google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, April 3, 2019, Kevin Christian & Jules Markey

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Apr 3, 2019

Wednesday, April 3, 2019, Kevin Christian & Jules Markey

Theme: MIND BENDING

17. When the dot-com bubble began: MID-NINETIES.

23. Form of the game of tag: BLIND MAN'S BLUFF.

39. Small Apple tablet: iPAD MINI.

 51. Ad boast for a relaunched product: NEW AND IMPROVED.

63. Trait for an evil genius ... and a hint to what can literally be found in 17-, 23-, 39- and 51-Across: TWISTED MIND.

Melissa here. These mixed up letter themes can be hard to spot, especially when the word is short. I didn't see all the MINDs until the reveal was filled in.

Across:

1. Specially formed: AD HOC.

6. Suffix with Jumbo: TRON.

10. Outback: BUSH. Australia.

14. Avian crops: CRAWS. Learning moment for me. A craw is an area in a bird's throat in which food can be kept, also called a crop. Thus the phrase, "stick in one's craw."

15. Disney film set in Polynesia: MOANA. With a two-year old granddaughter and another on the way, I am trying to learn all my Disney princesses.

16. "Fancy meeting you here!": OH HI.

19. Prompted on stage: CUED.

20. Energy Star co-mgr.: EPA.

21. Backless slippers: MULES.

22. Country's Haggard: MERLE. After a troubled childhood he was incarcerated a few times in his youth - notably in San Quentin. He joined the prison band after being inspired by a 1958 New Year's Day performance there by Johnny Cash, and went on to write a handful of hit songs about prison. Haggard died in 2016.

27. River formations: DELTAS.

29. Kiwi-shaped: OVAL.

30. Eye-opener?: ALARM.

31. Aplomb: POISE.

34. Hieroglyphics bird: IBIS.

38. Court figs.: DAS. District Attorneys.

42. D-Day vessel: LST. News to me: Landing Ship, Tank (LST), or tank landing ship, is the naval designation for ships first developed during World War II (1939-1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto shore with no docks or piers.

43. Uninvited picnic arrivals: ANTS.

45. Short or tall thing (and neither refers to height): ORDER. I was thinking coffee or espresso.

46. Zany: LOONY. Fun to see this so close to 50A.

48. Soupçon: HINT. New word for me. French. From Wictionary: "A very small amount; a hint; a trace, slight idea; an inkling. No one is so depraved that a soupçon of goodness cannot be found in them."

50. Acme's best customer?: COYOTE. In production is Coyote vs. Acme, the first Looney Tunes film to be in 3D, RealD, 3D and IMAX 3D. From IMDB: "A story set in the ACME warehouse, the manufacturer of anything and everything used by the Looney Tunes characters."

57. Hoover rival: ORECK.

58. Patterned fabric: TOILE. More French. "A fabric, from the French word meaning 'linen cloth' or 'canvas,' particularly cloth or canvas for painting on."

59. Fuel for the fire: LOG.

62. Almond __: MILK.
 66. Censorship-fighting org.: ACLU.

67. __ Hawkins Day: SADIE. From Wikipedia: "An American folk event and pseudo-holiday originated by Al Capp's classic hillbilly comic strip Li'l Abner (1934–1978). This inspired real-world Sadie Hawkins events, the premise of which is that women ask men for a date or dancing."

68. Ancient Greek region: IONIA.

69. Abrasive tool: RASP.

70. Proof word: ERAT.

71. Itsy-bitsy: TEENY.

Down:

1. Pinnacle: ACME. Again with Wile E. Coyote!

2. Water waster: DRIP.

3. Whooped it up: HAD A BLAST.

4. Dominate: OWN.

5. Forensic TV spin-off: CSI MIAMI.

6. Carved emblem: TOTEM.

7. Mrs. Gorbachev: RAISA.

8. Number of gods worshipped in Zoroastrianism: ONE. Hope to see Bohemian Rhapsody movie soon - I did not know this about Freddie Mercury.

9. "Stillmatic" rapper: NAS.

10. Italian tenor Andrea: BOCELLI.

11. Swahili for "freedom": UHURU.

12. Walmart stock holder?: SHELF. Love this clue.

13. HDTV part, for short: HI DEF.

15. Mix together: MELD.

18. Many "Call the Midwife" characters: NUNS.

22. CFO's degree: MBA. Master of Business Administration.

24. USPS unit: LTR. Letter. My nonprofit receives up to 1,000 units every month.

25. Private reply?: NO SIR. Second favorite clue.

26. "Frozen" reindeer: SVEN.

27. Bit of baby talk: DADA.

28. Pizazz: ELAN.

31. Start of a series: PART I.

32. A little bit off: ODD.

33. "__ Mine": Beatles song: I ME.

35. Sequence of direct ancestors: BLOODLINE. Family tree didn't fit.

36. "Freedom __ free": salute to military sacrifice: ISN'T.

37. Ocular malady: STYE.

40. Spot for a koi or a decoy: POND.

41. "That was awesome!": I LOVED IT.

44. Move in together: SHACK UP.

47. "Listen up," to Luis: OYE.

49. Pen filler: INK.

50. King with a pipe: COLE. Nat King Cole. (*Correction - thanks D-otto, Canadianeh! and Lucina, this was surely a reference to "Old King Cole" of nursery rhyme fame. Ironically enough though, Nat King Cole did collect pipes, and died of lung cancer.)

51. SportsNet LA analyst Garciaparra: NOMAR. Usually rely on perps for sports clues. Retired baseball player who played All-Star shortstop with Boston Red Sox, third base and first base for the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Oakland Athletics.

52. Writer Jong: ERICA.

53. Water sources: WELLS.

54. Crete peak: Abbr.: MT IDA. Had no idea. Wikipedia.

55. Put forth: POSIT.

56. Solemn ceremony: RITE.

60. "Come __!": ON IN.

61. Outback greeting: G'DAY.

63. Mao __-tung: TSE.

64. "__Games": 1983 Matthew Broderick film: WAR.

65. Curly associate: MOE.



56 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIRight. Last fill wes changing ERgo > ERAT. Needed the reveal to get the theme.
Did anyone else but me have LAYA > TRON for Jumbo?

Wile E. COYOTE is his name, and he is fast.
He's tried to catch the Road Runner in the past.
With his ORDERS from ACME
He's happy as a clam, he
LOVED IT and he always HAD A BLAST!

It's difficult to raise rambunctious boys.
You may POSIT that they haven't any POISE.
They'll often cause ALARM,
Even when they mean no harm,
Especially when for girls, they trade their toys!

D4E4H said...

G'day mates!

Thank you Kevin Christian & Jules Markey for this crunchy Wednesday CW which I eventually FIR in 41:33 min.

Thank you melissa bee for your excellent review.

39 A - The dog even looks guilty.

63 A - I learned the theme, if you don't mind.

10 D - Italian tenor Andrea: BOCELLI. While we are saying hello, it's time for
Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli - Time to Say Goodbye (1997).


18 D - WAG ! Why is this the answer?

28 D - Pizazz: ELAN. I show ELAN when I have more than one pizza, (pizazz.)

61 D - Outback greeting: G'DAY. Honest, I had forgotten this when I wrote my greeting today.

Ðave

John E said...

Lemonade and Lucina: Thanks for yesterday's clarification. And Jerome for the added joke.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Missed the theme until the reveal, but that's par for the course. No Wite-Out required this morning as I stair-stepped my way to the bottom. Thanx, Kevin, Jules and Melissa Bee. (I think that reference was to Old King Cole [that merry old soul], rather than Nat.)

ONE: I had not heard about Freddy Mercury and Zoroastrianism, which apparently has nothing to do with swordplay. When asked, I admit to being a Frisbeetarian.

Another taxing day...gettin' close to the end. Just five more sessions, counting today.

thehondohurricane said...


Morning everyone,

A DNF today. Left the L out for 30A & 28D. The final A in MOANA was a guess. First time I heard of the film. I was thinking II, but something told me to go with the A.

Time to say goodbye a favorite. If I'm given the time to make the plan, I'm going to insist it is played at my funeral (in about 30 or 40 years!)

From yesterday. Irish Miss, Was in your part of the country on 3/24 for a card show. Didn't get back for the ladies. If they lost to Louisville, I would have been ok with it. If they lose in TAMPA I will be very upset.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIW, misspelling ReISA. UNIIE!

Hesitated for ACME at 1d because it was in the 50a clue.

Bill Ballance, a radio blabbermouth in San Diego, used to call SHACKING UP an LTR - living together relationship. (He also released nekkid pictures of the sanctimonious Dr. Laura that he took during their affair.)

CSO to our own C-Eh! with LOONEY.

Don't know any Swahili, but Jugni is Hindi for "firefly". It was also Zoe's racing name.

Thanks to Kevin and Jules for the fun puzzle. I'm about over the Disney references, but I know that others like them. And thanks to MB for another informative review. I always learn something from them.

FLN, OMK I moved from California in '89 or '90 going west on I-10 to Phoenix. The sign and joke were intact when I left.

Kevin Christian said...

Hi everyone, thanks for solving. Jules and I met at the ACPT in March 2018 so that’s when this puzzle was hatched. We originally had DACA at 27-Down, which we thought current and in the vernacular, but Rich asked us to change it. One of the theme answers that didn’t make it was RICHARD M. NIXON. Happy solving!

Yellowrocks said...

Kevin and Jules, fun puzzle, not mind bending at all. NOMAR was the only new word for me.
mb, I loved the IPOD, IPAD, IPAID, I PEED pic.
I had a friend who asked for just a soupçon of whatever was being served.
Wasps are bigger pests at our picnics than ants are. They crawl into soda cans and are attracted by meat. You can just brush the ants off and they don't comeback.
I remember when RAISA was in the news.
Jumb O tron. My first fill. It didn't fool me. Jumb A laya has no O.
I love Wile E Coyote with his Acme gear. No matter what awful things befall him and the Road Runner they always bounce back hale and hearty.
Shacking up is so common these days, that the term is seldom used. Shacking up was pejorative, in my youth.
Back to culling. I am paring down all my possessions. Kinda boring. I'll be back when I need a break. Having helped clean out my MIL's apartment when she moved to the nursing home, I vowed not to leave all that to my son to get rid of.

jfromvt said...

Tricky Wed puzzle, but well done. Five answers ending in I, which is unusual. Only nit is ACME was both in a clue and and answer, which generally is viewed as a no-no.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

A bit weighty by perps were friendly. Stair-stepped ala D-O. Got the theme early which helped with the IPAD MINI fill; also ……IMPROVED. Had 'twill' before TOILE.
NOMAR is Ramon spelled backwards.
Lots of WELLS in the Ogallala Aquifer underlying much of the Great Plains. But then, Husker already knew that.😎
LST's were tough riding with their flat bottoms and max speed of ~ 11 knots.

Thanks Kevin for checking in. I enjoyed yours and Jule's puzzle a lot.

Have a great day.

Oas said...

Great spring morning to all.
No meadowlarks yet but they should be returning soon.
Enjoyed the puzzle thanks Kevin & Jules.
Thanks for a fine review melissa bee.
My paper clued 48 A as Soup on. When HINT appeared I wondered how it related to Soup on.
I came to the corner and saw the right spelling and explanation. I wouldn’t have known that French word either so the correct spelling wouldn’t have helped.
Some WAGS were MOANA, NAS, NOMAR & ORECK.
Jinx I also looked back at ACME when I saw it on the 50A cluing. No worries as the perps were solid.
NEW AND IMPROVED sometimes means more expensive , less durable , and more difficult to repair. 737 -8 max comes to mind.
Oops ! I had resolved to stay in positive mode (or mood ) today. Ah — reset.
Cheers

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

As MB noted, the theme was not at all obvious (at least, to me) until the unexpected reveal. Bravo. I needed perps for Oye, Uhuru, and NAS. I had Almond Roca (candy) before Milk. Lots of fun clues, such as Eye Opener?=Alarm. I didn't see "Bohemian Rhapsody" except for some short clips, but I was impressed with the transformation of Rami Malik (sp?) as Freddie Mercury.

Thanks, Kevin and Jules, for a mid-week challenge and for stopping by, Kevin, and thanks, MB, for the informative and fun expo.

Hondo. I don't really follow basketball (Men or Women) but I wish your lady Huskies well.

FLN

TTP

Glad you're feeling better. Good luck with your golf projects.

Have a great day.

SwampCat said...

I had my phone “repaired”. Maybe it won’t eat my post as it has been doing!

Loved this one! Thanks Kevin and Jules. Spitz, that uncomfortable flat bottom on the LST was the whole point. They could land up on the beach and off load tanks and trucks (and troops) much easier. They were based on shallow draft fishing boats used in the Louisiana bayous. They certainly weren’t built for comfort!

TTP said...

Good morning.

Nice easy puzzle to start the day. Thank you Kevin, Jules and Melissa B.

I liked that cartoon Melissa.

CC also has a puzzle today at Universal

TTP said...

CC also has another puzzle over at USA Today

Spitzboov said...

Swamp @ 0909 - - But for the crew they were rough riding. And if a transit of any distance was involved, the tedium of the slow speed could bring on a miasma. JMHO from having ridden one for several days.

SwampCat said...

Oh, Spitzboov! I wasn’t arguing with you! I had the chance to ride in one for a VERY few minutes and was lucky to emerge with all my teeth! I’m glad you survived. But then the flat bottom fishing boats on which they were based aren’t comfortable either.

Doc said...

I highly recommend Moana. Great story and beautiful music.

CanadianEh! said...

Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Kevin (glad you dropped in) and Jules, and melissa.
I jumped all around on this CW trying to get a foothold. Eventually I got the theme reveal and went back to find the MINDs. Possible Natick of NOMAR and ORECK was the last to fill.

I smiled at Wile COYOTE, ACME (tsk, tsk re using in clue and answer). Loved your poem, Owen.
I know most of the Disney princesses now (granddaughters have books with signatures and photos with all of them at Disneyland!) but I had to wait for spelling of MOANA. (Same with BOCELLI) Jumbo made me think of Dumbo, another Disney creation. We had SVEN too.

This Canadian will not take a CSO for LOONEY (although we may be!) because we spell our dollar coin Loonie (go figure eh Jinx?).
This Canadian does not know ORECK vacuums, although I see that Canadian Tire sells them. (I LIUed to find out whether we were referring to vacuums or a political opponent to Herbert Hoover. Smith, the Dem. candidate in that 1928 presidential election would have fit.)

Yes d'otto, I think that it was Old King COLE that was referenced. "He called for his pipe, he called for his bowl . . .". Again I LIUed and apparently Nat King Cole was the professional name for Nathaniel Adams Coles and was inspired by Old King Cole.

This Canadian also had to use perps and WAGS to determine what all the initials stood for. This was probably simple for you Americans, but ACLU (I have tried to memorize American Civil Liberties Union from previous CWs) and USPS (oh, United States Postal Service) needed translation. We have CCLA (Canadian Civil Liberties Association) and Canada Post. Perhaps that is our cultural exchange for today.

I knew the Swahili greeting, Jambo! (not Jumbo!) from our safari in Kenya. UHURU took a minute to remember. It is the first name of Kenyan president Kenyatta, and also the name of a large park in downtown Nairobi.

We had ELAN and Aplomb=POISE today.
We learned about TOILE and toilette yesterday.
I smiled at the clues eye-opener=ALARM and Walmart stock holder?=SHELF.

G'Day mates.

oc4beach said...

Today's puzzle by Kevin and Jules was a good Wednesday level puzzle. Just enough bite and easy enough. MB put her usual great insight into her tour through the grid.

The long answers just jumped onto the page without any doubt about them. MID NINETIES, BLIND MANS BLUFF, NEW AND IMPROVED and TWISTED MIND.

IPAD MINI was a gimme since I have two of them. I like their size. DW has the full size IPad and the Large IPad Pro and likes their size because they are easier to read with the bigger format. I use a small IPod Touch, and IPhone 6 and the two Mini's for a lot of things like music, streaming and surfing the web. I also have a Kindle Fire that I occasionally use to read Kindle books which I can now do on the Apple devices. However, I still like a full size laptop for doing CW puzzles and real work on spreadsheets, word and other apps.

FLN Jayce: From what I've read >the only thing that Drambuie has changed is the bottle . I still have an old unopened bottle with the cork top instead of the new screw top. I usually don't like it when NEW AND IMPROVED is on a favorite product that now may not be as good as it was. Think New Coke. When Maple Grove Farms changed their Sweet and Sour Salad Dressing to remove high fructose corn syrup, the taste was ruined. I, along with many others, started an email campaign complaining about the change until they changed the taste back to what it had been. The corn syrup was still gone, but the taste was restored.

FLN TTP: I think my disdain for martini's is the fact that they are made with gin and my worst Morning-After-The-Night-Before was because of gin in a college era bad decision.

Have a great day.

xtulmkr said...

Nat King Cole had good "pipes" too.

CrossEyedDave said...

Couple of Wags, no big deal,
but the real puzzle is...

How do I comment on this Theme without implicating myself?

Well, before we do that,
let's go back several years of Blog posts
to find the ultimate catalog!

Yes, it has been posted before, but we must repost from time to time for the newbies...

(Kinda like the word "Stoa" in Crossword Puzzles...)

Anywho...
recent Blog posts about Dentist visits...

Example "B"

&, as usual, Apologies are in order...

Jules said...

Greetings from the east coast! Kevin approached me with this idea at the 2018 ACPT and asked if I wanted to collaborate.
We batted it back and forth via email, with Kevin coming up with the final pieces of the theme set. Thanks to Rich and Patti for publishing, and a big shout out to my friend Leon who announced my L.A. Times debut on the office intercom this morning. Hope it was a good solve!
Cheers, Jules

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Every athletic stadium now vies to have the biggest JUMBOTRON
-It’s a TALL ORDER for me when I sub for the P.E. teacher who has me play grade school games with 18-yr-olds.
-Our cat will let me run our ORECK right up to her and doesn’t even flinch anymore
-“… NO SIR, I don’t mean maybe…”
-Many say Godfather part 2 was better than PART 1
-I asked my horse broker friend about this year’s Kentucky Derby favorites and he started citing BLOODLINES
-I have a very high criterion for using the word AWESOME
-Gotta run, I have kids coming in to weld.
-BTW, one of the articles this teacher is discussing in class is “High-Paying Trade Jobs Sit Empty, While High School Grads Line Up For University”

AnonymousPVX said...


A very nice Wednesday puzzle with just the right amount of crunch. It was a good solve, Jules. Thanks.

HondoH....I’m originally from CT, the New Haven/Wallingford area...you gotta love how the Lady Huskies gutted it out vs UCLA and then woke up against Louisville...before it got close. These are some games!

No markovers today.

Have a good one.

inanehiker said...

This was a fun puzzle and theme! I had a few re-writes with almond BARK before MILK- a carton of which is in my frig as we speak- Doh! Names like BOCELLI - I always have to wait on perps to see if it is 2 "C"s and one "L" or the other way around.
UHURU was the basis of the original Star Trek communications officer Lt. UHURA- and she was supposed to be from "The United States of Africa" with Swahili as her original language.
Some interesting tidbits in the wikipedia article - especially her interaction with MLK:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uhura . I had to wait for the perps on the last letter to figure out whether it was a U or and A.

Thanks Melissa! And thanks to Kevin and Jules for stopping by and congrats to Jules on his LA Times debut!

Misty said...

Well I needed a bit of cheating to finish this fun Wednesday puzzle, but surprisingly I got both BLIND MANS BLUFF and the TWISTED MIND solution early on. It was then fun looking for the other twisted MINDs as the theme answers emerged. I too liked having SHELF be the Walmart stock holder, and seeing the COYOTE cartoon answer. SADIE helped me get the bottom part early, also an easy and fun item. So, many thanks, Kevin and Jules, and how nice that you both checked in with us. And neat write-up, Melissa, with a lovely TOILE picture.

Liked your poems, Owen.

Have a great day, everybody.

Lucina said...

G'Day, mates!

I LOVED IT! Thank you, Kevin Christian and Jules Markey! And thank you, Melissa B!

This was fun. After the reveal I looked for the theme and found the TWISTEDMINDs. Clever!

TRON over MOANA. Both are cartoon movies though I'm not sure if TRON is from Disney. Now that my granddaughters are older and I don't see them often I've lost track of all that. I could once recite all the lines from several older ones.

While reading all the comments I listened to the duo of Andrea BOCELLI and Sara Brightman. Beautiful! Thank you for linking.

I also noticed that NOMAR is Roman spelled backwards and wondered if he changed it.

Old King COLE of Nursery Rhymes fame is who I though of, too.

One of my mother's best friends was named SADIE. One of her legs was shorter than the other and she always walked with a limp.

I didn't know the exact meaning of soupcon so thank you for the explanation.

Have a grand day, everyone!

Tinbeni said...

Melissa: Nice write-up.

Kevin & Jules: Thank you for a FUN Wednesday, TWISTED MIND puzzle.
(That was my favorite answer today).

Well we have the "Final Four" of Women's Basketball here in Tampa Bay this weekend.

I will be watching ... on TV.

Cheers!

Lemonade714 said...

Another double-header for C.C., amazing. This was a nice Wednesday; it is interesting to have both constructors stop by and say hello. Thank you both, and welcome to our world, Jules. Where do you work that they announced your latest venue? Kevin had his first published puzzle here in 2010, with 26 others to follow. Many of which are collaborations. He just had his magic 10th published at the NYT last week. Jules P. Markey has had 17 NYT publications before this his LAT Debut. KC has had only one Friday LAT but I did not blog it.

Love UConn basketball and the Lady Huskies are the best all-time no matter what happens in the next game.

melissa bee said...

d-otto, canadianeh! & lucina, i'm sure you're right, thank you. xtulmakr, loved your "pipes" comment.

ironically enough though, nat king cole did collect pipes, and died of lung cancer.

Lemonade714 said...

Hondo and others, MOANA is a very well done and entertaining movie which can be enjoyed by children and adults. Oo and I loved it.

Spitzboov said...

SOUPÇON

/so͞opˈsoN/
noun
a very small quantity of something.
"a soupçon of mustard"

melissa bee said...

D4E4H, Call the Midwife is a show about midwives in a nursing convent in london.

inanehiker said...

I am rooting for the UConn women because one of their players grew up here in Jeff City: Napheesa Collier- she only had her last years of high school in St Louis when her mom's job was transferred there- an exceptional young woman- not just in basketball. Though they have been favored, they haven't won a national championship when she has been there. Close second is Baylor - as my son is a recent Baylor grad! Go Huskies and Sic 'em Bears!

CrossEyedDave said...

Moana is a great movie,

Critique it yourself...

but beware of complications...

Lemonade714 said...

It is so fun to see what others see in puzzles when you are the blogger. At least we did not have any nasty comments Mel B.

Yellowrocks said...

I am looking forward to tonight's annual murder mystery dance. A member of a neighboring club writes the play and the other members perform it. It is very campy and much of it is ad libbed while keeping to the main plot. It is very silly, but we enjoy seeing our friends perform and yuk it up. Arthur guessed the culprit last year. Between each act and for the last half of the evening there is square dancing.

Our club heard that some clubs in other states are banning yellow rocks in sync with the #Me Too movement. We women at our club thought that was so silly and said we will continue yellow rocking. It is fun and companionable. No one is forced to participate. In all these years of attending so many clubs, only one gal has ever opted out (and with no hassle to participate). We have a very spry 92 year old gentleman who hugs every woman in attendance and when he is in each square he hugs all the four ladies again. He is dear and harmless. We love him. We laugh when the caller has to wait to begin until Eddie makes his rounds.
Yellowrocks to all of you. Hope you are not offended.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Jinx ~
Thanks for getting back to me. The sign was probably still there. I just wouldn't have used I-10 to get anywhere in those days. My needs were all north and south.

Ta ~DA! ~
Neat pzl. The fun is all in the cluing.
Thank you, Melissa Bee, for the rundown on Freddie Mercury and Zoroastrianism. I really hadn't realized it was still practiced and that it went beyond fire-worship.
~ OMK
_____________
DR:
No diags--because the grid is 16X15.

gmony said...

Wow. Here we go again. I felt this one was easier than monday!!! Fun too!!! Good job! Nice Wednesday puzzle!

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle. Thank you, Kevin and Jules, for making it and for visiting us here on the blog today. Since I had APEX at 1-down it slowed me a bit in that area; I don't remember exactly what made realize it should be ACME. I loved those roadrunner cartoons. I also liked the clues for SHELF and NO SIR. Like OwenKL, I had ERGO at first and changed it to ERAT. Also had to change SHARK to ORECK. On the whole, a darn good puzzle, I think.

I'm not sure it is fair to judge by current standards the way a person behaved 30 years ago.

The 737 MAX was a disaster in every way, from poor design to poor management decisions.

Jambalaya also has no U. But it does have oodles of flavorful goodness.

Good wishes to you all.

Jayce said...

That Oreck vacuum cleaner sucked the "me" right out of "what made realize".

D4E4H said...

melissa bee at 1:18 PM, Thank you, I am not in the "habit" of watching that show.

Yellowrocks at 2:20 PM, It has been a long time since I explained to you the value of heart to heart hugs, but you have a good memory. Yellowrocks to you.

Ðave

Big Easy said...

Oh the TWISTED MINDS of crossword constructors confuse many of us.

Soupcon, Swahili, "Call the Midwife" SportsnetLA- complete unknowns but I got the fills through perps. UHURU- use it every day. NOMAR- never heard of him. OYE-perps all the way.

Played golf two weeks ago with a Brit, who is Pakistani. When I told him that Freddie was also Pakistani or Indian, he was stunned; he didn't know but he knew about Freddie's extra incisors.

Kevin- I liked Nixon. His crime was an "after the fact crime", not part of he crime.
SwampCat- I've never been able to post from my phone.



Melissa bee- Mt. IDA is a staple fill in crosswordland.

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Kevin, Jules and mb!

Only problem was NOMAR.

Have a good evening!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Fun puzzle, Kevin & Jules, thanks! Thanks for another fun expo, Melissa!

Almond MILK: my daughter drinks it and thought I should. I'm allergic to all nuts I've tried except cashews. I like the God joke about milk. Good one.

NEW & IMPROVED means I'm probably not going to be able to use it. I loved Swiffer products until they added Fabreze which makes me sneeze and have a headache.

Xtulmkr: liked your comment "Nat King COLE had good pipes too." Good one.

YR: Some of these "inappropriate touching" claims are downright inappropriate IMO. Hugs make the world a better place. My most memorable hug was a few years ago when I was behind a guy in the grocery checkout line and the machine wouldn't honor his credit card. He was trying to buy two pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving dinner. Never saw him before, but I whipped out a ten and paid for his pies to move things along. He was so grateful. He went elsewhere in the store, got $10 and came running across the parking lot waving it to pay me back. Then with a big smile he gave me a big hug. Hey, I'd have paid more than that for the good-feeling hug. What the matter with people who don't want them? On the other hand, I could name a president from whom I wouldn't like one.

Vidwan827 said...

Thank you Melissa Bee for a wonderful blog.
I had the time of my life ! It was so nice reading such interesting comments and so informative.
Also it was a great pleasure to hear from old friends like Lucina and of course Lemonade.

Have a nice day, all.

Lucina said...

My family and I are all huggers and if anyone in our circle is offended by hugs they haven't said. My step-grandchildren are not used to hugging but I think they're almost there. The same with my S-I-L which, of course, explains why his children art that way. They are all slowly adapting.

PK:
I agree with your last sentence. There is one person from whom I wouldn't appreciate a hug.

YR:
Your square dancing group sounds like fun!

Jayce said...

I must say I'm a big hugger too. So far nobody has balked, felt ill at ease, or shrunk away, except an uncle who was extremely reserved and probably wasn't used to them. Now I know he doesn't like hugs; I think his view is a man should at most shake hands with another man.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

PK and Lucina, if your granddaughter got the honor as serving as a White House intern, would you rather she got a hug from William J. Clinton or Donald J. Trump?

Lemonade714 said...

My brother from another mother, Vidwan stopped by. Cool beans. Also, I keep forgetting to say how much I enjoyed the "I PEED" link and the dog who looks like my Remus.

melissa bee said...

PK, that was a great story, thanks for sharing it with us, and for being so kind to a stranger. wonderful that he was so intent on repaying you. that's what thanksgiving (and life) is all about. the world needs more hugs :)

hi vidwan, so nice to see you!

PK said...

Jinx: I wouldn't want my granddaughter anywhere near either one of those womanizers. She's gorgeous & definitely wary of inappropriate behavior and old goats.

Hi Vidwan: good to know you are still around.

Lucina said...

Jinx:
My granddaughters are also gorgeous and nubile. I would recommend that they stay far, far away from both those men. A hand shake will suffice.

Hello, Widwan! Don't be a stranger. It's good to hear from you.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Long day...

Thanks Kevin & Jules for both the puzzle and for dropping into The Corner. The SW was a perp-fest of getting the 5-stack names. Theme was fun for this TWISTED MIND [think like a thief to catch a hacker...]
Last square to drop was the A in RAISA xing MOANA. I had 20% chance.

Fun expo mb - iPeed was funny! //you had other bits but that was back at lunch.

WOs: UHURa [remembered this from the Corner Star Trek talk in the past], ERgo b/f ERAT was POSIT.
ESPs: sure, I'm sure
Fav: TOILE. I lernt this word when DW had a border of Ballooning-TOILE wallpaper put up in our master bath back in the '90s. C, Eh! bringing it up last night helped me spell it.
Runner-up: LOONY Toons' Wile E. COYOTE.

{B, A+}

YR - yellow rocks to you! PK - great story...
I'm not much of a hugger outside of my close group [family ++the two guys I had dinner with tonight - we started at a start-up consultancy in '98. We were the rock-stars (there were only 6 of us :-)]

Lucina - TRON was Disney. I loved the video game. Wiki

Who's up for RUSH? No one? Too bad:* Kid Gloves and "...call it BLIND MANS BLUFF".

Time for 20 winks before tomorrow starts.

Cheers, -T
*or just don't click :-)

jfromvt said...

A day late, but Nomar’s father Ramon spelled his name backwards to name his son. Nomar was an instant star shortstop for the Red Sox, destined for a great career, but then nagging injuries and other issues slowed his career and he went out with a whimper. Famously traded in the middle of the 2004 season by the Red Sox, largely because of his negative vibe in the clubhouse. Without him, Boston won it’s first World Series in 86 years, we now have four in the last 15 years! He’s now an announcer in LA.