Theme: Divided we stand - united we fall? The reveal tell us what to look for:
59A. Politically diverse ballot ... and an apt description of each set of puzzle circles: SPLIT TICKET
The tickets that we find within the circled squares are, in order, SEASON, LIFT, GOLDEN, PARKING and MEAL, all split across two entries, just as the reveal tells us. As the "ticket" entries are each on a single line and separated by only one black square, I don't think it would be impossible to find them without the help of the circles, in fact I think I'd prefer if the circles weren't there and we were left to our own treasure-hunt devices.
No matter, the puzzle was a nice smooth solve. This seems to be the LA Times debut for Sean. He first blipped the cruciberb radar in the NYT back in January of this year, so congratulations on this first appearance in the LAT.
Without more ado, let's see what else we've got to talk about:
Across:
1. Astrological Ram: ARIES
6. Cleans out badly?: ROBS
10. __-pitch softball: SLO
13. Dry up: PARCH
14. Old photo hue: SEPIA. Not just old photographs. Sepia toning is used to give monochrome photographs a warmer tone, and also to increase their shelf-life in archives - the metallic silver in the print is converted to much-more-stable silver sulphide. Sodium sulphide was traditionally used, which has the unfortunate property of smelling like rotten eggs. You have to feel sympathy for the dark-room technician.
15. Equivocate: HEM. I'd call this a partial equivocation, can you hem without hawing, or haw without hemming? We should be told.
16. International waters: THE HIGH SEAS. I like this phrase. It really is an official designation in maritime law, being the open ocean not part of the territorial waters of any nation. When I was a kid it always conjured up pictures of decks awash with stormy waters, scurvied deckhands lashing down unruly sails and piratical ne'er-do-wells scavenging for treasure ships. Quite poetical, but the legal definition ignores all this.
18. Scrabble vowel value: ONE
19. Focus of a modern crisis: OPIOIDS. I tried OPIATES first, but then relatively quickly corrected myself.
20. Branch bit: TWIG
21. "The Persistence of Memory" artist: DALI. I think most of us call this work "The Melting Clocks". It can be seen in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Dali described the clocks as "the camembert of time". I love the description. If you've ever watched a mature camembert slowly spread across the cheese board, you'll know exactly what he meant.
24. Teleflora rival: FTD. These folk popped up a couple of weeks ago.
25. Ice Capades setting: ARENA. My friend Richard Dwyer "Mr. Debonair" skated with the Ice Follies and the Ice Capades. He made his debut in 1950 when he was 14 and still skates today!
26. Word with string or sing: ALONG
28. Washington post: SENATOR. Nice clue.
31. Ulaanbaatar native: MONGOL. One of my high school friends quit her fledgling career in the Foreign Office when they tried to post her to Mongolia. She wasn't thrilled with the prospect, Paris, Milan or New York would have been more her style.
33. One concerned with bites: DENTIST
35. South of France?: SUD. I used to buy the newspaper "Sud Ouest" when I was on vacation in the south of France to improve my vocabulary. I learned a lot of sports-related words!
36. Trifling amount: SOU. More French. Originally any small coin of low denomination.
38. Former NBA exec Jackson: STU
39. "Dumbo" (2019) director Burton: TIM. This movie got terrible reviews, I don't think I'll be checking it out any time soon (ever!).
41. Off-leash play area: DOG PARK. There's a lot here in LA. One of my friends met his future wife at one when their dogs became acquainted.
44. Like many courtside interviews: IN-GAME
46. Pine detritus: NEEDLES
48. New York Harbor's __ Island: ELLIS
49. "Mad About You" daughter: MABEL
51. __ Zion Church: AME. WAG'ed this one, almost a personal natick with the crossing of KEATING, I didn't know either.
53. Actor Alan: ALDA
54. Runs: AIRS. TV shows.
55. Audit: SIT IN ON
58. Holstein sound: MOO. The holstein friesian dairy cow has the distinctive black-and-white coloring.
63. New Haven alum: ELI
64. L.L.Bean headquarters locale: MAINE
65. River in some Renoir paintings: SEINE
66. "Voices Carry" pop group __ Tuesday: TIL. Who? I YouTubed this, and of course I knew the song, I just didn't know the name of the group, the singer nor the title. Very '80's. Here's the link if you're interested.
67. Unaccompanied: STAG
68. Lauder of cosmetics: ESTÉE
Down:
1. Fitting: APT
2. Root word?: RAH. Another nice clue. Rah! Go Team!
3. Hot temper: IRE
4. Bouncing off the walls: ECHOING
5. Castaway's salvation: SHIP. Do you remember the screensaver that was all the rage in the early 90's? Johnny Castaway was never rescued.
6. Lived: RESIDED
7. Slanted page: OP-ED
8. Slant: BIAS
9. KLM rival: SAS. Scandinavian Airline System to give it its full name. Easier to remember than Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, that's for sure.
10. Locker room feature: SHOWER STALL
11. Red Square honoree: LENIN
12. Luxury watch: OMEGA
14. They're poured at bars: SHOTS
17. Many an animated Twitter pic: GIF
20. Picard's counselor: TROI. Two characters in the "Star Trek" franchise. I'd heard of Picard, not Troi, I'm not a Trekkie. Thank you, crosses.
21. Stops up: DAMS
22. Vocally: ALOUD
23. Marinated beef dish: LONDON BROIL Like our friend the English Horn last week, London Broil doesn't come from the other side of the pond.
25. Harmonize: ATTUNE
27. Grammy category: GOSPEL
29. Game console letters: N.E.S. Altogether now - Nintendo Entertainment System.
30. Member of the opposition: ANTI
32. Attachment to a car or a boat?: LOAD. Or a bus, or a coach, or a plane, or a train, or a wagon, or ... you get the idea.
34. Shy: TIMID
37. Result of Googling: URL
40. Natural table: MESA
42. Heist units: GEES. Not my favorite, this one. I'd write it as "G's", but I guess it suits the purpose here.
43. "How to Get Away With Murder" lawyer Annalise: KEATING. I learn she's a fictional character on a show that I'd never heard of. Tough cross for me with AME as I mentioned earlier.
45. Quick looks: GLANCES
47. Clobber, biblically: SMITE. Also British slang for clothing, so biblical clobber might be "Joseph's Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat". Except this isn't a British crossword, and it doesn't fit. OK, moving right along ...
49. "Glengarry Glen Ross" playwright: MAMET. My daughter handled the publicity for the 2017 London revival featuring Christan Slater. Did I get tickets comp'ed? Not a chance, it was a sell-out.
50. Garlicky spread: AÏOLI. There's a subtle difference between this and garlic mayonnaise. Aïoli uses olive oil. If you try making mayo with olive oil using a blender you'll get a nasty bitter taste, the blender breaks the olive oil down into its sour-tasting components. I've done it. Ergo, you can't make traditional aïoli using a blender.
52. Tonsillitis-treating doc: E.N.T.
55. Row: SPAT
56. Parts of hips: ILIA
57. 65-Across feeder: OISE
59. Texting format, briefly: SMS. Simple Messaging System, remember?
60. Set for assembly: KIT
61. Dallas-to-Memphis dir.: E.N.E.
62. Simple top: TEE
And here's a simple tail - the grid!
Steve
59A. Politically diverse ballot ... and an apt description of each set of puzzle circles: SPLIT TICKET
The tickets that we find within the circled squares are, in order, SEASON, LIFT, GOLDEN, PARKING and MEAL, all split across two entries, just as the reveal tells us. As the "ticket" entries are each on a single line and separated by only one black square, I don't think it would be impossible to find them without the help of the circles, in fact I think I'd prefer if the circles weren't there and we were left to our own treasure-hunt devices.
No matter, the puzzle was a nice smooth solve. This seems to be the LA Times debut for Sean. He first blipped the cruciberb radar in the NYT back in January of this year, so congratulations on this first appearance in the LAT.
Without more ado, let's see what else we've got to talk about:
Across:
1. Astrological Ram: ARIES
6. Cleans out badly?: ROBS
10. __-pitch softball: SLO
13. Dry up: PARCH
14. Old photo hue: SEPIA. Not just old photographs. Sepia toning is used to give monochrome photographs a warmer tone, and also to increase their shelf-life in archives - the metallic silver in the print is converted to much-more-stable silver sulphide. Sodium sulphide was traditionally used, which has the unfortunate property of smelling like rotten eggs. You have to feel sympathy for the dark-room technician.
15. Equivocate: HEM. I'd call this a partial equivocation, can you hem without hawing, or haw without hemming? We should be told.
16. International waters: THE HIGH SEAS. I like this phrase. It really is an official designation in maritime law, being the open ocean not part of the territorial waters of any nation. When I was a kid it always conjured up pictures of decks awash with stormy waters, scurvied deckhands lashing down unruly sails and piratical ne'er-do-wells scavenging for treasure ships. Quite poetical, but the legal definition ignores all this.
18. Scrabble vowel value: ONE
19. Focus of a modern crisis: OPIOIDS. I tried OPIATES first, but then relatively quickly corrected myself.
20. Branch bit: TWIG
21. "The Persistence of Memory" artist: DALI. I think most of us call this work "The Melting Clocks". It can be seen in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Dali described the clocks as "the camembert of time". I love the description. If you've ever watched a mature camembert slowly spread across the cheese board, you'll know exactly what he meant.
24. Teleflora rival: FTD. These folk popped up a couple of weeks ago.
25. Ice Capades setting: ARENA. My friend Richard Dwyer "Mr. Debonair" skated with the Ice Follies and the Ice Capades. He made his debut in 1950 when he was 14 and still skates today!
26. Word with string or sing: ALONG
28. Washington post: SENATOR. Nice clue.
31. Ulaanbaatar native: MONGOL. One of my high school friends quit her fledgling career in the Foreign Office when they tried to post her to Mongolia. She wasn't thrilled with the prospect, Paris, Milan or New York would have been more her style.
33. One concerned with bites: DENTIST
35. South of France?: SUD. I used to buy the newspaper "Sud Ouest" when I was on vacation in the south of France to improve my vocabulary. I learned a lot of sports-related words!
36. Trifling amount: SOU. More French. Originally any small coin of low denomination.
38. Former NBA exec Jackson: STU
39. "Dumbo" (2019) director Burton: TIM. This movie got terrible reviews, I don't think I'll be checking it out any time soon (ever!).
41. Off-leash play area: DOG PARK. There's a lot here in LA. One of my friends met his future wife at one when their dogs became acquainted.
44. Like many courtside interviews: IN-GAME
46. Pine detritus: NEEDLES
48. New York Harbor's __ Island: ELLIS
49. "Mad About You" daughter: MABEL
51. __ Zion Church: AME. WAG'ed this one, almost a personal natick with the crossing of KEATING, I didn't know either.
53. Actor Alan: ALDA
54. Runs: AIRS. TV shows.
55. Audit: SIT IN ON
58. Holstein sound: MOO. The holstein friesian dairy cow has the distinctive black-and-white coloring.
63. New Haven alum: ELI
64. L.L.Bean headquarters locale: MAINE
65. River in some Renoir paintings: SEINE
66. "Voices Carry" pop group __ Tuesday: TIL. Who? I YouTubed this, and of course I knew the song, I just didn't know the name of the group, the singer nor the title. Very '80's. Here's the link if you're interested.
67. Unaccompanied: STAG
68. Lauder of cosmetics: ESTÉE
Down:
1. Fitting: APT
2. Root word?: RAH. Another nice clue. Rah! Go Team!
3. Hot temper: IRE
4. Bouncing off the walls: ECHOING
5. Castaway's salvation: SHIP. Do you remember the screensaver that was all the rage in the early 90's? Johnny Castaway was never rescued.
6. Lived: RESIDED
7. Slanted page: OP-ED
8. Slant: BIAS
9. KLM rival: SAS. Scandinavian Airline System to give it its full name. Easier to remember than Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, that's for sure.
10. Locker room feature: SHOWER STALL
11. Red Square honoree: LENIN
12. Luxury watch: OMEGA
14. They're poured at bars: SHOTS
17. Many an animated Twitter pic: GIF
20. Picard's counselor: TROI. Two characters in the "Star Trek" franchise. I'd heard of Picard, not Troi, I'm not a Trekkie. Thank you, crosses.
21. Stops up: DAMS
22. Vocally: ALOUD
23. Marinated beef dish: LONDON BROIL Like our friend the English Horn last week, London Broil doesn't come from the other side of the pond.
25. Harmonize: ATTUNE
27. Grammy category: GOSPEL
29. Game console letters: N.E.S. Altogether now - Nintendo Entertainment System.
30. Member of the opposition: ANTI
32. Attachment to a car or a boat?: LOAD. Or a bus, or a coach, or a plane, or a train, or a wagon, or ... you get the idea.
34. Shy: TIMID
37. Result of Googling: URL
40. Natural table: MESA
42. Heist units: GEES. Not my favorite, this one. I'd write it as "G's", but I guess it suits the purpose here.
43. "How to Get Away With Murder" lawyer Annalise: KEATING. I learn she's a fictional character on a show that I'd never heard of. Tough cross for me with AME as I mentioned earlier.
45. Quick looks: GLANCES
47. Clobber, biblically: SMITE. Also British slang for clothing, so biblical clobber might be "Joseph's Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat". Except this isn't a British crossword, and it doesn't fit. OK, moving right along ...
49. "Glengarry Glen Ross" playwright: MAMET. My daughter handled the publicity for the 2017 London revival featuring Christan Slater. Did I get tickets comp'ed? Not a chance, it was a sell-out.
50. Garlicky spread: AÏOLI. There's a subtle difference between this and garlic mayonnaise. Aïoli uses olive oil. If you try making mayo with olive oil using a blender you'll get a nasty bitter taste, the blender breaks the olive oil down into its sour-tasting components. I've done it. Ergo, you can't make traditional aïoli using a blender.
52. Tonsillitis-treating doc: E.N.T.
55. Row: SPAT
56. Parts of hips: ILIA
57. 65-Across feeder: OISE
59. Texting format, briefly: SMS. Simple Messaging System, remember?
60. Set for assembly: KIT
61. Dallas-to-Memphis dir.: E.N.E.
62. Simple top: TEE
And here's a simple tail - the grid!
Steve
47 comments:
DNF. Did not do well with this one, all in the small SW corner. Total unknowns were MABLE (I tried syBLE), TIL Tuesday, MAMET (I was sure it was siMon), AIOLI (despite how many times it's been used); and couldn't decipher AIRS nor GEES from the clues. I did figure out the theme, but it took every bubble to do it, and then I expected the tickets were punched, not split.
I realized I didn't know what myth ARIES was involved it, so looked it up, and will share it with you:
Aries the ram was sent by Zeus
To answer a mother's prayer,
And fly her son and daughter
To a place beyond despair.
Only the son survived the trip
To give thanks for saving his soul,
He sacrificed the ram to Zeus,
And its fleece became Jason's goal!
It hung on a TWIG in a garden
With a guardian who never slept,
A dragon who there RESIDED,
And constant vigilance kept!
Jason's SHIP, and the Argonauts
Made it thru many a peril.
He won the fleece of Aries,
Golden from horns to tail!
{A.}
Good morning. Congrats on the debut, Sean. Keep 'em coming !
Tries to make sense of the theme words before getting to the reveal, but couldn't tie them together. Then the reveal and it was oh so apparent.
I enjoyed solving this puzzle.
Wasn't sure about MABEL, but what else could it be. Just needed the M.
Didn't know KEATING either, but just needed the A.
Thanks, Steve. I linked to that song but don't recall ever hearing it before. Definitely has that '80s sound.
I also don't recall that screensaver. I used to download different ones for my old Win 95 'puter til I loaded one that had some extra freight onboard. Had to reload the op/sys to get rid of that virus.
Didn't Husker Gary or someone link an article about the NY / NJ dispute over Ellis Island, and the compromise ? I seem to recall that both states can lay claim to parts of the island.
Good morning!
I've heard of a GOLDEN parachute, but not a golden ticket. The rest of the themers were solid. If this is a debut, it's a good one. Congrats, Sean. JAMS/DAMS and LONE/SOLE/STAG were my only Wite-Out moments. Thanx for 'splainin', Steve. (I'm never gonna remember NES -- even with the definition.)
NEEDLES: My eave troughs are currently DAMmed with pine needles. My lawn guy is going to clean 'em out on his next visit. Anybody in the peanut gallery have those leaf-proof gutters? Are they worth the cost?
SAS: I used to fly KLM Houston to Schiphol and continue on SAS to Stavanger.
Welcome to the LAT Sean. Are you related to Bilbo and Frodo? Perhaps Al Bundy's favorite magazine? I just don't get enough sleep these days.
Steve, you made the journey great as always. Your solo HEM follows my solo HAW last Friday. I guess that closes the circle.
I didn't know TIL Tuesday or Annalise KEATING and completely forgot that the Buchanans had a daughter MABEL . In case you did not know, the show has been revived, set 20 years after the original. MAD ABOUT YOU REBOOT .
If you watch lots of sitcoms (which does not seem to be the case here) you will recall that this show spawned FRIENDS .
Thank S + S.
D-O try this link for GOLDEN TICKET .
Desper-otto, I specified the larger downspouts when I had my soffit, fascia and gutters installed. Regular sized gutters, but bigger downspouts solved most of my leaf clogging problem.
Many years ago, my neighbor installed plastic gutter topping with perforated holes. It solved the problem of all the maple and ash leaves clogging the gutters. For awhile. The heavy seed part of the maple seeds started filling the holes with the wings standing upright, until they were lined up like soldiers standing at parade rest. Eventually the wing would decompose and the seed would drop into the gutter along with other debris. Year after year. Some years after installing the gutter caps, the seeds started sprouting in the growing medium, and he had rows of tiny little maple trees growing in his gutters.
Do you have TV ads for the Belden Leaf Guard guy hocking their system ? Always wondered if he was just Chicago area or nationwide. I heard they are really expensive and not all that effective. Seems to me that it might handle dry leaves reasonably well. Wet leaves would probably cling, and the needles would probably just roll over the curved edges and drop into the gutter.
FIR, but erased tilt for BIAS and nNE for ENE. And I've driven from Dallas to Memphis! Got both wags right: KE_TING x _ME and MAME_ x _IL.
For "focus of a modern crisis" I wanted SCAPEGOAT.
String ALONG: Why do sorority girls prefer toilets to nerds? Toilets don't follow you around when you're through using them.
Explicit CSO to our own Picard.
Is SMS known to most folks? I assumed that I knew it because of my VZW days. What about the 7-layer ISO protocol?
I have a DVD with Mike Wallace interviewing Salvador DALI on 60 minutes. Both were chain smoking cigarettes, which seems odd now. But I remember when Johnny Carson and his guests smoked on his show as well.
FLN: WC, my thoughts exactly about Maxey. Hard to believe he's a freshman. Go 'Cats! (D4 has a pretty good team down at the other end of the state too. We'll see which team is better on December 28.)
Thanks to Sean for the fun start to Thursday. And thanks to Steve for another great tour.
late for work - enjoyed the theme - even got the theme answer before the clue!
I thought I remembered that London Broil had nothing to do with London - thanks for affirming that Steve!
Thanks Steve and congrats to Sean!
Too much trivia for this wordplay fan. I should just play Jeopardy with Alexa.
Fun puzzle , Sean. Interesting review, Steve. I needed the reveal to connect the theme fill. Thanks for explaining GOLDEN TICKET, Jason. I have seen both versions of the Willy Wonka movie and do not remember the tickets. Thanks to the perps for this and for TROI, SMS, KEATING and MABEL.
I see signs on many AME churches in NJ. It stands for African Methodist Episcopal.
I like a real Christmas tree, but no matter how carefully I clean the needles keep showing up for weeks. I still find the joy worth the mess.
CSO to Picard. I like your photos very much. I don't always comment, because if I commented on everything great that I see here I would run way over my limit. I hope when people don't comment on some of my posts that this is the reason.
Tuesday I drove three hours to bring my sister back to her home after a partial knee replacement. Monday my computer froze and Wednesday I spent a long time with the Geek Squad, where I have a membership. They did a hard reset and restored everything. I didn't have a virus, but they don't know why it happened.
hem and haw
Good morning everyone.
Solved w/o help today. Interesting ticket splitting theme. I'm just a bit weak on GOL DEN ticket. Knowing how the theme worked helped get DALI - LIFT and thus the perp, LONDON BROIL.
CSO to Picard.
SIT IN ON - In graduate school, I audited a course on Glacial Geology.
Liked how SHIP crossed THE HIGH SEAS.
SAS clue - I would translate Steve's KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij) as Royal Air(Travel) Company.
AIOLI - I had to re-learn how to spell it.
HIGH SEAS - Back in the 50's - 60's, the areal limit for dumping at sea was 50 miles from shore, so the engineers had to wait until then to pump bilges. At least once a watch (every 4 hours) the Bridge would get a request to "dump, pump and blow". (Dump garbage, pump bilges and blow [boiler] tubes.)
Lemon, thanx for the Golden Ticket link. I was too old when Willy Wonka came on the scene. Missed it entirely.
Good Morning:
1A, Aries, is a CSO to moi and Abejo, both April babies! Another CSO to Picard with the Troi clue. I'm not familiar with Troi and, at first, thought of Eloi, also only known from TBBT and crosswords. I also needed perps for Mabel, Til, as clued, and Stu. Other unfamiliar phrases were Golden Ticket and In Game, both of which are definitely in the language, just not in mine. I liked the side by side Op Ed and Bias and the duos of SAS and SMS and ENT and ENE. I guessed the Ticket theme but didn't really dwell on it, so the reveal was a nice surprise. I thought some of the cluing was a tad odd and I agree with Steve that late week puzzles with circles diminish the challenge of the solve. We should have to work a little harder to figure out the theme, IMO.
Thanks, Sean, for a fine debut and thanks, Steve, for an entertaining and informative review. I always enjoy your culinary comments and tidbits about food, in general.
The cable serviceman is due between 12:00-1:00 today and I'm hoping it will be my friend's nephew because he is very experienced and goes the extra distance to make sure any and all problems are completely resolved.
Have a great day.
Every aspiring operatic Soprano's goal.."the high C's"
Almost gave up on a busy morning with errands to do but a couple of alphabet runs filled in some blanks (accompanied by the usual head slap.)
Viola Davis is excellent as Annalise Keating on "How to get away with Murder" now in it's 6th and final season. One of my favorite series.
We had no true "Split ticket". Our local elections had almost all unopposed candidates. Now I know what voting in China must be like. When I inserted my ballot in the optical reader a picture of Vladimir Putin lit up thanking me for voting...lol
49 down and across a successful WAG.
And thus a successful finish.
I saw both Willy Wonks films as an adult. Of course, being a grandmother helps.
Good Morning,
Congrats on your debut, Sean. Thanks for a fine start to the day. I don't mind the circles; I don't pay much attention to them at the start. They were helpful today, but I didn't see the developed theme until I read Steve's excellent explication.
Thanks, Steve. AND for the fine AIOLI tip. Never tried the blender, and now I never will.
I wanted gems for GEES. I always think of a jewel heist first. No reason why either. Like D-O, I took the same journey to get to STAG.
TTP: your gutter/downspout analysis is right on. We have a very experienced roofer who serves us well with our 47 townhome complex. He would agree with you 100%.
Nice shout out to Picard. Not a trekkie, but I, too, like his photographic tours.
My Italian class was cancelled this morning, which gives me plenty of time to catch up on the assignments I missed whilst we were in Maine.
Have a sunny day. Snowed a bit more last night, but the sun is out today. Yay!
Vado aventi. Ciao.
Musings
-Library sub today. I am doing less than nothing as the para knows/does everything
-Steve’s great write-up does posit the question, “Could I see the gimmick without the circles?”
-I wish my memory were more persistent
-STRING ALONG with the standard 50’s beat
-There is nothing more joyful than a dog running free in a DOG PARK
-Some papers have BIAS on pages other than the OP-ED
-Gavins Point DAM is releasing more water this time of year to help alleve some of the next spring flooding
-Some NBA stars are sitting out regular season games and fans are upset about it. The teams call it LOAD management
-How To Get Away With Murder was fun to watch but eventually it went so far off the rails I couldn’t watch anymore
-Glengarry Glen Ross and Death Of A Salesman can make you not want to be in that trade
Forse intendevi 《vado avanti?》
Hola!
Congratulations, Sean Biggins, on your LAT debut! Good job!
This filled nicely with only one write over; NEEDLES started out as SEED..... but then LONDONBROIL forced NEEDLES as the pine detritus. I like the word detritus.
I clearly recall the first time I had a SHOWER in the girl's gym in high school. We had no SHOWERSTALLS. It was open spaces all the way with shower heads on the wall and I was mortified at 14 to be seen and to see all that skin.
SENATOR was cleverly clued.
I was addicted to Mad About You and thought MABEL was such an odd name for that baby.
The funeral service for the husband of one of my friends was at an AME church.
In Moscow at Red Square I admit I stood in line to view LENIN's body.
I echo the CSO to Picard.
I have not seen How to Get Away with Murder but the KEATING name is familiar because of some monkey business having to do with Savings and Loans in the 70s. Mr. KEATING spent some time in jail as a consequence.
Thank you, Steve. I always enjoy your posts especially when you mentally whisk us away to the U.K.
Have a grand day, everyone!
Well, I was happy to enjoy those speed-runs on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, but this is Thursday, and so a toughie for me. Not your fault, Sean--and I loved the circles and the way they turned out to be SPLIT TICKETS in the end. Was happy to begin with ALDA, ELI, and ESTEE because there were also names unfamiliar to me. And I enjoyed some of the clever clues, like 'slanted page' for OP ED--made me laugh when I got it. So thanks again, Sean, for this fun Thursday toughie, and you too, Steve, for your always helpful write-up.
Have a great day, everybody.
Lucina, I had the same experience showering at camp with no stalls when I was 14. Embarrassing. I used to shower at odd times when no one was near. At the Y I attend now there are stalls.
At the Japanese onsen, which are bathing facilities at a hot spring, we were expected to disrobe and sit on a little stool in a shower room with no partition where we were to wash before entering the hot pool. Then we went into the water naked. We were given these tiny towels like a hand towel, which we bashful gaijin tried unsuccessfully to hide behind and then left beside the pool. Half the pool was indoor with a glass wall. You could go around the wall to use the outdoor half of the pool. It was surrounded by shrubbery for privacy. I understand some onsen are unisex, but many are separate for men and women like ours was.
Most of our group loved it. Interesting cultural experience. My complaint was that the hot water was debilitating. We just went to sleep afterwards. I like the warm water pool at our Y. I come home refreshed.
HG, thanks for String Along and the trip back to my youth.
The puzzle was a real struggle,
(I had to look up stuff...)
Names I did not know etc...(Mabel?)
Steve, the write up was interesting, but,
I was hoping for clarification on 55A Audit=sit in on?
(I don't get it...)
Had a couple of WAGs that panned out.
Never heard of The Johnny Castaway Screensaver,
Took A look, & about half way thru, decided I want my life back...
Can't really comment on the theme, Split Ticket,
as it might be misconstrued as too political?
However, the most fundamental learning moment was 23D London Broil
It's supposed to be marinated?
DW buys these dang things all the time, & demands I bar-b-que it!
I hate it!
It is like eating Shoe Leather!
I tried top round,
bottom round,
BBQ it & you might as well use it to repave roads!
If anyone has the correct way to make a London Broil,
I would love to hear it...
Not an easy pzl but a doable one.
Ta ~DA!
Thanks to Sean Biggins.
A lot of clever (& some obscure) cluing going on...
I didn't get the theme until I'd finished. Cool.
OPIOIDS are certainly at the heart of a "modern crisis." But we should not overlook their real value to a percentage of the (mainly elderly) population. After two failed spinal surgeries and a mess of yes-and-no epidurals, I'm glad my pain management doc is not scared off.
LENIN is not the big shot he once was. On my only visit to Red Square, I was surprised at the relatively small size of his tomb. In the West we had only seen it photographed from below, with the heads of state perched atop the edifice.
When we saw it in scale against the Kremlin wall, it seemed puny by comparison to the propaganda pics.
Lucina & Yellowrocks ~ Very interesting, your comments on the surprise of shower and bathing nudity. Reminds me that I was also embarrassed when first expected to shower in the boys' gym in junior high school.
But we probably adapted more quickly. Our showers were noisy, full of yelling and towel-snapping.
What shocked me more was when I first arrived at Boy Scout camp and found the toilet stalls had no doors! How could anybody use them with zero privacy?!
I managed to get through my week (I'd signed on for half of a usual two-week stay) without #2 relief. Literally.
I learned that constipation can be a boy's friend.
~ OMK
I'd love to hear the correct way to cook LONDONBROIL, too. I gave up on it a long time ago because even after marinating it for many hours, sometimes the night before, it was still too tough.
I never learned to cook with recipes, but I found this ONLINE RECIPE that is very close to what I leaner watching my mother cook. Cooking for my two teenage boys, this became a dinner favorite. If you are short on time you can use red wine vinegar instead of both balsamic and red wine. Try it and let me know what you think, and while you are cooking listen to THIS SONG .
CED,if one AUDITS a college course, the person SITS IN ON the lectures and does not get a grade or credit.
I'm no chef and I don't play one on TV (heck, I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night), but I've always found that the way to cook those inferior grades of meat is low and slow. Put it in a crock pot for 12 to 24 hours, if you like add some veggies and broth. Or get a smoker and put that sucker in there for 8 - 12 hours. I think you will like the result either way.
SPLIT TICKET: A condo up the street flies a big flag with the logos of both the University of Florida and University of Michigan on it, with the caption "A House Divided". We just fly our University of Kentucky flag. A house united.
(Except that the DW's true loyality is to Penn State)
Lucina, is the London Broil a rolled up piece of meat or is it a large thin slab? If it's a thin slab, then cook it medium rare and slice it into many pieces (very thinly) at a very steep angle.
Let me know. Questions?
~ Mind how you go...
Re. London Broil, the instructions I gave above are for flank steak which, to my understanding, is the generic name for London Broil. So, after cooking the slab of flank steak medium rare, lay it flat on a cutting board. Take your sharpest knife (an electric carving knife works well too), and slice it into very thin slices. Don't slice it straight down perpendicular to the cutting board surface. Instead, slice it thinly at a steep angle almost parallel to the cutting board. It's these very thin slices that make this tougher cut of meat much more tender. I hope this is clear and that it works well for you. I like flank steak cooked and sliced this way. It has a good flavor and is very tender because of the thin slices.
I see that other approaches given above include marinating and long, slow cooking. That might work okay too. My approach above derives its tenderness from the super thin slicing, not the cooking.
Bill G et al:
Thank you. The London broil sold in our stores is a large, thick slab, about two pounds, I believe. Maybe I'll try it in the slow cooker. I have in the past, marinated it with soy sauce, spices and other ingredients but I'm willing to try again. The thin sliced method is also what I've tried but perhaps not thin enough.
I liked this puzzle and all of your comments. Especially enjoyed the story of those tiny maple trees growing in the rain gutter.
LEMON!
Thank you for the London Broil Link!
(It looks awesome!)
And,
If i screw up,
I can play red red wine into the night'
(while sipping)
& not care what the dang shoe tastes like...
Bill G.
Flank steak is nothing like London Broil...
(or its real name top or bottom round)
(which is another name for shoe leather...)
P.S.
Bill,
Flank Steak is definitely not shoe leather,
but it might be considered to be sole, or soul food...
(if you cook and cut it right...)
I realize I'm beating this topic to death. That's because I'm passionate to share something that I know works really well. So here's one more attempt to explain something that would be easy to demonstrate but is hard to explain.
The flank steak is broiled medium rare and lying flat on a cutting board. You are poised to attack with a really sharp knife. When you start to slice the meat, you are slicing at a shallow angle that is almost parallel to the cutting board, as if you are peeling a thin slice off the top.
Here's a video I found that is pretty close to what we do. However, I make even thinner slices (closer to parallel to the cutting board) which makes the meat more tender.
Slicing flank steak
Jinx, what a sensational debut Maxey had. Betsy pointed him out early and I ho-hummed. But I got into him and if there ever was a piece de resistance it was his 3 from Venus*
No problems until I had to fill AME/KEATING. I finally looked back at the circles and theme hint and the V8 dropped.
IM? Eloi? That's from HG Wells Time Machine. I never really got into Star Wars. I remember pilots in Vietnam were able to get SW on TV. Pas pour Moi.
A slight blip at STAG/ILIA/SPAT. I prefer SMS to the new social media communication methods. Phillip texts via game apps. His go-to game is DOTA(2). As famous in gaming as it is unknown to the public(see below**)
WC
* Golfing metaphor re putting
**From "The Valley of Fear"...
"You have heard me speak of Professor Moriarty?”
“The famous scientific criminal, as famous among crooks as —”
“My blushes, Watson!” Holmes murmured in a deprecating voice.
“I was about to say, as he is unknown to the public.”
“A touch! A distinct touch!” cried Holmes. “You are developing a certain unexpected vein of pawky humour, Watson,"
Bill G. I have had very tender and delicious results grilling or broiling london broil without marinade and slicing it thin at an angle.
@CED - I thought about it! A senior will “audit” a meeting run by junior by sitting in and observing to make sure it’s all going per plan or protocol
Hi All!
Congrats on the LAT debut Sean! I was on your wavelength and though "Easy for a Thursday" until I hit the SW corner. I had to lookup KEAING and MAMET to finally flush it out. Fun clueing too!
Wonderfully informative expo (I had to lookup camembert (I need to watch the Cheese Shop sketch again)) with your typical wit.
WOs: ULIA
FIW: I never gave up on GEM (Hi MdF!).
ESPs: DALI, STU, SOU
Fav: c/a at SENATOR. Bravo.
Runner up: BIAS next to OP-ED [made me giggle too, Misty]
{A(? - did you write it or LIU?)}
Bummer on the Diags with the swath of blocks...
Steve - you can also Audit a class like Spitz said. You SIT IN ON the lectures but are not responsible for exams and get no credit-hours.
YR - thanks for that on HEM & HAW. Swift wasn't as swift as the Bard but he did introduce language/idioms.
Lucina - it was the late 80's. And the KEATING Five got in a bit of hot water too. While S&Ls were going under, other banks dumped their bad paper on them too.
Open SHOWERS and S***ers during two week bivouac In Basic. Whatcha' gonna do but your business.
Cheers, -T
I forgot:
Jinx - being in tech, I know SMS and ISO's OSI 7-layer model. Thank goodness Uncle Sam dropped their GOSIP initiative (I read and advised my boss on the NIST RFC back in the '90s!) and went with the ubiquitous TCP/IP (Internet Protocols) we all use today.
Cheers, -T
AnonT:
Thank you. I couldn't recall how far back that scandal went and like so many of my memories they are gradually becoming one long blur. Scary!
I found a live version of the Cheese Sketch which does, in fact, mention camembert (silent T).
//I don't think camebert was a cheese in Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time [11m] video game* which, I did have --- very much unlike the Shipwrecked Screen Saver...
Oh, I'm still here 'cuz I'm waiting on DW to text me that all's well in NOLA. She's there for a conference this weekend ergo y'all stuck w/ my ramblings.
Cheers, -T
*the cheeses were a poor-man's DMCA back in the day. If you bought the game, you had the book that had cheeses in the bottom corner of every page. To continue play, the game would ask for the cheese on page X. Silly, eh?
Lucina - Einstein's relativity theory needs to account for age with respect to time. As we age time compacts itself. When I was a 5yro a week was forever ago; now, a decade is just "didn't that just happen?" Oy!
DW has landed, taxi'd to hotel, and is snug in her bed. Time for me to do the same.
Play tomorrow, -T
4am, couldn't sleep
So i went to my favorite diversion...
Steve, thank you for the audit explanation.
(I must be reading too many newspapers,
I think of the word "audit" like Trump...)
Anon-T,
Thank you,
While I skipped the cheese shop,
(see it too many times & it begins to smell funny...)
I did watch Monty Pythons A Complete Waste Of Time!
(unlike the Car Salesman I ran into, it has an honest introduction...)
I especially enjoyed "spot the Loony."
Thank you all for the greetings. I was indeed honored to have PICARD and TROI in the puzzle. On Friday I will share some photos of the real TROI.
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