google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, February 5, 2019 Tyler Lian & Jeff Chen

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Feb 5, 2019

Tuesday, February 5, 2019 Tyler Lian & Jeff Chen

"You're gonna need a bigger boat !"

17. Immigrant's ID: GREEN CARD.   Card shark.  Card sharp to some.  Traditionally, someone skilled in cheating at cards.   The definition has been transitioning to simply mean someone skilled in playing cards. 

27. Tuition-paying aid: STUDENT LOAN.   Loan shark.  A usurer. 

42. Competitive swimming venue: OLYMPIC POOL.   Pool shark.   A pool hustler.   In the vein of Minnesota Fats, Willie Mosconi, et al.

56. Emmy-winning reality series for entrepreneurs ... and a place for the ends of 17-, 27- and 42-Across?: SHARK TANK.    Now in the 10th Season.   Sundays at 10/9c on ABC.





I thought this puzzle had a pretty good bite to it after I got my jaws around it and sunk my teeth in.

I don't recall solving a puzzle by Tyler Lian before.   Plenty of Jeff Chen solves though.   I wonder if Jeff is mentoring Tyler.   Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Let's wade into the depths, and see what else is lurking beneath the surface.

Across:

1. Ring ref's decision: TKO.  Technical Knock Out. 

4. Hindu division: CASTE.

9. Rig up: EQUIP.

14. Hankering: YEN.   Japanese cabbage: Yen.

15. Aquaman's realm: OCEAN.    The DC Comics superhero is King of the Seven Seas.

"A founding member of the Justice League of America, Aquaman has fought alongside Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman and held his own against the biggest threats the universe has ever seen. Despite being misunderstood by many as someone who merely “talks to fish,” Aquaman’s super-strength and fighting prowess alone make him a force to be reckoned with.   His telepathic abilities make him one of the most powerful minds on the planet.   If one chooses to underestimate the sea king, they do so at their own peril."


16. "Grey's Anatomy" staffer: NURSE.

19. Extend the library borrowing term: RENEW.

20. Tries to hit: AIMS FOR.

21. Low singers: BASSES.

22. Blackjack elevens: ACES.   I learned that in Blackjack, the ace card can be used as either for a point value of either one or eleven. 

23. Not fitting: INAPT.

25. Title for Jose or Diego?: SAN.   San Jose and San Diego.  San translates to Saint.  I think.

32. Rude and crude: CRASS.

34. "Begone, feline!": SCAT.

35. Unsubscribes, with "out": OPTS.

36. Jazz trumpeter Al: HIRT.  I must admit that as a youth I confused Al Hirt and Herb Albert.


37. Indian prime minister mentored by Gandhi: NEHRU.

38. Eric Carle's "The __ Hungry Caterpillar": VERY.   No clue at the first reading, but easily guessed.  The picture book has sold 30 million copies and has been translated into 40 languages.   I guess I've been living in a cocoon. I wasn't at all familiar with it.   Here's a quick slideshow of the story. 

39. Viral internet item: MEME.  Remember Grumpy Cat ?

40. Improve text: EDIT.

41. Porto-Novo's land: BENIN.     There's a Portonovo, Spain,  a Portonovo, Italy,  a Porto Novo, Portugal and more.   Porto Novo means new port.  The hyphenated Porto-Novo is the capital of Benin.

45. Cul-de-__: SAC.

46. Sniffling maladies: COLDS.

47. Mother's Day gift holder: VASE.

49. Old phone company nickname: MA BELL.  "Collectively, the family of companies associated with American Telephone & Telegraph, providing telephone service in the United States for many years through 1983."  - Wiktionary.

52. Biblical opening: GENESIS.

55. Food recall culprit: E. coli.  Escherichia coli.   It seems I get this every other week.   Not the bacterial infection.   I get E. coli as an answer or in a clue.  

58. Biblical verb: SHALT.   Used in 80 % of the Ten Commandments. 

59. Fictional Swiss miss: HEIDI.  Translated into 50 languages and over 50 million copies sold.

60. "Excusez-__": MOI.

61. Frankfurt's state: HESSE.   Frankfort's state: Kentucky.    The one in this clue is the major city of Frankfurt am Main, which translates to  Frankfurt on the Main (river).  

62. How ballerinas dance: ON TOE.

63. Sinus doc: ENT.    Otolaryngologists.   Easier to remember Ear, Nose and Throat specialists.

Down:

1. Rapper whose name sounds like an endangered cat: TYGA.  "Micheal Ray Stevenson (born November 19, 1989), known by his stage name Tyga (a backronym for Thank you God always),is an American rapper."   - Wikipedia

2. "The Americans" co-star Russell: KERI.   The Americans was a series on the FX channel.   She and Matthew Rhys played deep cover KGB agents living in Virginia as a married American couple.

3. Many an action film hero: ONE MAN ARMY.  John Rambo comes to mind.

4. Admit: CONFESS.

5. Greet aggressively: ACCOST.

6. Burn a little: SEAR.  Burn a lot: seethe. 

7. Road covering: TAR.

8. Conclude: END.

9. Fascinated: ENRAPT.

10. The Roots' frontman on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon": QUESTLOVE.  - "Ahmir Khalib Thompson, known professionally as Questlove, is an American musician and music journalist.   He is the drummer and joint frontman for the Grammy Award-winning band The Roots.   The Roots have been serving as the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since February 17, 2014."   Wikipedia.

11. Big coffeepots: URNS.

12. "Noted": I SEE.

13. Church rows: PEWS.

18. PC panic key: ESC.

21. African language group: BANTU.   "More than 240 million people speak Bantu languages across Central, East, and Southern Africa but the exact number of languages differs according to who’s counting.   More than 250 Bantu languages exist by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though some accounts list 535 distinct languages."  -  Moguldom.com

23. Tracking implants, for short: ID CHIPS.  I think first of dogs and cats...

24. A few feet from: NEAR TO.

25. Blockhead: SCHMO.

26. Princess who gives up her voice to be human: ARIEL.

28. Vintage music purchase: USED CD.

29. Magical access words: OPEN SESAME.

30. Glass-roofed lobbies: ATRIA.  The glass-roofed atrium at the Houston Galleria.

31. Timberlake's former band: NSYNC.  A young Justin Timberlake when he was with NSYNC.

33. Biological building blocks: STEM CELLS.

37. Sam of "Peaky Blinders": NEILL.  I am familiar with the actor, but not the BBC television series.

41. Tot's comforter, affectionately: BLANKIE.   Binky too.

43. Not at all 32-Across: POLITE.

44. Work too hard: OVER DO.   My wife says that I over do it.   I over did it cutting a channel through the snow in the ditch line.  We were supposed to get a lot of rain.   Didn't want the culvert to freeze up and cause an upheaval in the blacktop.  Now the forecast isn't bad, so the only thing I got out it was a sore back. 

48. Opposite of rise: SET.

49. Screen door material: MESH.

50. Aleve target: ACHE.

51. Jungle squeezers: BOAS.

52. Canter or gallop: GAIT.  Neither a canter nor a gallop.  Like a ballerina.

53. A party to, as a private joke: IN ON.

54. Classroom acting: SKIT.

56. "Shameless" network, briefly: SHO.  

57. Egg layer: HEN.






44 comments:

OwenKL said...

I have a CAT who is very persuasive
Too get attention she becomes invasive.
Her current peccadillo --
My hand is her pillow!
Typing this way is somewhat abrasive!

Cain is a fellow from GENESIS.
Legend is that he still exists.
Ever the SCHMO,
Thru the ages he goes,
And his STUDENT LOAN still persists!

{A-, A.}

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Put in GREEN CARD and immediately "knew" that Admit would be OWN UP TO. Bzzzzzt! Wite-Out, please. OCEAN set me straight. Whenever I see the name Aquaman, I picture TBBT's Raj. As usual, d-o forgot to read the complete reveal clue and missed the theme. Found it after I'd already finished. Thanx, Tyler, Jeff and TTP.

USED CD: I'm so unhip that I still buy CDs to rip onto my music server. CD fidelity is oh so much better than MP3 delivers.

Oas said...

Good Tuesday fare T L and J C.
Enjoyed the tour TTP
OwenKl I agreed with your ratings.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased ebb for SET and rf CHIP for ID CHIP.

I wonder if the founders of Florida's New Port Richey ever considered calling it Porto-Novo Richey. Sounds like a politician's dream - add obfuscation and puffery in a single stroke of the pen. Didn't know BENIN. Other unknown were TYGA, KERI, QUESTLOVE and NEILL.

Thanks to Tyler and Jeff for the fun. I wonder if authors always agree that EDITors improve the original text. And thanks to TTP for another interesting tour. I like the snow maze picture.

Jerome D Gunderson said...

It has been said that if ballet companies hired taller ballerinas they wouldn't have to dance on their toes.

CartBoy said...

C.C. at USAToday today - https://puzzles.usatoday.com

Quint said...

Bonus SHARK with NURSE.

Almost another with TYGA.

Do you remember the scene from Jaws when the local fisherman had a caught a shark(but not THE shark) and Hooper was inspecting it? One of the fishermen asked what kind of shark it was. Hooper answered, "Its a Tiger Shark" and a bewildered fisherman said, "A whaaaat?" It cracks me up everytime.

Yellowrocks said...

AIMS FOR and TYGA were all perps. I was so intent on this last fill that after the TA DA, I forgot to go back and look for the theme. Rap is my least favorite type of "music". I try to tune it out.
Clever theme and puzzle, Tyler and Jeff. Great info and examples,TTP.
I used to like Shark Tank a lot. Now, it just seems like more of the same each week. I do like the follow up success stories.
Jerome @ 7:47, LOL.
Jinx, sometimes I appreciate the improvements editors make on my work and sometimes I don't, especially when they distort my original point. When puzzle constructors tell us their first submissions, sometimes I like them better than the finished puzzle. I still remember when Rich nixed Marti's clue, saying that a rattler could not be a snake in the grass. I found many references and pictures that proved that some rattlers live in grasslands. Many other times I see where Rich has added value.
Owen, A+, I loved the one about the kitty. Kahlua, my all time favorite cat, had to be a part of everything I did. After he was gone, I could never replace him, so I am now catless.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a children's staple. Being a grandma and a former kindergarten teacher it was very familiar to me.
I read Heidi over ran over again when I was a kid. I was always reading. I'd prop a book up on the shelf over the kitchen sink as I helped with the dishes and carry a book in my hand when I dusted until Mom put the kibosh on that. Still, I would sneak a book when she wasn't looking. I would read under the covers with a flashlight or sit on the bedroom floor by the window to read by the light of the full moon.

Quint said...

The "Jaws" link. A whaaaat? Lol


https://youtu.be/5ZJ83cPTzWs

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

A little crunchy but solved it w/o aid. Had Kurt before KERI. Also had concede before CONFESS. Mostly easy with a few shoals here and there.
EQUIP - When a new ship under construction leaves the ways, it is moored pier side and fitted out.
NEILL - Played Vasili in Red October.

Nice intro, TTP.

Yellowrocks said...

FLN, oops. I haven't lived in Jersey my entire life. I was a PA girl. My ex husband and I came to Jersey directly after college because jobs were more available here. We have stayed here ever since.

billocohoes said...

Hand up for KuRt.

ON TOE because en pointe didn't fit. They also used the English BASSES, I remember BASSi in the past week, either here or in another xword.

I don't watch any "reality" shows except The Great Race. Not much Fallon either.

I argue Rap is closer to poetry than music.

Sandyanon said...

Owen, laughed out loud at your second poem.

And Quint: "I would have liked to have seen Montana."
I've always enjoyed Sam Neill's work, but am unfamiliar with Peaky Blinders. I'll have to check into it.

Sandyanon said...

Sorry. I meant that quote from Red October for Spitzboov.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Our little town of 30,000 has the world’s largest YMCA and part of that is the addition of an OLYMPIC sized POOL
-Fast Eddie Felson was filmdom’s best POOL SHARK
-High schools don’t have CASTES, they have cliques
-This is a frustrating quiz over countries of Africa. If you pick the right country, it will turn green. If you don’t, it will turn red and show where you should have picked! Good Luck!!
-It’s been a year since my ENT put me on a C-PAP machine
-Justin cancelled all his Nov/Dec concerts, including Omaha, because of bruised vocal cords
-Our neighbor’s DIL gave us some “farm fresh” eggs for Christmas. Vive la difference!

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Tyler Lian and Jeff Chen, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, TTP, for a fine review.

Enjoyed the puzzle, but it seemed more like a Wednesday level than a Tuesday level. But, that's OK with me.

Caught the theme after I got SHARK TANK. Had all the answers before that.

No idea who QUEST LOVE is. A few perps and a wag.

Thought I was smart and wrote in CONCEDE for 4D. Well, now I have three inkblots as I changed that to CONFESS.

Also tried SAG for 48D. SET became the word after the crosses. Only two inkblots that time.

I printed this puzzle from mensa since cruciverb is out to lunch again.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I caught the theme after entering Olympic Pool but the reveal was still a surprise. My only w/o was Near by/Near to and the unknowns, as clued, were Benin, Hesse, and Questlove. I must confess to a FIW, though. I filled in Sit for Opposite of rise and never noticed the incorrect Genisis instead of Genesis. Shame on moi! Ocean was a cute Easter egg. I never heard of the Justice League until hearing about it years ago on TBBT. Tyga was involved with one of the Jenners (Kendall, maybe) but I believe they parted ways.

Thanks, Tyler and Jeff, for a Tuesday treat and thanks, TTP, for a lively and witty summary. (I can't imagine why your wife would say you overdo! 😈)

FLN

Lucina, I hope your friend has a speedy recovery. You and YR are lucky to have fix-it men and companions, to boot. Of course, the men are lucky too, to have good company and home-cooked meals.

CED, I burst out laughing at your Tents joke and, though I've seen it before, I enjoyed the video of the No No cat!

I watched "The Glass Castle" last night with Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, and Alison Brie and I'm still depressed. There were no surprises as I had read the book years ago, but seeing the poverty, neglect, and deprivation the author endured had a greater impact than reading about it.

Have a great day.

CrossEyedDave said...

Sillier than any images I can conjure up...

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

What TTP said; I didn't expect such bite on a Tuesday. But, seeing Jeff Chen, I knew I was in for fun.

Thanks Tyler & Jeff; the theme was OK but the fill was spectacular (sans dup w/ ID) and cluing was a tricky-fun. Very well done guys.

Thanks TTP for the expo - LOL: Edo "cabbage" @YEN. Also, nice <alt> tag on your snow levee. [cue Plant & Page [7:17]]

WO: BASSoS and a miss-fire w/ T--- [trot] b/f GAIT. Only two squares today; not too shabby.
ESPs: KERI (I took Russell as a first name and wanted Crowe), HIRT, NEILL, BENIN, HESSE, QUEST LOVE (and he was just on Terry Gross' Fresh Air last month! [musta been a re-run])

Fav: SCHMO. It's just a great word.
MOI was cute after AM I? last Friday and HEIDI's clue was cutely alliterative (and made we want hot-coco).

{A+ (LOL), A- (hits too close to home :-))}

Jinx - I was looking for RFID too @23d.

Billo - ? Rap is closer to poetry? I think you're confusing rap w/ a Slam. :-)

D-O: I read 28d's clue and wanted USED LP but the C was already there from Olympic... Are we that old that CDs are retro? What format do you rip your CDs to? I put all mine in .mp3 for my computer & player (for bike rides) - it's not like those speakers / headphones have fidelity.

Y'all are going to have to put up with me (more-so than normal) for the next 12 days... DW is headed to Russia tomorrow on a 5 city trip for her College and I'm already in a funk / over-worried. I'm spending the day playing errand-boy and making sure she can find all her goodies that are necessary (power converters, USB /iCords, extra batteries, extra copies of "papers"... I'm an engineer is showing, no? :-) //FLN - funny Oc4 w/ 1/2 full glass needs a redesign). Off to get dry-cleaning.

Cheers, -T

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Thanks, Tyler and Jeff. I liked the theme and caught it, no less. For some reason, I've been hearing a lot of references to SHARK TANK, so that helped.

Thanks for taking us around the horn, TTP. I thought you already had a bad back. DW is right! Madame suggests a snow blower--especially after that garage photo last week!!

Ice Storm tonight. Mother Nature is sure busily about her work. Nice, though. I don't feel like going anywhere. Hence, I cleaned out two drawers in my dining room buffet this morning. Really, now! What was all that junk about! I put some new Crane's writing paper in one of them as I usually write letters in the DR. Fountain pens at hand: It's International Correspondence Writing Month! I must do my part to keep the written word on paper, in ink of all colors, and most of all in cursive script. Avec serifs!

Have a lovely and loving day.

Madame Defarge said...

Anon-T:

Safe travels to Dr. Mrs-Anon-T! She'll be fine! Not to worry, we'll take good care of you here at the corner. Well, except for the virtual dinners.

;)

Lucina said...

Oh, it's good to have a complete night's sleep!

I zipped right through this SHARK infested puzzle. The eastern seaboard flooded in quickly then I slid upward from the western bottom. Easy Tuesday. My w/os were KURT/KERI and (NEAR) BY/TO. With so many unknowns from shows I've never watched I'm amazed it all came together.

The actor who plays Aqua Man was the host of SNL of which I watched only a bit but I still don't know his name and was surprised to learn that his wife is Lisa Bonet (from Cosby).

I liked the clue for BASSES and a CSO to my brother who worked for MABELL until retiring.

Jerome@7:47
LOL!

I, too, am familiar with Eric Carle's books, not only The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but several others which I kept in my classroom and also gave to my granddaughters. And I love HEIDI. Even now I read it sometimes if I need a reminder of innocence and goodness.

Thank you, TTP, for reassuring us that only the recalled items have E-COLI and not you! I enjoyed your quips.

Have a grand day, everyone!

Lucina said...

AnonT:
Russia in winter! I hope Mrs. C took enough woolens and parkas to keep her warm. Safe travels to her.

Tinbeni said...

TTP: Wondeful, informative write-up. Good Job.

Anon T: Your wife is going to enjoy the trip ... and even though I was there in late December, early January, this "Florida Boy" didn't freeze (The "High" in Moscow that week was 30 degrees, the low, in the "low teens")... though I did notice I had "2 extra layers" of clothing on. LOL

I watch (on occasion) SHARK TANK so the reveal was a snap.

It is Sunny and 76 degrees ... think I will take a "Walk on the Beach" at Honeymoon Island.

Cheers!

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Tyler & Jeff, and TTP.
This was a quick solve, plus I got the theme.
Two of the SHARK TANK's longstanding sharks, Robert Herjavec and Kevin O'Leary, are Canadian entrepreneurs who had previously appeared on the Canadian version of Dragons' Den. I still enjoy watching Dragons' Den. (There is an idea for another CW theme!)

I smiled at the feline clue and sCAT answer, and our medical people ENT doc and NURSE (for when we have COLDS & ECOLI.
Not so smiley about the cross of INAPT and ENRAPT. Gluey IMHO. But I will say no more because we Canadians are known for being POLITE.
TGYA was unknown, and hand up for KURT before KERI filled the spot.
We still have MA BELL (Bell telephone line) but they are pricing themselves out of the landline business! Our previously grandfathered price has more than doubled in the last five years, and is set to increase again soon.

OwenKL- I especially loved #1.
Lucina, best wishes for your friend's recovery.
AnonT - tell me about those engineers; DH is one! And I had the same reaction about CDs being vintage. Sheesh, I still have some 8-tracks! (Talk about poor fidelity)

Have a great day everyone.

billocohoes said...

Anon T, as far as I can tell, rap has no melody for which you can write notes on a staff, so, Not Music. A baseline rhythm doesn’t count. I don’t discount it as an art form for those who like it.

Of course I meant The Amazing Race.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting that QUESTLOVE crosses BENIN. I was reading up on his Wiki page which tells of musical parents and an unique upbringing which helps to explain his talent. But I also came across this entry:

"From the PBS television series, Finding Your Roots, hosted by professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Questlove learned in December 2017 that he was descended in part from Charles and Maggie Lewis, his 3xgreat-grandparents, who had been taken captive in warfare and sold as slaves in the port of Ouidah, Dahomey (now Benin) to American ship captain William Foster. They were among 110 slaves smuggled illegally to Mobile, Alabama, in July 1860 on the Clotilda. It was the last known slave ship to carry slaves to the United States. Questlove is the only guest to have appeared on Gates's program to be descended from slaves known by name, ship, and where they came from in Africa."

I had never heard of BENIN(let alone Dahomey) before today. But now having seen it twice and learned of its role in the slave trade, I think I may remember it in the future. However I still won't be able to locate it on a map. :)

Michael said...

Dear C-Eh! @ 1245: "We still have MA BELL (Bell telephone line) but they are pricing themselves out of the landline business! Our previously grandfathered price has more than doubled in the last five years, and is set to increase again soon."

What's avaricious about this, is that the investments in landline and switching were amortized decades ago ... my landline with long distance is over $30 a month, and mostly all I get is spam calls!

AnonymousPVX said...


D-O....I’m with you on the (lack of) fidelity issue.

Yellowrocks....do consider another cat...or two...they are all different for sure and I dread the day my big guy goes, but a cat-less house would be so much worse, IMO.

Aaah...the puzzle...a nice one with no giveaways.

One markover.... NEARBY/NEARTO.

Lemonade714 said...

LINK

My son watches PINKY BLINDERS so I saw some of it when he was in town for the holidays.
-T, relax, Mrs. -T will be fine and so will.

HG, it was cruel to remind me of how little geography I know. I had 11 correct, 8 of which I learned doing crossword puzzles. I knew on my own only EGYPT TUNISIA and SOUTH AFRICA

The BENIN (which is one I now get correct) QUESTLOVE connection is great reporting.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thanks, Tyler & Jeff, for a thought provoking puzzle. Thanks, TTP, for an always fun expo. Hope your back feels better soon.

The puzzle disappeared just after the Ta da with the last fill in the reveal of SHARK TANK. I had read the clue but, alas, didn't get to apply it to the theme entries.

I knew ACES from watching the game show "Catch 21". Also knew BANTU but not BENIN, TYGA, SCHMO, QUESTLOVE -- all ESP. Anon@ 1:54: very interesting info about QUESTLOVE. I missed that show altho watch it when I happen to see it.

Had a neighbor who was always talking about working for MA BELL back in the 60's& 70's. Then it was a monopoly. After the monopoly was broken up in 1983, it was no longer MA BELL but separate entities of the various subsideraries. Out here AT&T, Southwestern Bell, etc. are different companies.

CED: those definitely are very silly inventions.

OwenKL said...

Jinx: what a coincidence! I read your post about Porto-Novo Richey immediately after this opus on Facebook --This should open for almost everyone.

Irish Miss said...

Michael @2:05 ~ My Verizon land line service is $56.50 per month without long distance, but with Caller ID. My long distance company charges a minimum of $5.00 per month and any LD calls are 2.5¢ per minute. I make very few LD calls and I don't own a cell phone. I, also, receive an inordinate number of spam and nuisance calls, so the Caller ID comes in handy.

PK, how is your DIL? Has the rash problem eased?

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle, in spite of INAPT and ENRAPT and several names I didn't know (here's looking at you, TYGA and QUESTLOVE.)
Speaking of sharks, I think the basking shark is intriguing.
IMO I don't think AT&T should ever have been broken up.
I don't remember Grumpy Cat but I do remember Smelly Cat.
I've never understood why Ariel would even want to become human.
When I was young I thought it was "Open see same." But then again for years I thought Penelope was "peen a lope." Hey, rhymes with antelope, right?
There was an actress on an early episode of Star Trek named Charlene POLITE.
I read in the news today some New Zealand scientists found a working USB stick in the SCAT of a leopard seal. No, it had nothing to do with Ella Fitzgerald.
Terminating stream of consciousness ...

Yellowrocks said...

PVX, I tried another cat after KahluA. She was not at all snuggly or companionable. After her, I said I will pass.
Have you ever heard of a floating rate for accomodations? This year WV has no announced prices for its state park cottages. They are charged on a case by case basis. Every cottage booked raises the rate of subsequent bookings. The initial rate compared to the highest rate can be $1000 for staying just 5 days. Even this early in the year our price for staying five days would be 30% to 33% higher over what we paid for a week in 2018. We used to see several unbooked cottages in most parks every week. How can this new system remediate that? WV claims that improved advertising will sell this system. So sad. It is good-bye WV for us after more than 40 years. Maybe this idea will fail, but by that time I will be too old to drive there.
Jayce, I, too, thought the breakup of AT&T was a mistake.
I used to think it was PEN A LOPE.
ANON@ 1:54, excellent info. Please turn blue and join us.

Roy said...

I did not understand the theme until TTP explained it. TY TTP.

TTP said...


I also solved C.C.'s puzzle over at the USA Today website. Enjoyed it. I've been much happier with the USA Today puzzles since Fred Piscop took the helm.

DW enjoys watching both Shark Tank and The Profit.

If you hover over the images of Sam Neill in the writeup, you will see reference to another memorable film he was in.

I got 17/54 for 31% on Gary's geography test of Africa.

CED, some of those are really odd, but that Wake'n Bacon idea idea has merit.

Dash T, me too. I wonder what format D-O is using. Some lossless format that takes tons of storage ? 12 days ? Absense makes the heart grow fonder.

Also, since you and Lemonade asked, I dove off the high dive and I guess I concussed myself at the bottom of the pool. I was over confident after two swimmimg lessons. I woke up on my back with the lifeguard on her knees bending over me, and to the noise of the crowd that had gathered around. She was a hero.

Madame, my snowblower wouldn't cut into the bottom 2 to 3 feet of that frozen snow pile. It was ice like. I had to break it up with a D-grip transplanting spade so the snowblower could churn it up and throw it. Should have left well enough alone.

In 1983, almost everyone was renting their phones from AT&T. At a dear price. You wanted long distance service ? You pretty much had one choice. Here's a perspective from 2007 for your consideration.

Anonymous T said...

TTP - Back in the day, I'd read InfoWorld. I remember Bob Metcalfe wrote something to the effect "transistor, "Princess phone," Unix" and milk came out my nose (I was really a whippersnapper then :-))
//OMG! Google is awesome InfoWorld - you'll have to hit the spy-glass a few times to actually read it.
Here's another article that is a little harsher on AT&T.

Re: Drowning. That'd turn me off too. But, um, the life-guard; Was she cute? :-)

Jayce - "Open Sez me..."

One more trip to the bank tomorrow - Apparently ATM $$ isn't 'crisp' enough. DW said the consulate said 'fresh crisp bills are required.'
I don't get it but I'll do it,
I guess
If I have to...

Cheers, -T

OwenKL said...

Was just looking over the stats on the JumbleHints blog, and noticed something nefarious. Most referrals to _J blog are from Google and Crossword Corner. But there were also a lot from a porn site! I very much doubt. I think some hacker must have discovered a way to hijack clicks from other websites. I haven't heard of such a thing, have any of you techies?

Anonymous T said...

OKL - that's not how Clickjacking works (profitably).

If I understand you correctly, the referer is a porn site? That seems very odd indeed. Are you losing ad-revenue from these refers?

//Or maybe they post the ads on your site and, by getting a visit from theirs, they get a click bonus...(?) Research to ensue.

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

OKL - A little research and I found what I think it is...

It's not an attack on you / your site but on Google Analytics to get their (p0rn) site ++ranking.

Here's another thread re: messing w/ the GA [bit more technical].

Cheers, -T

Ol' Man Keith said...

Late to the game today....

I slept through the whole day, trying a new pattern with my meds. It seems to have knocked me out.
Or was it the State of the Union? Hmm.
~ OMK

OwenKL said...

Tony, thanks! That's pretty much what I expected. A shame I'm not getting those hits for real. I don't have any ads or revenue, so no worry about that. And these bots are adding to my GA, which makes me look better to search engines, right?

Michael said...

IM @ 4:36 ... Re: Verizon's pricing -- Guess I'm not moving to New York after all.