google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, October 3rd 2019 Jeff Stillman

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Oct 3, 2019

Thursday, October 3rd 2019 Jeff Stillman

Theme: Black Thursday - today's puzzle features some deep-discount bargains:

17A. Feature of an American flag purchased with 58-Across?: TWENTY-FIVE STARS. The Stars and Stripes as it would have appeared today if Arkansas was the last state to join the union back in 1836.

29A. Sidney Lumet film purchased with 58-Across?: SIX ANGRY MEN. If there were only six angry men, the verdict would have been "Guilty" - Henry Fonda, who cast the initial 'not guilty" vote was Juror #8. A great movie.

44A. Freight vehicle purchased with 58-Across?: NINE-WHEELER. That would make things a little lop-sided. An eighteen-wheeler actually has ten wheels, but eighteen rims and tires, just to keep things interesting. Here's two wheels, but four rims and tires:


and the unifier:

58A. Sales incentive: FIFTY PERCENT OFF. Here's a patriotic sign with 13 stars - let's call it the "Rhode Island" sales event:
Fun theme from Jeff, I got the themers before the reveal, so that's always nice. Good, solid fill too. Let's see what pops out:

Across:

1. Collect: AMASS. I've amassed quite a collection of cooking equipment over the years. I do follow the advice of Alton Brown and avoid any "single use" gadget, they take up too much space for their one function. Do you really need a garlic press, something to chop herbs with that isn't a knife or a melon baller when you already have measuring spoon the same size?

6. Stag: HART. Many pubs in England are called "The White Hart". The most common pub name in the UK is "The Red Lion". I've been to this "White Hart" in Overton, Hampshire:


10. Diminished gradually, with "off": WORE

14. Lake between the Silver State and Golden State: TAHOE. Gambling on the east side, weed on the west side. Pick your poison.

15. Promise, for one: OLEO. This confused me for a few moments, but remembered "Promise" is a brand of margarine.

16. Operation Solomon airline: EL AL. I didn't know the back story, but not hard to guess.

20. Raina Telgemeier graphic novel about a girl with braces: SMILE. Stab in the dark here, but when a couple of letters were provided by crosses, it wasn't hard to fill in the blanks.

21. Breeder's income source: STUD FEE

22. Names as a source: CITES. It's nice to receive a citation as a source, less pleasant to receive one for a traffic violation (or so I hear, I've never had one myself .... he lied).

25. Fizzy prefix: AER-

26. Decryption org.: N.S.A. National Security Agency, I always want to call it the National Spy Agency, but the CIA has dibs on that one.

34. Regatta racer: YACHT. I'm not sure when it was when I stopped trying to spell "yacht" with a "g' in there somewhere, but it was a happy day.

36. Paint store selections: HUES. I need to check out the hues at my local hardware store, I need to repaint my "hobby" room, I managed to overspray weathering paint onto the walls, not smart. They need a refresh anyway, so a good time.

37. Ristorante bottle: VINO. "In vino, veritas" according to the Romans. "In wine, truth". A poetic way to describe drunk texting, which rarely has a positive outcome.

38. Mandolin kin: LUTES

39. Loved, with "up": ATE

40. Dasani product: WATER. Dasani makes water? I doubt it. I think they bottle and sell it.

41. Carbon monoxide's lack: ODOR

42. Iditarod racer: SLED. Not for much longer if the planet keeps warming. It'll be a water-skier pulled by knee-deep huskies before too long.

43. Capital of Ghana: ACCRA

47. Coal scuttle: HOD. I'm more familiar with a hod being used to carry bricks to a bricklayer during construction of a wall. Same concept though.

48. "I have an idea!": AHA! It better be a good one.

49. Silas of the Continental Congress: DEANE. A little obscure, this one. The representatives of the original thirteen colonies (with the exception of Georgia) during the Revolutionary War formed the Continental Congress. Deane was one of the representatives from Connecticut, and is the only Silas I've heard of other than the Silas Marner of literature.

51. Deals with freebies: TWO-FERS. Same as 50% off! My local Ralph's market, part of the Kroger empire, have regular BOGO offers (Buy One, Get One) in the meat and seafood department. I can never resist those deals.

55. Museo Leonardiano city: VINCI. It would be odd if Vinci had a museum dedicated to any other Italian.

62. Everyone, in Essen: ALLE.

63. Mideast bigwig: EMIR

64. Mill input: GRIST. Grist for the mill - flour comes out, the chaff is blown away. I think.

65. "All in the Family" producer Norman: LEAR. If you say so, thank you, crosses.

66. Donnybrook: RIOT. From the Donnybrook Fair, first held 1204 in Dublin. It is sometimes described as "notoriously disorderly", but we're talking Irish, beer and fourteen days of festivities. It's small wonder that things occasionally got a little out of hand. I'm of Irish descent, so I can say that. The phrase "I went to a fight, but a wake broke out" is not spoken without a certain basis in fact. Donnybrook Fair can sound quite pleasant, according to an 18th century poem penned by that bard of prolific output, "Anon".

To Donnybrook steer, all you sons of Parnassus
Poor painters, poor poets, poor newsmen, poor knaves
To see what the fun is that all fun surpasses
The sorrow and sadness of green Erin's slaves
O Donnybrook, jewel, full of mirth is your quiver
Where all flock from Dublin to gape and to stare
At two elegant bridges, without e'er a river
So success to the humours of Donnybrook Fair

67. Church council: SYNOD

Down:

1. QB's stat: ATT. Pass attempts in American Football.

2. Big mouths: MAWS

3. Word of disapproval: AHEM

4. Sega's hedgehog: SONIC. Video game character of legend.

5. Band concert guides: SET LISTS. People collect them. Here's a "Joshua Tree" tour set list from U2 when I saw them at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena:


6. Cooperstown inst.: H.O.F. Hall Of Fame. Baseball, in Cooperstown's case.

7. "Rope-a-dope" boxer: ALI. He was "roping" Joe Frazier.

8. Races: REVS as in one's engine.

9. "CSI" IDs: TOE TAGS

10. Multi-use workshop tool: WET-DRY VAC. I'm not sure it's "multi-use" - it's a vacuum, it just vacuums a lot of different stuff.

11. Elsa and Anna's snowman pal: OLAF. From the "Frozen" movie, I never saw it, but I hear it's good.

12. Medium __: RARE. The "gold standard" for steak done-ness.

13. Besides that: ELSE

18. Mysterious Himalayan: YETI

19. Litigious type: SUER. Is that a word?

23. Yoga instruction: EXHALE

24. Cooked in a skillet: SAUTÉED

26. Guitar string option: NYLON. Steel guitar strings for me. Don't nylon ones go out of tune all the time?

27. King Salman, for one: SAUDI. Thank you, crosses.

28. Do something in response to: ACT ON

30. Tease: NEEDLE

31. Deadpan comic Hedberg: MITCH. More crosses.

32. Summer month in South America: ENERO. January

33. Annual Santa tracker: NORAD. North American Aerospace Defense Command. Super nice folks at Christmas.

35. From now on: HEREAFTER. I tried EVER AFTER, but that obviously didn't work out too well.

40. Alarms: WARNINGS

42. More on the ball: SHARPER

45. Miss Muffet fare: WHEY. I prefer curds, myself.

46. Outer wall protector: EAVE

50. Vestibule, e.g.: ENTRY

51. Nonstick kitchen brand: T-FAL

52. Sly trick: WILE

53. "Man __ Mancha": OF LA

54. Frozen Four game: SEMI. Final Four too, and every other sport in a knockout format.

56. Invent, in a way: COIN. To coin a phrase ...

57. "That being the case ... ": IF SO ...

59. Brazilian hot spot: RIO. I've been lucky enough to have had a few trips to Rio, a city of contrasts and some quite wonderful sights, sounds and food!

60. Old PC monitor: CRT. The old Cathode Ray Tube. Poor Cathode and Ray, they were the darlings of the tech business for so long, now long consigned to recycle (hopefully) or landfull (less pleasant).

61. Co. with a bouquet in its logo: FTD. "Florists's Transworld Delivery" to be posh. The UK branding was "Interflora". Same logo though.


And with the winged feet of Eros [edit - sorry, Mercury] and a bunch of flowers, I'll leave you with the grid.

Steve





45 comments:

  1. FIRight. When I got the flag, I thought this was an historical theme. Sidney Lumet was an actor long ago (I looked it up, 12AM was 1957). It wasn't until I got to the truck that I realized the gimmick and filled in 58a.
    TWOFERS was a theme bonus.
    TAHOE had a great clue!
    The JumbleHints poem today was inspired by and dedicated to PK,

    Between Nevada, the SILVER STATE
    And California, the GOLDEN STATE
    Lies a place
    To take a break,
    Lake TAHOE WATER is a liquid state!

    {A.}

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  2. Good morning!

    Took me a while to realize that it was not a "one less" theme, but a "fifty percenter." Once that became obvious, I managed to stumble on to victory. Nicely done, Jeff. I enjoyed the tour, Steve. (I think most folks call the rims "wheels": ergo 18-wheeler.)

    SONIC -- Didn't recognize the hedgehog. SONIC is a drive-in hamburger joint around here.

    WHEY -- Yes, curds are better. In my ute it was a special treat to stop at the cheese factory about 2pm when the whey had been drained off and the curd salted and cut into finger-sized pieces. Eating the curds while still warm was ambrosia -- like squeaky popcorn.

    RIO -- Had to make several trips there back in the '80s-'90s. Our company had a base office about two hours up the coast in Macaé.

    VINCI -- Many of the streets in our town have Italy-related names: Forum Court, Gladiator, Roman Court, Nero's Palace. Two of them were misspelled: Da Vince (Lombardi?) and Michaelangelo. Tney've never been corrected. Ah, Texas...

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  3. PUPPIES > STUD FEES
    HENCEFORTH > HERE AFTER

    A 12-man jury is traditional for a capital (death penalty) crime, but for lesser offenses, only a 6-man jury was required, which is why the ANGRY MEN didn't tip me off.

    A YACHT may race on WATER,
    A dog-SLED will race on snow,
    But a race to really matter
    Is to the rest-room after a show!

    OPERATION SOLOMON gathered Black Jews
    by the Israeli Air Force and EL AL.
    From Sheba to the promised land they flew,
    All fourteen thousand, three hundred, et al.!

    Hermes-Mercury, messenger of the gods
    May be given a task by Eros-Cupid
    To deliver flowers in BOUQUETS and gobs
    From boyfriends who never are stupid!

    {A, B, B+.}

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  4. Steve, I would wager that in your parting line you meant to type "Mercury" and not "Eros".

    per Google:

    "Florists' Transworld Delivery (FTD) was founded in 1910 under the name Florists' Telegraph Delivery. It took advantage of what was then the radical new technology of the telegraph, which enabled instant communication, to allow a group of florists to work together and form a regional network that could deliver flowers far more quickly than less technologically sophisticated rivals.

    FTD adopted the "Mercury Man" as its logo in 1912. The logo shows Mercury, wearing his winged cap and sandals, holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand. The use of the Mercury Man was based on Mercury (the Latin version of the Greek Hermes) being a messenger god renowned for his speed of travel. Hermes also was the protector of travelers and the god of interpretation, communication, and translation (Hermes is related to the root of "hermeneutics"), and thus doubly appropriate for a firm that based its business model on using new communication technology. He was also the patron of merchants and the marketplace."

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  5. How on earth is "AHEM" a word of disapproval?? It is an attention-getter.

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  6. Clever theme - I'm with Owen - at first I thought it was going to refer to the US when we only had 25 states- BZZT - but smooth sailing anyway!
    I enjoyed Steve's explanation of Donnybrook!

    Thanks Steve and Jeff!

    If anyone likes a good history read - I just finished "Flowers of the Killer Moon: the Osage Murders and the Founding of the FBI" by David Grann. Sad chapter in our country's history, but heartening when conscientious people for good eventually persevere over widespread evil!

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  7. Owen, 12 Angry Men is a famous Sydney Lumet movie from '57 with Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, et al. I guess it wasn't famous enough.

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  8. Fun theme, once I figured it out, was able to finish the puzzle pretty quickly.

    Turned my heat on for the first time. Was 40 last night, 64 in my house this morning. Beautiful foliage now, at peak. The first week in October has the best foliage in VT for anyone interested.

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  9. FIR, sussing the theme was very useful. Literalists may not like this theme, but us whimsy lovers are pleased. Thank you Steve and Jeff for a great start to my morning.
    AW Tillinghurst, thanks for the interesting info.
    Vinci is a place, not a surname.
    Wikipedia:Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense—da Vinci simply meaning "of Vinci"; his full birth name was Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci,[2][25] meaning "Leonardo, (son) of ser Piero from Vinci." Yet, he is often called merely Da Vinci
    "Yes, the 'standard' US over the road truck has 18 wheels and tires. With the development of the 'wide single' some trucks have only ten with one wide tire taking the place of two tires on an axle end . Some trucks have more than 18 wheels."
    Dictionary: AHEM "used to represent the noise made when clearing the throat, typically to attract attention or express disapproval or embarrassment."
    When my students needed correction, often a simple AHEM, or TSK, TSK was enough to stop them.
    When I was a waitress we had a talented chef who went off on three week benders. He was not fired because he was so competent the rest of the time. He would hole up in the local Red Lion, a dive bar with rooms on the floor above.
    My vacuum is not multiuse. It is only a dry vacuum.
    IMO, Twelve Angry Men is a wonderful classic. My first thought on number of jurors would be 12. That is for serious felonies. Other juries may have fewer jurors.
    Wikipedia under PRODUCT (Business) "In marketing, a product is an object or system made available for consumer use; it is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer." Not necessarily made or manufactured.
    Have a happy day.

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  10. Silas Deane. Per Wikipedia:
    Near the end of the war, Congress charged Deane with financial impropriety, and the British intercepted and published some letters in which he had implied that the American cause was hopeless. After the war, Deane lived in Ghent and London and died under mysterious circumstances while attempting to return to America.

    Good, enjoyable puzzle today. Unlike a theme that has common letter connections, this one you practically can't avoid seeing, and thinking through. Took a little under 12 minutes.

    I confidently put in MLB, which eventually gave way to HOF. I didn't know Vinci or Silas Deane. I don't like "ahem" as a word of disapproval, or even just as a word. Same for Suer.

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  11. FIW, not knowing ACaRA x MITaH. Obviously a case of P&P deficiency @ MITCH. That, and the supply of V8 being used up by EXHALE finally filling itself in. Erased moat for EAVE, and VeNCI for VINCI.

    Hand up for wheel = rim. Ironically, semis are starting to use double-width rims and tires in lieu of duallys. I won't put them on my RV because of blowout risk. I'll get some body damage if I lose one rear tire, but control won't be an issue.

    I still have a land YACHT. The sport started with iceboat racers looking for ways to home their racing skills in the summer, and it became a stand-alone sport. Dry lake beds in California and Nevada are great venues for land YACHT racing. Thrilling for traditional monohull racers because the speeds are much greater, approaching 100 MPH for the biggest ones. I was "radared" at 43 mph in my little (10 foot) Manta.

    Thanks to Jeff for another fun puzzle. And thanks to Steve for the tour.

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  12. Good morning everyone.

    Started out thinking it was a "bridge too far" but then, gradually it came together from the bottom up. The real meaning of the reveal came clear with TWENTY-FIVE STARS. SIX ANGRY MEN and NINE WHEELER soon followed. Wanted March before ENERO became clear. Trouble spelling HOD right. D'uh.
    A good challenge with lots of fresh fill. No searches were needed.
    TWENTY - L. German twintig. (The 'g' was not audible in my parent's Schleswig dialect.). Dutch twintig.



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  13. Revlon's product? "We sell hope." (Actually Chas Revson's complete quote was "In the factory we make cosmetics; in the drugstore we sell hope).

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  14. After the TWENTY-FIVE STARS it was an easy guess for the other numbers, and I'm glad because the movie was an unknown. Or as D-otto said, "it wasn't famous enough"

    Isn't Lake TAHOE 'in' both CA & NV?

    SMILE- unknown but an easy guess. "Promise"- a brand I've never heard of and OLEO & TOE TAGS were my last fill. Ditto for the term SET LIST(S). "Program guide" or just 'program'.

    King SALMAN- MBS's dad.
    FTD- filed chapter 11 a few months ago.
    TWENTY auf Deutsch----zwanzig is what I learned but the various dialects are like different languages.

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  15. Good Morning:

    I caught the theme with the second entry and enjoyed the spot-on revealer. No w/os but I needed perps for Smile, Deane, and Mitch. I liked Vino above Water and the fresh (and inferable) clue for El Al. The difficulty level was just right for a Thursday.

    Thanks, Jeff, for an enjoyable solve and thanks, Steve, for a fun review, especially the Donnybrook depiction. I enjoyed your riff on kitchen gadgets. I can't remember the last time I used my garlic press or my lobster crackers, or my mini-food chopper, or my hand mixer, or my egg separator, etc., but I'll soon be using a mandolin on the onions for French Onion Soup. I borrowed the mandolin from my neighbor about 7 or 8 years ago and when I tried to return it, she said to keep it until she needed it, as she was pressed for storage space. She moved away three years ago and has never once asked for her mandolin.

    Have a great day.

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  16. Jane- Ahem is defined not only as an attention getter, but also a sound of disapproval in all major dictionaries.

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  17. Good morning.

    Thank you, Jeff, and thank you, Steve. Fun puzzle and thought provoking review.

    I have to move on to other tasks, but Steve, take a few minutes to read this article on Silas Deane:
    https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/us-history-biographies/silas-deane

    If you have more time, you might consider taking time to read the writings of your expatriate countryman, one Thomas Paine, on the character and doings of Silas Deane. Specifically, sections XXII, XXIII, and XXIV of Volume 1 of "The Writings of Thomas Paine."

    https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/paine-the-writings-of-thomas-paine-vol-i-1774-1779

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  18. Twelve Angry Men "wasn't famous enough"? "The film was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Writing of Adapted Screenplay. It lost to The Bridge on the River Kwai in all three categories. At the 7th Berlin International Film Festival, the film won the Golden Bear Award.

    The film was selected as the second-best courtroom drama ever by the American Film Institute during their AFI's 10 Top 10 list, just after To Kill a Mockingbird, and is the highest courtroom drama on Rotten Tomatoes' Top 100 Movies of All Time."

    Big Easy, my German/English dictionary says zwanzig is twenty. We also said zwansich In PA Deutsch. I see twintig is used in the Netherlands. Spitz, very interesting.

    Irish Miss, yes, I find a mandolin very useful. Among other uses, it slices the potatoes for scalloped potatoes more thinly than I could using a knife.

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  19. Hi Y'all! Unusual puzzle but enjoyable, Jeff! Great expo, Steve! Especially liked the Donnybrook bit.

    I had very little luck filling the theme lines until the reveal made sense of them. Then the top half filled faster. I had better time on the lower half.

    OLEO & HOD were ESP. DNK: SONIC, SET LISTS, MITCH, DEANE. Interesting info about DEANE. Not sure I have ever heard of him.

    I was surprised with Steve's explanation of semi WHEELS. Since we owned a semi, I knew each rim is considered a wheel. Like Jinx said, you can blow one of the dualies and still drive on the remaining wheel. I've told the story here in the past of my husband's truck losing the whole wheel and him lying on his back on the road shoulder while chaining up the axle to the cattle trailer bed. All the while cattle were milling around above him doing nasty things that cattle do. Traffic was whizzing by on a two-lane road on Easter Sunday. Me & our toddler in the cab, hoping we didn't get hit. Ended okay.

    I thought King Salman was a fish & wanted Coho.

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  20. Musings
    -Subbing in JH Science which I did for 42 years
    -A fun theme and fill!
    -Retailers might buy a sweater for $20, mark it up to $100 and mark it down to $50 for a 50% off sale
    -TWOFERS - there’s a huge difference between “free” and “at no additional cost”
    -Rick (not Ricky) Nelson got booed by a concert audience when his SETS included too few of his old songs. He wrote this song about that experience
    -Baseball’s HOF and Niagara Falls are on my bucket list. I can’t find a tour that includes both
    -Bullies say TEASING/NEEDLING was all done in fun
    -Here come 30 seventh graders to be taught about matter!

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  21. Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Jeff and Steve.
    This CW was a workout for me but I FIRed eventually and saw the theme.
    TWO-FER is not a common expression here - BOGO is more familiar. But I smiled to see it as an "Easter egg" above the theme reveal. (We also had FEE and COIN -even AMASS-to go with the monetary theme.)

    NW corner & centre was the last to fill since my QB's stat was TDS before ATT. This Canadian has never heard of Promise OLEO and I wanted Oath; but I was sure of ALI and eventually entered our old CW favourite (we Canadians call it margarine!).

    Let me count the other inkblots.
    Olav changed to OLAF. (How could I have forgotten the spelling of this little fellow, beloved by my granddaughters!) Frozen 2 is coming soon, much to the delight of same granddaughters.
    Hand up for Ever AFTER before HERE. That held up the area, and Five WHEELER before NINE didn't help.
    I had Smarter before SHARPER. (I should have remembered the saying "Not the Sharpest Crayon in the Box".)

    I liked HUES since it didn't require me to remember the American spelling of colour. But then we had ODOR LOL.

    My first thought for "Carbon monoxide"s lack" was One O (for its one atom of oxygen vs. carbon dioxide's two oxygen atoms). WATER also has One O (and no ODOR hopefully).
    When too much carbon monoxide is in the air, your body replaces the oxygen in your red blood cells with carbon monoxide, leading to poisoning; the lack of ODOR can be deadly. Carbon monoxide monitors are mandatory in Ontario homes.

    Interesting info re the unknown to me DEANE. And since this Canadian Googled to confirm the 50 stars on your American flag, I was also reminded that the 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies (which ties in to DEANE).

    I prefer my steaks Medium-Well not Medium-RARE.
    That EAVE reminded me of PK's gutter dilemma.

    Wishing you all a great day.

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  22. HuskerG - re your Bucket List: I have seen Niagara Falls so many times that I am almost jaded; I am reminded anew of its tremendous beauty when I accompany somebody who has never seen it before. The boat ride into the base of the Falls (formerly Maid of the Mist, and now Hornblower Cruises) is an awe-inspiring (and wet!) experience. IMHCO (that's In My Humble Canadian Opinion), the American and Bridal Veil Falls are no comparison to the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. Bring your passport and cross the border for the best view of all.

    The last time we visited Cooperstown, I let DH do the HOF and I visited the shops and enjoyed the downtown parks. (Our baseball fans will be horrified!)

    It looks like some of those trips exist but none currently to be found on a quick Google search.
    2018from Milwaukee
    NoDateFromFresno

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  23. Henry Gibson: Do you believe in the HEREAFTER?
    Ruth Buzzi: Yes.
    HG: Then you know what I'm here after!

    Kerry_in_Carefree

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  24. Well, Thursdays are beginning to be toughies for me, and for some reason, I always get started at the bottom before finding my way up to the top. But there were lots of fun clues in this one, and so enjoyed the trip--many thanks, Jeff. Glad I got ENERO instantly, remembering the different seasons down there. EMIR sure shows up a lot in puzzles these days. Loved "All in the Family" and so got LEAR right away. I too stared with EVER after before seeing it had to be HERE. Never heard of SMILE, but it sounds cute. And I did get TAHOE. Always enjoy your write-up, Steve, and thanks for the "Donnybrook" poem.

    Big Easy, I too thought of ZWANZIG right away.

    Have a good day, everybody.

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  25. Hmm,
    the only 2 fers that are free,
    are when they play two songs from the same band on public radio...

    FIR somehow,
    Had a hard time gaining access to the Theme reveal.
    Had to look up Accra,
    Wag'd Oleo, & the R in Hart/Revs.
    & Hues was a V8 to the head after trying to figure out
    the name of those little color sample cards....

    All in all, an enjoyable puzzle...

    Of course,
    I had to watch this clip again after the Donnybrook discussion.
    I would bet, but I have seen it before.

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  26. Hola!

    This puzzle took me FIFTY PERCENT of my normal time. Que easy! Twelve Angry Men not popular! Surely you kid! Don't knock it until you've seen it.

    I liked the half OFF theme. Very clever, Jeff Stillman.

    Yesterday at Fry's, the local Kroger store, chicken was buy one, get two free. Such a deal! Guess what's for dinner tonight?

    These days my diet is so limited that VINO imbibing is RARE.

    The latest issue of Consumer Reports claims that Dasani uses tap WATER to fill its bottles.

    At the last SYNOD the RC bishops faulted women religious for many supposed failings but did not address the clergy sexual abuses. At least not publicly.

    Did anyone else watch Nora O'Donnell interview the SAUDI EMIR? Is it my imagination or did he squirm a bit?

    Thank you, Steve; you are so right about the one use gadgets and I have a drawerful of them. It's time to purge.

    Gary:
    As Canadian eh suggests, it's worth the trip just to see Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.

    Have a blast today, everyone!

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  27. Isn't a mandoline a musical instrument, but a mandolin a kitchen gadget?

    I found the baseball HOF boring compared to other HOFs, and surprisingly not kid-friendly. The baseball HOF hosts many little league tournaments throughout the summer, which guarantees a great number of youth teams visiting the hall. There's no incentive to try to "market" to the kids.

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  28. CanadianEh! - I agree with your comments about Niagara Falls. But bear in mind, The flow over the Falls during tourist hours is less than half of what it would have been pre-hydro development. During non-tourist hours it would be barely one-fourth.

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  29. Anonymous @ 12:16 ~ You are absolutely correct. Thanks for the learning moment.

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  30. Correction to my 12:31 post. I misread the Google search. Mandolin is the musical instrument and Mandoline is the kitchen gadget, so my original usage was incorrect, but Anonymous is incorrect, also. Phew, much confusion about a very useful gadget vs a musical instrument. At least I now know which is which.

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  31. I liked this puzzle. Nifty theme, good execution. I was 100% (not 50%) fooled by Promise=OLEO.

    Steve, I liked your write-up. Interesting and informative.

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  32. Yes, for this first time visitor, Niagara Falls was magnificent, awe inspiring, especially Horseshoe Falls. We had a hotel room on the Canadian side overlooking the falls. We loved the Hornblower boat ride, similar to Maid of the Mist..
    Apparently the most common spelling of the kitchen utensil ends in E. There are just a few references that say either is correct for both the kitchen gadget and the musical instrument. I wondered how the mandoline slicer got its name. "Its name is derived from the wrist-motion of a skilled user of a mandolin, which resembles that of a player of the musical instrument mandolin."
    I have double and triples of many kitchen tools. I should purge a few.
    Donnybrook Fair is my type of poetry. I love rhythm in poems.

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  33. Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Jeff Stillman, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.

    I belong to a group that calls its meetings "Donnybrooks." St. Bridget Council #23, KM. Irish based.

    I agree that Niagara Falls is spectacular. Have seen it many times. Even flew over it in a small plane once. Quite a few years ago they shut it off to repair the part where the water spills over.

    Puzzle was fine today. Caught theme after TWENTY FIVE STARS. Very clever.

    WILE and TWOFERS took me a while to get. Finally did.

    Did not know SEMI at 54D. Perps.

    YETI again. We had that animal recently.

    inanehiker: "I read Flowers of the Killer Moon" awhile back. Excellent book. Really opened your eyes about the FBI.

    Anyhow, I am guarding this afternoon. Have to leave shortly. See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

    ReplyDelete
  34. Musings
    -Thanks for the info Canadian Eh, Spitzboov and Lucina!
    -All In The Family was truly ground breaking. It was the first time some of those ideas and words had been brought out into the light of day
    -12 Angry Men is anything but obscure
    -Me too on Mandolin and Mandoline
    -Steve's write-ups are always a hoot!

    ReplyDelete
  35. My favorite WILE is WILE E. Coyote. I think I mentioned that I went past a huge distribution facility named Acme near Lancaster, PA a couple of months ago.

    PK, How appropriate - the traffic and the cows both whizzing while your DH was working nearby.

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  36. Thanks Irish Miss for correcting my error, correcting your error, though I'm still thankful that I saved you from a very messy mandolin....

    If you've somehow tired of seeing Niagara Falls, you should visit it in winter with ice formations forming and growing. It can look like a scene from Frozen ... minus Olaf.

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  37. Acme Supermarkets is headquartered in the Philadelphia area, an hour or so from Lancaster. It was the dominant supermarket in the Philadelphia area for decades. It was founded back in the late 1800s, so way before our friends Road Runner and Wile E Coyote were around.

    ReplyDelete
  38. We also took the plane ride to view the Falls from above and it's fantastic!

    Time to go for a haircut.

    ReplyDelete
  39. A wonderful pzl from Mr. Stillman and a terrific follow-up from Steve!
    This one had me going for a while, but Ta ~ DA! / Ta ~ DA!
    It showed me I knew more than I thought I did, just the kind of pzl we sign on for...

    Enjoyed the Donnybrook poem!

    My last fills were in the mid-west sector--because I resisted giving up on EVER (35D) and O-TWO (41A).
    But all came through in good time.

    Thank you, PK, for filling us in on your personal experience with a semi. Glad everyone was safe in the end.
    ~ OMK
    ___________
    DR:
    Four diagonals in all, one on the near end, and a 3-way in the mirror.
    The most interest anagram--in the main mirror line--makes reference to a mortal error, a deadly mistake, a...
    "LETHAL GAFFE"!

    ReplyDelete
  40. FLN ,I never could stay awake long enough to compliment D-O on a great write-up. I had some more comments but I've forgotten them and they'd be stale now.

    I had EIGHT as in Olympic eights. A small e can be rewritten as a large A. An XW Inker trick.

    "drunk texting" or manic tweeting.

    Deighton (LEN of XW fame) had an "Uncle" Silas character. Possibly alluding to another WC.

    The Beverly Hillbillies had a wrestling takeoff with a certain Rebecca of Donnybrook Farm. Hilarious .
    Oops, that was the sequel, here's the original But I see someone else had the same idea.

    ALI 'Rope A Doped' vs Foreman in Zaire

    I only buy TWOFERS(Bogos in publix-speak). Winn Dixie has 3 for 2 - a come on. I have five packs of Sausalitos* because the 2fer followed the 3/2. Just when I hit 185lbs.

    I found this the easiest of the week probably because I knew the references

    I like Steve's write-ups

    WC

    * Everyone has their weakness. These Pepperidge Farm cookies are mine

    PS. I started reading the posts about 2 pm but I had to watch all of that BH clip. At BC in the sixties I looked askance(even a few AHEMs) at Math majors recapping the previous nights BH or Batman.


    ReplyDelete
  41. Speaking of WetDryVacs...
    (I'm sure somebody was, no?)

    Ok, speaking of bets,

    I told my neighbor about a no tool oil change
    gizmo for your mower/tractor/snowblower
    that I saw on YouTube.

    He thinks I am crazy...

    So, I have assembled all the parts, & will start drilling
    this weekend. We'll see who laughs last!

    Do you want to place bets?

    ReplyDelete
  42. Once again I was up early and wrote out my comments on this fun puzzle and neglected to hit send. Now10 hours later, I am back. The only surviving comments are:

    1. The most famous people NAMED SILAS

    2. Who is NORMAN LEAR .

    I am glad the MANDOLIN - MANDOLINE issue has been resolved


    thank you jeff and steve who I want to be when I grow up

    ReplyDelete
  43. Italian Lurker say...

    Know your Mitch Hedberg.

    Today, DW and I rented a car and took off for Siena. We stopped at a winery (or two) and ended up with olive-oil and some reduced-grape stuff that is really good on bread. When we finally got to Siena, we went up the Mangia Tower, shopped and, of course, ate.

    I need to cull pictures so I can share.

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  44. Thanks for sharing Tony, Thank you and look forward to the pictures

    ReplyDelete
  45. Horrible. Just horrible.

    ReplyDelete

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