google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, December 8, 2018, C.C. Burnikel

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Dec 8, 2018

Saturday, December 8, 2018, C.C. Burnikel

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by C.C. Burnikel


December 8 is Be A Time Traveler Day. Most would first think of Back To The Future for a reference but for me, I think of a little movie called Peggy Sue Got Married

While Marty was delivered to his parents' high school days by Doc Brown's Delorean he was forbidden to do anything that might effect the "time-space continuum". However, Peggy Sue passed out at a class reunion and traveled back to her adolescence and wound up as an actual participant in her own high school days. 


That is the one time of my life I would like to have a "do over". Peggy Sue knew how the blowhards, science geeks, et al turned out and she got to interact with them with an adult perspective. Wouldn't you like another shot?


I could also have picked to be at Ford's Theater the night of April 14, 1865... 


Our blog mistress and puzzle master has provided us with a lovely weekend diversion. Her triple stacks of 11's in the NE and SW corner and layers of triple 8's in the NW and SE were wonderful.  She never fails to amaze but NE corner took me quite a lot of time.

Here she is at the Treasure Island Casino and Bowling Lanes where Boomer was in a tournament. I'm sure she was there to support Boomer's competitive bowling  just as she is now supporting him with his health issues.

Those flowers make me long for spring which is still quite a ways away. Sigh...

Now lets see what our maven from Minneapolis has for us today.

Across:

1. Top that turns: SCREW CAP - An eponymous John Mason Jar who pioneered the SCREW CAP jar in the 1850's





9. Fictional brother with a green hat: LUIGI - Mario's sibling. How does a girl from China know this stuff?


14. Like some snowsuits: ONE PIECE.

15. Lacks the wherewithal to: CAN NOT 


16. Vacant, as positions: UNFILLED - When substitute teaching jobs go UNFILLED, the staff has to take those classes during the times they are not scheduled with kids. 


17. Sets free: LOOSES - "He has LOOSED the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword"


18. General who's the subject of the 2012 biography "All In": PETRAEUS - An affair with his co-biographer Paula Broadwell led to a series of events that forced him to resign as the head of the CIA. Did he 24. State (verb) secrets: BLAB to her?




20. Org. whose employees may have to lift 70-lb. bags: TSA - Handling heavy baggage and surly customers all day is not my idea of a ideal job.


21. Country star at age 13: RIMES - LeAnn was the little girl with the big voice


25. "Va-va-__!": VOOM - A catchphrase for Ed Norton on The Honeymooners

26. "You got that right!": AMEN.


27. Puck, say: DISC  - How 'bout shooting that DISC for big money




46. 1983 Mr. T comedy: D.C. CAB - Is that Mr. T wearing the hockey jersey above with his name on the back? 



28. Bouquet __: GARNI - Literally garnished bouquet - "A bunch of herbs typically encased in a cheesecloth bag, used for flavoring a stew or soup"



29. Resting place: BED - Our Lily's perch, scratch pad, bird lookout and sometimes BED




30. Raymond James Stadium pro: BUC - Tampa Bay BUCaneers of the NFL

31. Some stingers: HORNETS - Their sting might necessitate using an 
4. Camp nurse's item: EPIPEN (EPI nehprin PEN)

33. Took off, slangily: BAILED - BAILED out of a perfectly good airplane



35. Nice, for one: RESORT - I assume all 25 of these things are, uh, nice




36. Holy smoke: INCENSE - Fun clue! This smell seems acrid to me


38. Lines of thought?: Abbr.: EEG.




39. Long on-screen: NIA - Perhaps best known as Will's girlfriend in Fresh Prince


40. Feature: TRAIT - My kids hate it when they detect a TRAIT of my wife or me in their behavior


41. Hits hard: RAMS.


43. Bad thing to catch: FLAK - "Oh, getting too close to the truth!"




44. Mirror image: SELF.




45. Have trouble with chess?: LISP - We Big Bang fans immediately think of Kripke 


46. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact" author: DOYLE - Prepare for a 3 minute blizzard of deductive reasoning by DOYLE's Sherlock Holmes




47. Gain competitor: FAB - Laundry detergents

48. Frequent Robert De Niro co-star: JOE PESCI - Google the pen scene from Casino if you don't mind graphic violence



50. Bar supply: OLIVES.

52. Portrayer of Nero in "Star Trek" (2009): ERIC BANA - If you're interested


56. Skateboard moves: OLLIES  - No skateboard? No problem. Ollie on your friend  




57. Bright lipstick color: CORAL RED.


58. President who had 15 children: TYLER - Tyler men had children late in life. President Tyler fathered Lyon when he was 63 and Lyon had Lyon Jr. when he was 71 and Harrison when he was 75. As of 2017, both Lyon Jr. and Harrison survived over 200 years after  their grandfather President John was born.




59. Subarus named for a NYC area: TRIBECAS - TRIangle BElow CAnal St. in NYC and yet another look-alike car of today



Down:


1. Measly amount: SOU - French coins of little value when minted

2. Jake Tapper's channel: CNN.


3. Court official: REF - This show-boating REF is emphatically calling blocking  




5. Cunning: WILES 28. Maddux in Cooperstown: GREG was a Hall Of Fame pitcher who survived on his WILES, not his fastball that was 10 mph slower than the one that most have today.

6. Gael or Breton: CELT.




7. Tart: ACERBIC

8. Piano trio: PEDALS - What the PEDALS do


9. The elephant is its national animal: LAOS - Seems right


10. Game with a colorful deck: UNO.


11. Marketing limitation: IN-STORE ONLY  - One way to get 'em off the computer and into your brick and mortar facility 




12. Faces a jury: GOES ON TRIAL 

13. Alleged perp's denial: IT'S A MISTAKE - The San Quentin Theme Song


15. Driver, e.g.: CLUB - Even in this 100-yr-old hickory set, the driver is the biggest CLUB

19. Pricing word: EACH - "Oh my word! I thought that was per dozen!"

21. Furry talisman: RABBIT'S FOOT.


22. "Seriously?!": I MEAN REALLY, did you think I'd fall for that?


23. Insurance may cover one: MEDICAL BILL - BC/BS Medicare has me covered!


25. Handymen's transports: VANS  - Ya gotta love this one!




27. Lemons: DUDS.


30. Like paper clips: BENT.

32. Valuable rocks: ORES and 
37. Lake in four states and Canada: ERIE - Two cwd stalwarts

34. First name in early exploring: LEIF - Christopher who?


38. Chinese ruler until 1912: EMPEROR - China's last EMPEROR was Pyui who was overthrown and Sun Yet-sen was installed as the provisional president of the new Republic Of China 



42. Facet: ASPECT.


43. Minor flaw: FOIBLE - All mine seem to be fairly major


45. Perfect season spoiler: LOSS - The New England Patriots went 18 - 1 in the 2007 season and their only loss was in the Super Bowl by this highly improbable finish!


48. Raspberry: JEER.

49. Multilingual assistant: SIRI - She demands precise language


51. Compete: VIE.


53. Parabolic path: ARC - The ARC of a home run Mickey Mantle hit in 1960 over the right field roof in Detroit. The landing spot was found and measured to be 643' and is listed by Guinness as the longest homer in MLB regular season history.





54. "Read Across America" org.: NEA - I see the next day for this National Education Association event  is Saturday, March 2, 2019 and I will mention that on my blog that day (If C.C. let's me keep blogging!)


55. Showstoppers?: ADS - For $9/month I get an incredible selection of options and no TV ADS with Netflix!

Now let's look to the future, not the past and carry on a conversation about C.C.'s offering today:





Note from C.C.:

Happy birthday to dear Jazzbumpa (Ron), our cool Wednesday guide. Ron never fails to entertain us with his humor and wits. He and I worked a few puzzles in the past, and I know how much time and attention he gave to each clue, always trying to amuse and tickle.


40 comments:

Lemonade714 said...

Happy birthday Ron and many more.

Another themeless from C.C. who apparently decided she wanted to rule that roost as well. Nice pic from Treasure Island; you can bet they had a great time. I was thinking of Boomer while watching Wheel of Fortune as contestant bragged of having made a hole-in-one and bowled a 300 game.

Interesting Chinese history; I wanted to get EMPEROR PYUI some cookies and a truck to play with.

Happy weekend all and stay in the light.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Zoomed right through, everything just made sense.

Howdy Husker, loved the Ollie video! That was some well-crafted stop motion animation.

Dudley said...

I forgot to wish a Happy Birthday to JzB! Many happy returns of the day, Ron.

OwenKL said...

LUIGI was in charge of the censer
So to make the INCENSE some denser,
He added some seeds
From his favorite weeds --
The homily seemed strangely intenser!

When spiking D.N.A. to add a TRAIT,
Ethicists advise that you wait.
Some ASPECT, unexpected,
May strangely be affected,
In ways that are hard to relate!

{A-, A-.}

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Entered WILEY for 5d (was thinking Post, I guess), so RIMES began life as MILEY. That really messed up the California coastline. Wite-Out, please. MEDICAL BILL set everything straight. Thanx, C.C. and for the tour, Husker.

PETRAEUS: Did he betray us?

PEDALS: Had a couple pianos over the years, but they only had two pedals.

SIRI: I call the voice on my GPS Matilda. She's very picky. If you say "street" or "trail" when she's thinking "road," she'll come up with some rally off-the-wall suggestions for the destination. Couldn't do M-o-W without her, though.

ADS: Husker, how do you get Netflix for $9? Costs me $11.90.

Happy Birthday, JzB. I enjoy your esoteric Wednesday dissertations.

Big Easy said...

Well congratulations to our 'blog mistress' on a theme-less (the type I prefer) puzzle. Only two gimmes, Tapper the 'show-boating' jerk, and GREG Maddox. Very few many misdirecting clues. Bouquet GARNI and ERIC BANA were 100% perps; never heard of either. NIA, LOE PESCI, LUIGI, DOYLE, & DC CAB I knew of but didn't know, so they were perped also.

In tennis, the UMPire is the court official; the Tournament REFeree is in charge of all the courts but does not make court decisions.

SIRI- My "Hey Google" or just click on the microphone seems to understand everything. People need to realize that they should think before they say something to these assistants, don't rush, and say each word distinctly. They will work perfectly if you do it. I dictate all my text messages ( Android) and it rarely makes a mistake.

The IN STORE ONLY-FLAK-FOIBLE-DOYLE area took the longest to sort out. With GARNI unknown, I kept wanting a single word for the 'limitation' with my one-track-mind. Usually it's ON-LINE orders for something that you want to pick up.

MILEY or RIMES; ERA or ALL or FAB; WILEY or WILES; OUTBACKS or TRIBECAS; don't the people in NYC consider the rest of the country as the OUTBACK? Oh, we're in 'flyover' country.

Barry T. said...

Whoopee! My first-ever Saturday cw finished (rather quickly, too!) with no cheats, no helps, no red letters, no googling. Alert the media!!!

Thanks to all the dedicated folks who make joy possible. Today, CC. :)

Jinx in Norfolk said...

I usually don't play on Saturdays, but saw CC's byline and couldn't resist. FIW, making errors in Ocala and Daytona beach (ERIC lANe). Didn't get how ADS stop shows until the Corner threw the V8 can, and I only know FOIBLE in retrospect. Erased bops for RAMS, tad for SOU, scot for CELT, and stands trail for GOES ON TRIAL.

I'm on OKL's wavelength - in my ute, the smoke was incense plus something not entirely holy. I also thought of OKL and a few of our other fellow Cornerites when I filled in BENT. And if THAT ain't the pot calling the kettle black...

Before I got my divorce from MLB, I loved to watch Greg Maddux pitch. The best part was the way he fielded his position. He finished his follow-through facing the batter, knees bent, ready to field. Not only did that skill fetch him 18 gold gloves, it helped keep him from being injured by rockets hit back up the middle. No other player at any position has ever won that many gold gloves.

Thanks to CC for surprising me with a Saturday puzzle that was actually FUN! My favorite was "mirror image" for SELF. And thanks to Husker Gary for another fine review. I'm still chuckling about the van's driver-on-the-john paint job.

HBD to JzB. I love the picture, even if you are tooting your own horn.

SwampCat said...

Happy birthday JzB! And thanks for al the fun your give us with your write ups.

Owen, thanks for the chuckles.

The puzzle defeated me but I liked the part I got. Thanks C.C. Loved Holy Smoke for INCENSE. HG, thanks for the tour.

I did have one nit. EPIPENS are Rx only. The allergic camper would have his own. I know all too well as I carry mine everywhere.

Keep your heads above water, Houston! It’s supposed to storm all day here, too. Glurb!

JJM said...

ERIC BANA -- I thought he was great as NERO in STAR TREK (2009). And in accordance with the theme of Time Travelers" he also played Henry in "The Time Traveler's Wife" (2009) with Rachel McAdams. A neighbor of mine wrote that book which eventually was turned into that movie.

Going out for my ride now.

Hope Boomer is feeling better!!

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Thanks, C.C.. I really enjoyed this and found just a few entries led the way. I pulled PETRAEUS our of nowhere with just the P, but the EPIPEN sent me to zippered before ONE PIECE. I remembered OLLIES from previous C.W.s. I liked the cluing for LUIGI, BED, INCENSE and EEG.

Thanks, Gary for the tour. My basic Netflix, which I've only had for two months is $7.99. I'm still learning about what's available.

Stay safe Houston. Mother nature is always trying to reclaim her low lands. I know I live in what was once Lake Michigan's backwaters. Although the sewer system has been revamped over the last century.

Happy Birthday, JazzB. Enjoy your day.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Happy Birthday, Jzb. Hope your day is special.

Kind of a tough one today. Had to rely on perps to complete the solve. SW was crunchy because of several near Naticks. We don't use FAB so that went by me. I MEAN REALLY was more like a phrase seen in Wheel of Fortune. Overall, an enjoyable solve.
ERIE - Could have been clued as Great lake with mean depth of 60' or greatest depth of 212' or area of 9900 sq. mi. or whose main fetch is oriented WSW-ENE, or whose primary period of oscillation is about 13 hrs. But since a 4 letter answer is indicated, ERIE would be an excellent choice in any event.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Other than a few speed bumps here and there, I zoomed through this in 17 minutes which is super fast for me on a Saturday. The triple stacks were fairly easy to discern with a few letters, and the rest of the fill was fresh and clean. My unknowns were all proper names, as usual: Luigi, and Eric Bana and Rimes, as clued. My w/os were Stands trial/Goes on and DC Cop instead of Cab. I liked the Olives over Ollies pairing and I love the word Foible. Favorite C/A were Showstoppers=Ads and Holy smoke=Incense. Nice that CC recognized her heritage (Chinese ruler) and love of baseball (Maddux) in the same puzzle. CSO to Abejo at the ubiquitous Erie.

Thanks, CC, for a very enjoyable solve and thanks, HG, for the sparkling and entertaining write-up. I enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes video and would have enjoyed it more if I could understand more than half of what he said. I also like The clip of Lily, lazing away and the other kitty/lion pic. (An occasional canine clip wouldn't hurt! 😏)

Happy Birthday, Ron, hope it's an outstanding day! 🎂🎁🎉🎈🎊🍾

FLN

Anonymous T, I thought of you and DO and TexasMs while watching the news about the widespread flooding. I hope you are all safe and sound.

There was a cute segment on the nightly news about a 4 year old boy, just learning how to spell and print. He spelled out his name with a crayon and voiced each letter, N O A H. Then, he was asked to show his letter to Santa which he proudly held up so you could see that he addressed it to Satan. (I'm easily amused.)

Have a great day.

Lucina said...

Hip! Hip! Hooray! What a sparkling grid from C.C.!

I also zipped through it fairly quickly then screeched to a stop in Maine. LAOS seemed right as they have elephants, then UNO but I had ISONTRIAL and had to maneuver my way out. OH, LUIGI. I had to LIU.

Thank you, Gary, for explaining CLUB since I didn't understand it. Not being a fan of country music I also didn't get RIMES. One bad cell there.

I really liked the clues for LISP and EEG.

Happy birthday, Ron! I love your entertaining Blogs.

Thank you, Gary; I, too, am still laughing at the handyman's VAN.

Have a grand day, everyone!

Yellowrocks said...

No zooming for me. This was taking more time than I had, so I red lettered a few. I will take a FIW. I found the NW the hardest. CC, fine puzzle, regardless. Gary, I loved the kitten seeing himself as a lion. Great blog, as always.
In the very rare cases when there was no sub, in addition to filling in during our free periods,a few times we teachers had to have the students double up in one class. Sometimes the added kids were not even studying the same thing.
Olives in martinis add salt. Ugh! I prefer LEMON peel, instead. Sort of CSO to Lemonade, but he surely is no dud. He adds zest to the Corner.
I have no wish to do over any part of my life, good or bad. I just keep chugging along. Been there, done that.
Our camp nurse's supply was tons of Bandaids. As an excuse to roam around, a few kids would go to her with every tiny scratch. One boy came to her several times each day. At the closing campfire ceremony he was awarded the Order of the Purple Bandaid.
Ron, a very happy birthday to you. I enjoy your blogs.

Sandyanon said...

A+, A+

Tinbeni said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jazz ... Tonight's "First Toast" is to YOU !!!

Yup, at 50-a, Bar supply, I entered SCOTCH before OLIVES.
At Villa Incognito the only thing in supply at the bar is Scotch, Rum and Ouzo.

Husker: Great, informative write-up. Good Job!

C.C. Thank you for a FUN Saturday puzzle. I solved it because I saw you were the constructor. Glad I did !!!

Hope everyone is nice an warm ... I'm stuck with a sunny day and 73 degrees.
Oh well ...

Cheers!

Wilbur Charles said...

Before I get sidetracked by all the posts I'll quickly* post. I just posted my junk on the Friday. I should add FLEMENCO had me dancing but RARE COIN got me to the FIR.

So. As usual, I looked at Saturday and I had nutt'n. Then Mario's bro helped me get the NE.
Lo and behold there was the CC trademark: GREG Maddux of Cub and Brave fame. And yes there's Ms Burnikel herself.

Perfect Fri-Sat. Eg tough Fri level with no theme fill to lead the way. ADS and the V8 with it was the piece de resistance**. I don't know RIMEY, (nor BANA)-I hope that's right.

Spelling the General*** and replacing ERA with FAB did it. And..
I recognize Sherlock but I'd have to guess the Case: Sign of Four? And oh, btw, I originally had FACET as an answer then it was a clue. BUC was another sure gimme.

WC

* Not that quick. And FLN, we'd had TENON here before
** But no "Fwanche" except Nice the city
*** Tampa connection with his affair with a local biographer

Bill G said...

Hi everybody. I'm not usually a fan of Saturday puzzles. They're mostly too hard for me and they don't have a theme which I miss. However, I enjoyed this one. Just fine. Peachy. Some of the clues were clever and I was usually able to figure them out for some reason. Thanks CC and Gary.

Happy birthday JzB. Thanks for your participation in this blog.

HELP STAMP OUT TRUTH DECAY!

Wilbur Charles said...

Snap quiz: What was "Peggy Sue's name?

How? She saw the (Great) Movie. Da-da-dada. I wonder if Mario's nemesis will ever be a clue (answer later, hint c above)

Aaarrgghhhh!!! Not the adverb the noun
WILES and RIMES. I do know her. Cancel the FIR
Re. 43a. My father flew a B24. FLAK was the least of his worries
Re. Showboating REF.. Anybody remember Charlie Deal?

Hbd, Jazzb

WC

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

DNF/FIW in the SE - Didn't know ERIC BA-- , had TRIBECca, and ran out of PP&P after a second listen of WWDTM.

Thanks C.C. for this fairly easy Sat grid - knowing your style helped w/ many c/a pairs + baseball!

Great illustrative expo HG. I love that handyman's Van! //sent the pic to Pop (who drop'd OUT of corporate and became a handyman at 45 - he deducts all his toys, er, tools. That's legal, right(?) D-O?)

WOs: PEDdle [wrong one], MIA b/f NIA, Same b/f SELF, I LIU for spelling of in[s]cense when I ran out of squares [this Catholic Boy wasn't fooled by the clue!]
ESPs: GARNI, RIMES [I kept trying to expand REBA w/ an extra B but MED wouldn't let me] NIA; heavy perpage was needed for LUIGI among many other c/as...
Fav: clue for EEG is brilliant!
Runner-up: Puck clue left me on a Shakespeare Line of Thought for too long - Nice...

{A, A+ (considering China's researcher w/ a CRISPR)}

MdF - The rains have let up. It's not as bad as they predicted (in my neck of the woods anyway) and certainly not Harvey worthy. Thanks for thinking of us way down here [you too IM - I got my car from the pool-house parking lot this AM]

Happy Birthday JazzBumpa! Looking forward to reading your Wednesday expos after your busy-bumpa season is over.

Cheers, -T

Yellowrocks said...

CORAL RED was kind of a surprise, but I do see that it is a lipstick color. Coral has a hint of orange in it. The CORAL part took a perp, or two.
Usually I think of a screw cap as a cover for a screw head.
But I know some wine bottles have screw caps instead of corks. For most other bottles I call them screw-on caps. When my MIL saw people with lines around their necks, she said they had screw-on necks.
I am deeply into sorting out Christmas decorations today. I have so many of them, but I hate to give any of them up. Putting them up and taking them down takes me two or three times longer than it used to. It is so cold today, below normal, that I am decorating inside instead of outside. It should warm up by Friday.
I ordered a gift from Macy's with free shipping to the store. Soon I will have to leave to pick it up. My Amazon gifts will come directly to my door.
Yesterday I had a baby's car seat standing by my front door. Huh? I set it at the end of my walkway and someone eventually picked it up. The house numbers in our development are used only once. The new section has unique numbers, too, except for three of them, although the street name is different. One of the duplicate numbers is mine. I frequently get their mail and their UPS packages misdelivered to me.
End of break. Gotta get chugging.

Misty said...

I love your puzzles, C.C., but Saturdays are inevitably toughies for me, and this one was no exception. But I still got a good chunk of the middle-east. I started with VOOM, which gave me VANS, which gave me GARNI, which gave me HORNETS, and so on. And all that helped me with the long down answers. So, still a lot of fun--many thanks! I kept thinking the "Holy Smoke" should be INCENSE, and there it was! Thanks for the write-up, Husker Gary.

And have a great birthday, JazzB.

I'm off to my first Christmas party, a tea at a friend's house at noon, so I have to hurry. Have a great weekend, everybody.

AnonymousPVX said...

Barry T....congrats, nothing like completing a Saturday puzzle, the first time makes it even sweeter, nice.

And this was a crunchy one....

Markovers....FOX/CNN (what was I thinking), ERSE/CELT, UPS/TSA, FACET/TRAIT, LIEF/LEIF, DEFECT/FOIBLE.

Oh yeah...LOOSED/LOOSEN/LOOSES. Geez.

See you Monday.

Haiku Harry said...

Do Vee-Dub (VW) owners
Switch St Christopher Medals
With a RABBIT'S FOOT?

Wilbur Charles said...

No. The people in Boston consider everything West of Worcester the land of the barbarians
IM, he'd probably get better toys that way except he wouldn't appreciate them until he became a teen
I had thought of BEDPAN < EPIPEN

WC

-T. Phillip got LUIGI with the first note of DA(da dada) . Were you too young for that Mario Bros movie? If you've never seen it it's a classic

No guesses on my two quiz?s

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-My crossword friend from Lincoln sent me an e-mail to kid me that the work VAN I chose was really a pickup. As he thought, I knew the difference but couldn’t resist posting because of the graphic on the door.
-I wish I could get him to post here but he always reads my Saturday blogs and writes to me privately.
-HBD Ron, I always like reading your work and listening to your music
-Wilbur, I enjoyed looking up Peggy Sue’s family and married name! I better remember early NBA REF Mendy Rudolph.
-I’d forgotten that Sophia Coppola got a role in Peggy Sue because her dad Francis directed the movie. He also got her a significant role in Godfather III that he directed and the critics savaged her performance

TTP said...

Good afternoon all. Thank you C.C. and thank you Husker Gary.

No TADA today. Had WILEy and ERA. Never thought of FAB, but the most aggregious error was not thinking of a 5 letter word for Furry talisman at 40A. Could not think of LeAnn RIMES even though I had the firm mental image, and could hear her singing Blue. Really made a mess out off the west.

Greg Maddux was an incredibly accurate pitcher a fierce competitor that could pinpoint his pitches at the edges of the strikezone and at varying speeds. He didn't imtimidate opposing batters with his slower-than-average fastball as he aged; he frustrated them with his control. Was really disppointed when he left the Cubs for the Braves just because I couldn't watch every time he pitched.

That was one of the greatest SuperBowl plays ever.

Loved your alternate clue for Lake ERIE, Spitzboov. The 60' reference would have given it away to me though.

Happy Birthday JazzBumpa !


FLN Dash T, Clint Eastwood was in Bridges, so I got that going as a cover... :>) I hope you have some Deep Purple Highway Star in that road mix. Sorry to hear about all the rain. You and TX Ms and D-O and others stay as high and dry as you can.

WikWak said...

Good morning all (well, it's MY morning!). And a HBD to you, JazzB! I always enjoy your offerings.

As others, I found the NW the hardest place to fill. Finally did get them with perps. Had fits with the T in TSA. V-8 moment when it finally hit me as I filled in IN STORE ONLY. Should’ve done the verts first. Chuckled at "holy smoke" (did anyone else think of Robin talking to Batman?), and really liked the clue for EEG. My favorite one today. Liked seeing OLIVES over OLLIES, and the word FOIBLE(S) has always tickled me. Didn’t know ERIC BANA and never heard the term Bouquet GARNI (I knew about them, but have never heard that name for them), but the perps were solid...

Thanks for the elucidations, HG. Top notch as always. And Owen, I would grade them A+, A. Two of your best!

Enjoy the rest of your day! (Did somebody say "rest"? That sounds like a great idea!)

Wilbur Charles said...

Guess I didn't post this hope it's not a duplicate

No. The people in Boston consider everything West of Worcester the land of the barbarians
IM, he'd probably get better toys that way except he wouldn't appreciate them until he became a teen
I had thought of BEDPAN < EPIPEN

WC

Wilbur Charles said...

Gary, thanks for taking a shot. I was thinking of this
Peggy Sue. The original was Cindy Lou.

Now. In the Mario Bros movie the villains are Coopers. The boys came up with the clever idea of sedating the Coopers by playing "Lara's Theme"* piped into an elevator. The Coopers sway to the music and are temporarily neutralized. Da Da dada

WC

* Dr Zhivago

CrossEyedDave said...

Picard, I was wondering why the beach at Nice was grey,
so I looked at some close up. it's a bunch of smooth river rocks!

That one spot that looks like real sand must have been imported in by the Hotel!

happy birthday Jzb

I was struck by the puzzle grid, CC did you start with that design?
A couple of gimme's, but mostly too hard for me...
Oh, and there is a baseball reference if you look for it...

Ol' Man Keith said...

Time travel, eh?
Just go to your 50th HS reunion. You'll see how everyone turned out. Sorry, there are no "do-overs," but the data is all yours, free for the viewing.
I have to say, though, that I wonder most about those who didn't show up.
(Hmm. I skipped the 60th. Does that mean I raised others' curiosity--or have just been forgotten...?)

CELT? This is an issue I have raised with Ancestry. A couple of years ago I took their spit test. They sent the results saying I was 50% "Irish."
Now, I have nothing against the Irish, nothing at all. But since my mom was proudly half Welsh and half Cornish--100% Celtic!--it seemed a gross misstatement to lump all CELTs as Irish.
If you bother to read their fine print, Ancestry covers their tracks. But you really shouldn't have to wade through pages to get a more finely tuned reading.

Today's pzl from C.C. was a beautiful challenge, difficult to finish without several Googles. Once one got a toehold in a sector, everything flowed, but it wasn't always easy getting those starts.
~ OMK

Ol' Man Keith said...

HBD JzB!!

Was sure it should have been FUZZY DICE. But that wouldn't fit, nor would FUZZY DICES.
FUZZED-UP DICE was wrong too, as was BEFUZZED DICE.
So naturally I went with RABBIT'S FOOT.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
Too bad there were no diagonals today. I'm sure C.C. would give us a great hidden message, whether straight or anagrammed.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle and solved it by going letter by letter, word by word. Had most of the same stumbling blocks and experiences you all did.

My poor daughter-in-law. Three piles of sh*t dumped on her in three weeks: (1) Her father died of esophageal cancer three weeks ago. (2) She was just diagnosed with stage 2 triple negative breast cancer three days ago. (3) Her son, our grandson, was just diagnosed with type 1 bipolar disorder, associated with alcohol abuse, and is undergoing recovery at the moment. LW and I are doing what we can to help.

Best wishes to you all and special happy birthday wishes to YOU,RON.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks to C.C. and Gary!'

Happy Birthday to Jzb!

FIR, but it took a while. Things that were prepped were: TRIBECAS, NEA, LUIGI, PETRAEUS, TSA, D.C. CAB, BUC, EPIPEN, RESORT, LISP, DOYLE, CORAL RED, TYLER, TRIBECAS, IN-STORE ONLY, IT'S A MISTAKE, I MEAN REALLY and NEA.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Bill G said...

Hey Jayce, I'm sure sorry to hear about your daughter-in-law and grandson. Best wishes for them and for you.

There's another rocket launch scheduled for later this evening from Vandenberg. The last one was a visual delight.

Abejo said...

Good evening, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.

Puzzle was not easy for me. Took me hours. Liked it, though. Good job, C.C.!

Happy Birthday, Jazzbumpa, and many more.

Boomer, keep the faith! We are with you.

Of course my favorite clue/answer was 37D, ERIE. Easiest word on today's puzzle.

PETRAEUS came pretty easily. Had a few letters and the name hit me in the head.

Never heard of the Country star RIMES.

Never knew TYLER had 15 children. Good for him.

Loads of unknowns in this puzzle. Too many to list. Must be why it took me hours to finish.

Picked up our Christmas Tree today. A guy brings them down from his farm in Wausau, Wisconsin, and sets up shop at the plaza across the street. He and his wife are real nice people.

A very good friend of mine from Villa Grove, IL, died in a car crash last night. His wife is in critical condition and the third person in the car died also. What a tragedy. They ran into some sort of truck that was cleaning up stuff on the berm, I understand. Life can be short.

See you tomorrow, folks.

Abejo

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Bill G said...

Abejo, I am sorry to hear about your friend. My sympathies.

Rats! After waiting outside in the cool damp weather, we find that the rocket launch was scrubbed again seven seconds before liftoff. Rats!

TTP said...

Abejo, I am sorry to hear that your friend died in such a tragic accident.