google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, June 4, 2019 C.C. Burnikel

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Jun 4, 2019

Tuesday, June 4, 2019 C.C. Burnikel

What Do The Animals Say?  In today's puzzle, we have 4 pairs of clues and answers.  The first clue asks for a particular animal, and the last word of the second answer provides the animal sound.  What a clever theme from our Corner Hostess!  I think this is one of my favorite themes in recent memory. 

Note: Animals in other countries make different sounds.  Who knew?

1-Across. Animal heard at the end of 30-Across: WOLF.  //  30-Across. Jamaican resort: MONTEGO BAY.


60-Across. Animal heard at the end of 17-Across: SNAKE.  //  17-Across. Suspected 1930s-'40s spy: ALGER HISS.

Alger Hiss (Nov. 11, 1904 ~ Nov. 15, 1996) was an attorney and held a number of positions in the Federal Government, including the Department of Justice and the State Department.  He was accused of spying for the USSR.  Although never convicted of the spying charges, he was convicted for perjury related to the spying charges and was sentenced to 5 years in Federal prison.


19-Across. Animal heard at the end of 46-Across: MOOSE.  //  46-Across. "Humboldt's Gift" Pulitzer-winning novelist: SAUL BELLOW.


Saul Bellow (né Solomon Bellows; June 10, 1915 ~ Apr. 5, 2005), was a Canadian-American awarding winning author.  He was the recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature, as well as the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.  Try as I might, I just cannot get through any of his works.


70-Across. Animal heard at the end of 62-Across: SEAL.  //  62-Across. Canoe material: BIRCH BARK.
The Birch is a hardwood tree with paper-like bark, which is surprisingly water resistant, hence, makes a perfect material for canoes.

Today's theme reminded me of this song that was popular a year or two:


Across:

5. "Give me __": A SEC.  Don't rush me!

9. Texas A&M student: AGGIE.  A student attending the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University, which is located in College Station, Texas, is called an AGGIE.  The main campus is over 5,200 acres.  The George H.W. Bush Presidential Library is located at the campus.


14. Grandstand level: TIER.  There are many tiers to the LSU Tiger Football Stadium, also known as Death Valley.  The original stadium, built in 1924, held 12,000 fans.  It has expanded over the years and now has a capacity of over 102,300.  It is the 7th largest stadium in the world.  Of the 6 stadiums above the LSU Tiger Stadium, 4 are also American college football stadiums.  (The Kyle Stadium on the Texas A&M Campus holds about 400 over LSU's capacity.)


15. Actress Gilbert of "The Conners": SARA.  Sara Gilbert (née Sara Rebecca Abeles; b. Jan. 29, 1975) graduated from Yale University in 1997.  Apparently, she plays Darlene Conner on the television sit-com.

16. Cheating on an ethics exam, e.g.: IRONY.  After I graduated from law school, in addition to the State bar exam, I had to take a separate ethics exam.  I found it amusing that to pay for the privilege of taking the ethics portion of the licensing requirement, the payment had to be made in the form of a certified check or money order.  A personal check was not acceptable.

20. Mediocre: SO-SO.

21. Bandleader Arnaz: DESI.  Probably everyone on the Corner knows that Desi Arnez (né Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III; Mar. 2, 1917 ~ Dec. 2, 1986) was married to Lucille Ball (née Lucille Désirée Ball; Aug. 6, 1911 ~ Apr. 26, 1989) for 20 years.  She was his 2nd wife; he was her first.


23. Baking soda amts.: TSPs.  As in Teaspoons.

24. Selfish types: HOGS.


26. Thrill to pieces: ELATE.

28. Sports gp. with a tour: PGA.  Golfing.

34. TV host Meredith: VIEIRA.  As in Meredith Louise Vieira (b. Dec. 30, 1953).  She is a professional host.  She has been the host of a number of shows, including 60 Minutes and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.


36. Blues singer James: ETTA.  Etta James (née Jamesetta Hawkins; Jan, 25, 1938 ~ Jan. 20, 2012) has become a crossword staple.


37. Brian of Roxy Music: ENO.  Brian Eno (né Brian Peter George Eno; b. May 15, 1948) is another crossword staple.
 Then
Now

38. Prefix with mural: INTRA-.  Think of Intramural Sports.

39. You, in Germany: SIE.  Today's German lesson.

40. New England fish: SCROD.  Who knew this word had a past pluperfect subjunctive?  I learned this from a very proper Boston Brahmin.

42. Sci-fi figures: ETs.  As in Extra-Terrestrials.

43. Brunch, e.g.: MEAL.  Yummers!


45. Enemy of ancient Athens: SPARTA.


49. "Science Guy" Bill: NYE.  As in William Sanford Nye (b. Nov. 27, 1955).  Is he a Scientist or a Comedian?


50. Sunning areas: POOLS.


51. Teller's comedy partner: PENN.  As in the comedy team of Penn and Teller, comprised of Penn Fraser Jillette (b. Mar. 5, 1955) and Raymond Joseph Teller (b. Feb. 14, 1948).  Penn is the gabby one, while Teller remains silent.


53. Norway's most populous city: OSLO.  Oslo is the capital of Norway and is also the home of the Viking Ship Museum.

55. Not out: SAFE.  Think of baseball.


57. "Look what I did!": TADA!

65. Completely full: SATED.

66. Off in the distance: AFAR.

67. Patent's genesis: IDEA.


68. Pages with viewpoints: OP-EDs.  I learned from doing the crossword puzzles that Op-Ed means Opposite the Editorial page.

69. Stretch out in a recliner: REST.

Down:

1. Org. for Naomi Osaka: WTA.  As in the Women's Tennis Association.  Naomi Osaka (b. Oct. 16, 1997) is a professional tennis player who was born in Japan to a Haitian father and Japanese mother.  I don't follow sports, so was unfamiliar with her until this past weekend.  She was defeated by Katerina Siniakova, a Czech tennis player, at the French Open.


2. Some Picassos: OILS.

3. Building toy with theme parks: LEGO.  The Smithsonian recently reported on a humorous study wherein a few volunteers swallowed the heads of Lego figurines to see how long they stayed in the body.

4. What an open window allows in: FRESH AIR.  I initially tried Sunlight, which fit in the spaces provided.

5. Campfire residue: ASH.

Anatomy of a Camp Fire.

6. Declared with authority: SAID SO.

7. Highlands language: ERSE.  I generally think of Erse being an Irish language, but Webster's says it is also a Scottish language, hence the Highlands.

8. Walkman insert, once: CASSETTE.  I had one of these once, back in the dark ages.


9. Ready-fire link: AIM.


10. Cave: GROTTO.  I initially tried Gave In, which also fit in the spaces provided.  There is a Grotto in Cullman, Alabama, known as the Ave Maria Grotto.  It was was built on the grounds of St. Bernard Abby by one of the monks.  In addition to the Grotto, there are over 100 miniature reproductions of world famous Catholic religious structures.  The Grotto is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  It is an interesting place to stop, if you are driving through the area.


11. Jam fruit: GOOSE BERRY.  A Goose makes a Honking sound.  Close, but no cigar, to today's theme.

12. Brit. police rank: INSP.  As Inspector.  Anyone who reads Elizabeth George's mystery series knows about Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley.

13. Places for contacts: EYES.  They come in all colors and designs.  I once had a DWI case where the defendant had been stopped for being high on something.  It didn't help is case that he was wearing contacts that had CANNABIS leaf designs on them.


18. Piglet's little buddy: ROO.  A reference to Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends.


22. "Before ___ you go ...": I LET.

25. "Today" rival, for short: GMA.  As in Good Morning, America, which airs on ABC.

27. Audibly stunned: AGASP.  The dreaded "A" word.

28. Sailing companion of the Niña: PINTA.  Christopher Columbus's three ships were the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa María.


29. Sleeps till noon, say: GETS UP LATE.

31. Sam of "Jurassic Park": NEILL.  Sam Neill (né Nigel John Dermot Neill; b. Sept. 14, 1947) was born in Ireland, but now lives in New Zealand.  He played Dr. Alan Grant in some of the Jurassic Park movies.

32. "I left ___ on the fridge": A NOTE.


33. Pointy-eared Jedi master: YODA.  A reference to the Star Wars movies.


34. Competes (for): VIES.

35. "First Blood" tough guy: RAMBO.  Played by Sylvester Stallone.


39. Mexican buffet offering: SALSA BAR.  Not sure I have actually seen a Salsa Bar at a Mexican restaurant, but I'm game to try some varieties of Salsa.


41. Marijuana: CANNABIS.  See 13-Down.


44. Slithery sea creatures: EELS.


45. Fin. neighbor: SWE.  Sweden is the neighbor of Finland.


47. Took a peek: LOOKED.

48. Some Lincoln Center productions: OPERAS.

52. Highest degree: NTH.  My initial thought was a Ph.D.

53. ___ buco: veal dish: OSSO.


54. Easy-peasy thing: SNAP.  Did you find this puzzle to be a SNAP?

56. Marcher's flute: FIFE.
58. Florida's Miami-___ County: DADE.  Lemonade lives a county over from Miami-Dade.

59. ___ rug: AREA.

61. Mag workers: EDs.  As in Editors.

63. Dated PC monitor: CRT.  As in a Cathode-Ray Tube.

64. ___ Kan pet food:  KAL.


Here's the grid:

I'll leave you with a QOD:  Changing mass consciousness is an individual responsibility.  ~  Dennis Weaver (né William Dennis Weaver; June 4, 1924 ~ Feb. 24, 2006)

 
Note from C.C.:

From now on, Hahtoolah (Susan) will be our Tuesday Sherpa. TTP and Lemonade will alternate the Friday blogging duty. Thank you, everyone!

49 comments:

  1. The WOLF will BAY at the Moon in the sky,
    The SNAKE will HISS at a mongoose nearby.
    The MOOSE by the lake
    Will BELLOW to his mate,
    The SEAL will BARK to warn an orca is nigh.

    To recap, in the play Lysistrata
    The women of Athens and SPARTA
    Went on strike, told the men
    "If you want sex again
    You'll ELATE us by doing what you oughta!"

    A miss from Florida's MIAMI-DADE
    Was impatient by her beau to get laid.
    She stretched nude by the POOL,
    But her boyfriend, the fool,
    Just warned her to get into the shade!

    {B+, A, A-.}

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Y'all! Thank you, C.C., for an amazing and unusually themed puzzle. Such genius! Thank you, Hahtoolah, for another very interesting expo. Welcome to Tuesday.

    This was not really hard, but not a SNAP either. I had trouble getting started. Didn't know Naomi Osaka so didn't know her org. Who knows what description of a Picasso was wanted so left it blank too. I did get LEGO & FRESH AIR (__LF) and filled on across the top. After filling MOOSE and paying no attention to the NOTEd numbers, I went back and filled 1a as caLF. No TADA!

    Knew ALGER HISS. His name was often heard on the radio when I was a toddler and I could make the grown-ups laugh saying, "ALGER HISSSSS!" with accompanying fist shakes.

    GOOSEBERRY: I never heard of the jam but ate pie once. Just before coming to the blog I had read a post by a friend who was picking her first crop of GOOSEBERRies from bushes she'd planted. Otherwise, I wouldn't have thought of this fruit at all.

    Knew Meredith's last name but had to try several spellings. Who knew VIEIRA? A plethora of vowels.

    FRESH AIR came easy. I'd just shut a window open for that purpose because it was thundering. Once shut -- deluge with lightening. Many sirens just now. Wonder if lightening struck somewhere & started a fire.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's OK PK! Lightning does lighten up things! Had a couple misspellings myself. One of which was a typo. (IMHO a misspelling is not necessarily a typo. As in 'hear' and 'here' from yesterday.}
    Thanks C.C. for a good puzzle, and Hahtoolah -Nice review!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yee-ha C.C., C.C., C.C.!

    FIR in 26:00 min.

    Happy Tuesday lovers of C.C. and her CWs. Thank you madam for this pleasant CW.

    Welcome Hahtoolah for becoming our standard Tuesday reviewer. Thank you for today's extensive review which I will study later.

    Ðave

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good morning!

    Got the theme at 1a...at least the gist of the theme. Had trouble parsing MONTE GOBAY. Yay, Wite-Out free today. Thanx, C.C. and Hahtoolah. (Past Pluperfect Subjunctive, indeed!)

    AREA: We need an 8X10 area rug in the TV viewing area to tame the echos from the sound system. Ceramic tile is not audio-friendly.

    VIEIRA: Looks similar to the French vieux. I just refer to her as "old" Meredith.

    OSLO/SWE: I visited a ship under restoration in Stockholm back in the '80s. It was the Vasa from the 1620s...too recent to be a Viking ship. It sank just outside of Stockholm harbor. The waters of the Baltic are brackish. Shipworms can't live there. That's probably why the wreck remained intact for all those years.

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  6. When I saw fresh air (my favorite radio show hosted by Terry Gross), I thought the puzzle theme might be NPR shows or podcasts.

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  7. D-O: The Vasa sank on its maiden voyage. It sailed less than 1500 yards before sinking!

    ReplyDelete
  8. A small correction: Sam Neill was born in 1947 (not 1974). That just jumped out to me that he could be in his mid-40s.

    Clever puzzle, but never saw the theme. Took 6:24 to finish.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good morning all.
    Great puzzle with a clever theme , thank you C.C.
    My paper doesn’t give the constructors name but I thought it might be C.C. I was a little slowed by the Names I didn’t know but thanks to the easier fills I managed.
    Kal Kan pet food was a brand I had forgotten about and guessed Kan Kan but could not understand why Sean would bark , so Seal sealed the deal .
    Thank you Hahtoola for an enjoyable read thru the review.
    Owen Do I sense a little rebellion at the inevitable ?
    Some say life begins at 40.
    I say life begins at 70 .
    So take heart the best may be yet to come .

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  10. FIR, but erased ALGER HeSS and CANNiBIS. Wow man, heavy.

    The only Jamaican resort I know about are the Hedonism locations.

    The only GROTTO I have visited is on Capri.

    Following multiple RK surgeries I have 20-25 EYEsight (uncorrected) in my right EYE, and awful (corrected to 20-30 by a rigid gas-permeable contact lens) in my left. Glasses won't work for me; the only correction available is that RGP lens.

    Don't know why SALSA BAR is a brunch thing. Moe's Southwest Grill locations offer it daily, as do the few other local Mexican joints I know that offer that amenity.

    When I lived in Dallas everyone, including the radio DJs, told AGGIE jokes. To wit:
    I went to a Rangers game Sunday. A guy with an AGGIEs cap came in late and was about to sit in his seat two rows in front of me when we heard someone yell "HEY BILL". He stood up straight and looked behind us, then started to sit down again. We again heard "HEY BILL", and he stood up and spun around again, but seeing no one he knew started to sit down again. But once again, "HEY BILL" was shouted, and he stood back up, looked around and shouted "I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BUT MY NAME'S NOT BILL!"

    Thanks to CC for the fun puzzle with just enough crunch. I noted the baseball reference as soon as I read the clue. And thanks to Hahtoolah for picking up Tuesdays, and for the interesting review today. Bill Nye may or may not be a comedian, but he is definitely not a scientist. And seeing those pasty male buns made me miss Splynter.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Good Morning:

    What a delightful change of pace, theme wise, from our clever hostess! CC's creativity continues to amaze me, as does her productivity. One glitch with Die instead of Sie and no unknowns at all. I remember hearing Alger Hiss's name often, together with that of Whittaker Chambers, although I know none of the particulars. I'll take a CSO at Aggie because that's what I'm called by most family members. (I'm not sure which is less desirable, Aggie or Agnes.)

    Thanks, CC, for a special Tuesday treat and thanks, Hatoolah, for your snazzy commentary and the numerous eye-popping visuals.

    YR, I'm so happy to hear that all is going well for Alan and, consequently, you. You made a wise decision at the right time.

    PK, are you in a permanent battle with the Sandman, or are you just going through a phase? (I shudder when I see the time on your posts!)

    Have a great day.

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  12. IM: unfortunately, my sleep patterns seem to be permanently erratic. I've given up fighting it. I just sleep when the urge can't be denied day or night. No rhyme or reason why that I can tell.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good Morning,

    Thanks, C.C., for a little Tuesday crunch. I tried to follow the theme clues, but without luck so I returned to doing the puzzle and letting Hahtoolah 'splian it to me ala DESI. I guess I grew too big for my britches after I found the themes early twice last week. PENN and Teller had a double play today: here and The Jumble.

    Thanks, Hahtoolah, for today's excellent review AND for taking Tuesday. I loved your Ethics Exam tale. High-larious. The ultimate IRONY.

    Thanks, TTP, for all your work on Tuesdays. Glad to hear you are hanging out with Lemonade on Friday.

    Have a fine day. PK, I think your weather is chasing after me. Have to make my own sunshine today.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hola!

    C.C. and Hahtoolah, what a Tuesday treat! Thank you both. Welcome to Tuesdays, Susan.

    This puzzle felt like visiting the zoo. I enjoyed the theme and found both the animals and their sounds. Clever!

    I am one who sometimes GETSUPLATE if I've awakened too early and have to return to bed.

    When I visited Stockholm I saw the VASA and learned the interesting history of its short lived sail. It was in the 90s and by then the museum, which was built around it, was completed.

    Have a fabulous day, everyone!

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  15. Good morning, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Hahtoolah, for a fine review, and QOD.

    Of course I tried 1A first. I always do. But, no way was I going to get that right off the bat. So, I got 2, 3, and 4D real easy and that gave me WOLF. ALGER HISS was easy. I remember his situation from years ago when we studied that stuff in school.

    MOOSE, piece of cake. I have been a member of the Loyal Order of Moose for about 45 years. Ridgway, PA, #1183. By the way, the Moose is looking into admitting women as members. We may see that later this year. The Elks (BPOE) did that years ago and it has worked out well.

    VIEIRA was a tough one for me. Six perps and I had it.

    Never heard of SAUL BELLOW. Did not know NEILL either, but I saw a couple of movies, a long time ago. The book was better, as always.

    Anyhow, out to the garden to plant some more seedlings.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

    ReplyDelete
  16. Good morning everyone.

    Hahtoolah - Congrats on your new gig.

    Easy solve from C.C. today. No searches were needed, and the theme was upbeat.
    OSLO -We've seen the Viking ship museum as well as the Kon-Tiki.
    The Vasa 1/2 cut-away is on display in Stockholm. It sank as Hahtoolah described. It was quite top-heavy and tipped over with the first breeze.
    SWE - Re: Fin. The Swedes held sway over Finland for a long time. ~ 6% of Finns consider themselves 'Swedish". Many street signs in Helsinki are in both languages.
    SATED - When I was a kid and had enough to eat but my mother would urge me to take more, I would say "Ich bin satt."
    SIE - Is the more formal 'you'. Du is the familiar. The dative case for 'du' is "dir"; the accusitive case is "dich". IM, perhaps you were thinking of dir or dich.
    VIEIRA - Means 'scallop' in Spanish or Portuguese.

    Today is the 77th anniversary of the Battle of Midway.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Animal sounds in different languages: The cat and cow sounds are more similar across the board than those of other animals.
    meow, meow

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  18. Folks: Instant update. I said I was going to do some gardening this morning, but we are now getting an old fashioned downpour. Such is life.

    Abejo

    ( )

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  19. Animal sounds - A rooster crows "cock-a-doodle-doo" in America, but in Germany, they call out "kikeriki ". (Accent is on 1st and 4th syllables.) (I wonder if they are mutually intelligible?")

    ReplyDelete
  20. Good morning, everyone! What a Tuesday treat – a C.C. puzzle with a super-clever theme, plus a fun-filled Hahtoolah write-up! Now I know that German pigs go “Grunz”. I recently saw that hedgehog pic on a T-shirt advertised on the internet and couldn’t resist ordering the shirt – makes me smile whenever I wear it. I hope that fellow sunning himself @50A used plenty of sunscreen before toasting his buns.

    A smooth solve today made all the more enjoyable by searching for the animal / sound pairs. Brunch is far and away my favorite MEAL, especially when accompanied by a mimosa (or two). GETS UP LATE brought back memories of when my girls were teenagers and I’d tease them about rising at the crack of noon on weekends. (The older daughter now has a toddler and a newborn, so those days of sleeping in are looong gone!)

    Have a lovely day, all!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Before I comment on the puzzle,
    I noticed something curious about The Blog,
    & just want to bring it up in case it happens to some one else.

    I know most people no longer use Desktops, & will probably not
    see this, but recently my Mouse Scroll Wheel stopped working.
    (very annoying when scrolling the Blog)

    SO I looked up the problem, & they said "update your drivers!"

    I was just about to download some Free & possibly dangerous unknown software
    to auto identify my mouse and driver updates, when I realized:

    Hey! I can scroll thru this Internet page!

    Turns out, I can mouse scroll thru any page, other than the Blog main page...

    Even more curious, is that while the Mouse Scroll Wheel is Dead
    on the Main Blog Page, it works just fine when I open the comments
    on a separate page!

    What in the World is going on!
    (another puzzle to decipher...)

    Methinks that last Windows Update was a ScrewUpDate...

    ReplyDelete
  22. Woohoo! Woohoo! I got an entire C.C. Tuesday puzzle that at first looked totally impossible to me. Got nothing at the top and only slowly began to get things here and there as I moved down to the bottom, which filled in okay. Then slowly worked my way back up, meanwhile having figured out the clever theme with all those animals and their sounds. Very clever and fun, C.C., many thanks. (Also neat to get Boomer on Monday and C.C. on Tuesday). In the end I had only one major worry: two unknown names crossing since I didn't know either TV's Meredith or the "First Blood" tough guy. I took a chance and put in R and it turned out to be right. Woohoo! I had gotten the whole crunchy but fun C.C. Tuesday puzzle, with all those cute critters HISSing and BAYing and BELLOWing and BARKing. Thanks again, C.C., and I loved all your great pictures, Hahtoolah.

    Have a great day, everybody.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Re: Puzzle

    I am going to say "I aced it!"

    Except for some inkblots,
    & some circled WAGs...

    But it turns out my 31d Sam Neall made
    a 39a German word SAE...

    (sIe?)
    (hmm, it could have been any vowel, & possibly a "Y"...)
    (proper name crossing a foreign language, I smell a Natick!)

    I can't look up a foreign word or proper
    name without cheating.

    So, CC, tell me honestly, did you use Neill & SIE without looking it up
    when creating this puzzle?

    ReplyDelete
  24. I don't get the Aggie joke. Can someone please explain it?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Sorry, didn't mean to sound like a Crossword Puzzle Critic...

    Maybe it was the subject matter,
    sounds like these guys got up on the wrong side of the bed too:

    Wolves

    Snakes...

    Moose...

    Sea Lion... (technically not a seal...)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Sure it's cute and funny now but just wait for a couple years and its 2 in the morning and you need to get up at 6am....

    Wolf pup howls for first time.

    ReplyDelete

  27. I was able to go right through this Tuesday puzzle.

    No markovers today.

    I didn’t get the joke either, unless the punchline is that he’s so dumb he answers to another’s name.

    We might actually get some rain today. We are in an “incipient drought”, which is what they call it when you’re supposed to have 16.75” of rain and you actually have 7.71”. It’s also why the allergy season (I call it yellow season as the pollen rolls down the street in a light breeze just like snow) was so brutal, no rain to wash the pollen into the ground. Even my cat had a reaction, losing fur on her belly and rear legs.

    See you tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, C.C. and Hahtoolah. I got the TADA!
    Like oas, my newspaper does not credit the constructor either. I was seeing a Canadian theme with a quintessential (don't you love that word!) Canadian camping trip; the WOLF howl (OK BAY) at Algonquin Park, the BIRCHBARK canoe, book to read at REST by author BELLOW, MOOSE, GOOSEBERRY, FRESH AIR and even CANNABIS (now legal nationwide). But when 55A "not out=SAFE" appeared, I wondered if we had a baseball clue from C.C. I was ELATEd.

    We had a mini-Scandinavian theme with OSLO, SWE(den) and LEGO (with headquarters in Denmark). All we were missing was another CW staple, Ikea.

    My Walkman insert changed from an earpiece to a CASSETTE. Perps confirmed my guesses for HISS, Osaka's WTA, RAMBO, NEILL.

    We toured the caves at GROTTO Bay in Bermuda on our honeymoon.

    Wishing you all a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  29. A fun animal-centered pzl from our C.C., beautifully illustrated by Hahtoolah! A great way to brighten this June gloom morning...

    I loved my Walkman. It was the easiest way to carry music while jogging, and I found it a great aid for learning my lines. I had several of them through the '80s.

    The ALGER HISS case is still unresolved. It was a huge shock when it broke--to think a Phi Beta Kappa Harvard Law grad and respected state department official might be a Soviet spy! Nobody wanted to believe Whittaker Chambers, the guy who ratted him out, and nobody (that I knew) had much respect for HUAC, the House Un-American Activities Committee, the forum that took their testimony.
    Eventually HISS was not convicted of spying (maybe because of the statute of limitations?) but of perjury before HUAC.
    ~ OMK
    ____________
    DR:
    One diagonal on the flip side.
    Sadly, because of the relative lack of consonants (only 20%) we don't have much luck in the anagram dept. Still, by wringing one from 46.7% of the available letters, I have learned something new to me, a term that designates the hair ribbons worn by ancient Greek maidens. (I suppose they are well known to you costume designers.)
    Pronounced "Tin-ee-ya," they are ...
    "TAENIAE."
    And that's all I got.

    ReplyDelete
  30. “Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. You understand it better but the frog dies in the process.” ― E.B. White. However, if I was at a venue and someone yelled "HEY DAVE" while I was sitting I would have just sat. Kind of an indication of dumbness and egotism.

    Okay, how 'bout this one: "Did you hear about the Aggie who won a gold medal at the Olympics?
    He was so proud of the award that he decided to get it bronzed."

    ReplyDelete
  31. Jinx:
    LOL! That one is loud and clear!

    ReplyDelete

  32. Reminds me of the AGGIE who was given Hemorrhoids suppositories by his Dr.

    He comes back several days later saying "Them There suppositories done did nuttin!" _
    The Dr says " Did you take them as directed?"

    "Of course! What'd ya think, I shoved 'em up my arse!?"

    WC

    Be back with a post soon

    ReplyDelete
  33. I am surprised there is no reaction to Sunday's early publishing of the result of Monday's Jeopardy show. I was totally bummed. I wish the show could be aired live. The network could chose a time that would be prime time in all of the 48 states. The worst spoiler ever! You could not duck it because the headline said it all.
    I suppose the problem is that they could not tape multiple shows in a single day.

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  34. Jinx said "Kind of an indication of dumbness and egotism." Wrong word - Naivety, not dumbness. Never met a dumb Aggie - one was a close friend and literally a rocket engineer.

    A Rice Owl, a Longhorn, and an Aggie are running from the law and all three duck into a warehouse with the cops right on their trail. Before the cops reach the warehouse, all three find a place to hide. The cops walk in and come up to a crate. They kick the crate and the Owl who’s inside goes, “Woof, Woof.” The cops say it’s just a dog and move on to a crate, which the Longhorn is hiding in. The cops kick the crate and the Longhorn goes, “Meow, Meow,” and the cops think that it’s only a cat. Finally the cops come up to a sack that the Aggie is hiding in. The cops kick the sack and the Aggie responds in a deep, slow voice, “Po-ta-toe”.

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  35. Hmm,

    I don't know an Aggie from an Elihu,
    but I was trying to improve my mood today
    when I came upon this...
    Hope it works as well on you as it did me...

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  36. Spitzboov @ 10:58 --

    "A rooster crows "cock-a-doodle-doo" in America, but in Germany, they call out "kikeriki ". (Accent is on 1st and 4th syllables.) (I wonder if they are mutually intelligible?")"

    Depends on if they are speaking HochHühnchen, or just PlattHühnchen....

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  37. Many years ago when I was taking classes I recall that a few AGGIES attended class, too, and were quite intelligent. They had moved here from other states and were quite chummy with each other.

    In an interview Meredith VIEIRA mentioned that she was descended from Portuguese. In Spanish, scallop is VENERA, however, VEIERA is given as a variation. I suppose that with the movement of the border at different times in history, many terms from both languages are interchangeable.

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  38. First of all I want to say to you, Hahtoolah, thank you for such terrific write-ups. Not only does your subtle sense of humor shine through brightly but you also give us all such interesting information in such a pleasantly digestible way.

    Second of all, I learned that one cannot read an iPhone screen while wearing dark glasses. Perhaps it is because my dark glasses are polarized. Anyway, I was sitting in the car in the parking lot of Home Depot whole my wife was trekking through the store, so I decided to use my iPhone to post here. At first I thought my phone was dead, because the screen appeared to me to be completely blank. But when I pressed the power switch to put the phone into "lock screen" or what I call "sleep," I heard that little click sound effect, so I knew it wasn't dead. After a minute of pondering, I took off my dark glasses and lo and behold I suddenly could see the phone's screen just fine. So I came here to post a comment. Well dang, I guess my password time had expired, so in order to post as myself and not as Anonymous, I had to log in. But I couldn't remember my password. As I was muttering (cursing, actually) under my breath my wife came back to the car from the store, so I just put my phone back in my pocket. I call it a learning experience.

    As for the puzzle, I liked it, as I usually do. An amazing creation! It took me a while to figure out the gimmick, which I could have figured out more quickly if it weren't for an instance of bad eyesight. I read the 19 across clue as "Animal heard at the end of 45-Across" and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out what animal makes a "TA" sound. There wasn't enough V-8 in our pantry to wash my errors away.

    For what it's worth, the rest of my day has been excellent. I have enjoyed the Aggie jokes and even my wife laughed out loud at the "Hey Bill!" joke.

    Before I leave I want to ask you, Bill G, how you and your family are doing. I sense you have been a tad down in the dumps recently. I hope you all are fine.

    Good wishes to you all.

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  39. Musings
    -A brilliant offering from C.C.!
    -27 holes of golf on our first hot day and many "honey-do's" has brought me late to the dance.

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  40. I was there a n hour late

    I was on the way to church when a cop-car sped by. On the way back we stopped at the Publix to see what was going on.

    WC

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  41. Mixhael @ 1626 - I like your take Re: Platthünchen. Maybe would have said "PlattHahntje" (Rooster is Hahn in both H. and L. German.)

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  42. Hahtoolah, I just looked at the pictures you posted again, and they're amazing! Thank you so much!

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  43. Re. The xword and Hahtoolah's excellent write-up...

    I never got through Monday until a few minutes ago. Great to see Picard, haiku Harry, Limerick Larry and birthday boy back in form.

    I never noticed this was a CC. I should have from the shock I got when 1a had a cross reference. I have enough trouble remembering what day it is.

    Btw, didn't the Beach Boys mention MONTEGO BAY?

    Talk about irony: An ethics exam for the bar.

    Where to get SCROD? Durgin Park across from Fanuel(sic) Hall mkt

    The most frustrating part of being in active duty circa 1966-76 was the very real Lysistrata strategy of the female peer group.

    WC

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  44. WC, Bobby Bloom and Merle Haggard both had singles named Montego Bay. Bloom's was a hit.

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  45. Hi All!

    I was ELATE'd to see it was a C.C. but then... all the names! :-) Not only did that make it tough but having to ESP & WAG two themers (17a & 30a) it's a miracle I FIR.
    Really cool cross-referential Theme.

    Wonderful illustrated expo Hahtoolah. The check clearing should be part of the Ethics Exam :-)

    WO: I didn't realize there's two Ns in weed, er, CAN-B (didn't know the vowel yet but that's where the 'B' was for a bit.
    ESPs (+lucky WAGs): ALGER HISS, SARA, ERSE, OSSO, MONTEGO BAY, NEILL, VIEIRA, SIE and most of SAUL BELLOW :-)
    Fav: MOOSE. Not only is it a fun word to say, Hahtoolah illustrated with Bullwinkle.

    {B+, A, A} //Happy un-Birthday!
    Yeoman's work on scrounging up a DR OMK :-)

    JohnE - I love FREASH AIR too; I listen to the second-airing at 10p on SiriusXM.

    WC - That's a bit scary to have that happen at your local Publix. BTW - I didn't get a Geico ad but a PSA from the CDC on quitting smoking which was apropos; this is my 4th attempt this year and I've made it 44hrs sans nicotine or killing anyone (on purpose).

    I still have both my Walkmans: CASSETTE and CD - only one HISSes.

    Jinx - Yes, in Texas, AGGIES are the butt of many (what the mid-west calls) "Pollock-jokes." AGGIES being naïve is one thing OU & UT can agree on :-) //po-ta-toe LOL!
    @11:30a - What PVX said is the crux of the joke... Did you attend A&M? :-)

    Cheers, -T

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  46. I appear to be the only one here who takes issue with describing Penn & Teller as a comedy team. They are magicians. They’ve had a magic show at the Rio in Las Vegas for at least 30 years. They often are funny, but they aren’t comedians. Just my two cents’ worth.

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  47. WikWak - Ok, I'll back you up on not just a comedy team. PENN is the showman and huckster while Teller is the real genius behind the tricks. Misdirection and comedy. They are the best. Cheers, -T

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