google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday December 16, 2019 C.C. Burnikel

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Dec 16, 2019

Monday December 16, 2019 C.C. Burnikel

Theme: LINES (68. Botox targets ... or what 17-, 28-, 45- and 60-Across all have) - Different lines are featured in the four theme entries

17. Screenwriter's creation: FILM SCRIPT.

28. Gucci or Versace, notably: FASHION HOUSE.

45. Grand Central, for one: TRAIN STATION.

60. Math student's plotting sheet: GRAPH PAPER.

Boomer here.

Christmas is coming and my former employer, Graybar Electric, from which I am a retiree, hosted a fine lunch at the Minneapolis Golf Club in St. Louis Park, MN. This was a new location because a young lady and friend, assumed the promotion to District Vice President of the Minneapolis District last February. DVP's receive a private club membership of their choice. One of the Board of Directors from St. Louis attended and gave a long talk after the meal and let us know that the people that were hired to replace us are doing a helluva lot better than we ever did. 

C.C. and I were spiffed up for the occasion.

Across:

1. Be indecisive: WAVER.  I saw many of these during the MLB playoffs. I still am convinced that the Minnesota Twins started the Wavers of Homer Hankies in 1987.  


6. Crop-raising business: FARM.  Old MacDonald had one.

10. Tightly closed: SHUT. UP !

14. San Antonio landmark: ALAMO.  High up Santa Ana, we're killing your soldiers below, so the rest of Texas will know, and remember the ALAMO.

15. Almay rival: OLAY.  I think this is an European Rider Cup cheer.

16. Whittle (down): PARE.

19. Ferris wheel, e.g.: RIDE.  I think Coney Island is the biggest.  At least it made a GEICO commercial.

20. Oblong pastry: ECLAIR.  This is not a city in Wisconsin.  I think chocolate ones are the best.


21. Outback and Legacy autos: SUBARUS. We are still looking at a Santa Fe.

23. Outdoor gear giant: REI.

24. Chickadee kin: TITS.  I'll leave this one alone.

27. Beam of light: RAY.  A player on the Tampa Bay Team.

33. Nest egg letters: IRA. Was a tax haven until you get to 70 1/2.

35. Office sub: TEMP.  We have not been above 32 degrees here for a couple of weeks.

36. Poker pot pay-ins: ANTES.  Many games in the caddy shack when I was a kid.  Earned a pretty nice fee for eighteen holes and got to play free on Monday morning.

37. Leave high and dry: ABANDON.  I watched the Thanksgiving Day parade and they had A BAND ON.

39. "Are we on for the project?": IS IT A GO.  It is in Cribbage if you just have high cards.

41. Social slip-up: GAFFE.

42. Cole Porter's "Well, Did You __?": EVAH.

44. "Of course!": AHA.

48. Civil War side: Abbr.: CSA.  It's really difficult to remember a time when Americans fought other Americans.

49. Poker table giveaway: TELL.  I heard he shot an apple off his son's head.  Did the cell phone still work after that ??

50. Vanilla extract meas.: TSP.  Vanilla is good stuff.  I think you need more than a teaspoon.

53. "That's deplorable!": I HATE IT.  Thanksgiving dinner??  I did not HATE it, I ATE it.

57. Strange thing: ODDITY.

59. Supermarket section with a scale: DELI.

63. Sailors' patron saint: ELMO.

64. "That stings!": OUCH.

65. Partner of well: ALIVE.  ALIVE and WELL, Well, Well, Well.

66. Mathematician Turing: ALAN.


67. Have to have: NEED.  "As long as he NEEDS me."  Minnesota's own Judy Garland 1964.

Down:

1. Communion bread: WAFER.  My aunt, Sister Caroline used to make these in a convent in Clyde, Mo. Please don't call them wafers.  Most people I know call them hosts.

2. Wonderland visitor: ALICE.  "This is the story of Alice, told without any Malice.  Alice was very beautiful, ... Except for one little thing.  (Chad Mitchell Trio, of Course).

3. The 4 Seasons frontman Frankie: VALLI.  I hooked up with three other guys at Fort Campbell and we sang "Sherry" at the Top Five Club.

4. Jane Austen classic: EMMA.

5. Spanish-speaking Muppet: ROSITA.

6. Tit-tat link: FOR. FOR all we know.

7. "Thrilla in Manila" victor: ALI.  Yup, I was alive then.  I could not believe all the hype.  But I was never a boxing fan.

8. Knocks hard: RAPS.  Why not just ring the doorbell ?

9. "I'm up!": MY TURN.

10. Artificial bronzing product: SPRAY-ON TAN.  Never used it.  I use the sun streaming on the golf course.

11. Beauty salon focus: HAIR.  "She asked me why, Why I'm a hairy guy.  ... Stylin' , Streamin', Gleamin', Flaxen Waxen.  One of my favorite Karaoke numbers.

12. Pakistani tongue: URDU.

13. Many short-sleeved shirts: TEES.  Also many golf ball holders.

18. "The Count of Monte __": CRISTO.


22. Iranian faith featuring a 19-day feast: BAHAI.

25. Big place to surf: THE NET.

26. __ card: smartphone component: SIM.  I only have a dumb phone.

28. Stories by devoted readers: FAN FICTION.

29. Percocet, e.g.: OPIATE.  I took a little OXY when my back was hurting, but I quit it pretty quickly.

30. Great Salt Lake state: UTAH.  I've driven by that lake a number of times (On my way to Nevada to bowl).  I believe it is a wonder of the world.  It is huge and I believe it is over 4000 feet above sea level.

31. Genesis creator: SEGA.

32. That, in Toledo: ESO.

33. Letter-shaped beam: I BAR.  You may go to an I BAR, but you cannot get a drink.

34. Tennis rival of Roger, familiarly: RAFA.  I am not a great tennis fan, but this guy Mr. Nadal is very good.

37. Actor's rep.: AGT.

38. Like thick fog: DENSE.  I drove into this once in South Dakota, on my way to see Mount Rushmore.  I never got there because there was no way I would have been able to see it in the fog.  Maybe some day.

40. 1862 Tennessee battle site: SHILOH.  I read a book about this battle site many years ago.  Shiloh is near the Tennessee River and there is a memorial there.

43. Brewery vessel: VAT.  Sven says to Ole. "VAT are you doing ?"  Ole replies "None uff your business."

46. Former name of Vietnam's most populous city: SAIGON.  Now Ho Chi Minh City.

47. Longtime chum: OLD PAL.  "Can you imagine us years from today. sharing a park bench quietly, how terribly strange to be seventy."  (Simon and Garfunkel). 

50. Easy hoops shot: TIP IN.  Looks like our Gophers are in for a rough season.  I am not much of a hoops fan.

51. Tech mogul Jobs: STEVE.  He was Mr. Apple Inc. until he passed in 2011.

52. Combustible heaps: PYRES.

53. Thought: IDEA.  "If I only had a brain."  Never mind, we had all that last week.  

54. Land down under?: HELL.  I don't think that there are Angels there, but some motorcycle owners think there are. 

55. __ mater: ALMA.  Also a city in Wisconsin.  On the eastern shore of the Mississippi.

56. "T" on a test: TRUE.

58. Surrealist Salvador: DALI.

61. Top pitcher: ACE.  High ranking card.  Would like four on a draw poker machine.

62. Scholar's deg.: PHD.  Pronounced FUDD.

Boomer



39 comments:

  1. So nice to wake up to a Burnikel double dip. You both are looking great, and I love the tie.

    The world of Ferris wheels has changed greatly since being introduced at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair CURRENT TEN TALLEST .
    The Chinese have taken over, but the US will be #1 for a little while longer.

    Your Four Seasons memory is also awesome.

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  2. Up early. I have to do all my work in the AM because I have an afternoon meeting. We used to love to listen to VALLI on records. Remember those?
    I forgot the last letter of VALLI and didn't know REI, so the "I" was the one bad cell in this super easy puzzle. I think we had REI before. I needed the reveal to suss the theme. In a way, all works of FAN FICTION have story lines, and improperly applied SPRAY ON TAN has spray lines.
    Boomer, I agree that more than a teaspoon of vanilla or cinnamon is needed most times. In savory dishes, our family always puts in lots of extra onion.
    Even my old fashioned flip phone has a SIM card.
    I see that there are more than a dozen film versions of the Count of Monte Cristo. I am not sure which version I saw on TV in the 1960's. Good movie.
    Costco warehouse store sells frozen eclairs. They are a popular treat at pot lucks and club meetings. Delicious.
    I see KS and NE are enduring many collisions due to icy roads. Stay safe out there. We are expecting freezing rain this evening and will likely cancel our dance. It is my call along with my co-president, but is mainly on my list of responsibilities. I hope we can decide before I leave for my afternoon meeting, because I will need to make many phone calls and send various emails by 3:00 PM.

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  3. Not hard, but I had to do a lot of downs on the way to the solve. At least one (fallen) angel in hell, I’ve heard.

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  4. Great way to start the day with a CC puzzle and Boomer review .
    I especially liked your tongue in cheek comment on 34A.
    Fairly steady fill with enough difficulty to slow me down a bit.
    RAFA and BAHAI were the most notable to be filled via crosses.
    Keep safe everyone.
    Cheers

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  5. Good morning!

    Can't believe I wrote RSA where CSA needed to go. It's HELL to get old. Amen on those chocolate eclairs, Boomer. I also use a dumb phone, but it has a SIM card...or so I'm told. Cute comment about William Tell, Boomer. Thanx, you two, for the Burnikel twofer this morning.

    VALLI: We often run into Ambrose Valle (with an e, not an i) on our morning march through the 'hood. He's always accompanied by his ferocious Chihuahua, Ankle-Biter.

    RAPS: There's a lady on one of the M-o-W routes who just cannot hear the RAPping on her door. To save my bloody knuckles, I bought her a wireless doorbell. It surprised me when she actually set it up, and I was even more surprised that she can hear it. Now if I could only get her to replace her deadbolt lock with one that doesn't require a key from inside. If she ever has a fire, that'll be the end of Donna.

    IRA: With Vanguard's "new and improved" brokerage account, as opposed to the old mutual fund account, it took me two weeks to get my RMD out of the IRA. Phew! Good thing I started early. The penalty for missing an RMD is severe.

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  6. Good Morning, Boomer and friends. Fun puzzle to ease into the week.

    There is a beautiful Baha'i center in Haifa, Israel

    Southern Louisiana has a lot of experience with DENSE fog.

    I read The Count of Monte Cristo in high school. It is a great book.

    Your Christmas luncheon with your former employer sounds awful. How horrible to have someone degrade its former employees like that!

    QOD: How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean. ~ Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (né Arthur Charles Clark; Dec. 16, 1917 ~ Mar. 19, 2008)

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  7. Hahtoolah - Sorry I Lied about the Director. It is just a joke I use when the current state of Graybar expansion and profits exceed the old days while I was employed. Although the guy did spend a lot of time telling us how well the company is doing. (Maybe the bar was giving him a commission??)

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  8. Nice speed run today - with smiles on the theme and the blog to follow.
    I'm headed to work - but all the schools are closed for snow and ice and more to come later today so unclear who how many people scheduled will show up. I find that the older frail people are always there - even early- when I would hope they would stay home and not risk a fall and the young people don't show. Another nod to the Greatest Generations!

    I liked The Count of Monte Cristo too - my book club always does one book a year in a category we call - "things you should have read but never got around to".

    Thanks Boomer and CC!

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  9. Musing
    -As usual, a “just right” puzzle and write-up from the Burnikels
    -Three buried bodies were discovered in the ALAMO last week
    -My DW RODE the Ferris wheel at 9 pm and gave birth six hours later
    -Conservative grandson’s first car is a four-door, white SUBARU with a stick shift
    -Lasers and RAYS in my physics lab
    -It is so funny to watch 1930’s movies on TCM and hear actors from Des Moines say “EVAH” and “Dahling”
    -Grandma Opal’s dad fought against the CSA at SHILOH and lost an eye
    -There was a time I could sing those notes Frankie VALLI sang
    -“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently RAPPING, RAPPING at my chamber door.”
    -پیر کی صبح ہے (It is Monday morning in URDU)
    -There are so few college football games they all seem important. College basketball games are a dime-a-dozen until March
    -The Nationals got rid of an expensive slugger and stocked up on ACE pitchers. They are now World Series champions

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  10. Hola!

    I love the Monday duo of Burnikels! Thank you, C.C. and Boomer!

    For a Monday this puzzle took a bit more thinking than normal but I FIR and only noticed RAFA in the comments. It emerged.

    OLAY. I love your comment on that, Boomer. Ole, ole.

    SPRAY ON TAN is never needed out here; in ten minutes the sun will tan your skin. In fact, out of state people are so obvious they almost glisten.

    ALAN Turing was a handsome man.

    Boomer, it's ok to call it a Communion WAFER as well as host.

    Thursday I'll get my HAIR cut and I wonder about the next time; my stylist has pancreatic cancer and not doing well but he still wants to work. I just wonder for how long.

    Have a grand day, everyone! Stay warm.

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  11. Numbers got mixed up in my comment I meant 48A.

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  12. Good morning, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Boomer, for a fine review.

    Hahtoolah, there is also a beautiful Baha'i Temple in Wilmette, IL, just north of Chicago, and right near Lake Michigan. I toured it recently. I have some pictures but not sure how to put them here. When I lived in Iran I learned that the Baha'i religion was there and that it had started there. Also Zoroastrianism is there as well. Probably not very active due to the current government.

    Puzzle today was fine. Got through it easily. Caught the theme after I got to the bottom and saw LINES at 68A.

    Had to think for a moment to remember St. ELMO, but I did remember.

    Did not know EMMA, perps did it.

    Good misdirection on 25D. THE NET. I was looking for Malibu or some such beach.

    I read the Count of Monte Cristo many years ago.

    Did not know RAFA. Perps.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

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  13. Good Morning:

    What better way to start a new week than with a puzzle from CC and a performance from Boomer! I say performance because he quotes lyrics, he tells jokes, and is otherwise the consummate entertainer, as well as educator. So there! 😜 This offering is vintage CC: a tight, clever theme with a nary a clue until the well-hidden reveal; my kind of puzzle. I liked the Waver ~ Wafer duo and the Rosita ~ Elmo coincidence. I needed perps for Rosita as I'm not too Muppet-knowledgable.

    Thanks, CC and Boomer, you make a dynamic duo. Great picture, too.

    Have a great day.

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  14. Hands up for OPIOID before OPIATE...mine's up.

    But that was it, a nice start to the week.

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  15. Good morning everyone.

    Good puzzle. Did not reflect on the theme until it was done; the reveal being the last entry. But it was a good sanity check on the entries.
    SHILOH - Tough on horses, too. General Sherman had three shot out from under him during the battle.




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  16. Well, my co-president can't get an elder-sitter for his MIL, so he was very amenable to cancelling the dance. We split the phone calling and I sent the emails. I will spend the evening finishing my Christmas cards.

    I am on the altar guild. We buy communion wafers from our suppliers, says so on the box. I may be wrong, but I like to call it the host after it is consecrated.

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  17. Always nice to get a C.C. and Boomer Monday offering--many thanks to you both (especially for that wonderful picture!). This was a little crunchy for me because I didn't know REI or the chickadee kin and wasn't sure how to spell Frankie's name. But I loved answers like FAN FICTION and GRAPH PAPER. Like Abejo, I too first thought of Malibu before getting the more modern meaning of "surf." Still don't understand how SEGA is a Genesis creator? Anyway, lots of fun, and many thanks again.

    Lucina, hope your stylist can stay on for more hair cuts for you. I believe Alex Trebek has pancreatic cancer, and he's still going strong. But I'm sorry your friend is not feeling well.

    Yellowrocks, great that you got your dance decision worked out and can enjoy a pleasant evening at home.

    Have a great week coming up, everybody.

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  18. Good afternoon.

    FILM, FASHION, but then TRAIN, and GRAPH ?
    Or was it HOUSE and STATION, with PAPER and SCRIPT ?
    Didn't see where this one was going until I got to the reveal.
    Then the LINES became clearer.

    When I see THE NET instead of "the Internet", I think of the film that starred Sandra Bullock.

    Fun and easy puzzle, C.C. Excellent review, Boomer.

    Boomer, I visited my bowling buddy Greg on Saturday. He put an addition on the back of his garage, and wanted me to look at piping in another gas line and hanging another wall heater on the new back wall. We're probably going to replace the 18000 BTU heater with a 30,000 BTU. He's mulling it over.

    Anyway, we got talking about bowling. He was bummed about missing 3 ten pins in the third game, all on the right lane of the pair, and bowling a 160.

    He said the house put in new longer ball returns on the approach, and he can't get left enough on the right lane when throwing at the ten pin. His average is down to 190 in that league, but they are in second place. He's still over 200 at another house in the other league he's in, so he's blaming it on the new returns. He'll figure it out.

    Greg told me he's glad he got the flu shot. One of the guys on the team got the flu and didn't stay home. He gave the flu to another guy on the team, and that guy missed four weeks. Some others ended up getting the flu too.

    Talking bowling made me wish that I'd bowled again this season.

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  19. Holy Mozart's Ghost, TTP! I'd be proud of a 160. The last time I planned to bowl, at least 25 years ago, I threw my back out pulling on my socks. The bowling ball and shoes went to the curb the next day.

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  20. This was a very good Monday puzzle, but I did have a few holes after my first go-through. I never remember how to spell Baha'i , so it took a second pass before FASHION HOUSE emerged. Never heard of RAFA. The reveal was cute.

    Hahtoolah, I always appreciate your quotes.

    D-O, I love taking RMDs from Vanguard and never wait for the end of the year.

    Boomer, liked your cute comment on 35-across. Let's face it, the weather is more fascinating now that we have time to focus on it.

    Misty, I only remember Sega because my grandsons were into video games for awhile. Sega makes the genesis game.

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  21. Boomer, I think your comment on TEMP was cute because it had nothing to do with a temporary worker.

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  22. One answer in this puzzle I knew right away was ECLAIR, guess that is because I owned a Daylight Doughnut shop for 41 years.
    I read the comments here almost every day, but rarely comment. Nice puzzle

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  23. FIR, but erased yes for AHA. "Band that sang Take On Me" would have been fresher.

    I liked WAFER crossing WAVER right at the git-go. I also support having "tit" and TITS in one puzzle, but that may reveal that I'm just your average boob.

    I never found basketball TIP INs to be particularly easy.

    DNK Almay nor BAHAI.

    Thanks to CC and Boomer for the fun.

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  24. Just a tad chewier than most Mondays. Nice work from both C.C. & Boomer. Neat photo.

    Wasn't sure I should fill with TITS. My first awareness of the other meaning came when the wife of the dean of my grad school in England invited us to visit their country home and see her two blue tits.
    ~ OMK
    ____________
    DR:
    No diagonals today. The two potential lines came a cropper when they met in their only shared square, no. 113, the center of the 15x15 grid.

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  25. I liked this puzzle and the commentary. Noticed the WAFER and WAVER crossing. Neato theme, which I didn't get until the reveal, which is how I like it.

    The Santa Fe is a nice vehicle. So are both the SUBARU Outback and Forrester. LW and I have been looking at the Outback for almost a year, but after having experienced our DIL's Honda CRV our focus has shifted to looking at both the CRV (which is categorized as "compact" but doesn't feel small to me at all) and the Outback (which is actually categorized as a station wagon and is nice and roomy.) All four of the aforementioned vehicles have small engines and feel slightly underpowered if you're a lead-foot.

    Good wishes to you all.

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  26. Alice, my brother also takes monthly RMD distributions from his Vanguard IRA. I wait as long as possible before taking my RMD for two reasons. I prefer to keep the funds tax-sheltered as long as possible, reinvesting the dividends throughout the year. At year's end I determine which IRA investments to sell (and which investments to buy with the proceeds) to get me back to my desired asset allocation.

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  27. D-O, that wasn't good. Lower back pain is the pits.

    Bowling, especially league bowling, is fun. There is a good mix of serious bowlers and not-so-serious bowlers in that "fun' league. The league is handicapped, so it levels the playing field somewhat to make it fun and competitive for all.

    When I bowled about 10 or so years ago, our lead off guy averaged 208, our 2nd guy was around 175, our 3rd guy was around 183. I bowled 4th and was 203, and Greg bowled cleanup and finished the year at 210 or 211. Because of handicap, our toughest nights to win were against the teams that had 3 or 4 bowlers that averaged in the 140s or 160's.

    Bowlers who average in the 140s to 160s are usually pretty inconsistent bowlers, tending to miss more spares and not stringing together strikes. But when they're "feeling it", they can have a game or two where they bowl 30 or 40 pins over their average just by picking up a few extra spares or by rolling a couple or three strikes in a row. Then you add in their 70 or 80 odd pin handicap and they can be tough to beat. i.e, the guy that averages 150, out of the blue bowls a 190, and gets 70 pins of handicap effectively bowls a 260 game. That's hard to beat. If two or three get hot and bowl well over their normal averages, it's almost impossible. But the handicapping keeps it interesting and fun, and keeps the less serious bowlers coming back.

    The other league that my buddy Greg bowls in is a much more serious league, made up of almost exclusively very consistent bowlers with high averages. The guy that drilled my new ball last year finished the season with just under a 250 average for the season.

    If you've ever watched the pro bowlers on TV, you might wonder why they aren't putting up huge numbers game after game. The answer is different lane conditions. That means the various patterns of oil that are applied to the lanes. League bowling has the typical "league" or "house" oil pattern where the oil is applied lighter on the outer boards to heavier in the middle, and the length of oil application is consistent to about 40 feet down the lane. The pros are most often bowling in "sport" conditions with various oil patterns that require much higher skill and constant adjustments.

    To put it another way, with dry boards on the outside, the ball will have a higher propensity to hook or turn back into the middle. You can miss your mark and still might get a strike. But when there's oil out there, and oil further down the lane, the ball will slide more and not grab and dive back into the headpins where it normally would. Just missing your mark by a half an inch or so can result in some really ugly splits or leaves, when the ball doesn't hit the "break point" at the right place.

    Really good bowlers like my buddy Greg and Boomer are much better at reading the lanes, knowing when to change to a different ball, and when to make the minute adjustments as the oil dries or migrates further down the lane over the course of a 3 game series with 10 guys bowling down the same oil. That's also why a really good left handed bowler usually has an advantage over the right handed bowlers. There's far fewer balls moving down the left side, changing the oil conditions.

    Knowing how well Greg bowled 10 years ago, and seeing his average at that house go down to 190 this year... I know he's struggling to accept it. But now he's 72 or 73, and has two bad knees that need to be replaced. He's always been the anchor bowler on the team, just because he's so consistent and doesn't miss his spares, except for the the occasional dreaded ten pin. For him to miss three of them in one game like that, to bowl a 160, and for the team to lose that third game by 14 pins really had him down.

    Wait, what was your question ? :>)

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  28. Marvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, C.C. and Boomer.
    I finished in good time, saw the LINES theme, but arrived here to discover I FIWed. Hand up for messing up the cross of VALLI and REI. I can never remember REI (our Canadian equivalent is MEC, which I hear is better!); I entered REA and did not notice my misspelling of VALLI. OUCH!

    Like IM, I noticed the Sesame Street characters, ROSITA and ELMO, and smiled.
    I thought of faux pas before GAFFE fit the spot.
    Hand up for being misdirected at first to the ocean before the NET.
    Oas, I thought you misnumbered for 24A. We did have lots of IT s today with TITS, RosITa, is IT a go, I hate IT, oddITy.
    Miss SAIGON is making a return to Mirvish Theatre in Toronto in 2020.

    Wishing you all a great day.

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  29. TTP - Did somebody say BOWLING ?? I was trying again this morning. After the 622 set a couple of weeks ago I am scoring a little better but still waiting for another 600. This morning I shot 197-179-180 - 556. Hard to believe I left 8 pretty solid 10 pins, 4 solid 7 pins and one stone 8 pin over the three games. I picked them all up but had two splits and two open frames on multi pin leaves. If I carry some of those single pins into strikes, I think 600 would be pretty close.

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  30. Good morning. (Well, it’s morning for me.)

    I’ll just echo WEES about the dazzling duo today. Well done, C.C. and Boomer! My only unknown was RAFA, which filled in with perps. I loved the misdirection in the “big place to surf” clue.

    Abajo, you beat me to commenting on Wilmette’s beautiful Baha’i temple and on wanting Malibu first.

    Busy, busy. Have a great day all.

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  31. Boomer, I am still amazed that you are bowling at all. Carry on !

    I didn't bowl one night because I had a hangnail. It was on my non bowling hand. :>)

    OK, that's what the guys said. It was really my back.

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  32. Hi Y'all! Great puzzle & expo, Burnikels! Thanks.

    My mind was definitely coloring outside the LINES on this puzzle. Couldn't see the theme until I read Boomer's explanation not just once but three times. Ohhh! Duh!

    "I'm up" had nothing to do with "Put me in coach" and more to do with "I managed to get out of bed." ESP on TURN. I sat and stared at that until finally it soaked in. And I'm a hoops fan who sees many substitutions during a game. Duh!

    Another Oh doo-DUH-day at my house.

    Must be the 6 inches of gently falling windless snow outside my window last two days. I stuck my head out briefly to pay my snow shoveler.

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  33. Just an fyi for you folks...

    The kids these days like to say TITS. But not like we did some 40 years ago. They say "Those shoes are the TITS" or "The new Star Wars movie is the TITS".

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  34. It's kinda like saying awesome. Because, well, ya know...they are awesome.

    And the word awesome is so overused these days. Right, Gary?

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  35. Hi All!

    Late today. Work, then to a buddy's to help him w/ his computer, then finished (most) my Christmas shopping (on Amazon), then a 30 minute visit with MIL, then a 90 minute chat w/ Eldest. Whew!

    Did the puzzle earlier and I liked it; theme didn't appear 'till the reveal. Thanks C.C. and Thanks Boomber. Heck, thanks everyone for the reading pleasure during lulls at the office.

    WOs: VALie, started Layup b/f TSP said Tap, er, TIP IN, put ALMA in DALI's squares, and had EVer before I checked my work and realized OPIeTE is wrong. EVAH? What ev'.
    ESPs: EVAH, ESO, SHILOH
    Fav: THE NET xing TITS. It's always porn that accelerates tech adoption :-)

    {AWOL}

    This morning I went to work in shirt-sleeves (it was >70F and balmy) by lunch it was in the 60's*, 50's on the way home, and it's supposed to be 38 overnight. Oy! In one day?!?
    #HoustonWinters //it will be back in the 70's by Monday.

    Cheers, -T
    *The temp actually dropped at least 10F in <10min. I walked into the DELI, picked-up my order (turkey on white, hold the pickle), paid, and, when I walked out, wish'd I'd a sweater.

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  36. Dear -T: Now you see the advantages of mountains and hills, with the attending microclimates, in moderatng temperatures. There does not seem to be anything between Houston ad the North Pole.

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  37. I Just finished reading Monday's comments. I'll just stick my two cents in the dark blog

    FLN: Don DEMETER was involved in the notorious Earl Wilson trade in 1966. Wilson was such a stalwart for Detroit that DEMETER became a scapegoat.

    TTP, your friend, Greg, reminds me of a comment by Ty Cobb when asked how he'd do against modern pitchers (circa 1960)? "About .310-.315"....."But remember, I'm 67 years old"

    I pulled my back putting on socks. I found a sock-putter-on gizmo once but never used it. Stretch before dressing?

    WC

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  38. A couple of comments:
    First, Grand Central is not a train station. Grand Central is a train terminal. The name is "Grand Central Terminal." What is the difference? No trains pass thru Grand Central. They all begin and end there. That makes it a terminal, not a station.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Terminal

    Second, you lost me on "That, in Toledo". ESO?

    Thanks for this blog. Very helpful.

    ReplyDelete

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