google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, October 17 2018, Frank Virzi

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Oct 17, 2018

Wednesday, October 17 2018, Frank Virzi

Theme: A Touch of Class - The last word of each phrase is also the name of a university. All are research universities.

17. 2005 reality show featuring Whitney Houston: BEING BOBBY BROWN. Private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island.

23. '60s sitcom portrayer of Cathy Lane and her "identical cousin": PATTY DUKE. Private, non-profit, research university located in Durham, North Carolina.

38. Ginger-ale-and-grenadine "cocktail": SHIRLEY TEMPLE. State-related university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

55. Chinese menu standard: FRIED RICE. Private research university in Houston, Texas.

62. Where social graces are taught, and what 17-, 23-, 38-, and 55-Across each has: FINISHING SCHOOL.

Melissa here. Interesting, from Wikipedia: "The term finishing school is occasionally used, or misused, in American parlance to refer to certain small women's colleges, primarily on the East Coast, that were once known for preparing their female students for marriage. Since the 1960s, many of these schools have closed as a result of financial difficulties stemming from changing societal norms, making it easier for women to pursue academic and professional paths not open to previous generations."

Sad fact: In too many states, it costs more to house a prisoner for one year than one year of university tuition. One example.

Across:

1. Recurring theme: MOTIF.

6. Contemporary of Dashiell: ERLE. Hammett and Stanley Gardner, mystery writers. Both contributors to pulp genre publication Black Mask magazine.

10. Apple debut of 1998: IMAC.

14. Childish retort: I DO SO.

15. Group of two: DUAD. Makes sense, but I don't think I've ever seen or heard this word. Googled "how to pronounce duad," and found at least three different ways (audio clips). Cambridge dictionary doesn't have an entry at all.

16. Santa __: Sonoma County seat: ROSA. California and Florida both have Santa Rosa Counties - but according to Wikipedia, only Florida's Santa Rosa is a County Seat.

20. War on Poverty org.: OEO.

21. "In that event ... ": IF SO.

22. Kipling python: KAA. From The Jungle Book.


27. Spin, as a baton: TWIRL.

29. "The Simpsons" storekeeper: APU.

30. Leb. neighbor: SYR.

31. Looks up to: ESTEEMS.

33. Show of rural respect: YES'M.

35. Army NCO: SGT. Non-commissioned officer.

37. Little piggy: TOE. Cute.

43. 1988 noir remake: DOA. 1949 Film Noir classic, public domain, full length avail on YouTube.

44. Ewe, say: SHE. Cute.

45. Website with business reviews: YELP.

47. Supple: LISSOME.

51. Many a microbrew: ALE.

53. One in the middle of Knoxville?: VEE. I still get fooled by these sometimes.

54. FDR and JFK: INITS. Initials.

58. Announcer Hall: EDD. Jay Leno's announcer on The Tonight Show from 1992 to 2004.

59. Protein-rich food: TOFU.

61. Wish undone: RUE.

68. McFlurry cookie: OREO.

69. Start of a hymn: O GOD.

70. Creeps-inducing: EERIE. Timely for October.

71. Arms of a starfish: RAYS.

72. Over and above: Abbr.: SYNS.

73. Silvery little fish: SMELT.

Down:

1. Will Smith sci-fi series: MIB. Men in Black.

2. Laudatory piece: ODE.

3. French pronoun: TOI.

4. "You're lying!" in a playground: IS NOT. Is too!

5. "Old" old-fashioned sorts: FOGEYS.

6. Old name for Tokyo: EDO.

7. Cube creator: RUBIK. I had a classmate in HS who learned to speed-solve - was impressive to watch.

8. Bio class cost: LAB FEE.

9. Slow Churned ice cream brand: EDYS.

10. Like the vb. "be": IRR. Irregular.

11. Red Sox star Betts: MOOKIE.

12. Like angry bees: A SWARM.

13. Lock sites: CANALS. A lock is is a device used for raising and lowering boats, ships and other watercraft between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways.


18. Pro wrestling throw: BODY SLAM.

19. Deepest level: BOTTOM.

23. Shell out: PAY.

24. Jungle swingers: APES.

25. Rear: TUSH.

26. Impulse: URGE.

28. Tearful: WEEPY.

32. Team with the most Super Bowl victories: STEELERS.

34. Central spot: MIDST.

36. TV host Pennington and Hall of Famer Cobb: TYS.

39. Places to perch: ROOSTS.

40. Bangkok native: THAI.

41. Big name in denim: LEVI.

42. Power co. product: ELEC.

46. Peruvian capital?: PEE. Nice clue.

47. Commit perjury to protect: LIE FOR.

48. Former Indian prime minister Gandhi: INDIRA.

49. "Dog Day Afternoon" director Lumet: SIDNEY.

50. Crude model used for public ridicule: EFFIGY.

52. Elicits: EDUCES.

56. Long sentence: RUN ON.

57. Turn a midi into a mini, say: RE-HEM.

60. Cries of discovery: OHOS. Okay.

63. Platform for Siri: IOS.

64. Mdse.: GDS.

65. Malachite, e.g.: ORE.

66. Many a Monet: OIL.



67. Permit: LET.




57 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIWrong. FOGgYS, DUAl, and when I changed IpAd to IMAC, I missed changing the P to M. Took a while to catch on to the theme even with the reveal.
Over and above = SYNS. ?
VEE crossing PEE in a Virzi crossword Puzzle.

ERLE wrote stories about criminal mysteries,
But didn't venture any supernatural series.
For if starting, he had,
It couldn't be bad;
We might now be reading Erle early EERIES!

A sleeping bag could easily be AS WARM
As cuddled under a quilt in a college dorm.
Camping out in the open
Does risk being woken
With no-see-ums around you in A SWARM!

If a wildebeest calf is a new-gnu
And a EWE is a SHE-sheep, too,
So if Matt Groening's
Storekeeper is moaning
In the bathroom, it may be from APU-poo!

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Frank and mb!

Only hangup was DOA.

Have a great day!

D4E4H said...

Good morning Cornerites, and Corner-lefts.

Thank you Mr. Frank Virzi for this challenging CW. There were several cells where I almost BAILed, yet somehow I found an English letter that completed an answer, and I was off once more.

Thank you melissa bee for your excellent review.

Ðave

D4E4H said...

Owen,
"Over and above = SYNS. ? - The full clue includes "Abbr." I read it as SYNonymS.

Ðave

D4E4H said...

Owen,

Excellent l'icks today. To continue the s***t (#2) in #3, If the moaning Storekeeper used a large serving dish rather than a commode he would have APU-poo platter.

Ðave

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Two over-writes this morning. Tried ISR/SYR and RITA/ROSA (there are just too many Santas for this old FOGEY). RUN ON -- I'll take it as a CSO to moi. Final fill was WAGging the K at the MOOKIE/KAA cross. Thanx, Frank and Melissa.

We've still got three more weeks of incessant political "scare" ads. Not sure my middle fingers can take it!

TTP said...

Good morning. Thank you Frank Virzi and thank you Melissa.

Well, I messed this one up. Haste makes waste and errors too. Typed in ASWARn for angry bees and never noticed. Had aHaS instead of OHOS and never read the clues for TOFU and O GOD. And somehow ended up with aDO instead of EDO.

Never heard of DOA and if I knew of KAA, I forgot it.

Otherwise, PATTY DUKE and SHIRLEY TEMPLE were gimmes, and the clue for FINISHING SCHOOL was too easy.

STEELERS was another gimme. Been a Pittsburgh sports fan for over 50 years.

Lived on the campus of RICE University summer of '81 until I found an apartment. Very convenient for my job downtown.

OwenKL said...

Oops. Wrote and posted my l'icks just before I went to sleep. I'll blame the quality on that.
{C+, B-, C.}

Lemonade714 said...

Thanks, mb and Frank for a nice midweek entertainment. Lots of almost clechos- Childish retort: I DO SO "You're lying!" in a playground: IS NOT for example.

KAA is THAI for yes, and a CSO for my Oo.

Before the NFL/AFL merger and the moving to the AFC, the STEELERS were very unsuccessful having only one post-season appearance in 30 years. The RECORD.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR despite 3 WAGs: D-O's KAA, plus SIDNEY x LISSOME and RAYS. Odd cluing for the latter on a Wednesday puzzle, thought I. FLN, WC's leaning tower city was half-day early with PEE filling part of today's puzzle.

I know it s the Tinseltown Times puzzle, but this one seemed to have a lot of show biz stuff. I knew MOOKIE Wilson back in the day, but don't know many of the stars now. We're emerging hockey fans now, since the NFL is quickly becoming the No Fun League.

But my favorite sport is college basketball, so DUKE was my favorite clue. Loves me some Coach K, but I still hate Christian Laettner for beating my underdog KY Wildcats by one point, hitting a 3-pointer with two seconds left in overtime in their 1992 meeting in the Elite Eight. Laettner shot 100% that night. ESPN calls it "arguably the best college game ever played".

I also liked SYNS for "over and above" and REHEM, because it's nearly always a good idea to turn a midi into a mini. Least favorite was FDR and JFK for INITS. Seems gluey to me.

Thanks to Frank for the fun puzzle. Thanks to Melissa Bee as well for the fine review, but I'm not sure that California is the paragon of spending decisions by state government, either for education or corrections. Especially with Scary Jerry leading the way. The best thing BROWN did as governor was bedding Linda Ronstadt way back when she was LINDA RONDSTADT.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

That NW corner proved resistant to solving. Motif was slow to emerge, along with MIB, which I never watched.

Morning MBee, I agree that incarceration is expensive. I wish I had the answer to that thorny problem.

Canals with locks are fascinating pieces of civil engineering. The Rhine-Main-Danube in Germany is a particularly impressive example; it has some of the tallest locks in the world.

Big Easy said...

YES"M Melissa Be, I never noticed the school theme as I was worried about finishing today as the NW combo of TOI, I DO SO, OEO & IS NOT didn't come easily And since I didn't know either MOOKIE or KAA, it took a WAG to finish the NE and end this RUN ON sentenct.

SYNS- I just realized it over and above were 'synonyms'. V8 moment.

FRIED RICE- last night my neighbors provided 40 lbs of combination fried rice with shrimp and pork for our annual neighborhood Night Out Against Crime Party. It went fast.

Lemonade- the STEELERS weren't successful until they got a guy that alternated right field with my brother for a 7th grade baseball team. He also was on the same college football team-LA Tech.

Name? Terry Bradshaw.

Yellowrocks said...

Amazing that this took me longer than a normal Wednesday, considering that the only truly unknowns were MIB and BEING BOBBY BROWN. In the NW at the end only the initial B in Being was missing, I guessed MIB. FIR. I found the theme after I completed the solve. Clever.

Aside from robocalls, what annoys me most about political ads is how both sides shamelessly mischaracterize the other. Lee Atwater later apologized for setting up Gary Hart and for his cruel Willie Horton theme against Dukakis. The other side has pulled similar dirty tricks. Take no prisoners. Dog eat dog. Win at all costs.

We enjoyed riding through the locks on a lovely Danube riverboat cruise. It satisfied my curiosity about locks, so I don't mind missing the Panama Canal cruise.

It seems duad is used mostly in science and math, but it is also used to refer to people, the sense I am most familiar with.
"Coming down nearer to our own time, we find a duad of great English poets, usually associated in our minds with Byron and Scott."- James Freeman Clarke
Duad in math is an unordered pair.
In chemistry, "The pillars are the same as in chlorine and its congeners, with a duad added at the base."

Billocohoes said...

Markus Lynn "Mookie" Betts was not nicknamed for ex-Met William Hayward "Mookie" Wilson but for ex-NBA player Daron Oshay "Mookie" Blaylock

Yellowrocks said...

In basketball I am all in for the champion Villanova Wildcats. My grandson is in the band, so he often gets transportation and a free seat at the games. This weekend I proudly wore my Villanova shirt, not to brag or lord it over others, but to show my pride and support for my grandson. Although very bright, he needed to overcome severe learning problems to attend and succeed in such a college. Way to go Kenny!
MOTIF was my first thought for my first fill 1A, but I waited on perps. For some reason I have always loved the word leitmotif, a theme associated with a particular person. "Peter and the Wolf" is a prime example. You can tell which character is on stage because his very own theme is being played. Each character's theme is played by a different instrument. It is a good way for children to learn the sounds of the different instruments.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Started off daunting, but hit firm anchorage at the center and BOTTOM. Flirted with Fuddys before filling with FOGEYS. Lucky with WAGs at MIB and KAA. At IRR, wanted INTransitive at first, but ROSA ruled. FIR.

Locks - Are also found on rivers. From L. Superior, ships descend from ~603' above sea level thru locks on the St. Mary's river to ~580' on Lake Michigan-Huron. They further descend thru the St. Clair River & Lake thru to the Detroit river to L. Erie at ~570' ASL. (Note that up-bpund vessels have to gain the 10' rise against the current - no locks here.)
They then descend thru the Welland flight of locks off the Niagara escarpment to L. Ontario at ~ 240 ' elevation. Continuing on, the St. Lawrence river has several locks including the Eisenhower and Snell Locks on the US section. The Beauharnois canal and locks are traversed and Sea Level is reached near Montreal.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This was a fun and satisfying solve with the only w/o being Duet/Duad. Although less common, I believe Duad has appeared before. I was struck by the abundance of "O" sounds: Edo, OEO, Ohos, Oreo, O God. Also the childish retorts crossing: I do so ~ Is not. I've heard of "Being Bobby Brown", but I still needed perps to jog my memory, ditto for Kaa. I loved the completely unexpected reveal.

Thanks, Frank, for a mid-week treat and thanks, Melissa, for the grand tour.

DO @ 6:51 ~ I am so disgusted with the constant, repetitive, negative political ads that I'm ready to scream. So far, though, I haven't been bombarded with robo calls. OTOH, my mailbox is stuffed with political ads and ads for Medicare supplemental insurance.

FLN

Ferm, I hope you feel better soon.

TTP, the reason you couldn't find a picture of a Bichon chewing on a bone is quite simple: they prefer pizza crusts and lobster tidbits. At least our Diva did! She was probably the most spoiled dog that ever lived.

Have a great day.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Frank Virzi, for a fine puzzle. Thank you Melissa Bee, for a fine review.

Got through the Bottom 90 % no problem.

Got the theme, no problem.

Could not finish the puzzle due to the NW corner. Did not know MIB, BEING Bobby Brown, MOTIF and FOGEYS eluded me, TOI or MOI, I DO SO never hit me because of no perps. Also in the NE KAA and MOOKIE crossing left me hanging. The rest of the puzzle was a snap.

Tried MAAM for 33A until YESM became obvious.

CANALS for 13D was easy. Nice link from Melissa Bee. I basically know how they work. I liked the report from Spitz on the Great Lakes canals. Amazing 603 feet down to sea level.

SYNS was clever. I got it with perps. Never realized what it referred to until I come here. I should have caught it.

Anyhow, off to my day. Cooking chicken today for our meeting tonight. 15 people.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

SwampCat said...

I found this puzzle quick and easy and even got the theme, for once.

Some of the fill seemed strange. PEE crossing VEE just before INITS? One of these is enough for me.

I loved seeing KAA, the python with the looong backache. What a wonderful concept only Disney could come up with.

Thanks, Frank and mb, for an entertaining morning.

JJM said...

D.O.A. is a remake of the film noir classic of the same name starring Edmund O'Brien. The 1998 version (which I have on Blu-Ray), in my opinion, is a great twist on the original. It stars Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, and Meg Ryan. It's extremely hard to find. Amazon Prime, VUDU, Netflix don't have it. You really have to search for it. A film similar to this, made at around the same time, and is also impossible to find is "Storyville" with James Spader. Both films are a must if you like this genre.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-3" of snow on Sunday and we played golf yesterday on a perfect fall afternoon!
-History sub today. Kids are taping paper under their tables and drawing to EDUCE the feelings of Michelangelo
-mEand BOBBY BROWN didn’t help. ME AND BOBBY MCGEE led me astray temporarily
-White not FRIED rice please
-All my iMac and other Apple products make using PC’s in this school tricky
-When we were in SANTA ROSA, we perused the house prices! [Gulp!]
-SGT Hulka – Don’t call me sir! (:04)
-I was afraid I was going to have to come up with RUBIK’s first name
-Here comes some more sophomores to get under the tables!

Picard said...

Enjoyed the SCHOOL theme and most of the fill was smooth. I have not visited any of those SCHOOLs, though a good friend was a professor at BROWN for awhile.

But I call nasty double Natick on MOOxIE/xAA. I had it down to a G or a K. My coin toss came up MOOGIE and GAA which seems just as good. FIW. Other unknowns ERLE, DOA, EDD, SIDNEY and BEING BOBBY BROWN had reasonable crosses.

Big Easy thanks for explaining SYNS. Tricky!

We have had SANTA ROSA before. I reconnected with a long-lost friend who now lives there a few years back. I was motivated this time to collect and post my photos today.

Here are my SANTA ROSA photos. Mostly photos of the wonderful Charles M Schulz museum!

If you are a Peanuts fan and ever in that part of the country, I highly recommend a visit! He even owned his own ice skating rink (see the photos) and Zamboni! He and his friends played hockey. Just like in Peanuts!

Once again here is my photo sequence at the Panama CANAL.

Melissa Bee Thank you for your detailed write-up. And thanks for noting that our prisons can cost more than our top SCHOOLs. Our system is more about sorting people than about giving them a hand up. Hurtful and wasteful for all.

Picard said...

I almost forgot!

Don't miss the Crossword Linus in my SANTA ROSA photos!

Here is a closer shot of Crossword Linus

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Frank, thanks! Thanks, Melissa!

I had most of the problems everyone else did.

DUAD: couldn't be right? It was. Ever since I've been mentally singing "DUAD DUAD" in some part of an old Bebop song. Don't know any other part of the song.

Got the theme okay. Years ago my cousin's wife took a summer off from family duties to attend BROWN U. Her 7 yr. old daughter was so traumatized with mom being gone all summer that she forgot how to read. They had a strange time getting her interested in trying to read again.

My sister was living in Santa Rosa, Sonoma Co., California when they had the big fires. Her house was still standing afterwards.

Bluehen said...

A lot tougher today than yesterday. I don't care how long I look at it, DUAD is just wrong, period. NW was slowest coming, really requiring 2+ cups of coffee for the solve. Got the TADA in the end, but in more like Thursday/Friday type time (20+ mins.) Thanks for the workout, Mr. Virzi, and thanks for an excellent expo, melissa b.

Since someone(I think maybe IM yesterday)asked, last night's dinner at a favorite restaurant was medium rare filet mignon with a Super Tuscan/demiglace reduction for a sauce, fingerling potatoes, and creamed spinach with a dusting of nutmeg. DW may have had an even better meal with surf and turf pasta (cubed prime rib and lobster in a sauce I couldn't identify over house made tagliatelle). A great meal as always.

I'm not supposed to know this, but my real birthday celebration will be this Saturday when we have our Blond Tornado (Thanks again for that nickname MdF. I didn't totally plagiarize it. Our tornado doesn't have an "e" on the blond.) Anyway, because of that, the whole fam damily will be gathered here, as well as some of our tailgating crew, neighbors, and lodge brothers. Big cookout, and all I have to do is sit by the pool and enjoy a glass of wine.


We're having sort of a mashup of chili Verde/chili Blanco tonight. We had some pork chops and chicken breasts left over from vacation last week, so I cubed them to stew with poblano and jalapeno chilies, Great Northern beans, Comino, oregano, onion and garlic, all in a chicken stock. That will be paired with grilled cheese sandwiches that include a slab of ripe tomato seasoned with hickory smoke salt. And of course some tortilla chips. Sure smells good in here right now.


One Final Thought: A dog can't operate an MRI, but a cat scan.


Cya!

Misty said...

Well, I got close to getting this neat Wednesday puzzle, but a letter here and there made it imperfect. I still don't get how PEE is a Peruvian capital, and I goofed and put OHOH instead of OHOS and so didn't get SYNS. Would not have understood it anyway. Got DUAD thanks to the downs, but never heard of it, and figured it must be wrong. But I got all the long theme answers and got the theme and loved it--many thanks for that, Frank. And I very much enjoyed your write-up Melissa, especially the lovely MONET OIL painting. So a great start to a Wednesday.

Yellowrocks, I liked your discussion of music.

Have a great day, everybody.

Lucina said...

Thanks to Frank Virzi for an enjoyable puzzle! And thank you, Melissa B, for your detailed review.

I found all the schools and whizzed through most of the puzzle. MOTIF was my last fill since I didn't know MIB but recognized it in retrospect. MOOKIE was a pure guess and totally unknown. I like saying the word LISSOME. And how many ways can OREO be clued?

I remember PATTY DUKE but never saw BEING BOBBY BROWN. I don't watch reality TV.

In CA we went to a Japanese restaurant where the chef cooked in front of us and fried a large mound of rice along with our steaks and assorted vegetables. He was quite a clown who kept us laughing with his agile antics. And it was delicious!

Have an excellent day, everyone!

Wilbur Charles said...

Re. IRR. Shades of that clue of the month: Tense recitation. I talked about that to a captive wading pool audience* to illustrate what a difficult xword is like.

KAA was Kipling, nest-ce pas

Happy birthday to Wilbur, hbd to

WC

* That's why we have XW Corner

Spitzboov said...

Misty @ 1251 - - Peruvian starts with a capital "P".

CrossEyedDave said...

Thanks for the Ecard IM,
when I couldn't get it to work, I debated with myself
whether I should disembowel my AntiVirus/Adblocker.
Luckily I found out about 5 minutes later that it was because YouTube was down...

Thanks a lot Bluehen for describing you Birthday Dinner!
After living in this town for 26 years, we have been to every
restaurant within driving range. So when an old bar called Poor Herbies
closed down, (it had amazing Jalapeno Poppers) and was replaced by something called The Bottle Hill Tavern, I suggested we try it for my Birthday Dinner.

It must have been an important baseball game, or the rush hour crowd getting home,
but it was standing room only! To make matters worse, they didn't have Poppers!
We got high table under a giant TV next to the bathroom with chairs that could have been
remade baby highchairs, that hurt your legs when you try to get off them.

I got the only thing on the menu I thought palatable,
Buffalo Chicken Wings and half a rack of ribs.
(Because it came with 2 sides, I threw in a salad to balance out the fries...)
DW got a cheese and bacon quesadilla that was quite good, but had no cheese?
and a Shrimp PO Boy??? (big mistaake - yuk!)

Daughter #2 got pulled pork sandwich entree, but it was so small,
it should have been called a slider. Luckily she helped me devour the wings and ribs...

I must tell you, it has been almost 24 hours, and I am still in gastronomical distress...

Puzzle? DNF. NW corner ditto. No se nada...

Honorary mention...

Lucina said...

I just want to mention that I voted and mailed my ballot yesterday so now I can tune out or mute all those nasty, negative political ads. As much as possible I record programs so I can fast forward and skip the annoying ads.

CED:
Do you speak Spanish?

Misty said...

Thank you, Spitzboov. Apparently the more obvious the clue, the harder it is for me to get it. I of course thought of Peruvian capital as currency or money, not as a capital letter, and when PEE was listed as the answer, I thought this better not be some insulting joke because Clauder, my husband's caregiver, is from Peru and that will make me really angry. Okay, so capital letter, geesh. Should have gotten that one.

Sandyanon said...

No politics. But, just for the sake of balance, I want to say I think Brown is a fine governor.

WikWak said...

FIR in ~12 minutes. Thanks, Frank and M Bee, for getting the day off to a good start.

Not too many stumbling blocks, but MOO?IE took a while. I knew the snake's 🐍 name from several hundred watchings while the kids were little, but it took some time for KAA to percolate to the top.

MIB (the first one) is one of my all-time favorites.

Had to do this on the LA Times site because Cruciverb is still down. Ugh.

I'm leaving now to go in search of a nap 😴. Wish me luck. Have a great evening, all!

Anonymous said...

What's with all the naps WikWak?

Jayce said...

PEE, VEE, INITS, IRR, MIB, SYR, ELEC, GDS, Sheesh! As SwampCat said, one of these is enough. More than six of these chunks of glue is enough to SWAMP out the good stuff like FOGEYS, ESTEEMS, STEELERS. BODY SLAM, and FRIED RICE. Oh, and then there's that nose-wrinkling ASWARM. I look forward to tomorrow.

Jayce said...

Lucina, I have also mailed in my ballot and feel no compunction whatsoever to hit the mute button and do something else during those outrageous political ads. It saddens me to think there are probably many many voters who believe that crap or give it any credibility at all.

Sorry I'm in a bad mood. My employer just took away my company credit card for no other reason that I am a consultant who works from home and doesn't come into the office every day. For years they have relied on me to handle the purchasing, and I had set up a rigorous record-keeping and Purchase Order system and trained three people there to use it. Two of those people have left the company, so there's only one person other than myself who can do it. He has asked me many times in the past to help him out and relieve him of the full burden of doing it all himself (and his level of confidence to handle it is rather low.) Welp, I guess he's gonna have to grab hold of that responsibility and own it himself, since I have been disempowered to assist in that regard.

Jayce said...

Should be "no other reason than that"

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Bluehen, that chili sounds wonderful. I like a good rare filet too, but not as much as good chili.

Of course, cat scan do anything, including training humans to be their servants.

PK, so glad your sister's house came through unscathed. I always thought that the stucco walls and tile roof of my Canyon Country (CA) home would save me from brush fires, but I'm guessing that it would not have survived this year.

YR, would love to see two teams named the Wildcats in the finals in Minneapolis in April.

The Ohio has locks at Louisville, which is nicknamed Falls City. Falls City was also the name of some of the worst beer ever brewed. Think Schmidt's of Philadelphia or Lucky Lager. But some people loved it, proving that there is no accounting for taste (kind of like my preference for chili above tenderloin).

WikWak said...

Anon @3:38– Doesn’t everyone take naps?

Anonymous said...

I have been wondering since Saturday the 13th at 107p who Picard forgot to change his profile to. He obviously meant to comment as another name.

Could it be sandyanon? It's a profile that has appeared recently and to be somewhat politically polarizing thus absolving Picard of said accusations. Not sure yet and will be tough to catch since I'm sure Picard will now be more careful since his sloppy blunder on Saturday.

CrossEyedDave said...

Lucina,

Do I speak Spanish?

I would have to say no...

I took it in High School, as the choice was Spanish, or Frwanch.
I think it was toward my second year that my Spanish teacher made me stand
up in front of the class. She said, "I want to make sure you know SOME Spanish."
"Repeat after me."
No se nada, No se nada No se nada...

Actually, I can speak, un poco, or is it un pocito...
and I know almost all the curse words!

FLN,

Well, I have to "toodle" off now...
Regards,
T.O.D.-;D.

Oh, and WikWak,
I stayed awake all last night because of all the naps I take during the day...

Lucina said...

Jayce:
It is pitiful to think that anyone would believe some of those smears and accusations. I'm glad to see some candidates are participating in debates; that gives us a better chance to see them in action at least for one hour.

Wikwak:
Enjoy your nap time!

WikWak said...

😬

desper-otto said...

Jinx, Wisconsin used to be the beer capital of the nation. But in Madison we had a particularly low-class brew named Fauerbach. The story was that a sample was sent to the Department of Agriculture for testing and the results came back: "Sir, your horse has diabetes."

Sandyanon said...

No, I'm not Picard, and I thought that I was taking care not to be politically polarizing. If you are referring to my earlier comment today, perhaps expressing admiration for an individual politician is polarizing. I hadn't thought so.

Rainman said...

d-otto,
great WI (beer) joke, thanks.

The greatest thing about this blog site is that it opens up so many different subjects to discuss. Today, it seems that CANALS is the favorite. Los canales in español, I believe. I went through the Panama Canal last November but never set foot in the country. This winter I intend to right that wrong and spend some time in the great Ciudad de Panama, specifically the Casco Viejo or old town area. If you were like me, however, and only saw the great city from the Canal Zone, you may have been somewhat impressed by all the skyscrapers, etc., which are visible from the Pacific end. Picard, feel free to correct me if I erred herein, thanks.

Lucina and Jayce, I agree totally about the annoying ads. I finished my mail-in ballot yesterday also and can now fast forward through that quagmire of lies.

Best to all.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

D-O, you almost made me deposit a sample into my laundry. Know why Lite beer is like sex in a canoe? It's f***ing near water! (Complements of my favorite bartender back in my drinking days.)

Ol' Man Keith said...

Ta~ DA!
A pzl of some interest from Mr. Virzi, well explicated by Melissa B.

My wife rec'd her mail-in ballot last week, but mine didn't come. They usually arrive together, so I have emailed the Sect'y of State's office to request another. So far, no word back.
I will be very angry if my vote is being "suppressed."

~ OMK
____________
DR:
One diag, NW to SE.
I can't make much of the anagram. except for a curious reference to ...
"IDIOT GOYEM"!

Jayce said...

FWIW, I am rediscovering the symphonic composer Anton Bruckner. I have listened to and liked his music before but am now on a "jag" to listen to all 9 of his symphonies. Incredible stuff, but they are long! Personally the guy was weird, but his music is, IMO, magnificent. Not in such a bad mood now. (Music always cheers me up, be it Simon and Garfunckle, The Village Stompers, The Beachboys, Neil Diamond, Beethoven, Wagner, Schubert, Sibelius, or Fleetwood Mac.)

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Frank, I'd like to congratulate you for beating me up good but I shot myself in the foot in the SW; so you don't get all the credit for my FIW. I like the theme though I think some of the fill suffered ("playground-crossings" & "spelt-out-letters" crossing come to mind). Thanks for giving us a grid to play!.

Fun expo mb. Interesting bit on FINISHING SCHOOL; I always assumed it was more like Charm School that Officers attend :-)

WOs: am NOT b/f IS, IAM SO... DUet, HEM-up.
ESPs: ERLE, MOOKIE/KAA, OEO, BEING BOBBY BR [and then I remembered his name], IRR, EDUCES, ROSA [3/4 perp]

FAIL: MIDLE has 2 ds. I know that writing it out but not seeing it "down." That gave me LIPLOME (like aplomb?), PADNEY for SIDNEY, and INAEs for FDR & JFK [I couldn't wait for the expo to tell me what the hell that meant]
Insult to injury? - OHOH @60d [Hi Misty!]
//Dang, 1st I started going down-hill on Thursday's, now it's Wednesdays?!?

Fav: PATTY DUKE [1:00]. Brought back wonderful memories of DW & I watching it in college [on Nick@Nite - I'm not that old :-)]

{B+, B, A}

Happy Birthday WC! What's your special meal today?

Speaking of which, sounds delicious Bluehen! [I'm stealing your cat'scan joke]

Jayce - make him learn the hard way...

Picard - those were delightful pics of Sana ROSA! Thanks for sharing.

I've been to RICE - Eldest sang there annually with the Houston Girls Choir. The conductor actually wrote a letter of reference for her admission to OU's music school.

I don’t have any locks stories - unless you want to hear about DW's beautiful ones or that I enjoy picking them (er, pad-locks, not nits out of DW's locks - that'd be too monkey :-))

OK, I gotta ask: Why did no one fast-forward through the political ads even before mailing in their ballots?

Cheers, -T

CanadianEh! said...

Wednesday workout. Thanks Frank and melissa bee.
Hand up for having difficulty in the NW. I DNF because I threw in the towel.
This was not one of my favourite CWs due to excess clues requiring specialized knowledge that I lacked. (And it wasn't just those American university names - I knew them!) Fills like OEO, DOA, MIB, SYDNEY, MOOKIE were just not in my wheelhouse today. Oh well. I see Swampcat and Jayce agreed with me.

VEE was just OK but following it with PEE was meh IMHO! Not really impressed by TUSH either (rude connotations for me).

Like Big Easy "SYNS- I just realized it over and above were 'synonyms'. V8 moment."
Thanks D4 for explaining.

Thanks Spitzboov for outlining those river locks. (We also have the Trent-Severn Waterway
System which joins Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay.) DH and I had the opportunity to travel down the Welland Canal on a tall ship two years ago. Interesting and beautiful experience.

We have been getting some of those political "attack" ads on American TV stations that broadcast into Canada. Chilling is the only word I can use to describe! I would sooner hear what the candidate stands for/or has accomplished themself than listen to them denigrate another candidate. (We have municipal elections next week and are in campaign mode also but on a much different level.)

OHO Bluehen, we have missed your mouth-watering meal descriptions!
Sorry that your birthday meal was lacking CED.
YR, lovely to hear of your grandson's success and your support.
WC, Happy Birthday if I read you correctly.

Good evening to all.

Bill G said...

All of this talk about naps has made me sleepy.

I love steak. Rare filets are very tender but I think the flavor of a rib eye can't be beat.

Years ago I wandered along the Erie Canal (and a couple of others). I was impressed by the simplicity of the locks operation. I was expecting motor-driven pumps, but no. Simpler and more elegant.

Wilbur Charles said...

I just lost my post. So.. Thanks for the Hbd s.

WC .Class of 44 .

Lucina said...

I always have and always will ignore political ads. They are neither informative nor helpful. I do my own research and try to follow my state's representatives to see how they vote. One of my sisters votes on one issue alone; I've tried to tell her that is a good way to destroy democracy but she is determined.

WC:
I hope you had a good birthday.

Lucina said...

Picard:
I love the photos of Charles Schultz's studio. He was a talented man who entertained us daily with his "Peanuts". I heard that his home was burned in last year's fire.

It is still on my list to go to the Panama Canal and I should see to it before it's too late and while I can still get around.

Michael said...

Bluehen @ 12:26 -- You'll probably never see this, but I copied your recipe for 'Chile Elaborado', because my gringo chili has no pizzaz. Thanks!