"BOB" - The first letter of each of the theme answers.
17. Relative of "The pen is mightier than the sword": BRAINS OVER BRAWN.
25. Rear-window alert about an infant: BABY ON BOARD.
43. Dog show award: BEST OF BREED.
54. Arizona stadium renamed Chase Field as a result of a financial merger: BANK ONE BALLPARK.
56. Short haircut, and a hint to 17-, 25-, 43- and 54-Across: BOB.
Bonus: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. We have a crossword pangram today; every letter of the alphabet is used !
Please welcome Abbie Higashi on her LA Times Crossword debut, as she teams with Kevin Christian to give us this fun puzzle. This is Kevin's 28th appearance on the LA Times Crossword stage.
Across:
1. Whopper inventors: LIARS. On April 1st, 1998, Burger King took out a full page ad in USA Today, and announced it would start serving the left-handed Whopper. The burger contained the very same ingredients but it was rotated a full 180° to better suit and offer a better grip on the bun to the left-handed consumer. In addition, all the condiments were also rotated. Can you guess what happened ?
6. Toss of a coin: FLIP. Supposedly truly random as to whether it will land heads or tails, but a caught coin has a 1 % greater chance of showing heads if it started out heads up, and a 1 % greater chance of showing tails if it started out tails up. This according to a UCSB article on a Stanford paper, DYNAMICAL BIAS IN THE COIN TOSS.
10. Trick: FLAM. A lie or hoax, a deception.
14. Bosc relative: ANJOU. Pear Varieties From Anjou to Williams
15. "Doctor Zhivago" heroine: LARA.
16. Himalayas locale: ASIA.
20. Census datum: SEX. Jinx, the answer is Male or Female, not Yes.
21. Tear: RIP. The clue/answer made me think of Rip Torn.
22. Levy that led to a 1773 "party": TEA TAX. In fact, the tea tax had been around for six years. It was the 1773 Tea Act that gave the the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies that was the final straw.
23. Morass: BOG.
24. 2000 election dangler: CHAD.
30. "__ Sera, Sera": QUE. The song and scenes from The Man Who Knew Too Much:
33. "See ya later!": I'M OFF.
34. Altar neighbor: APSE.
35. Ahi, for one: TUNA. Yellowfin.
36. __ avis: RARA. Latin. Through time, from rare bird to strange bird to peculiar person, to a unique person or thing. Dennis Rodman ?
37. Wooden storage container: CRATE.
38. Mental acuity: WITS.
39. Former Russian ruler: CZAR. Czar rule lasted over 400 years in Russia. Here's the Top 10 list
40. Frau's mister: HERR. Damen and Herren are on some doors in Germany. Good thing for the images to teach foreigners that Da Men use the one marked Herren.
41. Nest for an eaglet: AERIE.
42. In a lather, with "up": HET.
45. Small salamander: NEWT.
46. Show curiosity: ASK.
47. Melodious piece: ARIOSO. Let's have some more J.S. Bach...
50. God in the Vatican: DIO.
51. Dust jacket blurb: BIO.
58. Play opener: ACT I. After DIO and BIO, wanted an answer of maybe RIO or TIO.
59. Nano or Shuffle: IPOD.
60. Bravery: VALOR.
61. Lugosi of "Dracula" fame: BELA. Halloween is right around the corner.
62. Keep __ on: observe: TABS.
63. Justice Kagan: ELENA.
Down:
1. Chocolate dogs: LABS.
2. Pertaining to, on memos: INRE.
3. Early competitor of Mr. Clean: AJAX. Mr. Clean - 1958. Ajax - 1947.
4. Versailles royal: ROI.
5. Movable sports car top: SUNROOF. Not sure why sports car is specified. Anyway, sunroofs slide open and moonroofs tilt open a little bit. 40 % of all new cars sold in 2017 had either a sunroof or moonroof.
6. Intentional fall, in basketball: FLOP. In basketball, a flop is an intentional fall by a player after little or no physical contact by an opposing player in order to draw a personal foul call by an official against the opponent. - Wikipedia.
7. British washroom: LAV.
8. Choler: IRE.
9. 100-yard golf hole, say: PAR THREE. No Par 4s or 5s on this local 9 hole course:
10. Capacitance unit: FARAD. So named in honor of Michael Faraday.
11. Future JD's exam: LSAT. Doctor of Jurisprudence / Law School Admission Test.
12. Old Sony brand: AIWA.
13. Tailless cat: MANX. The cat from the Isle of Man.
18. Omen: SIGN.
19. Rosary feature: BEAD.
23. How landslide victories are won: BY FAR.
24. Fidel or Raúl: CASTRO.
25. Tree whose sap is used in a soft drink: BIRCH. Never had one, but I read that Birch soda is commonly found in New England and Newfoundland.
26. Dazzle: AMAZE.
27. Baron Cohen's Kazakh journalist: BORAT.
28. Least furnished, as a room: BAREST.
29. Eye-bending paintings: OPART.
30. 24 sheets of paper: QUIRE.
31. Free from bonds: UNTIE.
32. Slacked (off): EASED.
35. Dance provocatively: TWERK.
37. What a dog will do with a bone: CHEW ON IT.
41. Exculpate: ABSOLVE.
43. Kiss from Carlos: BESO.
44. Epic __: disaster: FAIL.
45. Finnish electronics giant: NOKIA.
47. Basic rhyme scheme: ABAB.
48. Speed competition: RACE.
49. Part of IBM: Abbr.: INTL. International Business Machines.
50. Barq's rival: DADS. Root Beers. A&W, Hires, Mug, IBC etc.
51. Block of hay: BALE.
52. Press: IRON.
53. Gumbo vegetable: OKRA.
55. Radon-regulating org.: EPA.
57. Bro: PAL.
Notes from C.C.:
Happy
Birthday to dear CrossEyedDave, who has entertained us for so many years with his fun links.
69 comments:
What a fun, breezy puzzle with an equally fun and breezy write up. Welcome, Abbie. I think I have seen a variation of this theme before but without such fresh fill. Isn't a linguistic wonder that there are so many 15 letter fill to give the constructors grid-spanners? I would not have noticed this was a pangram, which did not seem forced.
melissa, you got your RIO only it came out as ROI
We also have a mini-theme with BIRCH BEER and ROOT BEER . Have any of your tried this GOURMET brand?
Owen heal well and thank you mb, KC and the Sunshine band, I mean and AH.
Good gettable puzzle! Great write-up!
I should have seen the pangram with the 'Q'. (My last fill because my only unknown was quire.)
Still think FLAM should have been clued: 'Half a trick'. Even though Wiktionary says either word could be used individually. (In centuries old Scandinavia.)
Very happy birthday wishes to Dave 1 and Bluehen.
Welcome, James Brydon; I never saw QUIRE or I would have had an unknown, but the "Q" in QUE SERA filled very quickly, and I forgot about it. I looked it up and it is now 25 (formerly 24) sheets of paper; one-twentieth of a ream.
AJAX should have tipped me off to the pangram as the "J" is not very popular in crosswords.
Hi Y'all! Welcome, Abbie & hello again, Kevin. Liked the puzzle. We haven't had a pangram in a while. Fine expo, TTP.
Needed the BOB reveal to get the theme although it almost smacked us in the face. Reveal also let me finish the open squares B&K&O in BANK ONE -- no idea there. That and ARIOSO were the finishing fills.
Couldn't remember CHAD, BORAT, QUIRE or how to spell QUE, altho I sang that song many times. Didn't know: FARAD, AIWA.
Calling it a soft drink threw me off BIRCH which I thought was beer and didn't know alcohol content. We don't have it out here.
Happy Birthday, CED. You are always a delight. If you are still around, Happy Birthday, Blue Hen. Don't be a stranger.
Sending healing thoughts to you, Owen. Did your wife go on her trip?
Good Morning, TTP and friends. This was a fun puzzle. I needed the BOB, however, to help me with a couple of the theme answers.
Hand up for Loo before LAV.
I had forgotten about BIRCH Beer. My grandfather liked Birch beer and always had some in the fridge when we visited.
I liked how FLIP crossed with FLOP.
I have an IRON, but can't remember the last time I used it.
ARIOSO is a new word.
I generally listen to my iPOD nano while doing the crossword.
My favorite clue was Whopper Inventions = LIARS.
A very Happy Birthday to CrossEyed Dave and Blue Hen!
QOD: Fashion is what one wears oneself. What is unfashionable is what other people wear. ~ Oscar Wilde (né Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, Oct. 16, 1854 ~ Nov. 30, 1900)
LIARS always FLIP the eternal flim-FLAM.
They brag that everything ends with a slam!
That is, everything he does,
Not you nor I, cuz.
And he claims he's as truthful as old Uncle Sam!
Good morning!
Missed the S in Inventors, and immediately inked in TRUMP at 1a. Nope. Wite-Out, please. That was the only misstep in my march to the bottom. Failed to read the complete reveal clue...again, but did manage to get the B-O-B theme. Thanx, Keven, Abbie and TTP.
AJAX: Use Ajax [bum, bum] the foaming cleanser...
Happy birthday, CED (you've sent me down many a rabbit-hole) and Bluehen (you need to visit more often).
WJBS:FLIM-flam, maybe, not just FLAM.
Fairly quick run down the page - slightly slowing for BANK ONE BALLPARK and ARIOSO!
Congrats to Abbie on her debut and Paul for the crossword.
TTP blog was fun with enjoyable music interludes - I almost thought it was JzB's Wednesday.
Happy birthday CED and Blue Hen!
We had our first freeze overnight- but with just one day I don't know if it will be enough to give the allergy sufferers some relief!
Is there a rule to follow re CZAR vs. tsAR, Or is it just a style choice?
BIRCH "beer" is definitely the usual terminology
Knew QUIRE from the covers of those old black-and-white composition books, that had measurements listed on the back or inside. Also where you learn rods, furlongs and drams.
FIR, but erased akai for AWAI, buso for BESO, and fell for loo. Didn't know QUIRE or ARIOSO. Wanted "barq's rival" to be SLOOP, as both are sailing vessel designs. DW's 401(k) started with AT&T, became Lucent, was absorbed by Alcatel, and now carries the NOKIA logo. As Starship sang, "Who cares, they're always changing corporation names".
I wanted to see "phlegm" somewhere in the fill to go with FLAM.
BOB is also used as shorthand for "Best-Of-the-Best". Commonly said by senior management during mergers regarding personnel and practices that will be kept instead of discarded. Some cities have radio stations that call themselves BOB-FM (regardless of their actual call signs), "we play the best of everything".
TTP, your census choices are sooo 2000s. Everyone knows the seven sexes: hetro male, trans male, hetro female, trans female, gay, lesbian, bi. And how do you know I would answer "yes"? If you must know, instead of telling people that I'm going to the men's room, I excuse myself to go shake hands with the unemployed. Thanks for the well-documented and clever tour anyway.
HBDTY CED and blue hen.
Welcome aboard, Abbie. Thanks to you and Kevin for the fun puzzle.
Good morning everyone.
Happy Birthdays to Bleu Hen and CED. Drei mal hoch!!
Got it all without help but the theme was blurry to me until TTP straightened me out. Had 'loo' before LAV. Took a bit to properly parse BANK ONE BALLPARK. A fun puzzle to work on.
QUIRE - re: copy paper. I try to buy super reams at BJ's.
BALE - Did you ever watch the dudes in commercials lifting bales by grabbing the strings without gloves on? Obviously a wanna-be farmer. It is so much easier (and on your back, too,) to use a bale hook. Easier on the baler twine, too; it breaks all too often and then you have hay detritus all over the place.
HERR - Many meanings: Mister, master, Lord, gent, man, sir,
I'M NOT DONE!
Anyone else hate those "baby on board" window hangers? I would rather see a Progressive Insurance TV ad marathon. I love the spoof hangers declaring "I don't give a crap who's on board". Of course I also like bumper stickers that say "my karma just ran over your dogma", "my kid can beat up your honor student", and the vulgar stick figures that are send ups of the cutsey little ones in the back windows. Of course one of my favorite shopping sites is despair.com.
Good Morning:
This was a fun and fast solve with only one w/o, Sonata/Arioso and one unknown, Bank One Ballpark. The Flip & Flop and Dio and Bio struck my eye, also, but I missed spotting the pangram. The reveal was short and sweet and spot on. CSO to Jinx at "Untie".
Thanks, Kevin and Abbie, and congrats, Abbie on your debut and thanks to TTP for an A+ review. The musical interludes were soothing and the cats and dogs played nice, for a change! One of my nieces has a Chocolate Lab (Mudsy) and a Yellow Lab (Sudsy). She also has a Labradoodle (Finnigan) and a Bernese Mountain dog (Fitzgerald). No lap dogs in that household!
Happy Birthday to CED, our resident Comic, and to Bluehen, our resident Chef, although AWOL recently. 🎂🎁🎉🎈🍾 I hope it's a special day for you both.
Have a great day.
FLN
Owen, I hope you're feeling better. Please be careful.
Fun puzzle, Kevin and Abbie. I have my days of the week mixed up. I thought this was very Tuesday-like for a Thursday. Duh! I got 17a quickly and wondered whether we were rewriting aphorisms. With 25A, I realized the theme was BOB. I liked the short haircut choice for the reveal. TTP, delightful as always.
Happy birthday, Dave. Thanks for all your humor. Every day you have me ROTFL. It must take you hours to find all of that. Blue Hen, a very happy birthday to you. As others have said, we would like to hear from you more often.
In PA where I grew up there were many kinds of birch beer, brown, red and clear, depending on the type of birch tree that was tapped. Birch beer is mostly a NE phenomenon. NJ sells birch beer, but not nearly as much as PA. Red birch beer is always available at our favorite Italian restaurant. Birch beer contains no beer or alcohol, just as ginger ale contains no ale or alcohol.
Can you disregard safe driving when you see no baby on board sign? Silly. The sign I resent is My Kid Can Beat Up Your Honor Student. What value does that teach? Brawn over Brains.
"-Prosecutors are obligated to give EXCULPATORY evidence to the accused" In cases where that is ignored, there is often a grave miscarriage of justice in a rush to clear a case by any means, fair or foul.
IM, I thought of you at Best of Breed.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CED and Blue Hen ... My "first" Sunset toast is to YOU two!!!
TTP: Nice write-up.
Kevin & Abbie: Thank you for a FUN Tuesday puzzle. I enjoyed the BOB theme.
OK, I admit I needed ESP (Every-Single-Perp) to get AIWA ...don't remember that Old Sony brand.
Cheers!
Boy Oh Boy, this was fun. Thanks Kevin and Abbie (congrats on your debut), and TTP.
I got the theme early in the game which helped the solve. I did think we were getting a lot of the letters of the alphabet, but didn't stop to determine if a pangram. Bonus points!
Some of the Downs I did not even notice until I got here, as they filled in with perps. (Thankfully FARAD was one of them or I would have needed DH's help.)
Hand up for Loo before LAV (LARA made me question that!).
Yes I thought of hamburgers with Whoppers. We had BIRCH soda (never had one) and DADS to drink with them.
Tsar changed to CZAR with perps, BIRCH and AMAZE.
I had to wait for perps to remind me of the meaning of "exculpate". There's a word I don't use every day! Perhaps it is used by those who pass the LSATs.
I smiled to see FLIP crossing FLOP- hi Hahtoolah.
How soon those hanging CHADs are forgotten, but not the TEA TAX.
Happy Birthday CED, and Blue Hen.
Wishing you all a great day.
I FIR so I guess can’t complain, but is Capacitance really a Tuesday word? BYFAR seemed a stretch for landslide victories but it fit. I fell into the LAV trap... no, that doesn’t sound quite right! Thanks, Kevin and Abbie for some new words.
TTP, thanks for walking us through.
Jinx, I hate those Baby on Board signs, too. Are they accusing me of deliberately running over young men and old ladies?
Owen, falls can hurt in places you didn’t know you had. I’m not surprised you are finding new bumps and bruises. Please take care!!
Happy birthday, CED and Blue Hen. 🎉🎂🍰👑🍨
Musings
-What a fun puzzle and TTP review where even ARIOSO fell in line
-For our British bloggers – Have you ever said “BOB’s your uncle” for “you’ve got it made”?
-Richie Valens “won” a coin FLIP to get the last seat on “the day the music died” flight in 1959
-When we leave the house, my lovely bride says, “We’re off to see the wizard”
-Sunday’s puzzle taught me that CRATES can be used for TRAMP ART
-What Elvis song had the line, “ACT ONE was when we met”?
-Here is what we use to keep TABS on our cat (it’s even in the name)
-Rain has quit and I turned down a sub job, so today is my first golf in 2 weeks
-BAREST – An informal contest at Hollywood award shows
-Prosecutors are obligated to give EXCULPATORY evidence to the accused
-Happy Birthday CED and Blue Hen! Ditto what D-O said!
Swamp, I think that they are all just forms of bragging. I have a new baby and you don't. MY kid is an honor student (and almost all of the other kids are too in this age where everyone gets a trophy). I have the perfect little family with a mom and dad, three kids, a dog and a cat and you don't. And I think the dark counter-statements are just shouting NO ONE WANTS TO SEE YOUR BRAGS. Not evil, just boorish.
IM - How did I miss that CSO? Thanks for pointing it out.
Whenever LAT and NYT share a clue and answer I always have to do a double take to make sure the second one I worked on didn't have a repeater. Today was no exception.
I have to give a "hey you kids get off my dog show" to "Best of Breed." Is that a thing? I thought the award was "Best in Breed" (a la "Best in Group/Show").
Good morning, folks. Thank you, Kevin Christian and Abbie Higashi, for a fine puzzle. thank you, TTP, for a fine review.
Cruciverb being out to lunch again, I waited until this morning and did it in ink on paper. I like that anyhow.
I also thought I had a gimme with LOO for 7D. Fixed that later to LAV. Oh well.
I had the F with FARAD, and thought that might be FOOL for 10A. I had LYNX for 13D. Anyhow, I fixed 10A to FLAM and 13D to MANX after I got ASIA, which was a gimme. I should have read it all first. AIWA appeared with only four perps. Not bad.
Theme fell into place easily. BOB appeared after BUZZ would not fit.
My friend the NEWT again. Waiting for an EFT to appear soon.
TWERK was a new word for me. However, sounds enticing.
TTP: enjoyed your ARIOSO and then CZAR links. I love that kind of history. The FLOP link was enjoyable to watch. These guys will use any trick they can.
I have played many PAR THREE holes in my life. I think I may have gotten one once.
Happy Birthday, C.E.D. and Blue Hen, and many more.
See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
AKC dog shows award points for:
Winners Dog — WD
Winners Bitch — WB
Best of Breed — BOB
Best of Opposite Sex — BOS
Best of Winners — BOW
See akc.org if you really care about further details.
Hi all !
Happy Birthday to Cross Eyed Dave and to Blue Hen !
Jinx, your "shake hands" comment reminds me of a Little Johnny joke someone sent me recently.
D-O, I liked that old Ajax commercial. Do you have that song on your music server ? :>)
Thank you all (and TTP) for an entertaining Blog read...
Loved the Chocolate Labs video!
I will have to come back later to discuss the puzzle,
as I left it upstairs. It has my circled WAGs, of which I think I got them all...
The only thing I remember now is I read 5d as "removable." not "movable."
so it had me trying to fit "ragtop" into a space for sunroof.
Speaking of notes to discuss, I wrote BBF, knowing I would not remember what the
heck I wanted to discuss. Barbeque Flyers? Hmm, I am going to have to reread the
Blog to figure out that one...
In the meantime, truth in Baby On Board signs is in order:
"A"
"B"
and especially truthfull "C"
Also, CC used my BlueHen cake that I posted several years ago, when I didn't know Bluehens were a team. so I guess I have to go with this one. HBD BlueHen!
but I really wanted to post this one...
Oooh! I just remembered what BBF meant!
BasketBall Flops!
I never liked basketball because to me it was like watching paint dry.
I never knew there was acting involved!
Now I have to watch a game to see if I can see the Flops!
P.S.
Pls don't refer to me as Dave 1,
I prefer CED.
However, if you must number me,
pls refer to me as T.O.D. (TheOneDave...)
(actually, it should be T.O.D.D.) TheOneDave - Duh!
Northwest Runner @ 10:17 ~ The Westminster Kennel Club competition awards Best of Breed and then, the ultimate winner, Best In Show. This year's Best In Show winner was Flynn, a Bichon Frise. Some kind soul may want to link Flynn's triumph. (Hint, hint, wink, wink, Mr. Meow.)
Thanks for the thought, YR.
Thank you, Kevin and Abbie, for a terrific Tuesday puzzle!
I liked it all, especially the fact that it contained real, undisputable words. No dreck and only a few abbreviations. That takes WITS.
Since I am not a sports fan, it took me a while to recall BANKONEBALLPARK where I went once to attend a religious event.
BIRCH beer is unknown to me; learning moment.
Abejo, I believe you would be surprised to learn about TWERK.
Hand up for LOO before LAV. Thanks to LARA for the correction.
Happy birthday, CED and bluehen!
Have a splendid day, everyone!
Ooh, I was so excited thinking I had nailed this Tuesday toughie, especially since I got the last tricky BANK ONE BALLPARK. But, alas, t'was not to be. I had SCAM, never having heard of FLAM, even though I thought FARAD would be better than SARAD for that capacitance unit. Oh well, gave it my best shot and really enjoyed it--many thanks, Kevin and Abbie. And welcome, Abbie, and congratulations on starting with a pangram. And fun write-up, TTP--enjoyed that too.
Happy birthday, Cross-eyed Dave and Blue Hen. Have a wonderful day.
Glad to see you posting a poem, Owen.
Have a great day, everybody.
Okay CED, no more variations.
Here is FLYNN which proves cotton balls can breed.
CrossEyedDave and Blue Hen Happy Birthday!
Hand up this was a fun, smooth ride and theme! In our Swing Dance crowd, BOB is a way common name. Another reason I go by Robert in real life.
FARAD was a gimme for this electronic engineer and physics person. Though a FARAD is a big practical unit! In the Centimeter-Gram-Second (CGS) metric system, the unit of capacitance is the centimeter! Essentially, it is the area of the capacitor plates divided by the distance between them (with a small fudge factor).
A FARAD would be 898,755,178,736.5 centimeters to be exact! Huge!
Learning moment about QUIRE! FIR!
Here I was with friends at the TEA PARTY Ship in Boston Harbor
Notice the feathers we wore. The colonists dressed up as "Indians" as part of their TEA PARTY.
TTP Thanks for your many illustrations and explanations. Including the correction about the TEA Act and TEA TAX.
Lemony @ 12:10 ~ Thank you for brightening my day. I can't see a Bichon without smiling and remembering our beloved "cotton ball", Fluffy.
I wouldn’t live in a place where Birch Beer is unavailable. In CT when I visit I bring home a case of Foxon Park Diet Birch....when I run out of that I get Polar, they make a good one.
This was a quick run through, no markovers and another theme that isn’t a giveaway....that should be a rule.
The Flim-Flam Man was on last night.
And on to Wednesday.
ACK!
upon review of my dead tree, I have discovered I FIW'd.
at 6a I had "flip" instead of flop...
(told you I didn't know anything about B-Ball.)
Crossing 8d, Choler?
WTF? I had ore, who knew it was Ire?
Hmm, not sure I like this Bob theme...
no, don't like it at all...
I think he might be that wise ass Anon that keep posting...
Yeah, I looked up his T-shirt. Definitely don't like the guy...
Well, there is one Bob i like...
CE Dave ~
At 6a I'd hope you'd have FLIP. You must have meant 6d, the appropriate fill for FLOP. (Uncross those eyes!)
Happy B'day!
And HBD to Blue Hen!
Misty ~
SCAM is probably what most of us thought before going with FLAM. I wasn't sure of FARAD (though it sounded right), but LSAT is too common a fill for me to ignore it.
A fine Tuesday pzl (Ta- DA!) from the Christian/Higashi team!
~ OMK
____________
DR: A 3-way on the mirror side.
Hi, this is Kevin Christian. Happy Tuesday everyone.
I know Abbie because our sons have been playing baseball together off an on for years. We were sitting in the stands watching a game about a year ago and we came up with this theme idea. I asked her if she'd want to build it with me and she said sure so that's how this collaboration was born.
Until next time...
It was called BIRCH Beer. Never had it.
We also had Moxie. And another one made from some weird substance.
Speaking of J. .. That J last Saturday threw me for hours until I conjured up CONJUGATE
Jinx, you never fail to crack me up. I'm sitting in a VA waiting room and started laughing out loud. Then again the AC keeps coming on so I've had sneeze attacks. The Wilbur always sneezes thrice.
I think there should be a Jinx alert.
eg please swallow coffee before reading further
This movie link is interesting because of the attached bio of Sue Lyon(Lolita). She was a HS friend of Michelle Phillips
Flim Flam Man
WC
Hbd to TODD and Bluehen. Don't forget the big coming tomorrow
First, a very happy birthday to Cross Eyed Dave, who amuses me with every post.
Second, a heartfelt thank you to all who have wished me a HBD. And to those who wished me 'many more", I'm hurt. What did I ever do to you to deserve that vitriol?
Third, what a fun puzzle from the Kevin/Abbie team. Congrats on the debut, Abbie. What a beautiful job of construction - a pangram, no naticks (at least for me), no obscure geographical references, no obscure current entertainment references, and straightforward enough for me to solve with the across clues alone (almost). ARIOSO was an unknown. But, in retrospect, it does sound like it could have the same root as "air", and I am fond of Bach's Airs, especially "(h)Air On The G String".
Fourth, Thanks for a dynamite expo, TTP. All of the links were interesting/educational (which to me is the same thing). You are really coming into your own as a blogger. Keep on keepin' on.
Fifth, Jinx, your "shaking hands" comment is hilarious. It ranks right up there with Bill Ingvall's description of "Dropping some friends off at the lake" as a euphemism for that other bodily function. I am SO using that one, thanks.
In retrospect #1, The theme, "BOB" reminds me of a fairly risqué joke about a birthday present BB King's wife once got for him.
In retrospect #2, I am really blown away by this puzzle being a pangram. Even if I could create a crossword puzzle, I'm sure I could never create a pangram. I love 25 letters of the alphabet. I don't know Y.
Enough of this nonsense. Cya!
I liked this puzzle very much. Fun to solve. Well constructed.
Happy birthday wishes to CED and Bluehen.
Husker @ 9:55 --
"-For our British bloggers – Have you ever said “BOB’s your uncle” for “you’ve got it made”?"
I never ever heard the phrase, until 3 weeks ago, my oldest son pops up with it, out of the blue. Thanks for the explanation.
But I think SAM's my uncle.
Jinx and TTP - interesting discussion on the "census". German peasants, probably like in many countries' were not fond of the Monarchy. So when one had to "shake hands with the unemployed", they would say: "Wo (selbst) der Kaiser zu Fuß hingeht. (Where the Kaiser had to go by himself on foot.)
Kevin - Thanks for dropping in. You and Abbie did a fine construction.
Things that matter:
To all of you who offered best wishes and prayers for DW's surgery, thank you. We just got the results of her latest breast surgery (two weeks ago). There were no more cancer cells in the tissue removed and no cancer in the lymph nodes. This was just about as good as we could have hoped. She'll have to take some anti-estrogen pills for a few years, and have a few radiation treatments to catch any stray cancer cells that may remain. Big celebration in our household tonight.
Dear TODD:
I offer as an alternative the concept of "The One and Only Dave", TOOD ... this way we can TOODle off for a beer, and feel no guilt!
Dear Jinx:
I wasn't aware of your situation, but having been through this cancer stuff twice with my wife, a clean report and Stage 0 are welcome news. Just be careful to guard your energy, because you've already used a lot, and there will continue to be some future loss from worries and doctor appointments for a while.
Sleeping in is good!
Things that DON'T matter
The motor home came through TS Michael unscathed. I just had to track down a couple of fabric tire covers that were headed toward Kansas.
Jinx, I’m so glad to hear the good news about the results from you wife’s surgery.
Since you were the first to mention the 7 sexes, May I be emboldened to tell a little sex story of my own. No, that didn’t sound right.! I’m having trouble here!
Anyway, I was interviewing an attractive and articulate young woman for a entry level management position. Her resume was impressive and she seemed perfect. Except...in filling out the application form, for SEX? she had put “O”.
This was pre-PC, and I just felt I had to ask.
She answered without missing a beat, Sex? Occasionally.
I hired her on the spot!
Woohoo—I liked this one! Tuesday easy, even Farad, which is well-known to amateur radio operators (Picard, measuring capacitance by plate area is brand-new to me!). I had a little issue with a flim-less FLAM, but I got over it*. I also finished without having seen all the vertical words, as they were mostly completely filled in by the horizontals.
HBD to CED and BlueHen!
* She turned me into a NEWT! (I got better.)
Well, time for my last late afternoon nap. Have a great evening, all!
Kevin @ 3:15 ~ Thanks for dropping by. Hope to see future collaborations with Abbie.
Bluehen @ 3:31 ~ I hope you'll share the birthday menu with us.
Jinx @ 4:05 ~ Wonderful news! Enjoy tonight's celebration wholeheartedly!
SwampCat @ 4:27 ~ Cute story. Was your instinct rewarded?
Jinx, wonderful news.
Boomer, I am rooting for you.
Owen, heal quickly. Instead of saying keep off your feet, I will say keep ON your feet. No more slips, please.
Jinx - Good news. BH went through very similar sequences and procedures as you describe 21 years ago. She gets checked regularly, but so far, so good. Enjoy your celebration.
IM, thanks for asking! She was with me for years and when I left she took over the department and my title!
She was just very creative and thought outside the box
Jinx, great news. No wonder you were"shak'n and bake'n " today.
Over heard: Big Ben to Tower of Piss. "I've got the time if you've got the inclination"
WC
Aaarrgghhhh!!! PISA
Boy, spell check can really Pisame off
WC
WC, I got the TIME and also the INCLINATION. Spell check can’t ruin everything ! LOL
Jinx:
That is wonderful news! Please enjoy your celebration.
WikWak Glad you enjoyed my FARAD contribution!
Note: Capacitance of parallel plates is not just a function of area. It is area/spacing.
If the area is measured in square centimeters.
And the spacing is measured in centimeters.
Then the capacitance is centimeters squared/centimeters = centimeters
It turns out that a "centimeter" of capacitance is on the order of magnitude of one picoFARAD.
I learned this in an unusual freshman physics class using the Electricity and Magnetism book by Harvard Physics professor Purcell.
He also gives the example of the capacitance of an isolated spherical capacitor. As you might see on top of a Van De Graaf generator. Again, if you measure capacitance in centimeters, the capacitance of such an isolated sphere is approximately its radius in centimeters!
A one FARAD capacitor as noted above is 898,755,178,736.5 centimeters
If you created this with parallel plates with a spacing of one centimeter?
The plates would have to be over 9km on a side!
A question WikWak: Do you really take so many naps each day or is this a running joke?
Hi All!
Thanks Kevin & Abbie for this fun Tuesday collaboration. It wasn't quite the RACE to the bottom as perps needed checking (fish or TUNA, Fool /lynx or FLAM / MANX, Loo or LAV) that would BOG me down but who could ASK for more fun? I can... and TTP provided it.
Thanks TTP for the expo. I love the BK Whopper April Fools joke - especially because not many companies were on the bandwagon in '98 [now everyone is and some try too hard]. Also, thank you for saving The BOBs [2:10] for me.
WO: Loo/LAV
ESP: ARIOSO. Not that others came easy (e.g. AIWA, QUIRE, RARA, HET)
Fav:
Never mind. That's it; grand-slam & now 8-2 Sox in (still) top of the 8th -- I don't feel like posting nomore.*
.
.
.
Ah, that's better - I tune'd to NPR... :-)
Fav: FLIP FLOP (and Fly) has been playin' in my BRAIN all day.
Runner-up: c/a for LIARS (funny, D-O)
{B+}
HG/Michael - I've heard "and Bob's your Uncle" meaning said but just for that situation. "You got beer, now get some steak, and Bob's your Uncle..."
Jinx - That's fantastic news! (About DW [and now, maybe, 'it' will just be under-employed :-)], though, the motor home news isn't shabby).
Moving on, you missed your CSO 'cuz you thought it said 'unite' :-)
IN RE: Those BABY ON BOARD / Happy-family things make me think "With all those kids, if I kidnap the dog, they'd probably pay up." And then I follow them home :-)
WikWak - that's why all your radio capacitors are in pico & micro FARADs.**
Swamp - LOL the type-O SEX story. S/O or M/O would fit too [single/often, married/occasionally ;-)]
Happy Birthday BlueHen - been missing your dinner descriptions.
Happy Birthday CED - a day w/ out your silly links make the puzzle-day incomplete.
Cheers, -T
*Final score :-(
** "Burn her anyway!"
Jinx, that's good news.
Spitzboov, that's funny. My BIL and MIL and others in the family would quip with some of the old sayings and everyone would laugh. But usually it had to be explained to me. Have to admit that sometimes I still didn't get it, and then it would dawn on me later.
Kevin, thanks for taking a moment to comment and tell us the backstory. Let Abbie know we appreciated your joint effort, and encourage her to continue. This was a fine puzzle, or it would never have gotten past Rich, as you know. Kudos !
Blue Hen, thank you. You are too kind. And funny. Don't be a stranger. Was thinking of you when I was making braised short ribs yesterday. Got that accomplished, but then settled on farfalle and frozen vegetables. Happy Birthday to you !
And of course, I'll repeat the Happy Birthday to Cross Eyed Dave. Funny links every day. Thought you were camping, but glad you made it here.
Abejo, that scorecard is from the park district course Apple Orchard on Stearns. Haven't been there in years, but it's a great little par 3 course for working on the irons and short game.
Back to the playoffs. 2nd game just started. Oh, and Irish Miss, I looked for a pic of a Bichon chewing on a bone, but couldn't find one. I'll make up for it another time. Perhaps you and C.C. should come up with a canine puzzle ?
AnonT, my experience with Bobs your uncle is the same as yours. Do This, that and Bobs your uncle... done ✅
I think YouTube just went Tango-Uniform... I went to watch TTP's Basketball Flops and got this (funny) 500 message:
------------
500 Internal Server Error
Sorry, something went wrong.
A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation.
If you see them, send them this information as text (screenshots frighten them):
APkpgMWdo5J.... [it goes on a while].
----
I checked other YouTube videos [like the one I just watched!] and got Error 500 messages too.
Kevin - I was remiss, thanks for stopping by w/ the back-story.
Cheers, -T
Ye, Anon T, you broke YouTube with you Bob's link ! :>)
Vimeo, MSN and other video sites play just fine. YouTube down
Looks like I broke it in Philly too. -T
https://downdetector.com/status/youtube/news/227515-problems-at-youtube-6
Only in Philly. They throw snowballs at Santa. I'd link the video, but...
My call to 911 got through. And when I told them we needed the Philly Santa Video -- Badda-bing.
Cheers, -T
For anyone interested... The best, BY FAR, "what we know so far" INRE: YouTube's down that I've, so far, found. Cheers, -T
Huh, I guess I lucked out on the YouTube outage situation, having watched a full length movie without interruption right across the outage period. The movie was The Flim Flam Artist, which I had never heard of until it was mentioned here. Not great cinema but it was amusing.
Greetings!
Thanks to Abbie, Kevin and TTP.
I have been going to bed early and forgetting to post in the day.
Spent a long time at emergency hospital because I couldn't find anyone else to address my problems. They helped with one after 6 hours.
See ya tomorrow perhaps!
Anonymous T, that tweet by Philly PD and the replies were fun to read. Also, thanks for linking the Philly Santa story. Gotta have a sense of humor about these things...
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