google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 Jeff Stillman

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Dec 12, 2018

Wednesday, December 12, 2018 Jeff Stillman

Theme - TEA SET 



-- OR --

JUST TEASING.  Several TEA varieties cross each other in this well brewed array.

17 A. Indian town in the Himalayas: DARJEELING. Once a summer resort for the British Raj elite, with Mt. Kanchenjunga in the background.  It is famous for the distinctive black tea grown on plantations that dot its surrounding slopes.

3 D. Like some shampoos: HERBAL.  These shampoos are infused with HERBS, based on traditional holistic medicine concepts, to cleanse the hair and maintain a balance among body, mind and spirit.  HERBAL TEAS are made from HERBS, spices and other plant materials, generally not including traditional tea, nor containing caffeine.



37A. There's always a hole in one: GREEN.  On a golf course, the GREEN is the target area, and the goal is to sink your ball into the hole in the fewest number of strokes.  Best, of course, is a hole in one.  GREEN TEA is made from the leaves and buds of Camellia Sinensis plants, like ordinary oolong and black TEA, but without the withering and oxidizing processes.

11 D. Massage therapy oil type: LAVENDER.   The distillate of this small, aromatic evergreen shrub of the mint family is used perfumes and to promote relaxation and healing.


LAVENDER TEA is made from the purple flower buds. It is purported to be relaxing, promote sleep, reduce inflammation and promote healing

68 A. Treated, as a sprain: ICED.  This can help to minimize swelling, reduce bleeding and reduce muscle spasms and pain.  ICED TEA can be any variety of tea served over ice.  Might I recommend LAVENDER when you have a sprain?

40 D. William IV's prime minister: EARL GREY.   Charles, 2nd Earl Grey, was a prominent Whig politician and served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1830 to 1834, which tenure saw the passing of the Great Reform Act of 1832 and the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833. In 1808, he also succeeded his uncle as third Baronet, of Howick. [Wikipedia]

The so-named TEA is flavored with oil of bergamot, a variety of orange grown in France and Italy.  It is my afternoon TEA of choice.

And the unifier: 66 A. Pay attention to detail ... and, homophonically, what three pairs of puzzle answers do: CROSS THE TS.  Along with cross -- I mean dot -- the eyes, to make everythign complete and tidy. Here the three pairs of TEAs cross, so the double meaning is clear.

Hi gang, JazzBumpa here, and not yet in my cups. So, armed with this bracing set of brews, let us venture forth, T's dotted and I's crossed, to solve this puzzle's remaining mysteries.

Across:

1. Israel Philharmonic music director Zubin: MEHTA. [b 1936] He also founded the Bombay Symphony.

6. Hook-shaped ski lift: J-BAR.  Pushes you uphill by the butt.

10. Calculator button: PLUS.  Addition function

14. Common Era starting date: ONE AD.  One C. E. I would think.  YMMV.

15. Hebrides language: ERSE.  A Gaelic tongue.

16. Low-tech leaf-blower alternative: RAKE.

19. "Best Song __": One Direction hit: EVER.


Watching this is optional - 6+ minutes

20. Flow's partner: EBB.  As of tides, frex.

21. The "P" of rock's ELP: PALMER. Along with Emerson and Lake.


Because Karn Evil 9 takes a half hour

22. Badlands landform: MESA. Table land -  an isolated flat-topped hill with steep sides.  MESA is the Spanish word for table.

23. Angles: SLANTS.  I have mine.  What's yours?

25. Spring singer: ROBIN.  This bird is traditionally the harbinger of Spring.

27. Prefix with graph: TELE-.  The long-distance transmission of textual or symbolic (as opposed to verbal or audio) messages without the physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pigeon post is not.

28. Glass of public radio: IRA. [b 1959] Ira Jeffrey Glass is an American public radio personality and the host and producer of the radio and television show This American Life.

31. Dug up dandelions, say: WEEDED.  Removed weeds from the lawn or garden

34. Scout's discovery: TALENT.  Some person with performing ability.

38. Hot state: IRE.  Hot under the collar.

41. Spy film poison: CYANIDE.  Polonium TEA would be more topical.

43. Record label for Pink: RCA.


Probably not Ira

44. Facebook option: SHARE.  Copy a post to your own page.

46. Surfer's gadget: REMOTE.  Channel surfing, not in the English Channel -- Traditional tool for couch potatoes, and now also everyone, since modern TVs don't have any dials.

48. Gourmet mushrooms: MORELS.  Morchella, the true morels, is a genus of edible sac fungi closely related to anatomically simpler cup fungi in the order Pezizales. These distinctive fungi have a honeycomb appearance due to the network of ridges with pits composing their cap. Morels are prized by gourmet cooks, particularly in French cuisine. [Wikipedia]

50. D.C. bigwig: SENator.

51. "Unique everything" website: ETSY.  Where people sell their craft items.

55. Peruvian pack animal: LLAMA.  South American camel analog.

57. Not quite spherical: OBLATE. Flattened at the poles.  Which one could also say of a candidate who loses in a landslide.  Wow - that election was really OBLATE!

59. Hence: ERGO.  Logically following.

61. Divination: AUGURY.  The interpretation of omens or signs to predict the future.  I interpret a red octagonal sign to mean I will be stopping soon.

64. Med. centers for former soldiers: VA'SVeteran's Administration facilities.

65. Actress Sorvino: MIRA. [b 1967] She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite.

69. Some jewelry stores, informally: KAY'S.  AKA Kay Jewelers

70. Chill-causing: EERIE. weird, spooky and frightening.

71. Small dogs: TOYS.

72. Lightly burn: SEAR.

73. Brings into harmony: SYNCS.  From SYNCHRONIZES.

Down:

1. Disinclined to brag: MODEST.  Unassuming or moderate in the estimation of one's abilities or achievements.

2. Provide power to: ENABLE. Grant or concede the authority or means to do something.

4. __ Mahal: TAJ.  Monument in Agra.

5. Highly skilled: ADEPT.  Proficient at some activity.

6. Take shape: JELL.  Firm up

7. Fedora feature: BRIM.  The protecting edge at the bottom of a hat.



8. Ed with Emmys: ASNER.  In categories of Lead Actor,  Supporting Actor, Guest Actor, and Outstanding Single Performance.

9. Sprout anew: REGROW.  Like hair or fngernails.

10. English football's __ League: PREMIER.  We call it soccer.

12. Luau strings: UKES.



13. Blood bank fluids: SERA.   Plural from of the clear liquid that can be separated from clotted blood.  The term "serum" also is used to designate any normal or pathological fluid that resembles serum as, for example, the fluid in a blister.

18. How a cinch is done: EASILY.

24. After-tax amount: NET.

26. Give rise to: BEGET.

29. Stern: REAR.  Back end of a boat.

30. Two of Henry VIII's wives: ANNES.  ANNE of Cleves and ANNE Boleyn.  Also, three Catherines and a Jane.

32. Common Market initials: EECEuropean Economic Community.

33. Genetic matter: DNA.

35. Big name in fast trains: ACELA.  Amtrak service along the North-East corridor.

36. Umpire's cry: TIME.   Granting a brief time out to either the batter or the pitcher.  Not the cry one would think of first.

38. Dogma: ISM. Suffix that has become an informal stand-alone.

39. Greek consonant: RHO.  Strangely, "your boat" in Greek - το σκάφος σας -  has no RHO.

42. Certain angels: DONORS.  Patrons.

45. Winds new film into: RELOADS.  As a movie reel.

47. Ribbonlike fish: EEL.   Slippery, too.

49. Slaps sharply: SMACKS.  Not SPANKS.

52. Bar: TAVERN.  Place to get a drink that is probably not ICED TEA.  [Except, perhaps, for Long island]

53. Harsh criticism: STATIC.  Angry or critical talk.

54. Toadies' answers: YESSES.  Sycophants' fawning agreements.

56. Subtle glows: AURAE.

58. Hard-drive units: BYTES.  Memory units

59. Put forth: EMIT. Let out, produce or discharge something.

60. P.R. part: RICO.  The other part is PUERTO.

62. "La maja desnuda" painter: GOYA.


63. Cold War letters: USSR.  Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, aka, the 20th Century Russian Empire

67. "Hold it!": HEY.  Just stop right there.  Because we're done!

There you have it.  That wraps up another Wednesday.  Hope all your letters were in order.  Now - anyone for a nice cuppa?

Cool regards!
JzB



51 comments:

Mike Sherline said...

FLN billocohoes @1811 - I got home too late. Thanks for the clarification - I guess I do confuse Buck Henry and Pat Paulsen. I guess the latter was the "dirty old man" on the park bench on Laugh In?

Picard @1839 - I had a digital video recorder, too. It had 2 tuners built in and an out line so you could record the content on VCR or DVD. It too was buggy and also just quit working. They fixed it once, but it was an off brand and by the time it broke again the company was out of business (Ilo, IIRC). And I agree with you re: music & religion.

OwenKL said...

Yesterday we had HEN for which I'd made a meme last January.
Today we have OBLATE for which I'd made this meme last December.

If the first century began with ONE A.D.
Then that means there's something EERIE
No zero point between
So year zero isn't seen,
The first century is one year shy of a century!

The TAVERN was EERIE because of the SYNCS.
The glasses are clean, but the acoustics stink!
There's always some STATIC
As if in the attic
A ghost with no TALENT is filtering ICED drinks!

To tidy a lawn takes only a RAKE.
To add a leaf-blower is a mistake.
It may seem a PLUS,
But the extra fuss
Isn't worth it to scare your neighbors awake!

{C-, C+, B+.}

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thanks, Jeff & JzB! Really enjoyed the puzzle & expo.

Because Jeff TEAed off with DARJEELING, I figured the theme might be about TEAS. However, I thought CROSSTHETS was one word. What the heck is a CROSSTHET? When I parsed it right, I was looking for actual crossings of two TEA words on the grid, a T-shape. Then noting the time as after blog posting time, I gave up and let JzB explain the theme very nicely. I'm short on patience these days.

Had no idea who EARL GREY was or who he served, so the clue left me clueless until perps gave a hint. OBLATE was perps & WAG "B".

YESSir before YESSES.

Mike Sherline: The dirty old man on Laugh-In was Arte Johnson. Pat Paulsen was the homely comedian with a long face who never smiled on Smothers Brothers.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, JazzBumpa and friends. Very interesting puzzle. Like PK, I thought CROSSTHETS looked strange, until CROSS THE Ts popped out. LAVENDER Tea seems to be the odd man out for me. I'm not sure that I have actually heard of this type of tea.

When we were in Vienna several years ago, we went to the opera. The conductor for the performance was Zubin MEHTA.

My favorite clue was Spring Singer = ROBIN.

Hand up for wanting Yes Sir instead of YESSES.

I would think that One Direction is rather ImMODEST to think there song is the Best Song EVER.

Lots of CSO in today's puzzle: Lucina with the MESA; Boomer with the VAs, and Abejo with the EARL GREY (Tea).

QOD: To learn something new every day is still exciting. ~ Ed Koch (Dec. 12, 1924 ~ Feb. 1, 2013)

Lemonade714 said...

Mike S., do you remember watching Pat Paulsen EDITORIALS on The Smothers Brothers ?

Pretty straightforward Wednesday seems odd that we have MORELS in a puzzle with no pictures and no DF comments. It does have JzB's unique touch. It took me at least 5 minutes to understand Greek consonant: RHO. Strangely, "your boat" in Greek - το σκάφος σας - has no RHO..

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I entered DARJEELING and said to myself, "Hey, isn't that a tea?" And that's as close to the theme as I got. Down here there are only two teas: sweet and unsweet. They're both served iced. I noticed the same CSO's as you, Hahtoolah. TAVERN is placed symmetrically with HERBAL -- is TAVERN a type of tea? Dunno. Thanx, Jeff and JzB (Rho, rho, rho your boat -- very cute, JzB).

MORELS -- Like truffles, MORELS are prized because they can't be grown in captivity.

OBLATE -- Learned this one in grade school. The teacher was telling us that the earth is a sphere when the science nerd piped up, "Excuse me Mr. Jolin, it's really an OBLATE spheroid." Mr. Jolin was very appreciative for the correction.

FEDORA -- My dad was of the generation when men still wore hats, and the FEDORA was his hat of choice. He usually had three on the shelf. I couldn't tell 'em apart.

ISM -- I try to avoid these.

BYTES -- How storage media has (should it be "have?") grown. My first computer had 100 kilobyte (100,000 bytes) drives. My first hard-drive was a giant, noisy 5 megabyte (a million bytes) affair. The PC on my desk has a 930 gigabyte (a thousand million bytes) hard-drive, and the drive in my music server is 2 terabytes (a million million bytes). Note for the science nerds: Yes, those numbers are convenient approximations, because a kilobyte is actually 1024 bytes.

inanehiker said...

I'm always impressed when the theme answers cross adding a layer of difficulty to the construction. I had some trouble in the SE wanting the theme answer to be CROSS TEES - but that wasn't enough letters- Doh!

People in this area of Missouri go MOREL hunting - everyone as their place to scout for them and keep those places secret if possible so they will still be there the next time they go looking!

On this cold morning it makes me want to have a cuppa - I am a fan of EARL GREY, but for HERBAL Teas I like "Good Earth" tea the best - originally served at the Good Earth restaurant in Palo Alto or Santa Cruz, California. Now one of the only ones left of those restaurants is in the Twin Cities- but it is much more upscale than the organic feel of the originals.

Thanks JzB and Jeff!

TTP said...

Good morning. Thank you Jeff Stillman and JzB.

No real problems until I got down to the southeast and then had to let perps get AUGURY and fill in the blanks in STATIC and TAVERN, I was stuck on thinking ENJOIN at BAR. Then TAVERN hit and that confirmed OBLATE once and for all... and she was done.

Jeff had a few CSO's in today's puzzle. Did you spot them ?

Abejo, FLN, sorry to hear about your sister. Our prayers.

Anon T, FLN, I never use my cell phone for anything but talking and texting and taking an occasional picture. So what you are saying is turn off the phone feature that automatically selects the free wifi over the data plan when both are available ? I read that hackers set up their own hotspots and give their SSIDs common names like ATTWIFI and xfinitywifi.

Also, your "folks, do you know(?) who you're really connecting to?" comment struck a chord. I think too many people have been lulled to sleep thinking all they have to do is look for httpS and/or the green lock, and think they're be safe connecting to that site.

Folks, all that means is the CONNECTION is SSL and is encrypted which is good, but it doesn't mean the site you are connecting TO is safe.

BobB said...

Bytes, my first computer had one kilobyte (1024) bits. Commodore VIC20.

Good thing for perps or I never would have finished. The theme was so far over my head I never saw or heard it.

desper-otto said...

Bob, I think you're talking memory rather than storage. However, that's too small even for memory. I LIU and that model had 20kb ROM and 5kb RAM (expandable to 32kb). The operating system was present in ROM and you had 5kb for the program currently running. Back in those days folks became very adept at writing itty-bitty super efficient programs.

Jazzbumpa said...

HI gang -

Just finished my first cup of decaff.

Tea is for later in the day.

Meanwhile -- Pat Paulsen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTHge8q0zwY

Cool regards!

JzB

Jazzbumpa said...

2nd try
Pat Paulsen

Cheers!
JzB

Yellowrocks said...

Yellowrocks said...
This was a "fast as the pen will write" puzzle, until I met a little slow down in the SE. YES YES before YESES. I needed to dredge up OBLATE. I usually use oblate this like this:"a person offered to the service of and living in a monastery, but not under monastic vows or full monastic rule." Dictionary.com.
I saw that many of the answers were teas, but didn't look back to see that they crossed. Clever puzzle, Jeff. I didn't associate LAVENDER with tea. Very informative, JzB,
An herbal tea or green tea a few times a year is enough for me. Southern sweet tea sets my teeth on edge. I'd rather drink water. I do love black or oolong tea iced and unsweetened.
CSOs to Abejo, Lucina, Boomer, and moi. The experienced square dancers who help newbies are called angels. I am the class coordinator or head angel.
I like to see dandelions in the grass, but since they are socially taboo, I eschew them.
Abejo, so sorry to hear about your sister.
Now back for more black caffeinated coffee, my brew of choice.

Lemonade714 said...

Yes, Hahtoolah voiced most of my thoughts also D-O. Music gets 2 terabytes? You saving symphonies?

Lucina said...

What YR said. But in my case, this was as fast as my pencil could fly.

Thank you, Jeff Stillman and JazzBumpa; your expos are always informative.

I saw the teas but was not awake enough to connect them with the theme. I enjoy almost any kind of tea. Like others, have not heard of LAVENDER tea but love the fragrance.

REAR took me a while to relate to stern. Could be a CSO to Spitz.

OBLATE to me also means a person who dedicates his/her life in a monastery.

MESA in the Badlands took me by surprise; I know it as a city near me or flat mountains in the desert though I know they occur in other places.

Have a magnificent day, everyone!


Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

One reason I come here is one always learns something new. Today I learned about the inner workings of CROSS THETS. After some head scratching, I finally saw the correct parse and read it as CROSS THE T'S. Thanks JzB for further expanding on the Teas.
TAVERN was an 'aha' fill. No searches NOR strikethroughs were needed.

The MV Paul Tregurtha is moored portside-to at the St. Clair power plant. Maybe JzB can give us a visual?
TTP - I see from the map there is a rail loop on the plant site, too, so I guess they can accommodate unit trains. Probably keeps shipping costs competitive, and helps them through the winter.

Abejo - I'm sorry for your sister's suffering. I hope and pray for a good outcome.

Jay Green said...

Fun puzzle, but ultimately unsatisfying. To bring balance to the Force, 52 down should have been a tea reference. Now I'll feel incomplete all day.

TTP said...

I see that some of you did mention that you spotted the CSOs.

Inanehiker, I'm a shroomer and hunt morels here, but have never found them like my father and I did back in Ohio and Pennsylvania. So true, a shroomer never reveals their spots.

Desper-otto, I swapped out the 160GB SATA drive for a 250GB SSD yesterday morning in my wife's laptop. So much faster.

Spitzboov, (FLN) - I lost the post I was writing last night last night when my machine rebooted. Those would have been some pretty long trains.

I just google searched her current position and also google searched for images posted in the last hour and then the last 24 hours. None found.

I read the she winters in Sturgeon Bay, WI on Lake Michigan

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Our C.C. is a TEA and is becoming a VA expert
-Some geographically-challenged ROBINS still frequent our feeders
-DONORS to SENS expect their SLANTS to be protected
-The Pony Express disbanded two days after the transcontinental TELEgraph was completed
-A movie about a TALENT scout in a unique area
-CYANIDE was usually Agatha Christie’s poison of choice
-Ducks are birds. Ducks swim in water. Chickens are birds. ERGO, chickens swim in water
-Failing to be a sycophant cost me at times at school but it kept me from jobs I would have hated so…
-Nice job, Jazz!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This had a bit of a crunch but nothing that perps couldn't fix. I smiled filling in 1A, my favorite conductor, Zubin Mehta, but then stumbled a little at Arsenic/Cyanide, Easier/Easily, Safe/Time, Yes Sir/Yesses, and Augurs/Augury. I liked seeing Ira and Ire and the mini-theme of Rake, Weeded, Green, Regrow, and Lavender. Also noticed the previously mentioned CSOs and an additional one to Steve at the Premier League. Spring singer=Robin was my favorite combo, also.

Thanks, Jeff, for a mid-week treat and thanks, JzB, for your witty and wise review.

PK, Mr. Sandman has deserted you again, it seems.

Angel suits you quite well, YR.

FLN

Abejo, I 'm so sorry to hear of your sister's stroke. I hope you receive positive and encouraging updates on her condition and prognosis.

Lucina, I have a 4 1/2' Christmas tree that is fully decorated, lights and all, which spends 45 weeks, covered, in my garage, and 7 weeks on my sofa table in the living room. No muss, no fuss, no bother. I used to go all out decorating but I've cut back considerably the last few years. I also had a Christmas cocktail party for 30-35 people every year but that, too, is a thing of the past. Aging is filled with compromises and adjustments, isn't it?

Have a great day.

Anonymous said...

Noticed the TEAS but not the CROSSing

Began with the usual t-BAR, took a while to figure how tELL was wrong.

I get annoyed with hipsters who say they're wearing a FEDORA. Fedoras by definition have a wide brim, a crowned hat with a narrow brim is likely a trilby.

Once had a book on sports gambling and corruption, one chapter was titled "Sometimes the football takes funny bounces, and not just because it's an OBLATE spheroid." I now know that's wrong, American and Canadian footballs are proLATE spheroids, the rotational axis is longer than the diameter. An oblate spheroid is shaped more like a child's spinning top.

Spitzboov said...

TTP @ 1007 - I've read she winters over there, too. There is shipbuilding and ship repair capability in Sturgeon Bay so that may be a reason to winter over there.

CanadianEh! said...

Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Jeff and JzB.
I saw the TEA theme but FIWed in several other places.

Hand up for TBAR and wondering about Tell. Another hand up or Yes Sir before YESSES.
I refused to give up Tunes for 73A which messed up the SE corner.
My umpire cried Safe before TIME; I had Oblong before OBLATE.
DARJEELING required multiple perps to correct the spelling.

Busy week.
Wishing you all a good day.
Abejo - thoughts and prayers for your sister.

Yellowrocks said...

IM, thanks for the compliment. It's much easier to be a square dance angel than the other kind.
Jay Green, I see your point. It never occurred to me.
Gary,the ideas of "Failing to be a sycophant" and "Blow your own horn"really hit me after I retired. Reflecting back on my tenure as a teacher I realized how often many others "brown nosed" and how they ran to the principal to brag about every innovation of theirs. I just went quietly ahead and did it, often unnoticed.
I kept my patience today when Alan helped me set up our 7 ft. live fir tree. It leans just a tad, but it is the best we could do together. I am happy with it. As I age I no longer have to cross all my T's an dot all my I's. What's worse, a slightly tilted tree or a relationship gone askew? Because I felt quite impatient yesterday, I quit decorating and went shopping alone for the last of the gifts.
Every year I swear to cut back on the decorating, but every year I put up a live tree in the living room and a smaller one on the patio. Every year I put up all the other decorations "for the last time." HA! I love getting out all my angel collection. Then I can relax and enjoy the result immensely for 3 weeks or so, after which comes the pain of stowing everything away. I have no room to store an artificial tree which is already set up.
Back to more decorating and then off to drive Alan to speech therapy.

CrossEyedDave said...

Been having trouble of late, finishing crosswords, finding silly links
that I like.

For instance, here is wht I get when I Google "funny tea..."

It's enough to drive you to drink...

Yeah, can't even find a good Kitty pic...

Misty said...

Well, this started out so well, with MEHTA which helped fill in the top left corner, but got tougher as it went along and in the end I had to start cheating to get it done. Not my best Wednesday--not your fault Jeff. Never thought of TAVERN when I got to BAR, for example, and spelled DARJERLING instead of DARJEELING which made it difficult to get EASILY. At least I got ROBIN right away for the Spring singer. Anyway, thanks Jeff and JazzB--especially for all that TEA information. I like the CELESTIAL too and so it was nice to see the picture.

Fun poems, Owen--thanks for those.

Have a good day, everybody.

Picard said...

I got the TEA theme immediately with DARJEELING, but it took awhile to get the clever CROSS part of it. Last to fall was odd spelling of JELL crossed with J-BAR. AUGURY, MIRA and PINK unknown. Otherwise a smooth, fun ride to FIR! Learning moments!

Did anyone else think PR was Public Relations?

Picard's favorite drink is EARL GREY tea. As shown here in a number of clips.

The US lags far behind the rest of the industrialized world in FAST TRAINS. It turns out high speed rail always makes a profit, so it is one of the best investments a government can make. Door to door it is faster than air travel for most trips.

Speaking of TRAINS, we recently did a tour of our old depot that has been restored as a museum.

Here you can see the old TELEGRAPH in the depot.

I have many MESA photos from Western travels.

Here we had a rather racy party on our own little MESA in Santa Barbara.

We got to experience ZUBIN MEHTA conduct the ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC last year. No photos, though. Too much security.

Picard said...

Mike Sherline glad you understand the point about what a real VCR replacement would be like. Too bad the one you tried was unreliable. But that was not the real problem.

Philips Electronics made a perfect device. It had a digital tuner. It could record on an internal hard drive or to a DVD. And you can transfer TV programs from one to the other. And there were no monthly fees. All the functionality of a "PASSE" VCR.

So, why can't you buy it? I called Philips and talked to one of the engineers who designed it. He said Philips was contacted by a coalition of TV broadcasters and TV studios and "asked" not to sell it.

They said they could not legally stop Philips from selling it. But they could tie up Philips in expensive legal battles for years. Philips quietly withdrew the product as soon as it went on sale.

I actually have one of the withdrawn units, thanks to his tip. It has been running reliably for many years. The outrage is that you can't walk into any local store and buy one. Remember when you could buy a VCR at the supermarket or drugstore?

People meekly accepted the idea that you have to pay now to get what used to be free.

AnonymousPVX said...

No issues with today’s puzzle, although it took me a while to suss CROSSTHETS.

If the powers that be realized what VCRs could do before they were released they would have threatened a court case then. They wised up when DVRs came out....no output on those to transfer with. However, tape is hardly a “forever” medium.

No markovers today.

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Jeff Stillman, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for a fine review.

Wow! What a puzzle. EARL GREY in its entirety. Usually we get only half of the name. As you all know, I am sure, EARL GREY is my drink of choice. I love it. I did know that the Earl Grey was Prime Minister of England during the reign of King William 4th. I actually learned that doing crosswords.

The theme was outstanding. Very clever.

I had SAFE for the umpire's cry. That really slowed me down in the center. Finally CYANIDE, REMOTE, and TALENT fixed that.

Tried TUNES before SYNCS became obvious.

Thank you all for praying for my sister's recovery. She is improving. She is regaining some movement on her right side and she can talk a little better now. The next couple of days should tell us a lot, so I understand.

Sunday I go downstate for my friend's funeral. Tough week.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle but didn't get the crossed "T" concept. Had TBAR at first and eventually figured out it wasn't T. Ah, J. Favorite clue is "Scout's discovery" for TALENT. AUGURY is a nifty word. Sure enough I thought P.R. stood for Public Relations but neither PUBLIC nor RELations fit. Sorry, but when I see VAS I think of something anatomical. Okay, enough stream of consciousness now; good wishes to you all.

Michael said...

IM @ 10:15 -- "Aging is filled with compromises and adjustments, isn't it?"

And with memories and skills which have no utility anymore ... I was laughing at earlier comments today about computers, because I remember PEEKing and POKEing since space was so tight, and an entire operating system, CP/M, would fit on the first track of a 180K 5.25" floppy.

PK said...

Abejo: So sorry to hear about your friend and sister. I pray your sister will continue to improve. My brother had a stroke several years ago and his only impairment remaining is a slightly crooked smile. His arm and leg fully recovered.

Talking about tape not being a "forever medium": Last time we viewed it, the tape made of my daughter's wedding had little blank spaces where pieces of the pictures had fallen off. Some people's faces or entire heads were gone. She was married in 1990.

Hand up for thinking P.R. was public relations. Tried Rels before RICO perped in.

"Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men" season has been sullied by the whine of leaf blowers almost non-stop in my tree-shaded neighborhood while sunny days in the 40's have persisted. I was very glad to have my yard men show up and pick up the leaves in my yard, however. I wasn't sure they would come. My yardman has been suffering migraines and very high blood pressure. When they came today, he set up a ladder and started up with a leaf blower to clear my roof and eaves. I called him down to tell him something extra I needed, then in half-jest told him he was absolutely forbidden to stroke out and fall off my roof. The next thing I knew, his helper was up blowing off the roof. Whew!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Ta ~DA! ~
A finely wrought Stillman for our humpday pleasure...

No real problems today. I hesitated at MESA because I can't recall seeing any such formations in the Badlands. All I remember in fact is a herd of wild donkeys, but then they wouldn't fit. Not EASILY anyway.

The theme was so subtle I didn't even get it when filling 66A. I'm with you, Jayce in that regard. DARJEELING & EARL GREY were the only answers that this non-imbiber recognized as teas ("T"s).
Anyway, perps & ignorance won the day.

USSR ~ Never really understood how such authoritarian state capitalism could get away with calling itself "socialist." The "comrades" had their own weird definition. Now that the Russian Federation is a kleptocracy, they have at least dropped the pretension.
(The Nazis claimed to be "socialist" too. I guess to humor the working class while they smashed the commies--and everyone else.)
~ OMK
_____________
DR.
A single diagonal, NE to SW. Not really a good anagram prospect, counting only two vowels in 15 letters. I guess Mr. Stillman's attitude toward diagonal anagrams is that they are simply a lot of ...
"CRASS ROT."

Misty said...

Abejo, this is the first news I got about your loss of your friend and your sister's sad condition. I too send my condolences and best wishes and prayers.

Wilbur Charles said...

Abejo, yes a very tough week .Prayers to follow
I FIW'ed on MEHTA*. I had inked 1D HONEST. And, I never realized the T's were TEAS. I wish Mr S would leave me be.

My unsweet iced is McDonald's. Btw, duh... Why don't I simply disable WiFi when I'm there. I was trying to save bandwidth on my cell.

I knew the OBLATES but not exactly the definition that YR and Lucina gave

Speaking of racy here's some doggerel

A brilliant Brazilian named Bruno
Said, this much about love I do know
A woman is fine
A sheep is divine
But a LLAMA is Numero Uno

WC

* Wow, so many had her instantly. If Jeff had clued Redsox'er Petrocelli I'd've had RICO in a snap

Lucina said...

I, too, thought P.R. referred to Public Relations but RICO emerged through perps.

CED:
You did well with the links! Very funny.

Yellowrocks said...

CED your links are always funny. I loved today's especially.

Mike Sherline said...

I enjoyed the puzzle but didn't recognize the various teas crossing. Nice writeup, Jazzbumpa. And thanks for the Pat Paulsen link - led to a marathon laughing session.

PK @0437 Thanks for straightening me out. I have so much trouble remembering - forgot Arte Johnson - and the name of the woman who played his regular victim. Jeopardy is a nightmare - so many things I know, but can't remember until it's way too late.

Lemonade @0701 - I don't remember the editorials, in fact as I said I have trouble remembering which bits and which people were on Smothers and which were on Laugh-In. Thanks for the link - I guffawed at the editorials and stuck around for the great documentary "Smothers Smothered" about what cowardly CBS did to them because of a few prigs' complaints, even though they had a successful show. Enjoyed the discussion at the Aspen Comedy Festival hosted by one of my long time favorites, Bill Mahrer. Haven't watched the whole hour and 1/2 yet, but I will.

Picard @1200 I agree. And now we have to pay twice, as we have no on-air reception here, so our only choices are cable, satelite, or nothing, and still are subjected to those awful, degrading commercials. We can FF through them while watching on the DVR, but can't save to another media or archive to a personally owned hard drive. Result: I refuse to watch any show while it's airing, only recorded so I at least have some control.

TTP said...

You know how when you drop something and it always falls behind the dresser or underneath the couch ? Or somewhere else that's mostly inaccessible ? Well guess what happened to me today ? I knocked something off the back of a tall dresser, and it bounced from underneath it and out to an open and easily retrievable position !

Anyway, that's not why I'm posting. Wife is making hardboiled eggs again, and I forgot the tick in peeling the shell. Does anyone remember it ?

TTP said...

That should have been trick, not tick.

Now she wants to know what are the best cooking methods. That reminds me, wasn't the consensus that you have to start with older, not-so-fresh eggs or something ?

Big Easy said...

Not being a T drinker, these various TEAS weren't recognized. GREEN & HERBAL I'd heard of but DARJALEELING (town & tea) and LAVENDER (tea and massage oil) were completely unknown; perped.

Spring singer-ROBIN- they come down her in the winter.
AUGURY- hadn't heard the word before. GOYA- perps. No other unknowns.

Anonymous said...

Ttp

I have taken over supplying the deviled eggs for all family get togethers. That's at least New years, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Usually add at least 2 more for a cookout or some other function. So 6 or more times for the last 10 years I have boiled and peeled my share of eggs. Sometimes I have been prepared and bought the eggs a week in advance but have also forgotten and was forced to buy eggs minutes before they go into the water. A few times my helper has boiled the eggs his way(added to already boiling water) but usually I start them in the unheated water and bring to boil. Times are little tricky based on size of eggs.

I would say, for me, it turns out that the most important step is to get the eggs out of the heat and into a waiting ice bath IMMEDIATELY. I use my large mixing bowl filled with lots of ice and enough water to make the ice float. Any cracking of the shell from temperature shock(either putting the eggs in boiling water or hot eggs into ice water) actually seems to help in the peeling.

But whatever you do, please do not blow on my eggs! The transfer of cooties is inevitable.

SwampCat said...

TTP, put the freshly boiled eggs ( maybe too late for that!) in COLD water and peel under water. Shells peel off immediately. If they are already cool, peel under running water. Not as easy but better than waiting until tomorrow.

I liked the puzzle. Didn’t get the theme but filled in the theme answers. I liked the new fill.

Abejo, prayers for your sister and for you as you go to your friends funeral. So much sadness.

TTP said...


I should have asked before she started. These are some of the ugliest looking peeled eggs I've ever seen. 4 of the eggs didn't make it through the peeling process. Down to the last 4 eggs to peel out of 2 dozen.

Hopefully with enough deviled egg topping on top of them, nobody will notice.

DW said her mom used to make it look so easy, and she didn't pay enough attention.

I guess we are in no position to make fun of Millenials...

Entire class applauds as millennial opens canned food

Can Millennials Open a Can of Tuna?

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

"What a lame theme," I thought. "Of course T's CROSS - it's a crossword puzzle!" I looked for a pattern of intersection to no avail...

Oh! Those are all TEAs crossing... Nevermind..

Thanks Jeff for the fun (in hindsight) puzzle. Thanks JzB for the expo and what the theme really was. Also, Jazz, the caption under ELP's song is LOL!

WOs: Hand up w/ Abejo - had my Ump calling Safe (25% right!) @36d
ESPs: DARJEELING [never heard of it], AUGURY [ibid], RICO & STATIC as clued - took JzB to drop my penny on those two.
Fav: PALMER of ELP. Nailed it! And here's Karn Evil 9 (1st impression part 2) [4:51]
//In one documentary, Neil Peart said he looked up to PALMER's drumming.

{A (nit - none are* :-)), A, A}

CED - You get all As too!

Hahtoolah - Corollary: If you find yourself learning more than 10 things a day, you shouldn't be in charge of much. :-)

Lem - thanks for introducing me to Pat Paulson - Smothers Brothers was before my time. [I've seen Tom & Dick's routines but none of the casts']

TTP - yes we hackers sometimes setup "Starbucks" or "Insert hotel name here" SSIDs for giggles.** I was not happy my last two stays to find that the cabling at hotels is no longer used. "Just use the free WiFi," they'd say. Out comes my cell phone... //other work-around: use the WiFi but then back-haul ALL traffic through the office via VPN.

Getting all of their entertainment from streaming (read: paid service), a VCR is like a can opener to Millennials...

Cheers, -T
*Ever century starts in the '01 year, the 21st century / millennium didn't start until 2001
**actually, in a real penetration-test, setup a rogue WiFi and see how many at the company connects to it. Hilarity ensues.

Lucina said...

TTP:
It's too late now, but for future egg events do follow the advice given above: plunge the boiled eggs into ice-cold water immediately. Also, crack the wider end to start peeling. You might want to write these directions somewhere for future use.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Late to the party. Clever puzzle, made harder because it was solved at the LAT. Cruciverb is really broken at the moment.

Mike Sherline 6:40 - Arte Johnson’s snood-wearing affection target was Ruth Buzzee.

Anonymous T said...

Lucina is a Big ENDian! :-) [Wiki - Scroll down to Etymology].

Michael @1:50p, remember PEEKing and POKEing BYTES where you'd have to "Pay attention to the details" (T's & I's) of Endinness? //I forget - CP/M was Big Endian, right? I know Intel and Zylog was Little and Motorola (and most(all?) RISC chips) Big. Which chip-set was CP/M on? CP/M was on it's way out as I was on my way in...

Cheers, -T

Mike Sherline said...

Ah, Right, Dudley @2241 - Ruth Buzzee! Unforgetable. But i forgot her name anyway. Thanks.

TTP said...


Lucina, we laughed and laughed about those deviled eggs. She said she's not making them again until the chives are growing in the garden. I guess that means they won't be a side at the holiday tables this year.

Dash T - You should do a gif where a hotel sign "free wifi" morphs into "free virus"