google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, October 19, 2018 Craig Stowe

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Oct 19, 2018

Friday, October 19, 2018 Craig Stowe

Title: STER the pot.

How funny, here I am writing up a Craig Stowe puzzle so soon after his Saturday. This is Craig's 20th  LAT publication, but his 11th in 2018!!!! Like I said, he has turned it on. I blogged the PUZZLE which was his debut in December 2015. Today, as befitting a Friday, features the impressive add, not 1 letter, not 2 letters, not 3 letters, but the 4 letters -STER- to common two word-phrases. We have seen this before from our Friday stalwart JW, but once again it is an impressive creation. And the inclusion of  À LA MODE,  COMPETE,  DATA SET,  ENOUNCE,  PARADOX,  RHOMBUS, CHEAP SHOT,  DERELICTS,  HORSEHIDE and  I'M ON A DIET shows the skill Craig has developed in less than 5 years. Okay, let's examine the result.

16A. Physician for Dickens' Miss Havisham?: SPINSTER DOCTOR (14). Do I play SPIN DOCTORs or explain the Great Expectations character? Spinster is such a fun old-fashioned word.

25A. Station for exercisers on wheels?: HAMSTER RADIO (12). If I were a hamster I would find this clue hurtful; these days HAM RADIOS are not that popular.


43A. Expert guard dog?: MASTER BARKER (12). MA BARKER was an infamous gangster head of a crime family. She and her son Fred were killed in Central Florida. 

56A. Cool cat's affectionate friends?: HIPSTER HUGGERS (14). Hip huggers fueled my adolescent fantasies along with mini-skirts.



On to the rest:

Across:

1. Trendy:  À LA MODE. Not only for pie and ice cream. We have a lot of French from our Canadian Constructor.

8. No longer outstanding: REPAID. "Does he still owe you money? No, he repaid me."

14. Catch-22: PARADOX.

15. "Am I the problem?": IS IT ME? One of the multi-word fill.

18. Morales of "Ozark": ESAI. This role is very far from his days on NYPD.

19. Canada's Buffy Sainte-Marie, by birth: CREE. She was born in Canada and was also a musical idol in my adolescent year when I listened to her, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez and so many more.

20. Math functions: SINES.

22. Fleur de __: sea salt: SEL. French - this means "flower of salt." Kazie, do you think it should be Sel de Mer?

23. Clever remarks: MOTS. Bon mots, also French. I guess this is all colloquial, perhaps influenced by Quebec?

24. Sedate: CALM.

29. Earth tone: OCHER. Ochre from yesterday or ocher is a natural clay earth pigment which is a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in color from yellow to deep orange or brown.

32. Ancient colonnade: STOA. Stoa, plural Stoae, in Greek architecture, a freestanding colonnade or covered walkway.

33. "Disgusting!": ICK.

34. Diamond figure: RHOMBUS. A square is also a rhombus.

37. Play seriously: COMPETE.

39. "... this night, being __ my head": Shak.: OER. Romeo and Juliet: ACT II, Scene 2
O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a wingèd messenger of heaven
Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes
30Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

40. Hideout: LAIR. This was very big in the old Westerns and Adam West BATMAN.

42. Soft touch: PATSY. Last week, it was a sap.

47. Foil relative: EPEE.

48. Couple: DUAD. Another odd coincidence, as this was in Wednesday's puzzle and PK's post yesterday. That was its second appearance the first being in 2012.

49. Andean stew veggie: OCA.

52. Rapper Ice Cube's first name: O'SHEA. O'Shea Jackson Sr., known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, writer and actor. Ice Cube initially gained recognition as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A.

54. Clothes to clean: WASH. Hi honey, I will do the wash tonight.

55. Zipcar parent company: AVISZIPCAR is a car-sharing service, where you can rent a car for an hour or two, and pay by the minute or the hour. It is the response to the success of UBERLYFT, and Airbnb.

59. Texas oil city: ODESSA.

60. State: ENOUNCE. Not in my vocabulary but an easy guess.

61. Waver: TEETER. Back and forth; cannot make up my mind.

62. Computer input: DATA SET. This is a collection of related sets of information composed of separate elements but can be manipulated as a unit by a computer.


Down:

1. Stained glass settings: APSES. A familiar church part also in Wednesday, right next door to ...

2. Slip: LAPSE. No, I am sure it was deliberate.

3. Type similar to Helvetica: ARIAL. One of many sans serif types.

4. Nail treatment: MANI. But no pedi?

5. Has too much: ODS.

6. One involved in a memorable "bubble": DOT COM. An insightful ARTICLE explaining the bubble and the burst.

7. Puts forth: EXERTS. Effort.

8. Tease: RIDE.

9. Juan's "that": ESO. Spanish one.

10. Selfies, e.g.: PICS.

11. Ancient region ruled by Athens: ATTICA. Some HISTORY.

12. Small portion explanation: I'M ON A DIET. Makes sense but not easy to get this multi-word fill.

13. Ones neglecting their duties: DERELICTS. I have only seen the word used to mean a person without a home, job, or property. I do know the term dereliction of duty, though.

17. Score marks: RESTS. Musical score.

21. Soul singer Robinson's debut album: SMOKEY. This was after he left the Miracles. LINK.

23. Material for Michelangelo's "David": MARBLE. David is a 5.17-metre (17.0 ft) marble statue of a standing male nude. The STATUE.

25. Train bottom: HEM. Train on a dress; very tricky for a three letter fill.

26. Series-ending abbr.: ETC.

27. Pal of Piglet: ROO.

28. Stepped (up): RAMPED.

29. Words from a balcony: O ROMEO. This is the response to 39A.
O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
35Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

30. Unsportsmanlike conduct: CHEAP SHOT. Some from FOOTBALL.

31. Baseball, in old slang: HORSEHIDE. Footballs were pigskins and baseballs...

35. Former Mideast gp.: UARUnited Arab Republic.

36. Member of the fam: SIB.

38. __ value: PAR. A securities term.

41. Control tower device: RADAR.

44. Mobile home?: TEEPEE. Cute, as you roll them up and go.

45. Hurried: RUSHED.

46. Islands VIP: KAHUNA. We do not often get Hawaiian words, this means a wise man or shaman.

49. Some Viking appliances: OVENS. Viking Range Corporation is an appliance company that manufactures kitchen appliances for residential and commercial use. Viking originated the "professional" segment of kitchen appliances with its introduction of the first professional-grade range for home use in 1987. wiki.

50. "Odyssey" sorceress: CIRCE. In Greek, it is pronounced KIRKE. She was a goddess of sorcery (pharmakeia) who was skilled in the magic of transmutation, illusion, and necromancy. Not to be confused with CERSEI.

51. Plus: ASSET.

53. Kind of D.A.: ASST.

54. Diminish slowly, with "off": WEAR.

55. Líquido para café: AGUA.  Spanish two to finish language lesson.

57. "The Cocktail Party" monogram: TSEThomas Stearns Eliot, OM, was an essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic

58. Grasped: GOT. I hope you all grasped the theme and solved with a smile on your face.

A very nice Friday workout built around a solid theme with enough crunch to remind us it is Friday. Welcome back to Friday Craig, thanks for telling us of your life and keep them coming. Lemonade out.



65 comments:

OwenKL said...

FLN --
Picard: I read and enjoy about half your collages, but that Peanuts set I enlarged more to see details than I didn't! Thanks!

PK: "Camptown ladies sing this song, DUAD, DUAD!
Camptown racetrack five miles long, Oh DUAD day!"

FIRight! Changing cAges to RADIO revealed the gimmick to me.

IS IT ME, or do stories revolve around PARADOXES
When time-travel novels are pigeon-holed in boxes?
When things are out of order
They don't happen like they orter,
IS TIME travel to blame for things that get obnoxious?

Once there was a lozenge, also known as a RHOMBUS,
Didn't want to be cough-drop, designed as to calm us.
As a baseball diamond
Wished to put his time in,
Instead became a suit of poker cards to rob us!

I went down south 'long with my gal,
DUAD, DUAD!
She ran off there with my best pal,
DUAD, DUAD!
I wish that he was back here now,
DUAD, DUAD!
So that I could thank him anyhow,
All the DUAD day!

{B, B-, A.}

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Craig and Lemon!

Cheated today, but didn't do any good. Web says first name is TRACY. Managed to muddle through somehow.

Still have headache, despite visits to various facilities.

Did finish yesterdays offering OK, though.

Have a great day!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thanks, Craig, for a funster Friday puzzle! Thanks, Lemonade, for another enjoyable expo!

Surprise! I seemed to be mostly on Craig's wave-length today altho there were a bunch I didn't know: O'Shea, CREE (WAG), TSE, ATTICA (ESP), & Viking Co. appliances. DERELICTS was a proud (WAG) after DERE perped in.

Caught onto the theme with the two middle ones which helped to fill the other two. Last to fill was the NW: ALAMODE, PARADOX, & SPiNSTER evaded me for several tries.

Owen, too funny! I'll have that Camptown earworm DUADing in my brain for days.

New word learning moment: "State" = ENOUNCE. Only knew dENOUNCE, but okay with it. "State" for a clue had me trying Arizona or someplace which fit.

MA BARKER looks older in that picture than 55 -- more like today's 85. Women aged in appearance during those hard years with poor diet more than they do today. My daughter is almost 55 and sure doesn't look like that.

PK said...

Fermatprime: so sorry you are not getting any relief for that headache.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Drat! DNF. I was thinking of baseball, the game, rather than baseball, the round thing. I made it a HORSE RIDE and that first name OSREA. Hey, it coulda been. Bzzzzzzzt! Folks around here don't want to hear the word baseball this morning. They don't call Houston clutch city for nuthin'. On the plus side, d-o got the theme for a change. Thanx, Craig and Lemonade.

DUAD: PK's DUAD appeared once again. Weird.

ESAI: I watched the first episode of Ozark, and couldn't get into it. Should I have stuck it out a little longer?

ARIAL: Why do we need so many fonts that are almost identical? One serif and one non-serif and one with special characters oughta do it.

HAMSTER RADIO: My dad was an early ham operator back in the spark-gap days before assigned frequencies came about. G-men came to the house and put a seal on his radio equipment at the outset of WWI.

Lemonade714 said...

D-O thanks for the Ham radio historical insight; I had no idea. I watched the first season of OZARK and it had its moments. The acting was always top-notch, but so far I have not rushed to see the second season. I have watched the first two years of STRANGER THINGS and felt the same way. Oo and I just watched all of the old TV series HAVEN . It was lots of fun with many interesting actors appearing.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Some days, I am just happy to get the theme. This was one of those days. Lots of challenging clues. I laughed, however, when the theme revealed itself with MASTER BARKER.

DUAD must be the word of the week.

Nice surprise to see that the Diamond Figure was not a reference to Baseball, but an actual shape. Also fun to see that Baseball = HORSEHIDE referred to the physical ball and not the game.

ENOUNCE is a new word for me.

Hand up for trying Ugh before ICK for Discusting.

OCA, the Andean Stew Veggie is becoming a crossword staple.

I first saw the MARBLE David at the Accademia Gallery in Florence several years ago. We had been waiting in line awaiting the opening of the museum. We were far enough back in the line, that when the museum opened, most people stopped in the first room to explore the art. The room was too crowded, so we went to the next room ~ and there was David at the end of the long gallery. Wow! The room was virtually empty of all be my husband and me and David. It literally took our breath away.

My favorite clue was Train Bottom = HEM.

QOD: Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes. ~ John le Carré (né David John Moore Cornwell, b. Oct. 19, 1931)

Bill V. said...

Thought I FIR but no TADA. After close inspection, TEETEN appeared wrong. Corrected WEAN to WEAR resulting in TEETER and TADA

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

For a few moments, I thought I was facing another DNF but, finally, I broke through the logjam of Rhombus, Cheap shot and Horsehide and received my TADA. I loved, loved the theme, especially Hipster huggers and Master Barker. Some unknowns were: O'Shea, Rhombus, and Attica and Circe, as clued. My w/os were Exudes/Exerts and Yuk/Ick. I liked the crossing of Wash and Wear and noticed the reappearance of TAE, Duad, and Ocher/Ochre.

Thanks, Craig, for a clever theme and fun solve; hope your new job is going smoothly. Thanks, Lemony, for your spot-on summary.

Have a great day.

billocohoes said...

PK, men also aged faster generations ago, if you check out pictures of old ballplayers whose careers were over in their mid-thirties.

Reading Great Expectations in junior high, I thought Miss Havisham was ancient, but she probably was only in her early fifties.

Yellowrocks said...

Thanks for a great puzzle, Craig, and a fun write-up, Lemonade.
FIR, no cheats. The eastern half went relatively quickly. The western half began to move along after I sussed the very clever theme. Train bottom was my favorite. I was surprised when perps indicated rhombus.
IM gave me I'M ON A DIET. That's on the top of my mind as I have lost 5 pounds in the last few weeks. My BP and glucose are edging up, so I am being more careful. I don't have it as hard as most people. Just eating more sensibly without having to omit much will do it.
Sedate/calm. Many times we are required to be like ducks in a pond, floating along sedately on the surface, while paddling furiously underneath.
I loved the baseball/horse hide. As for the World Series lead up, I don't have a dog in this hunt, no preference. My teams have been eliminated. I felt so upset that a fan caused interference last night and likely cost the Astors the game. If I were that fan, I would rue my action.
To my mind derelict brings up derelict housing and derelict ships, as well as people.
I was interested in what flower had to do with fleur de sel. LIU. Wikipedia says Fleur de sel is "a salt that forms as a thin, delicate crust on the surface of seawater as it evaporates.The name comes from the flower-like patterns of crystals in the salt."
I added a new word, enounce, to my vocabulary today. It makes sense.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Friday tough. Another build from the bottom up. But the theme came through early which helped. Had Ithaca before ATTICA.
1d; panes, naves or APSES? Finally got it after sussing SPINSTER DOCTOR. Part of the holdup in the NW was I had 'pedi' before MANI. That correction gave PARADOX and it was done.
ICK - Also the first person singular pronoun in L. German. (Compare 'Ich"). Ick bün satt. I'm full (sated).

Have a great day.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I was so proud I got the gimmick and was wondering what the reveal would be. Oh, there isn’t one.
-Spin doctors alternately “Point with pride” and “View with disgust”
-I was REPAID for a good deed I did recently with a lovely letter and not money
-The apostles were more grammatical – “IS IT I”
-All squares are RHOMBI but not all RHOMBI are squares
-My friend’s son moved to San Francisco and was stunned by the DERELICTS/Homeless on the streets and what they left behind
-9:30 tee time

Lemonade714 said...

People tend to jump to conclusions in life, especially in emotional discussions. The fan who hit the Astro fielder's glove may or may not have prevented a catch, but it was only the first inning. There were many innings left for the Astros to win the game. I do not believe that action cost the Astros the game or the series. I also thought there was over-reaction to the Bartman incident. As a fan, it must be difficult to not try and catch a ball. Of course, after Bartman, you would have thought fans might be more careful. We will never know how the game would have gone, but at least it was not anyone cheating.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Definitely needed perp help in a few spots, particularly around that rapper’s name. Apart from that, smooth sailing. Hand up for general amazement at the coincidental reappearance of both duad and ochre/ocher.

D-Otto, we tried watching the first episode of Ozark and didn’t get all the way through. Too violent for our tastes. BTW, did the authorities seal the radio to certify its usability in war, or to prevent its use, or some other thing?

Wilbur Charles from yesterday: of the thirteen original Hobbit dwarves, I could only recall Thorin Oakenshield, Oin, Gloin, Fili, Kili, and Bombur (the fattest). So I had to Goog the rest. Ori, Dori, and Nori thus emerged from the fog.

JJM said...

Tricky puzzle today with words we haven't seen in a while. Glad I saw DUAD earlier this week. I worked from the bottom to top as when I started the other way I didn't have too much fill. Once I changed it up, things went much better.

desper-otto said...

Dudley, the seal was to prevent its use.

Oas said...

Phew , got er done and FIR.
Had to start in the NW with ISITME and IMONADIET and wiggle my way counter clockwise around the grid.
Had RADIO and HUGGERS and the light came on at HIPSTER.
Helped with the rest and though slower than usual, felt that satisfying ahh , must all be right.
Neat puzzle , teacher would be pleased.
Do we ever get over the desire to please Teacher or Dad tho they’re long departed?

Thanks Craig Stowe for a fun workout and Lemonade for the tour .

Big Easy said...

After my 'Trendy' froze up and became ice cream, A LA MODE made its way onto the page. I was lost in the north and west and only got started in the SE and in finished from the bottom up, "A LA SPITZBOOV". After filling HIPSTER HUGGERS, the jig was up. I correctly guessed that STER would go in front or RADIO and DOCTOR, and that made the puzzle easier.

REPAID- how about just PAID, as in 'paid it back' or 'paid it off'. Pay and repay- same thing.
'Fleur di' MER became SEL; WEAN changed to WEAR.

HEM- I had BED until the HAMSTER and I had a V8 moment. Bridal Train, not choo-choo train.
O'SHEA, AGUA, TSE- solved by perps.

I'll take a CHEAP SHOT. HIPSTERs are wannabes. Nothing more. They aren't cool. They are just phonies. You know, like 'Phony JOAN'. Her music is nice but that's all I'll say.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Craig Stowe, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for fine review.

Well, Cruciverb became functional last night and I started the puzzle then. Got tired and hit the hay. Finished this morning.

Liked the puzzle. The theme answers were very clever. Had HAMSTER RODEO first, before I figured out the theme, then corrected that to RADIO.

KAHUNA reminded me of my old company, Automatic Electric Co. When we installed a new Telephone Central Office for Hawaiian Tel, Hawaiian Tel would bring in a KAHUNA before it was cut over (put into service). The Kahuna would bless the telephone exchange. Then it was cut over and always worked. They probably still do that to this day.

As others have said, ENOUNCE is a new word for me. It was solid with perps so I kept it.

DUAD, so soon. Go figure.

Two Greek words, STOA and ATTICA.

O SHEA was all perps.

TSE was unknown until I got it with perps, then I assumed it was T S Eliot.

Liked your links, Lemonade. However, the one about the DOT COM was pretty deep.

Off to my day. Tons to do. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but it was right on the edge of my abilities. In other words, perfect for me.

Erased mer for SEL, raw data for DATA SET, and UAe.

IIRC, the old spark gap radios didn't really have a frequency, they kind of took over the entire spectrum. No wonder they were taken out of service for national security purposes.

I learned at an early age that if your girl friend tells you "it's not you, it's me", she means it's not her, it's me.

FLN: Picard, were you involved in the big DC power transmission project from the Pacific Northwest to Los Angeles? I sent a few of my engineers to take the tour of the LA facility in the mid-80s and was very impressed with the concept. I wish I had gone with them. I still have some notes about the installation somewhere. Seems like they used the sea as one conductor.

Thanks to Craig for the fun challenge. And thanks to Lemonade for your continuing good work.

Bluehen said...

Boy, this puzzle was crunchier than a week old Heath bar. I finished it right in the end, but not without a struggle. My old nickname, HIPSTER (don't ask), showed me the theme and helped solve the other theme clues. DUAD again, honestly? It was a great challenge, thank you Craig Stowe and well explained, thanks Lemony.

Not much more to add. Sloppy Joes, French fries, and Friday Night Lights at the local high school tonight.

One Last Thought: If you suck at playing the trumpet, maybe that's why!

Cya!

Irish Miss said...

Just a friendly reminder that Erik Agard is on Jeopardy! tonight.

Bluehen, you're too punny! (That is not a typo, BTW.)

WikWak said...

Good, tough Friday puzzle. Thanks to Craig and Lemonade for the puzzle and the expo.

I’ll take a SO from HAM(ster)RADIO as I have been a licensed operator since 1958. D-O, the same thing happened during WWII except that I’m not aware that any sealing of radios happened then; any and all use of transmitting equipment by hams was strictly forbidden. And Lemonade, far from being less popular now, the hobby is growing steadily. There are currently over 800,000 hams in the United States alone.

Smiled at seeing OCHER and DUAD—again! And now that we’ve had both OCHRE and OCHER this week, everyone should be happy, yes?

Hand up for ugh before ICK.

HORSEHIDE and CHEAPSHOT took much longer to fill in than they should have, and the perps weren’t helping much at first, either, but the good guys (me) finally won.

Did I hear someone say "nap time"? Well all righty then! Have a great day, all!

CanadianEh! said...

Fabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, Craig (and for upping the Canadian content here) and Lemonade.
I got the theme early and filled in all the STERs which helped the solve. Once again the NW was the last to fill.
But actually a FIW was revealed when I got here; I had ParadoM instead of PARADOX (I had been thinking of Paradigm and had started to fill 7D as Emits and forgot to fix things up).
Emerts didn't look any worse than ENOUNCE (E words today instead of A).

LOLed at HAMSTER RADIO (had been thinking about Zoomer before I GOT the theme).
Also LOLed to see DUAD again (love the earworm, Owen).
Waited for perps to decide between Wean and WEAR.
CARAT was too short for "diamond figure" - oh, not even Pitcher as in baseball, but RHOMBUS. Even figure can be taken several ways.
I knew it couldn't be Is It I with I in the clue. Grammar buffs might question IS IT ME but modern usage trumps today.

Loved O ROMEO crossing OER (notice Canadian Craig did not use an American National Anthem clue for OER). Thanks to IM for pointing out the crossing of WASH and WEAR.
But Canadian Craig used OCHER not OCHRE. LOL! CW constructors have to use whatever meets the needs of the CW. (You are forgiven Craig) Yes, WikWak we're happy to have equal time.

I was wondering if Buffy Sainte-Marie was a stage name, but then CREE filled in with perps. Oh, a reference to her indigenous background. (She was born in Saskatchewan but was adopted and grew up in Massachusetts.) She is still composing, performing and involved in social activism. Here is an article and interview from her Niagara tour last year (WARNING: some aspects might be considered political but she is an activist!)
BuffySainteMarie

Enjoy the day.

desper-otto said...

More on ham radio: When dad was a pup, granddad owned a hardware store in Weyauwega. One day he challenged my dad, "If that radio toy of yours is any good, order me these washing machine parts from the factory in Michigan." Dad told me it took a 5-station relay to finally get the message to the Michigan city. The ham in that city transcribed the order and hand-delivered it to the factory. The parts arrived in Weyauwega, accompanied by a printed invoice. In the invoice space Ordered By it said "very unusual means."

Haiku Harry said...

When right triangles
Visit their DOCTOR, does she
Read their vital SINES?

desper-otto said...

CanadianEh!, Buffy was recently interviewed on NPR upon the release of her "authorized biography." I once owned her 1970 "Best of" 2-LP vinyl album, and I've got the 1990 CD release on my music server. I listened to it just the other day, after the NPR interview.

Unknown said...

Teepee is spelled tepee!

desper-otto said...

Merriam-Webster says Teepee is an accepted variant of Tepee. After drinking a pitcher of Tetley's, the Indian chief was found dead in his teapee.

Misty said...

Well, Friday puzzles are always toughies for me, but a Craig puzzle is going to be interesting and have lots of neat stuff in it. I started out with only MOTS and MARBLE at first, and UAR and SIB (or SIS, I wasn't sure) which oddly gave me RHOMBUS, a word not very familiar to me. I know my T.S. ELIOT, so I put in TSE and right away figured it would be EL PASO before I had to change it to ODESSA a while later. Also had UGH before ICK, like others, but once SMOKEY began to fall into place I changed that. Anyway, lots of fun, Craig, many thanks. And I always appreciate your write-ups, Lemonade. I know nothing about baseball but saw that clip of the missed catching of the ball on TV last night. Interesting discussions about it today.

Fermatprime, I feel so sad to hear about your ongoing headache. Will pray that you get some effective help.

Owen, you're in great form today.

Have a good weekend coming up, everybody.

Bill G said...

Hi everybody. Thanks Craig and Lemon. I found this clever, tricky and tough, even for a Friday. I think a lot depends on where I start. If I get several words in the area, other words start to fall from there. If the area is mostly blank, other words don't follow as well.

Re. baseball interference, I agree with Lemon. I think most people who've played baseball or other 'catching' games, would have a natural tendency to try to catch a ball right in front of them. Both Bartman and this more recent episode at the Astros game, the fan behaved in a totally natural manner. It's a shame they have to suffer the abuse from other rabid fans.

Yellowrocks said...

WikWak, I agree that ham radio is growing these days. My square dance partner is a ham radio operator. At night, with his relatively weak equipment, he gets random signals from all over the U.S. Some of his friends in his club have made huge investments in fantastic equipment.
DO @11:01, LOL "very unusual means." Grandad and the factory must have been amazed.
Owen, loved your duad poem.
UNKNOWN, If you LIU before you posted, you would have found teepee and tipi, as well. Spell Check accepts teepee, tepee, and tipi, however not DO's teapee. Good one,DO, my friend.

Lemonade714 said...

CEH, thank you for the Buffy link. Interesting person. Bill G. and baseball fans, what I am most surprised by is the fan base is not attacking the umpires. If the ball was over the fence when the fielder tried to catch it, it is fair game for the fan. Bartman reached out into the field, but this fan appeared to be within the established rights of baseball fans everywhere

Lemonade714 said...

Sorry about my lack of knowledge about ham radios but all the people I knew who used to have sets no longer do. Live and learn, which is why we share.

Lucina said...

Thank you, Craig Stowe and Lemonade! I love a puzzle that forces me to think and this one did ever so much.

I had much the same experiences as most of you and got the -STER which helped immensely. The NE filled first and fast so I had DOCTOR set up.

On to the center and OCHER surprised me; STOA has appeared in many puzzles. CIRCE not so much.

The SW almost beat me but P&P won. Of course, I've never heard of baseball referred to as HORSEHIDE. Thank you for explaining, Lemonade.

ENOUNCE is my new word, too.

My eraser did double duty as much fill was misdirected. AUSTIN before ODESSA, SEESAW then TEETER. I laughed at the clue for TEEPEE. That is the original spelling I learned in school.

I was proud to get SEL and of course AGUA and ESO are givens.

Fermat: I'm also sad that you have such bad headaches. Are they migraines?

FLN: Spitz, when I left for the Believe Walk I had to put my German lessons on hold and since I shall leave again for a wedding, I haven't resumed them. Danke for asking.

Have a fantastic Friday, everyone!

AnonymousPVX said...

Baseball seems to be the only sport that seats fans in an area where they CAN affect the play....Trevor Noah on the Daily Show did a joke where he showed a basketball fan having a seat ON the backboard....really funny. Think about it....no other sport has fan seating that can affect the game. How hard is that to figure out?

Had trouble in the NW so just moved on and worked it back. Nice to get the solve on any Friday puzzle.

BobB said...

fermatprime@gmail.com

You mixing Ice Cube (Oshea Jackson) with Ice-T (Tracey Marrow from Law and Order SVU)

Ol' Man Keith said...

Ah... too many unknowns to complete, esp. in the time I gave it.
Must now take on something I can finish well - in order to shed feelings of inadequacy. (The J was too easy to provide emotional compensation.)
Oh, the lines we draw for ourselves!

Misty ~
Your stoic acceptance of Friday "toughies" offers a fine model of level-headedness. I'm sure I'm not the only one who takes comfort.

~ OMK
__________
DR:
0.

CanadianEh! said...

D'otto - glad you have enjoyed Buffy over the years. She is an amazing and strong woman.
Lemonade - glad you enjoyed the link. It is interesting to hear current news about performers we remember from the past. (But sometimes the news is not all good.)

Yellowrocks said...

I like Astro's Altuve's classy acceptance of his fate in the fan interference controversy, "What would you do as a fan? I would do the same," Altuve said after the game. "Like, they're trying to catch the ball. I don't have anything against him. He's another Astro fan, he's rooting for us, and I appreciate he was trying to help me."
My post was along the lines of the thoughts of Anonymous PVX @ 12:43. There should not be any chance for fans to be suspected of interference in this way. Of course, there is the unavoidable lobbing of objects onto the field by fans. These should result in immediate ejection and even fines or other sanctions. This is not sportsmanship. I understand in the UK it is worse. Even a pig's head was lobbed unto the pitch. Let the skills of the athletes determine the outcome.

Becky said...

I loved this puzzle! Many thanks to Mr. Stowe and to you also, Lemony, for your commentary and your kind words to me two or three days ago. Re: Bessie Smith. But I have to say I would no more try to construct a puzzle than I would zip glide or parachute out of an airplane (for fun) or climb across that Australian bridge. I'm just not made for any of those activities.

My daddy was a ham operator for many years (I used to help him grind crystals, flat thin squares of something glasslike, I assume to get different frequencies). He even moved from McAllen, TX, which my mother loved, because he could only get half the contacts he could in the middle of the country, Although,they moved to CA, which would have the same problem of being on the coast. Go figure.

Becky

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Couldn't Spike Lee stick out a sneaker and trip a player at a Knicks game if he weren't a gent? (Or if it wasn't certain that he would get caught and lose his court-side seat.)

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle. Once I got SPINSTER DOCTOR it was more or less easy to pre-fill the STER letters in the other answers, as several of you have already pointed out. WEES about OCHER and DUAD. Owen, loved your playing with DUAD!

billocohoes said...

Fans have certainly interfered with bicycle racers and probably runners.

I thought Mookie was a foot or two in front of the wall when he leaped, the fans were right against the back of the wall and reaching forward, the only camera with a definitive view was blocked by a security guard. The call was arguable either way.

CrossEyedDave said...

Been busy the last couple of days, scouting the woods
for campsites close enough to fall into by falling out of the car...
(Hey! I'm, getting old!)
So didn't feel qualified to post until this Ham radio discussion.

(Picard, I bookmarked AC radiation loss,
& Thermomagnetic motors for review tonite. Looks fascinating!)

I always wanted to do Ham radio, but could not afford it.
(maybe some Citizens Band over the years...) (long stories)
But, with today's internet, I use Teamspeak and talk with people
all over the world with no lag whatsoever...
(Flying with teams in Spitfires trying to save Britain.)
Which I guess doesn't mean much when you can Skype (videochat) anyone, anywhere for free....)

But as long as I am posting,
This weeks Pickles comic strip has been outstanding!
It was a set up starting Monday that led up to this classic!

Avg Joe said...

I appreciate the heads up from IM today regarding Erik Agard on Jeopardy. It's just ended here, and no, I won't spoil it. But I will say "Wow! What a haircut!"

Anonymous said...

Just finished watching “Jeopardy!” and Erik Agard , one of our constructors, just won! He will be returning Monday to defend his position.

Anonymous said...

I was watching Jeopardy with my wife and I thought I saw Colin Kaepernick. Then his name was announced and I told my wife he would win. She asked 'how do you know?'

He made a couple of dumb WAGs and I can't believe he answered OKLAHOMA as the 'Keystone state' from 1805. Lewis & Clark didn't leave the non-state of Missouri until 1804. Oklahoma? Wasn't even known then. But he won anyway.

Congratulations Erik.

SwampCat said...

Some of you baseball purists help me out here. Starting in the 1800s. there was a New Orleans baseball team called the Pelicans. (No I wasn’t there at the time in spite of what some of you may think.)

I watched in 1957 to 1960 in the old Pelicans stadium at Carrollton and Tulane. Minor league... maybe Triple A.

Tookie Gilbert was our hero. Waaaay past his prime, but he was A Hero! We took our heroes where we found them. I don’t remember him doing anything as a Pelican.

I had many happy memories of those games.

Then...... some 59 years later, long after baseball of any league had left New Orleans, the name Pelicans was tacked on to a ..., horrors.... basketball team!!!

Am I justified in being horrified? The Pelicans are a baseball team to me!!!

Okay. I’ll go back under my rock..,,


Picard said...

Hand up: This was hard and slow going! Few unknowns. Just sneaky clues! Eventually I figured out the STER theme. Which helped with the solve!

Any deeper meaning to the STER theme?

I stared at BUS for the longest time before I figured out RHOMBUS. I had been assuming it had to do with gems or baseball. Hand up for WEAN before WEAR. Never heard of VIKING appliances.

I tried PAID UP before REPAID. The clue was sneaky, but I did get the idea! Had not heard of MA BARKER before this. Stuck awhile thinking ZIPCAR was owned by LYFT.

I once rented an AVIS car and had the Check Engine light coming on. When I returned it, I warned them of the problem. They rented it to the very next customer. I don't think I ever used AVIS again.

Last to fill was the cross of unknown OCA with CIRCE. FIR!

Here I actually saw actor and rapper ICE CUBE up close in Los Angeles

My then lady friend had arranged a very special tour at Paramount Studios. When we came out there was a protest involving Farrakhan. ICE CUBE happened to be there. We had just seen him in the film Boyz N the Hood and recognized him. It is an excellent film, by the way.

Here I was visiting MICHELANGELO'S MARBLE "DAVID"

A few other bits of Florence art there, too!

Here I was feeding a ROO or two or more!

When I was a child I got to see the real SMOKEY Bear at the National Zoo. I can't seem to find any photos.

Picard said...

OwenKL Thank you for the very kind words about my Charles M Schulz Museum photos at SANTA ROSA. I am honored that you took the time to zoom in on some of the images.

In case people don't know it, if you click on most of my images you will see a much more detailed image!

In that case there was a detailed time line of Schulz' life that you could only read if you zoomed in that way. He was quite an achiever. And yet he always felt he was not doing enough. Too many people are the opposite!

Jinx Thanks for asking about my involvement with high-voltage DC transmission lines. I was not directly involved in any actual installations. I was working at the High Voltage Research Laboratory (HVRL) in Cambridge, Mass.

I was doing research on epoxy insulators for these lines. I cast epoxy insulator samples with different mixtures. Then I put them in a Van de Graaf generator that could apply several million volts to them. It was very difficult to find materials that could stand up to such a stress.

I think our work was funding by Corning Glass if I remember correctly. I don't know for sure how our work was used. But I am hoping it eventually did get used in actual transmission lines.

CrossEyedDave I am honored that you will take the time to follow up on my high voltage work and on my Tesla thermomagnetic motor work. The latter was of interest because it seemed that a tiny change in temperature could lead to an arbitrarily large change in force. If that were true, you could make a kind of perpetual motion machine! I was fairly sure that could not happen, so my high school research was to see what was really going on.

It won me some level of honors with the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. Not enough to win a scholarship. But it probably is what got me into MIT.

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughtful comments on my posts. I don't need constant feedback. But if too many days go by with no comment I have to assume no one is paying attention. Thanks again!

PK said...

Tuned in to Jeopardy a few minutes after the introductions were done. But I got really excited when I saw that big Afro and recognized Erik. I hadn't seen IM's reminder. He did himself proud.

Thanks to all who tried to help with my bank & credit card problems last night. I've been a bookkeeper all my adult life and cleaned up the bookkeeping/financial messes in three different businesses which recruited me to do so. Letting someone else do my bill paying just isn't in my makeup. I need to feel in control to some extent. I did go to the bank today and reading between the lines found out that maintenance fee probably was because I drew out a big chunk of money to invest and they didn't like it. I may change banks. Credit card payment didn't get thru the bank either. May change credit cards.

Anonymous said...

Picard, your neediness for feed back is a real drag on the conversation. Just say what you want and if anyone is interested they will reply.

Picard said...

PK DW accidentally overdrew our account recently just as I paid our rent. We got hit with a nasty bank fee. I had never had this happen before. Of course, I immediately transferred money in to cover it.

I called the bank and they immediately reversed the overdraft charge.

Banks and credit card companies are notorious for high fees. But what is less known: If you challenge them, they will often back down. Just don't do it too often!

CrossEyedDave said...

One (of many) reasons I read this Blog is to learn new things.

Picard, I think it was here that I discovered bit of Tesla's
genius that is so incredibly simple, I cannot believe it is not in
world wide use today.

You all know of a one way valve, it is the type of valve that
makes water pumps possible.

Can you imagine a one way valve with no moving parts, that never wears out?

Well, he already invented it years ago...

Mike Sherline said...

Picard - I enlarged a lot of the Edison pics to read the plaques - very interesting. Obviously you're right, I mixed up Tesla/Edison and AC/DC. Guess DC works with local generation.

I remember seeing Smokey at the Nat'l. Zoo - my little brother got him mixed up w/Yogi, kept saying "Yabba-dabba-doo" to him.

I enjoyed today's kangaroos. They're fascinating animals - so alien, yet somehow human-like. Surprised visitors/tourists were encouraged to feed them - thought they were pests, especially to farmers/gardeners.

Mike Sherline said...

60a - had to try several different dictionaries before finding one that didn't change my search word to announce. I'm certain I've never heard or seen this.
enounce
transitive verb
e·nounced, e·nounc·ing, e·nounc·es
To declare formally; state.
To pronounce clearly; enunciate.
Origin of enounce
From French énoncer from Latin ēnūntiāre to speak out ; see enunciate . (The American Heritage Dictionary).

Lemonade714 said...

Becky, THANK YOU .

Misty said...

Thank you, Ol' Man Keith--that's very kind of you. Tomorrow, of course, will be even tougher. Hope I can maintain a cheerful spirit.

Exciting "Jeopardy" game tonight. Can't believe one of our constructors is the new champion. Woohoo!

Wilbur Charles said...

Talk about drags.

Get it straight .we like Picard. We don't like YOU!!!

WC

Wilbur Charles said...

Re. "The (missed) Catch". Clearly fan interference from a totally biased fan. Just like the Patriots nationally the Redsox are unpopular in Tampa Bay.

But generally popular in general. The 'Stros had two key players under PAR.
And, credit as I said yesterday, the marvelous Redsox OF.

I was having tough going, all of a sudden started filling and suddenly no white. At which point I carefully studied all the perps connecting ENOUNCE.

I take it someone did the LIU.

Yep.

WC

Lucina said...

What a treat to see Erik Agard on Jeopardy! I had no doubt of the outcome. And I expected Alan, the retiring champion, to comment on having solved some of Eric's puzzles since he is an admitted crossword addict. Maybe he doesn't pay attention to the constructor's name.

Lemonade714 said...

Constructor Joon Pahk appeared and did well on JEOPARDY

TTP said...


Talk about "being late to the party"...

Thank you Craig Stowe and thank you Lemonade.

As many have already said, seeing the added STER helped in the solve. I got it at HIP STER HUGGRERS in the south where I got the most traction.

After about 30 minutes the bottom was filled and most of the midsection completed, but I wasn't making much headway in the north, and had to leave for awhile. When I got back to it a few hours later, the rest fell within ten minutes, and it started with changing OCHRE to OCHER.

Great cluing.

Wilbur Charles, a couple of points:

1) When you post from your phone, and do a "Reply To", you should be aware that no one knows that you did a Reply To. On the blog, it simply shows as "Talk about drags. Get it straight. We like Picard. We don't like YOU!!!"
For clarity, most people will start a reply to a particular post by addressing the author, as in: Anonymous @... or Desper-otto at .... or just their name. It removes ambiguity.

2) Please don't respond to that stuff. Just ignore it.

Thanking you in advance.

Finally, Anonymous at 7:31 PM: Your comment wasn't necessary. We're glad you enjoy the blog, and I'm sure you've had positive posts before. If someone's style or personality rubs you the wrong way, please ignore it, or just skip over that person's comments. These aren't earth shattering matters being discussed here. It's just a crossword blog. Thanking you in advance as well.