashionably ripped denim: DISTRESSED JEANS.  Often expensive.

55. Copier malfunction: DOCUMENT JAM.  Always annoying.

59. Off-color humor: DIRTY JOKE.  Mostly bawdy.

50. Track mix for a party, and what the five longest Across answers comprise: DJ SET.  Disc Jockey playlist selections.

Bruce struck a chord today. 

I was pleased to meet WERV FM 95.9 "The River" DJ Scott Mackay while golfing in the Ronald McDonald House charity golf outing a couple of weeks ago.    Great guy and a good golfer.  95.9 "The River" is the station I listen to in the mornings.   And today I get to play DJ.  Hope you'll find a song or two to like in my playlist.
 
Across:

1. Chatting online, for short: IM'ing.  Instant Messaging.  User to user communication on PCs, versus texting and messaging apps on mobile phones.  The terms are used somewhat interchangeably.

6. Little troublemakers: IMPS.

10. Invitation letters: RSVP.  "Répondez s'il vous plaît"    Victor Barocas had both S'IL and VOUS in Sunday's crossword that C.C. reviewed.

14. Indiana hoopster: PACER. The top Indiana Pacers of all time.

15. Like frat brothers: MALE.

16. Keep __: persist: AT IT.  Don't stop. 


17. Fast train in the Northeast: ACELA.  Amtrak's flagship train service.  The name is a derivation of acceleration and excellence.

22. Crosswalk user, briefly: PED.  Pedestrian.


23. Prodigal __: SON.

24. Garden tools: HOES.

25. Hosp. drips: IVS.

27. Vaudeville bit: GAG.

28. Car music source: FM RADIO.  FM (No Static At All) "is a complex jazz-rock composition driven by its bass, guitar and piano parts" by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.  The song was written as the title track for the movie FM.   Some claim the movie was the basis for the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.  In the movie, a group of DJs take control of L.A. radio station QSKY in protest of having to play more commercials.  


32. Baghdad native: IRAQI.

35. Mystical glow: AURA.

37. Eyeglasses glass: LENS.  The new glasses are helping.

41. So totally gross: ICKY.  How I felt at the end of each day last Friday and Saturday after staining the house and the deck railing for 10 hours.

42. Fencing sword: EPEE.

43. "Therefore ... ": AND SO.   I received this advice when first starting a stint as a guest instructor:
1) Tell them what you are going to tell them,
2) Tell them,  and then
3) Tell them what you told them.

44. Matthew and Mark wrote two of them: GOSPELS.

46. Pained cries: OWS.

47. Gave lunch to: FED.

48. Surrealist Salvador: DALI.   "...from 1929 to 1937 he produced the paintings which made him the world’s best-known Surrealist artist.  He depicted a dream world in which commonplace objects are juxtaposed, deformed, or otherwise metamorphosed in a bizarre and irrational fashion."

50. Ike's monogram: DDE.

53. Medical ins. plan: HMO.

61. Get ready to hit the road: GAS UP.


62. Chicago paper, familiarly: TRIB.  The Chicago Tribune, the flagship newspaper of the one-time Tribune Company.  

63. Sign of the future: OMEN.

64. "__ you ready yet?": AREN'T

65. November honorees: VETS.

66. Get fresh with: SASS.

67. Moth-eaten: TATTY.

Down:

1. Apple tablets: IPADS.

2. Chinese gambling mecca: MACAO.  The "Las Vegas of Asia."

3. Strand at the ski lodge, maybe: ICE IN.

4. Women's basketball analyst Fortner: NELL.  USA Basketball Women's National Team coach on the 1996 Olympics Gold Medal team, and then Head Coach of the 2000 Olympics Gold Medal team.   Now an ESPN analyst.  Summary info on Wikipedia.

5. It may be a result of stress, some say: GRAY HAIR.

6. "My luck HAS to change!": I'M DUE.


7. Quaint schoolteachers: MARMS.

8. Roman commoner: PLEB.

9. __ the deal: SEAL.

10. Indian friend of TV's Sheldon: RAJ.

11. Comes to a complete halt: STOPS DEAD.

12. Vague feeling: VIBE.   "The DJ was central to the ritual of 1970s dance culture, but the dancing crowd was no less important, and it was the combination of these two elements that created the conditions for the dance floor dynamic.  A good DJ didn't only lead dancers along his or her... preferred musical path, but would also feel the mood of the dance floor and select records according to this energy (which could be communicated by the vigor of the dancing, or level of the crowd's screams, or sign language of dancers directed towards the booth).  This communication--described by Sarah Thornton, in her early analysis of late 1980s and 1990s dance culture, as "the vibe"--amounted to a form of synergistic music-making in which separate elements combined to create a mutually beneficial and greater whole." Beyond the Hustle...

13. Condition once called "shell shock," for short: PTSD.  Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder  National Institute of Mental Health information

19. Israel's Golda: MEIR.

21. Trot: JOG.

26. "Donna" singer Ritchie: VALENS.


DJ Bob Hale, who was the MC for the concert, agrees that the coin flip was between Allsup and Valens.

27. One usually dressed for success: GQ TYPE.    A smartly dressed, well groomed and mannered man.   GQ magazine, a Conde Nast publication,  was formerly Gentlemen's Quarterly, promoted as  "The latest tips and advice for men on style, grooming, fitness, best products, travel destinations and more."

28. Liberate: FREE.

29. Alfred E. Neuman magazine: MAD.


30. Road trip stopovers: INNS.

31. __ buco: veal dish: OSSO.

32. Beatnik's "Gotcha!": I DIG. I can dig it, he can dig it, she can dig it, we can dig it, they can dig it, you can dig it. Oh, let's dig it. Can you dig it, baby?


or:



33. Puerto __: RICO.

34. Ignores warnings to behave, say: ASKS FOR IT.

35. Once-sacred snakes: ASPS.

36. Employ: USE.


39. Long, thin fish: EEL.

40. Talking endlessly to: JAWING AT.

45. Whirlpool: EDDY.  Could have been clued as twangy guitarist Duane ___ .  Here's a 1986 remake of Henry Mancini's Peter Gunn. 


46. Fútbol fan's cry: OLE.  Little chance chance for a mondegreen in the lyrics of this one.

48. Noblemen below princes: DUKES.

49. Chorus from the pews: AMENS.

51. Intimidate: DAUNT.

52. Running on __: EMPTY.


53. RCA product: HDTV.

54. Swampy area: MIRE.

56. Spanish eyes: OJOS


57. Deep sleep: COMA.


58. "Sharknado" actress Reid: TARA.

60. Atlanta-based cable channel: TBSTurner Broadcasting System. 





Note from C.C.

Owen has started a Jumble blog, please click here for your daily discussions.

60 comments:

OwenKL said...

The prescience of the Blog: Words we've used in the past couple of days: DAILY JUMBLE, JEANS, DAUNTing. Did I miss any?

Do those guys who write and draw the DAILY JUMBLE
Appreciate their DREAM JOBS, and therefor stay humble?
Making words DISTRESSED,
By bad puns obsessed --
If I could replace one, down some stairs I'd pray he'd tumble!

Down upon the Styx, where Charon poles, it's said
There is an octagonal sign, that reads "Halt for PED".
There's no one there who oughter
Be walking 'cross the water --
No one alive would mind it, but it still STOPS DEAD!

If you want to hear a DIRTY JOKE, I'll tell one.
But I must be sure that you won't tell on me to Ellen!
In the future that's before us,
When robots sing in chorus,
Altos will USE I-PADS, once a month they'll need to wear one!

{B+, B, C+.}

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thanks, Bruce, for a time passer. Fun theme. Thanks, TTP, for a great expo. Alas, only the MACAO picture wasn't a black square. My computer's fault, not yours. So frustrating

Owen your last ditty was ICKY. I admit it, I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning already.

I MING, sounds like something you'd buy with winnings in MACAO. But c'mon, to start the puzzle? Last to fill. I think I read about MACAO in a Michael Connelly novel many moons ago. Took several perps to remember.

Knew JUMBLE but took perps to know it is published DAILY. STOPS DEAD not STOP Short.

DOCUMENT JAM not paper JAM. Sorry, none of the papers I was always getting jammed were of enough importance to qualify as a DOCUMENT.

Wonder how many moms get PTSD and GRAY HAIR when teenagers bring home pricey DISTRESSED JEANS?

TTP said...

PK,

Javascript must be enabled in order for YouTube videos to play.

Check to see if javascript is enabled in your browser.

This link provides the steps. After opening the link, select your browser for detail.

Enable Javascript

D4E4H said...

Thank you Mr. Bruce Haight for this difficult CWP which I worked in several sittings. Last to fall was the "L" at the NATICK of 17A - ACELA, and 4D NELL. I FIR.

Thank you TTP for you musical review.

Ðave

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

TTP, you were a linkin' fool this morning. Well done, young man. Bruce, thanx for the romp. Nothing ICKY in this one.

GRAY HAIR: I'm starting to get 'em. About time, I think.

TATTY: Learning moment for me. I only knew RATTY. I still have a sweater that my older sister bought in the early '50s. She passed it on to her younger sister who passed it on to my older brother who passed it on to me. I still wear it around the house in winter. It raises TATTY to a whole new level.

MACAO: Back in the day, there was a daily hydrofoil from Hong Kong to MACAO. At that time Hong Kong was British and MACAO was Portuguese. I've usually seen MACAO spelled with a U instead of an O.

thehondohurricane said...


One letter gave me a FIW instead of a FIR. Yesterday one lousy pitch cost the Yankees a DH sweep instead of a split. Guess one can be a big number. My philosophical mumbo jumbo for today.

Had PTSt ror 13D and PEt for 22A.If the 13D cluing ever appears again, I'll have forgotten the correct fill.

After finishing today, my written letter J has reached perfection. Our blog educators would tell me I only had 25 to go in order to have readable penmanship.!

The cash flow is about to take a huge hit. Lucy's birthday is Saturday and our anniversary is a week later. Want list includes an updated IPad. And her Beetle has bitten the dust so a new vehicle is an absolute need. She's already been ORDERED to stay away from the Rolls Royce dealership, but I do sense there may be some loud discussions forthcoming. After putting up with me for so long, it will be difficult to say no to her choice.

Now that I have wailed about current goings on in the Hondo household, it's time to head for the mall and "face the cash register."

See ya



Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but at first I entered Golda's last name the way it sounds - MaIR. Bad spellers of the world UNTIE! Didn't know MACAO, but if it involves gambling I'm in. Also didn't know NELL Fortner, and only sorta knew VALENS. Richie's era was a few years before my time.

Our little paper, the Virginian-Pilot, was sold this spring to Tronc, owners of the Chicago TRIBune, Baltimore Sun, Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel, and the New York Daily News. They no longer own the LA Times, so we'll see how much longer we get the crossword.

I have a DVD of DALI being interviewed on 60 Minutes by Mike Wallace. They both smoked cigarettes throughout the interview. I had forgotten that TV hosts and guests often smoked during shows. The old DALI museum in St. Petersburg was great, and now they have a new one that I would love to see. I'm all about DALI paintings and DIRTY JOKEs.

Thanks to TTP for the excellent musical review. I noted about a third of the musical connections you used before reading your write-up. The only one I didn't know was the "new" Peter Gunn Theme. And thanks to Bruce for a fun romp.

billocohoes said...

If you don't 61A your AMC 14A, you'll soon be 52D, then your car 11D

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Bruce Haight, for a fine puzzle. thank you, TTP, for a fine review.

Puzzle was fairly easy. Theme worked out DJ

A few unknowns; GQ TYPE, thank you perps. TBS, TARA, DJ SET, NELL, MACAO all with perps and wags.

I do not buy DISTRESSED JEANS, but most of mine eventually wind up that way. I even patch them when they become too holy.

Off to my day.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

PK said...

Billocohoes: you are so right!

TTP: thank you for your help. My set up wasn't exactly like the Apple Safari said it would be. However, my JavaScript is supposedly enabled. I think it is my old Safari that is causing all the trouble. I'm still black.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

The first blog activity I do each morning is to check in to FLN and see what the 'kids' have been up to. Anon -T's trekking tale bordered on priceless. Thanks.

Thanks TTP for the hot wash-up. Many good visuals.

Had more of a Thursday feel, but once I had the DJ's sussed, I was on the glide path home. FIR. No searches. I thought Bruce did a good job.
Matthew and Mark - I believe there is some controversy about who actually 'wrote' them. But the sense of the clue is clear.
DDE - We have had this frequently. Here is my sister with the great man in 1959, dedicating the new 4-H center in Beltsville, MD. Formal Opening of 4-H Center

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I love Bruce Haight's puzzles but this one didn't have his usual quirky word play. I still enjoyed the solve, though, and had no hiccups or miscues. CSO to Spitz, et al at Imps and a big CSO to our Daily Jumble junkies. I thought Document Jam was stretching it a bit, but the other themers were fine.

Thanks, Bruce, for a Tuesday treat and thanks, TTP, for the detailed and informative expo. I think you broke the record for the number of links you provided. Where you found the energy after the marathon house-staining project, I'll never know!

Dave, I hope you have settled in and are happy in your new home.

Have a great day.

Bill G said...

Hi everybody. Thanks Bruce and TTP.

Speaking of dirty jokes, one of the English teachers at our middle school used to tell 'em. His jokes were very foul and seldom funny. The only reason for their existence was to be dirty. When sitting around a table at lunch, I could tell he was building up to starting a joke. I got so I would just get up and leave before he started. Yuck...

Lucina said...

My usually sunny disposition is jarred today. 1) the newspaper didn't arrive; 2) my roof is leaking (luckily it's under warranty) 3) I DNF because I failed to return to 1A which I found baffling and didn't know Nell. That's my tale of woe.

However, I enjoyed Bruce Haight's puzzle and chuckled when I saw DAILY JUMBLE there. I may not get to solve it today unless I can print it from some source.

DISTRESSED is the feeling I get when looking at those JEANS. They are ridiculous IMHO.

As d-o mentioned MACAO is usually spelled MACAU. GASUP crossed by EMPTY made me chuckle.

VETS in the SW corner and PTSD in the NE one.

The rain yesterday was delightful though the wind caused a great deal of damage. It's monsoon season here.

Have a sensational day, everyone!

Lucina said...

Thank you, TTP. This may not be your DREAM JOB but you are excellent at it. I especially enjoyed the musical interludes. Well, most of them.

Picard said...

Got the theme quickly! A few sticky bits with proper names: RAJ, NELL, PACER. TBS is a gimme because TBS was originally the Tech Broadcasting System at MIT. During my senior year, Ted Turner bought the WTBS call letters from MIT. FIR!

TTP: Wow! Thanks for all the music today! Almost all of it from my era!

Here I was just hanging out with my buddy Jackson Browne after he sang RUNNING ON EMPTY

From yesterday:
AnonT/Tony: Thanks for the explanation of the Wit's End photo! What a crazy story on the 17 mile drive near Carmel. Thanks for sharing! Of course, I have photos there. But I never noticed Wit's End! Glad that you also have happy memories on CURVY Lombard Street.

BillG: That is an amusing story about doing Lombard Street in that massive Roadmaster. I had never driven a stick shift before, so it was a bit scary when my lady friend had me drive her ancient VW down that CURVY road. Of course I had to act cool like it was no big deal!

PK: After we drove down Lombard Street we drove out to the end of Point Reyes in Marin County. And promptly ran out of gas. Her gas gauge was broken. A very kind farmer sold us some gas at a very low price to get us back to town. Your story of your own kindness reminded me of that experience. It seems that you and your husband helped many STRANDED MOTORISTs, too!

Mike Sherline: I am honored that you looked at all my photos and watched all my videos from our Independence Day celebrations. Glad you agree about the astonishing musical ability captured in the videos of young Zeyn Shweyk. Yes, extraordinary for any age.

CrossEyedDave said...

FIW,

I thought it was Cacao,,,
(Hmm, maybe the clue for icing should be "ranting on line...)

Wow! Good music today!
But I got stuck on Classical Gas.
I am going to have to go back and listen to all the others later.

Hmm, forget DJ,
Dirty Jokes!
It's going to be a banner day on the Blog!

Speaking of can't drive,
It brings me to...

Anonymous T said...

TTP - I'm 1/3 the way through your 33(1/3?) musical choices...
Quite varied -- Payola? :-)
[TMBG's Hey Mr. DJ.]

Play later, -T

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Bruce H and TTP!

No problems today. Mapquest goofed getting us home from cardiac specialist. Rats!
Was so exhausted I conked out at 10 PM!

Have a great day!

Lucina said...

My newspaper arrived! Better late than never.

Ferm:
Do you or your friends have GPS? It's usually more reliable than MapQuest IMHO.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

CED, I thought I had heard all the golf jokes, but I guess not. Funny stuff! Now if I can only remember it until my next outing.

Lucina, I guess without the Big J Tuesday afternoon will seem never ending. Let's hope that it isn't the case that Wednesday morning papers didn't come. Otherwise you might have morphed into a Beatles song.

Misty said...

I wanted so badly to get this whole Bruce Haight puzzle, but the northwest corner just wouldn't shake down no matter how hard I tried. Never heard of ACELA and didn't know MACAO. Oh well. But the rest, including the DJ SET reveal was great, and like others, I of course loved seeing DAILY JUMBLE. So, many thanks, Bruce, for a fun puzzle. And thanks, TTP, for a great write-up. Loved your VIBE explanation, and your Peter Paul and Mary picture, although either Peter or Paul seemed to be missing. I was thrilled to attend a concert where they played, back in my younger days, and a sadder performance by just Mary, after the group split up. (Did they split up--I can't quite remember). I also liked your PED picture. Great to have all those old memories.

Liked your first poem, Owen.

Hondo, good luck at the car dealership.

Have a great day, everybody!



Ol' Man Keith said...

A fine Tuesday pzl today - with an unexpected shout out to our Jumble clique at 20A!

~ OMK

____________
Diagonal Report:
One mainline diagonal, NW to SE.
The anagram tells a tale:
Jonathan, the explorer, couldn’t believe his eyes.
For a decade he had been searching in the jungle for any sign of the infamous “Digital Witch.” This was the purported robotic creation of the mad Dr. Rumpus who, in an effort to avoid human contact, had created a 3-D digitalized facsimile of a magical old female, with attention to every detail of her fraudulent anatomy, from her chin whiskers to her very fingernails.
No one but Dr. Rumpus knew for sure of her existence. If she was real, no one knew the purpose of the horrible witch. And ever since the doctor’s mysterious death, no one had found proof of her.
But now Jonathan had discovered these strange clippings, and he realized what they were. They were the first evidence that his search was not in vain.
His loyal assistant, Peter, rushed up to his side to look at the curious crescents in Jonathan’s hand.
“Jonathan, sir, are those what I think they are?”


“YES,” answered Jonathan, “… iHAG TOENAILS!”

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Bruce and TTP.
My IPAD (like PK's computer) did not want to open all the links and Safari kept crashing. Came to my computer to enjoy. (Time for a new updated IPAD!).

I sailed through this CW with just a few hiccups. Irani before IRAQI- d'uh.
Smiled at DAILY JUMBLE after all our discussion here (thanks OwenKl for setting up Jumble blog). Interesting that we just had a discussion of the DISTRESSED JEANS. Loved Abejo's "holy" ones.
Also smiled at prescience of the blog -Owen, you missed Boomer's discussion of MAD magazine yesterday.
I agree that I am more familiar with Paper Jam than DOCUMENT JAM, but that would give us PJ.
We have had ACELA in the past and I relearned it on the weekend.
My GRAY (actually Canadian grey) HAIR is a result of age (of which I am reminded tomorrow), not stress. I consider it a badge of honour and refuse to dye it.

LOL billocohoes @7:27.

Enjoy the day.

Jayce said...

Fun puzzle; I liked it. It was easier for me than yesterday's. As soon as I filled in DREAM JOBS and DAILY JUMBLE I figured it was a "DJ" day. So what did I do at "Copier malfunction"? Typed in PAPER---JAM. Duh. EDDY, OJOS, and COMA quickly set me straight. For a full 257 milliseconds I sat there thinking, "Why did I do that?"

TTP, top-notch job today you did!

Hondo, may you and Lucy have memorable celebrations.

Spitzboov, very cool about your sister.

Lucina, I guess it took yesterday's downpour to reveal your roof leak. I hope you can get it patched okay before the monsoons continue.

Ol' Man Keith, good story. I laughed out loud at "chin whiskers."

I just heard LW, who's watching the World Cup games, moan "Awww!" I guess somebody took a shot and missed.

Best wishes to you all.

Jayce said...

Oh, I forgot to say how delighted I am that they got the last 4 boys and their coach safely out of the cave today. So good to read good news for a change, even though coverage was scant.

Irish Miss said...

CanadianEh @ 12:53 ~ I gave up on Safari ages ago because of the frequent (and I mean frequent) crashes. I use Dolphin as my browser and, while it crashes occasionally, I'm very satisfied.

AnonymousPVX said...

Went straight through this with no issues. It’s nice when that happens.

Ok....I can play the videos but I don’t always get sound. The Bill Withers video plays, but no sound. Anyone have any ideas? This is on my iPad. Thanks.

PK said...

TTP: WOW! Whole lot of music goin' on in your expo today. I finally opened the Corner on my chrome browser and got all the black squares activated. Some of that music I'd never heard. Thanks, I enjoyed it. However, when I tried to comment, I couldn't without journeying back to Safari because I don't have the right password for Blogger on Chrome. Always something to thwart my efforts!

Jayce: I am also glad to hear the Thai kids got out of the caves. I wonder what the heck they were doing down there so far into that cave in the first place? You can't play soccer in a hole. If I were one of those kid's parents, I'd have a few words to say to that coach.

WikWak said...

Just got back from watching Ant Man and the Wasp; shades of today’s puzzle—there was a chase scene on / along Lombard Street.

CandianEh!, the second I saw ACELA in the puzzle, I thought "didn’t we just have that?!

I seldom use Safari on my iPad; I use Brave. No problems and it has a pretty decent ad blocker built in.

My hair didn’t really turn gray. Mostly it just fell through.

If I live to be 73, I will never understand people being willing (anxious, really) to pay top dollar for jeans that are torn*. Seriously? How did this happen?

I wanted "keep on it" before RAJ changed my mind.

This felt easier than yesterday’s puzzle. Scooted right through it, hardly ever using the down words. There was a lot of "Really? Was that in the puzzle?" When I came here and read TTP's excellent effort. And it was a Bruce Haight, too… I don’t always have this easy a time with his puzzles. FIR in 8 minutes.

Have a great day, all.

———
*Oh. Right. I am 73. When did that happen?

Lucina said...

According to an Internet article, the Boars Club went to explore the cave before it rained and were trapped once the downpour filled it. Happily all are now out of the cave; people from across the world went to the rescue of those children and their coach. Even the President tweeted good wishes for them. So why do we have children in cages here? I'm sorry if that is too political but it's just too ironic.

Jayce:
Yes, that is exactly what happened and the frustrating thing of it is that the same spot has leaked before.

OMK:
I loved your tale! All that to explain your anagram! Priceless.


CrossEyedDave said...

AnonymousPVX@1:35

Ipads are mysterious beasts,
they come with no instructions (just like Women...)
However, Google can sometimes help...
It is often that the Ipad is muted by accidentally pressing the side switches.
(this doesn't work with women...)
Go to your settings, then sounds. There is often a switch option for change sound level with buttons, and you can turn this off (after you raise the volume slider.)

Which brings me to: The Koala & the Prostitute...

Bill G said...

The language is always changing...

It continues to amaze me re. how many "likes" some people can cram into their casual intercourse. I sometimes notice more than one per sentence; maybe an average of 10 or more per minute.

The word "affected" is fading. Now, everything is "impacted."

I was listening to TV and noticed a word appearing more and more in dialogs. One person will make an observation. When responding, the other person agrees by saying "absolutely" instead of "yes" or "I think so too," or ...?

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-18 holes today in weather that was unbearable for me and great for the corn
-I had my DREAM JOB for 42 years full time and now 8 years and counting part time
-I had no idea the DISTRESSED JEANS of my ute were fashionable
-I don’t know what would be worse in today’s schools – having a copier or the network not functioning
-A San Diego cousin to whom I have not talked in 10 years IM’ED me a DIRTY JOKE out of the blue yesterday. Huh?
-A minister I enjoy once preached great sermon about the son who stayed home, not the PRODIGAL one
-I can’t see my ball when it goes past 170 yds. New lenses?
-Our school’s very helpful model for good instruction
-I played Classical Gas under many videos I made.
-Mony, Mony had somehow obtained obscene lyrics the kids chanted during the chorus. Our principal told the DJ at our dances, “If you play that song, you won’t get paid!” Ah, the 80’s.
-I have to go back and play more of those great songs, TTP!

desper-otto said...

Bill G, you sayin' you don't like casual intercourse?

TTP said...


Thanks D-O. Yeah, I got carried away. First time linkin' was ever added as a precursor to fool for me.

Hondo, she doesn't like driving the Highlander ? An AWD RAV4 might be a nice choice.

Jinx, I was going to link Duane Eddy's early Peter Gunn, but came across that one with the cool video. I also read that Tronc sold the LA Times, and is changing it's name back to Tribune Media Services. The puzzle and the Daily Jumble are syndicated by Tronc (soon to be TMS again), so hopefully the LA Times will continue with the status quo.

PK, sorry that there wasn't an easy fix. Not knowledgeable about Safari by any means, but if I ever go to Africa or the dessert :>), I'll learn about Safari then. I read Canadian Eh's comments about her IPAD Safari, so it sounds like you are not alone.

Spitzboov, how neat was that ? Your sister must have been a bit nervous.

Irish Miss, after Friday and Saturday, it was good to be able to just play on the computer. Perhaps I got carried away with the music video links, but sometimes you just get on a roll. :>) After a couple of days off, I was out there again this morning at 7AM and came in just after 1PM and cleaned the brushes and called it a day. Might be the last time I stain the house. The tough parts are finally done.

Thank you Lucina. My dream job is enjoying retirement and doing the things I like to do, and so far it's been fun blogging the puzzle. I get to be DJ ! Good thing C.C. asked me to blog Tuesdays. Don't usually have to worry about missing the theme, but I do have to watch for self-inflicted errors, ie, desert v dessert. :>)

Picard, neat that you know Jackson Browne. First heard him while stationed in Germany on an album that another GI bought. He's a great songwriter and musician.

CrossEyedDave, don't get too carried away on the Dirty Jokes :>)

Dash T, never heard of that group before, but I get a kick out of asking really young people (teens and early twenty types) if they've heard of "Mice and Men" before. Many know the band, but never heard of the book. BTW, I hope you got something special for your birthday. Perhaps an Alfa Romeo Giulia ? Hey, Hondo's wife might be getting a Rolls.

Oh Misty, except for the MACAO picture, those are video links. You should see a triangle in the middle of the image, and if you select it, you should see the videos play.

Jayce, thank you. I too am glad that all were rescued safely.

Anon PVX, I hope you get it working. That's a very well-crafted video for the Bill Withers hit song, but ultimately, it's his voice and delivery that makes the song. I'll never forget that I was taking summer driver's ed with three girls from school when that song came out, and they went gaga every time the song came on the radio.

Is driver's ed still taught in schools ? Or is that a school-by-school decision ?

WikWak, that's funny ! It is like the anti-GQ look. I could sell my worn and torn jeans with the paint stains on them. I don't understand it either.

PK, now I see you got it working on Chrome. Good. You and my wife could shake hands, because she kept asking what they were doing in the caves in the first place. Lucina, thank you for explaining that.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Lucina, I hope you realize that the picture of the kids in the cages were actually taken when Obama was president.

TTP said...

OOPS ! Forgot the Of in "Of Mice and Men."

OOPS ! Think I went over 20 lines.

CrossEyedDave, now about those jokes...

Bill G, "Absolutely" grates on my ears, but I rack it up to the responder being nervous.

Husker Gary, I got the new glasses,and they really help with reading, but can't golf with them. Is there an ophthalmologist in the house ? :>) Have no problem seeing the golf shots that go well past 170 yards, but they're usually not mine :>)

Old wanna be duffer said...

I saw a great birthday card a few years ago that had two aging guys on the tee. The first one says: "Dang! I can't see that far anymore. Did you see where it went?" The second guy says: "My eyes are great. Saw right where it landed." First guy: "Great! Where is it?" Second guy: "I forgot."

PK said...

Speaking of the Thai boys, I just talked to my eldest brother whose daughter lived in Thailand this past year. She and her family have been in the U.S. on vacation now for about a month before returning to Thailand. Bro said, she helps coach a soccer team at the American school since her 11 & 12 yr-old boys play soccer. One of the teams they play is Wild Boars, the very team that was trapped in that cave and they knew some of the boys. Small world, isn't it? My niece's family lives a short distance from the national park in which the cave is located. My brother said he had hiked with them in that national park and saw the cave entrance but didn't go in. My niece seemed to think it was a popular cave for people to visit and wasn't unusual for kids to be taken there. Rain & flooding weren't expected.

Jayce said...

I gotta ask everyone who is all outraged 'n' stuff about children being in cages: what would you do? What alternative do you suggest? Easy to complain; please give your complaints, your real or faux outrage, some meaning by explaining how you would suggest it be handled. Thanks.

Jayce said...

Bill G, your words "cram into their casual intercourse" made me shoot coffee out my nostrils.

Lucina said...

Jayce:
Well, first I would NOT have separated the children from their parents. I do realize some of that was done during the Obama years and outrage was expressed at the time. The difference here, I believe, is that the people coming from Central America are fleeing violence and gang activity and asking for asylum. We have always been welcoming to such victims.

When teaching ESL many of my students were from Somalia. They had been admitted while seeking asylum. In former years it was the Vietnamese and then the El Salvadorans. This is a huge country with a big heart. We can certainly help them if only at least temporarily instead of dismissing them outright as trespassers.

Michael said...

What's this about "casual intercUrse"? Isn't that another name for golf?

We'll find out what the LA Times will do about the crossword -- there's a new owner and management crew.....

But what the Times needs to do RIGHT NOW is get rid of the furshlugginer advertising, everywhere and endlessly intrusive. The online crossword locks up on me more than half the time (and I'm a paying subscriber!), because the cutesy HTML ads trip over each other, and lock the whole page up. Restart, and it happens again ... and again.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Lucina, all they have to do to avoid arrest is go to a port of entry and claim asylum. They are only arrested because they are entering at other places. It is against the law for the feds to take the kids to jail, and releasing the asylum seekers with a promise that they will show up for a court date simply doesn't work.

Also note that escaping street crime or poverty aren't valid requests for asylum. It is granted only for persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or belonging to a particular social group. A very high percentage of these requests are denied, but the entrants have been trained on the "magic words" to say to border patrol agents.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Jayce and Lucina ~
Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed my posting.

Ever since I started on this diagonal kick, I've been hoping to find a constructor who might embed a message along one of the several possible diagonals in our (typically) 15x15 grid.
So far, even with our very inventive creators (among whom I number Mr. Haight) I have not found any straightforward messages - or any anagrams that I would take as intentional.

So ... I just decided to see if I could find some (probably) unintended anagrams.
Turns out to be fun - and not too difficult.

Thanks again!

~ OMK

Anonymous said...

They are arresting asylum seekers who enter at the required port of entry, which is against the law. And a few weeks ago they did take their children. Formerly most asylum seekers did return at the alotted need time.
This diagonal kick is getting as tiresome as the J. It is too constant.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

I quick-posted earlier 'cuz I knew TTP wouldn't be up now :-)

Thanks Bruce for spinning a puzzle with a great VIBE (as expo'd). It was good and you can dance to it; a 92.

Think Rich had this gem in his back pocket just waiting for the JUMBLE JAWING to reach full-peak so he could mess with our heads? (I mean, right? C, Eh!)

TTP - what a great sound-track on monitor three for my work-day. Oddly, songs I didn't think I knew I knew [see: Friends of Distinction and I swear Williams' Classical Gas is a theme to some TV show or something]. I'll put you on the air in Johnny's (WKRP) slot.

WO: JAWING on and trying to get VALENc[e](?) spelled correctly.
Nutty WAGs that worked out: MA-AO@2d and A-E-A @17a xing NE-L
Fav: The wordplay that IM may have overlooked - GAG/ GAS [UP]; ICKY-EPEE; and all the music that TTP referenced saving: FM RADIO crossing FREE --- think Spirit of RADIO [RUSH!*] --- for me :-)

{B+, A-, B} {AWOL}

Lucina - let us know what they find in the roof - we had vent pipes that lost their tar over time in the heat. Good luck and I hope it's cheep.

Jayce - I've been following the 13 soccer members story in the paper since I heard they were lost. The only tragedy of it all is a true hero providing aid; what a way to be remembered.
PK - As I understand it; they always played in the cave as they did after practice. The rains came and they went to higher ground when they couldn't get out. My favourite quote of the whole ordeal was the Brit who found them: "How many are here?" "Thirteen"
"Brilliant," and then went back to report the news.

PK - LOL iMING
Billo - not so bad yourself :-)
You too either OMK!

CED - like Women they have no instructions /unlike: a mute button? I'm confused. :-)

C, Eh! Am I to read tomorrow is your Birthday? If so, Happy Un-Birthday today!

Cheers, -T
*I love this version... Opens w/ Stone's Paint it Black

Ol' Man Keith said...

CE-Dave ~
I got a kick out of your linked Koala tale! Thanks for that.

Reminds me of the Tasmanian innkeeper, in the rural village of Mersey, who served a special tea brewed from marsupial carcasses.
A tourist customer saw this on the menu and, being an adventurous sort, ordered a cup.
When the steaming beverage was brought to his table, he looked into the large mug and saw chunks and pieces of claws and noses and little furry ears.
He immediately complained to the innkeeper who replied, rather haughtily,

"Sir - the Koala-tea of Mersey is NOT strained!"

~ OMK

Anonymous T said...

Didn't refresh before JAWING say...
TTP -- Never heard of They Might Be Giants?!? tawnya and I would prattle on about them and every other weird-(Al) fun band we knew of.

Perhaps you've heard Birdhouse in Your Soul from the early'90s(?)
The song is an amazing bit of poetry: It's a first-person telling of a bluebird-nightlight in a socket of a child's room wishing for remembrance/love. He, the nightlight, is across the room from a picture of a light house:
"My primitive ancestry
who kept the beaches shipwreck FREE
[...]

I'd be fired if that were my JOB
after killing Jason off [pause]
and countless screaming Argonauts"

It's really funny if you listen close. -T

Irish Miss said...

Anon T @ 6:32 ~ I meant Bruce's quirky wordplay in his themes and reveals. 😎 (How are the Gibbles, BTW? I just placed another order!)

PK said...

What I'm wondering about the majority of South & Central Americans crossing the border is if they have enough literacy to know what the laws are and truly understand what they are supposed to do. Are they just relying on word of mouth from others including the men who take money to transport them illegally? Some of them have to be pretty desperate & uneducated to allow themselves to be packed into trucks like I read they are. I interviewed some nuns & immigrants from San Salvador that they were hiding many years ago. Those people knew no English and couldn't read or write in any language. To make it more difficult, they knew some Spanish but mostly spoke an Indian dialect. The nuns were schooling them in English, but it was slow and funding was minimal.

As for kids in cages, it may be the only way to keep them from running off and getting in worse trouble, but nothing anyone wants to see.

Jayce said...

Wow, first a downpour in Phoenix and then a haboob! When it rains it, um, sandblasts.

SwampCat said...

PK, thanks for the in person report of the cave the Thai boys were trapped in. I have read several accounts of boys in that region visiting the cave as a tourist attraction. It apparently wasn’t so unusual The monsoons just came early and trapped them. Fantastic rescue!

Misty said...

PK 4:00pm, interesting story about Thailand and the boys. Thanks for posting it.

Misty said...

TTP, couldn't access the video, but no problem--still enjoyed your post.

Picard said...

TTP: Glad you like Jackson Browne and the photo of me with him. I was joking that he is my buddy. But I admire him a lot and have met him quite a few times. He lives not far from here and he performs here at least once a year. Often he is performing for fund raisers for good causes. I have other photos with him a few years earlier, but they are not as clear.

Lucina, Jinx, Jayce and PK: At the risk of stepping in political quicksand, I would like to respond to the point Lucina made about children in cages.

Yes, there was one photo that was accidentally circulated that was from the Obama era. But the Obama era situation was totally different. The children during the Obama era were unaccompanied children crossing the border. They were being held temporarily until their parents in the US could be located. When the parents were located, they were immediately reunited.

The Trump policy is exactly the opposite. Intact families were arriving at the border. Often seeking asylum. (I have a close friend who works in Honduras and I can vouch for the terror these families are fleeing.) The Trump policy took the children away from the parents. They were forcibly separated. Often by hundreds or even thousands of miles. Sometimes without adequate documentation to be able to connect them to each other.

As one of Jewish heritage, this is chillingly familiar to me and not in a good way.

Anonymous T said...

Picard, et.al. - First, a can o' worms that perhaps OKL will allow at the JJ :-) //he's trying to recruit me as a bouncer, I read last night
But, that's how I recall the policy delta between then and now; saying "it's the same thing" is disingenuous at best. Plus, with out the Mexicans, How we gonna move? [Ralphie May (RIP) - MA: intentionally plays into stereotypes -- and funny (esp. to those of us in border states)]

Moving on...
I read today's paper about yesterday's rescue from Tham Luan Nang Non cave complex [15 letters! Look out for that in a Saturday Stumper! spanner soon]. This might just be me but they [THEY - The Hearsay Experts for You] in the press kept talking about the kids as having to face a 'nightmare experience,' etc.

I don't know.
I was a kid once (still?); a kid's mindset would likely think it a fun adventure having no concept of mortality. I think many of the commentators forgot that bit and looked at it too much through an adult lens. Frankly, I was more worried about the coach making it out OK. #All-13!

Cheers, -T

Anonymous said...

Surprise! Peacock...er...I mean Picard weighs in on a political discussion pointing out that Obama was good and Trump and all other Republicans are bad. Also didnt take long for Godwin's Law to rear its ugly head.

I wonder what type of parents put their kids in this situation. I know several immigrants who did it lawfully and admirably. One or two family members enter U.S. legally, work tirelessly for a year or so saving money and then send for the rest of the family to join them when they are ready. They escaped poverty and turmoil and did it so heroically. They have my utmost respect.

Anonymous T said...

@12:02 Anon - that you know of Godwin's Law is a + on you. However, I didn't get the O'Bo >= Trump in Picard's post; simply a statement of fact re: children in detention centers and the circumstances under which they got there. Enough of this - I'M'ing a' gettin' FED UP -- back to puzzle talk.

DJ:
A guy walks into a bar and sees a tiny person (in DISTRESSED JEANS?) playing a tiny piano. The man asked the bartender where he got this amazing attraction for his bar. //you've heard this right?

The bartender replied that inside the water closet there's a genie that will grant him a single wish.

The man went to the loo and, as the bartender said, there was a genie inside.
Without hesitation the man wished for a million bucks. Poof: a million ducks instantly appeared. Confused and not at all happy, the man chapped to the barkeep,

"I think your genie is hard of hearing, I asked for a million bucks but I got a million ducks."

The bartender shook his head and replied, "You're telling me... Do you really think I asked for a 12 inch pianist?

Cheers, -T