google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday February 25, 2019 Ed Sessa

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Feb 25, 2019

Monday February 25, 2019 Ed Sessa

Theme: 50. WHERE'S THE FIRE. ("What's your hurry?" ... and a literal hint to what's hiding in 20-, 27- and 42-Across)

20. Tricolor flier in Dublin: FLAG OF IRELAND.

27. Quality sound reproduction: HI-FI RECORDING.

42. "And suppose my answer is no?": WHAT IF I REFUSE.

Boomer here.

Hello Everyone from the frozen tundra. It's been a rough February here in Minnesota, We have shattered the old February snow record and received about four feet of new snow just this month! It is piled high wherever the plows can find room, but it makes driving a bit treacherous because it's hard to spot ongoing traffic. I have spent 69 of my 71 years here so I guess I am up to it, but I don't think C.C. is liking it too much. We are keeping warm in our igloo.

Across:

1. Sources of nuclear energy: ATOMS. An atom is so tiny and yet you can split one and blow something up.

6. Wolf call: HOWL.  Our Timberwolves had a howl moment this past Friday.  Karl A. Towns was injured in a car accident.  Not sure how long he will be out.

10. Banned pollutants, briefly: PCBS. Nasty chemicals.  I cannot spell the name poly something or other.

14. Exodus mount: SINAI.

15. Author Wiesel: ELIE.  Author of 57 books.


16. "I smell trouble": UH OH.

17. Tavern mug: STEIN.  "Here's to the fellow who couldn't think small …" Ode to Billie Sol.

18. Get off the lawn, as leaves: RAKE.  Don't have to rake leaves here yet.  Please pass the shovel.

19. Noncurrent currency of Italy: LIRA.  It would take 1700 lira to buy one dollar.  ( I am not that smart, I Googled it. )

23. Longtime forensic drama: CSI.

25. The first "T" in TNT: TRI.  I thought it was "TURNER",  I watch a lot of TV.

26. Bitcoin, notably: E MONEY.  I never did understand the bitcoin phenomena. I know a lot of money was made - or lost.

31. Prefix with violet: ULTRA.

32. Shipshape: NEAT. Order of 86 proof Scotch.

33. Mineral hardness scale: MOHS.

34. "The game is __": Sherlock Holmes: AFOOT.  When is a sock not a sock ?

36. "Alas!": AH ME.

40. Waves to ride on: SURF. "Let's go surfin' now, everybody's learnin' how"  Beach Boys.

41. Hit that barely gets over the infield: BLOOP.  Spring training has started. "Batter up !"

46. Panini cheese: ASIAGO. Sounds like a night club across the Pacific "Asia a Go Go"

48. "Alice" diner owner: MEL.  Not a diner I would like to have a meal.  In fact I don't think I would like any place called a "Diner"

49. "That's all __ wrote": SHE.

54. Stereo preceder: MONO.  Right on.  I am old enough to remember mono players.

55. Length times width: AREA.

56. Erode: EAT AT.  Not at Mel's Diner.

59. Blue dye: ANIL.  Never heard of this.


60. Storm-producing weather systems: LOWS. And when the storm hits it produces depression.

61. Wharton's Ethan: FROME.

62. Must have: NEED.  I need a shovel.

63. Crafter's website: ETSY.  Never bought anything from them, I wonder if they sell etsy betsy teeny weenie bikinis

64. Brown-toned photo: SEPIA.

Down:

1. Stubborn animal: ASS.  Blame the poor donkey.  I could think of better clues, but I won't. 

2. Chickadee relative: TIT.  I could think of better clues, but I won't.

3. 20% expressed as a fraction: ONE FIFTH.  A bottle of liquor.

4. Snail or junk follower: MAIL. Newman says there is no junk mail.


5. "New York, New York" crooner: SINATRA.  "Start spreadin' the news."

6. Valiant: HEROIC.

7. Disney snowman: OLAF.  We have a famous St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.

Olaf

8. User-edited site: WIKI.  Known for their leaks.

9. Eyed wolfishly: LEERED AT.

10. Don, as boots: PULL ON.  I don't wear boots.  Socks are tough enough to pull on.

11. China's __ Kai-shek: CHIANG.  "Civil rights leaders are a pain in the neck.  Can't hold a candle to Chaing Kai shek.  How do I know? I read it in the Daily News."  -  Tom Paxton.

12. Carried: BORNE.

13. Shielded from the sun: SHADY. There's a Shady Oak Lake in Hopkins, MN, and a Shady Lady Saloon in Sacramento, CA.

21. College sr.'s exam: GRE.

22. Send out: EMIT.  Doesn't seem right.  Did you "EMIT" Christmas cards?

23. Buddy: CHUM.  I remember Chum Gum, (You could share with a friend.)  and goofy Chum Lee on the "Pawn Stars" show.

24. Grain storage area: SILO.  Lot of silos in Minnesota full of soybeans, waiting for prices to rise.


28. Tax-collecting agcy.: IRS. Yes, I've heard of them. Just sent them about five pages.

29. Like most light switches: ON/OFF.  You cannot have both.  Pick one.

30. Classic roadster: REO.

34. Used car lot event: AUTO SALE.  I keep seeing these "Carvana" ads.  Order a car or sell a car online.  Has anyone tried them ?

35. The "F" in TGIF: Abbr.: FRI.  Okay - Is the "G" for God or Goodness ?

36. Furry sitcom ET: ALF.

37. Landing site for Santa's sleigh: HOUSETOP. "Up on the housetop reindeer paws, out jumps good old Santa Claus."


38. Dance in a pit: MOSH.

39. Olympic fencing event: EPEE.  So, if there is a lot of people with swords, is that an "epeedemic"?

40. Wise one: SAGE.  Also a spice you put in turkey stuffing.

41. Opinions: BELIEFS. "I believe that children are our future.  Teach them well and let them lead the way."  Whitney Houston - "Greatest Love of All".

42. Dog at a cookout: WIENIE.  A teenie one could be a bikini.

43. Ramis of "Ghostbusters": HAROLD.  Liked him better with Bill Murray in "Stripes".


44. "Doesn't bother me at all": I'M EASY.

45. NFL official: REF.  And NBA and NHL.  But MLB has UMPs.

46. "Oh, no, bro!": AW MAN.

47. Dazzled: SHONE.

51. Relaxed running pace: TROT.  We have a trotters track in the Northern suburbs.  I have never been there.  Horses are unpredictable. I prefer Dice.

52. Fells with an ax: HEWS.

53. Steak order: RARE.

57. Mate, across the Channel: AMI. Or -- could be the end of a chess match.

58. Tazo product: TEA.  C.C. favorite thirst quencher.

Boomer



Notes from C.C.:

1) Dave 2 called me yesterday. He is finally back to his assisted living apartment, but he has no internet connection yet. He was so happy that his friends missed him! Hopefully he's back online soon.

2) Please keep Nina's (Inanehiker) brother in your thoughts and prayers. He's having prostate cancer surgery today down at the VA hospital in San Antonio, Texas.

55 comments:

Lemonade714 said...

Good to know Dave 2 is back out of isolation and will be back here soon. A real breeze from Dr. Ed and a really breezy write-up from our Monday leader. Boomer, I do not think anyone learns to spell anymore they just copy and paste. Polychlorinated biphenyls. Enjoy the last few days of February and spring is finally on the horizon.

OwenKL said...

In the European Large Hadron Collider,
ATOMS HOWL when they become a rider!
Around the loop they SURF,
Then they go berserk,
The atom breaks, and scientists can see inside 'er!

The RAKE cared about just A** and T**s
And maybe some good scotch, in FIFTHS.
He got MONEY in the MAIL,
Enough to keep him out of jail,
If his Dad knew what he did, he'd throw fits!

{B+, (M)A-.}

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased flair for BLOOPER. I thought "blooper" left baseball lexicon (along with its synonym Texas Leaguer) 30 years ago. Maybe just in the Majors. Also erased NEED when WIENer seemed to R Kelly its way in, then erased WIENer for WIENIE and reinstated NEED. BTW, the Wiener is out - Anthony Wiener, that is.

Anyone play in bitcoin investments? I Wouldn't touch it with YOUR wallet. Maybe if I was 25 again...

We had an Animal House quote yesterday, now we have HAROLD Ramis today. I think his masterpiece was Caddyshack.

Thanks for another fun Monday puzzle, Ed. With fill like ASS, TIT, WIENIE and a clue with "junk" we'll attract those ADD-olescents to crosswords yet. And thanks to Boomer for your usual Monday fun wakeup. Great to remember our dear Santa. Sorry to hear about Towns' wreck. He had a great year at UK.

Anonymous said...

Surprised he has never heard of anil. The only way I even know about it is through crossword puzzles.

Lemonade714 said...

Sadly, ANIL can be added to the list of DF words for those who like naughty wordplay. Jeannie, Lois - where are you? Speaking of which, what has happened to Picard?

BTW, C.C. used ANIL as fill in a WSJ she created in 2017. It has appeared in 140+ puzzles. I too learned many words from puzzles.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

After two failures in a row, it was nice to have an easy, Wite-Out-free romp. No problemo. Ed had to chuckle at the placement of those first two down answers. Thanx for the tour, Boomer.

SHADY: We have a "Shady Lake" street in our little town. It runs beside a little pond, but isn't particularly shady.

Boomer, I can relate to your snow woes. My final winter in Chicagoland back in '78-'79 was snow-filled. O'Hare was closed more days that year than in all previous years combined. The snowbanks along my driveway were so high that if we got any more snow, I wouldn't be able to throw it up there. Backing out of the driveway was an exercise in terror with your ascend sticking well into the street. That next summer I had the offer of a corporate transfer to Houston. I took it.

desper-otto said...

The German chemical giant, BASF, ("Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik", which wasn't a giant back then) was the first to successfully create artificial ANILine dyes from coal tar. The company had a gas-lighting plant in Baden. Coal tar was a byproduct of gas production.

billocohoes said...

While we're in chemistry class, TRI-Nitro Toluene.

Heard it said about CHIANG, "Too much issimoing, not enough generaling."

A bitcoin is worth as much as a piece of paper with Ben Franklin's picture on it. The difference is how much faith you have that someone else will accept the value it says on its face.

Yellowrocks said...

Quick and easy Monday puzzle. Only Harold was new to me, but easily perped.
St. Olaf choir in MN is famous, sells great recordings and has toured many foreign countries.
In reading about ancient cultures I found that ANIL dye was very rare in those days and so it was expensive. It could be afforded only by the wealthy and by royalty. I think it is pronounce uh NILL, sometimes uh NEEL. I have been pronouncing it wrong all these years as AN il. I doubt it is pronounced like anal.
When I was a kid we often often talked about wienie roasts. I seldom hear wienie (or weenie) today. I think it has become like the word gay, where the old meaning is being supplanted.
Jinx, I don't understand bitcoin either and don't care that much, although I have looked it up in Wikipedia and several other places. I see it in print quite often.
Have a good week.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Fun & fairly easy. Thanks, Ed! Getting a kick from including legal naughty words today, sir?

Another fun expo, Boomer, thanks! Sounds like word fun is better than snow whatever. Do they do ice SURFing on the lakes near you? We're sick of snow here and don't have piles. We keep having blizzards with intermittent melts. My front yard is bare and my back yard is still white -- different climate back there.

I'll bet the Timberwolves are HOWLing at the loss of Townes. I watched them play last week and he was such an asset with a lot of fun-to-watch dunks.

Only unknowns today were HAROLD Ramis & ANIL.

The % sign was missing from "20expressed as a fraction" on Mensa so perps had to make that known. I felt the clue was incomplete.

IRS got 7 pages from me, Boomer, with a check.

Glad for an update on D4.

I've been wondering, too, if Picard is off on another photo-gathering jaunt or got buried with mudslides. Hope he didn't go away mad or sick.

Jerome D Gunderson said...

I was once cast in a cheesy production of Othello asiago.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Easy Sessa solve. No look-ups, no white-out. Thanks, Boomer for a great launch.
SINAI - I read recently that some scholars don't think the Mt. SINAI of the Bible was in the Sinai peninsula but, rather, somewhere in northern Arabia. Stay tuned.

Lemon - I agree with you about spelling. More sloppiness is creeping into the everyday discourse. Today, in an obit, I read 'alter' twice where 'altar' was meant. Guess spell checkers aren't very religious.
The other day I saw capital(city) spelled as 'capitol'.

We're still under a blizzard warning. Wind gusts up to 50mph. So far the Internet has stayed closed-in.

desper-otto said...

Jerome, please go to your room.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-We got the Sat., Sun. and Mon. newspaper today and so it felt good to be back to paper and pencil
-Arranging the vowels in SINAI and CHIANG can take me some time
-I love it when teachers for whom I sub have a NEAT desk even if they never have a pencil
-Baseball maxim: “That BLOOP base hit looks like a line drive in the box score”
-On one day I subbed in Calculus last year, the kids were listening to SINATRA
-I only need one word to link to rock and roll’s fabulous, operatic Roy Orbison!
-A website recently reported that the IRS tax code is not 73,000 pages long. It is only 2,600 pages! What a relief :-(
-Sara Thomas has now been an NFL REF for years
-50’s on 5 is one of my favorite stations on my XM radio and the other night they played the Ames Brother’s The Naughty Of SHADY Lane that has that surprise ending

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Ed Sessa, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Boomer, for a fine review.

Puzzle was fine, but a little sticky for a Monday. However, that is OK with me. Caught the theme. It was easy to spot.

Tried SAT for 21D. Not thinking of College. Fixed that later to GRE.

Also tried WIENER for 42D. WIENIE came after ANIL and NEED. OK, two inkblots for the day.

For 3D, I got the ONE FIFTH, but my clue said 20 expressed as a fraction. Should have said .20 or 20 %. I think someone else said that too. I printed mine from mensa.

I have heard that Ethan FROME is a great book. I have not read it (yet).

OLAF was not known to me. Perps.

7 Degrees this morning with a breeze. Guarding the crossing was a chore. Got 'er done. Crossed fifty kids.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Print from the LAT Web site and you'll get the % sign. All it costs is an extra 15 seconds of your time to watch their inane ad (and ink & paper, of course).

TTP said...

Good morning.

Must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Longest Monday in a long time at almost 19 minutes. More typeovers and corrections than on a Saturday.

Boomer, years ago I bought an oversized pair of insulated winter boots like those army mickey mouse boots. A couple of sizes too big, with wool liners. I keep the laces loosely tied so I can slip in and out of them. Works well and keeps the feet warm and dry. Maybe that would help when boots are needed ?

Also, I had a pretty good series Thursday night. 214, 203 and 232. Just two opens. First open was the dreaded 7-10 split in the ninth frame of the 2nd game. Then stupidly missed a 7 pin in the 3rd game after hitting the first six to start. Had to throw at seven 10 pins all night and picked them all up. Here's a repro of the score sheet. Seems like I finally trust the line on the new ball. Thanks for the recommendation !

oc4beach said...


Ed has shown his construction prowess again today with a Monday level puzzle that still challenges the grey matter. Boomer's walk through the grid was informative as usual.

Only a few erasures today. I had POPUP before BLOOP, and WIENER before WEINIE changed my NERD to a NEED.

Boomer, it's sad to hear that you don't like to eat at Diners. They are some of the best eating establishments in the country. Especially for comfort foods. In the Northeast (Mostly New York and New Jersey) there are many Greek owned diners that provide just about anything you want 24 hours a day. Usually the foods provided would not end up on a Healthy Foods list, but they taste good. Here is somebody's List of the top diners in the country. There are many more. And here are Some diners in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

Although my local newspaper doesn't have the LA Times CW anymore, I still read it for the headlines, comics and obits. Today, however, with high winds I think it ended up in the next county.

Try to stay warm and don't get blown away today.

CanadianEh! said...

Marvelous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Ed and Boomer.
I moved through this CW quickly and found all the FIREs.
ELIE, EPEE and ANIL are old CW friends.

I smiled to see the "noncurrent currency" LIRA crossing the new-fangled Bitcoin EMONEY. AH ME, a sign of the times, or UH OH watch out.

Also LOLed re your AFOOT, Boomer. (Like Hahtoolah's Ajar!)
Math today - percent to fractions with ONE FIFTH, and AREA calculations.
Some chemistry too with PCBS and TRI (vs. MONO).

We had one of those LOWS yesterday (from Texas apparently, thanks AnonT!) that brought high winds, falling trees, and power outages. Just a short power blip at our place; still some wind today too.
FtErieIceTsunami

Wishing you all a good day.

Spitzboov said...

The wrath of Niagara. Niagara River Ice Floe Surge, Ft Erie, Ontario, Canada

Ice surge over the wall at Ft. Erie park just upstream of the Peace Bridge. Taken yesterday during high winds. Buffalo is across the river to the SE. The Peace Bridge can be seen around the 3 min. mark. River flow is from right to left in the video.

These kinds of events were my bread and butter from the 1970's until the late 1990's.

CanadianEh! doesn't live too far from this location.

Yuman said...

I have found the older I get the worse my spelling has gotten. Spellcheck can be a blessing and a curse. I have sent my kids texts that were auto corrected to something nonsensical, and they think I have been in the cooking sherry.
I live on Sinatra and numerous times I have had to spell it out and explain to a “youngster” who “Old Blye Eyes” was. They also pronounce it with the emphasis on the “si” as in the Spanish si for yes. It makes me feel very old. Husker, Did the kids like Sinatra?
Lemonade, I am curious how C.C. got started constructing crossword puzzles, how many she does a week, and how long it takes her to construct a puzzle.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Boomer and friends. Not much to add to the comments this morning. I quickly saw the FIRE even before I got to the unifier.

ANIL has appeared in the puzzles before, but i needed the perps to help with the answer.

QOD: I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it. ~ Jack Handey (b. Feb. 25, 1949)

Lucina said...

Thanks, Ed Sessa and Boomer! Great Monday experience today!

I am surprised so many don't know ANIL. My mother always had a bottle and used a few drops in the washing machine with the whites. We pronounced it uh-NEEL in the Spanish way. It also was a CW staple years ago.

Today I flew through the grid and even saw the FIRE in each themer after filling the reveal.

My experience, too, with WIENER/WIENIE, NEED.

Apparently HAROLD Ramis was a genius at writing as he wrote many movie scripts including Ghostbusters, Meatballs and Groundhog Day. I believe his last appearance in a movie was as the doctor in As Good As It Gets.

My newspaper had the 20% sign for 3D.

Jerome:
LOL!

Have a sensational day, everyone!

CanadianEh! said...

Spitzboov @10:56 - your video is even better than the one I linked as it shows the actual ice surge. Thanks for sharing.

Tinbeni said...

Boomer: Good job on the write-up.

Ed: Thank you for a FUN Monday puzzle. I enjoyed the "FIRE" theme.

Fave today, of course, was 3-d, ONE FIFTH ... though I usually buy the 1.75 L bottles.

Well it is 70 degrees and sunny here in Tarpon Springs ... No Snow.

Cheers!

Yellowrocks said...

Spitz, I liked your ice surge video. Impressive.
I had a few questions for Medicaid and couldn't get them on the phone so I went to their office.
There was a 40 minute wait. The worker thought my reports were very fine, even though I did not have the volume of stuff called for by the directions. I am glad I did not kill myself to do more.
Bobbie, sorry to hear you are ill. I hope you feel better soon.
D4 welcome back, you were missed.I hope you can post soon.
As far as spelling goes, I think my problem on the computer is hand coordination. I often get all the correct letters in an incorrect order. I spell better with a pen.
I have seen none of the Harold Ramis movies listed in his credits.

Yuman said...

Boomer,
I would love to eat at some of the diners I saw on, “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri.

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-Yuman, yes those very bright kids loved SINATRA
-FLN, PK, I didn’t want to offend my lovely neighbor and called her son to move his $&*@# pickup reluctantly. It has been there for over a month and is now under 4 feet of snow and affecting snow removal and drainage big time. His brother has a huge farm 10 minutes from here and that’s where it should wind up even if they don’t get along all that well.
-RAMIS’ screenplays are what is missing today in movie houses. ENTERTAIN me!

Misty said...

Always exciting to see an Ed Sessa puzzle on a Monday, and this one was fun, if a bit crunchy. Took a few letters before I figured out that "Tricolor flier in Dublin" was going to be a FLAG and not a bird (never heard of an Irish bird). Also wondered for a minute what horses there were in Exodus before I realized the mount was going to be a mountain. It's clues like this that make puzzles fun--many thanks, Ed. And Boomer, your write-ups are always a Monday treat.

Dave, hope you're back and able to check in today. We missed you.

Billicohoes, thanks for explaining TRI for us. I got it but wondered what the three words in TNT stood for.

Had fun with my small Oscar party last night. We thought it wasn't as bad as it could have been without a chief host, and couldn't believe they kept it within three hours. Looking forward to the one next year, when, hopefully, I'll see more movies than this year.

Have a great week coming up, everybody.

Ol' Man Keith said...

A happy Xwd today, esp. because my son--visiting from Arkansas--helped with the fills.

He's an artist of many mediums. This afternoon we'll head down to the Laguna Art Museum, for their Graphics + Silk Screen Exhibit.

Meanwhile, our main concern is to keep our three dogs from yowling at the "stranger" in their midst.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
A 3-way on the mirror side. The anagram seems to indicate when one's time is up on a bathroom call:
"RESTROOM DING"!

Lucina said...

C.C.:
Thank you for further news about Dave and I'm glad you told him we miss him. I look forward to his future posts.

As Good As it Gets is an excellent movie which I love to watch many times over to catch all the nuances I might have missed. Helen Hunt, Jack Nicholson and especially Greg Kinear act in some masterful performances. Ghostbusters provide unusual fantasy and laughter as does Groundhog Day. Those are the ones I've seen.

I am still dumbfounded at Roma winning two Oscars!!! And Glenn Close not one.

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

No problems at all and saw the Fire theme early but still enjoyed the reveal. The only movie I saw with Harold Ramis was "As Good As It Gets" and I didn't know his name until he died. Anil used to be a crossword staple but we still see it, occasionally.

Thanks, Dr. Ed, for a nice, easy start to the week and thanks, Boomer, for the humor and, most of all, the reminder of our Dear Argyle.

Dave, we're looking forward to your return.

Inanehiker, prayers and positive thoughts for your brother.

The only surprise at the Oscars, for me, was that Glenn Close wasn't the winner for Best Actress, as every movie critic that I read predicted that she was a shoo in. She was also a sentimental favorite because of her many nominations but no wins.

Have a great day and don't get blown away like Dorothy and Toto!

AnonymousPVX said...


This was a nice Monday puzzle.

WEINER/WEINIE and that was it for markovers.

I think with the advent of spellcheck, if there is no error then there are no context checks....so they think it must be rite.

So it appears the USPS has lost a piece of Certified mail I sent....to the state income tax people. The last status is Feb 20, “ Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility.“...... I called the 800 number and it was only an hour wait time....looks like I have to go to the Post Office. I’m betting it gone, complete with W-2, 1099-Rs and everything else. Nice. Lucky I make copies.

billocohoes said...

A FIFTH is so named for being one-fifth of a gallon (25.6 ounces)

The reason a round of golf is eighteen holes is that there are only seventeen 1 1/2-ounce shots in a fifth of Scotch. (Empty? We must be done, laddie)

desper-otto said...

AnonymousPVX, I advise you to keep a close eye on your credit report. In fact, I advise that you freeze it with all three credit-reporting bureaus. If somebody got hold of your tax return, they'd have plenty of "ammunition" for opening credit accounts in your name. BTW, you don't have to include copies of 1099-Rs with your return, unless it shows a federal withholding amount.

Yellowrocks said...

PVX, terrible. I hope you recover without too much trouble.
I hate this time of year, don't you?
Since Alan's supplemental needs trust garners $0 income and generates no 1099, I have ignored it for five years. We wrote only two checks in five years from this account, a large legal fee five years ago and another $350 legal fee this past Dec. Now I suspect we should have filed annual updates in NJ and to the IRS. We now need a lawyer. There goes $350 in legal fees. On the good side, I might understand the intricate rules of spending this fund, which I have been reluctant to use.
Not snarky @12:20, interesting discussion. Please email me.
Gary, that truck owner would have been fined daily here for blockng snow plowing. There have been no show downs, but I thinking there is a threat of towing. NJ doesn't mess around.

Jayce said...

A nice way to start the day today, with a fun puzzle, a nifty write-up by Boomer, and interesting comments from you all. Good humor from Jerome and billocohoes.

Wilbur Charles said...

Boomer, my son tells me that Bitcoin values are on an uptrend*

Bonus ?: From what SH Case is that from? My guess: Boscombe Valley.. LIU
Wow, some places call themselves"Diner" but are the opposite. Me, I have fond memories of Mondo's

Re. LOWS. The big Ray's question is Lowe(oh) or LOWE(ow) . There's two of them

Not to speak of Slim Shady
"The only predictable dice are loaded dice" . Any Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt(who always had a pair on hand)
Great write-up, Boomer

Two W's today Owen. I see you went with * .
Btw, FLN: Bobbi, here was the perfect XW for you. Sorry that you slogged in vain Sunday
Gary, Roy has an album: A Legend in my Time that was my fav.
Roy's version

Better post

WC

Becky said...

Misty, an Irish bird might be a young lass!

Becky

Wilbur Charles said...

I thought it would be NEAT(32A)

Actually, that breeze equates to a wind "chill" of 68

WC

Bill G said...

I'm sure the clue for (length times width for AREA) was perfectly OK in solving this CW. It only works for rectangles though. I always tried to get my students to use Base times Height instead where height is defined to be perpendicular to the base. That works for parallelograms too.

Wilbur Charles said...

Misty, and it's posts like yours that make the blog so much fun

PVX, my sincere condolences re. Certified mail. I've had a feeling for years that First Class is more reliable. Also. State income tax. Aarrrggggghhh!!! Shudder

Btw, I see we had TIT and AHME back from Saturday. SURF too? Repeats like this seem to happen a lot

Jinx, you are a hoot!

Oh, re. my * earlier. I was just adding another verbalization fe. Uptrending

Re. AFOOT. I can't find the Case. If no one can, I'll get my SH* Book out and look for it

WC

Wilbur Charles said...

Well, I've been downcast all weekend because of misspellings on the Fri-Sat xws. But, huzzah!!! I have found the Sherlock reference. It wasn't Boscombe but I was close. "The Abbey Grange"

"It was on a bitterly cold and frosty morning in the Winter of '97 that I was awakened by a tugging on my shoulder. It was Holmes. The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face, and told me at a glance that something was amiss.
Come, Watson, come! He cried. The game is afoot. Not a word. Into your clothes and come;"

Oh the thrill of those words.

WC

Misty said...

Why, thank you, Wilbur. Interesting note about Irish bird, Becky, but it still wouldn't have worked with the clue. Had to be FLAG, and thank goodness, the downs got us the answer.

Bill G said...

From time to time I try puzzles from the WSJ, USA Today and maybe a few others. Do they, like the LAT and NYT, progress from easier to harder from Monday through Saturday?

CrossEyedDave said...

Where's the fire?

If you are not in a hurry, here is a link to 13 funny campfire stories.

(Note: read the 1st one, pink ping pong balls last...)

Spitzboov said...

Bill G. - I do frequent WSJ puzzles. I've noticed that the Wednesday puzzle can be quite difficult while the Friday one is more like the LAT Tuesday. YMMV.

Boomer said...

Hello All. Thank you all very much for your comments. And TTP, Congratulations on a great set on the lanes. I suffered a bit last Thursday leaving 8 seven pins and one ten pin. I picked them all up but it's hard to get a double when you get tapped every other ball. This morning I started with 210 - second game 189. I thought this could be my first 600 set this year, but nope. A couple of bad frames and not enough strikes for 165. But I keep improving and having fun.

Sandyanon said...

Ok, Mustache, two things:
-- I think you're being unnecessarily nasty in your criticisms of Jeopardy's tournament, but
-- at base, I too have always been interested solely in the questions and answers on the show, and could not care less about this current special tournament. So you're not alone in that, for what it's worth.

PK said...

Gary, i can understand not wanting to offend your lovely neighbor, but the situation has very much offended you. She also may be offended by the ratty old thing but has no power over her stupid offensive son. She might be relieved if someone hauled the pickup away.

PVX: I once had a certified letter take over a week to make a journey I thought would take two days. I'm wondering if some of those recent weather-related pileups and shut downs included any mail sent to IRS via the USPS. I sent my "IRS offering" from Kansas to Ohio, which doesn't make much sense to me.

Wonder how many people in Texas ordered something to be brought by Amazon which is now sunk in mud of the swamp outside of Houston? That might be a nightmare to get off the credit card.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Fine Monday puzzle Ed. Funny Monday expo Boomer. Good news on D4 C.C. Thanks to all y'all.

WO: WIENer
ESPs: ELIE & CHIANG
Fav: Holmes' quote.

{A, B+}

St. Olaf I learned from Prairie Home Companion.

C, Eh! Sorry :-)

Yuman & PVX - some of us don't "see" typos and homonym errors. Dyslexia sucks. If I'm writing for work, I usually have to stop and look up which spelling is the one I need. e.g. "write, right, rite" might sometimes confuse me for a second and then I'm completely stuck until looking up synonyms for the one I typed; rinse and repeat until getting the correct [or just change word choice, right? :-)]
//you have no idea how frustrating it was to be told "spell it like it sounds" or "look it up" [where in the dictionary?!?] when I was a kid.
DW always gets last proofing to catch errors I missed (those I didn't self-doubt on) and/or put commas where they go :-)

BillO @1:25p - LOL!

Jinx - I played with BitCoins when they first came out to understand how they work. Block-chain is neat and can be useful. However, the utopian ideal of MONEY without government backing (why it was "invented") is inconsistent with "full faith and credit" and/or "my military is bigger than yours." What's really funny is: it now costs more in electricity to mine a new coin than it's worth (there's a fixed number; the closer you get to max, the harder to mine a new one). That's why "mining malware" is growing; criminals using your electricity. Oh, and if you're trading Bitcoin / any crypto-currency, I've got some Tulip bulbs to sell you...
//That said, if I was a Venezuelan, I'd a converted all my bolivars to BitCoin years ago to get it out of the country post-haste :-)

Murray & Ramis enlist.

Cheers, -T

Lucina said...

Inanehiker:
I have been praying for your brother; please let us know of his progress.

Anonymous T said...

Just caught up said...

FLN - Bobbi, good to see you back and well.

Inanehiker - What Lucina said; please let us know.

Nothing apropos: I found a Russian coin (1 pybjtb(?)) in the garage (fell out DW's purse I 'spose). Like our 40's penny, it's STEEL - found the magnet on my laptop, it did.

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

I Googled the coin - One Ruble is what I found. //didn't want to leave y'all hangin' :-). Mine says 2010 on it. Cheers, -T

Michael said...

Canadian-Eh! and Spitzboov, both in the 10:50s:

Good grief. Sometimes my refrigerator goes overboard on the ice cubes, but Lake Erie is maybe doing ice for Paul Bunyan?

(No offense meant, but now you see why I live in California, where snow and ice are 'up above', rather than 'all around.')