google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, March 26, 2019 Parikshit S. Bhat

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Mar 26, 2019

Tuesday, March 26, 2019 Parikshit S. Bhat


18. *Evaluation by one's colleagues: PEER REVIEW.

24. *1984 Prince classic: PURPLE RAIN.

49. *Region bordering the world's largest ocean: PACIFIC RIM.

56. *Yellowstone VIP: PARK RANGER.

3. *Green Day genre: PUNK ROCK.

38. *Union demand: PAY RAISE.

37. Intensive goodwill campaign, briefly ... and a hint to the answers to starred clues: PR BLITZ.  A spate of PRs.

Across:

1. Captain Sparrow portrayer Johnny: DEPP.

5. Exam for jrs.: PSAT.   A wake up call for some.  I wonder how this joker did.
 
9. Indy 500 family name: UNSER.   I'll say.  Al Unser won there 4 times.  Older brother Bobby won 3 times.  Al Unser Jr. won 2 times.  Al and Bobby's older brother Jerry was in the 1958 Indy.  Jerry's son Johnny raced there 5 times.  Bobby's son Bobby Jr. ran there 2 times.  No family tree of racers even comes close to the legacy of the Unsers at the Indy 500.

14. Rio contents: AGUA.

15. Machu Picchu builder: INCA.

16. Loud salute: SALVO.

17. Beethoven's birth city: BONN.   His grandfather, also named Ludwig van Beethoven, moved from what is now Belgium to Bonn.  

20. Colorful carp: KOI.

22. "Born Free" lioness: ELSA.


23. Skin woe: ACNE.

27. Razz: JEER.

28. Like plagiarized work, say: STOLEN

29. Focus and Fiesta: FORDS.

30. Office asst.: SECY.

31. Spectacles on one's nose: GLASSES.    Katy Perry.

36. "That isn't nice": TSK.

38. Except for West Wendover, Nevada summer hrs.: PDT.  West Windover is in the Mountain Time Zone since October of 1999.

41. Sicilian seaport: MESSINA.  Did not know this.  Here's where it's at:

42. Hard to come by: RARE.

43. Glossy finish: SHEEN.

46. Harsh critic: FLAYER.   One who flays.   New word for me.

48. Very fancy: LUXE.

53. USA part: Abbr.: AMER.

54. Whirl around: SPIN.  LeBron James demonstrates the basketball spin move.

55. Drink from leaves: TEA.  When it comes to tea, Abejo only drinks Earl Grey.

59. French movie: CINE.

62. Like much bar beer: ON TAP.  “Beer, if drank with moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit and promotes health.” - Thomas Jefferson.   Accidentally posted that quote in my Sunday comments.

63. Make, as money: EARN

64. "In your dreams!": AS IF.

65. Abodes for birds: NESTS.  Baby hummingbirds.

66. Liberal or martial things: ARTS.

67. Tenant's payment: RENT.

Down:

1. Pat softly: DAB.

2. Locker room issue: EGO

4. Impressive collection: PANOPLY.    I think we've only seen this word as an answer in Friday and Saturday crosswords.   Not in my vernacular.

5. Spot on a die: PIP.

6. Derisive look: SNEER.

7. Amtrak high-speed train: ACELA.   Amtrak says tilting trains are coming to the Northeast Corridor. 

8. Ankle bones: TARSI

9. Function: USE.

10. Four Corners natives: NAVAJOS.   And 25. Four Corners natives: UTES.

11. Sandwich maker's aid: SLICER.  "I've cut slices so thin, I couldn't even see them."

12. Smoothed: EVENED.

13. Sculls competitors: ROWERS.

19. Took off in a hurry: RAN.

21. Percent suffix: ILE.

24. Attention-getting sound: PSST.

26. Some MIT grads: ENGRS.

29. Tasseled hat: FEZ.

32. Scale units: Abbr.: LBSLibras

33. Baba among thieves: ALI.   Ali to his cohorts.

34. Confession disclosure: SIN.

35. Work support group: STAFF.

37. Cross product: PEN.

39. Eins und zwei: DREI.   Math in German.  One and two equals three.

40. Educational period: TERM.

41. Mongoose family member that uses its tail to stand erect: MEERKAT.  This little guy looks sleepy.

42. 9-Across vehicle: RACE CAR.  True.  The Unser's know about race cars.

43. Apply hurriedly: SLAP ON.

44. Showing compassion: HUMANE.  Pay it forward.

45. Applies, as pressure: EXERTS.

47. On fire: LIT

49. "Don't text and drive" ad, briefly: PSA.  Public Service Announcement.  This one from South Africa. 


50. Snorer's disorder, perhaps: APNEA.

51. Groucho's smoke: CIGAR.

52. Like noble gases: INERT.

57. Rotation meas.: RPS.  Revs Per Sec.

58. IV league?: RNS.   IV as an abbreviation for intravenous,  league as a collection of people,  and RNs as abbreviation for Registered Nurses.   Nice clue for the answer. 

60. Diarist Anaïs: NIN.   Every clue I've ever read for NIN has been related to Anaïs in one fashion or another. 

61. Amphibian youngster: EFT.


Notes from C.C.:

1) Congrats on your 685 series, TTP!


2) Dear Anon-T (Tony) made a fun puzzle for his company's newsletter. You can click here for the PDF file, here is the puz file. Here is Answer Grid. Please let him know where your trouble spots are. Thank you!

48 comments:

D4E4H said...

Good morning TTP and cornies.

Please sir explain the theme. Thank you for the PR.

The video on ELSA was beautiful. I wonder what happened to the other 2 cubs, and how they became orphans?

So MESSINA and Sicily are being "booted" by Italy.

You do not want to LIU FLAYER in Wiki !

Don't mess in your NESTS. Baby birds know to stand on the side of the nest to poop outside of it.

TTP, I suss that you won't be attending the PANOPLY Arts Festival.

Thank you Parikshit S. Bhat for this enjoyable Tuesday CW.

Thank you C.C. for your comments.

Ðave

Lemonade714 said...

Wake up, it is Tuesday and the world awaits!

Thank you, Tom and PSB for an eye-opening beginning to the day. No real unknowns as Messina was filled by perps and somewhere in my memory banks from reading.

You must not be a GAME OF THRONES fan TTP or you would know all about the practice of flaying from this FAMILY

Ciao chow

TTP said...



D4E4H, sorry about that. I updated the write up to explain the theme. A spate of PRs.

Lemonade, no, I've never watched Game of Thrones, but I have seen GOT in clues and as an answer. I think I saw a trailer or clip in one of the write-ups, but it is just not my type of program.

Lemonade714 said...

Perhaps the reason we are slow in posting is that we all went and solved Tony's very fun puzzle (so much technical stuff, perfect for a company newsletter, very hard for an IT ignoramus) and a very timely and fun creation by the puzzle machine published in today's NYT, C.C.'s 62 publication there. You need a subscription so I cannot link but they were both worth the effort and C.C. created a puzzle that was for her own amusement as well as ours. So tempting to comment but that would spoil the solve.

Wow!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

FLAYER? Really? Thought it oughta be FLAMER, but PAM RAISE just wasn't working. That was my only stumble this morning. Thanx, PSB and TTP.

"Tilting trains" -- Do they mount lances to the front of the engine?

CROSS PEN -- That was the one-year award from my company with the distinctive "Z" logo on the pen clip. That afternoon bartender Linda Zapp noticed the pen, and I never saw it again.

APNEA -- They sell you a CPAP machine so you can breathe better at night. Then you need to buy a machine to clean the CPAP machine so you don't wind up with a fungal lung infection.

thehondohurricane said...


Morning all,

3rd Tuesday in a row where I had a difficult time . Got it right, but it sure was a grind.

I remember locker rooms very well. EGO was definitely an issue, but how big an issue was usually determined by how well practice went or if the game result was a win or a loss. But, if it were possible, I'd go back to those times in a second. Many lifetime friendships were made in the locker room.

IV LEAGUE really got me. I kept thinking Yale, Cornell, Dartmouth, etc until my brain went into gear.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Parikshit S. Bhat, for a fine puzzle. thank you, TTP, for a fine review.

Did this via cruciverb, now that cruciverb appears to be alive again. I am in Johnsonburg, PA, today. Weather about the same a Chicago.

Yes, TTP, I am the quintessential Earl Grey tea drinker. I am having a cup right now. Debbie, my wife's cousin, bought a 100 bag box of Earl Grey from Amazon since She knew I was coming. Thanks, Debbie. Debbie stays at our house and is a great cook. However, we went out last night to the Central Hose Company Social Club and had supper (and I had a couple beers with supper). Debbie won $200 playing a tip board. It was fun. Then we watched a movie at home, London has Fallen. Great movie if you lake action.

Puzzle was very good. Caught the theme.

A few tough words, MESSINA, FLAYER, CINE, and perps helped.

FEZ was a good word. I have three of those for three different groups I belong to: the Shrine, the Grotto, and the Sciots.

GLASSES relates to me and many others. I feel comfortable and eye safe with them. And, I also can see with them.

Well, off to my day. See you tomorrow I hope, as long as cruciverb plays ball.

Abejo

( )







Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR at the LAT web site. One writeover, hot became LIT. Maybe others, but without paper I'm not sure. 16 minutes which would have probably been about 12 had I fine-tuned the interface.
Lots of oops from overwriting entries accidentally. No hard copy paper, one printer won't print after the Jan-Feb-Mar Windows updates, and the other printer is connected to a laptop that is stuck at 19% of those updates.

Fun puzzle, Pari. Thanks. Also thanks to TTP. I knew Groucho's #7, and had heard #1 but didn't know it was his. I hope that student got an A. Definitely a future engineer - the simplest solution that gets 'er done is usually best. Everyone but me probably knew that Benny Franklin never said "beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." What he actually said was "Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards; there it enters the roots of the vines, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy." It must be true, I read it on the internet.

Oas said...

Good morning to all.
Quick puzzle with a couple of nits.
PANOPLY was new
The abbr SECY seemed a little off but thats likely just me .
Don’t know what PSA stands for other than in a medical test. Looked for an explanation in the review but since TTP didn’t expound on it I
conclude it must be something simple that’s just out of my reach this mornining.
I enjoy the posts and when Owen is not one of the first I wonder if he’s okay or just had a late night.
Cheers

Anonymous said...

And it's only Tuesday.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-PEER REVIEW is tough to do among teachers
-A quadrennial PR BLITZ one state over
-Isn’t SECRETARY as non-pc as stewardess now?
-In WWII Patton beat Montgomery to MESSINA
-Bird and squirrel NESTS really stand out in the winter
-Now is the season for smoothing/evening
-That PSST sequence plays out every morning in our house
-Off to EARN $140 subbing P.E. today after poaching two eggs

inanehiker said...

Nice Tuesday quick run! Need to head off to work, but Oas - PSA is Public Service Announcement - all stations are required to have a certain amount of air time allotted for these.

Had a night of basketball last night- both Lady Bears I was rooting for won! The Baylor Bears was expected as a #1 seed, but the Missouri State win was an upset of a #11 seed over a #4!

Thanks TTP and Parikshit!

Husker Gary said...

Addendum to yesterday
-Jerome, you asked how STEAL could be an anagram to C.C.’s EAST themed puzzle. I did not mean the entire word but only the first four letters which I had posted in bold letters and not the L.

Lemonade714 said...

I finally got to read yesterday's comments and saw that C.C. had a triple header!!! The LAT, the WSJ and a shared Universal with STEPHANIE KIM followed by the NYT today!!!awesome

Oas said...

Thanks inanehiker — on any other day it might have come to me.
I’ve wondered if your handle had anything to do with hitch hiking . I did quite a bit of it in my younger years.
When my teenage son many years ago decided to hitch hike across the country and up and down the west coast DW and I - more me than his mom understood the wonderlust thrill but worried just the same . Hiking or picking up hitch hikers seems to get more dangerous every year. Seems to me the good old days were safer and more care free.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Nice fairly easy puzzle from PSB today. Theme and hints came easily. No searches were needed.
MEERKAT - An Afrikaans word from Dutch meaning 'sea' + 'cat'.
PDT - Was reminded that parts of extreme eastern Nevada are in the Mountain Time Zone.

Have a great day.

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Thanks for some Tuesday fun, Parikshit. I, too, really liked the clue for RNS. I also went to the Ivy League first, but I know there's no doable 3 letters there. Nice PR work on your part.

Thanks, TTP, for the tour and the links. Par excellence, per usual. I've seen live examples of the strolling texters. Also of interest to me is how few people stop to see if they are okay. Many themselves don't notice because they are also immersed in their phones. Plenty of potential for broken body parts--looks like noses especially. What was that clue? Showing compassion? Ah, yes, HUMANE.

Speaking of HUMANE, I always wonder about animals in the wild spending so much time with humans. Maybe I'm just over-influenced by a segment on 670AM the SCORE in Chicago. It's a sports talk show that does a periodic segment on Animals Doing Their Jobs. Like a Tiger grabbing the arm of a woman leaning over the pit to take a selfie. Hmmm. . . .

Where are WIKWAK and PICARD, to name a couple of Corner pals?

Be well, everyone. Have a wonderful day.

Boomer said...

TTP, your write up is better than that guy that does Mondays. You're also a better bowler, (now, not years ago). I am still chuckling about the priest in the confessional with Facebook on his screen. Which begs the question - If your phone rings and a guy on the line says he's from Microsoft and will cancel your computer unless you buy some internet insurance from him. You lie and tell him you do not have a computer, is that a sin ??

Lemonade714 said...

My eyes are tired, wow C.C., and I mean wow!

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, TTP and friends. Getting PEER REVIEW and PURPLE RAIN immediately made getting the theme a cinch. I wasn't keen on some of the other non-theme clues, however.

I noticed the double CSO to Abejo with both the TEA and the FEZ.

My Cross Product went deeper than the mere PEN. I wanted Ink.

QOD: Jealousy is all the fun you think they had. ~ Erica Jong (née Erica Mann; b. Mar. 26, 1942)

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Well, this was an easy, breezy offering that had only one w/o, Satin/Sheen and no unknowns. Wasn't keen on Flayer but one little pesky entry is allowed. I saw the repeated PRs but the reveal was still a nice surprise.

Thanks, Mr. Bhat, for a Tuesday treat and thanks, TTP, for the fun expo. I loved the Elsa video and the sleepy Meerkat; maybe he suffers from Apnea and that's why he looks sleepy! Congrats on your impressive 685 series.

Congrats to CC for yesterday's trifecta and today's New York Times. (I'll be checking on today's later and will also be doing Tony's puzzle.)

Have a great day.

Yellowrocks said...

TTP, great blog. Thanks for the easy puzzle, PSB. No unfamiliar words. I had RNS, but didn't think of nurses.Clever.
I have often heard flay used as "to criticize or scold with scathing severity." So flayer was an easy extension.
I always think of my earliest connotation of Unser when I hear about the racing family. "Vater unser, der Du bist im Himmel." Our Father who art in heaven.
I believe secretary, nurse and doctor are gender neutral. There are male office secretaries, as will as US government officials.
Panoply is used in the news. "the full panoply of a military funeral" "The nobles were in panoply for the coronation." I especially associate panoply with British ceremonial functions.
Could Yellowstone be a small square dance hug? Yellow rock is a regular square dance hug. A golden bolder is a huge square dance hug. Yellow stuff is a cute plush duckie.

Yellowrocks said...

I found the following interesting:
"Lb is an abbreviation of the Latin word libra. The primary meaning of libra was balance or scales (as in the astrological sign), but it also stood for the ancient Roman unit of measure libra pondo, meaning “a pound by weight.” We got the word “pound” in English from the pondo part of the libra pondo but our abbreviation comes from the libra. The libra is also why the symbol for the British pound is £—an L with a line through it. The Italian lira also used that symbol (with two lines through it), the word “lira” itself being a shortened version of libra."

Jerome said...

Husker- If you're going to poach eggs, why steal only two?

Jinx in Norfolk said...

I'm surprised that FLAYER was controversial. All us bad spelers no that a FLAYER is someone who removes the bones from fish.

D4E4H said...

Husker Gary at 7:56 AM wrote "Now is the season for smoothing/evening." I was struck at how much the verb form of "evening" mirrors the noun form.

Oas at 8:43 AM wrote about hitch hiking. When I was in the Army my roommate and I headed out one Summer afternoon and thumbed our way south then east then north. It was fun till the sun went down. We caught our last ride at US 60, and I64 West. They took us to the greyhound terminal in Louisville. I have fond memories of our adventure, but I would not repeat it.

Ðave

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Parikshit and TTP.
Straightforward solve today. Figuring out the PR theme early hastened the finish.

Yes I saw the CSOs to Abejo with FEZ and TEA, and ENGRS for our many Cornerites who fit that category (as does my DH).
FLAYER and SEC'Y were just a little gluey but acceptable. LOL Jinx - fileter?

PANOPLY is such a beautiful word. Merriam-Webster says "Panoply comes from the Greek word panoplia, which referred to the full suit of armor worn by "hoplites," heavily armed infantry soldiers of ancient Greece." Like YR, I think of "magnificent or impressive array" like the British pomp and ceremony. Nobody does it better!

Interesting background re the origin of pound. This Canadian can use metric measures and Imperial measures almost interchangeably. I knew enough not to enter KGS.

I can't see MEERKAT without thinking of Timon in the Lion King (with Simba not ELSA).

IV league?=RNS was clever cluing.

Wishing you all a great day. I'll try AnonT's CW later.

TTP said...

OAS, sorry about that. I just assumed PSA was commonly known to be Public Service Announcement. I've updated the write-up. The video is from South Africa, and for all intents and purposes, it's still a PSA even though they use other terms. It best captured my feelings about driving and texting.

And inanehiker, thanks for covering for me !

Thanks C.C. I didn't see your comments earlier. Also did Dash-T's puzzle. Quite fun. Then found your puzzle on Universal and did that one too. Then got caught up on a week's worth of those and on the USA Today puzzles. So probably about 15 solves this morning. Now I'm late for grocery shopping.

TTP said...

Hi Boomer !

We have Caller ID as part of the freebies in our triple play package from the cable company. So we just don't answer unless we know who it is. And we never press a button "to be taken off the calling list." However, in your scenario, if I did answer, I would just hang up. We get calls from local numbers all the time that aren't really from the local numbers. Just scammers. One day we got a call and Caller ID had our name and number on it.

I don't think my write up is better. It's just different as we have different styles. Your humor cracks me up. My humor is so bad it's not apparent I'm trying to make a joke. That's why Anon-T told me I should use LOL when I try to make a joke.

I know you were joshing me but I have no delusions about my body of bowling work through the years being comparable to yours. Even when I was bowling years ago, my season averages were in the 19Xs and low 20Xs. Never finished a year in the 2 teens or twenties. I've never rolled a 300 game or had an 8XX series. You've done all of those many times. I know your numbers are down right now, but that's to be expected. You'll be back !

Remember I had that 439 set a few weeks ago ? I just got on a roll for the most recent 4 games after my buddy (and team anchor) Greg pulled me aside late in the second game two weeks ago and told me I was crowding the line and altering my release point. Greg is either your age or a year younger and has been bowling probably as long you have, and has bowled two nights every season as long as I have known him.

We have two young guns in our league that have the high averages at 220 and 221. I call them young guns. One might be 50 and the other is in his early 30s. Neither is a real cranker. The younger guy is a power bowler using reactive resin and he gets tremendous pin action when he's on game. He bowled 754 against us. The "older" guy is pure stroke using a urethane coverstock and carries the 221. They bowl on the same team. Fortunately for us, he was off and their other three bowlers were lower than average as well. We took 5 of 7 that night.

We're up 13 points on the second place team, and 22 on the third place team, with 6 weeks to go. Every team is out to get us, and the competition is fun. I'm loving it. The last night is position night so we'll be bowling one of those teams twice in these next 6 weeks. I really missed bowling and am happy to be back at.

Anonymous said...

Madame Defarge and others curious about fellow bloggers:

Many of our "blue" bloggers have contact information in their profiles. If you can find their post somewhere you can click on their "blue" name and see their profile.

For example, here is Picard's profile:
https://www.blogger.com/profile/17401317669146538447

You can Google "wikwak crossword corner" without the quotes and find places where his posts appear.

Here was a column where he posted:
https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2018/12/sunday-december-16th-2018-joe-kidd.html

Lucina said...

No time to read comments as I'm having breakfast with my friend, Kathy.

Thank you, PSB and TTP!

Johnny DEPP used to be one of my favorites but he seems to have changed drastically.

I always enjoy a reference to Beethoven!

Interesting about the time zones in Nevada. I never knew that.

FLAYER a new word for me, too.

Later.

Have a grand day, everyone!

Misty said...

I loved the theme of this puzzle, PSB, many thanks! Not the easiest Tuesday, and I ended up with a little problem in the northeast, mainly because I didn't get FORDS. I just don't know cars anymore--hey, I drive a 2003 Subaru that still has less than 60,000 miles on it. That tells you how housebound I've been. 'Cross product' totally stumped me, but I still got PEN even though I've never heard it. Can't believe how regularly German words pop up in puzzles--like the DREI this morning. TTP, your SIN cartoon cracked me up.

Have a good day, everybody.

Anonymous T said...

I could swear there's an extra syllable in PAN[el]OPLY. It must be my MidWest twang/upbringing...

Hi All!

PSB - this was one Crunchy Tuesday and I liked it. Thanks for the puzzle. TTP - too fun!, the expo. Marriage? An institution I've been in for 30 (happy) years but not a club I'd want to be part of :-)

PSA - don't. Some asshat was texting and killed my buddy across the hall. Marshal was riding his Hog home and got clipped. Please stay off the phone and focus on the freeway folks.

WOs: Why do I keep spelling AqUA? That made my EGO deflate... PsT b/f Daylight.
ESP: MESSINA
Fav: Green Day. It's not The Sex Pistols but the PUNK-feeling is still there.

Remember Pop's Stereo I took apart FLN? Prince's Let's Go Crazy was my test track. Took a few capacitors to drop the hiss. PURPLE RAIN, by comparison, is meh.

TTP - well, the kid on the PSAT could have imagined i^2 + 8 = x. But why complicate things?

D-O: I was thinking Flamers too. Don your asbestos underwear when tossing grenades on-line. Good trolling is an ART (as our Corner troll knows).

Jinx - no matter how it's said - yeasties are God's gift. Beer, bread, and wine.

C.C. is rightly not taking credit for my puzzle she posted 'cuz it's really not that good (theme inconsistency). However, the world should know C.C. bailed me out on gridding (really folks, gridding is hard! even w/ software to aid -- but C.C.'s amazing!). I SLAP-dashed the puzzle together in 3 days with generous feedback from a few Cornerites -- you know who you are -- and Thank Yous.

Boomer, TTP, and all our hosts - everyone of you has a distinct tone and take. It's a hellvalota fun to read mb, JzB, HG, Steve, Lem (and now Hahtoolah) after inking a grid (sorry C.C., you know I only lurk Sundays). I thinks I can say this for all of us - we really appreciate the effort and love you put into an expo.

Cheers, -T

Crossword Constructor Wannabe said...

Did Tony's fun crossword puzzle. Challenging, as I didn't know, but guessed on 18A, 27A, 42A and 44D. Those I got right. Couldn't parse 71A even though I had three of the letters. Yikes! As for the reveal, I couldn't understand one of the four until I looked it up. Never heard that phrase before. Good puzzle, Tony!

Tinbeni said...

D-N-F ... On a Tuesday ... S**T Happens!

Didn't know where Beethoven was born (BONN) or what type of music "Green Day" performed (PUNK ROCK).

Cheers!

CrossEyedDave said...

Had trouble in spots, circled a few WAGs for enlightenment,
but now I don't know why. With the exception of "Panoply..."

The linguistic definitions were not completely clear to me,
so I thought (being CrossEyedDave) that a few silly visuals
would make it clear.

#1 seems to make it clear...

But then, right above it, This was titled "A panoply of persian Kittens."
How can two kittens be a panoply?

Then I saw this, Titled a panoply of Assholes.
Now I am more confused than ever. Can some one explain this one to me?...

Same trouble with PR Blitz. This didn't make sense to me...

But the result/response did

Now, I am surprised some of you do not know about PSA's...
They are full of important information...

Well, at least most of the time... (love the last line...)

Which reminds me,
I once got a call from that Microsoft Engineer,
& I asked him:

Does your Mother know what you are doing?

& he proceeded to barrage me with a string of curses.
(I must have struck a nerve..)

Irish Miss said...

Anonymous t @ 11:54 ~ Tony, I enjoyed your puzzle, even though a lot of the tech speak was over my head. I found it difficult in spots, but the perps did their job, so I finished w/o help. Nice job.

OAS said...

TTP Thanks for the response. I thoroughly enjoyed your reviews. PSA should not have stumped me like it did . On any other day it might have jumped right out at me. I could have LIU but took it to the corner instead .

Boomer About fibbing about your computer -

My dear 90+ mom when answering a phone scam caller who was selling computer fixes, played along , catching on to the scam. When he wanted her to click on an icon in one top corner of the computer she argued that her computer didn't have that . He argued that every computer had it . She kept him going for a bit till he wanted more info on what kind of computer she had. She said it was pretty old. He asked how old .She said over ninety years.
He said impossible. No computers around that long ago . Oh yes I've had it all my life . It's small and grey and in my head. CLICK

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle, TTP's write-up, and all your comments.

Tony, nice puzzle.

Good wishes to you all.

AnonymousPVX said...


This Tuesday puzzle had its moments and some clever clueing.

Overconfidence makes....

Markovers....NAVAHOS/NAVAJOS....cannot believe I bit on that. Again. From now on, in my mind, it’s NAVA-JOE.

Ageing is no picnic.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Ta ~ DA!
So, a fun pzl today!
But the theme reminds me of an awkward time in my past. I was doing a show at Temple University in Philadelphia and was asked to give a talk to an assembly of Arts students about a theatrical producers' responsibilities. Among the issues I addressed was the handling of public relations. I didn't think to explain what "PR" meant, and in the course of my talk I said some derogatory things about over-hyped PR.
I felt the audience turning cold on me--and wondered why. It wasn't until I was finished that I learned some of my audience thought I was talking about Puerto Ricans!
~ OMK
____________
DR:
We have a single diagonal on the near end.
Today's anagram is a winner by any measure. I am pretty sure there is at least a modicum of materialism in each of us, so prepare to be offered...
"INFINITE GOLD"!

Michael said...

Anon-T ... interesting puzzle, took a bit to figure out where you were heading sometimes ... but the Oregon coast did me in: I had to look up surge protectors to find 4d, without which inland Oregon just wouldn't gel, and I couldn't get around the Bend.

Spitzboov said...

AnonPVX @ 1455 - said: "Markovers....NAVAHOS/NAVAJOS....cannot believe I bit on that. Again. From now on, in my mind, it’s NAVA-JOE. "
Yeah, I did that, too. But Merriam does offer: "variants: or less commonly Navaho"

SALVO - While the clue is not incorrect, the word is more commonly used to mean the simultaneous firing of multiple guns.

Lucina said...

AnonT:
I'm on MAXOVERDRIVE at finishing your puzzle! That is some good stuff. I printed it after my nap and finished it quickly. You should construct more often. Of course, there is some I didn't quite get in the NW but went with my gut and then checked the answer grid. It was all correct! I really liked your clues and see you got some Italian and Spanish in there.

inanehiker said...

I'm with IrishMiss - I finished Tony's puzzle with perps - it was a great crossword for an IT crowd - but most of the really techie clues I didn't know what was being referred to- made for a creative solve!

OAS - my name is a partial scramble of the letters in my real name. I like to hike- but day hike- not like my husband who likes the backpack for days type hikes!

Yellowrocks said...

A salvo can be a discharge of weapons in unison, such as a 21 gun salute, especially on ceremonial occasions.

Jayce said...

If I recall, Salvo was Inspector Montalbano’s first name. (It’s Salvu in the Sicilian dialect.)

Wilbur Charles said...

Slight hiccup. Lager<ON TAP. Actually I had MEERCAT so I spelled it LAGAR.
And... MDT<PDT.

Hitchhiking: when I was a college student in Boston some New Yorkers pulled over and asked directions. I said " Go up the road a mile and when you come to the FORK* in the road go right.
They left in shock.

I did this quickly after a funeral in the morning. But I fell asleep during the blog, was woken up for a shopping trip then pizza.
Magic just beat Miami, they now have spot #8.

15 Xwords, TTP? Since I do everything on Android I don't bother with online solves perhaps I can print out -T's Xword.

Thanks to the Anon who provided Picard's handle. He'd love to hear from people.

WC

* The Boston accent made it sound like F@#K