google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday May 5th, 2019 David Alfred Bywaters

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May 5, 2019

Sunday May 5th, 2019 David Alfred Bywaters

Theme: "Not!" (No-T). T is removed from the end of each common phrase.

22. Animated image of Santa repeatedly going down the chimney?: CHRISTMAS GIF. Christmas gift.

41. Fruity neckwear?: BANANA BOA. Banana boat.

43. Votes at a beer convention?: BREWER'S YEAS. Brewer's yeast.

67. First catch the fly, then eat the fly?: SPIDER PLAN. Spider plant.

71. Indication of growing impatience?: SECOND SIGH. Second sight.

96. Social newcomer who won't go away?: LONG-TERM DEB. Long-term debt.

99. Basic banking rule?: DON'T FORGE. Don't forget.

118. Subjecting to a basic haunting strategy?: GIVING THE BOO. Giving the boot.

It would be super tight if there were no other straying T's in the theme entries, but sometimes it's impossible.

David Alfred Bywaters specializes in letter addition/removal themes. I'm often in awe of the reveals in his Friday LAT. He's an incredible wordsmith.

Across:

1. Writers: PENS. Write-rs.

5. Bearlike marsupial: KOALA.

10. Super-impressed: AWED.

14. Numerical suffix for "about": ISH.

17. Fast Northeast train: ACELA. Wiki says "the branding team based the name "Acela" on the ideas of acceleration and excellence.".

19. Severe distress: SORROW. And 67D. Weep: SOB.

20. Greater: MORE.

21. Usually well-compensated leader: CEO. CFO too.

24. Adorn: ORNAMENT.

26. Owie spot, maybe: TOOTSIE.

27. Burdens: ONUSES.

29. Windshield sticker: DECAL.

30. Cashew family shrubs: SUMACS. Never saw sumac shrubs in person. Dried sumac is used in some Middle East spice mix.


33. Garage service: LUBE.

34. Extract with a solvent: ELUTE. Not a word I use.

35. Crew member: TAR.

38. Robert who sang the role of Figaro 46 times at the Met: MERRILL. Stranger to me.


45. Smaller: LESS.

46. Socially challenged one, often: NERD.

47. Rural skyline standouts: SILOS.

48. Hereditary: INNATE.

50. Japanese pond fish: KOI.

52. Beach volleyball team: PAIR.

53. Woman's name that means "pleasure" in Hebrew: EDNA. Did not know this.

55. Country sound: TWANG.

58. Sam or Wiggily: UNCLE. I googled and learned that Uncle Wiggily is a rabbit.


62. Cruller coating: GLAZE. These are Chinese crullers that Jayce likes.


64. Words before a view: AS I SEE IT. Nice fill.

66. Muffin grain: OAT.

73. Valentine card hugs: OOO.

74. Popular school cafeteria item: TATER TOT. Boomer loves Tater Tots.

76. Immerse (in), as maple syrup: DROWN.

77. Togo neighbor: BENIN.

79. Sharpening tool: STROP.

80. Fare-well link: THEE.

82. Maker of Aspire laptops: ACER. It bought Gateway in 2007.

85. "Sorry, lad": NAE.

87. How Sitka, Alaska, ranks as the largest U.S. city: IN AREA.

89. Wedding party: BRIDE.

90. Trojan War god: ARES.

93. Small-time British crook: SPIV. Never heard of it. Looks like a knife.
101. Plague: SCOURGE.

102. USCG officer: ENS.

103. Courage: VALOR.

104. __ even footing: ON AN.

106. __ network: NEURAL.

108. Meaningless: INANE.

109. BP, pulse, etc.: VITALS. When I visited my dentist last month, they used a wrist blood pressure machine like this.



112. Causes of traffic jams ... or ways to avoid them: DETOURS.

116. The "there" in "Don't go there": SORE SPOT. Another great fill.

121. Heart test letters: EKG.

122. Hunger remedy wrongly attributed to Marie Antoinette: CAKE. Oh I thought she did say "Let them eat cake".

123. Means: AVENUE.

124. Hard work: SWEAT.

125. Poor grade: DEE.

126. Is indebted to: OWES.

127. Principle: TENET.

128. Goes off: ERRS.

Down:

1. Treaty: PACT.

2. Repetitive sound: ECHO.

3. Emperor adopted by Claudius: NERO. Claudius was his great-uncle.

4. Buttonholes, e.g.: SLITS.

5. Ukulele wood: KOA. I forgot. We had this clue before. Here's a felled koa tree.


6. MD workplaces: ORS.

7. Ship protected by Hera: ARGO.

8. Cut of meat: LOIN.

9. Really bad: AWFUL.

10. Tiny shape-shifters: AMOEBAE.

11. Goes downhill: WORSENS.

12. North end?: ERN. Northern.

13. Numb: DEADEN.

14. Rock at the bar?: ICE CUBE.

15. Cato the Elder or Cato the Younger: SENATOR.

16. Cop's case-breaking tip, perhaps: HOT LEAD. Did any of you follow this Minneapolis case?

18. Supposes: ASSUMES.

19. Campaign nastiness: SMEARS.

23. Kitchen convenience: TIMER.

25. Skin pigment: MELANIN.

28. Renter's rental: SUBLEASE.

31. 1993 Aerosmith hit that begins "There was a time / When I was so broken-hearted": CRYIN'.

32. Tuscany city: SIENA.

35. Recipe meas.: TBSP.  Any of you tried X.O. sauce? Umami-rich. It has dried shrimp, dried scallop, hot chili peppers, etc.


36. Tenor's moment: ARIA.

37. Faith: RELIGION.

39. PC-to-PC system: LAN.

40. Future attys.' exams: LSATS.

42. Set as a price: ASK. Guess how much Beckett charges for authenticating a Mickey Mantle autographed photo? $100. Crazy.

44. __ Cup: WORLD.

49. Unexpected story ending: TWIST.

51. Improve upon: OUTDO.

53. __-Nehemiah: Hebrew Bible book: EZRA.

54. Coll. units: DEPTS.

56. Japanese tech company: NEC.

57. Sparkling rock: GEODE. And 75. Iridescent gems: OPALS.

59. Happen at the same time: COINCIDE. Seollal (Korean New Year), Tet and Chinese Spring Festival are all celebrated in the same day. Here are a few Korean kids kneeling down to pay respect to their elders.


60. Fall behind: LAG.

61. Addis Ababa's land: Abbr.: ETH.

63. Company named for a volcano: AETNA.

64. Playwright Chekhov: ANTON.

65. About, on memos: IN RE.

68. "The Purloined Letter" writer: POE.

69. Allow: LET.

70. Reach: ARRIVE AT.

72. Bee team: SWARM.

78. How some things are set: IN STONE.

80. Mortise joiner: TENON.

81. Dutch city, with "The": HAGUE.

83. Eve's first home: EDEN.

84. Civil War fighters: REBS.

86. Paul Anka's "__ Beso": ESO.

88. Mythical elephant carrier: ROC. Also a popular skincare brand.


89. Inspiring acts?: BREATHS. Nice clue.

90. Counseled: ADVISED.

91. Lost Colony's island: ROANOKE. See here for more information.

92. Blow up: ENLARGE.
94. Incite: PROVOKE.

95. Sets a match to: IGNITES.

97. Plod: TRUDGE.

98. White-plumed wader: EGRET.

100. Painting on wet plaster: FRESCO.

105. Annoy constantly: NAG AT.

107. "Almost Like Being in Love" composer Frederick: LOEWE.  "My Fair Lady" too.

110. Happening right now: LIVE.

111. Pet reindeer in "Frozen": SVEN.


113. Lyft competitor: UBER.

114. Lion's warning: ROAR.

115. They're often smashed: SOTS. Drunk.

117. Friendly dog's offering: PAW.

119. Like Bach's French Suite No. 6: IN E.

120. Superfan: NUT.

C.C.





30 comments:

D4E4H said...

It is 12:46 AM on some day. I was certain it was Monday, but when I opened the CW site, Sunday was the next offering at 0%.
I've backed up, and am slowly realizing that it is Sunday which causes me to rant "this aging is getting old!"
I'll be OK.

It is now 5:33 AM, and I am just started on the CW. It is time to say hello, or hola.

Super Sunday solvers. May each of you FIR!

Ðave

TTP said...

Good early morning. Thank you DAB and thank you CC.

That was a fun puzzle. This time, I knew what to look for, or rather, what to expect based on the puzzle title.

The first one, ANIMATED GIF, was my favorite.

CC, you must have googled SHIV rather than SPIV.

I haven't actively followed it, but I saw that sad story when it was reported on Good Morning America, and just saw the news the other day when the officer was found guilty.

FLN (ETM), Dash T, did you have a good time at that black tie soirée, and what did you bid on ?

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Great meaty offering today, thanks D.A.B. Not easy, but interesting. Thanks, C.C., for another informative & fun expo.

Theme was chuckly-worthy! I caught on to NO T with CHRISTMAS GIF. Learning moment with C.C.'s explanation because I never knew what a GIF was. I see the word to click on but never have. Well, well.

Favorite theme entry: DON'T FORGE. I see a surprising number of FORGEry arrests in the local paper accounts of felonies.

58A: Loved seeing the UNCLE Wiggily book picture picture. We had a well-read one just like that when I was a kid. Probably still have it in a box buried in the storage closet. Loved the UNCLE Wiggily stories mom read to us before we could do it ourselves.

Watched a PBS Nature spring special that included Bees SWARMing just before I came to do the puzzle.

DNK: SPIV, BENIN (tried tongo), LAN, NEC, ROC.

FLN: AvgJoe: 15# of twins! Groan! Bet the experience was more than an "interesting pregnancy" for her. My doctor took an extra sonogram because he thought I was having twins. One was enough.

Lucina: About "Crawdads", I remember the book supposedly left you guessing, but I was pretty sure what happened. "Island of Sea Women" sounds interesting. May try it next. I'm in a mood for something different.

PK said...

D4: Know what you mean about "this aging is getting old." Chuckle. My sleep patterns are so erratic that I sometimes lose track of what day it is. My trusty cell phone sets me straight. Glad I don't have to wind a clock anymore.

D4E4H said...

FIR taking a long time.

Happy Cinco de Mayo, or Salad Dressing.

I sussed the theme at 22 A, but 41 A really made me groan. 67 A -- needed a WAG for _LA_. The theme helped me each time. It suited me to a "T".

30 A -- SUMACS, proves that one should read the clue carefully. I thought it was singular, and added "E, H, and K when S was correct."

I'll do my thank yous later.

Ðave

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Survived this outing with barely a scratch. Thought CRYIN' was CRYER until INNATE set me straight. Took me a long time to realize I was looking for a suffix for a number rather than a suffix that was numerical. Sorta got the theme right off -- figured the last letter of common expressions would be missing. Never realized the last letter was always a T. D'oh! D-o's just gotta start reading the puzzle titles. Enjoyed it, DAB. Thanx for the tour, CC. (I've got one of those wrist BP monitors. Check it about once a week to verify that I'm still alive. So far, so good.)

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Wha a grea trea!
-I looked “SECOND SIGH(T) to see what that was
-Hitting a TOOTSIE while walking barefoot in the dark can make one SOB
-It took me hours to dig out a SUMAC that went wild in our landscape
-Woe unto the kid who tries to take a TATER TOT from his neighbor
-My 8-min drive that has now become a 28-min DETOUR has a few more weeks to run
-I received a beautifully FORGED cashier’s check for $4,000 last Sunday in a craigslist scam. I was born at night but not last night!
-Gotta run. I’m meeting a guy who wants to buy MIL’s car across town

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, David Alfred Bywaters, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

Puzzle was fairly easy for me. Got started in the NW just fine. Theme was obvious after I got CHRISTMAS GIF and BANANA BOA.

My favorite was BREWERS YEAS.

SUMACS. I have cut down more SUMACS than any other tree/bush. They grow wild and fast. This is all in Pennsylvania.

I like TATER TOTs as well. Actually most anything with potatoes is my favorite.

Never heard of KOA trees. The perps were solid so I stuck with it.

MELANIN and ELUTE crossing stumped me for a while.

Anyhow, lots to do. see you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

D4E4H said...

The answer to 22 A includes the word "GIF." Not knowing what it means I LIU. I still do not know what it means, or even how to pronounce it. Wiki says,

The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF /dʒɪf/ JIF or /ɡɪf/ GHIF), is a bitmap image format that was developed by a team at the online services provider CompuServe led by American computer scientist Steve Wilhite on June 15, 1987.

The creators of the format pronounced the word as "jif" with a soft "G" /dʒɪf/ as in "gin". Steve Wilhite says that the intended pronunciation deliberately echoes the American peanut butter brand Jif, and CompuServe employees would often say "Choosy developers choose GIF", spoofing this brand's television commercials. The word is now also widely pronounced with a hard "G" /ɡɪf/ as in "gift". In 2017, an informal poll on programming website Stack Overflow showed some numerical preference for hard-"G" pronunciation, especially among respondents in eastern Europe, though both soft-"G" and enunciating each letter individually were found to be popular in Asia and emerging countries.

I use the hard "G". What do you use?

Ðave

D4E4H said...

62 A -- Cruller coating: GLAZE. I like crullers!

77 A -- Togo neighbor: BENIN. That's nice. Here's where South Africa.

These HTML tags are so picky. Leave out one little mark, and they will not work.

Ðave

OwenKL said...

Computer & Internet problems, so running very late today!

I'll ride no more on the ACELA Express.
It's in the Northeast, I'm in Southwest.
Its speed has me AWED,
How AWFUL it's flawed.
For me to get there, I'd have to jet!

Would a ROARING lion eat a LOIN
If the meat it must PERLOIN?
It would be better
If a LETTER
Warned us of where it was goin'!

Should you PEN a MARSUPIAL?
It would be INANE as I recall.
Instinct INNATE
Let them escape
Once we attempted a KOALA corral!

Once we attempted a KOALA corral
At the Barrier Reef we said "We shall!"
A marvelous thing,
We taught them to to sing --
The koala choral in the coral corral!

{B+, B, A-, A+!}

David Alfred Bywaters said...

I'm grateful to C.C. for the kind words. There's nothing like praise from one of the top constructors in the business.

I originally suggested as a this as a revealer:
TENDINGBAR: Mixing drinks, or, read as three parts, an explanation of seven answers in this puzzle
But Rich Norris thought better of it.

At various stages of the constructing process (mostly pre-submission) I rejected the following alternative entries:

SUICIDEPAC: Lobbying group that self-destructs?
SPOILEDBRA: Permanently stained undergarment?
ACTTHEPAR: Pretend those last three golf strokes didn't happen?
HOMEATLAS: Plutocrat's domestic navigation need?
MAKESADEN: Remodels the basement?
DOTCOMBUS: Controversial Bay Area transportation?
COMEDYSKI: Entertainment at the chalet?
RULETHEROOS: Dominate the outback?
DONTYOUSTAR: Acting agent's caution?
SPEECHTOTEX: "Remember the Alamo!"
CAPITALGRAN: First-rate progenitor?
SCAVENGERHUN: Attila follower who shows up after the battle?
UPSETSTHEAPPLECAR: Crashes into the self-driving vehicle of the future?

I hope everybody here is familiar with my website: davidalfredbywaters.com


Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Broke down and printed the blank puzzle; my paper doesn't carry the Sunday LAT. FIR. Had to WAG ESO, but was close to a Natick with SPIV.
Seemed to be an excessive amount of compound fill; AS I SEE IT, ARRIVE AT. Seems to be a DETOUR around the minimum 3 letter rule, since one and two letter words can be in a compound.
The HAGUE - Dutch Den Haag.
SUMAC - We have poison SUMAC in parts of eastERN NY. From Wiki: "In terms of its potential to cause urushiol-induced contact dermatitis, poison sumac is more toxic than its relatives poison ivy and poison oak. According to some botanists, poison sumac is the most toxic plant species in the United States"
I can't tell poison from non-poison SUMAC, so I stay away from SUMAC.
MERRILL - He would be a somewhat regular guest on early TV variety shows.

Misty said...

Woohoo! Wooho! I almost, almost got this entire delightful puzzle with only a single slip-up because I didn't know the Aerosmith song and got CRYIN wrong. But I got absolutely everything else, Woohoo! Many thanks, David, for this Sunday GIF--okay, GIFT.
Lots of unknowns--MERRILL, ELUTE, SPIV, and others--but perps helped them fill in. The TOOTSIE owie was cute (almost too cute). Not too much literature this time, but I'm glad we got POE. And I always love your Sunday commentaries, C.C.--thanks for this one too.

Sunny day--our 63 year old tortoise Gophie (Gopherus Agassizii) will be out waiting for her lettuce. She hibernated for four months this winter and I was afraid she was gone. But on a sunny day a month ago she emerged, and she's now as hungry as always.

Have a lovely Sunday, everybody.

desper-otto said...

Misty, how do you know Gophie is 63 years old. Did you count the rings in her shell?

Yellowrocks said...

Nice puzzle. I got the missing T right away. It sure helped the solve. Clever.
PK, my mom used to read "Uncle Wiggley" us before bed, too.
I love crullers.
SPIV was the only new fill for me.
I have read many of the theories about what happened to the lost Roanoke colony. There are no definitive answers so far.
Crullers are my favorite.
I had to wait on a few crosses for Tater Tots as a school lunch favorite. Not back in my day.
Robert Merrill who died in 2004 was a great baritone in opera and musical theater. Many of us elders probably have heard of him.
For TAR I was was thinking of the rowing sport, crew,and had OAR at first. Then it turned out it was just a sailor.
Spider plants are very easy to grow indoors.
Ciao.

Misty said...

Desper-otto, my late husband Rowland acquired her, with his first wife, when he was 22 years old. He passed away three years ago, but would have been 85 this July. This suggests that Gophie is at least 63 years old. Rowland never learned how old she was when he got her--she was already adult size by then--so she may be a lot older. According to a Wikipedia site, they live to be between 50 and 80 years old. We therefore have a provision in our will for the daughter of a friend, who loves animals, to take Gophie on when we are both gone, because she may outlive me too.

Jayce said...

I loved this puzzle. So much to like about it. Loved the theme entries and laughed out loud at CHRISTMAS GIF and DON'T FORGE. I didn't understand why ISH was clued as a numerical suffix until I read desper-otto's first post. A friend of mine who lives in Eisenstadt, Austria, loves to use ISH. For example, she describes the surroundings where she lives as "ruralish," the climate as "coolish," and her skill in photography as "almost professionalish."

Yes, I love crullers, Chinese or American. My "go to" breakfast when I lived in Taiwan (holy cow, more than 50 years ago!) was you tiao ("oil sticks") with dou jiang (soy milk soup). Cheap and fast. I also like tater tots.

ELUTE is also a word I have never used and likely never will. Good xword fodder, though.

Having entered RELIANCE rather than RELIGION and CRY instead of SOB slowed me way down in that area until the GLAZE light dawned on me.

I pronounce it GIF with the hard G. I also pronounce GigaWatt with a hard G, and it always sounds funny to me when my engineer friend pronounces it as "Jig a Watt." He laughed when I joked with him that it's a good thing there is no such electrical unit as a "Low."

The more I read and re-read POE's works the more I appreciate him. Some of his stuff is still awful, though. Here's looking at you, Masque of the Red Death.

How 'bout that Kentucky Derby race! Sheesh!

Good wishes to you all.

WikWak said...

A very fun Sunday puzzle. Thanks to DAB & C.C. for their parts in making it so.

I caught on to the theme at GIF. GIF (soft G for me), jpeg, jpg, png—all very familiar to me. Enjoyed SUBLEASE, TATER TOT, & TRUDGE.

I have tried several wrist BP monitors but always have found them to be too inaccurate compared to the regular kind.

(FLN) Abejo, I did get your voicemail; it was very much appreciated. I said something about it when I first got back to the blog, but maybe you were in PA then and missed it. Thanks again.

Have a great evening, all!

Yellowrocks said...

The sumac with the bright red spikes, such as seen in CC's picture, is not poisonous. I grows wild along the country roads and lanes in PA and NJ and other northeastern states.
Fortunately poison sumac only grows in swamps and bogs which are not readily accessible. Its flowers and fruit are not in dense red spikes.
I, too, have found wrist BP monitors wildly inaccurate.

Lucina said...

Hola y buenas tardes!

Thank you, DAB and C.C. for today's engaging puzzle and review! This is a masterpiece and I caught the theme which really made me chuckle.

I like that ORNAMENT followed CHRISTMAS GIF(T). GIVING THE BOO(T) was also amusing.

BANANABOA(T) always recalls Harry Belafonte's Dayo. I definitely recall Robert MERRILL and his wonderful voice.

DAB has so many clever clues such as for SOT, GLAZE (alliteration), AMOEBAE (nice to see the full spelling), and like Misty I always enjoy seeing a literature reference, POE.

I hope we are all clear about ESO Beso, that which I kiss.

ELUTE is new to me and it's doubtful I will use it.

Fun time is over for me; my family is coming for dinner and there is much to do including baking a cake for Mark's birthday.

I hope you are all enjoying a fabulous Sunday!

CanadianEh! said...

Super Sunday. Thanks for the fun, David and C.C.
I followed the title and saw the missing T's. Many smiles as I found them all.

Lucina, you just beat me in posting about CHRISTMAS GIF followed by ORNAMENT. (And yes, I LOLed at ESO Beso.) I also enjoyed AWFUL and AWED close to each other. But my favourite Easter egg was POE the PoeT. (Will AnonT be just an ordinary Anon today? NOT!)

KOA, MERRILL, and SPIV required Perps. SIENA and EDNA was almost a Natick.

Will Tin arrive to bemoan the ICE CUBE?

We have lots of SUMAC around here (yes in the ditches and not poisonous like YR's) but I did not know they belonged to the Cashew family. I LIUed and the family (Anacardiaceae -there's a vowel-rich word for CWs!) also includes pistachios and mangos.
CashewFamily

Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Big Easy said...

I caught the 'NO T' ending at GIF and finished in normal Sunday time, with only two changes. TAUNT to TUG AT and tried a WAG for LENA before the perps made it the unknown EDNA.

UNCLE Wiggily was a total unknown but Sam as familiar. I have a chemistry degree and I've never heard the term ELUTE. SPIV-perps. KOA-kampground of America- yes; the wood for ukes? Didn't know.

HOT LEAD- when the cops get the hot lead and find the perp, there might be some hot lead flying.

Coll. units=DEPTS- I have no idea. Somebody enlighten me. College Credits, hours, terms, qtrs, sems. Or is 'collective'?


DAB- you wasted a possible puzzle with your rejections.

Michael said...

FWIW, per Wiki, "In analytical and organic chemistry, elution is the process of extracting one material from another by washing with a solvent; as in washing of loaded ion-exchange resins to remove captured ions." Seems to be more around chromatography than elsewhere.

Universities are composed of colleges, which in turn are made up of departments.

"ACTTHEPAR: Pretend those last three golf strokes didn't happen?" is great.

Wilbur Charles said...

Uncle Wiggily’s nemeses were the Skeezicks, infamous ear-nibblers

How do the Owens and Bywaters come up with that clever stuff. ?

One of those head down and fill and tada - no more boxes.

FIR for the weekend. Now to not mess up Monday or Tuesday

WC

PS. Gif as in GIFT. Something like gibberish - jibberish

D4E4H said...

desper-otto at 6:59 AM wrote (I've got one of those wrist BP monitors. Check it about once a week to verify that I'm still alive. So far, so good.)"

I check my BP each morning with an upper arm unit. I verify that my BP is regular, and test my heart rate. If it is 80 BPM I take 10 mg of Bystolic.
If 60 - 80, 5 mg, and if less than, < 60, none plus I skip another med.

Non habent sanguinem pressura, sanguinem igitur. (I have a blood pressure, therefore I bleed).

Husker Gary at 9:22 AM wrote "-Gotta run. I’m meeting a guy who wants to buy MIL’s car across town"

Where does one buy an "across town" car?

Ðave

Jane Tanner said...

What a fun puzzle, I kept thinking what the.....???? Then ah hah! Got it. Love the theme. Thanks David.

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks To DAB and C.C.

Nice puzzle which I finally well enough work. Also NYT. (One stupid mistake.)

Needed perp help with SUMAC, ELUTE, EDNA, SPIV, KOA, AETNA and ROC.

Hope to see you tomorrow.

Anonymous T said...

Sunday Lurk say...

Love to see you Fermat!

{A, B, B+, A+}

TTP - the Gala wasn't total suck but, no, I didn't bid on anything. I did get a Lance Berkman signed baseball a few years ago. Paid $40 more than eBay said it was worth.

Cheers, -T

waseeley said...

The berries of the non-toxic red sumac shrub have a powdery crystalline coating that dissolves in water to produce a tart, pink colored drink. Indigenous folks used to make a beverage referred to as "Indian lemonade".

Robert Merrill was one of the greatest baritones of the 20th Century. One of my favorite recordings was an album of opera duets with tenor Jussi Bjorling. Their renditions for the tenor-baritone duets from Verdi's "Otello" and Bizet's "Pearl Fishers" set the standards against which all other performances of these works are judged.