google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, January 8, 2019 Mark McClain

Gary's Blog Map

Jan 8, 2019

Tuesday, January 8, 2019 Mark McClain

A M Words

17. National Portrait Gallery, e.g.: ART MUSEUM.

24. Freebies for tourists: AREA MAPS.

49. Rosary recital: AVE MARIA.

61. Puzzle solver's breakthrough, e.g.: AHA MOMENT.

3. Film often with chase scenes: ACTION MOVIE.

25. Inflatable bed for a guest: AIR MATTRESS.

38. Medium for many talk shows ... and an apt place to discuss six puzzle answers?: AM RADIO.

Mark is back to get some airtime with these A&M words.  The AM in AM RADIO is for Amplitude Modulation.  Talk radio is full of words and fills many of the AM frequencies.

My favorite is Aha Moment. 

Across:

1. Winter warm spell: THAW.

5. Simon & Garfunkel's "El Condor __": PASA.


9. Sneer (at): SCOFF.

14. Texas home of Baylor University: WACO.   In case you missed it, the # 8 Baylor Lady Bears knocked off the # 1 Connecticut Huskies on Jan 3rd in Waco by a score of 68 to 57.  It was the first regular season loss by the Huskies in 4 years and ended a 126 game winning streak.   Hondo Hurricane is a huge fan of the Huskies.  Please be sure to send your condolences. 

15. CPR pros: EMTs.

16. Jazz clarinetist Shaw: ARTIE.   54 Minutes of Swing and Jazz.


19. Ugh-inducing: NASTY.

20. Observes secretly: SPIES ON.

21. 67-Across exile: ADAM.
67. Genesis paradise: EDEN.

23. Dollar bills: ONEs.

28. Soda container: CAN.

30. List-shortening abbr.: ET AL.

31. The Emerald Isle: EIRE.

32. Ideology suffix: ISM.

33. Little fluid holder: VIAL.

35. Altered, as voting districts: REDREW.   Possibly gerrymandered.

37. Merged labor org.: CIO.   Congress of Industrial Organizations.  Created in 1935 under a slightly different name, broke away from and became a rival to the American Federation of Labor in 1938, and rejoined again in 1955 to form the AFL-CIO.

40. "Give __ break": ME A.  of that KitKat bar.

41. Soldiers' support gp. since 1944: AMVETS.  We donate.

43. Sign gas: NEON.

44. "Life of Pi" director Lee: ANG.

45. "How ya __?": DOIN.   Joey on Friends: "How YOU doin'?"

46. Not __ snuff: unsatisfactory: UP TO

48. "Cats" poet's monogram: TSE.  The poet, Thomas Stearns Eliot, more commonly as T.S. Eliot.    Also, an abbrv for transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.  One example would be mad cow disease.

51. Conveyer of tears: DUCT.  You say conveyer,  I say conveyor.  

54. Taiwan-based laptop giant: ACER.

55. Spanish island, to locals: MENORCA.  The four largest islands in the Islas Baleras archipelago east of Spain in the western Mediterranean are Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera.   Many minor islands and islets are close to the larger islands, including Cabrera, Dragonera, and S'Espalmador

58. Deep cleft: CHASM.

63. Tickle: AMUSE.

64. Dorothy's dog: TOTO.
Dorothy and Toto:

Also, a group of session musicians that gathered together and recorded prior to having a band name. According to legend, the drummer wrote "Toto" on their demo tapes only to differentiate them from other bands recording in the studio.  They decided to stay with the name. 


65. Tiny fraction of a min.: MSEC.  Millisecond.   One thousandth of a second.  Much much longer than a nanosecond. 

66. Jabs with a finger: POKES.

68. Concerning: AS TO.

Down:

1. First word of "A Visit From St. Nicholas": TWAS.

2. Large plucked instrument: HARP.  Our friend Laura playing one of her harps. 
4. Alumnae, e.g.: WOMEN.

5. Cuban coins: PESOS.

6. Blessing conclusion: AMEN.

7. Good name for a cook: STU.  Homophone of stew.

8. Eritrea's capital: ASMARA.

9. Yemen's capital: SANAA.

10. Hit the books at the last minute: CRAMMED.

11. Extra NBA periods: OTS.  Overtimes.

12. In top form: FIT.

13. "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" actress Tina: FEY.

18. Put in the game: USE.

22. Texas border city: DEL RIO.  Went to school with a guy from Del Rio.

24. Home of the Braves: ATLANTA.   The Atlanta Braves of MLB.

26. Grooms, bird-style: PREENS

27. Municipal waste: SEWAGE.

28. Noisy summer insect: CICADA.

29. "I, Robot" author: ASIMOV. Isaac.

30. Organ with a lobe: EAR.

33. Napa Valley vessel: VAT.

34. "There's no doubt!": I'M SURE.   Lisa: I'm positive.  Vinny: How can you be so sure ? Lisa: Because there is no way that these tire marks were made by a '64 Buick Skylark convertible. These marks were made by a 1963 Pontiac Tempest.

36. Long, long time: EON.

39. "Gloria in Excelsis __": DEO.

42. All together: EN MASSE.   En bloc.   In toto. 

47. Illicit video producer: PIRATE

50. High points: ACMES.

51. Evil spirit: DEMON.

52. Card game inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2018: UNO.

53. Pause-causing punctuation: COMMA.  Commas are important people.

55. Hand on deck: MATE.

56. Tech news site: CNET.

57. "I Got You Babe" label: ATCO.

58. Ballplayer's hat: CAP.  These New Era baseball caps are in order.  Baseball fans will see it.


59. Managed care gp.: HMO.

60. Arctic seabird: AUK.

62. Coal scuttle: HOD.




Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Patti Varol, editor for the Crosswords Club and Daily POP and Rich's assistant at LA Times. Whether a puzzle is accepted or rejected, Patti always gives constructive feedback. She's also a super crossword constructor and solver.



67 comments:

  1. Ahhhhh Meeeeee I sure bombed out this AM from the get go on the North West side of the puzzle......

    However I WAS on FM Nationwide for the National Championship game with... Ferrell on the Bench talking about Alabama and Auburn football..... I'm no stranger to the Mic on radio worldwide since I co host with Todd on KBON 101.1 FM for the Swamp and Roll Show on Thursday Nights from 6 till 10.....

    PASA unknown to me and I am a fan of Simon & Gar.....I misread CPR for CPA.... ASMARA was a no go also.... ATCO record label is also an unknown to me and I was a mobile DJ for a long time.... I did play that song many a time though........

    Other than those few things I ended as a no finisher this AM...... I did fill all the blanks in though and when I hit the red letters I had at least 4 wrong....

    Bon Matin from Cajun Country ..........



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  2. BTW Spitzboov thanks for the reminder to WSJ puzzles .......... For some reason I can get on there now and do some more brain exercises..........

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  3. Hi Y'all! This was fun & fast, thanks, Mark! Thanks, TTP for a great Tuesday expo.

    I sorta got the theme of AM RADIO but I thought AMVET was part of it. Boo: who knew you were a broadcaster? Interesting bit of news.

    Sped through this so fast, I missed some of the clues. DNK: CNET or ATCO but they filled and I didn't read the clue until I got here.

    El Paso before DEL RIO. It fit. Fitting that DEL RIO should appear in an AM RADIO puzzle. Many of us grew up listening to the distant late night music from DEL RIO, Texas. Can't remember the call letters, but it was the background for many a moonlight date.

    Liked how ASIMOV & MOVIE were in juxtaposition.

    Happy Birthday, Patti Varol, and thanks for your fine contributions to our favorite pastime.

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  4. Simple theme I caught early. Also a lot of bonuses! 4 starting with AM (including the reveal), 4 others starting with A and containing an M, 7 starting with A but no M, and an uncounted number of embedded AM and MA's as well!

    National Portrait Gallery, e.g. -- first impulses were MEMORIAL, then SHUT DOWN.

    An AUK once flew to ATLANTA
    His G.P.S. said that he had-ta
    The airport was a hub
    For planes from above,
    But it made for an auk-ward stanza.

    A drive-time A.M. RADIO host
    Enjoyed calls from AMVETS the most
    They could AMUSE
    Said AMEN to the news,
    And did lots of good with their Post!

    An African town near the Suez
    Has a name of which we approves.
    The city is ASMARA,
    Which forswear a-warring,
    The name means "women made them do it"!

    {C, B-, B+.}

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  5. FIR with two WAGs (55a x 57d and 5a x 8d). Erased nSEC, but, I thought, MSEC, though important, isn't, exactly, tiny. TTP is right.

    Where does one find a mistress? Between a mister and a MATTRESS.

    Last day of our southern trek. Supposed to be 75 degrees by the time we get to Wildwood this afternoon.

    Thanks to TTP and Mark for the fun.

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  6. Mark really beat me up this morning with so much GEOGRAPHY MENORCA SANAA ASMARA and so on- oh WACO BTW- my two brothers and I all attended the University of Connecticut and the play of the Lady Huskies is a definite source of pride and joy for me as well.

    The band AXE recorded for ATCO and Tony I love what you did with TOTO

    Thank you Mark and Tony

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  7. Good morning!

    Zip, zip, done. No head scratching, no write-overs, no noticing the theme. Natch. Thanx, Mark and TTP.

    WACO -- I immediately thought of Hondo with this showed up. I've read that tourism in WACO has taken a big jump due to Chip and Joanna Gaines -- the Fixer Upper couple of HGTV.

    ATCO -- They had a large stable of artists. You'd recognize many of them. Husker would recognize the Coasters for Poison Ivy, Searchin', Charlie Brown, Along Came Jones, etc. They also had an unknown R&B singer: Aretha Franklin.

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  8. TTP....... The streak was sure to end this year for two reasons. 1) The talent level is a step below recent UConn teams and 2) other teams are getting better. The women's game is much more competitive today than it was as recently as five years ago. It's good for the game, but us Nutmeggers will still be happy with a few more NCAA championships. But as long as the tournament winner is a team other than Notre Dame, we won't be too overwrought.

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  9. Thanks Mark Mcclain for a fun tuesday.
    Moved along smoothly enough but had to check in the end to be sure of CICADA and SANAA.
    When I had the D and L at “border city” I toyed with Dallas but held off thinking too far from the border. The theme appeared and I remembered DEL RIO . Marty Robins came to mind. A shot from the past. Appreciated another walk down memory lane with “I got you babe”.
    Thanks TTP for the link . I played it here at an almost empty Mcd’s. I sat here smiling as I
    remembered my youth , smooching ardently to that one.
    Cheerio

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  10. Don't know if this link will work, but here's a 25-question quiz to determine your personal dialect map. The NYT first published this in 2013.

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  11. Fun with a little crunch for Tuesday. I remember Del Rio used to have a very powerful radio station that could be heard at night in many parts of the country- nice clecho to the theme!
    Had to wait for perps on MENORCA - I knew Mallorca had other islands in the group but couldn't remember them off the top of my head.

    I was rooting for both teams on the UCONN/Baylor game - my son is a recent Baylor grad and UCONN has a player Napheesa Collier who grew up here in Jefferson City until mid high school when her parent's job moved them to St.Louis.

    Thanks TTP and Mark!

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  12. Good morning everyone.

    Happy Birthday to Patti.

    Easy enough solve. Didn't focus on the theme until coming here. Lots of bright fill. No searches were needed.
    MENORCA - The native Balearic Islanders speak a dialect of Catalan as I understand it. The clue invited the spelling used by locals. While Spanish is MENORCA, Catalan spelling is Minorca; the same as in English.. I think that clue could have been written a bit more accurately IMO. It was not an impediment to filling correctly since the perp, DEMON, was obvious. YMMV.

    TTP - Well done intro. I always look forward to them.

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  13. Nice puzzle, Mark. IMO this week's Monday and Tuesday puzzles were back to being easy-peasy.
    Interesting expo and links, TTP.
    Happy birthday, Patti. Thanks for making our hobby fun.
    Apparently spelling conveyer with an er is acceptable, but rare.
    Menorca, Asmara, and Sanaa stick in my mind from previous puzzles.After seeing AM RADIO, I expected 61 A to be about a ham radio operator or some such. Seeing the theme would change that.
    Redrew, gerrymandered. Gerrymandering is terrible when YOUR party does it, but it is acceptable when MY party does it. People think turnabout is fair play. This reminds me of schoolyard fights. He did it to me, so I did it to him, so he did it back to me and on and on it goes. Especially in politics, things are unfair until we get a chance to do them. Then they become fair.
    DO, thanks for the quiz. Unfortunately, I am not a back and white thinker. What do you call it? I say, "It depends." Where others see white, I see a little black. Where others see black, I see a little white. Life is full of gray areas. I sound like a contrarian, don't I?
    Today's pre-dawn snow showers and glaze were minimal. They did not even cause a delayed opening of the schools. I hated winters when there were many delayed openings and snow days. The lack of continuity in learning was frustrating.
    Time to get cracking. See ya.

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  14. One of the easier puzzles in a while, easier than most Mondays for me. I got done and it was like, why did I even bother? In the past I’ve advocated tougher puzzles early in the week, to lukewarm support at best. Tomorrow will probably trip me up as payback!

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  15. Good morning all. Happy Birthday Patti !

    Another restless night sleeping. Aargh.

    A planned three to four hour visit to help a friend yesterday afternoon turned into an eight hour marathon. Going back today to finish the job.

    Lemonade, I guess it didn't register that you were also a fan of the Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team. Knew that Hondo was because he often wrote about them and coach Geno Auriemma.

    Oas, I figured I'd link the song for Big Easy since he said something about being a fan of Cher a while back, but I'm glad it brought back sweet memories for you too.

    Time to get moving.

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  16. Good Morning.

    Thanks for some late fun yesterday, Bruce, Gail, and Boomer.

    Thanks, Mark. I enjoyed this one, but I need to keep some answers I often miss at the forefront of my brain: ASMARA and SANAA. I should know this by now!!

    TTP, I, too, liked AHA MOMENT today. I love when that happens! ;-) I wanted Gerrymandered for voting districts, but ALTERED had to do for today. Certainly an ALTERED state here in Illinois. Thank you for being a clever guru here.

    Happy Birthday, Patti. Thanks for all the fun.

    Have a sunny day--or at least partly sunny. I think January is supposed to show up for real tomorrow.

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  17. Thanks, all for the nice comments. "Conveyer" is indeed a less-used spelling than "conveyor", and I'll take the hit for using that. Spell check doesn't care . . . that radio station mentioned above in re Del Rio was actually on the Mexican side of the river in Ciudad Acuna. Call sign XERF - purportedly the most powerful radio station in the world, much more powerful than allowed in the U.S.

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  18. Easy and fun. Good Tuesday fare. Thanks, Mark and TTP. I always love seeing TOTO in puzzles because I had several Cairn Terriers. Great dogs.

    YR, from several days ago, when I sold my house, as a compromise with assisted living, I moved into an apartment building. It has 24-hour security and a desk clerk always on duty. He can’t help with medical problems but he can call an ambulance or your family. I still have independence and live “alone” but there are people close by. It’s worked well for me. YMMV

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  19. Musings
    -I’ve never heard of MENOR_A or used _NET but the C came easily enough
    -An ART MUSEUM recently in the news
    -D-O – AMEN on Coasters and Chip and Joanna Gaines
    -A hundred-dollar bill around a wad of ONES can look impressive
    -I would be in the ET AL category of the great bloggers here
    -BAMA was not UP TO snuff last night. No tears shed here
    -In what Neil Simon play did one character hate it when the other character did this?
    -The 300 miles from SANAA to ASMARA is a one-hour flight
    -COMMA - Salad ingredients – lettuce, tomato, goat, cheese. Huh?
    -This was our “make out” station. The next morning we couldn’t get the signal
    -Nice write-up and musical selections, TTP!

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  20. 22D: Home of Rev. Billy Sol Hargis.


    https://youtu.be/qyvUgodZWo8

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  21. Good Morning:

    I didn't find this easy-peasy because of several unknowns: Pasa, Menorca, Asmara, Del Rio, and ATCO, but the perps came to the rescue. I saw the A ~ M theme early on but the reveal was still a surprise, an Aha Moment, so to speak.

    Thanks, Mark, for an enjoyable, smooth solve and for dropping by and thanks, TTP, for your usual informative summary with the much-appreciated visuals and links.

    Happy Birthday, Patti, and thanks for all you do for our enjoyment. 🎂🎈😉🎉🍾

    My niece's due date of January 3rd morphed into January 7th with the arrival of Declan, 6 lbs. 13 oz. (I have 32 nieces and nephews but would gave to sit down and count the number of the next generation; I know there are a lot but not the exact number.)

    Have a great day.

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  22. Speaking of Cher, did anyone see her on the Kennedy Center Honors the other night? Adam Lambert did a rendition of her "I Believe" that was so beautifully poignant even Cher was dabbing at her eyes. It is now on my "play list".

    Mark, I thought there was an X in that radio station but figured I was wrong. Thanks for reminding us of that powerful station. I don't know how far the wave-length reached, but it was pretty far.

    D-O: My brother & SIL went several hundred miles out of their way to eat at the Gaines' bakery in WACO because they are such fans. My bro claimed the treats were worth the drive dragging a trailer. I've seen the show but not a fan of their remodeling style. Don't plan to visit them. I've been to WACO several times in the past.

    SwampCat: I have two cairn terrier "granddogs". I wish I were half as important as they are to their "parents". LOL!

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  23. Thank you, Mark, for the fun today!
    And happy birthday, Patti! Thank you for all you do!

    When traveling the first thing we do after finding our rooms is get AREA MAPS and have the concierge mark places of interest. Next month we'll go to Carmel but we're quite familiar with it and with Monterey.

    There is a wide CHASM between me and the younger generation in terms of music, movies, clothes and just about everything else.

    I had many students from Eritrea and Ethiopia. They escaped the 30 years civil war that divided their countries.

    Sleeping on an AIRMATTRESS is not bad though now that I am a senior I yield it to the junior members of the family when we have a reunion.

    When I taught night classes I would hear that far off station from DELRIO on my way home.

    I'm not a fan of the ACTION MOVIE and yes, PK, I saw Cher at the Kennedy Center and heard that rendition.

    Thank you, TTP, for your terrific Tuesday treat!

    Have a marvelous day, everyone!

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  24. FIW with PASo/oSMARA. Silly me not to know the capital of Eritrea. I was actually playing El Condor PASA yesterday. But I never remember that last letter. Otherwise I enjoyed the puzzle and theme.

    PK hand up I thought AMVET was part of the theme.

    TTP and Husker Gary I enjoyed your COMMA comments!

    Is anyone familiar with the AH-duh-MOMENT?

    We used to get a loud chorus of CICADAs in the summer where I grew up in DC. Not sure I have any photos. It was fun seeing the shed exoskeletons on trees.

    I have been to the NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY quite a few times growing up in DC.

    Here I just found my photos at the new NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY MUSEUM!

    Here is my article on a recent HARP concert organized by a friend. She gave us free tickets and it was a wonderful experience!

    Yesterday I shared my photo of ADAM in EDEN in the SISTINE CHAPEL.

    I had the great pleasure to see AZIMOV speak when I was in college. He was extraordinarily prolific as a writer and he talked about that. I can't find any photos, though. I remember he was funnier than Pat Paulsen who spoke around the same time! But AZIMOV didn't run for president!

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  25. From Yesterday:
    AnonT glad you also enjoyed those vintage 1970s stamps my friend Mary used on her Christmas card to us! I have a few stamps saved from that era, but I am not sure I would actually use them!

    And thank you for taking the time to look at my King Tut article and photos! Yes, lots of pieces in the exhibit! I am just sorry I learned of it so late and it is gone now.

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  26. An late week clue for WACO could be "early manufacturer of aircarft".

    A truly diabolical Saturday-type clue would be "Normandy invader conveyance". They manufactured the gliders utilized on the invasion.

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  27. Fun Tuesday puzzle--many thanks, Mark, and thanks for checking in with us. Not totally easy, though--and I worried about the northeast until I finally changed SCORN to SCOFF. A number of unknowns--never heard of SANAA or ATCO, for example. But it's always nice to see TSE, a favorite poet of mine, and TOTO, a favorite dog, in the puzzle. And I got ASIMOV--yay! But the most fun was getting the theme in the end and finding all those AMs all over the place in the acrosses and some downs. So, thanks again, Mark--and you too, TTP, for the always helpful write-up, especially with the maps this morning.

    Happy birthday, Patti.

    Irish Miss, how lovely that you have such a large family!

    Have a great day, everybody!

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  28. Hi everybody. I enjoyed that! The Artie Shaw music too. Thanks Mark, Patti, TTP and Rich. Besides enjoyment, I feel that I've learned a lot by doing these crossword puzzles and from reading the blog.

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  29. Not too much trouble with this ....Tuesday....puzzle. A theme with no giveaways as well, nicely done

    Zero markovers today, a rare enough occurrence.

    I live in SC so I ate up the Championship game and I’m not even a Clemson fan.....so tired of hearing about how great Alabama is....with their 70 scholarships.

    I agree that the Huskies aren’t as dominant as I years past, but I really think Baylor out coached them...UCONN never got into their fast game as Baylor kept slowing them down....plus UCONN didn’t shoot well.

    Have a good day.

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  30. Help! I can’t find the jumble page. There used to be a link but I can’t find it.

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  31. Isaac ASIMOV is probably best known for creating the Three Laws of Robotics:
    First Law – A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
    Second Law – A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
    Third Law – A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
    He was also quite a Biblical scholar and even wrote some books about the Bible. In one of his undergraduate courses the final exam always consisted of the same assignment: Compare and contrast the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament. On the day of the final exam the professor wrote on the board, "Compare and contrast the major and minor kings of the Old Testament." Undaunted, Asimov wrote, "It's very difficult to contrast the many kings of the Old Testament, but so far as the prophets are concerned...." And he was off and running. He got an A.

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  32. My father used to refer to the football AFL as the A F of L (in the days when Labor had some punch)
    I have serious doubts before I read the answer about that hopeless Natick on the 55/57 cross. I had two bad boxes over the weekend but they were on me.

    Oops. My problem turned out to be CNET not ENET. MENORCA wasn't a Natick so mea culpa as we saw in a recent XW.
    A very easy xword where the difficult names were handled by perps. I recognized ASMORA but SANAA was new.
    I actually saw the first half of Baylor-UCONN. I thought the Bears were the better team. But the clips of ND show me the best of the three.

    HBD Patti, thx TTP. Thanks for dropping by Mark.

    WC

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  33. Weaver, a self-shoutout? But the original Weaver Aircraft Company of Ohio pronounced their acronym wah-co, not way-co like the city.

    Comments on COMMAs remind me of the 2003 book Eats, Shoots & Leaves. The cover was inspired by a panda that has a sandwich in a cafe, fires a gun, and as he exits justifies himself with a badly-punctuated wildlife guide.

    I see that each row of baseball caps represents teams of one of the six divisions of major league baseball, but don't see any order within each division.

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  34. SwampCat, try https:/jumblehints.blogspot.com
    Hopefully, that will work for you.

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  35. For some reason, 2D got me sidetracked on Youtube..

    (You don't have to watch this unless you a practicing to be an Angel.)
    Harps do not have sharp or flat strings???

    Dang! This is more complicated than I thought...

    I got the AM part of the theme, but I thought the radio part was a bit of a stretch...

    Speaking of stretch, this link is a segue into the next link...

    The Next Link...

    In truth, all radio stations have one evil plan...

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  36. MENORCA seems to have been either a Natick or some other kind of head-scratcher for several Corner colleagues--as it certainly was for me. Not knowing either of the ending perps (CNET and ATCO), I was left unfulfilled at the very end.
    Rats.
    All the rest filled beautifully for me.
    ~ OMK

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  37. Picard:
    Those are lovely pictures of your HARP playing friend! The HARP creates such beautiful music. The only time I have heard a HARP solo was at the wedding of a friend. The harpist, who was a friend of the bride, played during the church ceremony which enhanced the entire ritual. It was memorable.

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  38. Billocohoes

    Pronounciation doesnt come into play in crosswords. Although it does occasionally make our brains adjust to alternative thinking.

    Both WACO and WACO would fill in the squares nicely even if they are pronounced differently. :)

    Just as flower and flower would. Only clued differently depending on the day of the week. On Monday "flower" is a bloom and on Saturday "flower" is a body of water. Lol

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  39. I found this one easier than yesterday.

    Liked the cross of the two containers, VIAL and VAT.

    Magilla: Glad I'm not the only one to remember the Rev. BillySol. Listened to Imus during his Cleveland days. The Rev. "broadcast" from "DEL RIO Texas, the gold buckle in the Bible Belt."

    Did not see the theme until I got here.

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  40. The only Billy Sol I remember was named Estes. But I was never much for radio preachers, or non-radio preachers for that matter.

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  41. HBDTY Patti

    You can save this link as a favorite in your browser if you want the Jumble blog JUMBLE BLOG

    Also, we had Magilla and his DON IMUS LINK

    Thank you for stopping by Mark

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  42. Billochoes: Of course I; know how to use a semicolon, how dare you;

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  43. Enjoyable.

    Happy birthday, Patti.

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  44. Billocohoes, I noticed the order and the bottom row far Left: Reverse the two teams. I say, I say Sox < Yanks

    D-O, the significance of the robotic laws (eg Asimov) depends on whether one accepts that the Foundation was a history of Capitalism.

    As I've fruitlessly noted before: Hari Selden = N. Ratschilde. Given that clue the rest of the trilogy opens up.*

    Jumble Link
    Oops, lemony beat me to it

    OMK, I grieve with you. I'm thinking CNET is a given for many which is why Rich (or Patti) let it go. Weaver pointed out excellently how late week clueing eschews the proper noun Naticks.

    WC

    Perhaps, like other "Wilbur theories" it isn't the content it's the implications that bother. I'm not trying to be contentious just providing information.

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  45. Wilbur, I read the Foundation trilogy, but I don't remember the laws of robotics as being part of it. I remember them from I, Robot, a collection of Asimov's short stories about the fictional Dr. Susan Calvin.

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  46. CNET is a favorite of my BFF for all kinds of electronic gadgetry. It's the only reason I know it.

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  47. Good news! Today I learned I have carpal tunnel syndrome.
    I know I have bad discs, bone spurs and arthritis in both my cervical and lumbar spine. My quickly progressing hand numbness and pain led me to believe my C6-7 nerve root was pinched. I was worried it would become permanent and I would need a horrid surgery. We will check it out with an MRI, but that problem is not as likely as I believed. The carpal tunnel problem is definite.
    Whew! A wrist problem is so much less serious than a spine problem.
    I have been wearing a wrist brace for several hours. It is helping, but of course, it is not a fast cure.
    Alan is okay, but is as testy as a teen, not usual for him. I believe the uncertainty of his living situation is taking a heavy toll. It is difficult for both of us to be in limbo. I am having trouble not being testy in return.
    Swamp Cat,I am considering a smaller apartment. I wonder, in the case that I can no longer live alone, will I be able to get into a nursing home from there without having had a hospital stay?
    FLN, Anonymous T. an excellent suggestion. I will need an safety alert button.
    I am in excellent health and could go on happily living like this indefinitely. My concern is how to prepare for the future. I don't want to live my children in a mess.

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  48. YR, you’ll have to check on the nursing homes in your area. I’ve known several people who went from here into a nursing home. Also, some continue to live here with sitters.

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  49. Argggg! Gastly is spelt w/ an H :-( 9d is not SAgAA - FIW.
    I could just chalk it up to I can't spell nor geography [sure, that's a verb :-)] but I FIW anyway b/c I had oTCO as my record-label -- and I should know that.

    Hi All!

    Thanks Mark for this swell puzzle. As a fan of late-nite AM RADIO, I really enjoyed the theme. Also, you made Wall of Voodoo [3:55] start playing in my head.* Thanks for popping into the Corner.

    Excellent Expo TTP [I think Lem @7:04 mixed us up]. It's not just Joey that says "How YOU doin'?" :-)

    WOs: N/A
    ESPs: Geography (++WAGs) AVEMARIA [thanks for the Parsing TTP].
    Fav: AHA! MOMENT. I know it's a themer but I love it. //had a professor from India that would turn and say, as chalk-dust settled around him, "dis is where da rrdddudber [rubber] meets da road --and you get your AHA!" And go right back into the proof.

    {A+ & LOL, B+, B}

    HG - when I lived in Norman, KOMA played easy listening or some such. DW and I giggled how apropos the call letters were.

    D-O: I've read about everything Asimov that I learned of/ discovered. You just added to my assignment; had no idea he wrote on religion.
    I, Robot == Laws of Robotics
    Foundation Trilogy == Psychohistory

    Billo - I just re-heard that panda joke within the last two days...

    CED - The 'Extra' on your The Next Link [so Python-esque how you set that up] is too funny.

    Just for Mick: You know what kinda eyes she got.

    Every Christmas, at least for the years I worked in it, the Wells Fargo tower had a HARPist in the lobby, so, Lucina, I've heard it and it's lovely.
    Youngest works over the summer for a kid's music program. Part of her duties include moving instruments about.
    "Dad, we had to move 30 harps today."
    "Um, OK(?)"
    "They're heavy!"
    "What? They look angle-cloud fluffy... Heavy compared to....?"
    "Dad, They're basically a grand-piano on its side."

    Happy Birthday Patti! Thanks for all you do behind the scenes for us.

    Cheers, -T
    *XERF is one of the stations that inspired the song [see: Background]. Mouse-over XERF and it says Wolfman Jack was on that station... Hum....

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  50. Er, Eldest (the music major) works over the summer for kids' music programmes...

    Sadness -- Eldest returned to OU today to begin her RA duties. I already miss that kid. -T

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  51. Anonymous T,
    A list of Asimov's books that I googled numbered them at 506. He wrote about the Bible, science of all sorts (one interesting title: Why Are Some Beaches Oily?) and anything that caught his fancy. Science fiction, mystery fiction, and on and on.
    He wrote a bunch of books explaining science concepts to children. He was possibly the most prolific writer ever. I haven't even read a tiny fraction of all he wrote.

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  52. Happy birthday anyway, Patti!
    (I do not bear grudges.)
    ~ OMK

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  53. SandyAnon

    First, I like your Avatar. Who 'Dat?

    I was into reading fiction* when I was in HS & college [and pre-Google; how'd I know so much pulp?]. I've ready (maybe?) 40 or so of Asimov's novels + countless short-story anthologies. The man was prolific!

    The one short-story that really sticks with me (35+ years later) is The Feeling of Power about Aub, who, by reverse-engineering a calculator, convinces the powers-that-be that humans can Math. Thus, humans are put back into harm's way in The War.**

    Today's Drone Wars makes the story even more "Things that make you go Hummmm..."

    Cheers, -T
    *I've not read fiction since Desert Storm - nothing but "WTF? is going on?" books since. Speaking of which, who's going to watch the RatingsPaluzza Show @8p [CST] tonight?
    **I refused a job out of college for a missile-contractor -- instead I just worked on secure network communications at DOD. Hummm.... :-)

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  54. Guar-on-tee'd [with apologies to BooL & the rest of the S. LA contingent] to over post today say...

    OMG! - The Feeling of Power is public-domain. Cheers, -T

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  55. I staged a play once that included in the cast a cowboy-dressing character named WACO. Other characters saw him as "wacky," which seemed to be too easy a play on his sobriquet. But when I weigh the widely juxtaposed, even bizarre, variety of institutions and events that find their home in WACO, I suppose the author had at least the hint of a truth on his side.
    ~ OMK

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  56. Anonymous T, I will watch tonight, for as long as I can stand it. Definitely want to watch the reply.

    Oh yes, my avatar is Easton, currently 15 months old, and my one great grandchild. I like him too!!

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  57. Lucina thank you for the kind words about the HARP player. There used to be a solo HARP player who would play on the street here sometimes, but I have not seen her for years.

    Here are more of my videos and photos of this magical HARP concert by Josh Layne

    Josh Layne lives in Canada and came a very long distance to perform for us!

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  58. Very late to the party. Thanks for the fun, Mark and TTP.
    I whizzed through this CW quickly and saw the AM theme, even though I was tired after a busy day. No real AHA MOMENTS though.

    I had CRAM For before CRAMMED was forced by perps and I realized "hit" was past tense.
    I wondered whether those capitals were cities or money. SANAA was more familiar than ASMARA.

    AM VETS was unknown to this Canadian but made sense when it perped.
    I knew Sonny & Cher with "I Got You Babe" but forgot ATCO. Perps to the rescue again.

    I'll return later hopefully to read what you all thought today.

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  59. Yellowrocks,

    I also have Carpal tunnel. Did they do the test where they
    basically electrocute your fingers to test nerve impulses?

    (very shocking!)

    When they did it to me, the Dr had a student observing
    so she could learn how to deal with patients. I said,
    "if you want to really relate to your patients, let me hook you up to
    this shocking machine so you know how it feels..."
    (The Dr was not amused...)

    Carpal tunnel is a real problem for anyone playing guitar, I have to rest between songs.
    You will find it causes lots of problems at night, when you are trying to sleep,
    as you put your hands in positions that aggravate it.
    I have found that the braces are just as uncomfortable as waking up with
    numb hands, so I have found a way to do without them while sleeping.
    Basically, just go to sleep with your hands in the same position they would be
    in when in the brace. Never put a hand under a pillow where it would get extra pressure.

    Reading a newspaper can cause extreme numbness, but when sitting on the couch, as
    soon as I feel numbness I jam my hand between the couch cushions, which holds my
    hand just like the brace, and I can relieve the numbness in seconds.

    Good Luck, there is surgery for it if it gets really bad.

    Re: Asimov,
    Classic Stuff.
    If you get the chance, read "Nightfall."
    Written from 17 March to 9 April 1941 and sold on 24 April, the short story was published in the September 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction under editor John W. Campbell.
    It was the 32nd story by Asimov, written while he was a graduate student in chemistry at Columbia University. Campbell asked Asimov to write the story after discussing with him a quotation from Ralph Waldo Emerson:[1]

    If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!

    Campbell's opinion was to the contrary: "I think men would go mad".

    Asimov then created a world that orbited a sun in a Globular Cluster consisting of millions
    of stars, so many that it was illuminated all day, every day, except once in a thousand years. Archaeologists had discovered ruins, relics, that indicated previous civilizations
    that fell every thousand years, but why...

    ReplyDelete
  60. The original Outer Limits episodes are hard to find on YouTube,
    but Here Is I-Robot (plus others) in its entirety.
    With a young Leonard Nimoy as a reporter.

    Also, I post virtual cakes for people who visit the Blog.
    I have never seen Patti Varol comment here,
    but in the hope that she does, Here is a small offering...

    ReplyDelete
  61. Happy Birthday Patti!

    YR, glad that you have a diagnosis and that it is not as bad as you feared.

    I love harp music. Son & DIL had a harpist at their wedding reception. Picard, thanks for your photos of the Canadian harpist. He is from the other side of the country and I had not heard of him.

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  62. I used to get Wolfman Jack at night from many miles away on my crystal set radio. That was lots of fun for me and recalling it brings back fond memories.

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  63. I just realized I neglected to mention one of my favorite musical numbers, AVE MARIA. In my CD collection I have several renditions, male and female solos, orchestra renditions, choral numbers, etc. My daughter has strict orders to have it played at my funeral.

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  64. AnonT, I enjoyed reading your Feeling of Power essay. Thanks. It brought to mind two old recollections.

    1. Once up a time I learned to extract square roots by hand. It was difficult but I think I can still do it. Modern handheld calculators made that modest achievement of mine useless but I'm still proud of being able to do it.

    2. When my first child, Tim, was quite young, I taught him that six times nine was fifty-four. He was only in preschool and he didn't understand it at all of course, but he was pleased with his grown-up achievement. He wanted to show off for a wise-ass friend of mine. So I played along and asked him what "six times nine was." He answered, "fifty four." My friend said, "Good, but then what is nine times six? Tim turned on his five-yer-old brain cells, thought for a few seconds and responded, "Forty five." I gave him an A+.

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  65. Bill G re: #2 ++on Tim and cute. I know the back story. My love...

    OK, look what I just found re: XERF & Wolfman Jack. Reminded me of this WKRP.

    Cheers & Nite, -T

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  66. Wilbur at 2:30

    I'm surprised that you wrote, "I say Sox < Yanks"

    So you are saying Sox less than Yanks. Very surprising.

    ReplyDelete

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