google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, July 18th 2019 John-Clark Levin & Jeff Chen

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Jul 18, 2019

Thursday, July 18th 2019 John-Clark Levin & Jeff Chen

Theme: Could I get the scam on the side? As the diner said to the huckster.

The reveal tells us what to look for:

54. Freelance for extra income ... and a hint to the answers to starred clues: SIDE HUSTLE. The first or last word is the hustle, depending on which side of the grid the entry is placed.

16A. *Goof off: FOOL AROUND

24A. *Mecca for sci-fi and superhero fans: COMIC CON. A lot of the attendees take it pretty "seriously", quite the colorful crew:


29A. *Trace-amount precipitation: SNOW FLURRIES. Thankfully rare in Los Angeles. I did my share of cold back in the old country. I'd not heard of "snow" in the context of a hustle before.

39A. *Object of Jason's quest: GOLDEN FLEECE. I always think of the skeleton-fighting scene from the movie "Jason and the Argonauts". Not bad special effects for 1963.


46A. *Make flashy modifications to: TRICK OUT. There's a whole culture of auto trick-outery here in Southern California.

This looks to be the second LAT collaboration between John-Clark and Jeff, the first was just back in May, and very enjoyable this was too. Entertaining theme, fun fill and some nice cluing and misdirection. Let's see what jumps out:

Across:

1. Like challah bread: EGGY

5. Obligations: DEBTS

10. Pistons' org.: N.B.A.

13. Broadway seductress: LOLA. From the musical "Kinky Boots". The Broadway production went dark this April after more than 2,500 performances. The impressarios got their money back on that one!

14. Threepio's pal: ARTOO. Star Wars droids, as we all know.

15. Take the show on the road: TOUR

18. Stunt legend Knievel: EVEL. His son, Robbie, continues the family tradition.

19. Suit parts: VESTS. Could be COATS or PANTS so wait for some help from the crosses.

20. Gross sales, on an income statement: TOP LINE

22. Juices up: FUELS

25. Jessica of the "Fantastic Four" films: ALBA

26. Mysterious power: ESP.

28. Votes against: NOES

33. Burden: TAX. Don't get me started.

34. Co-star/co-creator Issa __ of HBO's "Insecure": RAE. No clue, thank you crosses. I used to get HBO as a "bonus" when I switched providers, but I never watched anything on there, so I cancelled when my free trial was done.

35. Prefix with -gram: ANA. I find it disappointing you can't make an anagram out of anagram. I'm going to start a company called "Garmana" just so there is one.

36. Quick drink: NIP

42. Oil cartel: OPEC

44. Commotion: ADO

45. __ Stefani, returning coach on "The Voice": GWEN. She's great, I loved the third No Doubt album "Tragic Kingdom". Here's the breakout single.

49. Puts on Facebook: POSTS

50. Alerts on the road: HONKS AT. Generally not an alert, more a frustration-reliever.

51. Often-dystopian conflict: WW III

53. "Er, I'd rather not": UM, NO

58. Start of D-Day?: DEES. Two "D"s begin "D-Day". Nice clue.

59. Like Navy SEALs: ELITE

60. Run like heck: TEAR

61. Nursery roll: SOD

62. Intuit: SENSE

63. Watson who played Hermione in Harry Potter films: EMMA

Down:

1. Sprite: ELF

2. Muck: GOO

3. Car storage spot: GLOVE BOX. Very nice, took me a while to see the misdirection here.

4. Sonia Sotomayor's alma mater: YALE LAW

5. Pub flier: DART

6. Greek Cupid: EROS. No more Eros lessons, I think you've all got it now. Class dismissed.

7. Approx. 1,055 joules: B.T.U. British Thermal Units. Rule Britannia!

8. Depp's "Lone Ranger" role: TONTO

9. Genesis city of sin: SODOM

10. Beginner: NOVICE

11. __ Aires: BUENOS. A city on my bucket list to visit. I've worked for companies with an office there, but never managed to swing a trip.

12. "Over the Rainbow" composer: ARLEN. Harold Arlen was a musical machine - he wrote the melodies for many, many songs. "Over the Rainbow" was voted the 20th Century's No. 1 song by RIAA and the National Endowment for the Arts.

15. AT&T and Verizon: TELCOS. I think AT&T might be considered a little more than a telco with the acquisition of DirecTV and the takeover of Time Warner.

17. Pack animal: ASS

21. __ gland: organ that secretes melatonin: PINEAL

22. Extreme diet: FAST

23. Forearm bone: ULNA

24. Life-saving proc.: C.P.R. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Long desscription for something you need in a hurry. Thank you, abbreviations.

26. Mideast airline: EL AL

27. Took to court: SUED

30. Monastic garments: FROCKS. I call 'em cassocks, but what do I know?

31. South African capital: RAND

32. Recon target: INFO

36. One may trend on Twitter: NEWS ITEM

37. "Law & Order: SVU" actor: ICE T. The NYPD's Special Victim's Unit is the basis for this version of the franchise.

38. Pilot products: PENS. I've got one next to my laptop as we speak. I love the thin stylus and free-flowing ink.

39. Sticky-toed lizards: GECKOS

40. Wear (away): EAT

41. Chanel fragrance for men: EGOISTE. Seems to be missing a "T" and adding an "E", but that's what you get with product names. I suppose "EGOTIST" doesn't send many positive connotations.

42. Words that begin the line before "Deny thy father and refuse thy name": O ROMEO!

43. Determined precisely, with "down": PINNED

46. Dull sounds: THUDS

47. Caravan stops: OASES

48. Functional: UTILE

49. More, on a score: PIU. Learning moment for me, I think. I know I'm going to forget about it in about 30 seconds time, but at least I've seen it now.

51. Dampens: WETS

52. Roller coaster cry: WHEE! Not me, the only coaster that doesn't scare me to death is the one I put my cocktail on.

55. Racket: DIN

56. Quick flight: LAM. Nice misdirection, I was on the "short HOP" track at first.

57. Eventful chapter: ERA. The penny dropped, I was thinking of novels at first.

Here's the grid in all its "edgy" detail, and I think I'm out of blog.

Steve



60 comments:

  1. FIWrong. Ur,NO instead of UM,NO. The down clue I thought referred to a Bible quote, something like Luke 9:59-62 -- If you would be my disciple, deny thy father and refuse thy name, and come follow Me. -- except that's not how those verses go. Not that "OR OrEO" made any sense.
    The theme also beat me. Even after the reveal, I was trying to pair up letters from each side of the words like we did with FL AY. Did finally get it, but it took a while.

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  2. I met a girl at a COMIC CON
    All attired with a costume on.
    We FOOLED AROUND
    Until I found
    Those eyes on stalks weren't just glued on!

    Why did Jason voyage to the GOLDEN FLEECE?
    Did it keep him warm when it's cold in Greece?
    When SNOW FLURRIES,
    To the wool he scurries --
    But he has to deal with the golden fleas!

    {A, A.}

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  3. "Lola" might also be the Gwen Verdon role in Damn Yankees.

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  4. I guess Anon at 4:28 and I thought about this BROADWAY PERFORMANCE. I also saw KINKY BOOTS when the touring company came to Fort. Lauderdale.

    The theme and grid were creative, but I would expect nothing less from Jeff and one of his disciples. I appreciated the CSO with the Golden Fleece.

    I did not know the musical term più nor the oddly named EGIOSTE

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  5. Good morning!

    I was SIPpin' my drink and doin' the HUSSLE with my PILOT G-2 this morning...until SEWSISEM backed me up. Got 'er done. Thanx, John-Clark, Jeff and Steve (You've never heard of a "Snow Job?")

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  6. FIR, but erased sIP, Uh NO, and of use for UTILE.

    TOP LINE means something totally different to dog show judges. Here's more than you probably wanted to know about the subject.

    Abejo and I would know PIU as the Peripheral Interface Unit, part of our TELCO's late, great switching system.

    FLN- WC, I would love to move to the Ocala area. It reminds me of Lexington, KY (except that the university is about 30 miles away, and it doesn't snow). No Costco though.

    Thanks to John-Clark and Jeff for the crunchy fun. My favorite was "car storage spot" for GLOVE BOX. Kept me at bay for quite a while. And thanks to Steve for the fun review. DO brought up "snow job", which we had as fill just a day or two ago.

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  7. When I saw Broadway seductress I went right to Lola from Damn Yankees. "Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets..."

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  8. HONKS AT as an alert is sadly more and more prevalent these days. I find it necessary to give a short little tap of the horn at red lights to let the young driver ahead of me that the light has changed. It seem that whenever kid these days have more than a 3 second pause in their life, they must check their phone for any new texts or see if any of their peeps have slid into their dms on insta.

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  9. Good morning. I got the SIDE HUSTLE by the hardest but fell short in the SW with a brain freeze. I filled UH NO, and was stuck on OR (O is a letter) as the first word and OLEO or OREO were the only second words that made sense. Uncle, Rabbit, DNF.

    The SE wasn't much easier when you start with a SIP instead of a NIP, WW-III hasn't happened, haven't seen Potter movies, never used Twitter, and hadn't ever heard of the cologne EGOISTE, but at least I completed it. Issa RAE, EMMA-unknowns filled by perps. Didn't know the PINEAL gland secreted melatonin. Obviously my doesn't work very well because I can't sleep for more than three hours.

    COMICON attendees look normal against the MY LITTLE PONY convention people. These people need a real life.

    Polite Old Man- you are more polite than me. I HONK at them when I see them texting when the light if RED. It wakes them up for the light to turn green. DW hates it when I do that.

    BTU- anybody remember my post last week about how many ERGS in a BTU?

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  10. Creative puzzle...WEES about LOLA from Damn Yankees. I'm with D-O about starting NEWS ITEM at first with SEWS (I was very confused about what that had to do with Twitter) until SIP became NIP.
    Big Easy - I did remember your post about ERGS/JOULES/BTU - so helped on that fill!

    Thanks Steve!
    Thanks to John-Clark and Jeff!

    Try to keep cool everyone in the heat wave zone coming this weekend - hydrate and stay inside if you have health issues!!!

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  11. Like OwenKL, I had UHNO, so the 42D quote made no sense. Also had SIP instead of NIP, thought SEWSITEM was some new trend I never heard of. Takes me a while to get going in the morning. Other than that, got the rest.

    Watching the British Open now, didn’t get up at 2:00AM to catch the start. Rory McIlroy had an 8 on the first hole; not a good start for the sentimental favorite (he’s from Northern Ireland, this is the first Open there since 1951).

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  12. Good Morning:

    I had no idea whatsoever of the theme, until the reveal. My only w/o was Uh No/Um No, but I needed several perps: I've heard of Artoo, but Threepio meant nothing, so that caused a delay; other unknowns were Pineal, Piu, Egotiste, and O Romeo. I, too, associated Lola with "Damn Yankees". I have no idea of any "Kinky Boots" characters.

    Thanks, John Clark and Jeff, for any enjoyable challenge and thanks, Steve, for the summary. I, like you and DO, use a Pilot G2, but only for making notes; the iPad does the puzzle.

    Stay safe and cool during the forthcoming heat wave.

    Have a great day.

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  13. I must have been on the right wave length, for I zipped through this clever puzzle. Thanks, John- Clark and Jeff. Lots of fun misdirections. Car storage spot for GLOVE BOX has been mentioned. I also loved pub flier for DART and Pilot products for PENS. So simple once you change direction.

    I filled in WETS for dampens, But struggled over Roller Coaster cry. WHEE seemed reasonable but surely we can’t have two W’s together. Oh. The war. 58 A, DEES for DDay should have led me in the right direction but maybe I’d used up all my wavelength!

    Steve, thanks for the TOUR.

    I also thought of LOLA from Damn Yankees.

    Owen, A+ for all!!

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  14. Hi Y'all! Fun & easier than usual Thursday, thanks, Levin & Chen! In fact, I spent three minutes less than on Wed.

    Very interesting expo, Steve. Thanks. Hand up for NO WHEE for me on roller coasters. Never got on one in my life.

    Yay, me! I got the TRICKy theme! but only after the reveal.

    PINEAL slowed me down because I tried to spell it PINieL.

    "LOLA, she was a show girl" at the Cocacabana, according to Barry Manilow. Don't know if that was on Broadway.

    DNK: PIU, EGOISTE, RAE, FROCKS, or ISSA. Perps to the rescue. One red-letter run.

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  15. PK -- thanks, your Lola is the one I thought of, but couldn't remember the words to identify it. Just the tune had been running as an earworm all morning.
    I started with the generic VAMP on that one, harking back to my l'ick for RE-VAMP.

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  16. Good morning, folks. Thank you, John-Clark Levin & Jeff Chen, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for fine review.

    Wow! This puzzle seemed more like a Friday than a Thursday. But, that's OK.

    Good catch, Jinx. PIU. The GTD-5 is still in my head. We had 15 millions lines of it in service. I am sure there are still some. No need to replace it. Since subscriber lines are dropping, there will always be equipment available.

    I caught theme more easily than some of the rest of the puzzle. That part was pretty simple.

    I had a probelem with TAX, ALBA, GLOVE BOX. Eventually fell together.

    I had UH NO for 53A for a while. Therefore did not have O ROMEO.

    Tried SIP at 36A before NIP worked much better. WW III was a wag. That worked better.

    It finally hit me that RAND, being the currency, was what was being looked for.

    Anyhow, good mental workout.

    Raining this morning. Thank goodness. We needed it.

    Off to the Apple store later to get my phone back in good working order. Spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone with them yesterday. It only got worse. Hopefully today will be a TADA!

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

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  17. Musings
    -PIU, EGOISTE, SIP not NIP and Harry Potter put a temporary crimp in my colon
    -Some people I barely know have called me about their SIDE HUSTLE with Amway
    -SNOW jobs are part and parcel in political speeches
    -I’m on the team where LOLA seduces Joe Boyd in Damn Yankees
    -I misread the clue and put in EMMA thinking it was Thompson who I love not Watson who I do not know
    -_ L _ V _ _ _ _ ginned up ELEVATOR which was the wrong car
    -I had my kids burn a peanut to find out how many calories and BTU’s it had
    -I have Heimliched but never CPRed
    -I wonder if John and Jeff also learned PIU for this fill
    -My first coaster WHEE waited until I was over 50. I finally told myself, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

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  18. I liked the way the hustle words were on the sides of the puzzle, although I missed that before coming here. I was frustrated in the SE east because I had SIP as many other of you had. It took too long to change it to NIP. So when I finally finished I forgot to look for the theme words.
    Also like many others, I was held up by UH, UR, UM. I was surprised when my ABC run gave me O ROMEO.
    I have seen PIU, but needed every perp for that and RAE.
    Hand up for LOLA in Damn Yankees.
    Sometimes I honk in frustration after a motorist makes a dumb move. I also honk to warn someone who is drifting into my lane or is in danger of backing into me. But, it seems to me that some people have a hand on the horn ready to honk the very second the light turns green. On the other hand, often the honk is deserved. I hate when the first car at a green left hand turns signal hesitates so long that only 2 cars, instead of 6 or 7 can get through.
    Favorite misdirection was car storage spot.
    I thought of FROCK with only a few perps. It seems old fashioned. I probably know it as a monastic garment from novels. More often novels use FROCK as a lovely dress for a woman.
    The term defrock today is very common to mean removal of a priest's right to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. One of our parish priests was defrocked for embezzlement of church funds. As church warden, I was very involved in this process.
    My dad was a pastor. One day when he remarked he forgot to pack his surplice, my little brother asked, "Surplus of what?" A clergy surplice is a white tunic worn over the cassock.

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  19. Failed to mention
    -Yes, YR, an extra touch of elegance was having the hustles that started a phrase on the left side of the puzzle and the ones that finished a phrase were on the right side
    -Steve’s write-up added to the merriment

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  20. Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, John-Clark and Jeff, and Steve.
    Just a little crunchy today with the NE corner last to fall. (I needed to change Haul to TOUR and Allen to ARLEN. I also had to change Nays to NOES to clean up the mess in my newspaper.) I did see the theme HUSTLEs.
    In the SW corner I changed Ah NO to Uh NO to UM NO. I see that I was not alone.
    But I arrived here to see that I FIWed in two places!! I know it is Jessica ALBA but somehow I entered Elba (was I thinking of Idris?) and ended up with a Fest extreme diet. Plus my monastic garments were Smocks (not FROCKS) which gave me SNOW Slurries (not FLURRIES). No chance of that today, but I might need a Slushee or a Slurpee in this heat!

    I LOLed when I filled ANAgram after my Amalgam misspelling yesterday. Then I LOLed again when we had DEES to start D-Day, when yesterday's centre of the olive was not I.

    I call it a GLOVE Compartment but there was only room for BOX.
    Hand up for Sip before NIP.

    I had enough perps to see RAND as the capital of S. Africa. The space was too short for any of the cities I might have tried. Apparently (per quorum.com), "the country has three capitals for the three centres of power. Pretoria is Home to the Union Buildings, and the office of the President. Cape Town is where parliament is located, hence the other capital. Bloemfontein is the third capital, it is the judicial capital of South Africa."

    "More, on a score" had me thinking of a sports scoreboard before I realized that it was referring to a music score. PIU=more is used preceding other musical terms (quickly, slowly, etc): più allegro, più mosso, più lento.
    GlossaryOfMusicalTerms

    Enjoy the day.

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  21. Anyone here recommend a wireless printer for very minimal use for general printing no photographs. My Epsom didn’t last very long. I have been reviewing HP printers but reviews are “best ever” or “piece of junk” I will use it for printing from my iPad and iPhone.
    My favorite pen is Pentel Energel liquid ink, smooth writing no smears.

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  22. Good morning. Nice, crunchy little puzzle with several clever mis-directions.

    Thank you CanadianEh! for the very clear meaning of PIU

    I thought Damn Yankees too - any chance John- larked and Jeff did too?

    When I was in college, eons ago, if an attractive guy had you “snowed”, it meant you were infatuated.

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  23. Canadian Eh! Thank you. No wonder I was always getting the capital of S. Africa wrong. So, there are three of them. No matter which one of the three I chose, it was never that one.
    EGOISTE is a strange name for a fragrance, all perps. It turns me off, as does the National Car Rental ads with Patrick Warburton. I see that the ad is supposed to be funny. I just find it annoying, not at all sexy.
    Egoist

    Wendy, when I was in college snow had a different meaning. A guy who said he was so deeply in love with you and that you were his one and only, but all the while had other girlfriends, was snowing you.
    Snow job: a deception or concealment of one's real motive in an attempt to flatter or persuade.

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  24. Well this Thursday puzzle had some crunch to it for sure.

    Markovers...NAYS/NOES, HOP/LAM.

    Nobody else had NAYS?

    Big Easy....you honk at folks when the light is red? Are you actively looking for trouble? Why on earth would you do that? You trying to find the wrong guy to beep at for no reason? Geez, talk about actually looking for it....I’m with your poor DW.

    And on to Friday.

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  25. Have any of you seen this Canadian COMIC CON us with his TOUR of the Trans Canadian Highway? UM, NO? WeHave any ll, he FOOLs AROUND making a big ADO while cars TEAR by and draws HONKS AT his antics. Drivers DART in and out of the FAST lane trying to avoid the ASS all the while as he screams, "WHEE!" He is lucky not to become a NEWS ITEM from being PINNED under a truck driven by a NOVICE driver who thinks he is some sort of EVEL Knievel. This guy has no SENSE!

    Canada's belt buckle

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  26. I found this very difficult since I had never heard the term SIDE HUSTLE. Have others heard this term?

    It was especially challenging with all of the other unknowns in that area. Proud to have FIR after a lucky WAG of EGOISTE. Yes, not a name I would be proud to wear.

    I have quite a few GECKO photos over the years, many in Southeast Asia. But 25 years ago I had a pair of Gold Dust Day GECKOS as pets. This was at least five years before Geico adopted this exact GECKO as its mascot.

    Here one of my Gold Dust Day GECKOS rests on a leaf in my terrarium.

    They are called Day GECKOS because they are awake during the day, unlike most GECKOS.

    They are very beautiful. But they also like to bite and they are quite fragile. Not a good combination as it takes discipline not to injure them when they bite you. Now I just keep tree frogs which are much more peaceful!

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  27. "WeHave any ll." should be only "Well,".

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  28. Yuman, I've got a wireless Brother laser printer that's been very reliable. It's also easy on toner -- price/copy is much, much lower than a typical inkjet. Of course, it's B&W only, but you said "no pictures."

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  29. PORTRUSH is RORY McILROY'shome course where he learned to play. He shot a 61 on that course when he was 16, for his first big attention-getting round. The pressure to duplicate that round must have crept into his psyche.

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  30. My notes about this puzzle in no special order:

    So, the challah bread today was not FLAT, but EGGY.

    AT&T might be huge but they do not provide internet service to this area except for very slow DSL, and it's getting slower. My wife and I are reluctantly considering switching to Comcast cable in spite of the fact we both hate the company. It's just that we're approaching the point of hating AT&T even more. So it's the lesser of two evils.

    Big Easy, yes I remember your post last week about how many ERGS in a BTU.

    Hand up for SIP before NIP and UH NO before UM NO.

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  31. Damn Yankees, of course.

    Hesitated between NIP and SIP and wrote SIP.

    Didn't want FROCKS until I thought of "defrocked."

    EPIGRAM before ANAGRAM. HARVARD before YALE LAW. (It fit.)

    After reading the blog, I looked up PIU (without the accent) in Wiktionary. Don't forget to spell it PIù.

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  32. Thanks for the excellent puzzle and write up. Very enjoyable.

    Two things:

    I think it would be an excellent idea for the person who contributes the write up to identify him/her self at the very beginning. I don't always remember who is scheduled for what day and sometimes, a different person fills in.

    Also, Jayce, I don't know a lot about Jewish breads but I'm pretty sure you are confusing challah with matzo or some other flat bread. I had challah once at a Seder and it was a long way from flat. It was lumpy in a decorative sort of way.

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  33. Hola!
    I'll read your comments later as I just returned from "hospital duty" sitting with my granddaughter. Everyone else had to return to work after a few days off. She is doing better though in pain, of course, the baby has jaundice but is receiving treatment. He is a love.

    John-Clark Levin and Jeff Chen gave us a chewy grid today which I worked at the hospital. This was quite doable in spite of the misdirections as mentioned by Steve. ARTOO and COMICCON definitely remind me of my daughter and DH. They love going to those and sometimes dress in costume.

    With LD in place I immediately filled GOLDEN FLEECE. Only after reading Steve's expo did I stop to think about the HUSTLE: FOOL, SNOW, FLEECE and TRICK. LOL

    I love the Shakespeare reference with O, ROMEO.

    EGGY was slow in coming since I didn't realize challah contained so many. I love the taste!

    Now it's time for a nap. Only for special occasions such as helping with a great-grand baby do I arise early and today was one of those.

    I hope you are all enjoying a beautiful day! I'll catch you later.

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  34. Actually, Bill, I doubt you had Challah at a Seder, because leavened foods are not eaten during Passover. Perhaps you had the challah at a different holiday meal.

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  35. Bill G, yes, you are right: challah is not flat. I looked it up after posting my comments. It looks delicious. I like all sorts of bread.

    Lucina, I'm glad your granddaughter and her baby are doing better.

    Yuman, I have been using HP printers for years and have generally been pleased with them. But I have had no experience with non-inkjet printers, e.g. laser printers, since we used many Epson laser printers 20 years ago. My "contacts" tell me Epson has gone downhill over recent years, leaving HP and Canon as the top printer makers these days. By the way, I automatically disregard any review that says "best ever" or "worst ever" or words to that effect. I only give some degree of credence to reviews that are not at the extremes, namely the 4, 3, and 2-star reviews, and only if they are truly informative. By informative I mean they say more than "good product" or "I like it"; they say why the reviewer thinks so. Good luck on your search.

    I just learned the "official" state dessert of Louisiana is the Beignet. Gosh, who woulda thought. The state desert of Minnesota is the Lemon Bar. And California? Boysenberry pie. I have no idea why. I would have thought it might be a dessert featuring Ghirardelli chocolate or something with almonds in it. Maybe even artichoke ice cream! (LW recently bought some cardamom-chai ice cream; it was really good.

    Good reading you all.

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  36. Steve - nice writeup, but regarding your comments for 35 across, have you never entered "anagram" in a Google search?

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  37. mwv -- nice easter egg, Also "define anagram".

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  38. Jinx, there's ia Costco in Altomonte nearer to Orlando. It got very stormy and windy and the locals say that's not unusual for the Ocala area. A brand new world equestrian center is going up there.

    HG, it was originally Joe Hardy leading the Senators against the Damn Yankees. Still an apt description.

    We had one of the great wooden coasters at Paragon Park at Nantasket Beach where the playgrounds made their annual pilgrimage. Kids would buy ten ride tickets, plant in the front seat and ride,rude, ride.

    I see PK beat me to it but...

    And then there was this Lola

    WC

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  39. Hi All!

    Thanks John and Jeff for a nod at the shady character; as DefCON gets closer us hackers are getting busy (on our own toys, folks).

    Wonderful expo Steve. My fav on Tragic Kingdom is Spiderwebs, Just a Girl, Only Sixteenand, oh what the hell - I just dropped the album into WinAmp. Pilot G-2 .05mm for me.
    FYI - Garmana is a Swedish folk-rock band. //mwv - nice catch on Google's "do you mean?" feature.

    WOs: sIP b/f NIP, UhNO, and Imp held up the NW until the very end. GWyN, NEW SITEs(?) b/f finally parsing as NEWS ITEM. A number of vowels that crosses fixed.
    ESPs: ALBA, PIU, ARLEN, RAND, EGOISTE
    Fav: 3d's clue was delightful misdirection (Hi Jinx!)

    {A, A-}

    D4 - might I suggest you take down your phone number before the Wayback Machine [the Google Spiders were just learning to crawl the web] archives this page.

    HONKS AT - I honke'd to no avail at a city-run commuter bus that not only almost hit me while turning into my lane and then forced me to stop so it could come in. Irony, only one guy on the bus + the driver. #WastedTAX

    Yuman - I have a Brother laser printer. Cheaper than HP. Just Google "Brother Laserjet wireless;" any model designated with a W at the end is wireless.

    BigE - Yeah, it was my Birthday... 1.055 x10^10 ergs/BTW (I collapsed the calculation)

    Steve, IM, D-O: Hand-up for the Pilot G-2. I use the .05mm. Yous?

    Good news Lucina! Enjoy your well-deserved nap.

    Cheers, -T

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  40. Jayce, I would call Verizon Wireless and see if they will give you a date for 5G rollout in your area. This will be a game changer. I don't think it will be affordable at first to provide routine entertainment TV, but for internet service, including skype, youtube and streaming audio, it should be fine (probably about 25 gB/month).

    We are seeing 5G antennas being installed all over this area, but still no one will admits who it is or when it will launch.

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  41. Bill G., it is correct that if you were at the house of an observant Jew you would not get Challah during Passover (Pesach). But if you want to make your own, here is a traditional RECIPE.define anagram

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  42. Damn Yankees?? I didn't even think of that. I loved Kinky Boots, the movie!

    Like many of you I also had SIP then NIP. And O, ROMEO was never in doubt.

    I forgot to say that I was a NOVICE for two years long ago in that other life and FROCK seemed odd to me but we do say deFROCK don't we?

    Canadian Eh!
    Thank you for the thorough explanation of PLU; it makes sense when I think of plus.

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  43. Hello everyone.

    My first descriptor of challah would its braided appearance. Although I think EGGY is also apt. We have quite a few descendents in our area of Middle East immigrants, Syrian and Lebanese, so the bakeries do carry it at certain times of the year.

    WEES on the solve. Steve explained how the theme should work so that helped.
    Had 'driveway' before GLOVE BOX.

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  44. I have a Honda Pilot and a $Store pen(actually two per $).

    My friend didn't wait long enough and got T-boned a week ago. I did and just as the car behind me honked the car on the right blew thru his Red and blew right through the intersection*

    Sometime later, I waited, edged into the intersection and a dump truck blew through his red.

    Now, on the left turn arrow I sympathize and one can actually watch for the nuts.

    There's an epidemic of red light running, probably cell phone related.

    WC

    I didn't ask for an apology

    PS, I found this xword relatively easy but creatively clued. I spotted the theme right off. Again, comme hier, I drew an early blank in the NW then pretty much sailed through.

    O'ROMEO was tricky

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  45. Owen - I wasn't familiar with that one. Nice (and thanks)!

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  46. Thanks for the printer info, think we will go with the Brother.
    To all of you in the extreme heat be safe, drink water, then drink more water.

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  47. Even our grocery stores stock challah during certain periods of observance and I enjoy buying it.

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  48. I didn't catch how the theme was working. I kept looking for repeated letters or summat like 'at, but missed what Steve was kind enough to point out.
    My thanks!
    Happily, nothing held up the solve. Ta~ DA!

    I first became aware of the Argonauts' story & of the GOLDEN FLEECE when I saw an amateur production of Medea. I must have been nine or ten at the time. I wondered why this sad lady was whining & crying for an hour or more. I sat up when she killed her kids. No way was that normal, right?
    This Jason must've been pretty awful.
    Still, that had to be an over-reaction. Overkill.
    Moral: Don't mess with a screechy woman.

    D4E4H ~
    What a good guy. It's truly encouraging to see such generosity.
    ~ OMK

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  49. WC, I have heard a lot of people say they "wait 2 seconds" or "wait 4 seconds", etc. after the light turns green before entering an intersection. The only safe procedure is to look both ways and make sure cross traffic stops before entering the intersection. Even if you aren't the first car.

    Sorry to be so preachy, but a friend and colleague in Texas and his wife were almost killed at a green light. They were the second car after the light turned green and were t-boned by a girl in a pickup truck on her way to high school who didn't even slow down. (He was a GTE executive and his wife was mayor of our town. Both say they would have died if the medical helicopter had not been available. The accident bumped him off the fast track. He was off for about a year, and when he came back he walked with a pronounced limp and his face was partially paralyzed, interfering with his speech. His wife didn't return to work.)

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  50. F L N (ok so it was 7-16):

    First the good news: Lucina at 12:51 AM, 7-17 Congratulations on your great-grandson. I will pray for your granddaughter.

    Then a correction of info: oc4beach at 11:01 AM wrote "It's National Ice Cream day, so everyone should enjoy some."

    First I'm surprised that there were no screams for ice cream. Then I LIU to find that In July of 1984, President Ronald Reagan declared the third week of July to be National Ice Cream Month by signing proclamation 5219.

    Huh? Honest, I copied this looking for the day.

    National Ice Cream day is celebrated on the third Sunday which is July 21, 2019 meaning that each of you have time to input your favorite flavor into the GPS here it should have been already.

    ON TO 7-17:

    54 A -- Ruffles snack company: FRITOLAY. I was enjoying a snack of a 1 oz bags each of Fritos and Cheetoes as I properly answered the clue.

    I eat one chip from column"F" then one from column "C," oh so good.

    Ðave

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  51. On this day all about SCAMS in a crossword, I got hit with a bank scam. My paper bank statement arrived about a week later than usual. Supposedly one of my regular billing companies had withdrawn several hundred dollars with an "Internet Initiated Transaction". This was never had my authorization. After half an hour of phone robot nonsense, arguing with bank & billing company and some resolution, everyone agreed a scam was committed. I have to go in to the bank tomorrow and sign an affidavit to reverse the bank draft. Wish me luck. I haven't been out of the house since the middle of march. Hope this works..

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  52. Anonymous T at 6:04 PM wrote "D4 - might I suggest you take down your phone number before the Wayback Machine [the Google Spiders were just learning to crawl the web] archives this page."

    Thanks for sharing your web wisdom. Comment deleted.

    YR called me and seemed pleased with my suggestions.

    Misty has not been at the Corner today.

    C.C., would you share my request with her?

    Ðave

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  53. Lucina: many Jewish families have challah every sabbath meal. It is not reserved for special holidays. Any bread left over makes great French toast.

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  54. GWEN Stefani had another big hit with challahnack girl.

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  55. Here are the muscles of the upper arm. Included is a picture of a "popeye."

    Ðave

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  56. @nmw @ 4:31 - At your suggestion, I entered "anagram" into Google and I got "a word, phrase, or name formed by rearranging the letters of another, such as cinema, formed from iceman." Am I missing something?

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  57. @Anon T - yes, the 0.5mm. I used to drive my teachers nuts at school by writing my homework with the most super-fine ballpoint I could find in a teeny font. I didn't do it to annoy them, I just liked the way it looked.

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  58. Steve -- above the definition should be a line asking if you meant something else.

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  59. @OWenKL Not a big deal, but my comment was - you can't make an anagram out of "anagram".

    Perhaps I missed the quotes to make it plain what I meant, but I thought it was pretty obvious. There is no anagram of the word "anagram".

    Being told to go and Google it, I was excited to be proved wrong. Instead, I got an anagram of another word.

    So I'm still very bemused. As you all know, I welcome being corrected on anything I write in the blog, but this one confuses me.

    Is there an English-language word which is an anagram of "anagram"? No, there isn't, unless I'm missing something painfully obvious, or missing the joke.

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  60. Steve - If I just type, in the Google search bar, anagram, Google comes back with "Did you mean: nag a ram" and then shows me normal search results.

    define anagram
    in the search bar comes back with "Did you mean: nerd fame again" again followed by normal search results.

    Seems someone spent their 20% Google SIDE HUSTLE, er time, to anagram Easter eggs(?).

    Cheers, -T

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