google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, November 29, 2019 David Alfred Bywaters

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Nov 29, 2019

Friday, November 29, 2019 David Alfred Bywaters



"Turn of Phrase"


17. Plumbing expert?: DRAIN BRAIN

25. Cub Scout meeting refreshment?: PACK SNACK.

30. Candlemaker's choice?: WICK PICK.

45. Zookeeper's job, at times?: BEAR CARE.

51. School sports upset: JOCK SHOCK.

64. Inflated thread-count scam?: SHEET CHEAT.

Swap the words in the answers to get the real phrase.   I have no idea what a pick wick is, but a few references say it is a pick like tool used for raising the short wick in an oil lamp.

Across:

1. Fit together: MESH.

5. Explodes: POPS.

9. Sources of shade: ELMS.    So elms throw shade ?  They seem more stately than that.

13. Lope opening?: ANTE.   "Home, home on the range, where the deer and the antelope play."   Except, of course, they're really not antelope.  They're pronghorn.   Kind of like buffalo v. bison.  Commonly accepted misnomers.

14. Pacifies: CALMS.

16. "The disease of kings": GOUT.    I once had to see a backup doctor when mine was away.   My sprained wrist was misdiagnosed as gout.    Gout is now on my record at the hospital.  

19. Tasmania's highest peak: OSSA.   Didn't we just have Abel Tasman last week ?  Or was it in a link from Lemonade ?  Anyway, Mount Ossa is as high as Denver, CO.

20. Lively movements: RONDOSHelp me get her out of my heart   Sounds like the definition of a rondo to me.   The refrain.   Yes / No ?

21. Snare: TRAP.

23. Idiosyncrasy: TIC.

24. Break up: END IT.    Cause ending it is hard to do.

27. Mex. neighbor: USA.

29. Robbery: HEIST.

35. Food distribution giant: SYSCO.   The world's largest.  Headquartered in Houston. 

38. Instrument named for an animal part: HORN.   Love the opening of this song.

39. Name related to Marge: PEGGY.    I tried Midge.  My Aunt Peg would have been disappointed.

42. __ beer: NEAR.   Tried one once.

43. Two-run homer situation: ONE ON.

47. United Kingdom language: SCOTS.  One of three native languages spoken in Scotland today.

50. Private __: EYE.   A gumshoe.   A detective.   A dick.    Have you ever seen The Bank Dick starring W.C. Fields as Egbert Sousé, "...a drunk who must repeatedly remind people in exasperation that his name is pronounced "Sousé—accent grave over the 'e'!", because people keep calling him "Souse" slang for drunkard" ? 

54. Kosher deli offering: LATKE.    They tasted a lot like potato pancakes to me too, Yellowrocks.

59. Place for a slip, perhaps: ICE.    Cute clue.

60. Cry of pain: YOWL.     Tried yelp.   Painful reviews.

61. Drawing tool: SIPHON.    Nice wordplay in the clue.   Loved it.

62. Give temporarily: LEND.   First instinct was loan.  Waited for another letter from a perp.

66. "I did it!": TADA.    No melodic tada at WaPo like we had at the Mensa site.

67. Like cornstalks: EARED.

68. Wight, for one: ISLE.    The Isle of Wight is just south of England.

69. Highbrow, perhaps: SNOB.

70. Pugilistic victories, briefly: TKOs.    Technical knockouts

71. Prized: DEAR.

Down:

1. Familia member: MADRE.    Esposa de su padre.   As Hahtoolah would quip, today's Spanish lesson.

2. Company whose failure brought down an accounting firm: ENRON.   Arthur Anderson.

3. Remain in force: STAND.   e.g. The judge's gag order will (remain in force) (stand).

4. Alpine protagonist: HEIDI.   Johanna Spyri's Swiss miss

5. Banned pollutants: PCBs.    Polychlorinated biphenyls

6. Tool secured by tholes: OAR.    Typically mounted on the gunwales

7. Oro y __: Montana's motto: PLATA.

8. Taint: SMIRCH.

9. Psych 101 subject: EGO.

10. Drifting, possibly: LOST AT SEA.

11. Bach's bailiwick: MUSIC

12. Neat pile: STACK.

15. Treacherous type: SNAKE.   "Instead you lay still in the grass, all coiled up and hissin' " - Keep on Loving You - Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon.

18. Still in bed: NOT UP.   But not necessarily asleep.

22. Pitchfork-shaped letters: PSIs.

25. Walk or run: PACE.

26. Timberlake's former band: NSYNC.   Justin Timberlake. 

28. Liquid sample: SIP.

30. Question of identity: WHO.   Who Are You is an album and song by English rockers The Who.

31. It carries a charge: ION.

32. Orchestral climax: CRESCENDO.   There are two in The Beatles A Day in the Life.

33. Rap: KNOCK.  

34. Cold War agcy.: KGB.   Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti - Committee for State Security

36. Sleeper or diner: CAR.  

37. Smeltery supply: ORE.

40. Nerd: GEEK.    It's all geek to me.

41. Happy fan's word: YAY.   

44. Intrusive: NOSY.

46. Natural history museum item: RELIC.

48. 56-Down's opposite: THOSE.   And, of course,   56. 48-Down's opposite: THESE.

49. "I'm not impressed": SO WHAT.   "Big whoop"

51. Stuns at the altar: JILTs.   Maggie Carpenter left three grooms at the altar before the big city columnist came to town to investigate.  Name the movie.

52. Eel's element: OCEAN.

53. Counter tender: CLERK.   Be harsh. 

55. Ladybug prey: APHID.    I read that each ladybug can eat up to 50 aphids a day.

57. Eucalyptus eater: KOALA.    Heartwarming story last week about the lady that saved the koala from the fire in New South Wales.

58. Put in: ENTER.  

61. Norms: Abbr.: STDs.    Who says, "The standard is the standard ?"   Don't rack your brain unless you are an NFL fan.  NFL Article from 2015

63. Apply with care: DAB.    And the initials of today's constructor !

65. Fair-hiring letters: EEO.   Equal Employment Opportunity.

Here's another place to check your grid:

Note from C.C.:


Here's a picture of Bill G's granddaughter Bella enjoying the rain. Good to see you back in blue, Bill! Thanks for persevering through the login troubles.


46 comments:

  1. For those who still have questions about indigo as a color and why it’s ROY G BIV and not ROY G BV, I found a nice explanatory article here: The REAL story behind ROY G BIV. Some interesting insights. And now—bedtime for this tryptophan-soaked person. I will do today’s puzzle when I get up. In the meantime [cue Terminator voice], I’ll be back.

    Nighty-night.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good morning!

    If you don't over-indulge, you can have a tryptophan-free morning. Enjoyed the puzzle. Found all the rhymes -- YAY. Didn't notice they were common phrases reversed -- Boo. Cute musical links for RONDO and END IT. Thanx, 63d and TTP (that movie was Runaway Bride.

    SOUSE: "Sousé—accent grave over the 'e'!" [sic] That's not an accent grave.

    SMIRCH: Don't think I've ever seen it without the "be" preface.

    KOALA: Too bad that rescued KOALA didn't survive. They had to euthanize it when they decided the burns were too severe and would never heal.

    CRESCENDO: There's a tiny one at the end of Ravel's Bolero.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good morning all.

    Enjoyed the puzzle. Quick steady fill with two spelling corrections . Changing NSINC to NSYNC
    and CRESHENDO to CRESCENDO.
    Gotta run. Didn’t quite finish my job yesterday so will have to go in for a couple of hours to finish up and clean up .
    I sometimes say that in retirement I make twice as much money as before. I charge the same hourly rate but it takes me twice as long to do the job.
    Have a wonderful Friday
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  4. I jumped over my technical problems and updated my profile picture! Should have started out with this one!

    Thank you CED, Owen and others for trying to assist me!

    ReplyDelete
  5. FIR, but erased envelope for ANTElope, glut for GOUT, yelp for YOWL, pencil for SIPHON, silky for EARED, and had to fix LATKa.

    When I lived in Atlanta I couldn't buy NEAR beer on Sunday. Same reason that recovering alcoholics can't drink it while taking Antabuse - it has a tiny amount of alcohol in it.

    A crossword that has private EYE instead of tec? What's next, a Columbus ship that isn't the Nina? If Hall & Oates work the LATCW I'm sure they approve.

    Thanks to DAB for the fun post-turkey delight. And thanks to TTP for the fun run.

    ReplyDelete



  6. Desper-otto - re accent grave. I would have no idea. Just copied the line from the article. Still funny to me. Souse versus Sousé.

    Sad to hear that they had to euthanize the koala.

    Lucy Loo, I use Google Photos to share my photos. You just upload the photo from your computer or phone, then choose Share. At the bottom you will see Create a Link. Copy the url and insert it into your HTML link.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hola!

    No tryptophan coma for me! The rain awoke me! It has been raining steadily most of the night and is so very welcome.

    Thank you, TTP and DAB! I love these pun like rhymes.

    "Instead you still lay on the grass . . . " Did anyone catch the "Fix the incorrect song lyrics" category on Jeopardy last night?

    d-o beat me to Pickwick Papers.

    CSO to Montana at Oro y Plata.

    Great clue for WHO? Question of identity.

    I haven't been watching the News much so didn't know about the KOALA; I'll have to research that.

    Have a restful Friday, everyone! I'll be on the road west in a few hours.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I guess Black Friday means it's an easier Friday than usual. Finished in under 8:30 today, which would probably be a non-"holiday" record.

    I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

    ReplyDelete
  9. FLN Thanks Irish Miss for encouraging WikWak and yours truly to tune in more often . When I see your name I’m reminded of the River Dance Troupe that DW and I enjoyed watching so much . Twenty years ago DW had the choreography down pat - more fun to watch than the troupe.
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  10. For some reason the mid-south had me staring for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Musings
    -It appears I got third place with PICKWICK Papers
    -I allowed my kids to use this two-sided CHEAT SHEET
    -I did LEND my wheelbarrow to my son-in-law 12 yrs ago
    -This time of year tempted me to put DRIED for _ _ _ E D cornstalks
    -I’m NOT UP until a furry paw gently DABS my cheek
    -The 1812 Overture CRESCENDO is punctuated by cannon fire
    -Surprisingly, the woman who played Maggie Carpenter did not JILT Lyle Lovett at the altar
    -Me too, Hungry Mother

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good Morning:

    This type of theme has probably been done before but I don't remember doing one like it and, IMO, this one is particularly spot on. I share DO's and Lucina's thoughts about The Pickwick Papers, but I doubt that's correct because it's not a stand-alone phrase like the others. Regardless, the theme and solve were fun and enjoyable. Once again, though, I'm disappointed with the lack of challenge in a Friday puzzle. I liked the Oar ~ Oar duo and the Drain ~ Trap ~ Snake sequence, cluing aside, and Ocean ~ Lost at Sea. To me, Marge is a nickname for Marjory and Peggy is a nickname for Margaret. Could be a regional or familial difference.

    Thanks, David, for a fun Friday (Cute CSO at Dab) and thanks, TTP, for an entertaining and enlightening expo. CC, thanks for including the photo of Bela and her umbrella. What a cutie, Bill G, and my how big she's gotten; it seems like you just announced her birth yesterday!

    OAS @ 8:42 ~ Anyone who could duplicate the choreography of those dancers has my admiration; your DW must be a very talented dancer. Not too long ago, I fell into the YouTube rabbit hole of the Lord of The Dance performances. I had forgotten how talented and energized the dancers were, especially Michael Flatley, the Lord himself.

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Those were my thoughts as well, Irish Miss. Pickwick didn't fit the mold.

    There were a number of references to The Pickwick Papers, and Pickwick used to describe a certain type of man, but I ruled them out because it wasn't consistent with the other two word phrases.

    My parents had plenty of Victorian era oil lamps in their antique store, but I don't recall ever seeing a tool for pulling up the wick. There was usually a little wheel that fed the wick up and down in the chimney. Plus, I could find any pictures of a pick wick tool either...

    A slice of cold pumpkin pie was an excellent side dish with the coffee this morning.

    ReplyDelete

  14. Could NOT find any pictures...

    ReplyDelete
  15. LLsM @ 7:53 ~ I like your new avatar but I'm glad I got to see Lucy Loo at her regal best in the first one you used. 😉

    ReplyDelete
  16. Good morning, folks. Thank you, David Alfred Bywaters, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, TTP, for a fine review.

    Got an early start on this last night since cruciverb was working just fine. Finished this morning.

    Puzzle was a little easier than most Fridays. However, not a cake walk for sure.

    Liked the theme. BEAR CARE was my first to get. No problem here with WICK PICK and the PICKWICK papers. Seemed to fit in to me.

    Liked GOUT for 16A. It seems to be a good term, eating rich food.

    We did have Mr. TASMAN recently. I remember that puzzle.

    I struggled with SYPHON vs SIPHON. RELIC ended my struggle.

    I do not think I have ever seen SMIRCH by itself. Usually BESMIRCH. However, it fit and the perps were solid.

    Tried MAFIA for 1D. That did not last long. MADRE was it.

    Tried DDTS for 5D. After four perps I got it right. PCBS.

    We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner last night. Our daughter, her boy friend, and their friends and daughter came over. Great meal and fellowship. It was also my wife's Birthday, which I forgot until our daughter reminded us all at dinner. Thanks, Chelsea.

    Off to my Friday. I did sleep in due to no school today. Monday back at it at my Guard Post.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

    ReplyDelete
  17. Fabulous Friday. Thanks for the fun, David & TTP.
    I FIRed and saw the rhyming scheme theme early in the game.
    Smiled to see WICK PICK and bailiwick (11A clue).
    One inkblot with YEOW before YOWL. Perps straightened that out.

    I spent time at 39A thinking of other names besides Marge in the Simpsons.
    My "counter tender" was a Check (I even spelled it the American way!) before perps gave me CLERK.

    The one R in EARED does not look correct but is!
    Yes, TTP, I agree with you about SMIRCH with no Be, but again it is correct.
    I prefer the "opening stake" clues for ANTE. Are the 71A DEAR going to play with the ANTElope? (Groan, but we are into rhymes today.)

    IM- "I liked the Oar ~ Oar duo and the Drain ~ Trap ~ Snake sequence, cluing aside, and Ocean ~ Lost at Sea." I think you meant ORE-OAR duo. (Oh you caught it). I missed the other two and smiled when you pointed them out.

    Lovely photo, Bill G.
    Great avatar, LucyLoo's Mom.
    Wishing you all a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  18. After friend Gene died,
    Roger had food critique gig:
    SYSCO and Ebert

    ReplyDelete
  19. Good morning everyone.

    Easy for a Friday. No problems with the solve or theme.
    Got PEGGY OK after the nudge from SIP, and realizing that "Marge' itself was a diminutive of Margaret. Greta is another diminutive. Our daughter was named Gretchen; 'chen' is a German diminutive. I had an aunt in Germany named Greta, but was called 'Heetje' by her family. 'je', as a suffix, is a diminutive in Dutch and Low German.

    Nice picture, Bill; thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  20. TTP - I interpreted "wick pick" as wick selection, like length or color, not as a tool. But pickwick still doesn't fit the pattern of other theme answers.

    ReplyDelete
  21. JOCK SHOCK is the old Icy Hot in the locker room trick.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Nice puzzle for after the holiday. Thanks, David. TTP you explained the questionable parts! I had the same nits others have mentioned.

    IM, I think Marge is pretty universally used as a nickname for Margery not Margaret, but of course you can call yourself anything you want.

    ELMS for Sources of shade bothered me, too, but it fit .

    My only real problem was TIC for Idiosyscrasy. A TIC is an involuntary repeated movement which can’t be controlled, usually involving the muscles in the face. A twitch, that sort of thing.

    An Idiosyncrasy is a behavior pattern unique to one person. It doesn’t have to involve muscles at all. It’s more like quirky behavior.

    Just my humble opinion! YMMV !

    ReplyDelete
  23. WikWak, thanks for the scoop on Indigo.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi Y'all! Just right puzzle for post holiday stupor, D.A.B. & Rich. Thanks for the fun! Thanks, TTP! for more fun.

    DNK: SYSCO, OSSA -- didn't even know Tasmania had peaks, LATKE, tholes.

    Had DDTs before PCBs.

    I want to wish all my Corner friends a happy post-Thanksgiving. I had no internet yesterday until midnight. It was raining here which seems to foul up my internet. Thanksgiving was almost a bust for me since I was sicker again. I was supposed to go to dinner at my son's, a half-hour drive away. Feeling too rotten to go out. Coughing a lot & other socially frowned-on symptoms. Late in the afternoon my son showed up at my door with a plate of gourmet food and stayed to visit for a few hours. By that time I was done with my worst symptoms. Later my brother called me and we had a good talk. I had missed calling him on his birthday a few days ago because of coughing and uncontrollable napping and he was worried about me. So in the end, I had much to be thankful for -- if even one person cares you are alive, it's good.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I agree, pretty easy for a Friday. Got all except top left.

    My father-in-law had GOUT in one of his leg. Was in the hospital several times a year because of it. About ten years ago he decided to let the doctors cut it off just above the knee. He's never had a problem with it since. He will be 96 on Christmas Eve.

    Forgot the eggnog for Thanksgiving. I will have to double up for Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hi everybody,

    Thanks for your nice comments about Bella's umbrella photo. She is a cutie (unbiased opinion) and is very photogenic. Her brother, Jordan, was a cutie too but was not photogenic in that he would not smile or would make a silly face whenever you wanted to take his picture. You'd have to try for a candid shot. Thank goodness he's grown out of that phase.

    We get along really well now. I regularly help him with his high school geometry. We follow that up with a game or two (Uno, checkers, chess, Othello, Monopoly, etc.). Than we finish up by taking turns reading Calvin and Hobbes. We both really look forward those interactions.

    Barbara and Bella had colds and we missed our traditional Thanksgiving feast. One of Barbara's quilting friends took it upon herself to volunteer to bring over some of their meal for us today. So we'll be having turkey and fixings after all about an hour from now. What a nice gesture!

    ReplyDelete
  27. PK @ 2:08 ~ I'm glad your Thanksgiving Day had a happy ending. You have a very caring and loving son and brother. Hope you're over the worst of your sickness.

    Bill G, you, too, have a happy ending, albeit a day late. I'm sure you and Barbara will enjoy all the fixins' provided by a very thoughtful friend.

    Earlier today, I heard a disturbing story about a friend's encounter with the darker side of human behavior, so I really appreciated hearing about the goodness and kindness shown to PK and Bill G. Thank you both for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Abejo, how do you get Cruciverb to work, please?

    All Montana children learn 'Oro y Plata' in early elementary school.

    This Friday puzzle seemed like a Monday one to me. I breezed through just like the wind blowing snow around today.
    I am never able to complete a Friday puzzle without help.

    Enjoy all leftovers,
    Montana

    ReplyDelete
  29. Easy enough--especially once I grokked the theme.

    I ate just the right amount yesterday. Sure, it led to a nap, but a short one.
    ~ OMK
    ____________
    DR:
    One diagonal, NW to SE.
    The anagram speaks of the fellow who changes his buzz-cut for a comb-over, AKA…
    RESTYLED MAN”!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Thanksgiving Dinner at the Restaurant in Brooklyn
    went well, MIL arrived via my old MiniVan & the wheel chair fit
    into the Restaurant doorways nicely.

    We actually got 3 parking spots in Brooklyn!
    (We held one for MIL when we found two within
    wheelchair distance form the Restaurant.)
    The only thing was when we backed up to let MIL's MiniVan
    in front of us, this (Lady?) walked in front of me & would not let them park?!?!
    I was about to get out & intervene when DW's Sister pointed out
    that they were all very familiar with this (Lady?) who seems to be
    the local Crackpot and causes trouble on a daily basis...

    I'm like, I don't wont to leave my car! she'll Key it!
    But DW talked me into the Restaurant eventually...
    (Apparently Paranoids & crackpots don't mix...)

    Anywho, enough about my trials & tribulations.

    Hmm,
    Seems I overspoke,
    Perhaps two posts are in order...

    ReplyDelete
  31. Enjoyed the puzzle,
    & the theme helped immensely,
    with the Rhyming. (I never even saw it went deeper than that...)

    Very clever!

    Learning Moment: Wick Pick! (Pickwick...)

    Of Course! Back in the day they had tools for just this thing!

    Today, the only time I come across this difficulty
    is when the Tiki Torch burns down too far, & you have to
    take the whole dang thingie apart to push the wick up from inside.

    But apparently, with modern times come its own difficulties...

    I wanted to link a silly "turn of the phrase" but got sidetracked.
    Somehow it Morphed into English Idioms, but I was hooked!

    Notes: #7 “felinus bottomus”
    (Definite learning moment!)

    #1: That horse took a dive! (see 1:30)

    #10: Well what do you know, it's not just Crosswords...
    ( this French animosity goes way back!)

    &#12, nope, never happened...
    (why do you think I post so much...)

    ReplyDelete
  32. Hi All!

    Must have been an easy Friday 'cuz I FIW!

    Thanks DAB for the puzzle - I caught (and liked) the theme and it helped up North.

    Wonderful review TTP. Oh, I love me some The WHO and watching Keith Moon drum.

    WOs: hand-up for Yelp and CREShENDO. I also spelt SMeRCH wrong @1st. Counter ChEcK b/f CLERK (Hi C, Eh!)
    ESP: OSSA
    Fav: Clue for WHO

    {}
    Funny Haiku Harry!

    PK - I'd say more than one person (many, in fact) here at The Corner care too.

    Nice pic of your grand BillG; what a cutie - so excited to be in the rain. Thanks for sharing.

    CED - Am I to guess she did NOT key the car?

    //nothing puzzlepropos follows:
    Thanksgiving at The -T Stead was not what we planned but everyone was happy.
    See, MIL & I decided it would be a Good Idea(TM) if she built a ham and we forgo the days of cooking - Just ham sandwiches and a nice visit.
    I was down with that - maybe add some potatoes or something.

    I relayed this Master Plan to Youngest. She was incensed, insisting we have to have Corn Casserole and green beans. The Casserole is SIL's department; she was OK with that. I could whip-up some green beans too; easy-peasy.

    SIL decided she'd make two pies while she was at it the Casserole.
    I thought, Stuffing would be nice...

    BIL, though he's never cooked a turkey, opt'd to try it. [he did pretty damn good too]

    Sooooo, We had the whole feast ++ cranberries (you gotta have the ones with the can's ribs on it).

    Anyway, I still just wanted a ham sandwich!
    I eschewed all the other food, built my sandwich and enjoyed it
    (with the deviled eggs I made earlier). :-)

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  33. Coda: I did miss Eldest - She had to pull RA duties at OU this weekend. After we feasted we had a nice Facetime with her as she told us of her feast they provided on campus. She also plans to have a Friendsgiving with her D&D pals tomorrow.

    OK - Everyone. CED did it! Found a PICK WICK pic, him. Click it.
    //And the Tiki one too*, if you need a laugh.

    Cheers, -T
    *second link

    ReplyDelete
  34. Irish Miss My DW agrees with you that Michael Flatley was the Lord of the Dance. I suggested to her that in her Hey Day 20-25 years ago she could have been right up there with him. Oh no-o-o she says .She was always way too modest ! We danced to the Lord of the Dance when our dance instructor at the time decided to move from ballroom and Latin dance to Irish. We took up dancing regularly after we became empty nesters. DW danced from as far back as she can remember standing on her Dad's feet . I again had to be taught as an adult to hear the beat and feel the music.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anon-t,
    Yeah, It has been almost a month,
    & I still have not rec'd that 1st "Ding."

    It's starting to drive me crazy!
    I park at the farthest end of any parking lot!
    I watch the car constantly,
    especially for little kids getting out of a family car...

    Birds are my enemy!
    (& I feeders and a water fountain in my backyard!)

    & the worst part...
    I can't brake for tailgaters!

    It's getting so I am ready to take a golf club
    to the dang thingie just so I can relax & drive...

    ReplyDelete
  36. This old "relic" gave a "yowl" with all the mistakes made trying to complete the puzzle and erecting and decorating the tree at the same time

    I before E except after "Heidi". Had mamma for 1D for too long. Theft for "heist".

    Was sure HOMER was a name related to Marge...DOH!!!

    So DNF.

    Thought "scots" were the people not the language so put Welch which is wrong even if I had put in Welsh.

    Onto" hanging "the stockings with care"

    ReplyDelete
  37. Missed OMK's RESTYLED DR earlier... Nice.

    CED: Oy! The anxiety! That's why I always buy pre-own'd /w dings included. I can just drive. (I love my little Civic SI w/ 6 on the floor... zoom, zoom)

    Ray-O: I still don't get how Margaret transmogrifies [learnt that in Calvin & Hobbes BillG] to Peggy. Peggy jump'd to my BRAIN at that clue but I held off for A Long Time(TM) before perps said yes. Can someone explain how Margaret shorten's to Peg? For that matter, how Bill comes out of Robert or William?
    //I mean, seriously, Tony is right there in AnThONY; it's not rocket-surgery.

    Oh, I was also lookin' to Welsh too but KNOCK (on wood) wouldn't let it fill.

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  38. Here's a Wilbur QOD*:
    "They can call me overpaid, fat, ugly, stupid — hell, they can even call me a queer. They just can’t get personal,” Babe Ruth
    The accent on Souse is Accent aigu

    I started very slowly, at 8 am, finished about 8:30. I'm thinking perhaps I just have to warm up. The theme helped but didn't consciously get the reverse gig.

    PK, I know how you feel. Despite getting the flu shot I'm fighting it. Hard to stay warm, five layers including two cashmere*** and that's for 65 degrees. I noticed 47 and rain up in Boston so I'm glad I skipped that trip.

    I'm guessing the translation is "Golden Plains"?

    Answer to XANDY Quiz. 34 minutes. ⅔ min. / Lap(Y). 3Y=2X(min). Multiply both sides by 17 and you have 51 laps in 34 minutes. The catch? The 52nd lap was the timed lap.

    WC

    Btw, -T, you're so Italian. You did eat some pie though,eh?

    *I was reading about Jump'n Joe Dugan of the great Yankee teams, he used to tell me Sockalexis** stories. I stumbled upon a text re. S. I think someone in here knew Tris Speaker
    ** For whom the Cleveland Indians moniker was dedicated
    *** But I stubbornly persist in wearing shorts. For one: I need the cargo pockets

    ReplyDelete
  39. ??? Did any,some,a few, many? get a flu shot. I think it limited the severity of the flu I did get. And... I got a $10 gift certificate at Publix for getting the shot there.

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  40. -T, for what it's worth, when William the Conqueror advanced westward he was greeted by the Welsh with cries of "Belli, Belli" which was Celtic for King.

    Anybody who kicked Anglo Saxon ass was a hero to them.

    Yes, that may be apocryphal.

    WC

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  41. WC - Stickin' just to my Ham Sandwich (on Rye, with dijon mustard on one side, mayo on the other +lettuce & tomato and a crack of pepper) left just enough room for a slice of Pumpkin Pie w/ some cream I whip'd up. Yum-O.

    //I didn't think of the breakfast treat TTP!

    I hope you feel a bit better soon so you can spend that $10 burning a hole in your pocket.

    Cheers, -T

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  42. Completely off the dialog above, an interesting insight into the Russian psyche:

    The Russian word translated as 'security' in the abbreviation "KGB" is "bezopasnost'" which literally means "without surprise". If you consider Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the USSR in June 1941, as the latest in a string of surprises in Russian history, some behaviors become clearer.

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  43. PK, what Anonymous T said.

    Just read all the comments and then reread my blog post. Boy did I make a number of grammar errors. Mostly punctuation.

    Sometimes when you write the blog, you have to make tough decisions about what to include and what to omit. I must have made a subconscious decision to omit periods.

    Then I erroneously inserted the question mark inside the quotes in the article about Mike Tomlin. Should have been: Who says, "The Standard is the Standard" ?

    No one commented on my wordplay at Counter tender. I thought it was clever. Too clever by half ?

    WikWak, thanks for the article on Indigo. Finally read it. Didn't know there a debate about whether it should or should not be... The article filled me in. BTW, I think your sleeping habits rubbed off on me. What am I doing up at this hour ?"

    Canadian Eh, that was Abejo that wrote the comment about usually seeing besmirch rather than just smirch, but I am honored that you confused us.

    CrossEyedDave, THANK YOU ! for the pic of a WICK PICK !

    Also, when linking one of the videos in today's write up, there was a suggested video for singer songwriter Paul Thorn. That led to listening to eight of nine of his songs and intros. His humor isn't for everyone, but he is funny.

    One of the vids was with Tommy Emmanuel. I hadn't heard of him either, and ended up listening to him play the guitar. I thought you, in particular, would appreciate this guy. Simply amazing:
    My Life As A One-Man Band | Tommy Emmanuel | TEDxMelbourne

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