google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, February 15, 2019, Winston Emmons

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Feb 15, 2019

Friday, February 15, 2019, Winston Emmons

Title: Winston, I C what you did here.

We have a Friday add a letter theme presented in a pinwheel grid. This is our fourth puzzle from Winston (the name of my grandpuppy who turned 10 years old yesterday-picture below) and his second already this year. Today's feature is different than his earlier Friday, and I found pretty doable. I never heard of the Fugard play, but the rest filled in with just a few perps. I did learn a bit and enjoyed some of the longer fill like DELISTS,  EMANUEL, ANDRETTI,  SEAHORSE, ASSERTIVE, and STENCILED. So we are off...

16A. Social media buzz about Alfred E. Neuman?: MAD CHATTER (10). I have never been to a chat room. Mad HATTER is an Alice in Wonderland reference.

62A. Jalopy that still works?: GOING CRATE (10). Going RATE is an in the language phrase and CRATE is ok.

9D. Vegan regimen for a willowy look?: CATKINS DIET (11). The controversial ATKINS diet morphs into a flowering spike of trees such as willow and hazel.


22D. Trysting place?: CHEATING PAD (11). A simple HEATING pad becomes a den of iniquity.
With a reveal:

67A. Grade describing the four longest puzzle answers?: C PLUS (5).

Across:

1. Dip with a kick: SALSA. Not if you live with a Thai chef.

6. Highest: NTH.

9. Video segment: CLIP.

13. "A Lesson From __": Fugard play: ALOES.  New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, Best Play of the Year, in 1980, I think.  FUGARD was a South African and outspoken critic of Apartheid.

14. Electronic music effect: WAWA. My son, Devin. uses his wah-wah pedal (or simply wah pedal) which is a type of electric guitar effects pedal that alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name "wah-wah".

15. Helper: AIDE. Even if you are not in the Senate.

18. Labor: TOIL.

19. Montgomery-to-Macon dir.: ENE. I have made this drive.

20. Founded: BASED. The theory was founded on the assumption...

21. Tie feature: KNOT. Silly; they do not come with knots. Oh, I guess if you are wearing one.

22. Fiscal exec: CFO.

24. Removes from the exchange: DELISTS. Delisting occurs when listed security is removed from the exchange on which it trades. A stock may be removed from an exchange if the company for which the stock is issued is not in compliance with the listing requirements of the exchange. The criteria to remain listed on an exchange differs from one exchange to another. On the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), for instance, if a security's price closed below $1.00 for 30 consecutive trading days then the exchange would initiate the delisting process.

26. It's not an equine: SEAHORSE.

31. Directed: RAN.

32. Forceful: ASSERTIVE.

34. "There's many __ 'twixt the cup and the lip": old proverb: A SLIP. The origin  STORY. It is cool in a semi-sad way.



38. About one-third of Earth's land area: ASIA. This is where the above story comes from, as well as my beautiful wife.

39. Slyly disparaging: SNIDE. My favorite.

41. Monopoly pieces: DICE. Who thinks of the dice as a piece?

42. Tops: BESTS.

44. Like some posters: STENCILED. This took many perps.

46. Windows competitor: iOS. iOS (formerly iPhone OS ) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the second most popular mobile operating system globally after Android.

48. Big name in auto racing: ANDRETTI. Mario and his sons.

49. Chicago mayor since 2011: EMANUEL.  This MAN.

53. Addams cousin: ITT. A Hairy clue.

54. Actress Helgenberger: MARG. From China Beach to CSI.

55. Case, often: DOZEN. Beer, soda and a clecho with 69A. Case, for example: Abbr.: SYNtax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. Nothing to do with 29 Down. Or as the majority has voted, it was a little play on words using the "for" to tell you that CASE is a SYNONYM for example. I am tired and like the old Burger King Commercial - you can have it your way.

58. Hanoi holiday: TET.

61. Radar readout feature: BLIP.

65. "Frozen" princess: ELSA.

66. Grandson of 33-Down exiles: ENOS. do we all know this biblical figure now?

68. Marsh plant: REED. I think of them from the Bible and Moses. The clecho. 47D. Marsh plants: SEDGES.

70. Permissible: LICIT. For once not illicit.

Down:

1. Matching: SAME.

2. Jackson of country: ALAN. My Thai wife listens.
3. Pay dirt: LODE.

4. Holding-on period?: SEC.

5. 49-Down remnant: ASH.

6. Expos, now: NATS. The Washington Nationals.

7. Rough material: TWEED.

8. Taking more time, probably, as a test: HARDER.

10. Ford Field team: LIONS. Sorry to all their fans, but DETROIT is not a successful team.

11. Nitwit: IDIOT.

12. Trapper's collection: PELTS.

14. Athletic org. founded by Billie Jean King: WTA. Women's Tennis Association. LINK.

17. Ends prematurely: ABORTS.

23. Pro: FOR.

25. Mike Trout's team, on scoreboards: LAA. Los Angeles Angels. The angels angels.

26. Swedish auto: SAAB. The car is now GONE.

27. Latin I verb: ESSE. To be or not to be, that is the question.

28. Craigslist caveat: AS IS. Also very important in Real Estate purchases and law.

29. Sloth and the like: SINS. Some say there are 7 deadly ones, but that would be religion.

30. Musical narrated by Che: EVITA. Hard to beleive this is more than 20 years ago.

33. Paradise: EDEN. More Bible.

35. Rhythmic cadence: LILT.

36. Tracy Marrow's stage name: ICE-T.

37. Salon offering: PEDI. How many of the men out there have had one or more? I have taken the cure.

40. Outcome: ENDING.

43. Trifling amount: SOU. French penny, basically.

45. Old PC monitor: CRT. Cathode Ray Tube.

49. Eventual 5-Down: EMBER.

50. "Atlantic City" director Louis: MALLE.  A very famous and controversial film DIRECTOR who went from shooting underwater with Jacques Cousteau to many sexually themed movies like Pretty Baby. He was married to Candice Bergen.

51. Stand: ARISE.

52. More than a little silly: LOONY. Etymology: also loonie, looney, luny, "crazy; silly and eccentric," 1853, American English, short for lunatic, but also influenced by loon (n.2) and perhaps loon (n.1), the bird is noted for its wild cry and method of escaping from danger. As a noun by 1884, from the adjective. Slang loony bin "insane asylum" is by 1909. Looney left in reference to holders of political views felt to be left-wing in the extreme is from 1977. Looney Tunes, Warner Bros. studios' animated cartoon series, dates from 1930.

56. Angels Landing's national park: ZION. The angels are obviously a hearty group. MORE.


57. Nation borders?: ENS. Nation. The absence of the 's was the giveaway.

58. Soothing application: TALC. Unless you use it on your body in a personal way. LINK.

59. Notions case: ETUI. This has become quite popular again.

60. Acid __: TEST.

63. Half of D: CCL. Roman numeral math...glue.

64. Hudson Riv. engineering school: RPI. We end with a common CSO to our Corner friends. Cool.

My Winston as a puppy and then him now He is a boxer black lab mix













I think I did it again; hope you enjoyed my tour and Winston's creation. I  await your comments. Lemonade out.



56 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIWrong. several words, all in the center-top area. top>NTH, WAve>WAWA ,Built>BASED, WT(union)>WTA, and the other three perps I had no idea on, tho I knew they were wrong.
I also missed the theme, as I still didn't have 3 of them before I got to the reveal, and just one didn't give me enough info to guess. It did help me get CHEATING and CHATTER, but I'm hoping the expo will explain what CAT-KIN'S DIET is.

Autumn trees are bright as glowing EMBERS,
Colored leaves painted by their fairy tenders.
But embers yield to ASHEN shapes,
Cold, white and wind-blown flakes,
Needing shoveling starting in Decembers!

Cats and LIONS are related folk.
Each a killers in a graceful cloak.
Carnivores at heart
The DIET they'd impart
Is that CAT-KINS feast on raw antelope!

Copping a feel in the days of CLIPPER ships
Was made HARDER by skirts, billows equipped.
To keep sailor hands
From improper lands
There's many A SLIP betwixt the cop and the hips!

{B+, A-, B+.}

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Another fun one from Winston, but not easy. Got the theme early which helped with the others. Found the theme entries all amusing, especially GOING CRATE which is what I drove for years with a mechanic husband. Since the mechanic is gone, I've had four brand new cars.

Thank you, Lemonade, for another enjoyable expo. We had a black lab that looked a lot like your Winston. Sweet dog.

I've visited Angel's Landing in ZION. However, I was thinking of Bright Angel Point on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Couldn't make it fit. Finally remembered ZION. That crag doesn't look like anyplace Angel's would frequent, but I think there were rock climbers scaling the thing when we were there.

ALAN Jackson was a favorite of my husband and me. Kids gave him an ALAN Jackson tape one year and we have a picture of the two of us dancing happily around the living room to it. I was wearing purple sweats & my husband had on a white T-shirt & jeans with his bald head shining. One of the kids titled the picture "The Grape Ape & Mr. Clean". Fun time. ALAN Jackson wrote some very poignant songs like "Remember When".

DNK: FUGARD, IOS, MALLE.

Anonymous said...

"Case" is never a dozen. A case is a 24-pack (sometimes called "a suitcase") of soda (sometimes called "pop" or "Coke") or beer. 6-pack, 12-pack, & case.


Angels Landing is beautiful, and in my opinion, Zion is the prettiest of our National Parks.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

SAWHORSE (SEA) and ALOE (TALC) were my only Wite-Out moments this morning. Yay, d-o got the theme again. Don't really care for clue/answer pairs like 5D AND 49D, but they filled easily. Thanx, Winston and Lemonade (cute puppy!)

Tie feature: KNOT Not for moi...at least not for the last 20+ years.

ALAN Jackson: I've got a 2-CD album of his greatest hits. Almost picked up another 2-CD album of his, but realized in time that it was gospel songs. Pass.

desper-otto said...

Anon@7:07, a case of oil is often 12 quarts.

Lemonade714 said...

sorry anon but there is more than beer and soda packed in cases. Wine which comes 12 bottles to a standard case, champagne is sold six bottles to a case. It is possible to buy champagne in quantities of 12 bottles at a time.

Oas said...

White flag day
Dw to me “ could you pick up a case of eggs and a carton of milk?”

billocohoes said...

Started crossing 1A tAngo with 1D twin, then after MADCHATTER changed twin to SAME and tAngo to SAmbA before another dance was required.

TTP said...


Good morning. Thank you Winston Emmons. Thanks Lemonade.

Brought my A game today. Flew through it like a Monday. Had to be a personal best for a Friday.

I first filled aggressive before changing it to ASSERTIVE. The perps were clear.

Never saw ALOES. Never saw MALLE. Never saw ARISE.
Alan Jackson is a favorite C&W singer.
Knew Tracy Morrow was ICE-T.

For Valentine's Day, I made my DW the Chicken Paprikash recipe I linked on Tuesday.

Note to self: Try new recipes THE DAY BEFORE garbage day.

Actually, she liked it, but I found it rather bland. I couldn't find the Piros Arany paste in the stores. Maybe that would have given it a little more zing. A little chili and cumin powder might have kicked it up a notch.

She professed that "It was good" but that's not her best endorsement. I interpret that as, "You don't have to make that again."

The chocolate fudge lava cake was a hit.

I hope it's only coincidence that she's staying home ill today.

Yellowrocks said...

Wow! Like TTP, I thought this was a breeze. Only MALLE was ESP. I didn't know Fugard, but did know A Lesson From Aloes. The name is so familiar, but I never heard the plot. It's funny how a mere tidbit with no other info will help in solving. Of course, I LIU afterward.
57 D, Nation borders? didn't fool me, but is not my favorite type of clue.
I thought immediately of the dozen 750mL wine bottles in a case.
Lemonade, great expo. I like the Many a Slip story. Don't count your chickens before they are hatched is how we phrase it.
Except in crossword puzzles and old movies I haven't heard about decrepit old crates and jalopies since my youth. Are those terms still used?
Gotta run.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Enjoyed the solve but needed a slight help in the top center. Found NTH and BASED particularly elusive (but fair for a Friday). WAWA, too. Couldn't focus on the C_PLUS usage either. Sigh. Guessed at ZION which gave me DOZEN.
Don't remember doing an Emmons puzzle before. Sometimes a puzzle author takes a little getting used to.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. I caught the theme on my second pass with the CHEATING PAD. (Lemon: the puzzle wasn't so bad that we have to think this was a Friday the 13th puzzle!!)

I learned that Directed is not Led, but RAN. I also learned that a Salon Offering is not a Perm, but a PEDI. I had a nice Pedicure just yesterday.

My favorite clue was Dip with a Kick = SALSA. There is a restaurant in town that has the best warm, smoky salsa. I go there just for the salsa.

I first heart of the playwright Fulgard (b. June 11, 1932) about 30 years ago when we went to one of his productions. He goes by Athol Fulgard, although that is actually his middle name.

QOD: All families are about love overcoming emotional torture. ~ Matt Groening (b. Feb. 15, 1954)

Big Easy said...

After two consecutive DNF, I found today's puzzle very easy with only the WAG of the intersection of two unknowns- MARG & MALLE and the Fugard play- ALOES all solved by perps. Thanks for the explanation of the SYN because it was filled by perps and I had no idea until Lemony's write-up.

After MAD CHATTER, the added C to the themes was obvious.

WAWA effect- it doesn't have to be from electronics. We used our cup mutes for the same effect when playing the trumpet.

Hahtoolah- and where would that restaurant be? Every time I've been in Red Stick I've been disappointed whether it is Mike Andersons or George's under I-10 or any other restaurant and the worst food I'd had was at the City Club.

CanadianEh! said...

Fabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, Winston and Lemonade.
I saw the added C with the first theme entry of MAD CHATTER. That certainly helped the fill, and I smiled at C PLUS.
But officially a DNF because I did not know the Chicago mayor crossing director MALLE, PLUS I could not remember the "trifling amount" usage for SOU. Thus I was missing the M and U in EMANUEL. I'll blame Canadian disadvantage, although Chicago is not that far from the border.

I had Inane before LOONY, and I wanted ALOE for 58D "soothing application". ALOES was needed for 13A.
I was on the same wavelength as Hahtoolah with Led before RAN, and perm before PEDI.
Yes YR, I was not fooled by "Nation borders" either.
Oas @7:19 - This Canadian would ask for a carton of eggs and a bag of milk. LOL!

WAWA could have been clued as "community in Northern Ontario known for its large metal sculpture of a Canada goose". Of course, all of you who had remembered my previous posts would have filled it in immediately!

Wishing you all a great day.

Tinbeni said...

Lemon: Nice, informative write-up. Good Job!

My case (of SCOTCH, of course) is 12 bottles ... unless I buy the 1/75 liter bottles ... then the case is 6 bottles.

Learned the word ETUI from solving crossword puzzles ... it's always like seeing an "old-friend."

Hope y'all have "Great Weekends" ... I'm suffering with Sunny skies and 76 degrees.
Life is tough living in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

A "Toast-to-ALL" at SUNSET.
Cheers!

waseeley said...

And a case of wine is 12 liters.

waseeley said...

Teri suggests you try smoked paprika next time.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I really liked the cute theme, although I had to look up Catkins after completing the puzzle, as I don't think I've ever heard the word. However, I had a FIW because I had Alois instead of Aloes, thinking (incorrectly) that the title of the play was referring to a person, not a plant. I ignored the Sic not making any sense for the holding on clue, ergo, no TADA and I had to use the clear the errors option to find my mistake. I joined Hatoolah and CanadianEh in the Perm/Pedi and Led/Ran w/os, plus Esau before Enos. I interpreted Syn as Synonym and was bewildered as to how that related to Case but the expo solved that mystery. CSOs to Spitz and Moi at RPI and to Alan, who is becoming a regular!

Thanks, Winston, for a fun and satisfying solve, errors notwithstanding, and thanks, Lemony, for the informative and entertaining review. I particularly enjoyed the back story of the "Many a slip ..." adage as it was one of my mother's favorite truisms and, I must say, she had one for everyone and everything under the Sun! Winston's photo made my day.

FLN

The comment about the use of "on accident" instead of "by accident" makes me think of how "good on you" instead of "good for you" has become so prevalent. I prefer the latter but seldom hear it.

Have a great day.

AnonymousPVX said...


Well this Friday puzzle had a dose of crunch.

And my no markover streak has ended, no surprise there.

I agree with D-O....I don’t care for clue/answer pairings, but they were at least clear.

Markovers....LED/RAN, INANE/LOONY....should have been more patient, but I was “so sure” haha.

waseeley said...

We can forgive a Canadian for not knowing the mayor of Chicago. Emanuel's original claim to fame was being Obama's first chief of staff.

Misty said...

Woohoo! Woohoo! The LA Times paper was right there on my sidewalk this morning, meaning I could do the puzzle today! Woohoo! It's a Friday, so of course it was going to be a little tough for me, but I started right in with the northeast corner and the middle and chunks of the south--a great start. So, many thanks for this delightful puzzle, Winston. And, of course, your write-up was a pleasure, as always, Lemonade. Loved seeing ITT, it's been a while since that odd character showed up. I also had a lovely trip to ZION National Park with my sweet husband many years ago. Had BLIP and FLIP before I got CLIP. I got CHEATING for 22 down but couldn't believe that anyone would be cheating in their Trysting place, for heaven's sake. Anyway, fun start to my morning, thanks again, Winston and Lemonade.

Have a great weekend coming up, everybody.

waseeley said...

I got "catkins diet" from the perps and it seemed that vegans just might eat pussy willow catkins, but when I LIU to confirm I just got a lot of hits on foods for diabetic cats. It seems enough of a problem for pet lovers to have launched its own industry.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-What a fun start to this devotee of “What me worry?” Alfred
-My friend had heart issues caused by the Atkins diet and got thousands in a lawsuit
-A group of 5th graders just left. Wow, do they take a different skill set!
-The home of my golf course and a fill from today. They named a street after her
-The LIONS, Browns, Jaguars and Texans are the only 4 teams who have never been to a Super Bowl
-In Apollo 13, Tom Hanks (playing Jim Lovell) nervously eyes the ABORT switch as takeoff is imminent
-The Property Brothers on HGTV buy AS IS houses and ALWAYS find problems
-Johnson & Johnson say their TALC (Baby Powder we all grew up with) has no asbestos in it

Lucina said...

SALSA! Yum. A puzzle that starts with that is fine with me though it took me a while to find my way. Seeing the extra C at the beginning helped but I skipped around quite a lot.

I knew MARG Helgenberger from CSI and still occasionally watch it on IOS. There is a similar program on PBS called Silent Witness which I record since it's on late Sunday.

My sister belongs to a wine club that every other month sends her a case with a DOZEN bottles.

WAWA seemed doubtful to me but had to be correct. Nation borders didn't fool me either. ENS at both ends. D = 500 so CCL, 250 also emerged quickly.

BLIP, CLIP and A SLIP are fun. So is MADCHATTER!

Thank you, Winston Emmons and thank you, Lemonade for that zesty and appealing expo.

I think our rain is now completely gone.

Have a peaceful day, everyone!

Yellowrocks said...

A standard case of wine contains 12 750ml bottles, for a total of 9 liters of wine, at least where I shop.
Winston, the puppy, is adorable. What breed is he and how big will he get?
I think of wa wa, usually spelled wah wah, with muted trumpets, too,

Pansy, Anemone, and Crocus blossoms show
The longed-for beauty of our Springtime’s renewed site,
With varied pastel colors and, of course, we know
The fuzzy Pussy Willow’s CATKINS will delight.

So very blessed we are with new life on our Earth,
As budding Spring fulfills her promise of rebirth.
by Sandra M. Haight

I have a quite real looking wreath of pussy willow shoots and catkins which I hang on my front door every March.

Becky said...

I wanted Angel's Landing to be Angel's Flight, which is finally operating again after someone discovered a tree branch was being used as a braking device and shut it down. The first time it was discontinued was when the braking device failed and several people were injured and an elderly man was killed. It sure makes going from the City Market(I think that's what they call it now)
up the hill a lot easier.

I like the thought of me as a classy broad. I'd like to be a little less broad, though. I've been married 38 years today! I proposed and we got married four weeks later. They were taking bets in post production Jamie wouldn't go through with it. Ha Ha Ha.

Becky

TTP said...

Thank you waseeley. I should have bought the smoked paprika when I saw it.

desper-otto said...

Congrats, Becky. What's with the "post production?" I vaguely recall you saying something about being in show biz.

Sandyanon said...

Lemonade, I always enjoy your expositions, but have a little nit to pick with 69 across. I kind of understand the interpretation of SYN as 'syntax' if we're thinking of the case of a noun, but isn't 'synonym' equally or even more possible, if a case of something or other is an example of it? I think syntax is more of a reach. But as always, people's MMV.

Anonymous said...

"Case" = SYNtax? No. No! NO NO NO!

Madame Defarge said...

Took me this long to finally finish after a 6:30 am start. I had holes all over the place and left three times. Not on you, Winston. Just me and my sun-starved brain. Thanks for the challenge. I liked the theme. Realized it on the second return when I figured out MAD CHATTER!

Thanks for the tour, Lemonade. I needed all the maps you provided. Long ago, I taught Fugard's Master Harold and the Boys. SNIDEly Whiplash also came to mind for me Mayor EMANUEL sure looks like he's having so much fun, but I guess not as he decided not to run again.

The sun is out today. Thank goodness! I think I should sit in the window and read! DH has a terrible cold, and I'm tired of being Nurse Nancy--although I did love that old Golden Book. Fussy. Fussy. A la Cher, Sanp out of it, Madame! :O See you tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of the day. ;)

CrossEyedDave said...

C plus?

Thought For Today:
"Fools act on imagination without knowledge,
Pedants act on knowledge without imagination."
Alfred North Whitehead, English philosopher
(born this date in 1861, died 1947).

Anonymous said...

SYNonym is what I vote for. The word "case" can be used in place of "example." "In this case..." can be used in place of "In this example."

Erratum said...

Boy is my face red. Even though is autocorrect's fault, I failed to proofread my chat entry.

Clip on TIES, not times.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Again, just a cuppla lookups, and I was on my way.
Not as daunting as it first appeared. I had the hardest time with HARDER. The perps kept telling me it was right, but I misread the clue and thought "as a test" referred to the testee in a time-defined trial trying to make a point to the tester, that the whole thing is a waste of time.
Obviously, Mr. Emmons sides with the test-givers.

desper-otto ~
The last tie I KNOTted was last year--for a funeral. Before that I can't remember when. Hard to believe I wore a tie every day for the four years I first taught--at Williams College.

My fave fill was MAD CHATTER. It's been quite a while since I first met Mr. Neuman in junior high. He was an inspiration then and remains a totem of bygone subversion.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
One diagonal again today--with the strangest of anagrams!
I can only imagine it relates to a contest among recent TV ads, commercial videos that have become so bizarre it is difficult to tell what product they are pushing.
The latest to catch my eye is a car ad in which the iconic figure of Bob's Big Boy is riding high in the back of a pickup.
What the--?!
I count it among the ...
"DORKIEST PLUGS"!

Yellowrocks said...

Anonymous 1:17 said...
SYNonym is what I vote for. The word "case" can be used in place of "example." "In this case..." can be used in place of "In this example."
Thank you for the clearest explanation I have seen. I was puzzled about this.
57 degrees now, sweatshirt weather, driving with the car window open. I love it. You southerners can have your 70's in February. Most people here greatly appreciate what they have after its absence. When your lover returns after weeks away, it is so sweet. I would miss these precious signs of coming spring if it were summer all the time.

Bill G said...

I just came across "Dave", a political drama/comedy with a warm heart. I've watched it several times and always enjoy it.

Another movie in a similar vein is "The American President."

I recommend both of them.

Roy said...

Sped through this one. On a Friday!

I agree with SandyAnon (et al.) that SYNonym likelier than SYNtax. Perhaps Winston or Rich can come here to explain their reasoning?

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle and chuckled at GOING CRATE because my dad often called his jalopy a beat-up crate. It was actually a pickup truck and he used it for work such as carrying horse feed or hay bales, to spare wear and tear on the family car. I learned to drive in that crate (and I was only 11.) I liked the C PLUS gimmick. I filled the answers so fast (with several exceptions) that I didn't even see SOU, CRT, and LAA. Didn't know the Fugard work but, as somebody (D-O?) often says, the perps were solid.

Many people misunderstood the Atkins diet and therefore used it incorrectly. Are you still on a ketogenic diet, fermatprime?

I, too, do not think of dice as pieces, but TOKENS did not fit.

I like 7 Deadly Zins wine, among many others.

Good wishes to you all this fine Friday the 15th. By the way, the Ides of February occurred on the 13th, according to Jeopardy.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Well, it was a quick start in the NW & NW corners that slowed considerably until the SE, where CPLUS emerged. The game was afoot; I know the gimmick now.

Thanks Winston for the Friday fun. You too Lem (I have many links left to click...)

WOs: Arid b/f ASIA, wanted BaLm @58d but then perp-checked TET
ESPs: ESSE, ALLEE/MARG (lucky A), ICE-T as clued.
Fav: ANDRETTI* //and it got me in Mani/Pedi mode; a roll of the DICE decided it

For a bit a I thought the "Poster" clue was part of the theme... I had the C from CRT and kept trying to parse S-EN [c] I--D. A theme grid-pattern check fixed that brain-fart.

The top center nearly caused a TITT-moment... Once I committed to TWEED, NTH filled, WAWA became obvious (already had the 1st syllable), and things got less HARDER. Done! Oh, wait, I gotta guess a vowel in the SW.

Anyone check out the Frozen(-looking city) pic FLN?

{A, B+, A}

Happy near-Anniversary Becky.

SandyAnon - Here, here. SYNonym but remain hesitant to say that after Errata troll...

Tin - I'm in your boat re: ETUI. I was so proud of myself the first time I entered it (with all vowels in the right place!) without thinking.
//When I first encountered it, MIL said it in Frawnch. That didn't help. In my head it's "EEE-Two-EEE"

IM - IMO, Good for you is something positive that happened; good on you is something you did for nice. Just my $0.02.
// “When someone asks you, A penny for your thoughts, and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?” - George Carlin.

C, Eh! - I guess CBC is too polite to air Rahm EMANUEL. [MA-L; F-bombs]. He lost most of one finger in a meat-slicer at Arby's; the joke was he could 'only flip you half-the bird.'

OMK's DR rings true. How many times have you watched something a company paid good ad-monies on and wondered, "What the hell was that for? I don't know what not to buy."

TTP - LOL new recipes before garbage day.

Just talked to DW!
Anyone looking to put themselves in the dog house? DW's Birthday is on the day she flies home over the International Dateline. So, that means she has two birthdays, no? I said from now on, when people ask, I was going to ++1 her age... She was not amused.

Cheers, -T
*When I briefly met Mario, I got a smile and thumbs up when I told him I had two Alfas.

Yellowrocks said...

I loved the movie, Dave. Lotsa fun..

Lucina said...

I like them both, Dave and The American President which I've watched several times. Michael Douglas made a good president.

Speaking of which, did anyone watch the press conference today? No comment from me. I'm still stunned.

Spitzboov said...

Anon -T - - I checked out Frozen. So what city is that? Novosibirsk? Irkutsk? Looked like a large regionally important city.

Anonymous T said...

Spitz - Novosibirsk sounds familiar-ish.

Honestly, I really don't know. She said it but it was all garble to me (and I probably couldn't spell it anyway)

DW's itinerary says she leaves from 'Knevichi, Vladivostok, Russia' but that might be her final "Russian only" flight [I Google-Earth'd the airport and it doesn't seem as far North as most of Siberia] before heading to a layover in Japan.

I texted her. I'll give you a definitive answer when she does.

Cheer, -T

Anonymous T said...

Spitz - Confirmed. She's in Vladivostok. -T

billocohoes said...

Errata, I think of a chat room as a spot where you post live, eg during a game or event, everybody’s signed on at once and talking. A forum is more like a bulletin board where comments are spread out over hours or days.

What once were jalopies are now called “beaters”, cars that you don’t mind salt or another dent because it’s already not worth much. Not the same as a beater undershirt (as worn by a stereotyped wife-beater, like Brando in Streetcar.

TTP said...

Dash T, yes, I saw that photograph last night and meant to comment on it this morning but forgot. I was preoccupied about getting the paperwork for the golf league over to the course. Here's my comment. It looks cold !

Speaking of cold, you've been doing the T minus countdown since she left, and then you're going to fun her about her age when she crosses the international date line ? Man, that's cold ! You might be sleeping out in the cold when she gets back. Better double up on the Valentines Day and birthday gifts, and allow her plenty of rest as she recovers from all that travel. Use your kid gloves. Handle with care and treat delicately.

Still envious that you got to meet Mario Andretti.

Lemonade714 said...

Life is pretty funny. I have never claimed to be all knowing or without errors, and I am perfectly willing to accept that SYNonym appeals to many of you. It may be what the clue writer, either Rich or Winston meant; it still does not float my boat.

Anonymous Erratum said...
Boy (needs a comma) is my face red. Even though (where is the "IT" ?) is autocorrect's fault, I failed to proofread my chat entry. Clip on TIES, not times. Yes, you made an error, again. You must be human, but clip-on ties DO NOT have an actual knot. The case argument is puerile. The chat room comment was ridiculous and why suggest this is a chat room? Who cares.

Lemonade714 said...

For those of you who have missed the many hints and comments, I have made identifying our resident celebrity classy broad BECKY is an award-winning actress and cute was born on exactly the same day and year as my first wife. Did you like her in SOAP or any of her other roles?

Lemonade714 said...

BTW, I removed no posts.

Thank you all for your comments; Winston is part black Lab and part Boxer
He is now ten years old and I posted a recent picture of him in the snow in the revised write-up

Spitzboov said...

Re: SYN - - Although I didn't fully focus on what SYN meant, I did lean toward the SYNtax meaning while entering the fill. Guess I was thinking 'case' meaning a word's role in a sentence such as 'dative case'.

Sandyanon said...

Ok, I hope to add a constructive comment here, and not antagonize anyone. Here goes: case is not strictly speaking, syntax itself; it is one element of the system of syntax. Case, however, is an actual synonym of example.

Sandyanon said...

P.S. I emailed the LAT Crossword section asking to know the intent of the clue. Maybe they'll respond.

Lemonade714 said...

Sandyanon, you all win, I have revised the write-up to include your interpretation. I solved it my way, you solved it your way. Enjoy.

Sandyanon said...

Lemonade, I didn't want it to be a competition. I would really like to know the constructor's/editor's intent. It could be either, for sure.
So sorry if I came across as combative or anything approaching it.

Wilbur Charles said...

I get it. Mario ANDRETTI .
SYN perped in . I would have guessed SYNtax but Google doesn't support it. But, lining up case is crucial to good syntax.
Not easy. Slow getting started. The added Cs helped. Knowing ALAN Jackson and Mr Fugard's work would've made things easier. Ditto Marg H. Then again NATS as Expos was a snap for this Baseball J nkie

In the "Car Game" of the 90s, Saabs were so plentiful they were only worth a point. Volvos 1/2 pt .

I misread CHE as CHER. "Perps were solid" so EVITA stuck.

Lemony, I knew you meant something like that as although I didn't know Becky was famous.

WC