google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, April 12, 2019, Joe Kidd

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Apr 12, 2019

Friday, April 12, 2019, Joe Kidd

Title: Do you speak Thai Oo? KA!

We have the first 2019 puzzle from Mr. Kidd after he had 6 last year. His specialty seems to be to add letters and today is no exception. The bigram "KA" is inserted at the beginning of a word in a two-word phrase to create a new and whimsical fill. The cluing is also all fun. This week the consistency is A-B-B-A, with 11-10-10-11 letter themers. The base phrases are Friday hard to parse but once you got one, they all should fall in place. He also includes ALOOFLY. BACKRUB, MIDTERM, ONE BALL, TRAFFIC COPS, and SUPER MODELS as sparkly long fill. Getting these words in the grid is what makes gridding the trickiest part of puzzle creation, to me. Time to review the theme and the rest of the creation.

17A. Energetic jug band performer?: KAZOO ANIMAL (11). We have had a few jug band references lately, and I still do not have any great link, but here you can LEARN HOW.

29A. Skewered food cooked vertically?: PLUMB KABOB (10). We have the kebab/kabob hurdle to overcome, and you must know about the art of the PLUMB BOB.

46A. Doesn't get fixed?: STAYS KAPUT (10). A phrase no one would ever use, but I think we all know the concept from the German kaputt, perhaps via Yiddish קאַפּוט (kaput, “lost, dead”). The same word has also been borrowed by many other languages.

56A. Wile E. Coyote purchases from Acme?: KABOOM BOXES (11). My favorite for so many reasons, including our new recurring theme of Wile E. and his efforts to blow poor Roadrunner to smithereens. WATCH. I also like smithereens. 

Across:

1. Building unit: ACRE. A tricky 1A, as lot size is not the first thing to come to mind.

5. "Oh yeah?": THAT SO? Missing an "IS"?

11. Pranks, in a way, for short: TPSToilet papers. I never understood the joy of wrapping houses in toilet paper.

14. Industrial portmanteau: SMOG. Smoke/fog.

15. Movie leads, often: HEROES. A vague answer that took a bit of perpage.

16. Narrow inlet: RIA. We have this very often.

19. Mtn. stat: ALTMountain statistic - altitude.

20. Lodge: INN.

21. With indifference: ALOOFLY. Not a word I ever use.

23. Western formation?: POSSE. A clip from THE LAST POSSE.

26. "See ya later": TATA. Did you all see this MOVIE?

28. Some distance away: AFAR.

31. Caine and Connery: SIRS. Michael and Sean.

32. __ rally: PEP. The ones I attended were not this fancy.

33. What snobs may put on: AIRS. And Birkenstocks?

34. "Up to 3,000 lights" brand: BIC. Well flic my bic!

35. Do business with: SELL TO. Buy from?

37. Mississippi source: ITASCA. Itasca is a word coined by Henry Schoolcraft as a name for Lake Itasca, the source of the Mississippi River. Schoolcraft coined the name from a combination of the Latin words veritas ("truth") and caput ("head").

40. Seminarian's subj.: RELigion.

41. Like-minded group: BLOC. I have had this a few time this year.

42. It's worn with a kimono: OBI. What do you get when Alec Guiness loses his sash - a Wan Kenobi?

44. Himalayan priest: LAMA. The one L.

49. Off-kilter: ALOP. perhaps my least favorite "A" word.

50. Weymouth of Talking Heads: TINA. This is a bit obscure, but the letters filled themselves.

51. Oxidizes: RUSTS. In case you wondered where rust comes from, it is a reddish- or yellowish-brown flaky coating of iron oxide that is formed on iron or steel by oxidation, especially in the presence of moisture.

52. Like some elections: MIDTERM. We had some last year.

54. "This is __ chance": OUR. No, it is your chance to write whatever you want, except religion, politics or personal attacks.

55. Cooler cooler: ICE. Cute clue- sorry Tin.

62. Zero, to Man U: NIL. British...CSO to all of our over the pond contributors.

63. Online investment service: ETRADE. In 1982, William A. Porter and Bernard A. Newcomb founded TradePlus in Palo Alto, California, with $15,000 in capital. In 1991, Porter and Newcomb founded E-Trade Securities, Inc., with several hundred thousand dollars of startup capital from TradePlus.

64. Loan default risk: REPO.

65. Remote cells: AAS. Yes, lost remotes use these.

66. One who's determined to lose: DIETER. Or those who buy Powerball tickets.

67. Server's edge: AD IN. Advantage.

Down:

1. Suggest, as a price: ASK. If you are doing business with someone.

2. Org. that voted Keith Urban 2018 Entertainer of the Year: CMA. Apparently, the result was shocking even to Australian Keith.

3. "Monsters, Inc." raspy-voiced undercover agent: ROZ. I watched the movie, but remember nothing from it.

4. "I" swelling?: EGOISM. Another cute clue.

5. Word of comparison: THAN.

6. Farm female: HEN. It is time the chicken got some props.

7. Jackie O's second: ARI.

8. Original V8 base: TOMATO. This has led to CONTROVERSY.

9. Aquanaut's workplace: SEALAB.

10. Nobel Institute city: OSLO.

11. They sometimes help relieve congestion: TRAFFIC COPS. A very nice misleading Friday clue/fill combo.

12. Vertical Parthenon component: PILLAR. Column has the same number of letters.

13. Mythical man-goats: SATYRS. In Greek mythology, a satyr, also known as a silenos, is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exaggerated erection. But in Roman representations, they are depicted as a man with a goat's ears, tail, legs, and horns

18. Yellow pool table item: ONE BALL.

22. Caravan stopover: OASIS. A must on all your desert adventures,

23. Maximally soft, in music: PPP. This term equals pianississimo. New to me.

24. Fútbol cheers: OLES.



25. Celebs on runways: SUPERMODELS. I do not think there are any real ones any more, just media creations.

26. Poi plant: TARO.

27. Hunk's pride: ABS.

30. Build-it-yourself buy: KIT. Hey, Dennis, how are you?

34. Massage parlor service: BACKRUB. We do not mention this subject around Robert Kraft.

36. Sprang: LEAPT.

37. Three-time NHL All-Star Kovalchuk: ILYA. An unknown, but here he is.

38. Talking-__: lectures: TOS.

39. Be up against: ABUT.

41. Disallow: BAN.

43. "__ a deal!": ITS.

44. Thin layer: LAMINA. Latin -a thin layer, plate, or scale of sedimentary rock, organic tissue, or other material.

45. Jodie Foster's birth name: ALICIA. Jodie Foster was born Alicia Christian Foster on November 19, 1962, in Los Angeles.

46. Low clouds: STRATI. Latin -  a cloud of a class characterized by a gray, horizontal layer with a uniform base, found at a lower altitude than altostratus, usually below 8000 feet.

47. Musical tone quality: TIMBRE. This is a nice word, characteristic quality of a musical sound, from French timbre "quality of a sound," earlier "sound of a bell,

48. Natural light show: AURORA.

53. Barely managed, with "out": EKED.

54. Traditional Passover barley offering: OMER. A very timely clue/fill. READ.

57. Granola kernel: OAT.

58. Keats creation: ODE.

59. Marked, as a ballot: XED.

60. Prefix with -logue: EPI. Not the center this time.

61. Male issue: SON.

Joe was all over the place with this one, but once again it is in the record books. We still do not know his story but he can make a fun puzzle. A rose by any other name. Thank you JK. Thank you all who read and write here at the corner.

Note from C.C.:

Happy 74th birthday to WikWak! Hope all is well, Chuck. 

Abejo, WikWak, Madame DeFarge & TTP 7/19/2018

43 comments:

OwenKL said...

She displayed her EGOISM loosly,
Treated all around her quite ALOOFLY!
If there's a hierarchy
To insectile larvae,
She would have put on AIRS as A LOO FLY!

Han Soo was a HERO in the LAMA choir.
He had rid the temple of a vile SATYR.
"There's power in a book,
So my pen I took,
And re-wrote his character as a satire!"

Tom ceaselessly played his KAZOO.
It annoyed his wife (and neighbors, too).
It was TOMATO red
She switched a cherry bomb instead,
He picked it up and played a KABOOM!

{B+, A-, B.}

D4E4H said...

Excellent morning Cornies.

Thank you Joe Kidd for this exceedingly difficult Friday CW. I was able to FIR in 51:56 min. I caught the theme when I played the kazoo.

Thank you Lemonade for your excellent review.

PK FLN at 11:11 PM , Thanks for catching my joke. I also know that ants aid the blooming of peonies, but I didn't know how so I LIU.

"When you look at a peony flower bud that’s starting to open, you can see green scales covering and protecting the forming blossom. These green scales have a specialized plant gland known as a nectary along the outside edges. Nectaries produce nectar, which is basically a blend of sugar, water and amino acids. It’s an ideal food source for foraging ants."

Happy 74th birthday to you, WikWak! You will be as old as me till May 3rd.

Ðave

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. The KABOOM BOXES was my Rosetta Stone for this puzzle, although PLUMB KABOB was my first theme fill.

Happy Birthday, WikWak!

We occasionally have reference to characters in the books of Beverly Cleary. Today she turns 103! Her books were a big part of my childhood. They were funny and fun. In honor of her birthday, she is the author of today's QOD.

QOD: Quite often somebody will say, “What year do your books take place?”, and the only answer I can give is, “In childhood.” ~ Beverly Cleary (née Beverly Atlee Bunn, b. Apr. 12, 1916)

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Needed Wite-Out to change SEZ WHO? to THAT SO? Otherwise, this was a smooth romp. Once again, d-o completely missed the reveal. Was there one? Thanx, Joe and Lemonade.

BACKRUB: I remember the story, but not the name. Had to DDG to learn who Robert Kraft was. At first, I spelled it Craft and found a totally different guy.

TOMATO: We usually have a big bottle of V-8 Spicy Hot in the fridge. The empty bottles are just the right size for filling the reservoir in the coffee maker.

PPP: I think the guy who invented "pianississimo" was a stutterer.

Happy Birthday, WikWak, wherever you are.

Yellowrocks said...

Wow! An easy Friday puzzle. After I got KABOOM and KAPUT, sussing the theme helped me with the other two. Cute. I love The Road Runner. Only two new words, names, of course, ILYA and TINA.
Happy birthday, WIK WAK. I hope you chime in today.

Ogden Nash is one of my favorites. I like his rythm and his whimsy.
The one-l lama,
He's a priest.
The two-l llama,
He's a beast.
And I will bet
A silk pajama
There isn't any
Three-l lllama.*
-- Ogden Nash
I've heard that the three-l lllama is a three alarm fire.

DO, I use the large, empty V-8 bottle to water my plants.It's too large for the occasional head slap.
Carpal tunnel surgery on Monday. I've lost quite a bit of dexterity. My touch typing skill will probably not return - aging brain, vision and hand coordination. I transpose letters, hit the letter beside the one I need, etc etc. And I can't proofread on the screen. I need to print out important articles. Thanks for putting up with me. I find that two finger typing is more accurate these days. I will try to remember that.

Jerome said...

A palindrome in the puzzle today. ANIMAL, LAMINA.

Big Easy said...

It's Friday, and for me it's new word day. LAMINA made sense but have never seen it. The various STRATA were really STRATI. I'm not Jewish, so OMER was completely foreign. But the cross of two complete unknowns-TINA & ILYA- was just a WAG. ALICIA was all perps. The KA addition was obvious from the start.

Talking Heads; aren't they the idiots acting like informed people on cable news? I thing the old term was blowhards.
NHL- there's no ice hockey down in New Orleans.

ITASCA-source? Not a chance. There is no single source. The most distant 'source' is really the 'source' of the Missouri River, which merges with the Mississippi River.

SUPERMODELS=skinny women with implants
'Massage parlor service'-RUB and others in FL.

desper-otto- Now speak 'very, very softly' when referring to the owner of the Patriots.

TTP said...

Thank you Joe Kidd and thank you Lemonade.

Happy Birthday WikWak ! Hope all is well. We miss you.

So far this week, Wednesday had the longest solving time at just over 24 minutes. Yesterday was just under 23 minutes, and today was 15:03. Odd solving week for me.

D-O, I spent a few minutes trying to suss a theme. I came up with KA Words. Each of the words are standalone without the KA prefix. ZOO, BOB, PUT and BOOM. Didn't see anything beyond the fact that they were all KA words.

Lemonade, HA ! We had similar thoughts about massage parlor service, except I was thinking Robert Kraft wasn't going there for the BACK RUBs. He has no plausible deniability if they indeed filmed him as reported. They must have, as his attorneys have requested that all videos are suppressed. Haven't paid any attention to it beyond that.

ITASCA is a Chicago city / burb in the metropolitan area not too far from Abejo and me. The guy winning on Jeopardy is from another nearby city, Naperville. Tony's brother used to live there.

D4, I got your joke. We have peonies on two adjacent sides of the house, as does one neighbor across the street. He told me many years ago that the peonies will not open without the ants.

Oas said...

A fine Friday puzzle Joe Kidd , thanks.
Enjoyed the review Lemonade.
D4 I agree it was tough but FIR in 25 minutes.
The easier fills took care of the tough ones.
The only unsure puzzlers were ADIN & ALOP.
Neat puzzle — teacher would be pleased.
I saw my first grade school teacher wheeled into an A&W the other day. The only memory that came to mind was how she would sneak up on students , me included and rap their knuckles with a wooden ruler if the papers wasn’t neat enough.
Owenkl. Thanks for the smiles.
Cc& Boomer my condolences FLN were in regards to the death of Spring and the rebirth of Winter across Minn and the Midwest.
Hope you are coping okay.
I hear of truckers stranded all over the midwest.
TGIF
Cheers

Jerome said...

I spent a year in Asia river rafting. Often used a Tibetan kayak.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Joe Kidd, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.

Lemonade: Liked the Wile e. Coyote Kabooms. Good link.

This puzzle went quicker for me than a normal Friday. It just kind of clicked.

Liked the theme, very clever.

ACRE was my last entry. I was not looking for a piece of land. Makes sense, though.

As TTP said, Itasca, IL, is right down the road from me. However, Lake Itasca, MN, is a good piece away.

TIMBRE is a new word for me.

The PPP sword is also new to me.

OMER is an interesting word.

Happy Birthday to WikWak. I also gave him a call this morning to wish him a Happy Birthday and to ask him to visit the Blog. I left him that message.

See you tomorrow, maybe. I have a big day.

Abejo

( )

Lemonade714 said...

I this the trip you took Jerome? KAYAKING IN TIBET ?

HBDTY and many more WIK WAK

Lemonade714 said...

George, most models, super or otherwise do not have implants. With the exception of VS, big boobies do not help a model's career. You can ask the newest crop of Victoria Secret MODELS.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I laughed out loud when the gimmick finally slapped me upside the head!
-Land near the Empire State Bldg is $2,066/sq. ft. and an ACRE is 43,560 sq. ft. so…
-AFAR - we just photographed a black hole 55,000,000 light years away and a light year is about 6,000,000,000,000 miles so…
-He could SELL snow blowers TO Panamanians
-My neighbor was ASKING $300,000 for his house and turned down $280,000 immediately. It’s a year later and he is now ASKING $270,000
-“I’d rather be a hammer THAN a nail…”
-In Shout, The Isley Brothers go from FFF to PPP and back to FFF in the middle
-My pickup needs a small part to be repaired but the truck is snowbound in Minneapolis. Therefore, my dealer is letting me use a $65,000 Cadillac as a loaner!
-HBD, WikWak!
-More welders coming in!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Happy Birthday to WikWak.

My ship came in! The added KA sussed relatively easily. Grew up with the Coyote and all the KABOOM events, and KAPUT was standard patois in our home. When we lived in western NY, we were one mile from the KAZOO factory. And when eating out at our favorite Greek restaurant, I always have the KABOB dish.
Much fresh fill, especially the long downs, and SUPER cluing. Thanks JK for a delightful outing.
AAS - Our cable remotes use AAS, but most of the other remotes use AAA's.
OSLO - Only the Nobel Peace Prize is given out there. All the other Nobels are awarded in Stockholm.
KAPUT - German kaputt as Lemonade said. L. German also likes to use 'twei' ((broken in) two).
RUST referred to here is Fe2O3, Ferric Oxide. Ferrous oxide, FeO is black, used as a pigment and is found in cosmetics. Also used in some tattoo inks.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I think my brain needs a jump start as I completely missed the correct parsing with the theme answers. I thought the K words were just funny sounding words and because of that limited interpretation, I thought the Clues and Answers were forced. This gave me negative feelings about the puzzle until reading the expo and seeing the light. I needed perps for Itasca, Roz, and Alicia, and only a WAG saved me at the Ilya/Tina crossing. We just had Omer recently so that was easy to fill in. The less said about Alop, the better.

Thanks, Joe, for a tricky Friday stumper and thanks, Lemony, for your cheery and concise commentary. That clip of "Christopher Robin" piqued my interest in seeing it.

Happy Birthday, WikWak, hope it's a special day. 🎂🎁🎉🍾🎈Hope all is well.

Have a great day.

Lemonade714 said...

Agnes, we really enjoyed the CHRISTOPHER ROBIN movie and the very well done sequel (not a remake) to MARY POPPINS. Anyone else? This weekend will be too crowded to go to see the new AVENGERS and GOT returns for the final six episodes...

Anonymous said...

I already miss Hahtoolah's Friday summaries.

Misty said...

Well, Fridays are almost always toughies for me, and this one was no exception. But I enjoyed it--many thanks, Joe--and thanks for the helpful commentary, Lemonade. My favorite clues were the ones for DIETER (one determined to lose) and SON (male issue). Never heard of ITASCA or PLUMB KABOB. But no matter, still a fun puzzle.

Happy birthday, WIK WAK.

Sorry to hear about your carpel tunnel problem, Yellowrocks, and hope you have an easy and successful surgery on Monday.

Have a good weekend coming up, everybody!

Yellowrocks said...

Having a music teacher ex and having hung out with the music majors in college, I knew timbre. I attended many recitals and the post recital discussions. "In simple terms, timbre is what makes a particular musical sound have a different sound from another, even when they have the same pitch and loudness. For instance, it is the difference in sound between a guitar and a piano playing the same note at the same volume." Wikipedia. I have heard timbre used to describe singing voices,too. Singers and instrumentalists can vary the timbre of the notes they sing or play.
TAM-ber\ and, with a more French-influenced second syllable, \TAM-bruh\.
Most expert say that Lake Itasca is the source of the Mississippi, but a few do not agree. I found an article about this, but the site was noted as unsafe.
Kaboom brings back happy memories of when my grandson was a toddler. I would hold him level a few inches above the bed and drop him, saying,"Kaboom!" Hilarity ensued. He would say "Again" "Again" as many times as I was willing.

Anonymous said...

I spent a day last summer exploring Lake Itasca and the state park of the same name. While it was fun to wade in the outflow which becomes the Mississippi, it is hard to deny the inflow to Itasca from nearby Elk lake. I drove over there to investigate. There is no doubt that Elk lake feeds Lake Itasca so in my opinion, which is correct by the way, the real source of the Mississippi is from the two creeks which feed Elk Lake which feeds Lake Itasca. The outflow from Lake Itasca is just a foot or so deep and about 10 feet across and full of curioes waders, both very young and very old.

CanadianEh! said...

Fabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, Joe and Lemonade.
I found some crunch today, but I got the KA addition and smiled at some of the different clues/answers. I haven't seen PLUMB BOB for a while; It reminded me of getting the initial straight line to start wallpapering (a true test of a marriage!).

I needed perps for ITASCA, TINA, OMER, ILYA.
Lots of Latin today with LAMINA, RIA, STRATI, AURORA, Pianissimo*.

My farm female was an Ewe before a HEN.
I had BodyRUB before BACK RUB.
I don't think NIL is British for zero; rather it is used in soccer (English football) scoring instead of zero. Thus the reference to the Manchester U soccer team.

Don't you just love the musical tone quality of the properly spelled TIMBRE vs. the pitch and intensity of the yelled warning of Timber as a tree is falling. "If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it have TIMBRE?"

Is A LOO FLY an insect in a British john?

Wow, HuskerG, enjoy that Cadillac!
YR- Hope the surgery on Monday helps the carpal tunnel issue.
Happy Birthday WikWak.
TATA!

*Here is a list of musical dynamics:
fff ---- louder than ff
ff ----- fortissimo ------ louder than f
f ------ forte -------------- loudly
mf --- mezzo-forte ------ moderately loud
mp -- mezzo-piano ----- moderately soft
p ----- piano -------------- softly
pp --- pianissimo ------ softer than p
ppp - softer than pp

oc4beach said...


A good but doable Friday puzzle from Joe Kidd and I was able to do in under 27 minutes today. Lemon's tour was extensive.

At first I thought that the double O's in KAZOO ANIMAL, ALOOFLY and KABOOM BOXES had something to do with the theme, but I was wrong. Pretty soon the KA became evident.

I had EWE, SOW and COW before the HEN clucked her way in.

It's National Grilled Cheese Sandwich day. One of my favorite sandwiches. I usually add a little bit extra to it to spice it up. I experiment with different cheeses and breads. Plus some good old fashioned tomato soup to dunk them in, along with some chips on the side (Gibbles or Middleswarth). How do you like them?

Have a great day everyone.

Lucina said...

Hola, amigos y amigas!

A very happy birthday, WikWak!

Thank you Joe Kidd and Lemonade for a fun filled Friday!

DIETER and SON were today's favorites for me and as has been noted, we saw OMER recently.

I finally learned ADIN as a tennis term and now know that ONE is the yellow BALL.

Jerome:
Good catch on the palindrome!

ILYA and TINA, as clued, were unknown. I only recall ILYA Kuryakin from Mission Impossible. That's how old I am!

YR:
How distressing for you to be so limited in using your hands. I also hope your surgery goes well.

Have a superb day, everyone! It's cloudy here.

AnonymousPVX said...


This Friday puzzle went quickly after I moved out of the NW.

I agree that Mr. Kraft didn’t get his back rubbed...I doubt his back figured into it at all. That’s not why he went to a “rub n tug”. I guess that’s why you don’t have to be a genius to be rich. Idiot.

No markovers today as I was patient with crosses.

And on to Saturday.

Yellowrocks said...

I know nil is often used for sports scores, but aside from that, NIL is very commonly used in the US to mean NOTHING. I read it all the time.
"But with a Republican Senate and president, the chances of either measure moving beyond the House are virtually nil." New York Times Feb 13, 2019. TSK TSK on both parties' sides. Let's judge issues on their merits, instead of by party loyalty.
"Too bad about the weather,” Davenport tells me as we slog through an intermittent snowstorm, visibility near nil. Washington Post Nov 8, 2018.
Lucina, thanks for your concern. Not so dire yet. I can do most things normally with my hands, although I have to be very careful when typing that I do not look like an ignorant speller. I used to take pride in my spelling. I just hemmed three pairs of pants for Alan, but threading a needle and sewing are becoming difficult and slow. Other than that, just putting on earrings and other jewelry and hooking my bra take lots of time. I mostly do okay. My main reason for the surgery is that I know I am deteriorating and any more loss would be problematic. My doctor is very positive of a good outcome.
Canadian, tree falling in the woods,TIMBER! LOL I loved your comments.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thanks for a fun puzzle, Joe! Thanks, for a fun expo, Lemonade! Liked your starting remark with Oo answering "KA".

My nit was "mtn. stat": ele(vation) before ALT. They have signs which gives elevation on the high passes & peaks. ALTitude is an airplane stat.

Saw the KA words but like TTP was looking for more as a theme and a reveal than a simple letters addition.

I've tried several V-8 concoctions and they all gave me hives. So I don't have V-8 moments.

D4, FLN: I knew peony buds had a sweet taste because I used to lick them as a small child. I have a vague recollection of having my tongue bitten by an ant but keeping quiet about it because my mom would have had a fit about my taste tests again.

YR: Best wishes for full recovery of movement with your surgery Monday. Hugs & prayers!

WikWak: Happy Birthday! Do stop in for some cake.

Irish Miss said...

oc4beach, I haven't ordered the Middleswarth's chips yet as I'm still nibbling away on my Gibble's supply.

YR, good luck on Monday. Hope all goes well and tha you have minimal discomfort and a speedy recovery! 💐 🌷 🌺

Ol' Man Keith said...

HBD WW!

Ta~ DA!
It took a while but it was all doable. (I didn't like ALOP either. Surely a word only found in crosswords or on errant lips...)
KABOOM BOXES was the giveaway--and the funniest fill of all.

Good luck, Yellowrocks, with your surgery!
Hand problems can plague us. I know, with my *#@! Dupuytrens. They're another trade-off for the wisdom of our years. May you enjoy great improvement after Monday's procedure (and no loss of smarts!).
~ OMK

Jayce said...

I got lots of chuckles from this fun puzzle, the biggest chuckle from the image in my mind elicited by KABOOM BOXES. I totally love the roadrunner cartoons. Sure enough I (over)confidently put in COLUMN for that vertical Parthenon component, and it took a bit of "sorting" to solve that upper right area.

Every time I see DIETER in a puzzle I think of the retiring CEO of Mercedes-Benz, Dieter Zetsche. I think his mustache has made a lasting impression on me. (So, if he were to go into business with his SON, they could call it Dieter and Son!)

I, too, parsed ALOOFLY as A LOO FLY, CanadianEh!

Happy birthday, WikWak, and good wishes to you all.

Wilbur Charles said...

I didn't have a lot of time but I didn't need a lot today. I wondered how the othersolvers would fare. Muxed, I see

I inked SEAN for the knighted actors.

I see Server's edge was not BUS BOY

WC

Madame Defarge said...

Hi there.

I've taken most of the day today to stop by the computer to finish this puzzle. What a toughie for me. Not on you, Joe. I think I fried my brain this morning in PT trying to remember the sequences of my exercises.

Thanks, Lemonade. I had to go back and check it all out again. Duh.

TTP: There's a pretty nice article about "James Jeopardy" in the Naperville Sun. Maybe two days ago. I don't know how to link here, but I think it's a safe bet to guess that you do. ;-) Cornerites might like reading it.

Happy Birthday, Wik Wak. Hope all is well with you.

Have a fine rest of the day.



Vidwan827 said...

Thank you Lemonade for a very interesting blog and always chatty and informative. I loved your links as well and your subtle humor. Especially the Obi Wan Kenobi joke ... does kenobi mean what I think it means.

Counting the days on Omer ... I lived in my very early years in Bangkok and the only thing I remember is the number system ... nung, Song, samm, say, hunh, Hok , chet, pat, cow, sip ... which hopefully you know just as well ..!

Havd a nice day all,

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thank you Joe for a fun puzzle. Like Abejo, I was Hz'd-up w/ you and flew through the grid. Alas, a DNF at block 47 [figured I need a vowel at ITASCA x ILYA but which one?]

Fun linky expo Lem. Monsters Inc. is a great movie - the monster under the bed / in your closet is an Industry on the "other side." 2319! is an environmental emergency that calls in the equivalent of the CDC (on our side) to keep out the contamination. I bring this up b/c one client had that code on the server-room door's crypto-lock. It was a 2319 if we needed in :-)
Learnt OMER; thx again.

WOs: dIy b/f KIT; started Columns.
ESPs: OMER, ALOP(?!?)
Fav: TINA on the base [Life During Wartime - 4:32]

{B+, A, B}

YR - Oy! Let us know how it goes Monday (or Tuesday). Yellowrocks to you.

HBD WikWak! I really enjoy you at The Corner; play more oft :-)

For what it's worth, I picked up the theme at ZOO ANIMAL and sailed through to (fav themer) KABOOM BOXES. Fun stuff.

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

//I suck* - wrong base [sic] for TINA. She plays the bass not bass [fish]... No matter
CED - this is for you: Tina's sound.

Cheers, -T
*Henry Winkler mentions how dyslexia still embarrasses him w/ Terry Gross [37:41].

TTP said...

Madame Defarge, I can't find it. The ones I can find are asking for a subscription.

inanehiker said...

Thanks Lemonade and Joe! Had a packed day from dawn to dusk - so just got to it! Amusing theme!

Learning moment on ITASCA - I knew it was the source of the Mississippi- but I always figured it was a Native American name as so many place names are in the Great Plains states.

and HBD WikWak!

xtulmkr said...

If you enjoyed the movie "Christopher Robin", which I did, you should also check out the film "Goodbye, Christopher Robin". It got less play and promotion than the Disney film but is equally good, albeit a more dramatic story.

Lemonade714 said...

My brother from another, I learned how to count in Thai before visiting so I could buy things and pay for them. You did well, but 5 is HAH. Maybe this year I will count the Omer in Thai to complete my multi-cultural life.

Have a good weekend all and see you in May

Madame Defarge said...

TTP @6:19

Just checked with DH. He found it on the Chicago Tribune "Chicago Breaking News" site. Are you a Trib subscriber?

Oas said...

Canadian eh? If a man says something in a forest and nobody hears him , is he still wrong ?

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Joe and Lemonade!

Needed perp help with ILYA, ALICIA, OMER and ITASCA.

Am home from rehab. Horrible experience.

HBTY WikWak! Best wishes to Yellowrocks.

Anonymous T said...

Welcome home Fermat! Cheers, -T