google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, December 14, 2019, Ed Sessa

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Dec 14, 2019

Saturday, December 14, 2019, Ed Sessa

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Dr. Ed Sessa


Our retired M.D. makes another prescription of fun with this themeless puzzle. Here we see him with a very able and cute assistant.

If the good doctor carries a remedy for impatience, he could give me a scrip (see lightning bolt below on grid). When I saw - A _ D A, I filled in one crossword staple - AIDA, instead of another one - ALDA, without reading the clue or wondering about any place name MAITA. 

So I'll take dose of humility while lauding Ed's always pleasing construction and try to move on with my life with one bad cell.

No Blue Cross/Shield card required as we x-ray Dr. Ed's work:

Across:

1. Ring in one's ears?: CROP CIRCLE - Wow! Make room for this in my clue hall of fame. It turns out the rings are CROP CIRCLES and the ears are on cornstalks, not the sides of our heads!



11. Common dressage gait: TROT A debate on this practice



15. It may offer dining options and a spa: RESORT AREA.

16. Tanning target: HIDE - Mom threatened to tan ours but never laid a hand on us

17. Imperfections affecting diamond clarity: INCLUSIONS.

18. '60s pop singer Sands: EVIE All about Evie (Hey, you had to see that coming!)

19. Called to the shepherd: BAAED - Awww... 

20. Trial for a would-be atty.?: LSAT A sample question from the Law School Admissions Test (Choose an answer and then click on Submit to get a detailed analysis)

21. One told to leave, maybe: PEST 

22. Camera choices: SLRS - I loved my Single Lens Reflex cameras but the iPhone is always with me so...

23. No longer is: WAS -My 24. Round number?: GIRTH WAS much larger two months ago than it IS now

25. Trig function: COTAN If you really wonder what a COTANGENT is

27. Pickett's Charge charger: REB - Despite Longstreet's objections, Lee ordered  his REBS to attack across open ground against the strong Union position on Cemetery Ridge and many died

28. High in an irritating way: SHRILL - Gilbert Gotfried's SHRILL voice and real voice



32. Weak-kneed: TIMOROUS - An upscale adjective for TIMID

36. Sign that may have a dog silhouette on it: KEEP OFF THE GRASS - Oh...

38. "I hear ya": YEAH YEAH - That's why I had to put up the dog sign

39. Child's milestone: AGE TEN - You're a  big deal when you hit double figures

40. Future flounder: ROE - Fish eggs, of course

41. Mulligan, e.g.: RETRY - Uh, you can take a mulligan, Gary. Mulligan derivation

43. Fix: AMEND.

45. "__ little faster, please": GO A - Not the state of GOA in SW India today

46. Retinal cells: RODS - Sensors that see black and white while cones see colors 

50. Thorn in one's side: BANE - Some thought that Stella's puzzle last Saturday was this


51. Hawaiian staple: TARO - TARO root being pounded into poi with a basalt lava pestle 

53. Word from the Hebrew for "teaching": TORAH.

54. "Scientific American Frontiers" host: ALDA 

55. Tippling point?: ONE TOO MANY - AA tells it members that ONE is TOO MANY

57. Each cha in cha-cha-cha: STEP - 1, 2, CHA, CHA, CHA



58. Bad taste: INELEGANCE.

59. Lawman who was also a boxing referee: EARP - Wyatt lived in Pella, IA from 2 - 14-yrs-old


60. Green Hornet's great-uncle: LONE RANGER - Fun new info for me about Fran Striker who created both characters. The Lone Ranger's "real" name was John Reid and then later Fran invented a character who was a descendant - Britt Reid - who assumed the identity of The Green Hornet in more modern times.


Down:

1. Cheats, in a way: CRIBS - The use of CRIB meaning "to pilfer" dates to 1740. I remember cheat sheets being called CRIB sheets in my day

2. Nephric: RENAL - I know nephritis is a kidney disorder and RENAL is an adjective for kidney issues so...

3. Jazz pianist Peterson: OSCAR Info on this Canadian Jazz artist

4. Flag bearers: POLES - A POLE carrying a POLE with the POLISH flag in the 2018 Olympic parade



5. Guck: CRUD  

6. "__ not my call": IT'S.

7. Upbraid: RAIL AT.

8. Start of a pedestrian caution: CROSS AT THE GREEN - I take issue with Dr. Sessa's preposition here. CROSS AT THE LIGHT maybe...



9. Dunham of "Girls": LENA - I've never seen her work but she is a veteran apologizer

10. __ Coast: EAST.

11. NYC landmark overlooking Central Park: THE PIERRE.



12. Inland navigator: RIVERBOAT.

13. Penner of praiseful poetry: ODIST.

14. Muscle: TEETH putting real TEETH in anti-texting/driving laws might decrease the 30. Tailgating danger: REAR ENDER this driver poses



23. Tom who coined "radical chic": WOLFE.



24. Like a drunken sailor, in more ways than one?: GROGGY - Gotta love those sailors who are GROGGY from drinking too much GROG

25. Laid it on thick: CLOYED - TV's best example



26. Med. research agency: NIH - National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD

28. Overhead expanse: SKY.

29. Half a bray: HEE - HAW. 

31. Cell download, perhaps: IPHONE APP - My golf IPHONE APP



33. Ben Stiller's mom: MEARA - Ann MEARA and Jerry Stiller. Our Hawaiian blogger Chef Wendy lives a stone's throw from Ben on Kauai 

34. Purpose: USE - The Swiss Army site says this baby has 32 USES

35. Return ID: SSN.

37. Wide partner: FAR.

42. Emulate Galway: TOOTLE - Virtuoso flute player Sir James Galway is a first-rate TOOTLER

43. Denigrate: ABASE.

44. 122-square-mile republic: MALTA - A better and more methodical solver than yours truly would have seen MALTA to correct his single error of AIDA/ALDA

46. __ candle: ROMAN.

47. Bornean beast: ORANG - Breakfast with the ORANGATANS is an option in the Singapore Zoo. Is any animal's name mispronounced more often?



48. Hustle, say: DANCE - From Latin to Disco dancing. What? You don't remember how?

49. More 32-Across: SHYER - Shier works too

51. Considerable effort: TOIL.

52. Word on some headstones: ANNO - On buildings too. Can you compute the year "In The Year Of Our Lord" below to Arabic numbers?



53. Costume in some Shakespeare plays: TOGA - "What a deformed thief this fashion is."  (Borachio to Conrad. Much Ado About Nothing, act 3, sc.3, l.126-9.)

56. Key preposition: O'ER - Aha, Dr., you didn't fool me on Francis Scott Key's line about looking "OER the ramparts"

Dr. Ed seems to have provided a lovely remedy for the tough pill some felt had we had to swallow last Saturday 



46 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIWrong. INELEGANtE instead of INELEGANCE. What DANTE had to do with hustle I didn't understand, but if I understood everything in every puzzle, I'd be a lot smarter than I am!
mooT > LSAT, rabbi > TORAH.Knew LONE RANGER right off, wanted Bat Masterson for the moonlighting lawman (he became a sports reporter), but didn't know EARP was a ref. Liked CROP CIRCLE once I gave up on silver bells. Never heard of THE PIERRE.

There was a TIMOROUS Hobbit from the Shire,
Never had a girl, 'cause he couldn't be SHYER.
But after ONE TOO MANY
With a GROGGY Jenny,
The paternity suit said he was a sire!

The sheep to the shepherd BAAED.
They wouldn't do as they WAS bade.
There was no MUSCLE to the regulation
No TEETH nor compensation,
And as for the sheep, they WAS bad!

(Note the "was", not "were", indicating "they" was a genderless singular.)

OSCAR the soda jerk always would smile.
He worked on a Mediterranean isle.
He had a genius to make
A most wonderful shake,
But was best with a malt, MALTA style!

{B+, B-, B+.}

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Struggled, but prevailed. Yay! Biggest holdup was those diamond imperfections; I was certain they were ocCLUSIONS. Bzzzzt. With __RA_ in place, SHRAM seemed to fit for that Hebrew teaching. Bzzzzt again. Both were fixed before the bell rang. Thanx, Dr. Ed and for the tour, Husker.

TOOTLE: "Oh, the drums go bang and the cymbals clang and the horns they blaze away
McCarthy pumps the old bassoon while I the pipes do play
And Henessee Tennessee tootles the flute and the music is somethin' grand
A credit to old Ireland is MacNamara's band"

SLRS: Tried to take a photo with my flip-fone yesterday. It was supposed to be a neighbor's Christmas decorations. Instead it looks like a storm-tossed sea. Maybe my finger was over the lens?

PIERRE: I plead total ignorance. My only experiences with New York City involve the two airports and the bus ride between.

TTP said...


Good morning. Thank you, Ed Sessa.

Having:
1. Ring in one's ears? - hoOP CIRCLE, and
17. Imperfections affecting diamond clarity: ocCLUSIONS
made that NW corner tough to crack.

Lots of other deceptive cluing today made for a solve that required a lot of focus.

However, there were enough of the easier answers sprinkled around to get a pretty good pace going and establish strong toeholds in each section. Then, with enough perps, I got KEEP OFF THE GRASS and CROSS AT THE -----. I wanted light, but eventually got GREEN. I'd never heard, "Cross at the green".

Some tough clue today. In particular, "Emulate Galway" which left me scratching my head. The only Galway I know is the city in Ireland. Got the answer by perps and still didn't understand it.

No idea on THE PIERRE either, but only needed the first R to complete it an TIMOROUS as my last fill.

Thanks, Husker Gary ! Your review added to the fun, and explained the unknown GALWAY.

TTP said...

D-O, I don't think we'll be alone in seclusion for our inclusions of occlusions. Surely some others made the same mistake.

Xraylfh said...

For 8 down, he is referring to the phrase "Cross at the green, not in between. " I remember it from when I was a child.

Hungry Mother said...

On my little iPad I can only see part of the grid, so I was just cruising around and all at once I was finished. Seemed way too easy with some good fill.

jfromvt said...

This was a toughie, especially the six long across answers in the NW and SE corners. But I eventually got it with some educated swags that’s turned out to be right, or else I would have been lost. I really enjoy Saturday puzzles like this - it was a daunting task, but I slowly pecked away. Thanks Ed for the challenge!

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIW, with cosin instead of COTAN and nIMOTOUS. Actually erased cosin but put it back in. Never heard of "upbraid" and was thinking of some kind of coif. I was thinking that some cities might paint their crosswalks green. Norfolk paints their lightly-used bike lanes green. Maybe they will allow walking there, since bikes and scooters have made sidewalks unwalkable.

Cultured ladies urge their partners to GO A little faster, please. The women I've danced with have just said "faster!".

Thanks to Ed for another interesting challenge, even if it was just beyond my reach. And thanks to Gary for the fun tour. My Zoe might poop on your yard, but I'll always, always clean it up.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

BTW, I got the LSAT question right without guessing. Maybe I should have taken up law instead of management.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Ed put me through my paces (not TROTS) today. Eventually got all except the SE, which was my BANE. Didn't think of TORAH, so was stuck with Rabbi. So I accepted help with TORAH and RODS, and then the rest fell in place.
Some great cluing: for CROP CIRCLE, O'ER, and some others.
Got MALTA on the first shot, and COTAN on the 2nd. Wanted Plaza for PIERRE but it was too short.

Superb puzzle, Ed, and a privilege to work on.

inanehiker said...

This one was faster than most Saturdays for me - not sure why - it felt daunting at first.
I had no idea on THE PIERRE - I wanted THE PLAZA where Eloise lived (which also overlooks Central Park) once I got the P - but it needed more letters!

WEES about the great clue for CROP CIRCLE - when it's a puzzle from Ed I know the clues will be fun. I wonder if he has a different percentage of re-clues from Rich than other constructors.

Off to cardio dance and then a community band concert at the mall that a young man from our church is playing in!

Thanks HG and Ed!

Yellowrocks said...

FIR eventually. Great puzzle, Ed. CROP CIRCLES was unexpected. Neat expo, Gary.
My first fill was RENAL, so I was not tempted by occlusions.
I had O'ER but couldn't parse it.
EVIE was new to me. I am surprised not to have heard of The Pierre. I see it's been around since the 1930's. Too rich for my purse.
TORAH, TIMOROUS, UPBRAID were helpful. I had the ---AN, so COTAN was wagged.
I love Galway's tootling, although that term seems a little inelegant for his masterful playing.
Time to vacuum and dust.

Lucina said...

Hola!

YEAH! YEAH! This was fun! Thank you, Dr. Ed!

I agree, it seemed daunting at first, but little by little I cracked it. I started with the obvious (for me) MEARA, LENA, ODIST, SKY, HEE but then it got serious and by linking some letters together I finished KEEPOFFTHEGRASS. And so it went.

BTW, I believe the Roman numerals are 1931.

Thank you for extending COTANgent. That seemed obscure.

A few days ago my screen saver (provided by Microsoft) was MALTA so luckily that emerged.

TARO was the finale in my mental debate of LUAU, PORK or LEIS.

This was not as much of a TOIL as other Saturdays. Thank you again, Ed Sessa!

And thank you, Gary, for your industrious and zealous Saturday commentary!

Have a special Saturday, everyone!

Lemonade714 said...

Dr. Ed always delivers entertainment and education. (as does Gary). I found the perps really very fair. I did not know the term INCLUSIONS as clued but CRIBS and RENAL were solid. I thought the crossing grid-spanners - STAYOFFTHEGRASS and CROSSATTHEGREEN were a mini-theme.

In the coincidence category, the firm is working on the closing of a sale of an Edgar Degas painting to an art fund from MALTA. The LSAT decided my fate when my limited vision convinced me that a poorly sighted physician was not a good idea. I taught LSAT prep courses for years while in law school, helping to finance my education. I was pleased I could still get the test question correct and understand why.

Growing up in Connecticut and visiting Manhattan most of my life made the PIERRE a gimme. It brought back memories of staying there, at the Plaza , at the SHERRY NETHERLANDS , and the ST. Moritz which is no more. Nice memories, especially as my clients were paying the bills, many great stories and of course During the sixth season of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, George and Gracie (along with their neighbors Harry and Blanche Morton and announcer Harry von Zell) stay at the St. Moritz. The Burns stay in Suite 2216.

Thank you, Ed and Gary

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

The only thing that pleases me more than seeing an Ed Sessa puzzle is seeing Ed Sessa's cute canine! This offering was a mixed bag of fun, facts and floundering, but, with P and P, the Tada came in at 31 minutes, a tad over what I consider a decent time to complete a typical Saturday puzzle. My w/os were: Edie/Evie, Aim/Use and The Dakota/The Pierre. Cotan needed perps, as did Alda and Wolfe, as clued. I liked the neighboring Taro ~ Torah and Toga ~ Roman. My favorite C/As were: Overhead expanse=Sky and Like a drunken sailor, in more ways than one?=Groggy, both examples of Ed's subtle wordplay talent. I didn't like Tootle's clue for the same reason YR stated and DO's illustration of its use in Mc Namara's Band reinforces my opinion. Tootle sounds comically corny and Mr. Galway's artistry is anything but. My two standout learning moments were the meaning of Inclusions, as used in the grid, and the Lone Ranger/Green Hornet relationship. I, too, bristled at Cross at the Green, but, as Xraylfh pointed out, it was a PSA back in the 70's. I find Crud an ugly word; actually, ugly is an ugly word.

Thanks, Dr. Ed, for a very enjoyable solve and thanks, HG, for your always welcome erudition and wit, not to mention the striking visuals and fun links. You are a superior Saturday Sherpa!

BTW, I guessed at the LSAT question and was informed that I answered it "wrongly." Does that sound rightly?

Have a great day.

Misty said...

Saturday toughie for me, but at least I got started with TROT and ODIST and PEST, and also MEARA and ROMAN and ORANG. Thanks, Ed, and Husker Gary.

Fun to see your TOOTLE verse, Desper-otto.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Ed Sessa, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker Gary, for a fine review.

1931, Husker Gary.

Puzzle went slowly, being a Saturday. Took me a couple hours.

CROP CIRCLE was new to me. I got the answer with a bunch of perps and was thinking that a CROP CIRCLE was some kind of an earring. Well, I lucked out.

INCLUSIONS was not easy. I know nothing about diamonds.

Wanted DIED for 52D. Held off until I had three perps, then I guessed at the O. Then I wondered about the LONE RANGER being the Green Hornet's great uncle. New one on me.

Thank goodness the two long answers through the center were fairly easy. That gave me a break.

MEARA was unknown, but I had five perps.

Have to leave. Off to deliver a poinsettia to one of our lodge widows. We do this each year.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

AnonymousPVX said...


MCMXXXI = 1931

“Cross at the Green, not in between” remains fixed in my mind, numerous PSAs on TV years ago.

Aren’t all the birthdays a Child’s milestone?

I also grew up in CT, but The Pierre was new to me.

Have a nice weekend.

Swagomatic said...

The Easte th third of this puzzle was very hard. Everything else was fairly smooth. Excellent cluing.

Yellowrocks said...

OKL. Oscar the soda jerk was a great one.

Ears of corn in crop circles brings this to mind. This summer we passed many fields of corn near Alan's new home. By now the fields have all been cleared except for one. Why would a field be left all winter with all the dried cornstalks still standing?

Spitz @ 9:30, I surely hope you don't go through the trots. LOL

Wendybird said...

Really tough puzzle for me, but my personal guru, AKA husband Jack, hauled me through it with hints and pantomimes until I got ‘Er done.

Many great clues. We do the puzzle in the print version of the LA Times, and there was no clue for 56 down - no one has mentioned it, so I guess everyone else has an online version?

Thanks for the workout, Ed and the wonderfully thorough explanation, Husker.

Professional Musician said...

Irish Miss said," I didn't like Tootle's clue for the same reason YR stated and DO's illustration of its use in Mc Namara's Band reinforces my opinion. Tootle sounds comically corny and Mr. Galway's artistry is anything but."

THANK YOU! Enough! already, with "toot" or "tootle" the flute, "bang" on the drums, "tickle" the "ivories", play the "licorice stick" and a "blat" from a trumpet.
How about some respect for musicians in general and especially...per wiki,
"Sir James Galway, OBE is an Irish virtuoso flute player from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Flute". He established an international career as a solo flute player. In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music at the Classic Brit Awards."

Wilbur Charles said...

I came up with a brand new term for the vacation minded: RESORToRia.
Rail at and Lina were not impossible. But...I did change ABUSE to fit with a known name ALDA.

So, like Gary, I coulda been a champ.
I had to get fancy but I did find resorts in Oria, Italy. CROP CIRCLES is in the running for clue of the month.

I'm guessing B

And a thousand is not enough

I occasionally listen to retro radio on Sirius which features Britt Reid . But LONE RANGER was still a WAG.

Eddie Haskell, great early TV PEST

All W's Owen. I found this every bit as difficult as last week. There were xword-ese footholds. The simple RESORT AREA was a master curve ball. Especially next to the CIRCLES.

Knights of Malta. Yesterday mirrored the demise of the Knights Templar Curse of the Templars

WC

Spitzboov said...

Wendybird @ 1304 - - 56d is the last clue. If your print run was out of register it might have been truncated. I do the print version and mine was printed correctly in the paper. I have had that issue on rare occasions in the past. (I call the paper and get a credit because i assert to them their product was defective.)

YR on the corn question. The cleared corn may have been silage corn where the whole stalk and ear are chopped up and stored (while still green). If the remaining corn appears untouched, the ears, only, may be picked in the coming weeks when the schedule permits. If the ground is soft, they'll wait for it to dry out more or wait for a solid frost. (Guessing at practices in NJ)

Big Easy said...

The NW fell fast even though "Guck" is a word I've never heard; just 'gunk' but CRUD was filled by solid perps. The NE was a little tougher with THE PIERRE & EVIE Sands being unknowns. Tommy Sands (Mr. Nancy Sinatra) grew up in my home town-Shreveport. TIMOROUS- I'd heard the word before but never cared to figure what it meant. Don't look forward to seeing it again.

As for the South, I knew Galway played the flute but I only knew TOOTLE-loo, as in tata. EARP & The LONE RANGER were unknowns but easy fills after a few perps. CLOYED- didn't notice it until the write up; never read the clue.

Never seen ORANGUTAN spelled as ORANG-A-TAN.

Mulligan- not allowed with the guys I play with. You blow your first drive---tough.

Yellowrocks said...

Spitz, thanks for answering. The season is long over in NJ. The weather is getting wetter with snow and rain. The corn stalks would have been dry months ago. I have lived in or near farm country in PA and NJ all my life and have never seen this, as far as I can recall.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Not a bad Saturday outing for me but Technical DNF. Resorted to Google for a few names. Eg. OSCAR & LENA, which were needed to see CROP CIRCLES(?) Oh. Cute.
//Tinnitus was right out [yeah, I had to Google the spelling for that too :-)]

I had other misSTEPs in thought: Neither Zeros for round numbers [sic] and Muscle had nothing to do with Vinnie 'The Knee' Boombah. So, um, a little CRIB from HG's grid in the NE was required for extra-play.
//Oh, and poor-man's red-letters to fix CoatED for "laid it on thick"

Thanks Ed for a fine puzzle. Thanks HG for an informative review.

Fav: TOGA next to ROMAN.
Runner-up: Key (Francis Scott, 1EA) preposition. That was hilarious when the penny finally dropped.

How I knew Green Hornet / LONE RANGER relationship, I won't know. Misspent youth?

{A+, A, B+}

D-O: Thank you for the TOOTLE(?) Lyrics. I had to LIU. This it? Bouncy.

Jinx - Good thing I stuck w/ tech. I took the LSAT Q scientifically-logical and flunked.

Late to the MCMXXXI quiz but, YEAH, 1931 - When in Italy, gazing at buildings & statues, I dazzled DW with my quick sussing of ROMAN numerals. #TwelveStations #Catholic #PartyTrick :-)

Spitz - If I reported every misprint in my paper, I'd be free :-)

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Oh, forgot to ask...
BigE - where'd you go to HS in Shreveport? I'm guessing Cap'n Shreve [DW's alma mater]. I went CROSS-town at C.E. Byrd. -T

JIMMY VAN said...

I get the printed edition because I live near LA. There was no clue for 56D but the crosses work out, even though I couldn't believe that the Lone Ranger was related to the Green Hornet!

desper-otto said...

Anon-T, I never heard that particular version, but yup, that's the song.

The LAT crossword is carried in many dailies nationwide. I solved it on paper in the Houston Barnacle, and the clue for 56d was included.

Ol' Man Keith said...


Pickett's Charge wasn't just over "open ground." I remember being shocked (shocked, do you hear?!) when I visited Gettysburg, many years ago, to see that this infamous charge was all uphill into the face of the Union artillery.
What was Lee drinking that day?
It was the "high water mark" of the Confederacy, and they blew it. Was it hubris? Did they really think they could rout the Northern forces?
At least Lee accepted blame for poor leadership that day. "All this has been my fault...it is I who have lost this fight, and you must help me out the best way you can."
~ OMK

Jayce said...

I loved this puzzle. So perfectly constructed. Challenging yet solvable and fun and interesting. Terrific cluing!
I learned that The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger are related and that Wyatt Earp had been a boxing referee.
I also learned that Malta is 122 square miles in area, but I doubt I'll remember that.
Good wishes to you all.

Bill G said...

I liked this Saturday themeless puzzle more than most. Thanks Ed and Gary.

Have there ever been two football teams that were duller to watch than Army and Navy? I switched to a rerun of Dirty Jobs.

Concerned Citizen said...

What happened to fermatprime?

Alice said...

FIW, but had fun doing so. Wonderful clues, but difficult. Hand up for ocCLUSIONS. Never heard of the PIERRE. I really have to become familiar with Ben Stiller's mother' name since MEARA shows up frequently. I knew RODS, COTAN, RENAL, POLES, LENA, ODIST, and enough others to finish, with a few errors.

I didn't have the 56 down clue in my print version of LAT today either.

Big Easy said...

Anon-T, Byrd or Capt. Shreve?? NO. That was the side of town that had MONEY, new cars in the parking lot, and where all the politicians' children went to HS.

No, I went to the used pickup truck parking lot school,politically incorrect Fair Park INDIANS, which beat Byrd in football all three years I went there. Our QB, John Miller, was a two-time All State player. Who was runner up to John? None other than one Terry Bradshaw from Woodlawn. Byrd had the tennis and track state champs.

We always saluted the Byrd Yellow jackets with "the bird".

Lucina said...

What a lively exchange today! I was gone most of the afternoon for the Book Club ornament exchange. We had lunch then the program. Such fun!

My newspaper had 56D printed but occasionally that last clue does get missed.

CrossEyedDave said...

Just a CED view,

Pickets Charge...

to condense 11:58, let's just say it was a mess...

Bobbi said...

I blame the difficulty of this entry on Norris and Lewis, the editors. In the LAT paper there was no def for 56D and COTAN is NEVER used in Trig classes according to my HS Math teacher friend. We both looked it up in several textbooks and ....NADA. Shouldda realized the punnery of this entry by 1Across CROPCIRCLE!?!? Clever clue. Only had to peek three times ... a good sign for me!!!

SwampCat said...

DNF...too rich for my blood! But thanks Ed. And HG for the expo.

Owen, all As all week!

Joe Burrow (Burreau?) just won the Heisman. He cried. Coach Orgeron cried. A good time was had by all

Maybe now the brain dead national sports reporters will learn to pronounce the name of LSU’s coach!!

Anonymous said...


Are you talking about LSU Coach Ogrebon ?

Spitzboov said...

I wasn't fond of COTAN either. But it is a Trig function; just not used by anyone that I know of. Tangents work just fine. The clue did not invoke HS.

SwampCat said...

Anon @ 8:32. Yes. Coach Ed Orgeron at LSU.

SwampCat said...

Coach Oeaux was Joe Burrows coach at LSU. And he just won the Heisman!

Anonymous T said...

BigE - when I went to Byrd ('86-'88) it was the "Neba'Hood Skool" though there were some Rich Kids that went there too [Shreve had the coke problem, just weed @Byrd] Terry put LA Tech (my undergrad alma mater) on the map. Cheers! -T

Michael said...

Speaking of CED's entry @ 7:42 about Pickett's Charge, an interesting new book about the aftermath of Gettysburg, Lee's retreat back into Virginia, and Meade's failure to fix him and finish him, was recently published.

"Lee is Trapped and Must be Taken:...", by Thomas Ryan and Richard Schaus, ISBN 978-1-61121459-8, a quite interesting read.