google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, Jun 7, 2019 Bruce Haight

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Jun 7, 2019

Friday, Jun 7, 2019 Bruce Haight

Process S

18. Paul Bunyan resting his eyes?: SLUMBER JACK.   Lumberjack

28. What a boring sermon might precipitate?: SLEEP OF FAITH.  Leap of faith.

48. Like lectures after a big meal?: SNOOZE WORTHY.  Newsworthy.

62. Unexpectedly mild storm?: SNORE EASTER.   Nor'easter.

Bruce's punny play today should subconsciously induce you to get some more rest as he leads common words and phrases with an S,  and changes spelling as needed.  Click on Process S above if you wonder about the theme title.

Across:

1. Leading trio: ABC.  "It's easy as 1,2,3 or simple as do-re-mi, a,b,c,1,2,3, baby you and me, girl."  Name the group.

4. Cheese made from cow's milk: GOUDA.  One of hundreds.

9. Space Invaders platform: ATARI.  Gaming has come along way from the original arcade style single player games like Space Invaders.  I read about colleges and universities offering programs and scholarships in eSports after Husker Gary commented about the college in his city.    Apparently UC Irvine has one of the most noted programs.

14. Swing adviser: PRO.  A golf pro, aka a PGA professional.

15. Come clean: OWN UP.  Fess up, or cop to,  as was in Michael Wiesenberg's Saturday puzzle that Husker Gary blogged.

16. More cold and wet: RAWER.  Weather.

17. Play critic?: REF.   A referee on the field of play, such as in football or soccer.   A nice misdirection.  I wonder if there are eRefs in eSports gaming ?

20. They might be cracked: SAFES.   Safecracker is often yegg in crossword puzzles.

22. Pool tactic: MASSE

23. Sushi garnish: ROE.  Fish eggs.

24. Highly season, as eggs: DEVIL.   Is roe ever deviled ?    History.com gives us The Ancient History of Deviled Eggs

26. Head for the hills?: ASCEND.  Climb.

32. Opposite of stiff: TIP.  Loved this one, too.   Even with bad service, I'd leave something on the table.

33. Belgian city in 1917 headlines: YPRES.  Famous WWI battle site.

34. Region bordering Mex.: SO CAL.   Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes.  So Cal is the land of 10,000 quakes.

38. Project Mercury chimp: ENOS.   The USSR had sent Yuri Gagarin into orbit earlier.  The US took a more conservative approach, not wanting to risk a human life.   Enos died less than a year later of unrelated causes.

40. Helpless numbers?: SOLOS.   You are on your own.

42. Ask: POSE.   Query, inquire, question...

43. "Same here": ME TOO.

45. '70s TV talk show: DINAH.   Dinah Shore, of course.

47. Suzuki's Quadracer, for short: ATV.   Didn't know this, but it was easy to figure out.   I read that prior to the introduction of the Quadracer, the sport all terrain vehicle market was dominated by three wheel ATV's.

51. NFLer who was a 2017 Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year honoree: JJ WATT.  This guy is a phenomenal athlete on the field for the Houston Texans.   He's also a class act away from the game, using his celebrity for charitable work that has raised millions to help those in need.

54. Cuffed, old-style: SMOTE.  A learning moment.   I did not know that the second definition of cuff was to strike someone with an open hand.

55. Attention: EAR.  Give me your attention for a moment.

56. Drifters: HOBOS.  Sometimes you can find drifters under the boardwalk, down by the sea. Having some fun, people walking above.  Falling in love.

60. Celebrations with nos.: B-DAYS.  Numbers / birthdays

65. Prefix with -bar: ISO.  You'll hear isobar on The Weather Channel frequently as storms roll in.

66. Pronged: TINED.  As in a fork or a rake.

67. "Fingers crossed": I HOPE.  Wish for luck.

68. Case study?: LAW.   A case study is a detailed examination, but if you study cases, you are probably in law school or in the profession.   Sue me for malfeasance if you disagree.

69. "Love Story" author: SEGAL.   Perps.  Saw the movie with Ali McGraw and Ryan O'Neal, but didn't read the book.

70. __ bar: TAPAS.   Have never been.  Will go one day.

71. Part of GPS: Abbr.: SYS.   Global Positioning System.   Owned by the United States.  Operated by the US Air Force.

Down:

1. Financing figs.: APRs.  Annual Percentage Rates.   Truth in lending.

2. Depression Era sight: BREADLINE.   And soup kitchens.  

3. Morning aroma source: COFFEE POT.

4. Spewing dirt?: GOSSIPY.   Like a yenta.

5. Night __: OWL.   Shout out to a number of our regulars !  As they say, if the shoe fits, wear it.  While we're at it, let's have a shout out to the early birds here.    What is your chronotype ?

6. One for the money?: UNUM. E. pluribus unum.   It means "Out of many, one."

7. Russian legislative body: DUMA.  Russian studies are not my bailiwick.  But I gather it is sort of like a combination of the US Congress and the departments of the executive branch.

8. LAPD messages: APBS.    Los Angeles Police Department / All Point Bulletins.

9. Stops: ARRESTS.  Clever wordplay.   For instance, a spark arrestor stops (arrests) potentially flammable exhaust particles (sparks) in outdoor equipment and machines that have combustion engines.  Like on that Suzuki Quadrunner, or on a chainsaw.

10. __ Boston: luxury hotel: TAJ.

11. Clued in: AWARE.

12. Drone job: RECON.  Plenty of drones in the air over the flooded rivers, fields and towns after the record rainfalls in May.  

13. Miffed: IRKED.  Some of the golfers in my league have been miffed that the carts have been limited to cart paths only.  The fairways, especially the low lying areas, have been waterlogged. One nearby private course hasn't opened for play yet.

19. Morales of "Ozark": ESAI.  A fine actor that has gained additional fame in crosswords due to his vowel friendly first name. 

21. "The serpent deceived me" speaker: EVE.  The story can be read in Genesis.

25. Cuts: LOPS.

27. Cut of meat: CHOP.

28. Curtail: STEM.

I love those three in row.  Cuts, Cut and Curtail. Lops, Chop and Stem.  How slick was that ?

29. Tolkien hero: FRODO.  From J.R.R. Tolkein's trilogy.   I read the books.   Never saw the movies.

30. Start of a seasonal Spanish greeting: FELIZ.   Feliz navidad.  Prospero año y felicidad.  Merry Christmas and a prosperous year filled with happiness.  The words from the very popular and enduring Christmas song by José Feliciano.

31. Together: AS ONE.   United.   How about a little Rhapsody in Blue ?



35. Metaphorical influence: COATTAILS.  Early in my career a first line manager told me he was riding the second line's coattails to the top.   It was the first time I'd heard the word used in that sense.

36. According to the proverb: AS THEY SAY.  The answer wasn't apparent by the clue alone, and the perps did the lion's share of the work for me.  As they say, good things come to those who wait.

37. Duty: LEVY.  Tax.

39. Cub slugger: SOSA.  Sammy.   For certain,  a polarizing figure,  but ...

"...Many believe he and Mark McGwire helped put baseball on the map again in a resurgent 1998 season that helped make the strike of 1994/95 an afterthought.  Count me among that group, as well.

He deserves all the credit in the world.  People would show up to Wrigley just to see Sosa run out to the right field bleachers and camera bulbs flashed by the thousands every single time he came up to the plate for the better part of a decade.  Waveland was sometimes so packed with ballhawks that there wouldn't be room to walk."  -  Tony Andracki  nbcsports.com.

41. Cuts: SAWS. Clecho back to 25D.

44. Officially injured, in previous baseball lingo: ON THE DL.  Disabled List.

46. Men of La Mancha: HOMBRES.   Today's Spanish lesson.   La Mancha is a region of Spain. Cervantes wrote his classic novel Don Quixote de La Mancha about a man from La Mancha that lost his sanity, aspired to live the life of a chivalrous knight, and among other things, tilted at windmills.

49. Siouan people: OTOEThe Otoe-Missouria Tribe history.  Until reading that article, I did not know that the state of Nebraska gets its name from two Otoe-Missouria words which means “water flat.”

50. Hot __: ROD.


51. Kids: JESTS.  Hey you jests !  Get off of my lawn !

52. __ and Jack, 2019 Gap acquisition: JANIE.  Not familiar, but I gather from a few quick reads that they are purveyors of fashionable clothing for children 0 to 6 years of age.

53. "Guess again": WRONG

57. Tempt: BAIT.

58. Org. concerned with plants: OSHA. Actually, any private workplace, and most public workplaces as well, but I liked the misdirection.

59. "Hold it right there!": STOP.  Halt ! Avast ! Freeze !

61. Scatters in a field: SOWS.

63. Blues-rocker Chris: REA.   We sometimes get actor Stephen. 

64. Radon-regulating org.: EPA.



35 comments:

D4E4H said...

FIR in a whopping 88:24 min.

Fantastic Friday Friends!

Thank you Bruce Haight for this impossible CW which I conquered with perps and WAGS.
I caught the theme at 18 A which helped later.

Thank you TTP for your excellent review.

Ðave

Lemonade714 said...

Welcome to Friday Tom and thank you for making my post-puzzle time twice my solving time. Reading about PROCESS S the related CRONOTYPE and DEVILED EGGS delayed my morning comments. BTW, I am a bear. I once made deviled eggs for the outdoor reception for the wedding of a friend where they had little faces inside the egg white hat. They were very close to this IMAGE though not quite so professional looking. I was competing with Oo.

I enjoyed CUFF next to EAR as it was common when I was a child for feisty youngsters (like me?) to get their ears cuffed.

Bruce always delivers and Tom as well, with perhaps a little Texas home-field advantage for J J WATT . Thanks guys

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Stumbled mightily in the NW. Started with ABC and APRS, took 'em out, put 'em back in. Was cracking JOKES before SAFES showed up. Then things started to click. Caught the additional S theme with SLUMBER JACK, and that helped. Tried SENORES, but DINAH dictated it had to be HOMBRES. Still, I finished in normal Friday solving time. Thanx, Bruce and Lemonade. (I went down your chronotype rabbit hole. Surprise, surprise. I'm an early morning person: Lion.)

10,000 Quakes: Thought it was Flakes. The rumor was that at some point in the past, the country had been tipped up on edge, and everything loose wound up in Orange County.

OSHA: "Plant" made me think we were looking for spies.

Arrests: In the awl patch I learned that "explosion-proof" electric equipment and fixtures weren't designed to prevent explosions, but to contain (arrest) them.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I awoke to do this somnolent puzzle in the wee hours. Hey, we were having a SLUMBER party! I SLEEP walked thru it then went back to bed. Thanks, Bruce, for a dream of a puzzle that wasn't a nightmare.

Thanks, TTP, for a great expo and especially the info on the Process S which made me yawn but had some interesting info concerning my problem. I know I was always a bear if I had to go to work after 4 hrs. of sleep. I don't think I have any circadian rhythm. It's more like circadian chaos.

The E central & SE took a lot of red-letters because of COATTAILS & AS THEY SAY. I had to drop to the bottom and work back up.

DNK: J J WATT. Not "caballero" but HOMBRES.

"Drone job: may need drones to seed muddy fields in Nebraska & Kansas if we want fall crops. Might need to SOW rice.

APRS: nice start to the puzzle. Nice start to my financial month to find some CDs rolled over at twice the APRS of last period.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

PHEW! FIR, but erased admit for OWN UP, ditto for ME TOO, ute for ATV and IRate for IRKED.

Whenever I think of DINAH I want to trade in my Toyota for a Chevy. But I see the USA in my Tiffin Phaeton.

Haven't used a COFFEE POT in years, We are Keurig people. I am the faint of heart and drink decaf, while DW wants caf.

I liked seeing ISObar and NOREASTER side-by-side.

Thanks to Bruce for the fine, fun Friday toughie, and to TTP for the interesting review.

FLN - Sorry to hear of Dr. John's passing. I always get him confused with Dr. Hook. I like the music from both.

Big Easy said...

Good morning. It wasn't the 'punny play' that was difficult, it was the misleading (for me) clues. Backing out from dead-ends and unknowns added an extra 10 minutes. Bruce Haight just wanted to BAIT me and make me work hard today.

Opposite of stiff wasn't LAX but TIP the waiter. I remember HAM but not ENOS but after TIP my 'curtail' was SLOW---WRONG, so it became ENOS. Play critic? the REFeree wasn't what I had in mind. Helpless numbers? "911S" wasn't a possibility but I wasn't thinking SOLOS. I was getting IRATE- wrong again and was I ever IRKED. But it was my 'duty' to finish this thing and LEVY finally came around. I didn't want to be put on 'Injured Reserve'; wrong again. It was the Disabled List as n ON THE DL. Time for this HOMBRE to shut up.

I never knew DINAH Shore had a talk show or who was the 'SI man of the year', but did know of J.J. WATT. Two gov. agencies in the same square- OSHA & EPA (I was thinking NRC for nuclear regulatory commission). JANIE & Jack and Chris REA- unknowns. 'Cuffed' & SMOTE- 'nooze' to me.

D4E4H- it took me about 35 minutes.

Jinx- we saw Dr. John TWICE in one day. There's a festival called JeffFest that is held yearly in the median of a boulevard- shopping center on one side and a couple of restaurants of the other side of the street. He was playing that night but we went to the restaurant about 4pm to get a table that would be set up in the parking lot and as we walked up, we heard Dr. John playing. He was having a rehearsal with new band members. He went through his entire show as we sat at our table that was about 50 yards from the stage with traffic going past. I don't remember who the other bands were but he played again as the closing act. No traffic that time. We never gave up our table at the restaurant. Best seat in the house.

And he did not sing 'Sylvia's mother'. You go to the WRONG doctor.

Yellowrocks said...

Great blog, TTP. I enjoyed reading about deviled eggs. I always thought that deviled was an odd name for them because most of them are not that spicy. Now my cookbooks call them stuffed eggs. Lemonade, your eggs are so cute. Such patience! Too much trouble for me, but people gobble mine up quickly without them being fancy. At home we sometimes like chopped smoked salmon added to the yolks. Friends outside the family prefer them regular. Easier and less expensive anyway.
I liked helpless numbers/solos.
I had TAILS for the longest time before perps gave me COAT. Duh! COATTAILS is a popular word at election time. Lesser candidates ride into power on the coattails of a super candidate.
I, too, have heard of mothers cuffing their kids' ears.
TIP was devilish, my last fill. If I have one bad wait staff experience, I tip as usual. If the same waitress is indifferent every time I come, I give a much smaller tip. Most soon discover I tip other waitresses well, and they shape up.
I don't recall having seen REA, JJ WATTS and JANIE (and Jack) before. Their common J at 52 was a good wag.
I've alwas been a fan of Dinah Shore on albums, films and TV shows

CartBoy said...

I...

...had no idea on YPRES (had SPRES)...BMT (before my time).

...had to have SOUSA (s/b SOCAL) because SOCAL is only part of the border thus PLEA (s/b POSE) and ULATTAILS was never going to be right.

Learning moment.

jfromvt said...

I got through it, with some very clever and tough clues! Well done Bruce. I was thinking, this is tough one, then realized it is Friday, so level was appropriate.

Second day of sun in Vermont, maybe summer is finally on it’s way. Someone said we haven’t had four straight dry days for something like 280 days.

desper-otto said...

If it's Friday, it must be Lemonade. Nope. Sorry for the mixup, TTP.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Seeing Bruce Haight's byline is always smile-inducing as I know I'm in for some tricky word play, some devious cluing, and, most of all, a pleasant and fun solve. The theme was obvious early on, but there were enough stumbles to slow me down. Needed perps for Atari, Janie, and, as clued, Rea, Taj, and ATV. W/os included Gossips/Gossipy, Otos/Otoe, SUV/ATV, and Unit/Unum. Overall, another smooth and enjoyable BH offering.

Thanks, Bruce, for keeping us on our toes and thanks, TTP, for going the extra mile with your always informative and entertaining summary.

I'll admit to being a Night Owl, but my sleep patterns are nowhere near as erratic or eccentric as PK and WikWak's are. 😉

I watched "Stan and Ollie" yesterday and give it a resounding thumbs up. The first 40 or so minutes were slow-moving and I almost gave up on it, but after a few hours break, I decided to give it another go and I'm glad I did. I learned a lot about their personal lives and the challenges they faced as aging professionals. The performances of John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan would make Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel very happy souls, indeed.

Have a great day.

Bruce Haight said...

Thanks TTP- great write-up!
This was a fun puzzle to make, though I was a little afraid some solvers would fall asleep!

Yellowrocks said...

WW I, during the second battle of Ypres in 1915 the Germans used poison gas for the first time.
"Of the battles, the largest, best-known, and most costly in human suffering was the Third Battle of Ypres (31 July to 6 November 1917). After months of fighting, this battle resulted in nearly half a million casualties to all sides, and only a few miles of ground won by Allied forces. During the course of the war the town was all but obliterated by the artillery fire."
Have you read about the horrors of trench warfare during WW I?


Bruce, thanks for stopping by. This puzzle was no snooze. It was lively and fun.

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Thanks, Bruce, for stopping by, and for a particularly invigorating challenge. I took everyone of your curve balls and mostly struck out. I recovered on crosses in the same way that many here have already described. SLUMBER JACK led the way for my breakthrough. Each time I made an initial correction, I took out the V-8 can. I never grow irritated when I'm not on your wavelength to begin. It was great fun.

Thanks, TTP, for quite a fine tour. Great links, and I loved the oldies playbook. Remembering when Romeo and Juliet debated between the lark and the nightingale--much more poetic than the night owl or the early bird. This lark had some fun today. Thanks, everyone.

PS Oops. Late to the game: I believe OMK was first to comment on James' Jeopardy departure. My hub and I are on the same page. He's a nice guy, he know's his stuff all around, and I don't think he flubbed up. We believe he was ready to move on. I can't even imagine all the demands for his time outside of the program. Family? Travel? He valued the challenge and he handled it. Probably like the Middle School kid he once was who had terrible grades in Math and won the Illinois Math ?Educators? state title. I told DH, my clue was him giving Alex the card from his daughter--a lovely gesture--at the beginning of the Monday show, rather than say on Friday at the end of the week. Just adding two cents and won't buy anyone a cup of coffee. Have a great weekend.

Lucina said...

Hola!

Muchas gracias, Bruce, for this very WORTHY challenge and Tom, for your Friday debut. Well done! I'll go back to read the links. I'm a night OWL but almost as erratic as PK.

SLUMBERJACK clued me in to the theme and though it took a lot of deep thought, the grid filled in slowly but surely. Not as easy as ABC, but close.

I knew I'd heard of MASSE but had to wait for a few perps to fill it.

I loved the clue for SOLOS!

And well do I remember the DINAH show with Bert Reynolds as a frequent guest.

It took me too long to switch SENORES to HOMBRES, though, but once I did, the SE fell like dominoes. I went through HOT DOG, HOT RUM and HOT SUN before HOT ROD entered the race. ATV finally emerged. LEVY went in, went out, went in again.

Amazingly JJWATT was correct but only with perps to help. SOSA, too, though they cross.

This was great fun. Thank you again, Bruce, and thank you for stopping to greet us.

Today is my very good friend, Kathy's BDAY, so we are going out to lunch.

Have a magnificent day, everyone!

OwenKL said...

FIW. SO.pAc. was wrong at 34a, and I had no idea for ?OAT TAILS nor ?EVY crossing down. Considered SONORAN desert for 34a, but couldn't see any possible abbreviation that made any sense past the first two letters. After red letters confirmed what was wrong, I finally saw COAT instead of bOAT or gOAT or mOAT, which gave away CAL., which showed a type of duty I hadn't thought of.
The theme was great and well done!

Started last night before sleep, but didn't finish this stinker until late this morning, but I know all you really want from me are l'icks, so late or not --

A LUMBERJACK loves trees to CHOP,
With branches that he gets to LOP.
He SAWS the STEMS,
The woody ends,
To STEMS the flow, so sap will STOP!

An esteemed member of the DUMA, Nov,
(Boris, to those he knew good enough)
When the weather passed an ISO-BAR
Had cheese empanads at a TAPAS BAR
So was known as Boris "GOUDA" Nov!

Now to go back and read the expo and comments.

{B, A-.}

Lucina said...

OwenKL:
You are so clever! That made me chuckle. GOUDA Nov!!!! I hear a symphony now.

AnonymousPVX said...


Not many posters here, it’s 2 PM EDT, and I’m thinking it’s because this puzzle is tough.

Very hard to get a foothold anywhere, not even a toehold. So I just popped around, slowly it filled.

I couldn’t remember Watt’s second initial....C? D? They sounded right, finally went with J, it sounded right as well, plus it matched the pairing for 52D. Complete guess on what I would call a Natik, but it was a good guess.

Markovers....not many as I couldn’t even guess...OTOS/OTOE, SENORES/HOMBRES.

So, if this is Friday, what the heck is waiting on Saturday? Stay tuned.

Spitzboov said...

Hello everyone.

Good Friday challenge. Finally thought I got it all but I bolluxed up JJWATT. Had POS before SYS. Sussed out the theme with SLEEP OF FAITH. Many subtle or arcane clues made the cw exceptionally daunting. Good job, BH.
ISO - My favorite obscure ISO's are isohyet and isochron; lines of equal rainfall and travel time. The concepts are used in flood analysis and hydrology. But ISO appears in hundreds of examples across many disciplines.

Jayce said...

Wow, what a terrific puzzle. Devilish clues. It was fun working through this bad boy and extremely satisfying. I did have to look up one thing, namely the "Love Story" author, because the letters DL and JJ flummoxed me. Did I say the cluing was devilish? I love it. Beautiful job, Mr. Haight.

Well, the Process S quiz rates me as a Bear, but I think I'm closer to a Dolphin. I don't really match up with either category. I think there need to be one or two additional categories to cover those that fall between the four given ones. Also, the quiz seemed somewhat inapplicable to retired people, as it had some questions that specifically referred to workdays vs weekends and work hours vs days off. So I'll declare myself a HEDGEHOG (why not?) who usually goes to bed at 11:00 PM, wakes up at 9:00 AM (yep, 10 hours of sleep), and peaks in mid-afternoon, between 2:00 and 5:00 PM. On the other hand, my wife is definitely an early morning person, rising at 6:00 or 6:30 AM and on the go full speed ahead until she conks out at 7:00 PM.

Jeez, now I'm on Dr. Michael Breus's mailing list.

TTP, I like your write-ups and thing you do a great job. Thank you.

Good wishes to you all.

WikWak said...

Lookie here... it’s only about a quarter to two and I’m already posting! (Hi, Irish Miss.) A Bruce Haight puzzle and review by TTP; you can’t ask for more than that.

I had trouble getting started in the east and northeast but I guess finishing the rest of it must’ve warmed up my brain because when I finally came back up it fell nicely into place. 20 minutes in all.

Never heard of Janie & JACK.

I had to come here for TTP to finally help me understand UNUM. I kept trying to make it UN UM and that did not compute.

I got ON THE DL right away—and I don’t do baseball. How’d that happen?

DEVILed eggs are the food of the gods! (Better to crack eggs than SAFES, I guess.)

TINED—a restaurant where have a monthly meetup of retired teachers has 3-TINED forks. How can they call them fourks when they are clearly threeks?!

I’ll see myself out.

Have a great day all, and don’t forget… no matter where you go, there you are.

I’m going. I’m going. Put down your pitchforks and torches.

Husker Gary said...

Musings¬
-¬Summer has arrieved and so has golf here in “flat water”!
-Great fun, some of the clues came so close to maddening without getting there. (asymptotic to my math friends)
-SLEEP OF FAITH – How can a minister not see that no one is listening/interested?
-Young cart girl left our foursome with $5 in TIPS for one five minute stop
-HOBOS were frequent visitors as they knew mom was a soft touch and so they walked the two blocks up the hill past other houses nearer the RR
-A former student’s DRONE has kept me aware of road repair on the way to where I sub
-AS THEY SAY, “If you don’t get the putt at least to the hole, it has no chance to go in”

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Bruce Haight, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, TTP, for a fine review.

Well, I got 1A, ABC, 4A, Gouda, and 9A, ATARI. I thought I was in hog heaven. Well, that all changed when I headed South.

I bounced around and got a few here and there. I finally got the North Center, OWL, UNUM, DUMA, and APBS. Those helped me get SLUMBER JACK and gave me an Idea of the theme. SNOREEASTER was the next to get. Eventually got the other two, with SNOOZE WORTHY being last.

Never heard of JANIE and JACK. Perps.

Liked OSHA for 58D. Great clue.

Tried SENORES before HOMBRES fit better with all the perps.

Tried GOSSIPS before GOSSIPY was better. YPRES was wrong forever. I had SPRES. Then fixed it to YPRES. Had FROGO before FRODO worked better.

Puzzle was well constructed. And, Friday level tough. That is OK.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

I spent about two hours on this puzzle. Not easy.

D4E4H said...

Madame Defarge at 10:40 AM wrote "my clue was him giving Alex the card from his daughter--a lovely gesture--at the beginning of the Monday show,..."

Thanks for pointing out that parting act. I knew something was amiss when his final bet was so low. His third nonverbal class act was giving Emma a high five upon her win.

Ðave

CrossEyedDave said...

Way too hard for me...
(I had to take a nap...)

There were some easy answers, like Gouda & Atari,
but to pick just one Tolkien Hero, that's tough.
Actually, without Gollum, (Smeagol) Frodo would never have gotten rid of the dang ring.
(I vote for Samwise Gamgee...) (9:25)

SlumberJack?

HeHe, sleep of faith, Let's hope God has a sense of humor, cause this is WAY over the top... (5:21)

Snore Easter? I ask ALexa to play "distant thunderstorm" whenever I want to fall asleep quickly...

& to backtrack to Snooze Worthy,
Hey! I wasn't talking about me!

Ol' Man Keith said...

I got a bit confused after filling SLUMBERJACK. I thought I got the theme from that but didn't realize homophones were acceptable. I kept trying to think of adding "S" to correctly spelled follow-ups.
Also missed YPRES.
Doh!
Otherwise, a real delight of a pzl. (SEE Below*) Thank you, Mr. Haight!
~ OMK
____________
*DR:
Yes, a delight--except possibly for the tunes conjured in my memory's ear (Chopin's sonata #2 in B flat minor? The Volga Boatmen??) by the anagram of today's single diagonal, for it is indeed a ...
"DISMAL REFRAIN"!

Wilbur Charles said...

Stan and Ollie

I think I have to try to catch this. I loved them as a kid. Much more than Stooges

WC

Ol' Man Keith said...

Me too, Wilbur!
The Stooges were crass; Stan & Ollie had style.
I learned from Stan, and later on I drew on him a few times when I had to play comic roles.
I was surprised to learn he was the "brains"--the boss & de facto manager--of the team.
~ OMK

Wilbur Charles said...

Not JD, JJ. JANIE/DANIE all the same to me

Re. Trench warfare. We were just talking about"Frontal Attacks" . I was thinking Napoleon but WWI Generals were still in the (METAPHORICAL) Dark ages. Malthus influence may have suggested massive casualties were a good thing.

I had POS<SYS delaying things. BDAYS was Bruce's CSO to Wilbur.
I had an Amazon parrot I named HOMBRE. Very aggressive but he alerted me to a fire one night.

I also tried ONUS and LIEN < LEVY.

Owen, #2 was a rib tickler.

I'm at St Pete McDonald's after a day at the VA. ? At 74 should I get a colonoscopy?

WC

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Drat! 1 bad square... Skootch over CartBoy - I also had GOSSIPs. YPRES, SPRES; I wouldn't know the difference.

Thanks Bruce for a) stopping in and b) a delightfully deceptive (clue-wise) puzzle. Once I figured SLUMBERJACK things went much faster.

TTP - You know the LAW that states "A project will fill the time allotted"? Give you all week and look at the expo you created! Wow! Loved your "Drifters" aside.

WO: OTOs b/f OTOE
ESPs: yPRES, ESAI, ~REA | SEGAL | JANIE~ == WAG-fest
Fav: HOBOS [8:10 - remember folks, Hodgman is a comedian*]
Sparkle: 58d's Plant was not an herb, fruit, nor vegie; UNUM's clue; c/a EAR; and what TTP said at 25, 27, & 28d: LOPS CHOP & STEM

9d Stops is the clue; 59d STOP is the answer...(¿Rich?)

{B+, A}
Very nice DR.

Chronotype? I'm definitely a wolf/night-OWL.

After reading TTP's link, I'm going to have to up my game on my DEVIL'd Eggs' binder - something other than mayo... [I do kick them up with cayenne pepper instead of paprika]

Not only is J.J. Watt one big HOMBRE, he is a staple of H.E.B. commercials here in Houston. [4:24; HEB starts at 1:42].

BigE - I enjoyed your recap almost as much as the puzzle! I also enjoyed your Dr. John story.

WikWak - So we'll need a 4-TINED pitchFOURk? :-)

Cheers, -T
*his book, The Areas of My Expertise, is a collection of made up facts. I found it hilarious.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Mme Defarge ~
My wife commented on that "Get Well" card too. That was the last possible show for the card to be produced. A harbinger or omen.
~ OMK

Jinx in Norfolk said...

-T, TTP: Parkinson's Law is important in project management. Affects both schedule and budget.

WW: "fourks" must be a terrible pun, because I laughed until my side hurt. I just smile at "good" humor.

WC, if someone wants to give me a colonoscopy when I reach 74, I'm going to tell them to shove it.

Anonymous T said...

Jinx - as a once PMP, I knew you'd know Parkinson's LAW...

WikWak - One more thing re: that pitch-FOURk to run you off with? Does it have to be in tune?

//Now, I will take my leave :-)
-T

Walt Disney's mustache said...

Yes fellow Jeopardy! enthusiasts, I believe the timing of the exit of James was more than a coincidence. Just too many hints to it being planned. And not by the producers, imho. I think he made his point and wanted to leave Ken Jennings the reigning champ, both in money and overall wins. He took his ball and went home.

CED, your link for SLUMBERJACK was perfect! I remember that cartoon and went searching. The entire Dianey short from 1958 is available for free on YouTube(36:02). But I will link just the music featuring The Mellomen. The founder and bass singer from the group was Thurl Ravenscroft. He also was the vocalist for "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and was the voice for Kellogg's Tony the Tiger for five decades.(per wiki). What a career!

CanadianEh! said...

Wow! What a game. #We the North

Back to the CW. Thanks for the fun Bruce and TTP.
I did most of the CW this morning but the SW (as opposed to the NOREASTER) would not fall; I returned after a busy day and FIRed and saw the theme.
I wagged the J in JJ WYATT and JANIE.

Hand up for Senores before HOMBRES

Yes AnonT, I saw the Stop/STOPS dupe also.
We also had plenty of ONES with UNUM, SOLOS, AS ONE

Off to SLUMBERland. These game schedules to accommodate fans on either side of the continent are making me a night OWL.