google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, February 20, 2019 George Jasper

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Feb 20, 2019

Wednesday, February 20, 2019 George Jasper

Theme: THIS IS REALLY CONFUSING, MAN!  And would be even more so if you didn't get the circles in your grid.  Each quartet of circles - and there are five such - contains letters which, when read properly, spell out a synonym for "some guy."  At first glance, the letters appear to be mixed up; but, as we shall see later, there is a bit more to it than that. The circles occur, two each, in adjacent rows, and all contiguous, so there are ten theme- related entries, plus a unifier.

1 A. Gaping mouths: MAWS.  From the Old English word for stomach.
14 A. Nobelist Wiesel: ELIE.  Holocaust survivor and author of 57 books.
Together they give us the letters of MALE, who, if adult and human, is a man.

5 A. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" composer: DUKAS. Paul [1865-1935] Composer and music critic who was intensely self-critical and destroyed many of his own works.
15 A. Official mandate: EDICT. A decree issued by someone in political or religious authority.  The Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. proclaimed religious tolerance and stopped the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.
DUDE stems from the late 19th century, indicating a dandy.  Now it seems to be mostly used ironically, or in contempt.

48 A. Large goblet: CHALICE. Typically a wine vessel, used in a Christian ritual.
54 A. Bamboo lover: PANDA. Genetic studies reveal that it is a true bear that differentiated from other ursine stock about 19 million years ago. Bamboo is the major portion of it's diet, but it will eat just about anything.
CHAP refers to any man or boy, not to be confused with the winter-time condition of my chops.  Evidently derived from chapman, a 16th century designation for a peddler.

58 A. Military expert, say: STRATEGIST. one responsible for formulating and implementing an action plan to achieve some goal.  This involves defining the goal, determining an action plan and mobilizing resources.
63A. Language of Pakistan: URDU.  A variant of Hindustani also having official status in Nepal and 6 States of India.
A STUD is a man who is believed to have above average sexual prowess.  This is no doubt derived from animal husbandry, where a STUD is a male domestic animal used for breeding.

62 A. Canadian fliers: GEESE.
65 A. Govt.-backed bond: T-NOTE.  The T stands for the U. S. Treasury, which issues 3 types of securities, all of which can be broadly characterized as bonds. T-Bills have maturities of 4. 13, 26 and 52 weeks. T-NOTES currently have maturities of 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10 years. Long bonds mature in 30 years.

And the centrally located, grid-spanning unifier -- 37 A. Typical MLB pitching alignment, and a hint to this puzzle's circles: FIVE MAN ROTATION.  Most professional baseball teams have 5 starting pitchers who routinely appear in a specified order, though this can be disrupted by injuries or other considerations.  And this tightly nails down the theme - there are five different synonyms for a MAN, and each set of four letters is to be read in a clockwise fashion, starting at the upper left - hence the "rotation."

Hi Gang, JazzBumpa here.  I'm not overly fond of circled letter themes, but they seem to be firmly entrenched in the crossword world, so here we are.  This one is thematically rich and well executed.  Let's take a spin through the rest of it, and see if George has thrown us any curve balls.

Across:

10. States in an outdated atlas: Abbr.: SSRSSoviet Socialist Republics, the once great [or perhaps just pretty good, or maybe not at all] Communist Russian Empire.

16. Analogous (to): AKIN. Related in some way, or of similar character.

17. One way to ride a horse: SIDE SADDLE. This awkward mode of travel was started by Princess Anne of Bohemia in 1382 when she made her way across Europe to marry King Richard II.  After that event, the practice spread, so to speak, and it became vulgar for a lady to ride astride a horse. I have to wonder why she didn't ride in a carriage.  Anyway, according to legend, the ride of Lady Godiva took place at least a century earlier, so depictions of this type might be more or less accurate.

19. Stereotypical pooch: FIDO.  The name is derived from the Latin word meaning "faithful."  The eponym for all subsequent FIDOS was a real dog who lived up to his name in an amazing and extraordinary manner.

20. D.C.'s Pennsylvania, e.g.: AVE.  This route runs for 5.8 miles within Washington D.C.  Notable sites include the White House, the Capitol Building and the John Phillip Sousa Bridge.

21. Named, briefly: IDEDIdentified.

22. Shop talk: LINGO.  The jargon or argot specific to a particular subject or group of people.

23. One in a hundred?: SENATOR.  Somewhere on Pennsylvania AVE. about 1.2 miles from the White House at 1600, we can find the Capitol, where these people are supposed to be working.  It appears that this building has no actual numbered street address - or, at least, none that I can find.

25. Cafeteria worker's cover: HAIR NET.  Worn to prevent contaminating food.  It is also part of formal attire for females in dressage and other varieties of horsing around.  The oldest known evidence of use is from the 3300-year-old grave of a Danish girl.

27. Affleck of "Gone Girl": BEN.  Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt [b 1972] is an American actor and film maker.  He has received two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

28. "Downton __": PBS show: ABBEY.  A period drama set in Yorkshire, England and spanning from 1912 to 1926. It has received numerous nominations and awards.

29. Dramatic opening?: ACT I.

32. Many an emailer: AOLER.  Are there many AOL users these days?  Aren't most of us G-mailers?

34. '50s political monogram: DDEDwight David Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during WWII, and then President of the United States from 1953 to 1961.

41. Train stopping at every sta.: LOC. Local, as opposed to express, which makes few intermediate stops.

42. They turn litmus paper red: ACIDS.  Litmus is a water soluble dye mixture extracted from certain lichens. It exhibits a color change depending on the acidity or alkalinity of a solution to which it is exposed, turning red in the presence of an acid, or blue in the presence of a base.

43. Does impressions of: APES.  Mimics.

44. Grazing groups: HERDS. As of cattle, frex.

46. "Gimme a __": SEC.  A short time increment.

50. "Haven't the foggiest": BEATS ME.  I really have no idea.

55. Alternative to fries: TOTS.  'Tater TOTS.  Grated potatoes that are formed into a shape and deep fried.  They were invented in 1953 to use up the left over slivers of sliced potatoes.  Waste not, want not, I guess.

56. Korean automaker: KIA.

57. Script fraction: LINE. An actors line in a play or movie.

61. Sun Devils' rival: UTES.  Arizona State and Utah University sports teams, respectively.

64. Riverbank residue: SILT. A fine mineral material deposited by running water.

66. "Freeze!": STOP.  Halt!

Down:

1. Small plateaus: MESAS.   Table land formations - literally table in Spanish.  These are flat topped hills with steep cliff sides.


2. Still in contention: ALIVE.  Still having a chance.

3. Alleviate traffic on, perhaps: WIDEN.  As a thoroughfare.

4. "Told you": SEE.  Rubbing it in.

5. Exactly right: DEAD ON.  Completely and precisely correct.  I'm not able to trace an origin.

6. Milk source: UDDER.  The mammary gland in cattle, sheep, goats, etc.

7. 10-time NBA All-Star Jason: KIDD. [b 1973] In his 19-year career he played for Dallas [twice], Phoenix, New Jersey and New York.  He has since coached the Nets and Bucks.

10. "On Language" columnist: SAFIRE.  William Lewis SAFIRE  [1929- 2009] American author, columnist, journalist and presidential speech writer.

11. Barely enjoy the pool?: SKINNY DIP.


Look before you leap

12. First Homeland Security secretary: RIDGE. Tomas Joseph RIDGE [b 1945] was a member of the House of Representatives from 1983 to 1995 and governor of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2001.  He was the Secretary of Homeland Security from Jan. 2003 to Feb. 2005.

13. Condescending one: SNOOT.  I'm guessing because this one looks down her/his nose at others.

18. Place: SITE.  A specific location.

22. First sign of fall: LIBRA.  Zodiac sign, typically from Sept. 32 to Oct. 23.

24. Rose's Broadway beau: ABIEABIE's Irish Rose was a  play that debuted on May 23, 1922 and ran for 2327 performances.  It was made into movies in 1928 and 1946.  The premise involves a young Irish Catholic woman who marries a Jewish man over the objections of their famiies.

25. Saintly glows: HALOS. Generally represented as a circle of light above or behind the head of a sacred peron.

26. Drive the getaway car, say: ABET.  Assist in the commission of a crime.

29. Partner of 30-Down: AFL. American Federation of Labor.

30. Partner of 29-Down: CIO. Congress of Industrial Organizations.  The organizations combined in 1955 after a long estrangement.  Together, they are made up of 55 national and international unions, representing over 12 million active and retired workers.

31. Remote choice: TV CHANNEL. Make your selection from the vast wasteland.

32. Ouzo flavoring: ANISEPimpinella anisum, a flowering plant native to the eastern mediterranean regions with a flavor similar to licorice.

33. MDW : Midway :: __ : O'Hare: ORD.  The 3 letter codes for two Chicago area airports.  Some explanation here.

35. Anonymous Jane: DOE.

36. Peyton Manning's four?: ENS.  He has 4 N's in his name to my mere one.  I detest these self-referential clues.

38. Educator Montessori: MARIA.  Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori [1870-1952] was an Italian physician and educator, and eponym for a specific philosophy of education.

39. Adapter letters: AC/DC.  This is definitely not in my wheelhouse.  You can read about it here.

40. Delicate handling: TACT.  Adroitness and sensitivity in dealing with others or with difficult issues.

45. Firstborn: ELDEST.  Of a group of siblings.  My baby sister will be 66 this summer.

46. Parlor piece: SETTEE.  Typically a seating place for two, with slimmer profile than a sofa.

47. Let up: EASE.  Become less intense, serious or severe.

48. Just above average: C PLUS.  The high end of mediocrity.

49. One side of Hispaniola: HAITI.  The other side of the island is the Dominican Republic.

50. Talk oneself up: BOAST.  Talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's abilities, possessions and accomplishments

51. School uniform part, perhaps: SKIRT. Why are they always plaid?


52. Foul up: MISDO.  Looks odd as a present tense verb form.  Action word for a schlemiel or evil-doer.

53. Thoroughly enjoy: EAT UP.

55. Early smartphone: TREO.  Nineteen different models were released between 2002 and 2008.

58. Rank above cpl.: SGT. Corporal and Sergeant military ranks.

59. Coffee break time: TEN.  In the morning.

60. Mercury astronaut Grissom: GUS.  Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom [1926-1967] was one of the seven original National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Project Mercury astronauts.  He was a veteran of WW II and the Korean War, and an Air Force test pilot who received several awards, including the Congressional medal of Honor.  He died, along with fellow astronauts White and Chaffee, in a command module fire on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral.  There were many lethal hazards and design flaws in the cock pit and in the conduct of the pre-launch test that took their lives.

That's a sad note to end on, but reality can be that way sometimes. The rest of the puzzle was enjoyable.

Cool regards,
JzB signing out.



64 comments:

OwenKL said...

My dog has a hero, an idol
In a mutt once known as FIDO.
But with Hollywood fame
He changed his name
And now he only answers to Phydough!

Prosop-agnosiac afflicted a despot.
He fumbled names of people without respite!
So he issued an EDICT,
Everyone was to heed it,
That everyone's name is now Yvette!

(A prosop-agnosia is face blindness, a neurological inability to recognize faces. I'm one.)

{A-, B-.}

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but had to fix my dramatic opening. Not "melo", ACT I. Had to e-wag A/l CL x DUKAS.

The only reason I knew the large goblet was that I like the Jimmy Buffet song "Tin Cup Chalice".

Liked seeing ABBY / ABIE.

JzB - Thanks for the fun review. I think that Verizon must have retained the STRATEGISTs from the GTE merger. They have not only acquired Yahoo, they bought AOL. Before the merger GTE cornered the markets for flash cubes (remember them?), pagers and seatback airline phones. Brilliant!

Thanks to George for the really fun puzzle. I liked the theme. My favorite C/As were "first sign of fall" for LIBRA and "barely enjoy the pool" for SKINNY DIP.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Whew! It was thiiiis close to a DNF this morning. That pesky K at the DUKAS/KIDD cross was a fortunate WAG, and was my final fill. Thanx, George and for the esoteric tour, JzB.

TACT: Not d-o's strong suit. Sort of an anti-CSO.

TNOTE: Recently bought 2- and 5-year T-NOTEs, and a 1-year zero-coupon T-Bill. I'm trying to make a bond ladder.

Another taxing day...gotta run.

CartBoy said...

Raced through this. Slight hang-up at SSRS/ussr which quickly cleared but had to wait for STRATEGIST to fill as waffled on skirt/skort.

Oas said...

Good morning all .
DNF
ACT I , AFL , CIO were my undoing.
The rest was fun and not too difficult .

OL MAN KIETH a while back you found AGING TESTICLES in the diagonals . If you were to go SKINNYDIPPING around here today you wouldn’t find them anywhere as they would quickly retreat to their safe haven from whence the came.

Talking oneself up — like tooting your own horn—
Reminded me of a billboard sign that read “If you suck at playing the trumpet that’s likely why.”

Happy hump day !

Yellowrocks said...

I enjoyed the theme and the circles. I suspected they may contain other words for MALE. DUKAS and KIDD were the only unknowns. I wagged the Natick K.
As always, very informative, JazzB. Thanks for the tour.
I liked the movie Abie's Irish Rose which I saw on TV.
I wish all our wild geese would return to Canada. Many of them winter-over here. They befoul the playing fields among other places. At our county college near here it is almost impossible to avoid their calling cards on the sidewalks. If these geese were rare and stayed in the wild, like they used to, I would like them.
I used to enjoy Safire's language columns.
We have a dentist appointment soon, before the snow strom hits.

Lemonade714 said...

I wonder if the middle grid spanning reveal was the seed entry? This style takes a lot of work. This is our second effort from George who debuted in 2017 with a hidden AGE puzzle.

I always thought Lady G. was a blonde and rode sidesaddle. Your painting is a brunette astride her steed. JzB. I did not remember Mr. RIDGE until the perps brought him to light, but the rest all fell in place.

Thanks

Lucina said...

Thank you, George Jasper, for a fun and easy romp!

Though I dread sports clues, KIDD slipped in quickly because he was famous when he played here with the Phoenix Suns. They could really use him now.

What a treat to see Downton ABBEY! I love that series and occasionally watch the reruns which are still aired on PBS.

I thought 29 & 30, AFL/CIO might be impossible but they partnered well and were discussed here on Sunday in connection with that puzzle.

Today would not be a good day to SKINNYDIP. It's quite chilly here.

My baby sister, age 67, is a LIBRA. I am the ELDEST.

Luckily there were FIVE circled gentlemen or I would have agonized over 37A, FIVEMANROTATION.

I love the ANISE flavor especially in licorice. Would that be umami?

Normally I am not up this early but my telephone rang followed by a hang-up! Grrr.

Have a fantastic day, everyone!

Lucina said...

Thank you, JazzB for your thorough and scholarly guidance.

TTP said...



Good morning. Thank you George Jasper and thank you JazzBumpa.

Good midweek puzzle. Didn't know there were circles until I read the clue. Opened up another browser window with the LA Times puzzle page.

DUKAS was unknown. Perps gave it away.

JzB, thanks for the story of FIDO. Never knew that. Yep, I have AOL multiple email ids, along with Yahoo, Comcast and Google email accounts. Different accounts for different purposes.

Heard this morning that Ariana Grande has the top three songs on the Billboard Top 100. That hasn't happened since 1964 when the Beatles did it.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

FIR. Many entries gave me pause but that increased my enjoyment. Better than just filling in the squares as fast as one could write with an easy puzzle. Knew of the :The Sorcerer's Apprentice" but not its composer, DUKAS. "K" seemed like a good WAG and it was. I digressed on MAW on Monday for K. Krauss' puzzle.
ELDEST - CSO to Anot -T's ruminations. We lost our ELDEST 6 years ago to a rare untreatable cancer - uterine stromal sarcoma. She was 46. We miss her every day.
MARIA - Learnt it years ago and somehow my mind clicked in. Buffalo has a Montessori school.
SKINNY DIP - When we were in Helsinki in 1990, we did as the Finns do. The hotel had a sauna, and the staff gave us exclusive use of the sauna and swimming pool after it closed at 9 pm. Alternated several times between the steamy sauna and the pool, for the hot/cold effect made more focussed by no suits.
SKINNY - A sort-of slang for inside information.

JzB: Thanks for the excellent intro. Always fun to see what your take is.

Condolences to IM on your loss.

Belated congratulations to Husker and Joann.

Off to play some bridge.

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

I found several pictures some of which were as you described and some were the legendary side-saddle. It’s been said that some men yelled “Hooray for our side!”

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

This post was a reply to Lemonade’s remark about Lady Godiva’s riding position, but somehow it came out as a direct post. Don’t know why because I clicked the “reply” option.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-A fun puzzle all around complemented by Jazz’s engaging summary
-USSR/LIKE/MUTT/VIRGO glommed up the NE corner for a while
-One of many cartoons that taught me classical music as a child
-The theme of The Da Vinci Code was “Is the Holy Grail a CHALICE?
-Best ROTATION ever? Some say Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Neagle, Millwood?
-Some teachers bone up on current LINGO for interviews
-Did anyone else think of SNOOD?
-Downton ABBEY (not ABIE) was appointment TV for us
-On opening day, every MLB club is still in contention
-Do kids do better at Montessori schools?
-Also, do school uniforms help with behavior or achievement? Link

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I saw the theme early on with Male and Dude, but the revealer was a fun and fitting surprise. My only unknown was Dukas, but Jason Kidd was a gimme. My w/os were: Melo/Act I (Hi, Jinx), Slaw/Tots, and Skort/Skirt. (Hi, Cartboy). (Our school uniforms were jumpers ( dark green in grammar school and dark blue in high school, worn with a white blouse.) It was fun to see AFL and C Plus, both recent entries. Also enjoyed seeing Mr. Safire, a wordsmith extraordinaire, IMO.

Thanks, George, for an enjoyable and timely offering and thanks, JzB, for your always fact-filled and entertaining write-up.

Lucina, if I had to describe the taste of licorice, I would say Yukmami! I can't stand anything with the taste of anise. Isn't it funny how our tastes vary so much and how we develop certain seemingly contradictory preferences? For example, one of my sisters loves shrimp cocktail but wouldn't go near shrimp scampi or any hot shrimp dish. My husband loved marinara sauce but wouldn't eat tomatoes. We humans are a funny lot!

Anonymous T, hope your DW is feeling better. I'm sure you'll give her lots of TLC.

We're due for snow this afternoon, then turning to rain. It's been a roller coaster winter, so far.

Have a great day.

Anonymous said...

Canadian flyer clue confused with Canada geese (John Canada namesakes)?

Jerome D Gunderson said...

Spitzboov - Went into my local saloon the other day and there sitting at two tables are eight elderly prim and proper well dressed ladies playing bridge surrounded by a noisy crowd of us unwashed, gnarly masses. Half of which are already three sheets to the wind. I quickly learn from my buddy, the bartender, that they played each day at the coffee shop across the street but the shop started closing three hours earlier than before because of a lack of afternoon business. Thus, where do the ladies hold their bridge games now? The owner of my dive heard about it and invited them to play at the bar. They accepted the offer. The ladies are treated like royalty, and with much respect. It's so damn diverse and fun. Sometimes ain't America great!

Yuman said...

JzB,
Enjoyed the info on airport codes. Having lived in Chicago I was familiar with ORD. Today’s Garfield cartoon has cute reference to crossword puzzles. Didn’t fit, but the chief rival to ASU is the University of Arizona Wildcats.
My husband is an avid bridge player, and enjoyed your saloon story.

billocohoes said...

CHALICE would be well-known to former altar servers.

J. KIDD was well-known enough for that cross.

Early-70s TV show Bridget Love Bernie starring David Birney and his future wife Meredith Baxter, had the same premise as Abie's Irish Rose. Lasted one season until cancelled after religious protests, and some threats.

oc4beach said...


I did the puzzle on the Mensa site, so there were no circles. This didn't stop me from enjoying the puzzle even though the theme was not discernible. There were a lot of interesting and sometimes challenging fill.

JzB, as usual, provided great depth to the explanation of the grid. This makes the experience even more enjoyable. Bravo to both.

One hiccup today, as others noted. DUKAS took a minute to figure out, I had LUKAS at first, but LEADON didn't make sense, so DEADON was the answer.

I'm still an AOLer, even though I think I have a GMail account that was tied to an Android phone that I had before I got my IPhone. I also have some organization based email addresses, but it is annoying having to log into each one to see what mail is there. I'm trying to get all of the addresses to forward to one inbox.

It seems that Tater Tots are the latest thing at some restaurants. Some Old is new and the usual becomes passé. I still like skinny fries.

As I have been complaining about recently, it's snowing again and supposed to morph into sleet and then rain. I'd rather have it stay as snow today.

Stay warm and dry everyone.

Lucina said...

Yuman:
Yes! When I saw the clue I didn't know how UofA or Wildcats would work in that space. UTES are just one of another team of rivals.

MESAS are part of the surrounding desert.

TREO is an unknown and would have been unfilled except for perps.

Irish Miss:
We humans are a strange lot especially when it comes to taste! But also to opinions!

CanadianEh! said...

Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, George and JzB.
At least I had the circles in my newspaper or I never would have remained ALIVE. (Smiled to see DEAD ON at 5A).
Like others, I wagged the K in DUKAS and KIDD. USSR instead of SSRS messed up that area, especially since I did not know SAFIRE.

Like Jinx, my favourites were the clues for LIBRA and SKINNY DIP. ACT I was clever also. Hand up for Melo.
Jinx, ABBEY actually crossed ABET (pronounced as ABBOTT would be cute), but was not far from 24D ABIE.
I had TAC and required an alphabet run to reach TACT . . . and the light dawned.
Snob was too short and SNOOT filled the spot (but was a meh for me!). I know snooty but the noun usage is not common to me.
I should be remembering ORD after our recent discussions.
Boost changed to BOAST.

I thought that Sault STE Marie might be our token Canadian clue today, but we were treated to Canada GEESE.
YR, many others share your opinion of those messy Canada GEESE. Parks around here ask people not to feed them, hire people with dogs to patrol and chase them away, oil the eggs to prevent hatching, change the shoreline to make it harder for them to access land etc. The latter seems to be the most effective.
Anonymous@9:44 ?????

My alternative to fries would be mashed, baked or home fries. Do American restaurants offer TOTS? Or is this just an at-home choice. TOTS are not that popular here.

CED, did that TREO do all the things that were on your smartphone list the other day? I'm guessing NOT. Fun news report this morning about man who found an old Apple lle in his parents' attic.
ComputerNostalgiaTrip

Yes Yuman, I too saw that Garfield cartoon and smiled.
GarfieldComicToday

Enjoy the day.

CanadianEh! said...

AnonT FLN - glad DW is home safely; hope she feels better.
(Re backside: I prefer to remain mysterious LOL!)

Elmer Nimrod said...

I dont see how changing the shoreline would be an effective way to make it harder for geese to access land.

I've seen geese lay eggs in the traffic islands located in the Home Depot parking lot. There also was a story locally where a pair of geese established a nest on a rooftop. When the goslings were hatched and started to wander around the rooftop, onlookers from nearby high rises notified authorities of the situation and an overblown rescue effort ensued. I've also seen geese in cornfields miles and miles from any body of water. I dont see any problem with them accessing any place they choose.

My solution would be to somehow cull the population with hunters. Maybe expand the season temporarily until the population is under control(like down 75%) and donate the meat to food banks.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Fun puzzle, thanks, George. Thanks, JzB, for a fun & informative write-up.

Knew Jason KIDD from watching him play. Great player. So-so coach.

SIDESADDLE: one of my sisters-in-law went to a SNOOTy women's college in Denver in the late 1940's. She used to laugh about the things taught there which she never used as a farmer's wife & mother of 5 kids. One was riding SIDESADDLE.

Knew MARIA Montessori. She was all the rage when my ELDEST was a pre-schooler. I read a book on her methods and was not impressed. I had methods of teaching my kids that were more realistic and effective.

My granddaughter went to a junior high that required beige slacks or skirts & white golf shirts with the school logo. Pretty bland. Nothing was stipulated in the rules about what socks were to be worn. Our girl showed her individuality by wearing unmatching vividly striped socks.

DNK: SAFIRE, DUKAS.

My son had a strange happening last week. He was driving at night on the interstate and hit a coyote. The carcass became firmly lodged in the undercarriage with the head somehow above the rear axle of his 2018 SUV. He was able to drive to the next off-ramp and find a place with some lighting. He had to slide under on his back on snow-ice and remove the animal with difficulty. Next day on a dealership hoist they found part of what holds up the fan & radiator had been sheered off among other things. Vehicle was so new they didn't stock the parts. Somehow they got it rigged so he drove it 3 hrs to home. Too bad he doesn't have the right kind of insurance to tell that story in a TV commercial.

Misty said...

Delightful Wednesday puzzle, many thanks, George. I got all the circled answers, really cool, but had trouble with the solution because the __VE had me put in CAVE rather than FIVE since I didn't get those 3 letter downs. Oh well, I should have gone back to try to relate the solution to the circles but failed to do that. But otherwise a fun puzzle with lots of cute clues. And very helpful commentary, Jazz B.

Owen, my dog Dusty loved your first poem.

Have a good day, everybody!

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, George Jasper, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for a fine review.

Theme was clever. I got the circles since cruciverb was awake today.

Tom RIDGE is well known to me. He is from my home town of Erie, PA.

DUKAS was a wag, but KIDD sounded good, so I went with it.

SAFIRE was perps.

Never knew Montessori's first name. Now I do, MARIA.

Got ANISE easily. Not sure why, I do not drink Ouzo.

Anyhow, have to run. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, JazzB and friends (I think I can squeeze this in before both hands are pointing at the 12). Ah, the dreaded circle puzzle.

MAW must be the word of the Week.

I smiled as Downton ABBEY and ABIE's Irish Rose.

My favorite clue was, like so many others, The Barely Enjoy(ing) the Pool = SKINNY DIP.

In Louisiana, many school districts mandate school uniforms. Parents also have the right to home school their child. I can't tell you the number of parents who want to home school their child and call the State Department of Education asking whether or not their home-schooled child must wear a uniform. Wonder what king of education these children are getting.

The diminishing coastline of Louisiana is also impacting migratory birds as the flight across the gulf is just too much for them to fly without stopping for food, etc.

QOD: Misquotations are the only quotations that are never misquoted. ~ Hesketh Pearson (né Edward Hesketh Gibbons Pearson; Feb. 20, 1887 ~ Apr. 9, 1964), British actor and biographer

Bill G said...

Hi everybody.

I enjoyed the puzzle and write up. No circles for me. I was looking for the mixed up males in the longest horizontal answers with no luck of course. If I had known they were in squares, I might have found 'em. Oh well...

I didn't know about FIDO. Great story. I did know about the Scottish Greyfriars Bobby. We saw his statue when we visited Edinburgh.

Yellowrocks said...

We got the to dentist alright this AM and then stopped for lunch about 30 minutes from home. Alan and I split an eggplant parm sandwich. The Spa makes the best ones ever. Just after we ordered, it started snowing about an hour earlier than expected. We ate quickly and got home safely with no slipping and sliding although it was snowing heavily.
PK, what a coyote story. It was lucky you son was not injured.
Spitzbov, it is difficult to lose one of your offspring, especially at such a young age.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice is one of my favorites. I played it this morning while I solved. I am surprised I never paid attention to the composer's name. That piece was followed by another favorite, Smetana's Moldau.
ANON T, I hope your wife is recovering nicely. What a scary day for both of you.
My grandson who has AD did not do well at the Montessori School. When his parents enrolled elsewhere he did much better. I think those schools are good for certain personality types and not others.
I use SNOOT as a noun meaning snob. Google gives this example, "a person who shows contempt for those considered to be of a lower social class.
"The snoots complain that the paper has lowered its standards."

Read Carefully said...

YR: Spitzboov lost his daughter at age 46, not a sibling.

Anonymous said...

Out of curiosity and cabin fever due to being snowed in, I went searching for more clockwise rotating men. Maybe to fill out the bullpen or to find a closer.

I did find a fine candidate who shows promise because it says he is ABEL.

Remember Mitch Williams(phillies) nicknamed "wild thing"? Well, how about TONE Loc taking over that moniker?*

I know he won an Oscar for best supporting actor but I wonder if Jeremy LETO might have a change up worthy of being in the rotation.

Maybe a pair of ELIs could bring a lunch PAIL attitude to the squad?

Believe it or not I found our closer in France. His name? FINI

*Only fans of rap will get this but I couldn't work Funky Cold Medina into a punny line.

P.S. I also found crossword fill of UTIs and AVEs and a female KACI. Well, that wasted some time. Now what? Should I shovel before the storm ends? My wife says yes. Go outside and quit your pacing!!

Anonymous said...

The correct spelling of the answer to 21-A is ID'D.

Jayce said...

Dude! A fun puzzle. I caromed through it with relative ease until I came to a screeching halt at the AFL CIO area. Having MELO in there, as many of you did at first, forgetting ABIE, and not being familiar with the phrase FIVE MAN ROTATION stopped me dead in my tracks. It took the ole red letter assist to get me out of that sinkhole. Well, at least I knew Paul DUKAS.

Hey Read Carefully, maybe you should read more carefully. Yellowrocks did not write "sibling." she wrote "offspring."

More later.

Yellowrocks said...

Jayce, thanks. Ironic, isn't it? Poetic justice. I was thinking that losing a daughter or a son is equally difficult.

Merriam Webster said...

ID'd or IDed

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi Gang -

I'm surprised so many didn't know Dukas, though i, too, was uncertain about the central K vs C.

MELO- never even occurred to me as "dramatic opening." I loath that kind of pseudo-cutesy affix clue.

Lady G's ride presumably happened about a century before Princes Anne's trek, so I have no qualms about her riding astride her steed. As to her hair color - well, the contemporaneous photographs were destroyed in an attempt to stifle the story, and the photographer received a stern talking-to, so anyone's guess is equally valid.

Jerome - love the bridge story.

I love to play bridge, though I am not very good at it. I got my lovely wife to play in a tournament with me once. She hated it. The funny thing that happened was on one hand we were sitting against the eventual winners, and had a bidding disaster. We reached a minor suit contract that was down by about 5 tricks, not doubled. Strangely, we took a top score on that board, because at every other table the opposing team had a major suit game. Our bidding was so bad our opponents didn't know what to do. No drinking was involved.

Cool regards!
JzB





Jayce said...

Jazzbumpa, I enjoyed your write-up, so full of interesting information.

We call our magnetometers Fido.

I've never used gmail; my wife uses it a lot, though. Never joined AOL so never used it, either. I think my first ISP was Netcom, back in the 90s. My current ISP and email provider is AT&T. Speaking of irony, AT&T used to be partnered with Yahoo but after Yahoo was purchased by Verizon AT&T dropped them like a hot potato. I still have an old Yahoo email account but I'm thinking of totally cancelling it.

Good wishes to you all.

Lucina said...

I wonder if Read Carefully knows the difference between "sibling" and "offspring"? I'm glad you said it, Jayce.

My first thought on seeing drama was melo. We have several relatives who indulge in melodrama.

PK:
Where does your son live that he encountered a coyote? That was an eerie and frightening experience!

Spitzboov said...

Anonymous @ 1251. The MacMillan Dictionary says:

past tense
IDed

past participle
IDed

Marlin Perkins said...

Coyotes are very common now in places that would surprise you like Illinois, Indiana, ohio, Michigan and many more. Maybe it's the abundance of food like the overpopulation of goslings!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Again, I was not aware of the theme but had no trouble solving. I had the circles and all, but ignored them--so What's wrong with me?!

Nope, not all school girl SKIRTs are plaid. Here's an alternative in Navy Blue (Warning!).

PK ~
Your son's coyote encounter serves as a warning to us. We have lots of coyote sightings here in SoCal, especially in our Irvine neighborhood where new housing developments are chasing the poor critters from their dens.
We worry for our dogs, especially the smaller guys. Our yards are protected by walls, but I hear those guys can leap to unexpected heights. Especially when hungry.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
A 3-way on the mirror side. The center diagonal offers fairly bland anagrams. The most interesting I can see is in honor of a certain kind of flower thieves, the ...
"IRIS BANDITS"!

Oas said...

READ CAREFULLY Physician heal thyself

Big Easy said...

After filling the NW and see the circles, I was thinking MEAL or LAME but the DUDE changed my thinking. But FIVE MAN ROTATION had to wait for the AFL-CIO to go off strike.

Not familiar with MARIA Montessori or Jason KIDD, both perped. No other problems today. DUKAS, I should have known but it was way back in my brain, too far back; also perped.


Jayce- ATT email is still provided by Yahoo.

Lucina said...

Coyotes are also a problem here in the northern areas nearer the mountains and yes, small pets have been known to be preyed upon by the coyotes.

Hahtoolah:
I am still laughing about the mothers who ask if their home schooled children should wear uniforms!!!! We have home schooling here in our state and if public school children were required to wear uniforms I believe we might have the same questions from some quarters.

AnonT:
How is your wife faring? I hope she made a full recovery.

jfromvt said...

I’m with JzB, not a big fan of circles in the grid, but this one appropriate with the start of Spring Training. Baseball is my favorite sport!

The Peyton Manning clue was pretty lame. A clue counting the number of letters in the clue itself is another peeve of mine.

Spitzboov said...

jfromvt @1540. ENS could have been clued as it was yesterday (Nav. rank); but that would be repetitive. It would also invite something else to be said about my time as an ENS. I like the Manning clue just fine.

gmony said...

14 abbrvs and ? more than any friday i can think of.

AnonymousPVX said...


A bit late today...

Not a fan of circles but no issues.

Markovers....BOOST/BOAST....again, I was so sure....

CrossEyedDave said...

OMK@2:47
Speaking of Coyotes,
I found the "hover over to zoom" button
in the Navy Blue (warning) link
to be ridiculously appropriate..


Good to see Barry G back on Sundays,
I have been out of it for a while,
has anyone heard from Picard?

& it is hard to believe that HeartRx hasn't even dropped by to say Hello...
(dang it Marty, we may be strangers, but don't be a stranger...)

Hmm, Manac, I miss our arguments.
(& now that I walk a Husky every day...)

Oh Well...



Jayce said...

Big Easy, you are right: ATT email is still provided by Yahoo.

CrossEyedDave, yeah where the heck is Marti? She sure dropped off the face of the earth. I never did really understand why she just disconnected.

Happy Wednesday!

Alex Trebek's mustache said...

Has Jeopardy! jumped the shark? I get the concept and see why they took some time to explain it but I hope after game 1 is completed tomorrow they return to showing an entire game each episode. The banter between the contestants is not nearly as entertaining as a full complement of questions. Tonight we only saw 30 questions rather than the usual 61.

CanadianEh! said...

Elmer Nimrod @11:30am - here is some info on suggestions for discouraging Canada geese (and also other interesting items about them).
(Sorry I can't do a proper link on my iPad.)
http://thamesriver.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/NativeSpecies/geeseshorelines.pdf

E. Nimrod said...

Environmental propaganda. Without predators the wild geese population will continue to worsen regardless of long grass or obstructed shorelines. Disease will soon introduce itself and cause disruption in schoolyards, parks, golf courses and private property throughout the land. Prey need predators to balance out the natural order of things.

Spitzboov said...

ATM @ 1941 - - I fell asleep 10 minutes before Jeopardy started and woke up 1 minute after it ended. Too much bridge today? Wonder what's going on. Was there a final Jeopardy?

Alex Trebek's mustache said...

Spitzboov

No. Only a jeopardy round. No double jeopardy or final jeopardy. It's a tournament of champions using teams of past champions. I imagine tomorrow's episode will have double jeopardy and final jeopardy to complete the first game. I know it's not permanent but I hope the remaining games of the tourney return to the classic version of the game.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Late today 'cuz after work went to receive my new (to me) car... I confirmed today via email that we were done and thought I could show up, swipe my ATM card, and be gone. Nope. 40 minutes of paper-work and 20 more waiting for them to "bring it around." Arggg!

Thanks George. This was a fun puzzle as it would solve in fits-and-starts. Thanks JzB for the exhaustive expo; well done.

What others said, that K was a lucky WAG and last square filled.

WO: Brain-fart: SIDE SiDDLE. Made seeing DEAD take a long time.
ESPs: KIDD, DUKAS, RIDGE, ABIE, SETTEE (one day, I'll remember)
Favs: I agree w/ C, Eh!, clues for LIBRA, ACT I, and SKINNY DIP were stellar [LIBRA literally :-)]
I also liked the nod to Will SAFIRE.

{B+, B}

IM, Lucina & WC (FLN), C, Eh!, YR - DW is somewhat better but still eating rice and McDonald's plain cheese-burgers (something medicinal about them). Thanks for asking.

C, Eh! The grill next-door to the office offers TOTS. I'll get those if I don't get onion rings. I prefer both naked or with mustard.
Re: TREO, mostly. They lacked accelerometers, GPS chips, and WiFi chips, so those functions were out. I had the TREO 650 which came out 3 years before the iThings.

@12:51 - well, I appreciate your will too try :-) TONE LOC.

CED@11:54 - Oh, great... Now the whole family (who shares the Prime Account) will see that I clicked your link. Ack!

Cheers, -T
//T-NOTE: This post? :-)

PK said...

Lucina, my son was traveling on the busiest multi-lane interstate highway in Kansas when the coyote ran in front of him. What that coyote was doing there with a lot of heavy traffic is a mystery. Coyotes are common in the area. Never heard of one getting stuck like that. Hope it didn't have rabies or something since he had to get down & dirty to get it out.

Lucina said...

PK:
If it drew blood he may want to have that checked. If no blood then he is likely ok.

AnonT:
Good! I'm glad the missus is better. I know the TLC you are providing will hasten the healing.

Jeopardy!
For the next two weeks that format will continue until the end of the tournament. The winning team will share one million dollars.

PK said...

Lucina, The coyote was dead when he was removing it, but rabies is passed also from saliva of the animal and he was unjamming the head. Neither of us thought of disease when we discussed the matter.

Anonymous said...

Lucina, I doubt that Jeopardy! will only have one round per episode. Otherwise there would be an episode for just the final jeopardy round. Not likely. I imagine tomorrow will have a double jeopardy round and a final jeopardy round. Then on Friday the tourney will continue with all three rounds in one episode. I understand the entire tournament will be running for 10 days but only 1 round per episode would be off putting.

Anonymous T said...

Nothing apropos say...

If you like Jack Webb and you like Johnny Carson... The Copper Clapper Capper. [3:36] I just got my good-night laugh.

Cheers, -T

Lucina said...

If you want to know just how the tournament is organized go to the Jeopardy! site on Facebook. It is thoroughly explained there.

My apologies, C.C. This is my 6th post.

Anonymous T said...

Lucina - you'd have to 'go to 11' and it still wouldn't be an over post. I don't FaceFriend so, is this it?. -T