google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday October 27, 2019 Robin Stears

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Oct 27, 2019

Sunday October 27, 2019 Robin Stears

Theme: - "What About Bob?" - Each theme entry is in the pattern of B* O* B*.

23. Flop: BOX OFFICE BOMB.

34. Colorful Bobby Vinton album (and hit song): BLUE ON BLUE.

49. 1936 Edward G. Robinson gangster film: BULLETS OR BALLOTS.


68. Sun metaphor: BIG ORANGE BALL.

89. Make extreme efforts: BEND OVER BACKWARD.

103. 1998 Stephen King "haunted love story": BAG OF BONES.

118. "You're in my space, pal!": BACK OFF, BUSTER!

Great to see Robin back.

The middle O's are all different. That's the key to this theme.

Do you feel this puzzle is more challenging than our normal Sundays?

Across:

1. Narratives of deeds: ACTA. Waited for cosses.

5. Dental alloys: AMALGAMS.

13. Hamlet relative: VILLAGE. Not Shakespeare's Hamlet.

20. Bubbly name: MOET.

21. Attacked aggressively: TORE INTO.

22. It's usually taken in twos: ASPIRIN.

25. He plays Armstrong in "First Man": GOSLING (Ryan) 



26. Cub : bear :: cria : __: LLAMA.

27. Not quite cuatro: TRES. 4/3.

28. Relative of tsk: TUT.

29. Silent letters?: ASL. "Handy talk: Abbr." is another way to mislead us.

30. Article in Die Zeit: EIN.

31. English class assignment: ESSAY.

38. Certain flower cultivator: ROSARIAN. Oh, one who cultivates roses.

40. Town __: CRIER.

42. Eur. land on the Atlantic: POR. Portugal.

43. Gravlax herb: DILL. Wiki said "Gravlax" is a Nordic dish consisting of raw salmon, cured in salt, sugar, and dill."  I love pickled herrings. I probably will like this too.



44. Perform at the Improv, say: AD LIB.

45. Blows: ERUPTS.

55. Troon turndowns: NAES. Scottish for "no".

56. It borders three oceans: ASIA.

57. Carpet layer's concern: AREA. Do you guys all use those robot vacuums? Are they good?

58. Entirely fill: SATE.

59. Fine-tunes: HONES.

60. Baseball's "Stan the Man": MUSIAL.

63. Gillian's role on "The X-Files": DANA.

65. Justification: REASON.

67. Finesse: ART.

73. Like sashimi: RAW. Steve makes his own sushi rolls. Not sure of sashimi.


75. Currency replaced by the euro: PESETA.

77. Two-master: YAWL.

78. Search for provisions: FORAGE.

80. Waiter's handouts: MENUS.

81. Medication container: VIAL.

85. Usher: LEAD.

87. Sign sometimes upsetting: OMEN.

88. Clobber: DRUB.

93. Shoot for, with "to": ASPIRE.

95. Use a password, say: LOG IN. Test your internet speed here. Go! What's your number? I don't think any of you can top TTP.

96. 1985 movie with three possible endings: CLUE.


97. Asian holiday: TET. January 25, 2020.

98. Something in the air: AROMA.

99. Lemonade-and-lager drinks: SHANDIES. Not a term familiar o me.

107. Mike __, "Glee" character: CHANG. Also unknown to me.


108. "United Shades of America" channel: CNN.

109. "Xanadu" gp.: ELO.

110. Pub pal: LAD.

111. "Lucky Guy" playwright Ephron: NORA.

113. "Band of Gold" singer Payne: FREDA. Read more here.

115. Help: BENEFIT.

122. Like many a covered bridge: ONE LANE.

123. Selfish: EGOISTIC.

124. Saltimbocca meat: VEAL.

125. Time frames: PERIODS.

126. Property tax payer, e.g.: ASSESSEE. Expensive to live in Guangzhou now. Carmen's apartment is about 540 square feet, cost RMB1,500,000 (about $211,000). And she lives in the suburb. The downtown prices are forbidding.

127. Links numbers: PARS.

Down:

1. "Epitaph for a Spy" author Eric: AMBLER.

2. "Gangsta's Paradise" rapper: COOLIO. We had him before. This one is easy: 16. Rapper __ Nas X: LIL.


3. AFC South team: TEXANS.

4. Elementary particle: ATOM.

5. DOJ division: ATF.

6. Miss Piggy tagline: MOI.

7. Trig function: ARC TAN.

8. Suspicious: LEERY.

9. Taunt: GIBE.

10. Muchos meses: ANOS. Many months.

11. "Newhart" production co.: MTM.

12. Audible sign of distress: SOB.

13. Hard to pin down: VAGUE.

14. U-235 and C-14: ISOTOPES.

15. Records in a collection: LPS.

17. Sans-serif typeface: ARIAL.

18. Infomercial cutlery brand: GINSU.

19. Author Madeleine L'__: ENGLE. "A Wrinkle in Time" author.


24. Spenser's "The __ Queene": FAERIE.

28. Round-bodied flatfish: TURBOT. Another stranger.


32. Bank deposit: SILT.

33. Huevos rancheros condiment: SALSA.

34. Collector's items?: BILLS.

35. Girl in Byron's "Don Juan": LEILA.

36. Postal creed word: NOR.

37. Former Alabama-based grocery chain: BRUNO'S. Wiki says "The chain was acquired by Birmingham-based Belle Foods which discontinued the brand in 2012" .




39. He lost to Ike twice: ADLAI (Stevenson)

40. Pool room: CABANA.

41. Nutritional amt.: RDA.

46. Broad view: PANORAMA.

47. Many a "Stranger Things" character: TEENAGER.

48. Old draft org.: SSS.

49. Ole Miss rival: BAMA.

50. Ones taking things the wrong way: USURPERS.

51. "I'm only going to say this once": LISTEN UP.

52. Great Seal word: ORDO. Novus ordo seclorum.


53. Raise: REAR.

54. Giga- x 1,000: TERA.

59. Angels baseball cap feature: HALO.

61. Five-spots: ABES.

62. Inebriated: LIT.

64. Whatever or whichever: ANY.

66. Polar worker: ELF.

69. Yielded: GAVE.

70. Ore that's a source of silver: GALENA.

71. Piece in a still-life: EWER.

72. Tell all: BLAB.

74. Make (one's way): WEND.

76. Suddenly, in music: SUBITO. No idea.

79. Crossed the lake, in a way: ROWED.

80. "Jerry's Kids" telethon org.: MDA. OK. Muscular Dystrophy Association.

82. Not near the coast: INLAND.

83. Cherish: ADORE.

84. Apple's apple and Target's target: LOGOS.

86. Russian cottage: DACHA.

89. Wager without looking at one's cards: BET BLIND. One moire learning moment.

90. Energetic spirit: VIM.

91. Close-knit group: CLAN.

92. Panda's skill, in a 2008 film: KUNG FU.

94. Foul caller: REF.

99. Vertical mine accesses: SHAFTS.

100. Summer cooler: ICE TEA.

101. Win the love of: ENDEAR.

102. Corgi complaints: SNARLS.

103. Name probably derived from scat singing: BEBOP.

104. Coeur d'__: ALENE.

105. Hopeless case: GONER.

106. "them" author: OATES. Joyce Carol Oates.

107. Snappish: CROSS.

111. Barracks bosses, briefly: NCOS.

112. "The Grapes of Wrath" figure: OKIE.

114. Invitation letters: RSVP.

116. Peyton's quarterback brother: ELI.

117. __ Schwarz: FAO.

118. Actress Arthur: BEA.

119. Reno and others: Abbr.: AGS.

120. Shakespearean cry of disgust: FIE.

121. Pre-A.D.: BCE.



Happy 72nd birthday to Boomer, the absolute center of my universe. He had two treatments on a Friday morning last month, then in the afternoon he went to coach the kids again. He takes his coaching responsibilities very seriously. Three times a week, he's always there. And of course, he's been here for us every Monday, even when he was going the daily radiation.

We went to Mystic Lake the day on Friday as the casino is always a zoo on weekends. Boomer loves the nickel poker there. 

Boomer, 10/25/2019
The buffet is also fantastic.  Here is my plate. The big pile in front is coleslaw (red cabbage, carrot, walnut and cranberry). So good. I went back for seconds. The one on top left is Cajun Salmon (a bit dry), the white in the middle is cod. A few slices of radish with guacamole. Then a slice of char siu, so delicious! Then some kind of Italian pasta salad. Orzo, I think. At the end of the fork is a piece of  marinated artichoke.

 


40 comments:

Lemonade714 said...

That is an amazing buffet display for a Casino. I am so glad Boomer continues to deal with life and be positive.

By having a different "O" word in the middle of each themer makes this a very special effort.

More difficult? Certain flower cultivator: ROSARIAN ; Lemonade-and-lager drinks: SHANDIES and Former Alabama-based grocery chain: BRUNO'S are some clear example. A CSO I didn't know, oof.

Thanks, Robin and C.C.

OwenKL said...

DNF, NW corner mostly white, and a one-cell natick in the SW, O_TES + L_D. Other segments of the puzzle filled in nicely, albeit with a lot of work.

47 Mbps download,
6 Mbps upload.
US average 37.5
Canada avg. 63.4

There was a frantic female LLAMA,
Her CRIA was lost to this mama!
It had gamboled away
To caper and play,
From the queen of llama mama drama!

One wonders, at the sight of a ROSARIAN,
If she thinks the AROMA is proletarian.
Would she ADORE
A rose any more,
If it was used in a salad, vegetarian?

{A-, B+.}

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Robin did me in, but good, this morning. In Washington/Oregon I had stacked five WAGs: EDDA, BRUT, LLAMA, DER and AGRARIAN. I knew something was wrong, so I took out LLAMA, the only correct one. And so it went. Also thought the seal word was ORLO and the X-Files lady was LANA. Those dang Ls ruined my day. Thanx, Robin and C.C.

ASSESSEE: Got my property tax bill in the mail on Thursday. Although it's not due til January, I mailed the check on Friday, so I wouldn't forget about it.

SHANDIES: Learning moment. We always called 'em Radlers.

SUBITO: Immediately reminded me of this Henry Mancini song. "Subito" appears at 0:17.

Vacuums: After DW sucked up the cord setting the old vacuum on fire, I bought a replacement from Amazon. Bad move! Now it's "my" vacuum; DW refuses to touch it.

Boomer, Happy Birthday, young man. Looks like you enjoyed yourselves at Mystic Lake.

BobB said...

NW corner also did me in. Had Box office and Moet but would not give up in saga for 1A.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, C.C., and friends. I liked the BOBbing puzzle. Getting the B*O*B helped with the theme answers, however, BOX OFFICE BOMB was the last to fall into place.

Cria is a new word. I guess I never though about what a baby LLAMA would be called.

I tried Blind Bet before BET BLIND. That gave me Dad instead of LAD as the pub pal. Why is DAD a pub pal?

I knew of SHANDIES. I think they are a quaff enjoyed in England. My mom liked them and would drink them when she visited that country. They don't sound so wonderful to me.

I do not have a Roomba. All the floors in our house are hardwood.

We had RAW fish just last night (after the LSU v. Auburn game). I had Sushi, but hubby prefers Sashimi.

I think it is generally the Host/hostess who hands out the MENU, not the Waiter.

A great BIG Happy Birthday to Boomer. I hope Boomer and C.C. have an extra special day.

QOD: The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (Oct. 27, 1858 ~ Jan. 6, 1919)

desper-otto said...

Hahtoolah, you must go to fancy restaurants. Most of the places I patronize don't have a host/hostess. You just plunk yourself down, and a wait person shows up...with a menu.

jfromvt said...

I do think it was more difficult than a usual Sunday, but it was a fun puzzle. Once I got the theme, that filled in a lot, but still took a while to finish. Technically a DNF for me, as I didn’t fully get 1 and 2 down.

Bluehen said...

Greetings from the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia (not WVA, Mr. Denver).
First and foremost, a very happy birthday, Boomer, and many more. You deserve them.
I found this to be a rather easy puzzle today. Most Sunday puzzles take me about 45 mins., this one only 25. Getting the theme early on certainly helped, although that theme reminded me of a rather risqué old joke about BB King's birthday, that distracted me mentally for a while. Some learning moments, such as cria, but perps to the rescue.

Off to go leaf peeping. Cya!

Yellowrocks said...

More difficult than a usual Sunday, however the theme did help. The NW was my downfall, too. I had no idea about CRIA = LLAMA baby. I see that cria comes from the Spanish, meaning baby. I misread cultivator as cultivar, meaning a variety of plant. Cultivator might have given me a chance of getting it. Dang! I missed COOLIO and TEXANS. I think by the time I addressed the SW corner I was psyched out and brain dead. Missing those two I didn't get BOX.
I took a long time to see why village fit, a town, not a Shakespeare character.
I misspelled arial, so perps gave ESL. Huh? But I didn't change it to A. Another easy one I missed.
Do you call orange, (aw rinje) or (arnje) or (orinje)? I see the first way is more common.
Alan had a bad upset stomach this AM so I stayed home from church. This usually happens about once a year. This is the third time in three months. I wonder if we need to see the doctor.
Happy birthday, Boomer. You are so brave and dedicated to your coaching.

Big Easy said...

Good morning C.C. and cornerites. It was slow going today,especially in the NW. AMBLER and COOLIO, unknowns right off the bat, both ending for the start of another unheard of unknown, ROSARIAN. Guessed SOS instead of SOB before everything finally fell into place. I don't know if BULLETS OR BALLOTS or CLUE were BOX OFFICE BOMBS but it took some WAGS to get them, as they were also unknown.

GALENA crossing LEAD- ironical because galena is primarily LEAD; never knew it had silver. Different pronunciations for LEAD.

Only other trouble was three stacked unknowns (CLUE, SHANDIES,CHANG) that worked themselves into the grid only after I changed KARATE to KUNG FU- A V8 moment. I took the grandkids to see KUNG FU PANDA.

SUBITO, BRUNOS, L'ENGLE, BET BLIND- new to me-perps

Mike CHANG- the tennis player MICHAEL CHANG already famous so he had to use Mike.

Best wishes Boomer on your treatments.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

HBTY, Boomer. Thanks for all you do.

FIW, missing POl(poland) x BlUNOS (totally unknown). Erased data for ACTA, brut for MOET, ASPeRIN (UNTIE!), ADalI (UNTIE!), PANaRAMA (UNTIE!), seat for LEAD, ssa for SSS, unum for ORDO, and sgts for NCOS.

My cox.net measured just now at 177 down and 6 up.

DO - Smart move to pay your taxes this year if you itemize deductions.

Thanks for the interesting puzzle, Robin. Not my favorite with all the A&E content, but clever cluing and I even got a rapper fill (COOLIO). And thanks to CC for the interesting explanation.

desper-otto said...

Are you a senior and confused about all those texting abbreviations? Here's a handy chart presented as a public service.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Happy Birthday, Boomer!
-Definitely more challenging! Many possible fills and naticks
-I often wonder how movie professionals can work for years on a BOX OFFICE BOMB and not see it coming
-ESSAYS are easier to compose now with spell/grammar check and the opportunity to HONE content
-A cynical take on REASON
-C.C., it must have been fun to FORAGE through that rather exotic (to me) buffet
-Subbing enthusiasm can wane in a day with nine PERIODS
-Unknown caller ID’s can turn me from LEERY to rude in a heartbeat
-U-235 was the main component of the Hiroshima bomb
-GINSU – Does anyone really need to cut through a tin can?
-My USURPERS were first USURISTS
-My aunt and uncle were affectionately known as Snoop and BLAB
-FIE recalls the wonderful FEE, FIE, FO, FUM gimmick of last week
-Wow, D-O! You came up with a song with SUBITO in it!

Spitzboov said...

HBDY Boomer. Keep on keepin' on. I always look forward to your Monday intro. Usually get a chuckle or two.

Yuman said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOOMER, may your day be filled with love, laughter, and happinesses.
desperate-Otto LOL
Always a bad omen when you get stuck and 1 down and one across.
To those of you in CA, be safe.

TTP said...



Happy Birthday, Boomer !!!

Thought I was going to have an easy day watching some football and then the WS game later.

But, after heavy rainfalls yesterday, someone decided to do a lawn job through my yard late last night, so I have to get out there and try to get rid of the ruts and smooth it out as best I can.

My download speeds were 180 + Mbps through August. Comcast sent an email about a month ago or so, saying they had increased speeds. All I had to do was a power-on-reset on the gateway. On Oct 21st I ran a test and it was 239.46 Mbps, and this morning it was 240.65 Mbps. Upload speeds stayed the same, at just over 12 Mbps.

Those are the speeds with their regular package. They advertise 1 Gbps for additional dinero. On line gamers might need those speeds, but I do not.

There are places around the country where everyone gets super high speed internet. I think it was Wichita or somewhere in Kansas that Google put in the infrastructure to support the super high speeds, and some cities have put in their own high speed networks.

Time to go repair the damage to the yard.

Alice said...

Was today's puzzle harder? YES.

Rosarian? Crib? Shanties??? Maybe I should start with what I did know : amalgams, village... and, oh yes, Adlai, who turns up frequently. Ore that's a source of silver -- thought 'pyrite'. Usher -- thought 'seat'.

CC, you comments about Boomer are so nice. Happy Birthday to him.

D-O, I also paid my property taxes when the bill arrived last week, but I choked a little as the amount continues to rise.

Have a good Sunday everyone.

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

This was definitely a solve helped by seeing the theme early on, and aided by the helpful title. Two unknowns, to me, were Bullets or Ballots and Bag of Bones, though both were easily inferable. Many perps were needed for the usual Sunday proper noun suspects: Bruno's, Chang, Freda, Ordo, Galena, Leila, Arc Tan, Subito, and Rosarian. My only w/os were Seat/Lead and Engel/Engle. Fun to see Panorama two days in a row and I also liked the RDA ~ MDA duo, as well as the ELO, Eli, Elf sequence. Llama was a gimme for Cria as I already had the LLs in Ambler and Coolio, both names I was familiar with, but not their work.

Thanks, Robin, for a Sunday workout and thanks, CC, for the colorful commentary and observations. Glad you and Boomer were able to go to the casino and partake of that enticing buffet fare. Happy Birthday, belatedly, Boomer, you look in fine fettle! 🎂🎁🎉🎈🍾

Yuman @ 11:35 ~ Love your avatar!

PK is AWOL again, so the mold issue must be unresolved. We miss you, PK!

I was up until 5:00 am this morning watching the series, Mind Hunter, which is about the early implementation of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit and the nascent study and profiling of serial killers. Surprisingly, I didn't have any nightmares, but I also got only about 6 hours sleep which falls far short of my needs. [Yawn]

Have a great day.

desper-otto said...

Alice, I have no right to complain. Most of the taxing entities in my county freeze the tax rates for the over-65 crowd. In my case, only the Consolidated MUD and the Hospital District are unfrozen, but even they exempt a portion of my home's value from taxation, and they both have a lower rate this year than last. As somebody said, "I'm proud to pay my taxes, but I could be just as proud at half the cost."

inanehiker said...

Overall I thought this was easier than some Sundays because I caught on to the B*O*B theme early on! Although I did want BULLETS OVER "Broadway" (a Woody Allen movie- which I thought might have been a remake) instead of BALLOTS - but it was too many letters!

Thanks CC and Robin!

Happy birthday Boomer- glad you are doing well after the fall treaments! There is a Graybar location in my town - when I pass it it's my reminder to pray for you!

I was looking forward to the match up tonight of my two favorite football teams (Chiefs and the Packers) with a match up of great quarterbacks- Mahomes and Rodgers. Now with Mahomes out with an injury, it has lost some of the anticipation!

Boomer said...

Thank you all very much to everyone for the birthday wishes. We had a great celebration and C.C. is a wonderful champion in my life and on this blog. Speaking of the blog, I will see you all tomorrow. Hope it's okay. desper-otto TAXES in TEXAS ?? I've heard that everything's big in Texas.

Jane said...

This was a tough puzzle! Getting the theme helped somewhat, and a few lookups did the rest. NW corner was a real puzzler!

Lucina said...

Hola!

Happy birthday, Boomer! I admire the way you continue to live your life in spite of the sometimes debilitating treatments and other aspects of your illness.

Harder than most Sundays? Somewhat but a lot of it is also due to my diminishing memory. For example, I have read most of Eric AMBLER's books but still had to look on my bookshelf for his name.

Since I couldn't get a toehold at the top I slithered to the center and made good progress and surprisingly I recalled Stan MUSIAL! Some fill like CHANG and SHANDIES simply emerged.

SUBITO, which I recall from Latin was one of my first fill and KUNGFU Panda took a long time to emerge. Finally in the NE, VILLAGE appeared once I shook off Shakespeare and I laughed at the clue for ASPIRIN. Also I didn't see the movie but knew Ryan GOSLING; it just took too long to remember him.

Town CRIER also took too long but BILLS helped. Cardiff in the U.K. has a town CRIER dressed in costume and he reads the news from a scroll. A bell ringer precedes him, if I recall correctly. TURBOT is unknown (thanks for the pic) and will be entered in my CWD dictionary.

Alas I had two careless errors, LOGoN instead of LOGIN and that gave me VOM which I thought might be an Indian spirit. Well, it could be. ISOTOnES which I well know should be ISOTOPES was the other one. That gave me NORway instead of PORtugal.

Otherwise I liked the challenge and the B*O*B.

Now I have BLUEONBLUE playing in my head!

Thank you, C.C.! That plate looks delicious! I'd like to try making the cole slaw.

I hope your Sunday is going well, everyone! It's gorgeous here.

Lucina said...

I forgot to add that one of my sisters and also my daughter have a Roomba which I've witnessed as it rolls around their homes. It's impressive! My sister has hardwood floors and my daughter has tile throughout. They clean quite well and manage to avoid anything that's along the way. When it's finished it docks itself at its home place.

Anonymous T said...

Sunday Lurk Say...

Happy Birthday Boomer!

That is all.

Cheers, -T

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle and took about as long to solve it as I usually do on Sundays. I totally choked in the NW, not knowing COOLIO, TEXANS, AMBLER, or what the mother of a cria is. Plus, wanting SAGA and ASTI made it even worse. I finally had to look up "Epitaph for a Spy" which cracked open that tough nut area. The rest of the puzzle was an enjoyable solve.

A few months ago I did a lot of research on robot vacuum cleaners, thinking to give one to our son and his wife for Christmas. They all have shortcomings, some more serious than others. I learned that Roomba is pretty much the only one that will do a decent job, but don't scrimp, get the high-end model even though it is the most expensive. As it turns out, our son already has one, a middle of the line Roomba, and they tell me they rarely use it because, as they tell it, it doesn't do much more than run around like a chicken with its head cut off, making a lot of noise and "eating" the battery.

Speed test results: Ping time 95 ms (huge latency), Download speed 0.38 Mbps, Upload speed 0.32 Mbps (extremely slow DSL). LW and I are still "discussing" whether to switch to Comcast cable. It takes her an inordinate amount of time, sometimes months, to make up her mind. To her, slow speed is not an issue because all she does is email, so she sees no BENEFIT in switching, except that we'd pay Comcast about $30 less per month than we're currently paying AT&T.

Wow, the cost of housing in Guangzhou is even more than here in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Happy birthday, Boomer, and good wishes to you all.

Lucina said...

Jayce:
The vacuums I observed make only a low humming noise and the only way to know they're active is to see them. I have no idea which model they are and can only assume that my sister has the high end one but don't know about the one at my daughter's.

C.C.
Is that the purchase price or the yearly rental?

Jayce said...

Lucina, I think our son's Roomba is at least 3 years old. The technology has improved a great deal since then. I also assume your sister has a high end one because you mentioned it returns to its docking station, which only the top two models do. Add to that your statement that it doesn't make a lot of noise, and that assumption becomes almost a certainty.

I want to get one for our house but LW doesn't think it's worth spending approximately $1000. She is amenable to a Hoover upright, though, so I think that'll be her Christmas present. It's more in the range of $500 or less. Our piece of junk Sears vacuum has long since become more of a maintenance pit than a useful tool.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Jayce, if you buy your DW a vacuum cleaner for Christmas, you had better get her lots of stuff with lace on it as well.

Jayce said...

Jinx, I hear ya. In fact, that's already taken care of.

Robin Stears said...

Happy Halloween, everyone! And happy birthday, Boomer!

Theme entry that didn't make the cut: the BLUE OYSTER BAR from the "Police Academy" movies. Does anyone else remember those goofy movies? Bobcat Goldthwait was hilarous!

I enjoyed reading all your comments, and I will take them to heart for future crosswords. Thanks for your kind words. :)

Cheers!

Alice said...

Jayce, please do NOT give your wife a vacuum as a Christmas present! No, no no! That's grounds for insanity.

Anonymous T said...

1,000 years ago for DW's BDay, I got her a VCR like she asked for. Well, not the one she asked for (a basic VCR), but a $400 (this was '89) one with 4x slo-mo, double-speed whatever, etc. Yeah, she thought I bought it for me(?). So, a) D-O, yeah, the carpet is now yours. b) Jayce - don't do it! //spend $1000/yr a $100/mo at a time w/ a house cleaner!

Robin - you can still catch Bobcat Goldthwait on Wait, Wait..

But, if you want Police Academy or Police Academy, there you is.
//I was always partial to Motormouth Jones.

Astros win! 3 in a row on the road. This is cookin' up to be a great Series.

Cheers, -T

Lucina said...

Jayce:
You know your wife better than we do and perhaps she would be happy with a vacuum cleaner for Christmas but like Jinx and Anon-T, I say, NOOOOOOOOOOO!

But again, it's your call.

One year my iron broke shortly before my birthday; when I told my late DH about I saw the look on his face that said, "birthday present." After work the next day I stopped and bought myself one. For Christmas I received a beautiful watch. We lived happily for many years after.

Lucina said...

I meant to say for my birthday I received a beautiful watch and for Christmas some other jewelry.

Alice also joined in the objection I see.

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Robin and C.C.!

It was difficult getting back into crosswords, so I had to cheat.

Happy belated birthday to Boomer!

Have a great day!

Michael said...

If anyone is keeping track of the Internet speeds, here's my numbers in Vacaville,CA:

AT&T (SFO) Comcast (SAC)
Ping 25 ms 35 m
D/L 3.67 mbps 3.78 mbps
U/L 1.36 " 1.41 "

It seems from Owen's and Jinx's numbers that "high speed" has varying regional, dialectal, meanings.

Anonymous T said...

Fermat - It is so lovely to see you post! Please tell all is well. -T

Bobbi said...

First, I wish the title could could have been "What About Bobbi" for obvious be reasons. Now I'll answer that question:after a fast start certain parts (i.e. NW corner) completely flummoxed me: rest of puzzle= an hour, NW = 50 minutes!!!I'm exhausted.

Abejo said...

Good Tuesday morning, folks. Thank you, Robin Stears, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

I had to do this in the Tribune. Our internet was out to lunch for almost two days. Turns out we had mice in the pedestal at the back of our yard where all the underground cables terminate. They chewed the wiring. Fixed now.

Puzzle was fairly easy. Tough in spots. Caught the theme easy enough, BIG ORANGE BALL was my first and turned on the light bulb.

Liked OKIE for 112D. "The Grapes of Wrath" was one of the best books I ever read. Long time ago. I mentioned this to the wife of a good friend of mine, who was from Oklahoma, and she did not like the book. She said it made Oklahomans look bad or backward or not too smart, etc. I did not look at it that way. It was the dust bowl and the depression. Tough times.

Tried ICONS before LOGOS worked much better.

13A stumped me forever. I was thinking of a Shakespeare character instead of a VILLAGE. I have to think more broadly.

Tried BRIG before YAWL worked better. Not sure what the difference is. i am not a sailor. However, I always remember Oliver Hazard Perry's entry in his ships log: " We have met the Enemy, and they are ours, two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop." This is engraved at the Perry monument at Erie, PA.

See you one Wednesday.

Abejo

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