google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, July 29, 2019, Mark McClain

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Jul 29, 2019

Monday, July 29, 2019, Mark McClain

Just Stringing Along.  The word String can precede the first word of each theme answer.

17-Across. *  Music course for budding composers: THEORY CLASS.  String Theory.

 

24-Across. *  Meatless taqueria item: BEAN BURRITO.  String Bean.  David Akeman (June 17, 1915 ~ Nov. 10, 1973), known as String Bean, was a musician and comedian on Hee Haw.  He and his wife were murdered by burglars in 1973.


Oh, a String Bean is also a vegetable.

39-Across. *  Closet accessory for neckwear: TIE RACK.  String Tie.


51-Across. *  Marshall Islands site of nuclear testing: BIKINI ATOLL.  String Bikini.

It looks complicated to get all those strings just right.

And the unifier:
62-Across. Like the starting team, and a hint to the answers to starred clues: FIRST STRING.

Hahtoolah, here.  Boomer and I are switching days for reasons that will become apparent tomorrow.  Fear not, however, Boomer will be back in his Monday position next week.  And a big Thank You to Boomer for filling in for me last week while I was attending a conference in NYC.

Across:

1. Polio vaccine pioneer: SABIN.  Albert Sabin (né Abram Saperstein; Aug. 26, 1906 ~ Mar. 3, 1993) was born in Baiłstok, Poland (then part of the Russian Empire).  His family left the old country and ultimately found their way to the United States.  In 1930, he became a US citizen.  He is best known for the development of the oral polio vaccine.  He also developed vaccines against other viral diseases, including vaccines for encephalitis and dengue fever.


6. Bacteria in undercooked meat: E. COLI.  The scientific name for this bacteria is Escherichia coli.   It is a group of bacteria that lives in the intestines of healthy people and animals.  Although often associated with illness, most varieties of E. coli are harmless.  It is a common bacteria used in high school and college biology labs.


11. Blot gently: DAB.  A little DAB'll do ya!

 

14. Budget prefix: ECONO.  Think of an Econo Lodge.


15. Gas in flashtubes: XENON.  Xenon in an inert gas.  It's chemical symbol is Xe and its atomic number is 54.

16. Pitcher's stat: ERA.  As in an Earned Run Average.

19. Animation frame: CEL.  This has become a crossword staple.

20. Mannheim mister: HERR.  Today's German lesson.

21. Non-discrimination want-ad letters: EOE.  As in Equal Opportunity Employer.

22. Rub out a pencil mark: ERASE.

28. Castilian hero: EL CID.  El Cid (né Rodrigo Díaz; born about 1043 ~ died 1099) was a Castilian military leader in medieval Spain.  His name, El Cid, is Spanish Arabic meaning "lord".  Over the centuries, he has become a mythical figure.

31. Gate securer: LATCH.


32. "Get lost!": BEAT IT!



 34. AT&T news channel: CNN.  As in the Cable News Network.
35. Entrepreneur Musk: ELON.  Elon Musk (né Elon Reeve Musk; b. June 28, 1971) is a technology entrepreneur who was born in South Africa.  He now holds South African, Canadian and US citizenship.  He is the co-founder and CEO of Tesla.


38. Tire inflator: AIR.


42. Señora Perón: EVA.  Eva Perón (née María Eva Duarte; May 7, 1919 ~ July 26, 1952) was the wife of Juan Perón.  Everything I know about her I learned from the musical Evita, so I take that with a grain of salt.

43. Washington MLB team: NATS. As in the Washington Nationals, the baseball team of Washington, D.C.


45. Bath tissue layer: PLY.


46. Like contentious discussions: HEATED.

48. Car music source: RADIO.  Car radios have so many options today.


50. Kagan of the Supreme Court: ELENA.  Elena Kagan (b. Apr. 28, 1960) is an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  When she assumed the office in August 2010, she was only the 4th woman to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.  Prior to joining the Supreme Court, she was the first female dean of the Harvard Law School.


55. The "HD" in HDTV, briefly: HI-DEF.  As in High Definition.

56. "Wayne's World" catchword: NOT.  When you go to the dentist, you are having a good time ... NOT! 57. Director Kazan: ELIA.  Elia Kazan (né Elias Kazantzoglou; Sept. 7, 1909 ~ Sept. 28, 2003), was born in Istanbul, Turkey to Greek parent.  The family immigrated to the United States in 1913.  His first feature film was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  He is probably best known for directing On the Waterfront and A Streetcar Named Desire.


61. Incubation target: EGG.  On the farm, the mother hen is the incubator.


66. "The Simpsons" bartender: MOE.  Did you know that Moe actually has a surname?  His full name is Moammar Morris Szyslak, but he generally goes by just Moe.


67. Host onstage: EMCEE. 68. Banded marble: AGATE.  Agate is a crossword staple.  It is a translucent variety of quarts and is sometimes used as a semiprecious stone.


69. "__ now or never": IT'S.

 

 70. Author Dahl: ROALD.  In addition to being a novelist, Roald Dahl (Sept. 16, 1916 ~ Nov. 23, 1990) was a flying ace and intelligence officer during World War II.  He is best known to me for writing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  There was a fascinating article appeared in the Smithsonian about Roald Dahl a few years ago.  He had a very unique work space.


71. Sandwiches on pita: GYROS.  Yummers!


Down:
1. Eve's third son: SETH.  After Cain slew Abel, Adam and Eve had another child.  See Genesis 4:8.

2. Tooth pain: ACHE.  See 56-Across.

3. Dutch South African: BOER.  The word Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans noun for farmer, and refers to the Dutch and Huguenot population that settled in South Africa in the late 17th century.

4. Circling the sun, as a planet: IN ORBIT.


5. Oslo's land: Abbr.: NOR.  Oslo is the capital of Norway.

6. Former inmate: EX-CON.

7. Tabloid figure, for short: CELEB.  As in a Celebrity.

8. Words before whim or hunch: ON A.  As in the phrase On a Whim, or On a Hunch.

9. __ Angeles: LOS.

10. Newspaper ad, often: INSERT.  These generally take up the bulk of the Sunday paper.


11. Track-and-field competitor in 10 events: DECATHLETE.  Can you name the 10 events in a Decathlon?  I'll give you a hint:  it consists 4 track events and 6 field events.  The Decathlon became an Olympic event in the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games.

12. Childish rebuttal: ARE SO!

13. Cotton unit: BALE.


18. Vote for passage: YEA.

23. Uncle Ben's boxful: RICE.

25. Fix, as text: EDIT.

26. Wrist-to-elbow bone: ULNA.


27. Big spread with cattle, say: RANCH.  One of the largest cattle ranches in the United States is the Parker Ranch on the Big Island of Hawaii.

28. Abba of Israel: EBAN.  Abba Eban (né Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban; Feb. 2, 1915 ~ Nov. 17, 2002) makes frequent guest appearances in the crosswords.  He was born in South Africa, but was not a Boer.

29. "Star Wars" heroine: LEIA.  She was portrayed by Carrie Fisher (née Carrie Frances Fisher; Oct. 21, 1956 ~ Dec. 27, 2016).

30. Printer toner containers: CARTRIDGES.

33. Second-chance basket: TIP IN.

34. Shed tears: CRY.

36. Pizza parlor appliance: OVEN.


37. Spanish "nothing": NADA.  Today's Spanish lesson.

40. H.G. Wells race: ELOI.  These fictional post-humans from the 1985 novel The Time Machine, have become a crossword staple.

41. Fall (over): KEEL.

 

44. "For Pete's __!": SAKE.

47. Reaction to pollen, e.g.: ALLERGY.

49. "I beg to __": "I don't agree": DIFFER.

51. Archie Bunker type: BIGOT.

52. Adams with a camera: ANSEL.  Ansel Adams (né Ansel Easton Adams; Feb. 20, 1902 ~ Apr. 22, 1984) was known for his black-and-white landscape photography, much of which was of the American West and the National Parks.

53. Hauled: TOTED.

54. Extra NBA periods: OTs.  As in Over Times.

55. Prefix with sphere meaning "half": HEMI-.  Think of a Hemisphere.


58. Tall story teller: LIAR.

59. Whip __ shape: INTO.

60. "For __ 3-5": toy box spec: AGES.  My grand-niece just turned 6 months, so I'll have to wait a bit to find toys in the 3-5 age range.


63. Texter's "I think": IMO.  Textspeak for In My Opinion.

64. Color TV pioneer: RCA.  RCA was originally founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America.

65. "You're it!" game: TAG.

Here's the Grid:

The 10 events making up the decathlon include: 100-meter sprint, 110-meter hurdles, 400-meter dash, 1500-meter run, long jump, high jump, shot put, discus throw, javelin throw and the pole vault.

I'll leave you with a QOD:  Take the high road.  No matter how much strife, and consternation, frustration and anger you might be confronted with ~ don’t go to that level.  ~  Tim Gunn (né Timothy MacKenzie Gunn; b. July 29, 1953)

52 comments:

Lemonade714 said...

A very tidy Monday from Mark with another surprise blogger. The reveal was perfect for this puzzle which yielded without difficulty. It was interesting to see KAGAN and KAZAN near each other. I do not believe I have ever seen a picture of the director before.

I did not know of the fate of STRING BEAN but I could guess the fate of the STRING BIKINI

Thank you, Susan and Mark.

Lemonade714 said...

I just read of the mass shooting at the Garlic Festival in Gilroy California. My thoughts and prayers for all who were touched by this senseless violence and my hope remains that one day soon we will deal with the horrible proliferation of gun violence. Garlic Gal, please check-in and let u know you are fine.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

My first thought from the morning's news was also for Garlic Gal. Hope she's OK.

Easy puzzle, but then it's Monday. It's supposed to be easy. Needed the reveal to get the theme. Very cute, Mark. With BIGOT and LIAR I thought the theme might be something else. Thanx for filling in, Hahtoolah.

EOE: I'm always unsure if it'll be EOE or EEO. I wait for the perps to decide.

RANCH: The King Ranch in south Texas is huge -- 1289 sq miles. It's between Corpus Christi and Brownsville.

RICE: Also a university in Houston. It's where Uncle Ben was converted.

TIE RACK: Not in d-o's closet. Actually, there is one, but it's only used to hang belts.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Fun puzzle, Mark! Do you happen to be the Mark McClain who was in the newspaper recently as starting a brew pub in a Kansas town?

Well done, Hahtoolah! Always learn a lot from you.

Read about the Garlic Fest shooting last thing last night. Hope Garlic Gal is okay & lets us know.

I got today's theme but I got over-ambitious about it at first. I wanted to add First String & String Class & First Class. If you are one of several violins in a group practicing with a teacher, you are taking a string class. However, didn't work when I got to BURRITO.

TTP said...

Good morning. Thank you, Mark, and thank you, Hahtoolah.

Mark's puzzles always have such clean clues and fill. Always fun and rewarding.

I too, am saddened to hear of the news in Gilroy and hope that Garlic Gal checks in.

Jerome said...

Not political, just history- Elia Kazan was a great director, but a despicable man. During the McCarthy era he ratted out and turned on his friends to save his own career.

Worse yet, this observation- BEAN BURRITO. So, Judge Roy, Aaron, and Judge Lance team up to create Mexican food. I actually had this as a themer I sent to Rich years ago. In a kindly fashion he let me know it was ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

Jerome, of course it was ridiculous.

BEAN
BURR
ITO

It wasn't symmetrical!

Maybe if you you had submitted ITOS, clued as a plural. Like "O.J.'s judge and wife". Solvers live that type of clue/answer. Lol.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Easy but fun puzzle to solve. No searches; only white-out was I didn't remember the 2nd 'L' in ALLERGY. Sigh.
BOER - Hahtoolah explained it well. Bauer auf Deutsch; Buer op Plattdüütsch. I grew up with the word.
BTW - The OE digraph in Dutch has the same vowel sound as the 'u' in lute, so it would be mutually intelligible with 'Buer" above.

Great write-up, Hahtoolah, as always. Thank you.

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Thanks, Mark for some Monday fun this morning. I finished neatly, but the reveal confused me with STRING Burrito. V-8 can helped: STRING BEAN. Aha! I liked TIP IN.

Thanks, Hahtoolah, for a very informative run around the puzzle.

Have a fine day everyone.

SwampCat said...

Monday fun! Thanks Mark. Hahtoolah you amaze me. It must take forever to get all these links. I went to the Parker Ranch on the Big Island and was most impressed that it just went on and on! I don’t remember a beginning or an end.

I also thought of Garlic Gal this morning when I heard the bad news. Can anyone get in touch with her?

YR, feel better soon ! You don’t need this!

TTP said...

Spitzboov, I posted some pictures of Big Boy yesterday afternoon if you are interested.

desper-otto said...

Photo of Big Boy. :)

Jerome said...

Anon- "It wasn't symmetrical". Of course it was- BEANBURRITO is an eleven letter entry. Quite common. BEAN, BURR, ITO wasn't three words scattered around the grid. Sheesh.

Jerome said...

Forgot to say- What makes Mark a great constructor is that this puzzle does not have even one crappy, drecky, obscure fill word. A Monday pleasure.

SwampCat said...

Jerome, I’m with you !! Hehehehe

Spitzboov said...

TTP - Yes, I saw them. Must have been quite a thrill. Don't imagine it'll come over here to CSX territory anytime soon.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Played 18 holes, did the puzzle and am blogging this fun puzzle before 10 am.
-I saw the STRING gimmick and liked how Mark worded the reveal
-STRING BIKINI – When does looking become leering?
-When inert gasses like XENON were later discovered, Mendeleev had to add a column to his periodic table
-At the Pentagon Mall a NATS hat was $29.00. I got that same hat for $9.00 from a street vendor outside Ford’s Theater
-Tableside musicians in Italy either play It’s Now Or Never or its progenitor O Sole Mio
-The AD INSERTS that stick out beyond the regular paper are annoying
-Susan, I agree about taking the high road. Name-calling is the last resort of a weak argument and so let it go. Words said in anger are rarely useful.

Oc4beach said...


I agree with just about all of the posters (so far) that Mark and Hahtoolah did a great job today.

I’m at the beach, so I have access to a Washington Post newspaper and was able do the puzzle in pencil ( didn’t even need an eraser).

One trip Across and one trip Down and everything was filled in correctly.

I’m doing this on my IPad so I’m not sure how it will go.

Have a great day everyone.



Sandyanon said...

Hahtoolah, I know you meant that The Time Machine was published in 1895.

Misty said...

Delightful Monday puzzle, Mark--I enjoyed every bit of it. And Hahtoolah, your commentaries are always extra special, with so many great pictures. Looking forward to seeing yours tomorrow, Boomer.

Lots of interesting people in the puzzle, and I especially enjoyed seeing ELENA Kagan, ANSEL Adams, and ROALD Dahl turn up. Only SABIN wasn't totally familiar and needed perps. But nice to be able to get those long items--DECATHLETES and CARTRIDGES--pretty quickly.

Have a good week, everybody!

Hahtoolah said...

Sandymom: maybe that was one of the errors that Boomer referenced!

I, too, was horrified to hear in the shooting in California and immediate thought of Garlic Girl. Has anyone heard from her? Maybe she or JD will check in.

AnonymousPVX said...


This Monday grid went quickly and without issue.

No markovers.

Husker G - it becomes leering when you keep watching to see when one of the strings break.

And on to Tuesday.

thehondohurricane said...

I haven't been too devoted to reading the comments each day lately, so I have a question and I hope the answer is not bad news. But I haven't seen Dave's early posts lately. Did I miss something?

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!!

Thanks to Mark and Hahtoolah!

No problems. Vwet little sleep.

Have a great day!

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Thats "very little sleep.

CrossEyedDave said...

TheHondoHurricane:Re:D4E4H (DaveII)

Yes, you are right...

Dave's last post was
Monday July 22nd, where he took a Thumper...

(not encouraging last words...)

Pls report in Dave!

Lucina said...

Hola!
I share everyone' concern about the horrible events at the Garlic Festival and I e-mailed Garlic Gal last night but haven't yet checked for an answer.

Thank you, Mark McClain, for a really interesting yet easy puzzle today and Hahtoolah, thank you for an informative expo.

I was able to pull all the STRINGs together and sail through without a stumble. No ERASER needed. Oh, wait, YES, one. I wanted ISLAND before ATOLL but ran out of spaces.

And all the names: ROALD, ANSEL, ELENA, ELIA, SABIN, LEIA and even MOE are known to me.

I'm going now to look at my e-mail.

I hope you're all enjoying a fine day!

Lucina said...

YES! Garlic Gal replied that she and her husband left the festival early so missed the sad events. What a devastating thing to happen on such an otherwise happy occasion.

GarlicGal said...

Hello everyone. GarlicGal checking in from Gilroy. We are fine. I worked all 3 days and left the Garlic Festival park at 3:00 Sunday afternoon. The incident happened at 5:40. Fortunately the police were very close to the area and were on scene in a minute, took the shooter down. Unfortunately, chaos had already set in, with people running away. And there were also rumors of another person involved. Law enforcement is working now combing the park for evidence.

Unbelievable. The city will survive. #gilroystrong.
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.
Chris

CrossEyedDave said...

The big Sunday puzzle, & Sudoku, (&previous Sudoku...)
came in handy at the Brooklyn Rehab yesterday.

No good news to report, things are not going well.

(Thumper)

on a lighter note:

Todays puzzle had a puzzle within the puzzle!

The clue for Señora Perón (Eva) was printed thus:

Se-ora Per-n
(a puzzle wrapped in an enigma!)
Way to go Newark Star Ledger!
You have finally made Monday puzzles more exciting!
I have also taken to trying to guess the Constructor from the
style of the Crossword... (A Friday Jeffwech is easy to spot as they are so tasty...)

Anywho while I am trying to find a silly link for todays puzzle, I will leave you with an old repeat...

PK said...

Lucina & Garlic Gal, thanks for letting us know. What is the world coming to?

Mark McClain said...

Thanks so much for the very nice write-up and comments. Answering a question, I'm not the one with a brew pub in Kansas, but I love to visit brew pubs, and I used to live in Kansas. Stop reading now if you're not a crossword puzzle nerd. For the past year or so I've been making changes to my word lists and filling technique that are designed to both avoid the use of unwelcome entries and also enhance the liveliness of the grid. Obviously part of this is just patience and discipline, but there are some technical changes that can make it easier. Anyone who's interested in hearing more about this, feel free to contact me.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Aargh.
I have to go to the dentist today, to have a crown removed because there seems to be a cavity beneath it. Grr.
First, there is the cost and pain of today's procedure. Next, we find out how extensive the problem is beneath the crown--so there is sure to be more work needed...
Double Grr.

Misty ~
Today is your physical therapy, right? I hope all goes well--and that you have a better time with your professional than I expect to have with mine.

As for today's pzl: all was pleasant and chewy enough to keep it interesting on a Monday. Thank you!
Ta~ DA!
~ OMK
____________
DR:
One mirror-side diag today.
The anagram: He had never heard the term “transgender” but knew before age 10 that he preferred to play with girls. His brothers took pleasure in sports and games of a warlike nature. He enjoyed tea sets and dolls. His mind did not lean in a traditional macho direction, but had all the indications of a…
GIRLIER BRAIN”!

Yellowrocks said...

CE Dave, sorry to hear things are not not going well for your MIL. My thoughts and prayers are with her and your family.
Did you notice the the strange lettering in the Ledger appeared only after the recent change in format and font?
I am improving every day. I am sure there is no permanent damage. Tomorrow I will try to get things done with rests in between. I will attend our last dance of the season tonight, but in an admin. role only, no dancing.
Thanks for the fun puzzle, Mark, and for the interesting review with many links, Hahtoolah.

Irish Miss said...

Hi All:

Very late to the dance as I was tied up most of the day. Glad to hear Garlic Gal is safe and send healing thoughts and prayers to the victims of yet another brutal, senseless act.

This was an easy, breezy Monday with no nits nor stumbles. I liked the Elia, Elon, Eloi trio and the Eva ~ Era duo. The theme was well hidden (to me) until the snappy, surprise reveal.

Kudos, Mark, and thanks for stopping by. Hatoolah, you are a teacher and an entertainer, and are much appreciated. Brava!

CED, I'm sorry to hear of your MIL's challenges. Prayers to you and your family.

I hope Dave4 checks in soon.

FLN

Bill G, let's hope that Freddie is being taken care of and will regain his health.

Misty said...

So sorry to hear about your dental problem, Ol'Man Keith, and hope you get an easier resolution than you fear. Dental problems are tough, aren't they. And I'll let you know how my afternoon therapy appointment goes--thanks for asking.

Wilbur Charles said...

Thx for a great write-up Hahtoolah. And Mark for stopping by.

Just a smooth run through today but I forgot to look for the theme.

WC

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but apparently threw out the page when we cleaned up for our departure from Lancaster PA. I erased a spot or two, but don't remember which.

FLN SMOKIN' - I once was a business radio technician - mainly fire and police radios, but the FCC named the service. Most of our work was done in the field, but sometimes we had to bring in a unit for bench testing and repair. One of our guys was putting the final bench tuning on a transmitter he had just repaired. I had run a piece of plastic sleeving about 15 feet long from the back of his radio to an area where I was working. While he was carefully optimizing the set, I blew cigarette smoke from my position through the tubing and up into his radio. He shouted a loud oath and started shutting everything off that could provide AC or DC power to the area. The other techs saw what I was doing and cracked up, and the pigeon of the joke at least pretended like he enjoyed the trick.

Anyhoo, thanks to Mark and Hahtoolah for the fun start to the week.

Prince redux said...

Oops! Try this: Lucas Smoke Kit

Lemonade714 said...

It is a blessing to be part of a widespread, dynamic support group that is the Crowword Corner. Mark is one of the friendly helpful constructors. Very glad Garlic Gal is ok.

CrossEyedDave said...

(really just posting to mark my place...)

Yellowrocks,
Yes, the puzzle page went wacko after the the font and format change.
How long the comic page has been deleting any third line of dialog
is anybodies guess, especially people at the Star Ledger, because they don't read them...

Here is Wilbur Charles link again from Sunday...

***Only Linkage Nerds need read further***

PSA for people who would like to link Comics.

The reason I reposted Wilburs Sunday link is that today it is
linking to todays comic, and not what Wilbur intended.
Tomorrow it will link to Tomorrows comic, forever, ad nauseam...

Normally, I would not bother, as people know they can click back
a day using the arrows, but this case was interesting to me.

The correct way to ensure your link is locked into the day you want
is to open said link, and then click on it again opening a smaller page
& right clicking on that page to choose "copy image address."

However this does not work with this ComicsKingdom/Bizarro website?

They insist that you "share" it via pre approved methods,
or buy it.

There is a way around this.

Go to the https:// in this case: www.comicskingdom.com/bizarro/2019-07-29
and change the date to whatever date you want locked in.
(I used 2019-07-28, copied and pasted.)

This concludes the pedantic PSA,
and you can now return to your local crossword...

(Sorry, I must be REALLY bored, or avoiding some other job I don't want to do...)

Dow Jones said...



C.C. Burnikel has a crossword puzzle (Hello? Hello?) in the Monday (July 29) edition of the Wall Street Journal.


<a href="https://blogs.wsj.com/puzzle/2019/07/29/hello-hello-monday-crossword-july-29/>Quick Link</a>

Haiku Harry said...

Olympic track star
Only drinks Sanka, because
He’s a decaf-lete

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

A fun Monday puzzle to ease into the week. Thanks Mark for it and for stopping by - your new approach is working; quite the bouncy fill.
And thanks Hahtoolah for hosting the after-party with so many links & pics [and, presumably, a soon to be fun Tuesday puzzle(?)]

WO: Only had one L in ALLERGY (Hi Spitz!)
ESPs: EBAN, BOER, ELIA
Fav: I'm a sucker for Noble Gases.

Cute DR, OMK.
Jerome: Groan :-)

D-O: LOL Converted RICE!

Lucina - thanks for the good news from Garlic Gal! Oh, Hello! Garlic Gal. Long-time no read.

DowJones - Thanks for the heads-up; I just finished C.C.'s puzzle. It had some sparkle too.

Jinx - that's a cruel (but funny) prank.

Cheers, -T

TTP said...



Doing the puzzle online at the Wall Street Journal makes me dizzy. I hate how the clues and grid jumps around.

I can make the grid quit jumping by changing my computer settings for Display, Scale and Layout, but can't stop the clue jumping from being so distracting.

IMO, it's the worst online app for solving puzzles that I've encountered.

D4E4H said...

FIR. Was solving with another resident while watching Jeopardy so the time doesn't count.

Good evening Corner writers.

I am alive, well, and living in Louisville. I am a quart low on my creative juices, so I haven't posted lately. Please be patient with me. I'm a tired old man. Rumor has it that I have been missed on the Corner since my last post of July 22, 2019 at 8:03 AM.

The link is to Yahoo, and one person reported not being able to open it. Here is the URL: https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=thumper%2C+if+you+can%27t+say#id=2&vid=1b8113a600124f4755a2194cc35701b6&action=view

Here it is on youtube. Thumper

I invoked the Thumper rule from frustration because there were no replies to my previous posts.

Ðave

No longer blue said...

I feel ya Dave2.

Don't take it personally, though. This subject has been broached several times since I began following the blog. Many people have voiced your lament over the years and many have given a logical reasoning for its occurrence. Be forewarned though, these are met with a passionate denunciation.

"Don't expect a response to every post you make!", is the repeated response. I see their point but but when you repeatedly mentioned the upcoming ice cream day more than once with *crickets* the only answer and then told of the fun experience you had on the actual day, again with no response, I felt your pain.

I also gave up trying to crack the code. And dont even mention the c word. Cliquey. Yes it is. But those in the clique think we are immature to even dare bring that accusation forth. So let me take the arrows here since you have yet to reach the heights of my condemnation and I perceive that you are genuinely liked around here.

Why you were ignored for more than a few days while obviously looking for feedback is still somewhat perplexing.

CanadianEh! said...

Marvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Mark and Hahtoolah. (I'm guessing that the switcheroo today means that you might be the constructor tomorrow??)

Late to the party and somewhat exhausted by fun with 3 of my grands (AGES 2-8). Finally had a chance to do this CW; good thing it was Monday level and my tired brain could sail through and even see the STRING theme.

I must pack it in and rest up for another day; I need to read comments from weekend to get reoriented.
Best wishes to you all.

Spitzboov said...

Since I get the WSJ, I quickly dashed off CC's puzzle after I got home from bridge. I agree; it had sparkle. Her puzzles are constantly getting better, and I particularly enjoyed this one. Dropped calls - - well executed.

Anonymous T said...

D4 - first, I'm glad to see you're OK. When I read we've missed you for a week(?) I was like, no...
2) I'm not sure who useta be blue is but s/he's got a point - we can't reply to everyone. Also, some folks don't read FLN or just don't reply because, well, that was yesterday. I read the IceCream posts and thought it was interesting re: the mixedup days ++$0.50 cup days. But other than that...(?) Oh, I know! What's your favorite flavor outside of choc & vanilla?

C, Eh! - that you even had the energy to post after all day with three balls of energy.

TTP - That's why I print 'em out [used the office toner CARTRIDGE, I did] //I didn't leave work until 8p, so, you know, reciprocity :-)

Cheers, -T

Bill G said...

Dave, I share your frustration with having a post sometimes ignored, especially if it's something I feel an emotional attachment to. I guess I enjoy knowing that others share my likes or dislikes (and they often do). But then I notice that I often don't reply to others' posts. Dunno why... Overall, this is an incredibly thoughtful group that I enjoy being a part of and I'll keep trying to fit in.

~ Mind how you go...

Anonymous said...

IT IS a common BACTERIUM.