google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, October 27, 2018, Michael Ashley

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Oct 27, 2018

Saturday, October 27, 2018, Michael Ashley

Themeless Saturday By Michael Ashley


Today we celebrate a holiday that will be met with, uh, great gusto at our little literary popsicle stand here: National Beer Day. Ales and beers of all description populate our puzzles and discourse. I don't imbibe but will raise an imaginary glass to you on this sudsy holiday! Salut, Cheers, Skol, L'Chaim, Here's mud in yer eye!

Today's constructor is Michael Ashley. I blogged his last puzzle here on September 15 which of course was another themeless marvel and this is what I found out about Michael that day:  I lived nearly 20 years in Manhattan, New York, and have now lived with my wife and two children in Scottsdale, Arizona, since 1993. Besides being a maniacal online chess buff, in my spare time I dabble at another sport which, on my better days, strongly resembles golf. 




Across:


1. "Grab that guy!": SEIZE HIM - A 1965 Lee Faulk Book Guild Poster of Prince Valiant on the lam!




9. Indonesian dyed fabrics: BATIKS - I was so surprised how quickly I wrote in this word




15. Speaking to a TV audience, say: ON CAMERA.



Hey, it's great to be here at the
LA Times Crossword Blog today!
16. Name attached to 14 Grand Slam tennis titles: EVONNE - From an Australian aboriginal family



17. Ultimate degree: NTH POWER  
9= 3 - Math peeps will know what NTH POWER of 9 makes this true

18. Pick up: NEATEN 


19. Urgent event: CRISIS  - The one that leaps to my mind




21. Agitated states: STEWS - The state Americans were in during the CRISIS above


22. Only driver to win Indy and Le Mans in the same year: A.J. FOYT - Number 14 at Indy and Number 1 at the 24 hours of Le Mans which he won with co-driver Dan Gurney in 1967




25. 2017 NLDS player: NAT - Washington NATional 


27. Gaelic tongue: ERSE -  Bobby Burns in Gaelic and translated on this beer day: `O gude ale comes and gude ale goes; Gude ale gars me sell my hose, Sell my hose, and pawn my shoon – Gude ale keeps my heart aboon!'' 

`O good ale comes and good ale goes; good ale makes me sell my hose (stockings), Sell my hose and pawn my shoes – Good ale keeps my heart afloat!'')

28. School closing?: MARM  - A SCHOOLMARM circa 1890




29. Link with: TIE TO.


31. Music with expressive lyrics: EMO.




32. Offering from your server: E-MAIL


34. Corn containers: CRIBS - The ones around here are all slowly wasting away, having been supplanted by silos and bins




36. Malamute pair?: EMS MalaMute - Yup!


38. Principal aluminum ore: BAUXITE - Mining BAUXITE in India




40. Habitual surfer: NETIZEN - A citizen of the net, sometimes to excess. Who me?


42. Red Cross provision: AID.


43. California's __ Beach: PISMO - A clam diggers paradise




45. Mississippi river to the Mississippi River: YAZOO - A fiendishly clever clue that refers to the YAZOO River IN Mississippi that empties INTO the Mississippi River just above Vicksburg




46. Green target: CUP - It's that 4" receptacle that we golfers stew about trying to get the ball to drop into


48. Besmirch: TAINT -  The TAINT of steroids made these home run records suspect. McGwire did 52. Cop to: OWN his usage but Sammy has 't yet




50. Single-channel: MONO - MONOaural and not stereo 


51. Stock trader's option: CALL - If you really want to know about Puts and CALLS


53. Put down: ABASED.


55. Real estate basics: AREAS - This 1395 sq. ft. house would fetch well less than half this price in my AREA




57. Title for Versace: SIGNOR - SIGNOR Versace is one of those single-named people for whom SIGNOR is usually omitted


59. Pressured, in a way: DUNNED - In this scene from Godfather II, a young Vito Corleone is being DUNNED for a cut of a robbery by Don Fanucci. Suffice it to say it did not work out well for SIGNOR Fanucci. 




61. Defies all logic: CAN NOT BE - Recently I posted John McEnroe screaming "You CAN NOT BE serious!"


65. Ran the show: EMCEED - I just got a very gracious note from a band director for a show I EMCEED a month ago.


66. Service companies: AGENCIES - My Sister-In-Law has spent years helping in a local AGENCY that helps abused women


67. Fly to flee: TSE TSE


68. Ashley's twin: MARY KATE - Here is a 24 second voice-over they did on The Simpsons





Down:


1. Family business partner: SON - e.g. Sanford and SON


2. Fangorn Forest dweller: ENT - ENTs are tree-like creatures that are found in the Fangorn Forest in JRR Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings. You can buy some sculptures of them online. 




3. Goethe's "I": ICH ICH liebe dich is the only German phrase I know and I bet you know it too!

4. 1960s pioneer in countercultural strips: ZAP COMIX - They came around in the late '60's when I was diverting my comic book money to groceries for my family 




5. Atlanta university: EMORY - Founded in 1836 in Oxford, GA


6. "60 Minutes" creator Don: HEWITT  - Don and the boys




7. Angers: IRES.


8. Venus probe craft: MARINER - In 1962, MARINER 2  became to the first spacecraft to reach another planet and today orbits the Sun

9. Rock's Harper or Folds: BEN - On Saturday you get singers BEN Harper and BEN Folds not BEN Franklin and Uncle BEN

10. Forum greetings: AVES.


11. Just right: TO A TEE - My blogging fits my meager skills TO A TEE


12. Brahms piano pieces: INTERMEZZOS - Originally pieces written to fill in between acts of a play or movements of larger musical works. Brahms wrote his as stand alone creations. Yeah, I knew that! 😏


13. Had an in: KNEW SOMEONE - How to get work in some institutions 

14. Intuit: SENSE - Women can intuit/SENSE things better than men as far as I am concerned 


20. Attended casually: SAT IN ON - Woody Allen SAT IN ON (WITH) The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band at the Cafe Carlyle in NY




22. Microscopic specimen: AMEBA.


23. Island spirits: JAMAICA RUMS - Hey! This is beer day!


24. Deceit: FRAUDULENCE - Wanna learn how to practice FRAUDULENCE? Google this video




26. Hamlet's first choice: TO BE - or not TO BE


30. Sharp winter tools: ICE SAWS - Those blocks the iceman brought had to originate from somewhere




33. Rim: LIP - A Rim out or a LIP out




35. Home near a cote, perhaps: STY - Here is a oil painting entitled A French Sheep COTE which could be near a pig STY




37. Hair net: SNOOD - A bi-level SNOOD


39. Former Yugoslav leader: TITO.


41. Final cut on the "Sounds of Silence" album: I AM A ROCK 
An anthem for isolation and emotional detachment

44. A luge driver might wear one: MINICAM - 1:14 of insanity




47. Revolver?: PLANET - Yes, kids, Planets revolve as they rotate around the Sun 


49. 1977 Australian Open winner Roscoe: TANNER.


51. VMI student: CADET - VMI first admitted women in 1997




54. Like a pretty lass: BONNY.


56. Matches in Hold 'em: SEES - Same as calling a poker bet


58. Lady of song: GAGA  - In the latest iteration of this movie, Lady GAGA has received good reviews for her acting and great ones for her voice




60. '50s ticket initials: DDE.


62. __ Maria: TIA - Aunt Maria - A dark liquor whose main flavor ingredients are coffee beans, Jamaican rumvanilla, and sugar, blended to an alcoholic content of 20%.




63. One might be made on the nose: BET - A BET for a horse to win a race


64. Canton ending: ESE - Find it below?






Now before you hoist up a stein, tankard, glass or can, how 'bout a comment:

DA GRID




Notes from C.C.:

Happy 71st birthday to Boomer, the sun of my life! This picture was taken on August 22, 2014 when Gary and his wife Joann visited Minneapolis.

Left to Right: Boomer, Gary, CC & Joann

46 comments:

  1. DNF. I thought it would be even worse, with blanks all over, but when I finally ran out of P&P, it was only a handful of words left in the greater NW. I had misspelt EMeRY, and had yARd instead of MARM.
    23d I had tried KAHUNA as both the end and start -- wrong islands, wrong spirits.
    Blanks kept me from seeing A.J.FOYT, ZAP COMIX, POWER, E-MAIL, AMEBA, AID.
    Unknown was HEWITT.
    Some overlaps I noticed:
    SAT IN ON = ON CAMERA = MINI-CAM
    TO BE = CANNOT BE
    CALL = SEES

    The casino owner shouted "SEIZE HIM!
    The cheater now we know TO BE him!"!
    At cards it CANNOT BE
    When his highest card is three,
    When the BET is raised, the cheat still SEES him!

    When NETIZENS communicate today
    They see E-MAIL as long since passé.
    Instagram and chat,
    I.M.ing's where it's at!
    Only fogies use so primitive a way!

    {C, B-.}

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Y'all! Enjoyable challenge, Michael. Thanks.

    Thank you, Gary, for another informative expo. I really needed the explanations for YAZOO and why "green target" = CUP (duh!). CUP wasn't what they put the beer in like a red solo cup. With "green" I tried "eco".

    Like Owen, I had trouble in the NW which was last to fill. Never heard of ZAPCOMIX (which after it filled, parsed it ZAPCO MIX), couldn't come up with A J FOYT until after JAMAICA filled. Had to red-letter to come up with POWER (not a math person), HEWITT, MARM.

    DNK: EVONNE, as clued. So long ago, I'd forgotten her. DNK: NETIZEN (the slang changes daily, I think) or EMORY. GAGA, again?

    Brahms: INTERludes, INTERMEtsos, INTERMEZZOS. Should have got this. Piano-teacher mother had a book of these on the piano rack a lot when I was growing up with a large prominent INTERMEZZOS on the cover.

    My luge driver wasn't wearing a helmet or leotard (well, that's what his suit looks like) but a MINICAM. Got the MINI but red-lettered CAM.

    Knew BEN Folds, not as a singer, but as a judge on one of the TV singing competitions, maybe the a cappella choirs.

    Ave before TIA Maria, the alcohol not the praise song. Oh, we have AVE elsewhere.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I liked Michael sneaking in the self-referential ASHLEY in the clues.I also saw the mini-theme of old Tennis stars EVONNE GOOLAGANG and ROSCOE TANNER . My slow spots were PISMO and YAZOO.
    I did however know ZAP COMIX and its iconic and irreverant founder ROBERT CRUMB .

    Thank you Gary and Michael

    ReplyDelete

  4. Good morning. Thank you Michael and thank you Husker Gary.

    Turfed it in the Northeast.
    1) Had YVONNE instead of EVONNE.
    2) Didn't know Harper or Folds, so with -YN, took a shot with LYN.
    3) Should've seen INTERMEZZOS. Guessed UNTERMEZZOS. D'OH !
    4) I needed a clue for Indonesian dyed fabrics. Didn't get one.

    AJ FOYT was a gimme. A Houston boy done good. To many, a legendary Texas figure. He had a Chevrolet dealership in Houston while I was there. It was down off South Post Oak near where I played softball three nights a week. There seemed to be a lot of AJ FOYT dealership billboards on 610 W and 610 S.

    Almost turfed it with ICE AXES, but that was leaving me with PIA-O Beach, CA, and that didn't sound right. Piano ? Worse, it left me with TX--T for Besmirch, and I knew that couldn't be correct.

    Another correction was PISTOL to PLANET.

    That's enough for now. Great puzzle and entertaining review !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good morning!

    That makes two this week! I spelled her name YVONNE, and then found it weird that two guys would spell their name as BYN. D'oh! DNF. Dang. Thanx for the humiliation, Michael and for the tour, Husker.

    A J FOYT: When I moved to Houston way back when, I bought a car from his Chevy dealership on South Post Oak.

    CRIBS: Wow, Husker, that's one huge corn crib in that photo. The ones I remember from my ute were about the size of a 4-holer outhouse.

    ESE: It appears that Cantonese comes from the area around Hong Kong and Guangzhou (formerly called Canton). Odd, that.

    PLANET: Or do the PLANETs rotate as they revolve around the sun?

    TANNER: Also the name of my next-door neighbor.

    Happy birthday, Boomer! Stay strong, young man. Hope that new back brace provides some relief.

    ReplyDelete
  6. VMI student is a Keydet

    ReplyDelete
  7. Desper-otto, I moved to Houston from NE Ohio in mid-May. Had a dark maroon K-Car with no AC. Saved every penny and sweated it out for a good three months before I was able to buy a car with AC. It was used 72 LeMans with AC. Canary yellow. The puffer in it worked great, and it was a heck of a lot easier to maneuver in Houston traffic. Especially when you needed to accelerate on the freeways and on city streets. Plus, it was easier to get a second date in a sporty LeMans than it was in a boxy K-Car with no AC.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you, Michael and Husker Gary.

    Batiks are quite popular with some quilters. Missouri Star Quilt Company has a small store dedicated to selling batiks. It is really bright and happy in there with the striking colors.

    This was a “plug and think” and repeat the process. I finally managed it in one sitting.

    The corn crib on my in -laws farm was my husband’s garage while he was growing up. When he managed to get a car at 16, there was no room in the garage, so he parked in the center of the crib. It was a long trek to the house in the rain.

    Happy Birthday, Boomer!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good Morning:

    This was an unusually tame Saturday offering, but it was also a big, fat FIW, thanks to Zap Comix/Bauxite crossing. My only w/o was Catch instead of Seize and I needed perps for Signor and Yazoo. Ice saws is new; we usually see Ice axes. Lady Gaga is becoming a staple.

    Thanks, Michael, for an easy, if unsuccessful, solve and thanks, HG, for the splendiforous summary. (Autocorrect didn't blink an eye!)

    Happy Birthday, Boomer! 🎂🎉🎈🎁🍾 Sending happy thoughts and hugs your way.

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Michael Ashley, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.

    Boomer: Happy Birthday and many more!

    Puzzle was about a typical Saturday level, TOUGH!

    Got through it in about two hours.

    Some hard answers: BATIKS, EVONNE, NETIZEN, YAZOO, ZAP COMIX, HEWITT, INTERMEZZOS, TANNER. Thank you perps and wags.

    Raining in Johnsonburg today. All my work is outside. So, we will see how that goes. Maybe I will celebrate National Beer Day.

    See you tomorrow en route to Illinois.

    Abejo

    ( )

    ReplyDelete
  11. Solved in usual time. Need someone to explain 28A "MARM" to me. Ive heard the term but don't get how the clue refers to the answer?

    BEN FOLDS- Love Ben Folds! My favorite single is 'Where's Summer B?' from their first album "Ben Folds Five"(1995)
    Fun little fact...Interestingly enough, there is not one guitar played on this album.
    Give it a listen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JJM, MARM is a (probably) rural corruption of MA’aM, my first guess for madam. A schoolmarm is a teacher.

      HG, like you in the write up I usually say JamaicaN rum, not JAMAICA RUMS in the answer

      Delete
  12. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOMER !!! The "FIRST" Sunset toast is to YOU.

    Husker Gary: Wonderful, informative write-up.

    Yeah ... National BEER Day ... MY kinda Holiday.

    Guess I might have to raise a glass or two.
    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  13. JJM, it's sorta lame -- "School closing" = word to follow "School" = MARM.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well today is the day filled with LONG perps unknown to me. ZAP COMIX, FRAUDULENCE, MARY KATE. East of the Mississippi fell rapidly but I was stuck in the SAN Fran region. I knew BAUXITE but the race car driver was slow to fill.

    What is a NLDS? NAT was perps
    PISMO Beach- new to me.
    YAZOO- a gimme. It was either YAZOO or PEARL River.
    CALLs & PUTS- a way to lose money faster than you can imagine; for the pros only.

    HG- you don't remember JFK saying "Ich bin ein Berliner" thinking he was one of them when speaking in Germany. But ein Berliner was what the locals called some type of pastry.

    KNEW SOMEONE- better to be RELATED TO SOMEONE, as in how to get into Harvard

    ReplyDelete
  15. Boomer Happy Birthday!

    Husker Gary thanks for the many illustrations!

    A Saturday challenge, but persistence paid off. Unknown FOYT seemed wrong. Wanted more familiar sounding HOYT. And I thought it would be AL, not initials AJ. Slowed me down. Did others think SELL before CALL? My financial advisor sometimes has me do a PUT or a CALL.

    HEWITT was my first fill. He once called me about a story for 60 Minutes. But they never ended up doing it.

    Clever clue for JAMAICA RUMS. Got the RUMS part, but slow to get JAMAICA due to AL HOYT mistake. Don't know ASHLEY or MARY KATE. I am sure there are people who spend their lives following them! Hand up for ICE AXES before SAWS. Confused me as I was pretty sure PISMO belonged. I have been to PISMO quite a few times. It is a rare California place where cars are allowed on the beach. A lot of cars get stuck and ruined there.

    Other unknowns: SNOOD, YAZOO

    I know Goolagong. But hand up for confusion about xVONNE. Did not know those BENs but it had to be. Last WAG to fill to FIR!

    Here we were at MONO Lake.

    Those "Tufa" formations are most notably interesting there. MONO means "monkey" in Spanish. No monkeys in California! Apparently it comes from a Native American word.

    But here I was with a monkey in INDONESIA wearing a BATIK I got there.

    I brought back quite a few BATIK shirts. Some fell apart right away. Some are still in prime condition.

    I also have FORUM photos. Perhaps another time.

    ReplyDelete
  16. It's karma. Today I paid for my 15 minute solve yesterday. I got stuck in Northern California. Hi, Picard. I was sure it was AJ HOYT. DUH! Red letters found my error. FOYT? I knew that. Drat. From there I found FRAUDULENT. BA--ITE, finally I thought of BAUXITE, which should have been easy. Very fair and fun. Not that obscure. Fine puzzle and interesting write up, HG.
    DO, that was my thought, too: "Or do the PLANETs rotate as they revolve around the sun?"
    I loved fly to flee/ tse tse.
    I always picture a snood as what the actresses wore in the the 1940's movies. My ex was a big fan of these old movies which we watched on TV in the 60's.
    snood
    Jamaica rum and Jamaican rum are both advertised on the internet. Jamaican seems more popular.
    Happy birthday, Boomer and many more.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Well, after the pretty good luck I had with this week's Thursday and Friday puzzles, I expected a real bear today, and it did start out pretty tough for me. But I have to learn to trust my instincts, because I took a lot of chances and they almost all turned out to work! As a result I got a big chunk of the puzzle before I had to start cheating a bit, and so I found this a pretty enjoyable experience. I too put AVE Maria and found it just didn't work and so got the TIA. Then was surprised to see AVE turn up as a Forum greeting on top. One of a number of little surprises. So, many thanks, Michael, and you too, Husker Gary, for a nice write up. (No, I'm not into beer, but I'll toast the blog with my glass of Merlot tonight).

    Have a wonderful birthday, Boomer. We're thinking about you and C.C. every day, and send you our warmest good wishes. So nice to see the picture.

    Have a great weekend, everybody.

    ReplyDelete
  18. One of my best friends went to VMI. He is very far from there in every way. He and his wife live in Italy now.

    From yesterday:
    billocohoes thanks for the ICE explanation. I am still with Mike Sherline that it sounds odd!

    Lemonade yes, I compressed my MONTREAL comment. I meant to say that MONTREAL is a variant of the French words MONT REAL which in English would be Mount Royal. It is a variant because two words were compressed into one.

    As you know, I am not a team sports fan in general. But last night we were at a Halloween party with the Dodgers-Red Sox on in the background. It was the tenth inning and tied 1-1. I have to say I could understand the excitement of some impressively close plays. By the time I went to bed it was the 14th inning and tied 2-2. Obviously, the two teams are well matched!

    Even though I live in California now I probably feel more affinity for my Boston tribe.

    From two days ago:
    Wilbur Charles as noted above I generally know little or nothing about team sports. But thanks for letting me know that ACC is not as obscure as I thought. About the only three letter sports acronyms I know are NFL and now NHL from the puzzles! Now I know another!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I need to get this posted quickly while we still have electric power. The weather at the Bluehen Ponderosa could be a lot better. It is cold, dark, damp, and most of all, windy.
    With every gust the lights in the house flicker. We're bound to lose power before the day is out.

    First and foremost, Happy Birthday Boomer, and for the record, you are still a spring chicken.


    Great puzzle, Mr. Ashley, thanks. Lots of bright fresh cluing and few of the trite fill we sometimes see. H.G., thanks four a fun filled expo.


    Remembered AJ Foyt with only the J in place. Unknowns were NETIZEN, INTERMEZZOS (as clued), SNOOD. I remembered Robert Crumb, but never heard of ZAP COMIX. Mr. Crumb's "Keep on truckin'" dude was ubiquitous in the 60's, wasn't it. Do we really get email from a server? What is NLDS? The answer to 36a could also be "A"s. The c/a for 67a struck me as rich.


    Gotta go, but first One Final Thought: Despite the high cost of living, it remains pretty popular.


    Cya!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Picard... I stayed up until 2:30 AM to see the finish of that game. All 561 pitches ! Drove my wife crazy. Nothing new there though. Ha!

    To all... I get the term SCHOOL-MARM.. what I don't get is how it refers in ANY way to the clue "School Closing?"


    HBD Boomer!

    ReplyDelete
  21. MARM is the closing or end of the term school marm.

    The nor'easter here was just a normal rain with just a little wind. The heart of the storm passed to the east of us. Stay safe all of you in its path.

    Time to help carve the jack'o'lantern.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi All!
    Happy Birthday Boomer!

    I might just as well lurked today. I could barely get a toe-hold anywhere and, when I did, you BET it was wrong (e.g. ava Maria, Tsar@39d, ICES axes, Jamaican Rum ). I need more than an ICE SAW for this snowy mess.

    Thanks Michael, but the solve was way above my pay-grade. Thanks HG for the expo and bailing me out early.

    Fav: NETIZEN. I used the word just yesterday when discussing egress routing of RFC1918 (non-routable/private IP address space) - "We should be a good NETIZEN and block 1918s out-bound." One guy in the meeting never heard the word before - kids these days //get off my usenet lawn! :-)

    {C+, B+}

    Ben Folds Five: One Angry Dwarf and Two Hundred Solemn Faces [3:53] for your listening pleasure.
    And a bonus track for JJM: Where's Summer B [4:08] //sorry, couldn’t find a decent live version

    Have a great Saturday!

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  23. I liked this puzzle. I took me a while to get going but little by little things clicked and I was able to solve it. I wish I could have remembered MARY KATE sooner, as it would have saved me a bit of trouble in that area since I did not know TANNER and have AVE (like several of you) instead of TIA.

    Sump'n came up; gotta go.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Big Easy, National League Divisional Series, three division champs plus a wild card team, 2017 included the Washington NATS (Nationals, though 50 years ago the Wash. Senators were abbreviated NATS in the papers)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Ben Folds Five:

    I saw them in concert many moons ago and watched them perform "She Don't Use Jelly(Vaseline), a quirky song by The Flaming Lips(their original version on Letterman is great also).

    I just checked YouTube and it is available (just recently uploaded!) but I cannot link. It is titled "She Dont Use Jelly(Lounge-A-Palooza Version)(from sessions at West 54th)"

    Awesome

    ReplyDelete
  26. @3:04 - This one? I didn't know Ben Folds covered that Flaming Lips tune. Good stuff, that.

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  27. Yup! Thank you sir!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Great puzzle! Thanks, Michael, for a fun-to-solve Saturday effort. And thanks to HG for 'splaining the Hamlet answer… his first choice is TOBE? Who the heck is Tobe? Oooooh… TO BE. Parsing problems today!

    Hand up for AVE before TIA and for having to wait for the perps to decide *VONNE Goolagong's first name spelling.

    Almost all the corn cribs in west central Illinois were large and most sheltered tractors 🚜 or other farm machinery in their central aisle (which was open at both ends so the equipment could be driven straight out with no backing up required).

    Mississippi river to the Mississippi River — priceless!

    Pismo Beach was frequently referred to by Bob Hope and others in their comedy routines. For a long time I thought it was just a funny, made up name. When I found out that it was a real place I thought it was even funnier.

    Email never comes to you directly from the sender; it goes through a series of servers before it gets to you.

    Happy birthday, Boomer!

    Feeling much better since I got home from the hospital; I’ve gone over an hour without a nap 😴.

    Have a great day, all!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous T ... one step ahead of you. was playing Where's Summer B. while I wrote that first post. Soon as I saw it in the puzzle, I cranked up iTunes and listened to the entire album while I finished puzzle. What a great song!

    Love Angry Dwarf...

    BTW... What a great cover in the link you provided.Never seen that before. Classic Ben Folds!

    ReplyDelete
  30. A typical Saturday puzzle, wickedly but fairly clued and tough....the SW was the last to fall and quite the battle.

    Today’s National Beer Day?......anyone seen Brett?

    ReplyDelete
  31. Happy birthday, Boomer! Thank you, Michael and Gary for a gnarly one today. I wonder if Michael is related to the Ashley twins?

    No time to read comments; it took me way too long to finish this and then I had errands to run. Came home and LIU some names to complete. I'm at a great disadvantage with sports clues! Green target?? EVONNE?? I Spelled it with a Y. Drat! I do know of AJFOYT, however.

    PISMO Beach was our vacation spot for many years before it became overcrowded.

    Clever clue for TSETSE!

    That's all for now. I'll go to church today since we are making tamales tomorrow. Ahem!

    I hope you are experiencing joy today, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Yellowrocks glad you also thought it was HOYT before FOYT!

    JJM thanks for sharing your Game 3 Red Sox/Dodgers viewing experience! We do not have cable TV so watching the rest of the game was not an option. But we got to see a pretty good sample of the close competition in the 10th inning! At home I could just follow up on the score!

    OK... I was inspired to dig out this set of my PISMO Beach photos!

    This was with my friend Bianca in 2006. No cars on the beach, but plenty of surfers!

    ReplyDelete
  33. FLN Re: ICE - Thanks Sandyanon, Anon-T and TTP. So, inside sports slang/lingo. No wonder it doesn't make sense to me.

    16a - Again, as my life is a no sports zone (except here and in the occasional unavoidable news mention), I thought the last name might be Lendl.

    22a An avid Car & Driver reader in my youth I knew A.J. (and Dan Gurney).

    25a - Ditto 16a. No idea what the clue could stand for - National League ??

    31a - Any that I may have accidently heard I wouldn't actually call "music".

    46a Took 3 perps for me to think of golf green.

    12d Since INTERMEZZO is an Italian word, shouldn't the plural end in i instead of os?

    37d - I think of the school cafeteria lunch lady.

    Happy Birthday, Boomer. I have a few years on you. Keeping my fingers crossed for you, wishing you all the best.

    Good, hard puzzle and always interesting, informative review. Thanks Michael and Husker.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Y'all can blame this on MikeS... He said Lunch Lady [Land] [Sandler, 4:50]

    Lucina - um, I broached the subject w/ DW re: flying out to AZ to get Tamales from Sister-L. "Who?... You mean one of your crossword friends?..." and other cross words.
    Me need think a new Tamale tactic.

    MikeS, since you like Car & Driver...
    I've not shared this story yet, but AJ FOYT seems as close as we'll get to Mario Andretti anytime soon...
    The poor guy (Mario) was a "booth babe*" for a vendor at BlackHat signing photos for folks that probably didn't know who he was. I knew because Pop told me a story of meeting Mario at the Indy 500 in the early '70s.

    I stood in the short line and got to meet him.** It was perfunctory until, that is, I leaned into him and said, "I drive an Alfa." His face lit up (as did his thumb) and I got a big smile out of him.

    Cheers, -T
    *The draw to get you to stop by a vendor's booth. 15 years ago it was quite blatant - smokin' hot girls that would never talk to any of us nerds IRL (in real life); the vendors have toned it down quite a bit and actually have folk (cute girls & guys) that actually know their schtuff.
    **For the curious, my tee says "See your world. Maybe wish you hadn't."

    ReplyDelete
  35. Have you eaten all the cake?

    I'm way late to the party, but I also wish a Happy 71st birthday to Boomer! May you enjoy 71 more!

    Ðave

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous T - I deny responsibility for that Lunch Lady sketch. Adam Sandler always creeps me out and I find Chris Farley's portrayal of the lunch lady quite disturbing.

    But good on ya' for getting to meet Mario Andretti; too bad he had to sink so low, but glad you were able to put a gleam in his eye by mentioning your Alfa.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Wow, I'd completely forgotten about Goolagong. I went with LATIK and LYN
    As I see TTP did too

    I take it those Rock guys are familiar to music aficionados as Tennis legends are to me. I wonder if EVONNE won the Women's side when Roscoe won the Men's

    I was completely stumped in the NE after racing through the rest. So I watched the ball game for awhile. I like to give it an hour headstart so I can skip through the ads. My tape ran out of time in the 11th last night.
    I used to listen to George Feyer at the Cafe Carlyle. I still like his version of September Song better than Sinatra's.

    -2 and HBD Boomer. I have to get an advanced blood test for prostate cancer on Tuesday. I'm in complete denial stage
    Next? Relief or apathy.

    I assume someone has explain National League Division Series for NLDS. It could have been CUB. I see billocoes indeed has explained

    Why did Cora leave Rodriguez in to pitch to Puig.

    WC

    Oops. Sox right back in it.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Whoever explained NLDS, thank you. Now I'm waiting for VMI.

    AnonT:
    Finally, a good photo of you!

    Picard:
    That's a beautiful BATIK shirt!

    I finally read all the comments; you all still crack me up!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Wow, a lot more than I hoped for .

    My take was Dodger's#3,#4 were my big worry. Sox middle relief was suspect. Well..
    Tonight, the Dodger middle relief failed and Sox excellent.
    But...
    It ain't over yet (not on my taped version)

    WC

    Egad. Captain Heart attack AKA Craig Kimbrel is at it again

    ReplyDelete

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