google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday August 23rd 2018 Roger & Kathy Wienberg

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Aug 23, 2018

Thursday August 23rd 2018 Roger & Kathy Wienberg

Theme: Anagram Fun. 'Nuf said?

18A. Takes on a new responsibility, as of leadership: ASSUMES THE MANTLE. Who assumed Mickey's mantle? The Mick followed Joe DiMaggio, not exactly an easy mantle to assume. The Commerce Comet was followed in turn by Bobby Murcer.


28A. "Guys and Dolls" showstopper: ADELAIDE'S LAMENT. Showstopper? I think I must have a different idea of a showstopper than this solo dirge. I'd use it as an opportunity to go take a bathroom break and maybe grab something from the bar. I'd link it, but it's too depressing.

48A. Shelf for trophies, maybe: FIREPLACE MANTEL

63A. Complex reasoning that occurs literally at the end of three long answers: MENTAL GYMNASTICS

So MENTAL becomes three anagrams - two homophone and a dirge - I mean a lament. Nothing too challenging. The reveal is 16 letters long, so again we have a break from the "regulation" 15x15 - 15x16 last week, 16x15 this time around.

The spousal double of Roger and Kathy are back - I don't see a Kathy & Roger in the books yet - is this like Lennon & McCartney or Jagger/Richards?

Across:

1. Massage therapists' workplaces: SPAS

5. "Fiddlesticks!": P'SHAW!

10. Used room service: ATE IN

15. Largest city on Hawaii's largest island: HILO

16. Terminix target: ROACH. I'd link a nice picture, but I follow Rich's "yew!" rule for breakfast crossword solvers.

17. Piquant: ZESTY

21. Indigenous New Zealanders: MAORIS

22. Kind of artery: RENAL. Not AORTA then.

23. Key in a PC reboot combo: ALT. Where would we be without CTRL-ALT-DEL? My keyboard currently says DELETE though.

24. Evenly matched: CLOSE

26. Mosquito repellent: DEET. Terminix and Deet in quick succession. Not a good day to be a bug.

34. Sporty '60s Pontiac: GTO. Quick, we had this last week - what does it stand for?

35. __ out a win: EKE

36. Biopic about Charles: RAY. Very well portrayed by Jamie Foxx. Here's one of the originals.

37. "So that's it": I SEE

38. Threw a fit: RAGED
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

40. Capital of Oman: RIAL. "Capital" means "currency" in this context, for any newcomers.

42. Muscle: BRAWN

43. Superficially highbrow: ARTY

44. To and __: FRO

45. "So that's it!": AHA!

47. Orchestrated: LED. Why use 10 letters when one will do?

52. Cruising, say: ASEA

53. Stealthy warrior: NINJA

54. Movie SFX: CGI. All together now: "Special Effects: Computer-Generated Imagery".

56. Prince Harry's mother: DIANA

59. Word on the street: GOSSIP

66. "Inside the NBA" analyst: O'NEAL . Law-enforcement legend Shaquille, who holds the record for Clayton County's "Tallest Sheriff's Deputy"

67. In the back: AREAR. Please stop this. It's not a word "in the language". I know it's handy, but it's not a word.

68. Love god: EROS

69. Dweebs: NERDS

70. "Same Time, Next Year" has only two: ROLES. Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn played the roles in the movie.

71. Not a good impression: DENT. But it's a good impression if you make a dent in a task that's been sitting around waiting for your attention, right?

Down:

1. Pretense: SHAM

2. Tuscany town: PISA. They should fix that tower; it's a menace, that thing. Shoddy construction, it should be demolished before it hurts someone. They should sue the contractors and built a straight one. Pisans, Untie! I mean Unite!

3. Furthermore: ALSO

4. Lake Itasca, for the Mississippi: SOURCE

5. Laundry cycle: PRE-SOAK. This is weird - isn't pre-soak when the laundry is in the basket? I'm at a loss to what a washing machine will do that leaving the clothes on the floor, pre-soak, doesn't accomplish. Do they sit in the machine waiting for the "soak" phase? We should be told. I'm baffled.

6. Three-letter product with two periods: S.O.S You can buy two cans of this stuff online - used, apparently. You can't make this stuff up.


7. Animosity: HATRED

8. Feel yesterday's yoga class, maybe: ACHE

9. "Stop pouring": WHEN. Personally a word that has passed my lips very few times in the "pour" context.

10. Spring bloomer: AZALEA

11. Yellow bill in classic Monopoly: TEN

12. Event that may feature family heirlooms: ESTATE SALE. Funny how some words or phrases are new to the puzzle databases. This is one of them. It's been used in the plural, never in the singular.

13. "__ turn up": IT'LL

14. Dmitry's denial: NYET

19. Roamed (around): MILLED

20. At a frenetic pace: MADLY

25. Saw-toothed range: SIERRA. Is there a brand-name range of carpentry tools called "Sierra?" There should be. If not, I'm calling dibs on the idea.

27. Kuwaiti ruler: EMIR

28. Big name in games: ATARI

29. Animal behavior specialist: DOG TRAINER. Dog whisperer didn't fit.

30. New __: MLB baseball cap supplier: ERA. You'll see the logo in every dugout.


31. Deli choice: SALAMI

32. Staircase pillar: NEWEL. I recall that I got in all kinds of "Anon" trouble the last time I talked about the components of a staircase, so I'll pass on this occasion. I didn't know the staircase community was so touchy.

33. Work the bar: TEND

34. Five-time US Open champ: GRAF. Steffi, tennis.

39. Checks out: EYES

41. Org. with a five-ring logo: I.O.C. International Olympic Committee. They're a non-profit. They fairly and equitably distribute the billions of dollars accruing from each Olympiad. Yes they do. c.f. F.I.F.A., the org. tasked with fairly and equitably distributing the billions of dollars accruing from each World Cup. I don't know how they manage it.

42. Stringed instruments: BANJOS

44. Swing wildly: FLAIL

46. Airport parking facilities: HANGARS

49. Piano trio: PEDALS. The upright I learned on has two. PIANO and FORTE. I've no idea what the middle one on a grand piano does.

50. Protective coating: ENAMEL

51. Sampled: TASTED

54. "Get real!": C'MON

55. __ pool: GENE

57. Thickening agent: AGAR

58. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame songwriter Laura: NYRO. She passed me by. I was amused to read that her first manager was a gentleman by the name of Artie Mogull. It just tickled me.

60. Stable stud: SIRE

61. Clickable image: ICON

62. "Hey, you!": PSST!

64. Abe Lincoln's youngest son: TAD. Now there's a bit of trivia I never knew.

65. Dundee denial: NAE. "If there's nae wind and nae rain, it's nae golf". The Scots have their own opinion about sunny, calm days on the links. For me, it's the only time I have a cat in hell's chance of a half-decent round. I once played at Easter on a course in Wales on the Irish Sea, it was so cold and I was so numb I swung my driver out of my hands and sent it helicoptering over a cliff.

And with that, here's the slightly portly grid!

Steve



Note from C.C.:


Happy birthday to Tinbeni, our always cheerful friend. Let's all toast him at sundown today!

60 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIR. Had taSTY > ZESTY, then TASTED showed up later! Also had spin dry > PRE SOAK. I sorta got the theme by noticing the first two ended with AELMNT, which speeded up the third, but didn't guess the root word until I got to the reveal.

There's a society for ladies "of a certain age",
To GOSSIP over lunch, and in friendship engage.
The Red Hat Club
Is a social hub,
In HATRED will no lady with her hat red RAGE!

PSST, C'M ON, have you ever said PSHAW?
As CLOSE as I've come might be G.B. Shaw!
Maybe at a party
Where people are ARTY,
It might be used by SIRES to hem and haw?

A teen-age drag racer in HILO
Was proud as (Hawaiian) punch of his G.T.O.!
When he couldn't race
He'd MADLY pace
In his Pontiac going to and FRO!

OwenKL said...

{B, B+, B+.}

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Yay! D-o got the theme! Even with no reveal. OK, there was a reveal, but as usual, d-o failed to read the full clue. Nicely done Roger and Kathy. JzB, you outdid yourself this morning. If you don't like Adelaide's Lament, say so. Don't mince words.

ERA: Know it as a laundry detergent, but the cap manufacturer was a mystery. Thank you, perps.

ESTATE SALE: They happen frequently in our town. Says something about the age distribution of our residents, I guess. On the other hand, they just built a brand new elementary school here, the only school within the city limits.

TAD: It was short for Thomas. You'd think I'd have known that. Nope.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I had to laugh at the theme reveal because it so aptly described a Wienberg puzzle: MENTAL GYMNASTICS. Thanks, Roger & Kathy.

Thanks, Steve, for another great expo. I had to chuckle at your male perspective on PRESOAK. You are right, it should be pre-wash soak. I don't do this much anymore. Used to do it for bloody items in cold water.

Don't like the pseudo-words PSHAW & PSST and we got both today.

NBA Analysts: there are several who fit: Ernie & Smith (Kenny, the jet) before enough perps to get ONEAL, Shaq. His greater claims to fame over-shadow any part he plays as an analyst although he is good at it too.

GRAF was also ESP. I was trying to think of a person in golf which word fit with two red letters.

Only real unknown was Laura NYRO, although I did FLAIL around in places. SFX = CGI being another stumper. Malice before HATRED.

Learning moment: Lake Itasca is the SOURCE for the Mississippi. Lucky WAG.

Sawtooth Range is mountains in Idaho. Saw them the other day when I was looking for that other range which I have now forgotten. Mountains are SIERRA in Spanish? Maybe in California? But Idaho?

Protective coating = ENAMEL. My former state representative friend used to claim dust is a protective coating for floors and furniture. She had more important things to do.

Happy Birthday, Tinbeni! May your toasts not inhibit your cw skill.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Steve and friends. I liked today's puzzle. The perps gave me most of ADELAIDE"S LAMENT, however, as I didn't remember much about the movie.

My favorite clue was Not a Good Impression = DENT.

I have lots of AZALEAs in my front yard. They bloom here in late February or early March.

Shaquille O'NEAL played Basketball for LSU years ago.

Here's more than you ever wanted to know about the poor lad TAD.

Happy Birthday, Tinbini!

QOD: The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage. ~ Mark Russell (b. Aug. 23, 1932)

desper-otto said...

Hey! What happened to Wednesday? Apologies to both Steve and JzB.

JPC said...

Fairly easy for a Thursday. Kept waiting for Mickey Mantle to appear in this one, especially when I saw the fireplace shelf for trophies—-Mickey’s Mantle???

Unknown said...

Per my pianist wife, the middle pedal on a grand is pressed with the right (sustain) and only systains the notes you just hit when the right pedal is raised. Those first notes will sustain until the pedal is released. She just proved it on the Steinway.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased pests for ROACH and some mess in the HATRED x RENAL area.

In high school, we called GTOs "goats". Not sports cars, muscle cars.

I think I am a DOG TRAINEe.

When I read Steve's comment on AREAR, I thought of (Crocodile ) Dundee: "That's not aknife, THIS is aknife"! Then when Steve recounted being hounded regarding stairs I realized I know nothing about them, but I do know the parts of a stove: lifter legs and poker.

I was a big Fifth Dimension fan back in the 60s. Laura Nyro wrote several of their tunes, including Stone Soul Picnic. She and her mother died from ovarian cancer at 49.

HBD to Tin. I'll tip back a virgin margarita in your honor. Sorry, it will have to be a frozen one.

Thanks to Roger and Kathy for the fun outing. I especially liked "orchestrated" for LED. Nice clue for stale fill. And thanks to Steve for the tour, and for the SO with "untie".

billocohoes said...

My mother's name was Adelaide, so it didn't take many letters for the answer to pop for me, and I'll put in the link (intro by Jerry Orbach)

Vivian Blaine sings Adelaide's Lament

Never heard anyone say PSHAW except mockingly, but PSST is a good example of onomatopoeia.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I think Roger and Kathy's puzzles are fun to solve and have just the right amount of crunch. Today's crunch, for me, was stubbornly not believing Manic (Madly) was incorrect. Of course, putting in NEET (hair depilatory) instead of DEET (insect repellent) didn't help. I also went astray (not arear!) by wanting some sort of Doctor to be the Animal behavior specialist. Raged enabled me to then get Dog trainer. I'm not familiar with the music from "Guys and Dolls", so "Adelaide's Lament" slowed me down. I didn't know the ball caps name, either, but perps cleared up that little snag. We've had Nyro before, but I still needed perps. I liked the clever reveal a lot and my favorite C/A was Word on the street=Gossip.

Thanks, Roger and Kathy, for another enjoyable challenge and thanks, Steve, for your gracious guidance. You were in fine fettle, as usual.

Happy Birthday, Tin, may it be a special day. 🎂🍾🎈🎉🎁

YR, welcome back! So glad you enjoyed your much-deserved vacation and family time. Fingers crossed for Alan's continued well-being.

I'm looking forward to the start of the new fall TV schedule next week. Several favorite shows will be returning and several new ones are on my watch-list to evaluate. Interestingly, the Chicago trio will air consecutively on Wednesdays with Med at 8:00, Fire at 9:00, and PD at 10:00.

I noticed the price of gas yesterday was $2.79/gallon; is this in line with other areas, I wonder.

Have a great day.

TTP said...

Good morning. Thanks Roger and Kathy, and thanks Steve.

Loved the reveal for the anagrams !

Steve, I'll see your used S.O.S. scouring powder and raised you used toilet seats.

The home improvement stores carry mostly the white seats and limited colors. Went to Amazon and e-bay looking to find a blue-gray seat. Yep, used toilet seats for sale. Ewww!

I passed. The white one is doing just fine, thank you very much. Which reminds me, I still need to special order the blue-gray one.

Happy Birthday Tinbeni !!!

jfromvt said...

Took me longer than it should have to complete, but a nice puzzle. Not enamored by fill-ins like PSHAW, CMON and PSST, back to the days of old school crosswords.

inanehiker said...

Enjoyed the clever theme- I could see the letters at the end moving around- but wasn't sure of what the reveal would be until it came up!

I'm with Steve. I was in "Guys & Dolls" in college- and the showstoppers I thought of were "Luck be a Lady" and "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat". ADELAIDE'S LAMENT is a fun song but not in that category for me.

A friend of mine was trying to hold an ESTATE SALE at her MIL's house after she moved into assisted living/memory care but the housing assn. of the development she was in doesn't allow it! Sounds like an overreach on the assn. part- not sure what they'll do - have to haul everything somewhere else to sell it?!

Happy birthday T-B!
Thanks Steve and Roger & Kathy!

desper-otto said...

Onomatopoeia: "the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain" -- Edgar Allan Poe

Happy Birthday, Tinman. Enjoy your sunset, and may you have many more.

Inanehiker, perhaps your friend should move the stuff to the front lawn of the housing association. There's no HOA in our town, and we want to keep it that way.

PK said...

Inanehiker: Having had an auction on the premises of the house I was moving into, I don't think housing assn. is out of line. The amount of damage auction goers did was disheartening. If it is a gated community or even has security, it isn't safe to have an advertised auction with people coming and going because of thieves who pilfer anything that isn't nailed down. A woman with a child asked to use the bathroom and I went in with her. They managed to plug and overflow the toilet. Some things stored in the adjoining bedroom went missing, even with me watching them leave. Many auction services own big halls available for estate sales. I took advantage of their hall for our next two estate sales. They had employees and trucks to haul the stuff for us.

I stumbled over AREAR too. Decided maybe they meant A REAR which would be in back of your body. Unhook the A and it has a somewhat different meaning.

Haiku Harry said...

Basketball player O'NEAL
Commits a crime. Would he then
Be put in Shaq-les?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Easy theme today. Solve easy for a Thursday. No searches or erasures needed. Good expo, Steve.
New ERA - US plant is in Derby, NY, one town over from where we used to live in Eden, NY, near Buffalo. Also has made many ball caps worn in the Navy,
AZALEA - The AZALEA Gardens in Norfolk used to be spectacular. Hope they still are.

billocohoes said...

OK, so then say Adelaide's Lament stops the show (its action) dead in its tracks, rather than with sustained applause. Not the first time a crossword clue used a double meaning.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Roger & Kathy Wienberg, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.

Puzzle took me a while, at least an hour and a quarter.

Caught the theme early. Very good one.

I have used DEET, but very sparingly. Used it on the Appalachian Trail when I was hiking it back in 03 and 04. I have heard that it can harm you.

NYRO was unknown to me. Perps. CGI? Perps. I guess I never noticed that S.O.S had two periods. I will have to look under the sink and check that out.

Crossed 68 kids this morning. Three cars went through the crossing while I was out there. People are unbelievable. In too much of a hurry.

Happy Birthday, Tinbeni, and many more. Here's to you!

Off to Elgin Community College Bookstore today. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I couldn’t get rid of Mickey MANTLE but loved the freshness of the puzzle and Steve’s expose’
-Show stopper? Eh, no. Now Luck Be A Lady
-Volcano on the big island, what else could happen? A hurricane you say.
-Our Kauai friend Chef Wendy told me Costco is out of about everything including bottled water
-For me it’s under the Apple Menu
-Carpenters are redoing our deck and we let them use their BRAWN to remove grill, chairs, etc.
-I’ve never allowed any “ARTY” person make me feel inadequate
-Straightening that tower would cost PISA big tourist bucks!
-MIL’s former neighbor’s house had a truckload of stuff/junk in the drive that didn’t sell at the ESTATE SALE yesterday
-We TRAINED our CAT to come when she hears a bell. Of course, she then gets a treat
-Every year fewer and fewer people understand this T-Shirt
-Happy Birthday Tinman!

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Welcome back, Yellowrocks. Sounds like you had a grand trip.

Thanks, Roger and Kathy. ASSUMES THE MANTLE came first, and I, too, thought I'd find Mickey somewhere. At FIREPLACE MANTEL, I realized I was working anagrams, and the rest fell into place. I really enjoyed today's MENTAL GYMNASTICS!

Thanks, Steve for the explication. I'm with you on "Adelaine's Lament." First of all, I always thought the showstopper came later--to wake everyone up to leave the theatre. The 11:00 number? I'd opt for "Luck Be A Lady" or even "Sit down you're Rocking the Boat."

Happy Birthday, Tinbeni!" Have another neat day!!

I wish you all plenty of sunshine today.

Yellowrocks said...

I enjoyed today's puzzle. I saw the anagrams with the second one. Steve, fine expo.
Happy birthday, Tin.
I know and love most of the Guys and Dolls songs, but I don't even recall Adelaide's Lament.
Misty, TTP, Wilbur, Pk, Irish Mist and Anon T, thanks for the welcome home. Anon T, I folded the last of the laundry after the square dance. PHEW!
We are a very nurturing club for beginners. I love to help them in a tip (set) or two. Other dancers help in turn. Last time we had beginners in our square every single tip and broke down multiple times in every set. Frustrating. Last night in every square we had all experienced dancers. So much fun! I think we deserved a free wheeling night.
Jinx, I learned the parts of a stove in elementary school.LOL
Alan says, "C'mon" all the time.
Pshaw is a very dated sound, found mostly in period novels these days. Phew, Tsk, Psst and Ahem (a throat clearing sound) are frequently heard.
IMO, Arear, meaning in the back, is extremely uncommon, even in writing.
Time to get cracking. So much to catch up on.

Irish Miss said...

Madame Defarge @ 9:49 ~ I smiled when I read "Sounds like you had a grand trip" because it evoked memories of my mother and her liberal use of the word "grand." (You have used the word on previous occasions and I have had the same nostalgic reaction.) In my mother's world, everything was described as grand, from an ice cream cone on a blisteringly hot day, to a Sunday afternoon ride through the countryside, to a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, everything was grand. 😉

D4E4H said...

Happy Humpster dumpster day.

Thank you Roger & Kathy Wienberg for this delightful CW that had areas that were benefited by WAGS, and PERPS.
I FIR in a whopping 46:02 min..
- - For those of use who can't spell MENTAL , the 3 themers gave us options.
- - There was MANTEL, and MANTLE. I did not know the second word so I LIU. It means a figurative cloak symbolizing preeminence or authority, accepted the mantle of leadership.

Thanks Steve for the educational review.
- - One item that I am interested in is 41 D where you used "F.I.F.A." so I LIU. Top Definition: Fédération Internationale de Football Association
- - At 49 D, the middle pedal is for pissaniamo. I thought it was a new word, but when I Googled it I found these quotes.
“pp means what?” – Mrs. B.
“Pissaniamo.” – Braydon K.

Picard FLN at 11:43 AM
- - Thanks for the PICs of birdies, lizards, rattle snakes, and rocks. They were impressive. Why was each person, speaking to the group, carrying a tennis racket?

Ðave

CrossEyedDave said...

Just been lurking of late, haven’t read today’s yet,
Just finished reading yesterday’s on this little IPad and had to ask...

Picard, yesterday. 11:43am Winchester link, pic#207
Can you provide more info about this rock formation?
Does it have a name?
Looks like petrified rock covering sandstone,
And I am curious as to how it formed.

Anon-t yesterday 9;54 yubikey link.
I have been using this IPad all week,
Clicking on links and using the back button to return to the blog,
But for some weird reason when I clicked on your yubikey link
The back button stopped working.
I wonder why?

Lemonade714 said...

Steve thank you for keeping the action going, and Wienbergs for providing the launching pad. Sorry if I seem a little spacey these days. I am so glad you worked Mickey Mantle into your write up. It seems most appropriate to have the greatest Yankee of our era appear on Tinbeni's birthday. We will toast tonight for the day, the upcoming year and many more.

Anyway, I will leave you with this classic CLASSIC .

CrossEyedDave said...

49d middle piano pedal
(Tx mr Cooper)

It’s called sustenuto pedal,
But I have always wondered how they work mechanically!
,so I looked it up!

https://youtu.be/CkYZqGsKRCw”>so that’s how it works!

(Sorry, hot link not working)

Happy birthday Tin!
(I wouldn’t want any cake to interfere with your libations....)

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

I can’t add much to the puzzle discussion, but I can add to the Corner knowledge about the middle pedal of a piano.

It starts with this: most of the strings in a piano can vibrate for quite a long time once struck. This can be undesirable in music, so those strings are equipped with a muting mechanism, a damper, which is designed to come into contact with a vibrating string as soon as the corresponding key is released by the player. The string is quieted immediately.

The right pedal lifts the entire set of dampers away from all the strings; played that way, the strings can resonate loudest and longest, until the player chooses to release the pedal.

The center pedal has a mechanism that raises and holds only the damper on whatever string is being played. That string can ring as long as it wants, but its neighbors cannot. It’s a quieter form of sustainment than that of the right pedal.

The left pedal, on a typical grand piano, simply shifts the entire “action” - the keys, hammers, and such - a little to one side so that each hammer hits its assigned strings more gently, giving a softer overall sound.

desper-otto said...

Here's the link CED was trying to make: Sustenuto Pedal

Misty said...

I was so excited when I started this puzzle because the top just filled in so easily, and I was hoping for a real Thursday treat from Roger and Kathy. But things got tough pretty soon after that because, like Irish Miss, I put MANIC instead of MADLY and NEET instead of DEET. When I saw LA_D emerging in the "Guys and Dolls" theme I kept hoping it would be some version of "Luck Be a Lady," my favorite song in the musical, but I sure didn't remember ADELAIDE'S LAMENT. I had a bit of better luck in the south and actually got the theme although it took me a minute to find all those lively MENTAL versions. Anyway, delightful puzzle, many thanks, Roger and Kathy. And always enjoy your write-up, Steve.

Have a wonderful birthday, Tinbeni. I'll try to find something classier than my ordinary Bogle Merlot for your sunset toast tonight.

Have a great day, everybody.

Krijo said...

Hi,
Fairly easy puzzle for Thursday, most problems with SOS and Adelaide’s lament. Too obscure for European taste.

Back from Corfu, unfortunately it is far more hot here in Vienne and there we had at least AC. Was a bit disappointed with the restaurants, they all had the same menu with pizza on it. I blame the Brittish tourists, they are too spoiled.

On 21.8. we had the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Warsaw treaty forces to Czechoslovakia - 6500 tanks. They USSR forces then stayed here for more than 20 years. We are still recovering from this event.
I would recommend for all of you the movie Kolja. It won the foreign language oscar in 1996.

Anonymous said...

GTO Gran Turismo Olomogato

AnonymousPVX said...

Jinx in Norfolk....agreed, AREAR is simply not a word, not in any dictionary, not even slang. I wonder what the XWord editor was doing.....balancing their checkbook? Hope it’s not in arrears. Geez.

Otherwise a nice Thursday puzzle. Theme had repeats but not a giveaway.

I’ve trained my cats to sit and speak for dinner and snacks. I’ve read where cats can be trained, but only to do what they like to do. Mine like to eat...they’re cats after all....so they will do those things for food. Not like dogs at all, dogs want to please the Alpha...which better be you.

Happy Birthday T !! Enjoy.

And on to Friday.

Picard said...

Fun Thursday theme! Only Natick for me was TAD/ONEAL which I did WAG correctly to FIR. ADELAIDE also unknown, but crosses took care of that. Hand up learning moment about the SOURCE of the Mississippi.

Hand up kept thinking of Mickey MANTLE. Thanks for the memories, Steve. I am with you that PRE-SOAK is unnecessarily redundant and technically incorrect. The front of our brains is called the Pre Frontal Cortex (PFC). It bugs many in the brain field for the same reason. Just call it the Frontal Cortex!

I had a good friend at MIT who already had her tubes tied. She said her family had gone swimming in the shallow end of the GENE POOL and she did not want to pass those genes along. I would rather have her genes out there than some others circulating!

Here are my photos at the Paris memorial for DIANA.

The flame is a replica of the Statue of Liberty torch. How fitting to have it at that spot. I admired DIANA's work to abolish land mines.

I had promised to dig out my PISA photos before. Here they are! Note the brake problem on the train.

Thanks to D4E4H and CrossEyedDave for the appreciation of my photos. I was actually going to bail on photo posting until I saw your posts. Thanks!

D4E4H The tennis racket thing mystified me, too! Until we got over to talk them. They were University of California students having a retreat. It was some kind of religious club. They would pass the tennis racket as a "talking stick" to acknowledge the person who was speaking.

CrossEyedDave That is the Lizard rock formation at Lizard's Mouth. It is pure sandstone, eroded by water and wind. It is my favorite place to take visitors.

The Native Chumash revere this site and they are offended that it is disturbed by the noise of the Winchester Gun Club next to it. At least the Gun Club keeps the shooting confined to one area.

Picard said...

From yesterday:
MadameDeFarge: I am happy you found my copy/paste tip helpful. Here it is again if people want to copy and paste it somewhere for future reference!

I strongly recommend highlighting your post and doing a CTRL-C to "Copy" before you post it. If it fails to post properly, you can do a CTRL-V to "Paste" it back in and try again. I do this with every one of my posts.

Jinx: Thanks for noting that some of the cost of cable is due to government fees and taxes.

This page documents all of the extra hidden telecom fees.

My rates went up 1400%. Those fees average 20-40%. Meaning that 1360% of my increase was due to CORPORATE GREED. I was proud to be CUTTING THE CORD.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle and enjoyed the anagrams. I wrinkled my nose a little bit at the S on the end of MAORI but I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just not used to it, just as I would not say the Cherokees or the Mohawks. Sorta like "fish" or "sugar."

I'm so glad you had a fulfilling and fun vacation in WV, Yellowrocks. It sounds wonderful. Seems like it did Alan a world of good, too.

Happy birthday, Tinbeni!

Steve, I love the way you express yourself. Good point about PRESOAK. Actually I had entered PREWASH at first.

Like Hahtoolah, my favorite clue today was the one for DENT. And yes, Steve, I agree there are bad dents and good dents. There's also Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face, from the Batman comics. I think he started out as a good dent but went bad.

I think some people take AREAR is an affront. Thankfully, I have never been in arrears.

We have a friend named Angel Sierra. He is in no way toothy or serrated, but he could be considered a TAD mountainous. We learned a lot about wine from him. He and another of his and our friends made some damn awesome Cabernet Sauvignon. We also learned the correct pronunciation of Bogle, (which I already was saying correctly) and it has nothing to do with "the mind."

Best wishes to you all.

Jayce said...

AnonymousPVX, you beat me to it about "arrears."

To highlight the text, press CTRL-A, before pressing CTRL-C to copy it.

Rainman said...

To Anonymous @ 12:12, you have a typo. It's omologato. Among other things, the word in Italian means "approved."

Happy Natal Anniversary to Andrew, and yes, many of us will toast you... mmm, it's got to be sunset somewhere, hmm?

I had difficulty completing the solve today. Fifteen minutes, but it seemed longer.

My friend, Patsy, wants me to make pizza from scratch, but I could not locate my dough recipe. Finally found it on Ginger Roots, C.C.'s other blog site. Thanks, C.C., for saving it. You may have saved my life.

And yes, I remember, Carl Sagan with his dry humor saying, "If you want to make pizza from scratch, first you must create the universe." Hahahahahahhha.

Best to all.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Sorry, Steve, that you aren't a fan of the humor in ADELAIDE'S LAMENT. I recall it as one of the funniest numbers in a brilliant show ...

Ta- DA!
Tough but fair from the Wienbergs. This is the sort of pzl that requires 2nd and 3rd perps to close in on certain fills.

Happy B'day to Tinben!

~ OMK

____________
Diagonal Report:
All out of diags today.

Anonymous said...

Still Anon today on my iPad because I've not logged in to my main computer to fix my gAccount 'cuz I'm sick :-(
DW: "Remember that guy you talked to at the party Saturday?"
"You mean the close-talker?"
"Yeah. His kids were sick, that's why he came solo."
Now you tell me.

Hi All!

I'll blame my ACHEness for needing phone-a-friend [read: Google] @15a. I kept wanting Lilo 'cuz of that movie with Stitch. Once HILO was in, I could see how Pretense == SHAM. [HG - think the Hurricane will douse the lava? Me either... say WHEN.]

Thanks Roger & Kathy for the fun 16x15 grid and thanks Steve for the expo [I, for one, could use a refresher on staircases]. D-O: For some reason, I ALSO felt JzB's tone in the 1st few paragraphs; but them I'm ill :-)

WOs: PREwash. ENAMle; can someone explain the 'LE'/'EL' rule? I'm not a total moron* but it seems I never get that right.
ESP: ADELAIDESLAMENT. Well, OK, I got the LAMENT part because M,E,&T were already used and the anagram was A-foot -- ADELAIDE, not so much.

Fav: NINJA - I'm wearing my Splunk "Because Ninjas are too busy" Tshirt! I'm such a NERD.
C/a for DENT was cute but we've had similar before; I wasn't fooled.

{B, A, B+} HaikuHarry: {groan :-)}

IM - $2.75/GAL sounds about right. I wish my O&G stock had some correlation with gas prices; then my pocket-book would FRO and to.

Inanehiker- taking PK's comments (gated community) under advisement (yeah, I could see that as a problem), go head with the ESTATE SALE anyway - what can they do to MIL? - she's moving anyway!

CED - I have no idea why my gPhoto would kill your back-button. Are you sure you didn't open in a new tab?

HBD Tin! If/when I feel better, I'll toast to you at SunSet.

Cheers, -T
*now, now, no personal attacks :-)

Northwest Runner said...

Adelaide's Lament is definitely not a show stopper. I will place my usual blame on the editor for this. It's a perfectly good entry, maybe a little obscure if musicals aren't you're thing, but an essential number in the show. "Boat" is the show stopper.

Michael said...

Our Man in Vermont wrote, "A friend of mine was trying to hold an ESTATE SALE at her MIL's house after she moved into assisted living/memory care but the housing assn. of the development she was in doesn't allow it! Sounds like an overreach on the assn. part- not sure what they'll do - have to haul everything somewhere else to sell it?!"

No, no ... take photos of the items, and there is an app which will allow you to do the sale on-line. I don't have the app's name handy -- sorry. The drawback is picking up the items, but that can be arranged.

Michael said...

Oops! My bad ... that was InaneHiker I was responding to, not JFromVt.

Michael said...

Just got off the phone -- there's a new scam out.

The recorded voice says that your social security number has been cancelled, and to call this number at once.

The Social Security Administration doesn't work this way; numbers don't get 'cancelled.'

This is just another fear-based ploy on the part of some low-grade scunners.

Wilbur Charles said...

I perped RIAL but had been looking for a place
I think we had the two definitions Sunday (KRONE,OSLO)
Aaarrgghhhh, ROLES not RULES. Natick for me-FIR

If there's NAE 'Scuses there's NAE Golf
PSHAW is a fav Nero Wolfe word
Before we nag PISA I think Philly should fix that cracked Bell

I didn't post it nor actually tell anyone but I recall saying to "self":If she keeps doing (that*) they'll knock her off.

Ted's ineptitude kept him alive.

Picard, keep posting. I like to check out your shirts, lol. I should comment, I comment to that guy "Self". Ok, since I'm here: If you ever attended a ball game at Fenway Park you'd see the same pleasure on the faces as with your parades.

WC

*DIANA'S Popularity and activism we're a fatal combination

Yellowrocks said...

I just looked at the lyrics for Adelaide's Lament. Still not my cuppa tea.
Thanks for the kind comments, Madame D and Jayce. Two wonderful vacations so far and one more to go, the last one with my elder son and DIL.
I usually have found VA, and especially WV, gas prices higher than here. This time some were as low as $2.58. When I got home some of our prices were raised a tad, $2.79. at my usual stop. Others here were $2.73. Funny how the cheapest station varies.
Jayce, you sent me looking. NZ, apparently does not use the S for animal names or for the Maori people. Here game animals often do not use the S plural. We may say we saw two bears in the woods. We actually did in WV! But then hunters say, "We are going for bear." I think Cherokees and Cherokee are both acceptable.
Most arguments here come down to "There are many correct answers to the same question."

Yellowrocks said...

Jayce, I always find your comments interesting and food for thought. Rather than disagreeing, I find them to be jumping off places for nerdy word research.
I am becoming more and more broad minded and, you could say, broad beamed (LOL), with age. My nits are usually against narrow interpretations.
As for spelling rules,there are so many exceptions. If you don't know how to spell a word, how can you know whether it follows the rules or not? And then, there are many acceptable alternate spellings.
AREAR is hard to defend. Although I have seen it defined in this clue's sense, I have found no real life examples. AREAR is more believable as an alternate spelling of ARREAR.
I am hearing many warnings about how home routers are insecure. Not my area of expertise. Solutions offered are beyond me. Any comments?

Lemonade714 said...

Michael the SALE ONLINE APP is LetGo

Ol' Man Keith said...

Northwest R ~
It really depends on who is singing. ADELAIDE'S LAMENT was one of three show-stoppers in my staging back in the '70s. We had a wonderful comedienne in the role, one who could really sing as well as act it.
Your choice, "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat," is a fair contender to stop a show, but the true show-stopper, written as such - and placed at the show's climax to boot - is "Luck be a Lady."
Incidentally, you'll notice "Lady" has garnered the most nominations from our Corner colleagues.

~ OMK

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Roger, Kathy and Steve!

Finished Wed. and Thurs. puzzles just now. Have been busy with Word Solitaire.

Happy Birthday to Tinbeni!

Hope to see you tomorrow!

PS. I always copy my post before I post it.

PPS. Gas way over $3.50 here as ac rule.

PK said...

Keith, I'm glad I'm not the only one who knew "ADELAIDE'S LAMENT" and found it funny. Thank you to whoever posted the link to the song. I had to listen to it again to remember what it was about. The song about a woman who gets sick because a man won't propose was written pre-women's liberation and is not politically correct today. Nor would I think it would be appreciated by men at all unless, like Keith, they were staging a show and want the change of pace of this witty piece. I well remember the days when a woman needed a man to marry her and provide financial support. My first office job paid 50 cents an hour, top wage for a woman.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Gas was 2.47 yesterday at Costco.

YR, there are plenty of folks here with more expertise than me, but there are a few things you can do. Most importantly, make sure you change the router's administrative password to something very difficult to guess. Maybe Z7hY23P429x29, and if the router allows, add a #! in there someplace too. Do not use words in the dictionary, nor clever variances of them like P@$$word. You won't need this password very often so you can write it down and store it someplace like where you keep your US passport. Next, check if your router has WiFi guest access. If so, you can disable it unless you expect to have visitors you are willing to allow to use your internet access. (They won't be able to "see" your other deices.) If you connect to the internet with a cable between your computer or other device and the router, you are done. If you access the router wirelessly, you need to set up a WiFi password in the router. Again, use a long password that is hard to guess is important, but don't use the same one you used for the administrative password. You will need this every time you add a new WiFi device to your network (like your new refrigerator), but you won't need it to connect after you get it set up.

There are some router settings that have to be correct to be secure, but to my knowledge they are the default values on modern routers when they are first purchased. If you got a new router from Best Buy or Amazon you should be fine. But if you got it from the cable company or someone else who could have changed those defaults, you will need to get someone you trust to check such things as security protocol type and firewall status.

When set up properly the router actually makes you more secure - it acts as a hardware firewall which makes your computer's firewall software even more secure.

Don't forget your computer's security. Make certain your system's auto update is turned on. Use an antivirius program (free is fine; Microsoft's suite is adequate for most folks.) NEVER click on a link in an email unless you know it is correct. Even then you are better off to open your browser manually and go to the site using your bookmarks / favorites lists, or typing the URL if you haven't visited before. Never rely on the "from" information in the email to make safety decisions. You can easily get email showing the originator being your priest, your bank or your mayor, but it really is from thieves.

Yellowrocks said...

Jinx, thanks. I do what the last paragraph says. I have a Best Buy router. Your first paragraph is a mystery to me. What password?Where? What settings? How to access them?

Ol' Man Keith said...

PK ~
Right on!
It's true that Adelaide's condition, her psychosomatic dependency on Nathan Detroit, isn't viewed as "PC" today. But Adelaide is a leading lady in her own world, a "star" of the Hot Box girls, and one would suppose a strong, independent artiste - save for the manipulations of that cad, Nathan.
I blame him for reducing her to a state of viral addiction. Gender imbalances aren't all one-sided.

~ OMK

Anonymous T said...

Still not well but Youngest's friend broke her frog...

Being a good dad, did I

a) deftly fix the frog w/ a "Dad can do anything" smugness?
b) glue myself to the frog?
c) glue the frog to the table?
d) glue myself and the frog to the table?

If you guessed d, 1) thanks(?) for the confidence and II) Yep
#backtosick-bed -T

CanadianEh! said...

Very late to the party but wanted to thank Roger and Kathy, and Steve for the anagram fun.
WEES by this time so I won't say any more. But I did want to welcome YR back, say Happy Birthday to Tinbeni (it's too late for a sunset toast), and tell AnonT to get better soon.

Oh and AnonT, my I-Pad also won't work on the back button after I go to your Toad link!

Yellowrocks said...

Canadian Eh, thanks for the welcome home.
Anon T, what a good dad, getting up from a sick bed to fix the frog. Feel better soon.















Anonymous T said...

C, Eh! - I just tried it on my iPad (not gConnected to my account [see: my YubiFubar FLN]) and the back button worked OK. However, I did notice the intermediate .gl domain - maybe that's the crux...

Not sure why I'm online now but who can sleep w/ 200+ unread emails!?!

Jinx - good advice on changing default password$ [ooh, that's a bad one too!] on the routers. And, anyone connecting the ice-box to the net(?), should have their head checked. ("but I want the toaster to text me it's done!" is not a good answer and you should remove yourself from the GENE pool [here's a butter-knife to dig out your toast :-)])

Ask the Google "[my router] default password" if you are still not convinced.
I compromised an entire network because their video-telephony router's password was still admin/admin. Easiest $$ I ever made. -T

Bill G said...

Hi everybody and Happy Birthday to Mr. Inebnit!

I have been lucky and managed to eat a banana at the perfect stage of ripeness (for me). A tiny bit of green still on the ends and about a day before brown spots start taking over.

My vote for show stopper from Guys and Dolls is "Fugue for Tinhorns." I got the horse right here, his name is Paul Revere...