google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, Jul 22, 2019 Mark McClain

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Jul 22, 2019

Monday, Jul 22, 2019 Mark McClain

Theme: ON END (53. Without a break ... or what each word in 18-, 28-, 46- and 62-Across has) - Each theme entry is in the pattern of *ON *ON.

18. __ line: 18th-century dispute-resolving state border: MASON DIXON.
 
28. Fluffy, citrusy pie: LEMON CHIFFON.

46. Family car largely replaced by the minivan and SUV: STATION WAGON.
 
62. Ordinary-sounding state bird of Minnesota: COMMON LOON.

Boomer here.  

Hello Everyone. We had a glitch in our internet service on Wednesday. C.C. contacted our provider CenturyLink and they went on and on and on regarding the time the internet service would be restored. Finally we got back on and on and on line on Sunday. Happy to be back!!

Across:

1. Like some hygiene: ORAL.  Something you can get your teeth into.

5. Casual greeting: HI YA. Hi back atcha

9. House level accessed with pull-down stairs: ATTIC.  We have an attic but no pull down stairs.  We need to get a ladder but it is not worth going up there.  Just dust and insulation.

14. Folk singer Seeger: PETE.

15. Assist with a heist: ABET.  Casino dealer spins that roulette wheel and you need to make A BET before the little ball hits the middle.

16. Harry Potter nemesis __ Malfoy: DRACO.



17. "Around the Horn" channel: ESPN.  A favorite of many but we now have about 15 sports channels.  (MLB, NBA, NFL, FSN, FS1, GOLF and more.) 

20. "Awesome!": NEATO.  I think Maynard G. Krebs started this.


22. NFL analyst Tony: ROMO.  Used to be a darn good quarterback.

23. German "a": EINE.  We would go downtown to the Gasthaus and EINE BIER was the favorite request.

24. Kite-flying need: STRING.  You also need wind.

26. Puts on the line, as money: RISKS.  I remember when Kramer played RISK with Newman.

33. Lousy grade: DEE.  Better than EFF.

36. USN noncom: CPO.  Mr. Sharkey.


37. Devon delivery vehicle: LORRY.

38. "My mom and dad will kill me!": I'M TOAST.  Generally happens in the tenth frame when my opponent strikes out.

41. '90s prime-time soap "__ Place": MELROSE.  I am more familiar with Melrose Park, a suburb of Chicago.  Graybar had a large sales office there.


43. Less: MINUS.

44. License plate: TAG.  Many of my neighbors and I played this in the yard.

45. Acquired: GOT.

51. Brief movie role: CAMEO.  I liked Donald Sutherland in JFK

52. Sure winner: SHOO IN.  I always thought it was SHOE IN.

56. Too: ALSO.

59. Voices below soprani: ALTI.  Gimme a "D" !  ALDI is a great grocery store.  Really good watermelon.

61. __ Carlo: MONTE.  I never owned one, but I used to like the looks of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which hit the streets around 1970.

65. Pols from blue states, usually: DEMS.  Minnesota has been blue for quite some time.

66. Pecans and pistachios: TREES.  Are you sure these are not NUTS.

67. Overnight lodgings: INNS.  Not too fond of the current Trivago commercials.  Maybe I watch too much TV.

68. Tiny biting insect: GNAT.

69. Latin "that is": ID EST.

70. Fair-hiring agcy.: EEOC.

71. Slow Churned ice cream brand: EDY'S.

Down:

1. Bids first: OPENS.  Or bets first.

2. Go back to zero: RESET.  Do not pass go, do not collect $200

3. For the stock issue price: AT PAR.  At Par did not do it in this years British open.  I think Shane Lowry beat par by 15 shots.  I think it would take me 15 shots of something to play a course like that.

Shane Lowry

4. Soup legume: LENTIL.

5. Radio hobbyist: HAM.  One of Noah's sons.

6. Letter-shaped beam: I BAR.  That's where I could go to get those 15 shots.

7. "Decide now!": YES OR NO.  Okay, I pick YES.

8. Word with power or energy: ATOMIC.

9. Toss in: ADD.

10. Attempts to get: TRIES FOR.

11. Roll to a terminal: TAXI.  Danny DeVito was a great dispatcher.  I never watch that Philadelphia show he does now.


12. Clickable image: ICON.

13. Ice cream holder: CONE.  Mets pitcher David.  He was pretty darn good.

19. On-the-run snack: NOSH.

21. Number that's a square of itself: ONE.  Also a good score on any hole.  I know there was at least ONE ONE in the OPEN

25. Acadia and Yukon: GMCS.  We maybe look at an SUV soon, but not these monsters of the midway.

27. Pass idly, as time: KILL.  We had a Gopher Football coach named Jerry Kill.  I think he is on the west coast now.

29. Decide (to): OPT.

30. Kermit, for one: FROG.  Miss Piggy's best friend.

31. Estimate words: OR SO.  Reminds me of the restoration time given us by CenturyLink.

32. Dimitri's denial: NYET.  If they want to emphasize it do they say "NYET WAY !"

33. Switches to low beams: DIMS.

34. Send forth: EMIT.

35. Sicilian volcano: ETNA.

39. Results: OUTCOMES.  I miss the green frequently and OUT COMES the wedge.

40. Himalayan continent: ASIA. Sometimes it's called the Far East, but it's a few thousand miles West of Hawaii.

41. Nanny's bleat: MAA.  I thought it was BAA

42. They're laid in 55-Down: EGGS.  Visited my great uncle Bill's (no longer with us) farm last week on Burnikel Road in Siren Wisconsin. The barn and chicken coop were still there, but not in very good shape.  I did not see any animals but they had corn growing in the field.

Boomer, Burnikel Road, Siren, Wisconsin.

44. Black-and-white, say: TWO-TONE

47. Mideast sultanate: OMAN.

48. Journalist Bly: NELLIE.  The scene was in the jailhouse and if curfew rang that night.  Nell's dad in number 13 cell would go out like a light.  She knew her dad was innocent, so plucky little Nell.  She tied her tender torso to the Clapper of the bell.  Hang on the Bell Nellie.  (Chad Mitchell Trio.)

49. Resistance unit: OHM.

50. Annoying person: NOODGE.  I can think of a better name.

54. "__ come as no surprise ... ": IT MAY.

55. 42-Down holders: NESTS.  I remember Bill's hens would lay about 20 eggs per month.  It just happens, they don't even look pregnant.

56. Drama opening: ACT I.

57. Title for an earl: LORD.

58. Hook's cohort: SMEE.  I Haven't seen this name since Peter Pan.

60. Prefix with sphere: IONO.

63. East, in Essen: OST.

64. White House advisory gp.: NSC.  No Stupid Comments???
 
Boomer
Notes from C.C.:

Just want to thank Husker Gary and TTP for saving me again. Gary put up with my numerous calls on Thursday and TTP quickly converted the puzzles and sent the grids to our team members. Thank you so much, guys!

50 comments:

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Mark really turned the fun back ON no END for me today. Thanks so much. Never mind I got hung up on ORAL/OPEN cross & that NW corner was last to fill. (Tried "Poor", "good" hygiene.) Got the theme and everything. Like a breathe of fresh air, me says.

Thanks, Boomer! Glad you are back on line and your usual jolly self. Great picture of you and the Leaning Pole of Burnikel Rd.

Yay, Shane Lowry, helps to be the lucky Irishman on such a tough home course. Amazing skill & determination to lead 4 days.

My good news is my wheat is cut! Finally! At last! Rejoice! Then we had a nice rain on the growing soybeans. I may be able to pay the taxes after all.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

You'd never guess who didn't get the theme this morning. Or, maybe you would. I zipped through this one in record time and forgot to look for a theme. NEATO, Mark. Boomer, I can picture you sitting and looking at the computer, "Nyo, nyot NYET."

ALTI: At CC's suggestion I looked and found out that there's an Aldi's market about 20 miles from here -- not far from my dentist's office. Still haven't visited it, though. At the local Wally-World they had a good looking slice of watermelon marked $1.49. OK, I picked it up. At checkout it rang up at over $5 -- it was $1.49/lb. Whole watermelons were selling for $3.50. I passed.

ATTIC: We've got a pull-down "stairway to heaven." Very narrow. Shortly after moving in we needed a warranty replacement on the A/C coil. It wouldn't fit through that stairway opening, so the repair guy had to make a "hatch" in the ceiling of the garage in order to get it up into the attic. Now I use that hatch for storing the plywood window hurricane covers in the attic.

Yellowrocks said...

Quick little Monday puzzle.
I think we saw Tony ROMO this weekend.
I don't have a ladder tall enough and am too old to pull myself up into the ATTIC by my arms. The attic is filled with many crossbeams. There is room only for an attic fan. In our last house we had a lot of storage space in the attic.
I don't care for the game of RISK. It goes on and on and on. The last time I played I got so bored I made as many careless moves as possible so I could be eliminated soon.
I went to the ALDI grocery store once. They did not have enough variety and choices to suit me.
When I taught, the superintendent had a council that consisted of one rep from each school. At "around the horn time" we each got a turn to voice our school's concerns.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased ALTo. Seems to me that quite often the number in the clue matches the number in the fill.

Some wag decided it would be funny to get a vanity license plate "NO TAG". He got billed for all of the parking tickets for cars that have missing license plates (because the meter "maid" writes NO TAG when that happens).

MONTE Carlo simulation is a great way to predict outcome probabilities when many random outcomes are possible. It used to require specialized software, but now there is a great add-on to Microsoft Excel called @Risk that will analyze your data in more ways than you can digest.

I became a HAM at 12, and was active until I started college.

I thought Dimitri was a Greek. He's a feelthy Ruuskie?


PK, I'm so glad your wheat got harvested.

Thanks for the fun, easy puzzle, Mark (except for the Harry-ass Potter clue/answer). And thanks to Boomer for yet another sunny start to Monday.

TTP said...


Good morning.

I zipped through Mark's puzzle this morning and saw the ON at the end of the the last word in the long answers. I didn't notice the ON at the end of the first word in the long answers. Would have missed it without the reveal and Boomer's highlighting.

Mostly solved using the down clues, and so I missed some of the across answers and clues like DRACO. Would not have known that one anyway.

CSO to our resident HAM, WikWak !

Heat used to radiate down from our pull down ATTIC stairs. I built a box out of rigid foam insulation and HVAC tape. Problem solved.

Boomer, drei bier when I went to the Gasthaus. Und schnitzle mit rot cabbage und kartoffelsalat.

Melrose Park was one of the first milk run stops after getting off work in my commuting days. The train was convenient, but I don't miss the sometimes overly crowded passenger cars, the people that sneezed w/o covering their mouth, the men and women with too much perfume on, the occasional drunks, and the flying body parts.

Boomer, the Suburu Forester continues to rate very well. Worth considering. Some of the non sports people want to know what gopher football is. Do they burrow their way to the end zone ?

Loved the British Open and the OUTCOME. I was so happy for Shane Lowry. He was in a zone and kept making shot after shot over the four days of competition.

PK, glad your wheat got harvested unscathed.

kazie said...

Nice job on the clarifications Boomer, and glad to see your internet recovered. Where would we be without you and C.C.? One nit though... since Bier is a neuter word, EIN would be its article, not eine, which is feminine. German grammar is the reason so few kids chose to take it as opposed to Spanish or French when I was teaching. But it's amazing how my granddaughters manage it, and can switch instantly from German to English depending on who is with them. Although the 3-year old uses German word order in English when she says "I like it not!"

inanehiker said...

Not getting to the theme yet - I filled in LEMON CUSTARD before LEMON CHIFFON - but after that was rectified the rest was smooth sailing.

I enjoyed the puzzle and enjoyed Boomer's blog more- happy for the internet being reconnected!

Lemonade714 said...

Kazie, when I was little I was around my grandfather who spoke 9 languages, but used Yiddish most often, a grandmother who spoke French as her primary, despite being born in Connecticut and my Father who liked English. When I went to school I used words from each, never having been taught that I was listening to three different languages. Teachers thought I was crazy.

ALDI has improved greatly over the past couple of years, so give it another try.

Oo drives a Honda HRV now. He is named Harvey and she is quite happy with the vehicle.

Mark, a very nicely put together theme and reveal. Boomer, I like that you dressed to match your family street sign.

Thank you both and TTP and HG, and as always Queen C.C.

D4E4H said...

13 D -- Ice cream holder: CONE.

Thumper.

Ðave

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Easy solve today with a pause at NOODGE. Perps made it so. Now that I know it I probably wouldn't use it; I would OPT for choicier words.
Good to see OST. My parent's name for the Baltic: Ostsee.
NOSH - Naschen in German means to eat sweet things.
CPO - Chief Petty Officer. Never call a Chief 'Mister'; always 'Chief'. Chief Sharkey has 6 gold hash marks indicating 24+ years of good conduct and service.

Thanks Boomer for another fine intro.

Yellowrocks said...

Many of us here have adopted both nosh and noodge from our yiddish neighbors. As Spitz said, the original meaning of nosh is to eat sweet things, but these days in yiddish and English, we use it to mean to eat a light meal or, especially, a snack. We frequently use nosh as a verb, too. Noodge, from nudyen to bore, is so common, I forgot it was yiddish. We often tell kids, "Don't be a noodge." Don't pester or nag me. My parents' reaction to being a noodge was to become even more firm in denying what we nagged for.

Yellowrocks said...

Lemonade, you are a scholar and a gentleman. I like the way you handle different points of you. I will try Aldi's again. Part of my problem is I am not a shopper. I pick one visit to one supermarket for my weekly shopping and don't go shopping around. One stop shopping.

CanadianEh! said...

Marvelous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Mark and Boomer.
Just a few hesitations in working this CW but I FIR and saw the ON-ON theme.

Antes perped to RISKS. Erg quickly changed to OHM; (I should have known an Erg measures work; someone gave us a chart few weeks ago about OHMs, Mohs, Ergs etc.!)
The French Est changed to the German OST. (Online translator says OST=easterly; Der OST and Der Osten=East. Help Spitzboov!)

Hand up for thinking of Poor or Good before ORAL hygiene.
ROMO and NEATO again.
Did anyone else note the proper use of "laid" in 42D clue after HuskerG's link on Saturday.
Boomer, Nanny is a goat and they bleat MAA; sheep bleat Baa. (Can anyone really tell the difference in the bleats??)

Can we have EDYS ice cream in that CONE?!
NOODGE is not an expression used in my neck of the woods.

I must get outside and pick my legumes (not LENTILS). Green and yellow beans are producing nicely now.
PK, glad your crops are being harvested and taxes will be paid.

Enjoy the day.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I saw the ON endings and thought the reveal would be ON AND ON but ON END is better
-LEMON ______, I’m glad I didn’t have to spell MERINGUE
-The constellation DRACO lies among Ursa Major and Minor and therefore can be seen every night
-It is believed Budweiser’s ad buys saved ESPN and it turned out well for both parties
-Neil and Buzz would never have gotten a Kite off the surface of the airless Moon
-Scroll down here to see his trademark CAMEO appearances
-My MIL called taking eggs out of the HEN’S NEST “picking eggs”
-Calling another man “LORD” or “FATHER” is not something I find comfortable/necessary
-We agree with YR’s assessment of ALDI’S
-Talking to C.C. under any circumstances is a joy!

John E said...

FIW I thought 52A was shoe in, and 53D made sense since 18, 28, 46 and 62A all end with N. Duh, ENEND doesn't mean without a break.

desper-otto said...

Animals make different sounds, depending on the language you speak. How do those animals determine your native language so you can understand them?

Spitzboov said...

CanadianEh! - I think that ost is an adjective while Osten is the noun; der Osten. Dutch do the same: oost, het oosten.
The first Franks were a Germanic tribe so I would guess there are a few remnant French words from this origin like 'est'; Latin would be orientum.
Bleu (blue) is another example that comes to mind.
Kazie taught both German and French; maybe she can take a bead on this.

CPO Sharkey - His shoulder patch indicates he was a boatswain's mate.

Aldi's - We like Aldi's; we have 2 stores in our area. We buy 'fringe' stuff there. Last night after stopping for ice cream CONES, we had to pass an Aldi's so I loaded up on English muffins @ 99¢ a package of 6. Beats Thomas' @ $2.50.

kazie said...

CanadianEH!
Ost is the basic word for the East in German, used either alone or as a prefix with other place names, like Ostdeutschland, Ostblock, Ost-Berlin, Ost-Asien. Osten is the direction, so if you tell someone to go to the East, it would be "nach Osten". However, der Nahe/Ferne/Mittlere Osten = the Near/Far/Middle East.

Jerome said...

" I always thought it was SHOE IN " Me too, Boomer. I once sent a puzzle to Rich with SHOE IN as a fill.

To budding constructors... Check, check and triple check every entry. You might be surprised at what you thought was right is not right.

kazie said...

Spitz,
Not sure what you wanted in relation to the French, but you are right about the Franconian tribe that ended up in what is now modern France. The push from the east just kept driving them further west until they had nowhere else to go. I think the ost to est thing is probably just another example of a vowel shift, similarly German blau to French bleu to English blue.

These days even the French are accepting more foreign words into the language, despite their best efforts, so who knows, maybe in time there'll be no need of foreign language teachers at all!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Well, this was an easy, breezy solve with only one unknown, due to my Harry Potter ignorance, Draco. I saw the On at the end of the second theme words but still found the reveal a surprise. It was even more of a surprise to learn that On ended the first theme word, also. I'll never win any prizes for observational powers, I'm afraid.

Thanks, Mark, for a pleasant start to the week and thanks, Boomer, for brightening this gloomy Monday morning. Your humor is much appreciated, as always. Thanks to you and CC for weathering the internet outage and thanks to HG and TTP for having your backs. Yay, team CC! 👏

PK, hurray for the wheat harvest!

My sister used to shop at Aldi's, before she moved, and went there just for the produce, which she said was excellent. I'm lucky to have a farm stand so close, with top notch quality and variety. It's a free standing building and, in addition to local produce, they have their own baked goods, and all kinds of salsas, condiments, jams, smoked meats, dairy products, steaks, ice cream, etc., all from local farms and merchants. (Rachael Ray is a big fan of one of their suppliers, Oscar's Smokehouse near Lake George. Personally, I don't care for smoked meats; sometimes even bacon is too smoky for my palate.)

Have a great day.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Mark McClain, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Boomer,for a fine review.

John E: I believe it is ON END.

Puzzle went very easy. The theme popped up and made sense. ON

NOODGE was totally unknown to me. With six perps I kept it.

Love LENTIL soup. With some ham, carrots, onions, etc.

Did not know DRACO. Perps. I am probably the only person who has not read a Harry Potter book.

Weather is great here today. Cool.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )



SwampCat said...

Thanks, Mark, for today’s easy offering with just enough crunch. I even got the theme. That seldom happens! Boomer, glad you and our hostess are back online. Your wit is as keen as ever.

Did there seem to be a lot of things to eat today? Maybe I’m just hungry.

STATION WAGON was a bittersweet entry for me. A friend and I took Uber to get home from the WWII museum as we often do,and they sent a Huge SUV. No way I could climb in, so the driver picked me up and threw me in the back seat. My dignity was wounded, but on the way home I saw blood seeping through my jeans. He had scraped my leg somehow and I was left with a 3 inch gash.

A trip to the Urgent Care to bandage it didn’t help my dignity when I had to explain several times how I got this bloody mess!

It’s healing. I’ll live. But I don’t want to do that again.

CanadianEh! said...

Thanks Spitzboov and kazie for clarifying OST.

HuskerG - I thought of LEMON Meringue too.

d'otto @9:27 - LOL re "How do those animals determine your native language so you can understand them?"

Aldi's is not an option for this Canadian.

SwampCat - what a horrible experience! Glad you are healing.

Misty said...

Fun Monday puzzle, many thanks, Mark. And I always love your commentary, Boomer. So sorry you and C.C. had to suffer that internet outage and so glad it's now fixed.

I pretty much zipped through this puzzle and loved seeing things like LEMON CHIFFON. When I got to Mark's reveal on the bottom, I got all the ONs at the ends of the words, but, like others, missed the ones in the middle. Never heard of DRACO, but had sweet memories of a trip to MONTE CARLO with my Mom many, many years ago.

Lovely way to start the week--have a good one, everybody.

Yellowrocks said...

My keyboard on my Kindle stopped working last night. I called tech support who found a Trojan in my network. No data had been stolen so far. Whew! He is now installing network security for all my linked devises at a cost of $275. Plus $480 car repair Saturday plus quarterly taxes on the first. I thought I was doing so well.

oc4beach said...


Really nice puzzle today from Mark. Boomer, as usual, did a great job in explaining the grid and adding a lot of fun facts.

I got the theme early with MASON DIXON, so it was easy to verify the other long ON and ON phrases today.

I've heard the term NOODGE, but don't use it to describe what I would call a PITA, more commonly known as a Pain In The Ass.

Back in the 70's I had a big Chevy Station Wagon that was a tank with a Big Block 454 engine that got a whopping 11 mpg. I bought it before the gas crisis hit so I wasn't worried about the mileage then. I was able to do a number of mods on the engine that ultimately upped my mileage by about 30% to 14 - 15 mpg. It was a great car which I finally replaced with a conversion van in the mid 80's to haul my kids and their soccer teams around the countryside.

Boomer: If an IBar is made out of iron or steel, does that mean that it is a GrayBar?

Boomer: Also, do you have a cell phone that you can use for internet access with a hot spot capability. I periodically have internet outages with my DSL, but I can turn the hot spot on on my IPhone and then I have internet access for my computer and IPad. I cancelled my Comcast internet at the beach house and just use my hot spot while I'm there.

Re: Languages and animals. In this area the local police departments use the Belgian Malinois dog breed as bomb sniffing dogs that were bred and initially trained in Belgium using the Dutch language. Therefore, all of the commands that they respond to are Dutch words which the police handlers have to learn. These dogs cost about $10,000 to buy and another $10,000 to $25,000 for handler and dog training.

Rain and mid 70's here today. The heat wave has been broken at last. Have a great day everybody and stay cool.

Lucina said...

Hola!

Thank you, Mark McClain and Boomer! Your humor is hilarious, Boomer.

It was fun filling this grid, quickly and easily. Hand up for trying meringue and then running out of spaces. Oh, CHIFFON.

I did not know the state bird of Minnesota nor DRACO as clued, but both perped easily and with just a few letters I guessed.

NOODGE and ALTI's grocery are unfamiliar to me. They must be regional.

Yesterday, I worked on the puzzle all day off and on because I had company. My sister had spent the night with me, then she and my niece came over for brunch. Busy time. The devilish puzzle beat me to a pulp since I do not know the various moons for each planet which I deduced was the theme. Finally I looked them all up.

In this grid, EEOC beat me as I had NSA not NSC.

PK:
I add my relief to yours that your crop was harvested. Yea!

Boomer and C.C.:
I'm sorry to hear of your internet problems and glad that Gary and TTP stepped up to help. Yea team!

I hope all are enjoying this glorious day!

Bill G said...

Hi everybody.

Thanks Mark and Boomer for the enjoyable Monday outing. Also, thanks Boomer for identifying yourself at the top of your write-up.

TTP, speaking of too much perfume, a lady who often came to a tennis workout I attended would douse herself with an expensive and strong-smelling vanilla-flavored perfume. As she would work up a little bit of a sweat, the smell would become overwhelming for me. I had a hard time even being on the same side of the net with her.

Many years ago, I came across a perfume mentioned in passing in one of the original James Bond novels. I took a chance and got it as a present for Barbara. It was called Vent Vert and became a favorite of both of ours.

AnonymousPVX said...


This Monday puzzle went quickly despite carelessness.

Markover....ROMA/ROMO....d’oh.

Now I want a Lemon pie.

See you tomorrow.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Started the puzzle before going to breakfast with Eldest and finished it in the Dentist's waiting room. Apparently, whatever the dentist had to do, only 1/2 my mouth was up for it today; gotta go back again! I invited our Dental friend over for Pizza tonight.

Thanks Mark for easing us into the week and thanks Boomer for kickin' off the After Party with your wry commentary.

WOs: I had OPT crossing itself for a moment; I forgot the second T in STATION WAGON so made up for it with another G; ALTo; SHOeIN; CHaFFON.
ESPs: NELLIE, DRACO took 4 perps.
Fav: NEATO just 'cuz Boomer gave us Maynard G.

Swamp - That's awful! I hope they comp'd the ride to atone for your dignity.

Boomer - I was going to say the same OC4 did re: hot-spot on iThing for internet in a pinch.

PK - Good news on the harvest and taxes :-)
TTP - LOL Unscathed...
C, Eh! - Ha! good or poor. MAYbe it was my impending appt. but ORAL was top of mind for me.

HG - I too thought of Hitchcock at CAMEO. Great minds, eh?
BTW, thanks to you & TTP as I was mostly un-plugged for a few days working on a project with a special bit of evil. //It will snarf all Bluetooth in range and display it on a 7" monitor. Sure, it's been done b/f, but I'm doing it with a Pi-0w. [insert maniacal laughter here]

ATTIC - we have a split level. One level is accessed through the pull-down steps; the other though a crawl-hole in the guestroom closet. All the mechanicals are up there so little room for storage.

YR - I loved Risk. Alas, it was the gate-way drug to Axis & Allies [10:28]. In HS, my buddies and I would play Friday / Saturday nights and the melee would go on for 6-8 hours. It's a wonder any of us even met a girl much less ENDed up married.

Um, YR - $275 for "protecting your network" sounds like a scam. IIRC, you have a regular tech that comes out on occasion. Get him/her out pronto! This "Trojan finder" may be installing more Trojans. //ironically, my Splunk tee-shirt today says "Find your Achilles Heal before a Trojan does" :-)

I'll go to Aldi's iff I want European foods that I can't get at H.E.B. Hence, not often. Oh, and you have to pay $0.25 for a cart?!?. //you get it back when you return the cart but who walks around with a quarter in their pocket? I had to go back to the car and rob the ashtray.

EINE - so that's what I was saying when I ordered a beer during my one week in Germany [NATO exercises]. I also learned you count beginning with your thumb - hold up two fingers and you get three beers - which wasn't altogether a Bad Thing(TM).

Cheers, -T

desper-otto said...

Lucina, I also initially tried LEMON MERINGU (oops!). Wite-Out, please.

PK, glad it finally dried out enough to get your wheat crop harvested. Funny, my mom always hoped my crops would fail.

Mark McClain said...

Thanks, all, for the kind words and other comments. Editor Rich made an interesting comment in his acceptance email of this one: " "... it seemed almost too simple at first, but it's an elegant theme, nicely executed". I'm not sure I agree with the "elegant" description, but it was definitely simple, and as noted several times above a bit tricky in spots. Tune in next Monday!

desper-otto said...

Anon-T, last time I visited Germany DW had a number of churches on her "bucket list." I learned that there's almost always a tavern next door to a large church -- excellent city planning, IMO. I'd park myself in the tavern while she visited the church, and we'd both have a good time. While she was saying whatever it is you say in church I was saying, "Ein helles, bitte."

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle but overthought the theme. Upon solving MASON-DIXON I thought we were going for pairs of names, such as SMOOT-HAWLEY, SARBANES-OXLEY, MCCAIN-FIENGOLD, etc. I'm very happy with the ON END construction, though. Thank you, Mark, for a fun puzzle.

Thank you, Boomer, for the delightful write-up.

Thank you, Gary and TTP, for helping out.

LW and I have been considering the Subaru Outback, which is actually officially categorized as a STATION WAGON. As such, the insurance is less than if it were deemed to be an SUV. It gets very good ratings, like its little brother the Forester.

We don't have an ATTIC as such either. Just a trap door in the hallway ceiling leading to nothing but lots of wood with nails sticking out and lots of insulation that you want to avoid touching because if you do touch it you'll be itching for a week.

When I was in 8th grade my dad wanted me to become a HAM. I tried, but my heart simply wasn't in it. I lost interest quickly, but learned a lot about radio and electronics that stuck with me for the rest of my life.

Our friend's Weimaraner dog, like all of that breed, has a very loud and sonorous bark. To our ears he says "Woof woof!" rather than "Arf arf." He acts all aloof 'n' stuff but he really loves the company of people he knows and trusts and never turns down a nice tummy rub.

Good wishes to you all.

Anonymous T said...

Mark - first, thanks for stopping into The Corner today - nice to see you. Second, I'll second Rich, it is elegant in the simplicity and executed well; nice balance of slang, trivia, misdirection(ish) [I'm looking at those nuts, er TREES], and normal words. The only "pop-culture" (other than Potter) was MELROSE Place that even I, living under a rock, have heard of; no perps required.

D-O: LOL re: city planning. When I was in Aberdeen, some old Churches had been converted to bars/clubs - It was odd swigging a pint while looking out stained glass but TWO birds, one stone! It was a very SPIRITual :-)

Cheers, -T

John E said...

Swampcat,
Sorry about your injury. But you sure are lucky to be able to go to the WW II Museum whenever you want. And an annual membership is only $50. What an amazing space. I wish I had been in New Orleans for a month and been able to go to that museum every day. It sure brings home both the human bravery and devastation of that war.

Wilbur Charles said...

Quicky today though "a bit tricky in spots."

Nothing to add. Except... What happened to J.B. Holmes?

WC
Reply

Bill G said...

As a young teenager, one of my good friends was a novice ham operator. He had a beginning outfit that could send and receive, mostly Morse code. I spent the night from time to time. We woke up one wintry morning with snow beginning to fall. He left the room for a few minutes. I turned on his receiver and hid his code practice key under the covers. I could see a paper with the alphabet and the corresponding code dots and dashes. When he came back in the room, I had had receiver turned on to receive some background static noise. I began using the practice key hidden under the covers so it seemed as if it was coming from his receiver. I could see snow flakes beginning to fall outside the window. I began send Morse code with the hidden practice key about the new snowfall and anything else I could think of. He got a pencil and began writing down my decoded messages. He was very excited to be eavesdropping on some local person's ham transmissions. I enjoyed fooling him very much since he often got the better of me.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Boomer ~
I don't know about ALDI for watermelons, but that reminds me of one of my favorite under-sung movie stars, Aldo Ray. If he were twins or triplets, would they be ALDI?
I always enjoyed his tough good looks and raspy voice. I see from his bio that he was a frogman during the war, a pretty tough job that!
I wonder if his distinctive voice had anything to do with his death of throat cancer.

Misty ~
I hope your shoulder is better.
If you're still experiencing insomnia, there may be help in a new service I was reading about in yesterday's NY Times. It's an application called "Calm," that you can download to a smartphone for $70 a year. It is created by a "mindfulness" female narrator, a Canadian named Tamara Levitt, who apparently has the most soothing voice. She talks millions of customers to sleep every night with music, nature sounds, and meditative exercises.
Sounds quite hyp - no - t i c ... Z zz z
~ OMK

Jinx in Norfolk said...

I have a suggestion for dealing with unreliable internet provider. I have a wireless router from Cradle Point. It can be set up for your cable or dsl modem to be the primary internet connection (called a WAN or Wide Area Network), but will automatically switch (the eggheads call it "failover") to a pre-selected backup provider (Verizon Wireless' Mobile Hotspot on my 'droid).

I have it set up in my motor home so I can easily change my connections for my TV, DVR and laptop from the campground WiFi if it is unavailable or slow, but it would be great for home use as well. Other companies probably have something similar, but I haven't kept up with the market.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

T- I hadn't heard of a Raspberry Pi until today. Looks like a Kim from the 70's.

Anonymous T said...

Bill G. That's the special kinda BRO love our better halves will never understand. My Brothers (and Sisters) slam each other with hurtful-but-true (and funny in context) barbs. It's all in fun and you better have thick skin. BIL was discussing becoming a HAM last night and SIL said, "You got 1/2 that right" :-)

Jacyce, I was going for Jars at first. MASON JAR, Lemon jar(?) COMMON..., um, No.

D-O: I'm still giggling about Church zoning...
"So the Bishop wants to build a Church on Widow Kravit's land."
"Aye, the Bishop" [hushed nods]
"What say we do with the adjoining lot?"
"A Pub(?)" ONE pipes in.
"Brilliant! City planning adjourned."

Cheers, -T

Terry said...

I agree with your approach and consider myself a buyer and not a shopper.

WikWak said...

Well, here I am, late to the party as usual. I actually solved this one at around noon or noon-thirty but then ran out of time. Thanx to Mark & Boomer for their help in making Monday so much less dreary!

I solved this in about average time for a Monday. As someone up above in the comments said, I mostly did the acrosses and let the downs take care of themselves.

Thanks, TTP, for the S-O at HAM. I started at the tender age of thirteen, passing the exams just at the end of 8th grade. As did Jinx, I went “on hiatus” during college and the first year or so I was working. Finally couldn’t stand not being on the air so I retested. My younger son also earned his Technician license in high school. [My license class is Amateur Extra.]

PK, glad to see that you got your crops in, and SwampCat, very sorry about your Uber experience.

Jinx, I have made several ham-related projects with the original Raspberry Pi. Boy, when I think of of what could have been made with one of these in the “good ol’ days” it makes my head spin. Next up on my workbench is some flavor of Arduino. It appears to be a bit more flexible and a bit easier to use.

Hand up for wanting MERENGU ... oops, not enough room.

OMK, I have used the Calm app and it is indeed very helpful, but to go beyond the introductory stage requires a fairly hefty yearly subscription. Kinda defeats its purpose of calming you down.

I have always known the term as SHOO-IN. Makes sense to me because you can SHOO a person or an animal into an enclosure/room. So a person who’s certain to win an election (for instance) is a SHOO-IN for the job.

I recently read a lengthy article about Aldi and was surprised to find that it is the third largest grocery chain in the world (behind Kroger and another that I didn’t recognize). It’s expanding its footprint to include lots of new territories. I was also surprised to learn that it’s huge in Europe and in fact was started in Germany. In the US there are more than 1,900 stores in 36 states. Worldwide they have 10,000 stores in 20 countries and do an estimated >50 billion Euros worth of sales. And here I thought it was a Chicago chain! (Its world headquarters are in the western suburb of Batavia).

At least it’s not so infernally hot now! Have a cool night, all.

SwampCat said...

John E, the WWII museum is a fantastic place. Many immersive displays and lots of learning. I’m blessed to be a volunteer, a docent and a tour guide with special projects. So much to learn! Hope you can come back! (Just try not to take Uber!)

Anonymous T said...

Jinx - I'm getting into Arduinos next. I got a CornBadge* [back-side with the tiny Arduino chip near the posts] that got me really interested in playing. They do seem easier to work with for control circuits.

Cheers, -T
*DC402 (DefCon chapter #402 is from Omaha; hence #Corn!)

Anonymous T said...

*er, WikWak not Jinx (I mean, you, Jinx, can read it too but I was responding to Wik) I'm getting into Arduinos... Sorry I mixed y'all up. -T

PK said...

Thanks y'all who celebrated my harvest with me. Much appreciated. Such a relief to have it done even tho it was poorer than usual because of all the bad weather.

SwampCat: Was that Uber driver wearing a watch or some other kind of jewelry that caused your bloody injury? Sorry, girl! I can commiserate with you about the difficulty in getting in some of these big SUV's and pickups. My son very kindly has been paying extra for SUV's with running boards & strategically placed gripping handles so I can get in them -- still difficult but doable after I figure out which foot I have to start on. With my brother's vehicle, I have to take a little footstool to get in and out.

WikWak said...

Anon-T: Don’t go bragging about mixing me up; it’s gotten so easy that anybody can do it. Why, I have even heard that ”Confusing WikWak” is being removed from the next Olympics—I don’t think they have enough $€£¥ to be able to afford all the medals they would have to buy. ;-)