google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday May 13, 2019 Dan Margolis

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May 13, 2019

Monday May 13, 2019 Dan Margolis

Theme: This is Us - Each theme entry is in the pattern of U* S*:
  
19. *Anonymous Arlington honoree: UNKNOWN SOLDIER.

31. *Evil Cinderella sibling: UGLY STEPSISTER.

38. *Possibly the perp: UNDER SUSPICION

51. *Entryway conveniences for rain deflectors: UMBRELLA STANDS.

Reveal:

63. With 64-Across, NBC drama ... or, in four parts, a hint to the answers to starred clues: THIS. 64. See 63-Across: IS US

Boomer here.

Greetings from Minnesota where the fishing opener occurred Saturday. I only fish for golf balls these days.  I was able to play my first round of the year Friday. However, we have had so much rain (and snow) that the course would not allow carts on the fairways.  My front nine was pretty good (for me) however all that walking from the cart to the ball created incredible fatigue so the back nine was not so good. The energy that is sapped by my drugs had a hand in that also.

I'll try again this week, weather permitting. And as far as the rainfall goes, I am sure the courses in Houston are not even putting out the carts and the golfers need to use boats.  I hope my good friend desper-otto is doing okay.  Houston had to deal with a hurricane in recent past, and now this.  
   
Across:

1. After-bath powder: TALC.  I think there is a health warning out about this stuff.

5. Crunchy potato snack: CHIP.  One of "My Three Sons".

9. Stew (over): FRET.  I never learned guitar but I know it has several

13. Cookie in some Breyers Cookies & Cream: OREO.  I like these cookies although diabetes prevents me from eating more than two per year.  But they show up in crosswords more than twice per year and I have run out of comments.

14. Vintner's prefix: OENO.

15. Still in the running: ALIVE. And well and living in Minnesota.  Along with millions of fish that were not caught.

16. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" tree: PEAR.  With a partridge hidden in it. Traditional jigsaw puzzle at the Burnikel household.
 


17. Crooner Crosby: BING.  His best rendition was "White Christmas" I believe.

18. Entitled: NAMED.

22. Be worthwhile: PAY.  OR if you are worthwhile you may get paid.

23. Dispenser candy: PEZ.  I had these when I was a kid.  It was a plain dispenser.  Now some of them are collector's items.

24. Boot the ball: ERR.  Baseball slang.  I always call them errors.

25. Wall St. specialist: ARB.  Wall Street had a roller coaster ride last week.  I hope you all survived!

26. Fill to the gills: SATE.

28. __-Wan Kenobi: OBI.  A couple of Saturdays ago.  May the Fourth be with you. 

35. History Muse: CLIO.

36. Sean Lennon's mom Yoko: ONO. "Un Huh OH NO don't let the rain come down."

37. School orgs.: PTAS.  Remember Mrs. Johnson of Harper Valley..

43. Singer Carly __ Jepsen: RAE.

44. Where Cork is: EIRE.  I spell it Ireland but that did not fit

45. Bottom line: NET.  Nothing but …
46. Rowing implement: OAR.  Many were used in Minnesota this past weekend, but most fisherman have a motor.

47. Criticize harshly, as a film: PAN.

48. Freelancer's enc.: SAE.

56. Best man's best friend, often: GROOM.

57. MacFarlane of "Family Guy": SETH.


58. Lane at the Daily Planet: LOIS.  Look!  Up in the sky!  It's a Bird, It's a Plane, NO It's Lois's Boss, Clark.

59. Makes eyes at: OGLES.

60. Part of un opéra: ACTE.

61. "The African Queen" screenwriter James: AGEE.  Centerfielder Tommie of the 1969 Miracle Mets!!

62. Dogs, to dog owners: PETS.  Add CAN and you have a procedure that detects everything but the kitchen sink.

Down:
1. Refresh, as a cup of coffee: TOP UP.  I do this at least five times every morning, but the coffee is never as hot as the first cup.

2. Sports venue: ARENA.

3. Hardly watertight: LEAKY.   We had a leaky shower that damaged our garage ceiling. We had it fixed and it only cost an arm and a leg,

4. Succotash kernel: CORN. This is Minnesota's second largest crop but it may surpass soybeans this year

5. Attic accumulation: COBWEBS.

6. "57 Varieties" brand: HEINZ.  "Our soup costs no more than other kinds, and you know it's good because it is Heinz !"  I cannot name all of the 57 varieties -- Can you??

7. Overnight places: INNS.  My favorite is the C'mon Inn in Billings, Montana.


8. Possum in comics: POGO
9. Natural aptitude: FLAIR.  Reminds me of Ric Flair, pro wrestler in the WWE.  Now I have heard of Charlotte Flair.  I do not know if they are related.

10. Icy winter coating: RIME.  Funny way to spell SNOW.

11. In any way: EVER.  If you're EVER in a jam, here I am. 

12. Media mogul Turner: TED.  He owns a TV network AND a major league baseball team.  I only have a pile of Atlanta Braves baseball cards.

15. Peace Nobelist Sakharov: ANDREI.


20. Grand Ole __: OPRY.  Fort Campbell was only about 60 miles from Nashville.  I never went to the Opry, but we listened on the radio most Saturdays.

21. "Shall we?" response: LETS.

25. Burn soother: ALOE.  When Alexander Graham Bell inventor of the telephone suggested folks answer with AHOY, I think Elisha Gray (founder of Graybar) wanted his phone answered ALOE.

26. Sight or smell: SENSE.

27. Per unit: A POP.

28. Director Preminger: OTTO.  Young Otto Warmbier was sent home from North Korea a few days before his death.  Then Kim sent us a bill for 2 million dollars.  What is this world coming to?

29. Noggin: BEAN.  Orson was a frequent guest of Johnny Carson.

31. Bone parallel to the radius: ULNA.

32. "The Immoralist" author André: GIDE.


33. Sightseeing outing: TOUR.

34. Roasting rod: SPIT.  Back in the days of the HHH Metrodome in Minneapolis, players were not allowed to spit on the Astroturf.  (Tobacco stains).

35. Mangy mutt: CUR.

39. Provides with more weapons: REARMS.

40. Beget: SIRE.  This would be the father of Maximum Security, turning his nose up at the Preakness.  I don't blame him.


41. Reduced to rubble, as by a fire: IN ASHES.

42. Penny: CENT.  "If you haven't got a penny, a half penny will do, If you haven't got a half penny, then God bless you!'

46. Instruments among the reeds: OBOES.

47. Singer LaBelle: PATTI.  I remember Patti Page and see her occasionally on those half hour ad shows that try to sell you CDs of old time hits.

48. Canoodles, in Britain: SNOGS.

49. French bye word: ADIEU. "Adieu, Adieu my friends adieu.  I can no longer stay with you" - Then something about drinking wine.

50. Letters after ars: ESSES.

51. Advocate: URGE.

52. Shed skin: MOLT.

53. Future atty.'s hurdle: LSAT.

54. Solidarity leader Walesa: LECH.  Highly controversial, but I think he represented poor workers very well in Poland and improved their status.  Holler at me if I am wrong.

55. Jai __: ALAI.

56. Republican org.: GOP.  Grand Old Party.  Interesting nickname.

Boomer




52 comments:

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Fun puzzle, Dan! Cute theme. More fun expo, Boomer! Glad you are well enough to play golf, but cringed when you said you did another nine after being in pain. Don't push yourself too hard, friend!

Think my husband and I stayed in the C'mon Inn in Billings, Montana in 1995. Hadn't thought of that in years. It was either that one or one similarly named on our northwestern states tour. Great trip.

Snow? Hoar? No, RIME. Okaaaay.

DNK: GIDE or his book. SNOoG before SNOGS. That wasn't what we called it but it is probably as much fun.

My son & grandson spent some time visiting with me at my house yesterday. Very enjoyable. However, electronic devices were very prominently on display. One of them was talking to me while the other scanned, so can't complain. The visit took place impromptu when grandson's out-of-county baseball game was cancelled because of a muddy field. Yay! Thank you very much for that. Grandmas/Moms aren't as important as ball games, you know.

OwenKL said...

Spiders must like SUCCOTASH,
Should anybody think to ask.
It's made from CORN,
On ears it's born,
That spiders in their COB-WEBS stash!

One wonders what an OENO-phile
Would drink with an OREO tile.
Would sake SATE
Her thirsty state?
Go ask for Yoko ONO style!

If kidnapped by an unruly band
Would Poppins' parasol withstand
A lunge and parry
With a FLAIR by Mary
Making her UMBRELLA STAND!

{A, B-, A.}

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Must've been a really simple theme -- d-o managed to figure it out. Nicely done, Dan. Glad you were able to get out on the course, Boomer. (If they can't spit, what do those chaw-chewers do? Swallow it? Eeww!)

RIME: What the ancient mariner had on his beard.

ARS: Spent some time wondering what ARSESSES were. Then the penny dropped.

UGLY STEPSISTERS: In the version I remember, they were Sisty Uglers who sat around cheating ocolates and maging readazines. It was a story to make your cresh fleep.

TTP said...

A Monday fail.

I somehow ended having COcN for CORN (with cross PEAc) and POoO for POGO (with cross BINo). Guess I should rest my fingertips off the keyboard.

Thanks, Dan. Thanks, Boomer.

Boomer, glad you got a round in. It'll get better and the courses will dry out. We cancelled our first night of league play when they told us it would be walking only and that there were ponds in all of the low lying areas of our golf course. We played last Wednesday under the threat of more rain from the approaching storms. 7 no-shows out of 22 players. We play 9 holes.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR without erasure, but did have to EWAG the Monday Natick of RAE x GIDE.

Right after OJ didn't commit murder (according to the jury), gruesome wags were quipping that the hottest-selling item of the day was the Nicole Simpson PEZ dispenser.

I'm building a computer from scratch for the first time. Almost done, just waiting for Amazon to locate the DVD burner they were supposed to deliver Friday.

Thanks to Dan for the fun start to the "work" week (most Cornerites no longer have a full-time job). My favorite was French bye word" for ADIEU. Not to be confused with the French byword, "surrender". My least favorite was right next door: ESSES. And thanks to Boomer for your usual witty tour. Good to hear your golf season has started. My torn meniscus doesn't respond well to "carts on paths only" either.

Lucina said...

Hola!

How nice to join the early crowd!

Thank you, Dan Margolis and Boomer! Though I've never watched THIS US, I know of it and it wasn't hard to find it in the puzzle. All else in the puzzle was familiar including SETH, LOIS, BING (I loved everything he sang)ONO, AGEE, ANDREI, OTTO (hello, d-o), PATTI, LECH and finally, Carly RAE Jepson, who is known to me only from CWDs.

Noggin is not my first thought at BEAN. BEANs were my childhood staple and kept us ALIVE.

I just finished rereading Poland by James Michener so LECH Walesa was mentioned. The country was historically a political football because they had no hereditary monarch and no standing army. They hired their kings and since no one was in charge, other countries decided its fate which included frequently changing its borders at will.

Owen:
Very nice.

Have a great day, everyone!

Yellowrocks said...

Fun and easy, except for the the reveal. My only write over was inking LSAT into 54D, instead of 53D.THIS IS US needed ESP. Boomer and Owen, great work.
Bean, old fashioned slang for head. They used to say,"Use your bean." Think of bean ball.
Why the cob in cobweb? It comes from the archaic word coppe, meaning "spider" Specific kinds of spiders make cobwebs.
cob webs
Jinx, will you be getting your meniscus repaired? Sorry you are in pain. For me meniscus repair was a simple operation which relieved the pain for several years until arthritis claimed my knees.
Lucina, Poland is a Michener novel I have not read. Thanks for the tip.

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Back after a long week of dealing with my naughty email service, which was not playing nicely with my internet provider. I have two email addresses. mmedfrg, of course, and another associated with my real name. Apparently, my real name is as common as dirt. Who knew? I do like some aspect of my real name for addresses with my local bank, doctors, et cetera. After many tries with Gmail, I told my tech guy who was helping us out, I know how to find a name NO ONE else has. Voila! I added my maiden name.

Thanks, Don for making this Monday fun with a bit of crunch. I really stalled on ESSES. Then it hit me. Might have been a V-8 can.

Thanks, Boomer. I loved your tales today. The golf courses around here are also fine duck ponds.

Lucina, I really chuckled at your comment about the "work week." I still harbor some hard habits from the old days, such as not wanting to cook on Friday night--the end of my long "work week!" Still busy all week, but grading papers no longer my focus.

D-O, I'm with you on the themes. However, I have done better since I'm working on paper. Swamp Cat once suggested it was a good idea to take my time and smell the roses. Indeed working more slowly seems to reveal more--in crosswords AND life.

Have a sunny day today. At least, the sun here is working on a partial arrival. My best to all of you. Be well.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Easy solve. UMBRELLA STANDS showed how the theme was supposed to work ( I thought.). But then UNDER SUSPICION clarified that the U*S* was replicated in all the long acrosses. Lots of fresh fill; a good start to the week. No searches or strikethroughs were needed.

Thanks YR for explaining whence "cob……".

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Yes, D-O, Rindercella had two sissty uglers but was saved when she slopped her dripper. The whole story
-Mom told us , “It always PAYS to work hard”
-Toss up – Self-Addressed Envelope/Society of Automotive Engineers
-At least I now know one thing AGEE wrote
-TOP OFF trumps TOP UP in my little world
-COBWEBS fill my brain early in the morning
-My SENSES of hearing now has artificial assistance. My rock ‘n roll vet SIL is resisting
-We prefer a professional TOUR rather than random sightseeing
-Arranger Harold Battiste put OBOES in the chorus of I Got You Babe

Lemonade714 said...

Good morning Dan and Boomer and Cornerites:

I have a distinct memory of posting before I left my place to come to work, but I never hit send. My big comment was in response to 12. Media mogul Turner: TED. He owns a TV network AND a major league baseball team. I only have a pile of Atlanta Braves baseball cards.
Ted still owns many shares of TIME-WARNER but he does not own the station of the ball club any longer. They sold off the Braves because of all the money lost with the AOL merger.

ANDRE GIDE was one of the inspirations for CAMUS and SARTRE and a big part of my reading books in French. He also was close with OSCAR WILDE .

Thank you, gentleman.

Irish Miss said...

Sorry, my iPad has gone berserk. I didn't even hit Publish but my comment box just flew off the screen. As I was saying, no w/os, no unknowns, and no problems. After reading the comments, I had to go back to check where Ars and Esses were, as I missed seeing them because everything just filled itself in. I loved the reveal as "This Is Us" is one of my favorite shows.

Thanks, Dan, for a fun theme and solve and thanks, Boomer, for a chuckle-laden write up. Sorry your golf outing wasn't more enjoyable and I hope your weather improves. Ours could stand some improving, as well.

A while back, our Czeck (I believe) commenter, Koiji (sp?) recommended a movie titled "Kolya". I watched it last night and enjoyed it very much. I'm not fond of sub-tiitled films, but I stuck with it and was glad .i did.

Owen, you're on a roll!

Have a great day.

oc4beach said...


Good one by Dan and an informative write-up by Boomer.

Ultimately FIR, but had a few missteps along the way and like Jinx, I didn't cotton to the crossing of GIDE and RAE. Didn't know either one of them. Perps and a WAG filled them in.

Until I saw the theme, I wanted PERSON OF INTEREST instead of UNDER SUSPICION, but it didn't fit. After watching all of the police procedurals on TV it seems that anyone can be a person of interest.

Our oldest daughter was born on Mother's Day (May 12,1968) 51 years ago, so, DW became a mother on Mother's Day. I hope all of the Mothers on the blog had a great day yesterday.

Enjoy the day.





Samuel Fox said...

To me an umbrella stand is the thingy that holds up those big umbrellas found in tables on patios and at cafe's outdoor dining areas. Google confers.

I tried to get results or even images of those things located in entryways. I googled umbrella stands...nope. Umbrella holders...nope. Finally tried umbrella containers and voila I saw what 51a was referring to. And guess what they are called? Why, UMBRELLA STANDS of course! Some were called umbrella racks but that would give US UR which is modern text for your or you're.

CanadianEh! said...

Marvelous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Dan and Boomer.
I FIW in about 10 minutes and saw the US theme.

Just a few unknowns but perps were friendly and filled them in.
I was thinking of soccer with 24A "Boot the ball" and did not know it as baseball slang.

I waited for the proper spelling of ANDREI, GIDE, and PATTI. (All I's!)

This Canadian had no clue what W-2 referred to - Oh, an American tax form. IRS I have learned.

Can someone explain 51D "Letters after ars: ESSES". Ars ESSES? I can't find an answer on Google. I presumed it was a Latin motto - Art Exists??? d'o - the penny has not dropped here (probably because Canadians have no CENTs!). UPDATE-I think I just "got it"; ESSES for plural S?? but I really don't like it-ugh! There is only one S and it is after Ar. Help!

I did not know ARB and I LIUed - "someone who engages in arbitrage (who purchases securities in one market for immediate resale in another in the hope of profiting from the price differential" per Crossword Word Solver.

Toronto fans are overjoyed that our Raptors beat the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 last night to advance to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. Unforgettable tie-breaking basket by Kawhi Leonard at the buzzer. The suspense was palpable as it bounced 4 times before going in the basket! (@2min mark)
BuzzerBeater

Wishing you all a great day.

CanadianEh! said...

Ignore my SOS. I just had a V8 can moment here! I expended way too much energy on that alphabet run at 50D. Still an ugh.

RIP Doris Day. Que Sera Sera.

Roger said...

I've missed seeing Fermatprime. Is everything Ok?

TTP said...



Irish Miss, it was Krijo.

Canadian Eh, that was one of the most exciting game sevens and game winning shots I've ever seen.

Spitzboov said...

Canadian Eh! - I tried to affix a Latin motto word to 'ars', too. But when I had 3 s's from perps I had the aha moment: oh, ESSES.
I think the NYT and maybe the WSJ do that type of letter-sounding-out cluing more than the LAT.

Que Sera Sera said...

RIP Doris Day.

Irish Miss said...

TTP @ 10:24 ~ Thank you for the correction. I knew I was guessing on the spelling but I just couldn't dredge Krijo from my memory, as he hasn't posted in a long time.

Second the questions of where is Tin and, now, Ferm.

RIP Doris Day, animal advocate extraordinaire, not to mention a beautiful and talented lady.

CrossEyedDave said...

MOnday Naticks, Sheesh!

And, even reading Canadian Eh, I still do not get ARS = Esses...
Yes, I get that ARs ends in an S, but why pick such an obscure
series of letters such as AR that means absolutely nothing instead
of any of a hundred other Monday friendly clues, or letter runs, that
end in "S."???

OK, which of the 3 links best describes US?

(A)

(B)

or

(C)

Misty said...

Tough morning. Only got four hours of sleep, even with taking a Melatonin, and then right after I got up we had a power outage (apparently in our entire neighborhood that affected about 2000 homes) and took almost two hours before the lights came back on again.

Had to do the puzzle in the almost-dark, but got it done, and got the whole thing perfectly--Yay! You saved my morning, Dan--many thanks. And it was great to be able to finally turn the computer on, after the power came back, and see your write-up, Boomer. Take good care of yourself--the Corner needs you. Never saw "This is Us" (but will try to watch it after Irish Miss's recommendation), but I still got the U S theme in all the long answers. Unfamiliar with SNOGS but I got it anyway. Nice to see PETS in the puzzle.

Have a good week coming up, everybody.

Anonymous said...

desper-otto

This is the one I remember

CINDERELLA

Lemonade714 said...

IM, they come they go. Fermatprime has had some health issues but has posted a bit lately. Krijo and Picard are in the wind for a long while and Tinbeni-quien sabe?

If you look for "indoor umbrella stand" you get many including this kind that you buy in lots of 500. INDOOR UMBRELLA STAND.

Once again I was sent off reading about someone mentioned in a puzzle, today, ANDREI SAKHAROV . Interesting man.

desper-otto said...

Anon@12:32, yes, that's the version I was remembering. Thanx for linking.

AnonymousPVX said...


This Monday puzzle went together quickly.

No markovers today.

LOIS LANE did not work for Clark Kent, he was not her boss. They both worked for the editor, Perry White. And she hardly worked for or listened to Perry either, she was quite the independent woman, especially for the times..and if she had listened there would not have been a show, as she was always getting into spots.

See you tomorrow.

Lucina said...

R.I.P. Doris Day. I join all of you in mourning her loss. What a gorgeous voice is gone.

Re: letters after ars; I took that to mean as an alphabet run, r, s (ar, ess)

TOPUP is familiar in British writing as is SNOGS.

We, here in the Southwest, do not have UMBRELLASTANDS, but I've seen them in abundance in the East Coast, especially Charlotte where my sister lives. They have as many rainy days as we have sunny ones.

There is a more recent version of Cinderella with Cate Blanchett and Lily James that is dazzling.

Yellowrocks said...

In all this rainy weather, I immediately thought of indoor umbrella stands like Lemony posted.
BTW, Have any of you ever tried an inside out umbrella? It seems they would be terrific to use getting in and out of a car.
Good idea?
In the dictionary you will find SPHERE in the esses, ie. with the other words beginning with S. The esses come right after the ars, the words that begin with R.
IMO this is no more convoluted than the clue "leader of students is S."
As a waitress, I heard "Please top my coffee off," more frequently than "Please top it up." Both are correct. Maybe it depends on where you live.

Roger said...

CC any information on Fermatprime?

Jinx in Norfolk said...

CED - It's "C" for sure. Two individuals or groups may hate each other, but if they can team up to the detriment of a third they are likely to do so. Remember the latest RNC debates? Wanna see the coming DNC debates? Of course the US and USSR teamed up together to defeat the "fat kids" Germany and Japan.

YR, I can get my meniscus cleaned up, but not repaired. Apparently one side of the knee (inside?) has enough blood flow to heal, but not the side where my tear is. It's an old injury, but I aggravated it badly last October. I can now walk about 3/4 mile without much pain, and as long as I continue to improve I think I'll evade the knife.

RIP, Doris Day. Classy lady.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

TOP up / off? I think it depends on context. Top off my coffee, but top up my gas tank. At least in Eastern Kentucky. YMMV.

Ol' Man Keith said...

THIS IS US is a favorite in our home, as apparently it is around the entire country. But I have to say that it is the one show I hesitate to watch every week. I don't always feel up to having my emotions so thoroughly engaged.

Misty ~
Sorry to read of your continuing sleep problems. If you don't know the rhythm technique I mentioned before, just go to YouTube and enter the name "Jim Donovan." That will bring up the TED Talk. I can't say for sure it will work for you, but it is worth a try.

Today's fave clue = "Ars." Had to go with perps to get the funny fill because as a drama professor I am too familiar with the Latin word "Ars" meaning "Art"--as in Horace's treatise on drama and poetry, the "Ars Poetica."
My fancy response would have led me far astray...
~ OMK
____________
DR:
An abundance of diagonals, one on the near end and three on t'other side.
The near side anagram refers to a well-known article of clothing. We've all heard of "Big Boy Trousers." Well, this provides us with the category within which we may locate such apparel, the...
"NONPARENT PANTS"!
(Scoff not! This one uses 14 of the 15 available letters!)

CanadianEh! said...

This Canadian tops up both coffee and gas tanks. Never Top off. Probably another regional expression.

Glad some others were as slow as I was in seeing the ESSES.

TTP - Yes, it was quite the game and Leonard was a superstar. There was some sadness when DeRozan was traded for Leonard last summer, but he has established himself as a hero. The Raptors hope to persuade him to stay into another season too.

Lucina said...

OMK:
That was my thought, too, on seeing ARS, ARS poetica but I couldn't relate it to anything that fit the space. Luckily, it perped itself.

Jayce said...

Darned if I didn't immediately think of ArsENIO but it was to short. Ars TECHNICA is too long. Ah, the R's followed by the S's. ArSheesh.

Maybe we could start a new tradition. After Talk Like a Pirate Day ("Arrrr!") we could celebrate a Talk Like a 'Aby Day (A B C D goldfish? L M N O goldfish. O ESS A R goldfish! O K, A B C D goldfish.") Then again, maybe not.

Speaking of maybe, Carly RAE Jepson is probably best known for her song "Call Me Maybe."

When I see the word ARB I think of blood pressure medicine.

It seems Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman, liked alliterative names.

Madame Defarge, I'm glad you got your email naughtiness sorted out.

Samuel Fox, interesting about your researches into UMBRELLA STANDS.

Good wishes to you all.

desper-otto said...

ARS: In Houston, there's ARS (American Residential Services). We always called them "arse."

Irish Miss said...

Misty @ 12:16 ~ All three seasons of "This Is Us" are available On Demand, if you have that option. It's a show that you must see right from the very first episode. I do highly recommend it and even though you'll have to expend lots of time catching up, it'll be well worth it. Make it your summer project! 😎

Lemony @ 12:42 ~ Yes, I know but I always wonder if one's absence is due to illness or some other difficulty.

Misty said...

Ol' Man Keith, what a great suggestion. I googled Jim Donovan, got the Youtube video and watched it. What he suggests is so simple, it's certainly worth a try. I'm going to try it before going to bed tonight, and then again when I wake up. I may not do it perfectly but what harm can something do that takes less than five minutes, when I could be up for four more hours. So thank you for the suggestion, and I will certainly give it a try.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Misty ~
Glad you found it! Good luck!

Still getting a kick out of how many Cornerites have been puzzling over 50D "Letters after ars."
Just sound it out, folks! Yes, it's an alphabet run. Each ar is preceded by a cue and followed by an ess, then tee, &c.
And of course the multiple ars would be followed by ESSES.
Ta~ DA!
~ OMK

Michael said...

What has happened to our Latin skills? Not one thought of "Ars longa, vita brevis"?

Miss Miller, my Latin teacher from a classified number of years ago, would have us all doing ablative absolutes until the cows came home.

Wilbur Charles said...

OENO is another xword staple. For Monday newbies the OENOs, OREOs, OTTs and ORRs are among the ABCs of cruciverbalism.*

I think “White Christmas” was the highest seller until maybe Elvis and “Blue…”. Apres Beatles le deluge

Slap! I forgot ONO

Gide wrote a Short Story where the protagonist tossed a passenger off a fast moving train just for kicks. Perhaps that is the one

I take an ARB. We have a Pirate extravaganza in Tampa in January: Gasparilla! It “celebrates” the taking of the town circa 1750 by said Pirate. Mean spirited historians are poo-poo'ing the story

Ferma-T made a post the other day. I was emailing back and forth with Picard but not recently.
I miss Chairman Moe.

WC

Oh, the xword. Short and sweet. The TBTimes dropped the NYT xword (money? It was the previous week's) and now we get Evan Birnbaum (Post). I do it Monday and Tuesday am.

Wilbur Charles said...

* And AIOLI, AOKI...EERO,....

PK said...

CanadianEh & TTP: I can't believe I was watching that Toronto-Philly game and MISSED the unusual winning hoop! I did! Sob! I read a book when they go into timeout with the sound off. I got too engrossed in the reading and didn't look up until it was over. Yay, Kawaii! He deserves some glory after his bad year in San Antonio.

Lucina: I was reading "Island of Sea Woman" when I missed the above moment. Definitely a different kind of story. Wondering what your book club members think of it.

FLN: AnonT wondered if anyone else reads several books at a time. I never did until this week. I was reading a murder novel which got too depressing so I quit it and started a different book. Three days later, I started wondering about the people in the murder mystery so I'm back reading it.

YR: thank you for explaining the ars/ESSES thing. Couldn't figure it out. Didn't dwell on it tho.

Alex Trebek's mustache said...

I dont know about y'all but every year I wonder about the performance of the teachers in their tournament. I understand we are drawing from a very small pool but it seems shallow to me.

Last week the contestants really struggled and Alex even started today's program with a comment regarding this. Today was a better performance but they struggled with the category "Parts of Speech". Really? C'mon man. And the Final Jeopardy round was interesting. (No spoilers!)

So anyway, it got me to thinkin'.

What other professions would fare better?

Doctors? Lawyers? Indian chiefs?
Definitely not politicians! Or newscasters!
I think authors would do well.

But I believe the best overall would be crossword puzzle constructors!

Alex Trebek's mustache said...

P.S. There was a special one-time quiz show a few years back that pitted teams of contestants against each other. The teams were made up of different professions. I can't remember the name but it came out around the same time Regis was doing Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and Howie Mandel was doing Deal Or No Deal.

If I remember correctly the profession that performed the best was rocket scientist.

Wilbur Charles said...

In real time Kwaii's basket is hard to follow. The replay is surreal because in super-slo-mo the ball sits on the rim defying gravity.

We see that more often in golf with the ball dancing around the cup.

WC

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thanks, Dan for the crunchy Monday. Thanks Boomer for the witty review.

FIW - ARIA was there b/f I over-wrote the last two letters with T and E but I never looked back to see LERH is likely not a name. :-(

WEES at ars ESSES - wasn't 'till D-O said it did the CENT drop (funny C, Eh!). Ars Technia was the Art (that didn't fit) that I was thinking... (Hi Jayce!)

WO: PATie -> PATTy which made THIS IS US (never seen it) difficult to parse.
ESPs: AcTE, ESSES, CLIO | GIDE ('I' was a WAG) |RAE (e was a WAG)
Fav: PEZ - just fun.

{A, B, A+}
Fantastic DR OMK!

Samuel @9:48a - funny, Pop has an antique brass UMBRELLA STAND in his foyer. It's not used for umbrellas though, he tosses his loose change in it. 3/4 full, it's ~$400.

Roger@10:19 - Fermat was here Thursday.

CED - LOL (A)!

I follow Rose Marie on Twitter (run by her daughter) and she Tweeted the news of Doris Day this morning. There's more memorializing Doris in Rose Marie's feed.

YR - I have an "Inside-out" Umbrella w/ my company's logo on it (they gave everyone one) and fortunately had it in my car Tuesday when I abandoned it (the car) and walked home in the pouring rain. I do like it - esp. for getting out of the car!

PK - I wondered if it was just ADHD or if others read more than one book at a time. It's kinda like, I feel like "this" now and read that. And! "The Woman Who Smashed Codes" just came in (Wow! Amazon - ordered on a Sunday and it's here today?); I may start on it tonight...
//I do suppose it's easier reading non-fiction in parallel because you can't possibly get the stories confused [Well, not entirely true; I was reading Gladwell (Blink?), "On Second Thought," "The Invisible Gorilla," and "Moon Walking with Einstein" and sometimes confuse what's in what.]

Cheers, -T

PK said...

Tony, a good friend who was also an optometrist had the same habit of reading in a pile of books that drove his pragmatic wife nuts. He was very bright and hyper and read mostly non-fiction. I'd guess he had ADHD undiagnosed. Very witty guy.

Lucina said...

I read only one book at a time, finish it then start another. It's too confusing otherwise as I like to muse about the various themes within the book.

PK:
We just started The Island of Sea Women, today for me actually as it just arrived, and our discussion will be on June 15th. I'll let you know then what is the consensus. I can't recall ever reading about Korea before so it will be interesting. The food usually follows the theme of the book so that is something to look forward to.

Anonymous T said...

PK - I was just joking about ADHD; I've never been tested nor diagnosed. I do have a propensity for bouncing around between stuff until I get hyper-focused on something I get really excited about - then it's days with little sleep in one thing until it's finished / I know it. Cheers, -T

Michael said...

No, -T, you're not alone in those attributes.