google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday August 20, 2018 Brock Wilson

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Aug 20, 2018

Monday August 20, 2018 Brock Wilson

Theme: Go Lickety-split - Synonym themes.

17. Online site for making a will: LEGALZOOM.

23. Ironic exclamation before an unsurprising announcement: NEWS FLASH.

38. Fills (someone) in about the latest developments: BRINGS UP TO SPEED.

47. All people, with "the": HUMAN RACE.

59. Hollywood pre-award speculation: OSCAR BUZZ.

Boomer here.

Greetings from Minnesota. Many states tend to brag about their annual State Fair, and Minnesota is no exception.  The fair is huge and draws about 1.5 million visitors in the 11 day period ending on Labor Day.  Most food items are served on a stick, ice cream, pronto pups, etc.  Last year I saw a booth selling a large dill pickle on a stick for $6.00!  The University of Minnesota has a building and they offer a number of free shirts and souvenirs.  There are quite a few merchant displays with free giveaways. I am not interested in the fattest hog, or who grew a 4 pound green bean.  But there is an art building where you may find a replica of Mount Rushmore made out of corn.  C.C. and I ran into a huge parking shortage last year, topped by some bad travel advice at the Sun Country Airlines booth, so we probably will skip the fair this year.  I am sure the politicians will be there though.



Across:

1. Chowder bit: CLAM.  Interesting - this can be a direct to shut up.

5. Conversation: TALK. And this is to say whatever might be on your mind.

9. Chopped cabbage sides: SLAWS. My daily lunch salad.

14. Tree with needles: PINE.  Plenty of these in Minnesota.

15. Mine, in Metz: A MOI.

16. Bounce off the wall: CAROM.  I remember every house having a carom board when I was a kid.  It was about 3 feet square and had four net pockets on each corner.  The play included wooden rings and small cues to knock them around.

19. Wagner work: OPERA.  I think he did some Beethoven stuff.

20. Not kidding: SERIOUS.

21. Wards (off): FENDS.

22. System of connected PCs: LAN.  Stands for Local Area Network and is essential for multi location businesses.

26. __-di-dah: pretentious: LAH.  Stands for Local Area Hogwash.  (Thank you John Brennan)

28. Suffix with violin: IST.

30. "__ a Sin": Pet Shop Boys hit: IT'S.  "To tell a lie"

31. Fashion's Versace: GIANNI.


33. __-pitch: SLO. Okay, I played Slow Pitch softball for years and we always spelled it with a W.  But I will lend some crossword constructor latitude.

34. Coif for the prom: UPDO. Not in my Funk and Wagnalls.

41. Flat to change, in Chelsea: TYRE.  I know Chelsea is in England, but I did not know that they don't know how to spell tire.

42. Attempt: TRY.  If at first you don't succeed …..

43. Profited: GAINED.  I depends what was gained.  If you gained weight, do you call that a profit?

44. Some fridges: GES.

45. Coop layer: HEN.  Chickens live in coops, I thought hens lived in hen houses.

46. Online chats, briefly: IMS. Instant Messages.

52. Airer of old quiz show reruns, for short: GSN.  I won't watch "Family Feud", I hate Steve Harvey.

54. San Antonio mission: ALAMO. Hi Up Santa Anna, We're killing your soldiers below.  So the rest of Texas will know …. And remember the Alamo.

55. Placate: APPEASE.

58. Doodle on the guitar: STRUM. Hee Haw

61. Get up: ARISE.

62. Summer weather word: HEAT. Miami NBA winter word.

63. Muffin spread: OLEO.  Covered this in the past.  When I was young, you could not buy yellow margarine in Wisconsin.  Minnesota had it, but they also had it in plastic bags where you had to pop a button and squeeze to color it.

64. Stuns in an arrest: TASES.

65. Legend: MYTH.

66. Hawaiian root: TARO. C.C. makes taro cakes from time to time. 


Down:

1. NCO below sgt.: CPL.  NCO is a non commissioned officer.  Corporal is the lowest ranked NCO.

2. False statements: LIES.

3. Thin spaghetti: ANGEL HAIR.  My favorite kind of pasta.

4. Anne who teamed with Stiller: MEARA.  Or Tiger Woods golf buddy Mark O'

5. Starbucks tea brand: TAZO.

6. Total up (to): AMOUNT. Trigger to Roy Rogers.

7. Running free: LOOSE.

8. "Lil'" rapper: KIM.

9. Pooh-poohs, with "at": SCOFFS.

10. Boutonniere site: LAPEL.  I prefer a number of lapel pins.  I can't spell Boutonniere.

11. Sports stadium: ARENA.  I have a problem with this. I consider Stadiums outdoors and Arenas indoors.  You can yell at me in the comments if I am wrong.

12. Lexicographer's love: WORDS.

13. Huge hit: SMASH.  Joe Mauer had one on Friday night vs. Detroit.

18. Every cloud's silver feature?: LINING.  I have heard this but I think an optimist made it up.

24. Go limp: WILT. I don't remember Mr. Chamberlain ever limping.

25. Moe or Curly, e.g.: STOOGE. Or Shemp or Larry

26. Rainbow flag letters: LGBT.

27. Well-ventilated: AIRY.

29. Anne Brontë, to Emily: SISTER.

32. Opposite of SSW: NNE.  I always fill in these clues first

33. One of many in TV's "The Americans": SPY.

34. AP competitor: UPI.  United Press International.  Lately I have noticed that our local paper gets a lot of stories from the New York Times and the Washington Post.  I can get them from MSNBC.

35. Florida, mostly: PENINSULA. And a huge one it is!

36. Consider to be: DEEM.

37. Pre-Kentucky Derby postings: ODDS.  In 1973, Secretariat went off at 1.5 to 1.  By the time he got to the Belmont Stakes he paid .10 to 1.  But the track still made a ton of money because thousands bought a $2.00 bet ticket and kept it as a souvenir.

39. Heavenly bear: URSA.  Ursa Major is the Big Bear.  Ursa minor is the small bear.

40. Birth control activist Margaret: SANGER.

44. Pointy-hatted garden figures: GNOMES.  I wonder if these will keep rabbits and squirrels away.  Fake owls did not work for us.

45. Jazz music fan: HEPCAT.

47. Attacks: HAS AT.  This is two words.  Not a boss of a Mideastern country.

48. Michelob diet beer: ULTRA.

49. He broke Ruth's home run record: MARIS. Yes I remember.  He broke the season record of 60.  Hank Aaron broke the career record of 714.  Then a few others broke the performance enhancement drug record in the nineties and 2000s.


50. Get a guffaw from: AMUSE.

51. "... mighty __ has struck out": CASEY.  There's no joy in Mudville.

53. Wooden shoe: SABOT.  This is not the boss of a Mideastern country either.

56. Way in the woods: PATH.

57. Weizman of Israel: EZER.


59. Unit of resistance: OHM.  I think gold has the least resistance to electric current, but it costs more than copper.

60. Animal house: ZOO.  Someone told me it's all happening at the ____.

Boomer

52 comments:

  1. Greetings!

    Thanks to Brock and Boomer!

    No problems with this one! I also worked the NYT Sat. and Sun. puzzles sans errors. A miracle of sorts!

    Have a great day!

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  2. Good Monday Cornies.

    Thank you Mr. Brock Wilson for providing us this easy CW. I FIR in 15:05 min. CLAM, 1A was an answer in C.C.'s WSJ CW today. Thank you Dow Jones FLN at 12:53 AM for the info.

    Thank you Boomer for your excellent review.

    Ðave

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  3. Richard Wagner wrote WORDS for OPERA
    To be staged in theater or ARENA.
    He also wrote the score.
    The Ring took days, four.
    Whatever he did, it had to be ULTRA!

    {B-.}

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  4. Hello Puzzlers -

    Easy enough, in Monday fashion, but with enough pepper to keep it interesting. Cruciverb is taking the day off, again, so the puzzle was done at LAT; honestly, it’s just harder that way.

    Morning Boomer, my next door neighbor and classmate had a carom board - I loved it! Apparently it was a little aged (in the 60’s), and if it ever came with cue sticks those were lost. We kids just flicked the carom rings instead. It kept us amused!

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  5. Speaking of aroused, I doubt Mr. Chamberlain ever wilted if his claim of having bedded 20,000 WOMEN

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  6. Good Morning, Boomer and friends. Very easy Monday puzzle with a lot of fun clues.

    GNOMES always makes me thing of The Full Monty.

    Today's QOD is by a person who makes frequent crossword guest appearances: To me, the drawn language is a very revealing language: one can see in a few lines whether a man is really an architect. ~ Eero Saarinen (Aug. 20, 1910 ~ Sept. 1, 1961) [As in interesting aside, Eero Saarinen was born on his father, Eliel Saarinen's 37th birthday.]

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  7. Oops, sorry, I got distracted solving C.C.'s WSJ Monday which did not leave me in tears. A nice Monday from Brock. I liked seeing TYRE and TRY and LAN and LAH near each other.

    Thanks, Brock and Boomer, which sounds like a morning Sports talk radio show. Have a good week all.

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  8. Good morning!

    I'd call that G at the SANGER/GSN cross a Natick. Luckily, my WAG worked. Thanx, Brock and Boomer. (I doubt that Wagner performed any of Beethoven's music.)

    UPI: RE news stories. I got sick of the "You've already had your five free articles this month" messages. And they'd often arriving about the 2nd of the month. I finally subscribed to NYT articles so I can read unlimited articles. Doesn't include the daily paper, though. I've got a separate subscription for the daily NYT crossword. That newspaper knows how to milk the cash cow.

    LIES: Yesterday we learned that "truth is not truth" -- Rudy Ghouliani.

    ALAMO: Texan Jane Bowers wrote that song, and there's some question whether the lyrics are "Hi up", "Hey up" or "Aye-yip." In his version Johnny Cash simplified it to a simple "Hey." Jane died in 2000, so we can't ask her. Lucina, is there any Spanish exclamation that would sound like that?

    PINE: Pine trees in the south look nothing like those northern "Christmas tree" pines of my ute.

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  9. My Susan, where does your mind go. That was a fun movie.

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  10. Hi Y'all! Fun and fast and nothing trite in this puzzle, thanks, Brock. I didn't really come up with the theme but notices the fast words.

    Thanks, Boomer, for some Monday humor. What are you trying to keep the rabbits & squirrels away from? After years of growing sweet corn for the coons & squirrels, my brother now liberally sprinkles cayenne pepper on the ears and finally has corn for his own enjoyment. They also have a small-mesh chicken-wire fence around their garden to keep out the rabbits.

    Did not know TAZO or LAN. For the first two passes, couldn't think what AP meant. Did I really work for newspapers? Finally, realized it had to be UPI not UPS. Duh du jour!

    Wanted MAntle before MARIS, but it was too long.

    Lemonade: Surely that 20,000 figure for Wilt is exaggerated with only 365 days in a year. He would have to have one a day every day for 55 years and he probably didn't start until he was about 15. And he took time out to play some pretty strenuous basketball. Nobody is that good at slam dunk.

    GSN (Game Show Network) and HGTV (Home/Garden TV) are two I watch the most when I eat since they are pretty bland. News & mayhem don't help my food digest.

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  11. D-O: Rudy Ghouliani is too funny! Hope he doesn't come back to haunt you.

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  12. A LAN connects computers in one location. A WAN connects computers and/or LANs located in multiple locations.

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  13. 45D: If you still say hep, then you’re not hip!

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  14. Good morning everyone.

    Almost had a Natick at 17a, but the SPEED theme helped me get LEGAL ZOOM, so all is right with the world. Mostly Monday peasy easy. Scratched my head over mine in Metz, German?, but then quickly remembered Metz was in Lorraine, so voilà, À MO. I think Patton's forces passed through there in WWII.
    OLEO - Same experience as Boomer mentioned. Why anyone would spoil a perfectly good muffin by putting OLEO on it is beyond me. I eschew OLEO. During my time of active duty service, the law required the Navy to serve butter.
    SABOT - I've read that it is also a nickname for the pre-independence Jewish inhabitants of Israel.

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  15. Good Morning:

    Although this didn't need a reveal, I would have liked a unifier. I'm not sure Oscar Buzz is a themer as I don't equate Buzz with speed. Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Usually, Monday puzzles contain no unknowns but today's had two for me: GSN and Ezer, both of which were perp friendly. I noticed IST and ITS side by side positioning and the repeat of the recent Tyre. I had Aaron before Maris and liked the dual entries of Maris (hero) and Casey (goat). (My goat is the opposite of today's GOAT, Greatest of All Time.)

    Thanks, Brock, for a nice start to the week and thanks, Boomer, for the witty and wise write-up. You brought your A Game, as usual.

    Have a great day.

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  16. Finally finished with teaching and writing up feedback. It's work to bring revised subject matter into a class.

    First day back, a Monday, and I FIW. I can't seem to remember OLiO from OLEO. Seems to me that "Airer of old quiz show reruns..." for GSN is like "Teller with no personality" for ATM.

    My first thought for "Florida mostly" was "old timers".

    Erased ePode for OPERA and SneerS for SCOFFS. Didn't know TAZO, The Americans, SANGER or EZER. EZER reminds me of what George called his wife in Movin' On Up.

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  17. Good Morning,

    I have survived my week with the five boys. It was actually tons of fun, and I didn't need to worry. I only had them alone one night, and that was very uneventful. The most eventful part of the trip was my return to the airport. "Siri" directed me to the new Texpress. Posted limit is 70. Actual speed, somewhere between 90 and 100. I was 70 years old when I entered the ramp and between 90 and 110 at the exit. Jeeeesh. And I LIKE to drive fast, but. . . .

    Thanks, Brock for a doable Monday. I agree with Dudley about the spice, although I haven't done a CW in almost two weeks. My CW muscles need a little stretching. My favs today were the two-word entries, which gave me lots to work with on the crosses.

    Boomer, yes, you bring your A game once again. Thank you. I do remember roadside oleo stands heading into Wisconsin. I also remember customers buying margarine by the cases when I worked in the grocery store. I always knew they were headed for Wisconsin.

    Have a great day everyone. Besides missing all the brilliance here, I hope everyone is well.

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  18. Spitzboov: I think you mean Sabra. It is a word that came into usage pre-1948, but today refers to any Jew born in Israel. The plural of Sabra is Sabras, not Sabot.

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  19. Good mid-morning to all. Thank you Brock and thank you Boomer.

    Usually have a typo when flying through a confidence-builder puzzle like this one, but not today.

    Didn't know TAZO. Perp-solved it. I've been inside a Starbucks once. That was to meet a friend who likes their coffee. Also went through their drive thru once. That was when my nephew and wife from San Jose visited. He's a big fan.

    Boomer, I did a search on the Minnesota St Fair and perused the Stage Lineup and New Foods links. Maybe go just one day for the food ?

    Welcome back Madame Defarge. Glad you enjoyed the visit and had fun with the family. Those speed limits are only suggestions in Texas. In Oklahoma, the speed limits are often posted with an accompanying sign: "No Tolerance" so don't expect leeway for going 5 or 7 mph over if Kojak with a Kodak gets you.

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  20. Musings
    -Over 3” of rain yesterday and more coming
    -I sometimes look for the reveal to try to avoid it until the end but today…
    -A Looney Tunes riff on Walter Winchell, “FLASH! I’ll be back in a FALSH with a FLASH!”
    -I stopped watching the OSCARS when it way too long and too political
    -Schools go into a panic now when the network is down!
    -After three pulled muscles, my son-in-law finally quit SLO-pitch.
    -We recently had TYRE (tire) in the boot (trunk) here
    -When LEGEND becomes fact…
    -Maris broke 61 with more games and Bonds, et al had extra juice
    -Wagner had a very close connection with this guy in Neuschwanstein show in the back
    -Fun write-up Boomer. We’re off to see granddaughter’s stuff at Nebr. State Fair next week

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  21. Hahtoolah @0950. You're right. Don't know how I got confused. Shouldn't have just relied on the SAB beginning. Sorry for the mixup.

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  22. Madame Defarge @ 9:17 ~ Welcome back! Glad to hear that you not only survived the "boys" but had fun doing so. The same can't be said about Texpress, though, I'm sure. (You'll be heading off to Maine before you know it. Lucky you!)

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  23. D-O and PK the new Comedy tea, Ghouliani and haunt you - priceless and that is not politics, just good old fashioned humor!

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  24. Slaw swimming in Mayo! Ugh. Give me the diced cabbage and carrots and I'll put a vinaigrette in there
    My uncle puts the store slaw in a strainer and washes the Mayo out. I've come to detest Mayo but I'm okay with horseradish

    I Ump'ed SLO-Pitch for five years. Yes I have a few stories.

    They're all Chickens

    Btw , I WAG'ed CABOT/GCN .Total Natick for me .

    WC

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  25. Hi everybody. That was a very pleasant Monday puzzle. Thanks B and B.

    Gary, I'm sympathetic with your son-in-law. I too played Slow Pitch softball for years but finally quit after a bunch of injuries. I think it's dangerous because you stand around for long periods of inactivity and then have to quickly chase after a ground ball or a hit or ... That quick burst of activity is a recipe for pulled muscles.

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  26. Well, it's not a great start to a week when you have problems with a Monday puzzle. But, like Spitzboov, 17a was a Natick for me. I had LEGAL ROOM before I go the theme and realized the second word had to fit in with SPEED and RACE and BUZZ and FLASH. So I went with LEGAL BOOM, and was disappointed to find it was LEGAL ZOOM (which sounds weird for an online web site for making a will, in my opinion). And I've never had a Starbucks tea, so TAZO was an unknown. The name of METZ always makes me think the word will be German, but I've learned by now the answer will be in French. Anyway, some enjoyable items in the puzzle, and a fun write-up from Boomer, so all is well for the start of a week with possible ups and downs.

    However, I wish you all a great week!

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  27. Re. Rudy G. Didn't Bill Clinton say "Define 'IS'.
    I see it was GSN/SABOT.
    Btw, did Yellowrocks mention that she'd be away? Hope all is well with you.
    For some reason we get these Naticks on Mondays. I knew SANGER and tried LEGAL ZOOM once. They just guessed at answering my question. You get what you pay for. Sometimes.

    I like Boomer write-ups.

    WC

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  28. Hand up I did not appreciate the Natick with GSN. In my case, I have never heard of SABOT. GSN/SABOT seemed unfair even if it was a Saturday. Otherwise it was a pretty smooth, fun Monday SPEED run. Got the theme quickly and kept waiting for a reveal.

    I heard the LEGAL ZOOM ads on the radio years ago when they started. I always thought it was LEGAL ZOO!

    Boomer: Thanks for the Minnesota State Fair report. For many years I used to go to our California State Fair in Sacramento.

    Here I was at the California State Fair with my biologist friend Nancy. She was living in Sacramento back then.

    Yes, I agree that the art is the best thing at the State Fair. But I also do like the animals.

    I also enjoyed your comment that people in Chelsea don't know how to spell TYRE.

    Here I was changing a TYRE in Hartford, CT.

    It was defective and failed for no reason. Hertz wanted to charge me as if I had caused the damage. That would have been adding injury to injury. I pushed back and won. In the "real" Hartford in the old country they would have also spelled TYRE that funny way.

    Thanks, also, Boomer for the reminder of the Simon And Garfunkel Song "At the ZOO"

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  29. When I lived in Dallas and had a boat on Lake Texoma, I drove a two-lane highway (maybe FM 1417) that had a 70 mph speed limit. If that wasn't adequately knuckle-whitening, passing cars just assumed that cars going in both directions would pull over and straddle the (paved) shoulder to make a third lane. And if you drove 70-75 you WOULD be passed!

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  30. SABOT doesn't bite me because I'm familiar with the international youth sailing dinghy class. The sail features a wooden shoe on the sail.

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  31. This was a go through for me, one mark over for 36D, initially SEEM, but UPDO fixed that....and that was it.

    Have a good one!

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  32. Texans have always been fast drivers, probably due to the long distances between cities: Houston-to-Dallas 239 miles, Houston-to-San Antonio 197 miles, Orange to El Paso 856 miles. Texans also don't use turn signals (they know where they're going). A turn signal is a sign of weakness. It warns the other drivers to close up the space you were planning to move into.

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  33. Not the easy Monday I was looking for. Thanks for the fun, Brock and Bomer.
    Like WC and Picard, I had a Natick with GSN and SABOT (and I guessed a C or K instead of the S).
    But I did get the theme. Irish Miss, I thought that the central grid- spanning BRING UP TO SPEED was the unifier.
    And if you are BUZZing right along, you might be on that Texas Hwy. with Madame D (welcome back).

    I have never heard of LEGAL ZOOM but I knew TAZO tea, so no Natick there thankfully.
    I had Adding before AMOUNT.
    LBGT before LGBT held me up also.
    I smiled to see TYRE and GNOMES again.

    Yes Boomer, I agree with you about ARENAs and Stadiums. Maybe it is a regional North/South thing because Arenas are thought of as primarily for Hockey in the north and therefore are indoors. Just my Canadian opinion. (And my Canadian opinion agrees with d'otto about those sparse southern PINEs.)

    Enjoy the day.

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  34. Story is that workers fighting mechanization in France threw their wooden shoes into the machinery to jam it, hence the word SABOTage. Wikipedia disagrees on the etymology.

    ARENAs are usually indoors, but so was Chicago Stadium 1929-1994

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  35. I liked this puzzle, but it seemed just a tad harder than I expected on a Monday. Here's looking at you, EZER, TAZO, GSN, GIANNI, SANGER, SABOT, and HEPCAT. SABOT didn't fool me because I remembered some discussions we had in the past about SABOT being the root of SABOTAGE. The only way I got GSN (of which I had never heard and would never be able to guess) was to have somehow remembered the name SANGER and the aforementioned SABOT; without them that GSN acronym thingy would have been 100% unsolvable for me.

    Rudy Ghouliani, funny!

    Nice verse, Owen.

    Speaking of John Brennan, I think it is totally bogus to claim that revocation of security clearance violates his free speech rights under the first amendment. Hell, I had a top secret clearance when I was in the military, which expired when I finished my term of service, so I know from experience the degree of freedom I had to say what I wished was in no way changed or infringed upon.

    The above paragraph is not intended to be a political statement, but rather a statement about the law and about my personal experience with it regarding what having or previously having a clearance entails with regard to what you can and should or should not talk about.

    I would never ever hire Rudy Giuliani for anything. Nor John Brennan for that matter.

    Anyway, good wishes to you all this fine Monday.

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  36. Jayce, the issue with Brennan is not the law. It is only about politics.

    No one has ever had their security clearance revoked by the president before. This is pure politics and a pure attempt to silence critics.

    The effect of the baby-in-chief tantrum is just the opposite. Those in the security service are closing ranks to support Brennan and the principle of true national security.

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  37. I got suckered, too, - and on a Monday!
    I managed all right with EZER/GSN, but fell into the traps at TAZO and MARIS.
    I am so embarrassed.
    But some of the blame has to be shared by Mr. Wilson. I mean what good are the "rules," if we don't all slide through Monday pzls? Yes, I know I've been calling for tougher Monday challenges, but not with unknowns like LEGAL ZOOM and TAZO! (Who orders tea at a coffee shop, anyway?)
    Grumble, grumble... Helluva way to start the week...

    Rudy Ghouliani is funny precisely because of the spot-on resemblance.

    ~ OMK

    ____________
    Diagonal Report:
    Three on the mirror side.

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  38. CanadianEh @ 1:48 ~ The clue for Brings Up To Speed makes no reference to the other theme answers, so I don't consider that the reveal, just another themer. You do make a case for Buzz, though, but I'm still on the fence about it. No matter, it was an enjoyable solve. 😉

    Lucina and Bill G, I particularly enjoyed yesterday's episode of "CBS Sunday Morning."

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  39. I had no trouble with Legal Zoom because I've seen so many ads for it. Maybe pop-ups on my computer. I think I clicked on it once briefly then off when they wanted personal info & money. As for Game Show Network, they have quite a number of new shows along with the old ones which I don't watch because I didn't like them when they were new. The best thing about the game shows is there isn't any violence on them.


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  40. I don't recall ever seeing an ad for Legal Zoom. At 17A I had LEGAL _OO_ before I was reduced to guesswork.
    (Lil' WHO? ABNER wouldn't fit.)
    My TV show ads are always showing me new medicines for old folks. I guess they have their demographic down. (Where do they come up with those brand names?)
    As for pop-ups on my computers, they always seem to be for items connected to whatever I just ordered from Amazon.
    Word gets around.

    Jayce ~ I guess I wouldn't hire, or vote for Rudy or John B. either. Still, I'd trust Mr. B's judgment on all those matters he chooses to address. He seems a patriot who is setting an example for others - not to keep mum but to go on record.

    ~ OMK

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  41. Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Brock Wilson, for a fine puzzle. thank you, Boomer, for a fine review.

    Zipped through this in typical Monday fashion. A few sticky ones.

    Theme was obvious.

    Never heard of GSN.

    Starbucks also owns Teavana.

    Spent the afternoon at Elgin Community College volunteering at the book store. Lots of fast work.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

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  42. Lemonade - thanks so much for posting the link to some great info about one of my favorite composers, Richard Wagner. From the site you linked I downloaded his whole autobiography and am looking forward eagerly to reading it. Interestingly, on that page there was also a link to a YouTube video of (I think) his only symphony, composed at age 19. The comments, as always, were mostly idiotic, but there were actually some which were quite insightful and knowledgeable about musical history and analysis.

    I guess I have a dim memory of SABOT as a name for a wooden shoe, but the only meaning I could think of was the plastic cup that holds the charge together in a shotgun shell.

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  43. OMK @ 4:03: My opinion is that they must be getting these names for new drugs from old Mayan manuscripts that the Spanish didn't burn.

    For instance "Gavilominumab" must be the name of the Mayan god for ping pong balls. And then they run these names through the scrambler to make the 'simplified' copyrighted trade name. (In fact, even the medical pros get confused by all this footwork, when the common name for a drug is, say, 'Aleve,' or 'Naprosyn,' but the generic name is 'Naproxen,' ... "but everyone knew her as Nancy."

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  44. How 'bout this: A new law that clearance expires in one year for everyone leaving the government, unless (s)he can demonstrate the need for an extension due to employment requirements. Having a job at Lockheed Martin or some other contractor would be a valid need if the actual job title requires clearance. Being a talking head on a TV network or going on the speaker circuit would not. In case of crisis the president can "read in" anyone needed for consultation, whether the person has ever had clearance or not.

    This should have been done when Sandy Burglar stuffed those documents down his pants. 20 years later and we haven't learned a damned thing. The only people that don't know all our secrets are the US citizenry.

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  45. Interesting how the Republicans used to be all rah-rah for the CIA.

    Now that the CIA is criticizing their guy the CIA is suddenly the enemy.

    Really puts the CON in CONservative.

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  46. My comments only discussed whether having or not having a clearance infringes somehow one’s free speech rights. I did not address by whom or when a clearance be granted or revoked.

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  47. Hi All!

    Thanks Brock for a nice Monday puzzle. I have to agree with my fellow Cornerites on those Naticks on a Monday. However, I did know Legal Zoom (they "underwrite" APM's MarketPlace [read: advertise]) and of the Game Show Network.

    Fun Expo as alway Boomer. I eschew the Fair but Pop loves it; not sure if it's garden-entries or the beer-tent that draws him but the latter keeps him there :-)

    Thanks C.C. for the #bonus! WSJ (and to DowJ for calling it out)

    WO: put TARO in MYTH's squares
    ESPs: GIANNI, AMOI, EZER
    Fav: I'll go w/ ANGEL HAIR w/ a little bit of olive oil and garlic :-)
    Learning - Boutonnière is a word.

    {B+}

    I got MARIS quickly due to WC's late-night Baseball talks.

    Dan@7:34 is right; LAN is Local, WAN is wide (or long-haul), and MAN is Metropolitan.

    D-O: Funny! Been watching Seth Meyers? I think he's the one that compares "The Nation's Mayor" to a coffin-sleeper ;-)
    I think you're right on distance being a factor for TX SPEED; It would take me 90 min to get to your house on the other side of Houston @ the "suggested"mph (w/ traffic - 3 hours :-)). At 80mph, I can be up there in an hour(ish). DW's ALFA (C.C.'s WSJ) can do 90 w/o the passenger noticing I'm moving that fast (we had to go to Spring on Sat.). ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOM...

    MdF - Glad to hear you had fun and survived the TX freeways again. Um, why would you know OLEO buyers were headed for WI?

    Jinx - IIRC, my clearance was good for 5 or 10 years after I left the DOD. I'm not sure if it really gave me ++points but it did seem to help when added to my resume for consulting gigs at NASA & USDA. The designation also helped expedite my Global Entry application ("they" already knew me). So, I will respectfully disagree w/ yanking it after 1 year. And it's really hard to get back for Civilian-use; I kinda need one for working w/ FBI & DHS on certain issues (I can give them info, but they never can give me info back!)

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  48. Jayce, I had a friend who was in the Navy way back in the Korea war days. He said that his clearance he had back then still precluded him from talking about certain things.

    He implied that the information was innocuous but still secret . Now having said that, Secret Services tend to be maniacal about their"secrets" .

    Brings me back to Tolkien/Mr Underhill/Intrepid/Strider* which may have gotten JRR in dutch with said SS.

    WC

    * In that ANAGram world you could be one letter off eg P .The S was supplied by Stevenson, the given name of the spy, Intrepid .

    Similarly, we have Hari Selden and
    # # N. Radshilde
    Where Rothschild's German spelling is varied .

    ReplyDelete
  49. WC - WRT your buddy in the Navy: there were things I learnt at the DOD that, even though public now, I will still not discuss. Even DW doesn't know (and she's good at "pillow-talk" :-)).

    I'm sure others (see: Spitz) have similar secrets that will die w/ them.

    Cheers, -NameRank&SerialNumber

    ReplyDelete
  50. Mr. Wilbur @ 8:54 -- "He said that his clearance he had back then still precluded him from talking about certain things. "

    If you check 18 U.S. Code §§ 793, 794, and 798, there's no time limit.

    ReplyDelete
  51. On the Aug 20th CW 18 down was "Lining" for 'every cloud has'.
    which is a song that was written by Jerome Kern and his daughter had a horse stable she called "The Silver Lining Stable".
    She named most of her horses after songs her Dad wrote. I believe it is still there, near San Diego. Don't have so many horse shows anymore.

    ReplyDelete

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