google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, December 31, 2019 Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke

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Dec 31, 2019

Tuesday, December 31, 2019 Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke

I Triple Dog Dare Ya.  Each of the theme answers begins with a triple letter.




18-Across. Remote control insert: AAA BATTERY.

26-Across. Grievance filed with a consumer protection org.: BBB COMPLAINT.  Better Business Bureau.

49-Across. Spec for a large loafer: EEE SHOE-WIDTH.

63-Across. Firefox or Chrome: WWW BROWSER.  World Wide Web.

Across:
1. "In Her Shoes" actress Cameron: DIAZ.  Cameron Diaz (née Cameron Michelle Diaz; b. Aug. 30, 1972) is an American actress who began her career as a model.  In Her Shoes was a 2005 movie about a irresponsible party girl (Diaz) who is mistaken for her sister who is an attorney and nearly unrails her sister's career.


5. "__ Flanders": Defoe novel: MOLL.  Moll Flanders is a 1722 novel by Daniel Defoe (1660 ~ 1731) of Robinson Crusoe fame.  Moll Flanders is supposedly based on the life of Moll King, a strong-willed criminal.  Probably not on my "to-be-read" list of books.

9. Dethrones: OUSTS.

14. With the bow, to a violist: ARCO.  The perps gave me this answer.

15. Furniture giant: IKEA.  This furniture company was founded by Ingvar Kamprad (né Feodor Ingvar Kamprad; Mar. 30, 1926 ~ Jan. 27, 2018).  I visited the Ikea store in Houston once.  It's huge.  Didn't buy anything, though.


16. Still standing, as a bowling pin: UNHIT.


17. Like worn tires: BALD.  //  And 12-Down. Corvette quartet: TIRES.  A bit of a duplication here.

20. Like waterlogged sneakers: SQUISHY.

22. "Love It or List It" option: REMODEL.  Apparently Love It or List It is a Canadian home design television show.  I am not familiar with this show, so the answer revealed itself through the perps.

23. Pie __ mode: À LA.   Pie à la mode.  Yummers!


24. Inoculation fluids: SERA.

25. Chicago-to-Indianapolis dir.: SSE.  As in South SouthEast.

31. Source of iron: ORE.

32. Palindromic supermodel: EMME.  My first thought was Elle Macpherson, an Australian model.  The correct answer, however, was Emme (née Melissa Owens Miller; b. June 30, 1963).  She is considered a Plus-Size model, meaning, she's built more like people we all known and love.


33. Sevilla's country: ESPAÑA.  Today's Spanish lesson.


37. Has a bug: AILS.

39. Tally: SUM.  I initially tried Add.

41. Brawl souvenir: SCAR.


42. Come back: RETURN.

45. Lemonlike: TART.  Is this a CSO to our Lemonade?  I wouldn't say he is tart, though.

48. PC "oops" key: ESC.  As in the Escape key.

52. Mover's transport: VAN.  I guess they aren't good at counting.  It looks like more than 2 men to me.


55. Brewpub lineup: TAPS.


56. Wrestler's goal: PIN.

57. The tiniest bit: ONE IOTA.

59. As you like it, foodwise: TO TASTE.

65. Renegade on the road: JEEP.


66. Suffer defeat: EAT IT.

67. First in line: NEXT.

68. Fronton game word: ALAI.  A Fronton is the walled court used in playing Jai Alai.  We often see Jai Alai in the puzzles, but Fronton doesn't appear as often.


69. Smeltery refuse: DROSS.

70. Pre-coll. exams: SATs.  These tests, given to High School students, were originally called Scholastic Aptitude Tests.  They were later renamed the Scholastic Assessment Tests, now are simply called SATs.

71. Latin Grammy winner Anthony: MARC.  Marc Anthony (né Marco Antonio Muñiz; b. Sept. 16, 1968) is probably best known for being one of the husbands of Jennifer Lopez.


Down:
1. Applies gently: DABS.

2. Saudi Arabia neighbor: IRAQ.  Saudia Arabia has many neighbors.  Two even have the requisite number of letters to fit this clue.


3. Rights org. since 1920: ACLU.  As in the American Civil Liberties Union.  Next month the ACLU will celebrate its 100 anniversary.  It was founded on January 19, 1920.

4. Astrological sign system: ZODIAC.


5. Soccer great who co-founded Athletes for Hope: MIA HAMM.  Mia Hamm (née Mariel Margaret Hamm; b. Mar. 17, 1972) is a two-time Olympic gold medalist.


6. "Works for me": OKAY.

7. "Orange Is the New Black" actress DeLaria: LEA.  I have never seen Orange is the New Black, nor have I heard of Lea DeLaria (b. May 23, 1958), an actress and comedian.  Orange is the New Black is about female prisoners.  It is based on the memoir of the same name by Piper Kerman, which describes her experiences in her year spent in a federal prison for money laundering.  Apparently, the prisoners don't always wear orange on the show.


8. Tar pits locale: LA BREA.  All together, now:  La Brea Tar Pit is redundant.

9. Overwhelms by sheer numbers: OUT-MANS.

10. Golden rule preposition: UNTO.  Do unto others ...

11. Storage structures: SHEDS.  I initially tried Silos.  Poor Sheryl's She-Shed is afire.



13. Fashion sense: STYLE.

19. High-altitude home: AERIE.  I learned this word from doing the crossword puzzles.  It used to appear very frequently for the puzzles.


21. __ gin fizz: SLOE.  Everything you wanted to know about Sloe Gin, including a recipe.

24. Holmes and Poirot: SLEUTHS.  The former is Sherlock Holmes created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the latter is Hercule Poirot created by Dame Agatha Christie.


26. Animal that sounds dull: BOAR.  They can be very destructive.


27. Puff pastry cheese: BRIE.  Brie in a puff pastry makes a great appetizer.

28. Karate skill award: BELT.  The colors of the Karate Belt explained.

29. Some govt. heads: PMs.  As in Prime Ministers.

30. Adorns with Charmin, for short: TPs.  Toilet Papering someone's house is a big prank for some high school kids.

34. Scored 100 on: ACED.

35. Tweed's caricaturist: NAST.  As in Thomas Nast (Sept. 27, 1940 ~ Dec. 7, 1902).  Although he was born in Germany, Thomas Nast is considered the Father of the American Cartoon.  He created many political cartoons, especially of Boss Tweed during the 1870s.  It is appropriate to see him to day because he is also credited with creating the modern version of Santa Claus.
Santa is on the Right.

36. Gothic window feature: ARCH.


38. Go after in court: SUE.

40. Chinese leader who hosted Nixon: MAO.  Nixon in China is a modern opera inspired by President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China when he met with Chairman Mao.


43. Quick comebacks: RETORTS.  Am not!  Are too!

44. "How cool!": NEAT-O.

46. School assignments: REPORTS.

47. Annoying sort: TWIT.

50. Gives rise to: SPAWNS.

51. Up the creek: IN A JAM.


52. Made a solemn promise: VOWED.


53. Sadat of Egypt: ANWAR.  Anwar Sadat (né Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat; Dec. 25, 1918 ~ Oct. 6, 1981) was the 3rd President of Egypt.  He served as President from October 1970 until his assassination 11 years later.  In 1973, he led Egypt into the Yom Kippur War against Israel.  A few years later, he became the first Arab leader to visit Israel and worked for peace between the two countries.  In 1978, he and Menachem Began shared the Nobel Peace Prize.  Sadly, he was assassinated from within his army at age 62.


54. Not familiar with: NEW TO.

58. Sacred wading bird of ancient Egypt: IBIS.


59. Thumb-typist's message: TEXT.

60. Ward of "CSI: NY": SELA.  Sela Ward (née Sela Ann Ward; b. July 11, 1956) also appeared for one season on the current FBI.



61. Rip: TEAR.


62. Sweeping story: EPIC.

64. Briny expanse: SEA.



Here's the Grid:


I wish each and every one of you a very Happy 2020!


QOD:  Every age gets the lunatics it deserves.  ~  Roy Porter (né Roy Sydney Porter; Dec. 31, 1946 ~ Mar. 3, 2002), British medical historian






42 comments:

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR. Nice, well-behaved puzzle to end the year. Thanks to Gail and Bruce, and to Hahtoolah for the fun review.

Erased ales for TAPS.

Looks like IRAQ may end up in a hostage situation, A LA Iran.

DNK MARC or LEA, and only knew ARCO from crosswords.

Hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve, and a better 2020.

FLN: PK, a wizened friend of mine once told me that "a woman is only as old as she feels. And a man is only as old as the women he feels." I used to tell him that when he chases women it reminds me of a dog chasing a car. If it catches it, he can't drive.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

No Wite-Out required this morning, and d-o managed to get the theme, so he's finishing out the year in STYLE. Not sure I've ever seen SQUISHY in a cw. UNHIT is awkward. Nice outing, GG and BV. Hahtoolah, thanx for the tour. (Your IBIS appears to be a little under the weather.)

SLEUTH: From my ute, this was the name of the Hardy Boys' motor launch.

REMODEL: Love It Or List It is a formula show on HGTV. Hilary promises to give the couple a remodel that provides everything they want...but she's never able to do it all. David, meanwhile, takes the couple around looking for the ideal home to buy, and he finds one that meets all their needs. At the end of the hour the couple has to decide whether they're going to love their current remodeled home, or list it.

BOAR: After a woman was killed by a feral hog in Chambers County, east of us, folks in The Woodlands, west of us, are declaring war on their feral hog population. Haven't seen any here in a couple of years. They can really tear up a lawn!

jfromvt said...

I’m up early and zipped through this standard easy Tuesday puzzle.

Happy New Year everyone!

inanehiker said...

Easy theme - although I first thought it was going to be the first four letters in the alphabet after the first two were AAA and BBB, but they WERE alphabetical from top to bottom!

Off to work - but only a half day!
Happy New Year's Eve to all!

Thanks to Susan - lots of fun pics! and to Gail&Bruce!

TTP said...



Good morning.

Fun little puzzle that even even all the half empty commenters shouldn't complain about. Thank you too, Hahtoolah. Fun review as well.

Of course I keyed in WEB BROWSER without thinking about the theme. Worked ok for VOWED but not ANWAR.

I like the word SQUISHY. I also don't think I've ever seen it in a puzzle. We had a creek that ran through our property in Ohio. It went underground for about 30 to 40 yards before it reemerged. Pretty neat. After heavy rains, part of it was always really squishy to walk on. It was like walking on a waterbed.

I filed a BBB COMPLAINT against GM in the mid 80s and it went to arbitration. GM paid for the replacement of the transmission in my Pontiac Grand Prix. They paid for a ton of replacements across the US. It was SOP to file the complaint and then GM would, for all intents and purposes, rubber stamp the agreement to pay.

Time to get cooking. Hope there's some football on TV today.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Needed a small modicum of white-out in the NE. I had silos before SHEDS. A brief touch-and-go in the SE: thought it might be Naticked, but then the light went on with TO TASTE, and WAGged MARC which gave me EPIC, JEEP and the rest. Guess I was looking for a deeper meaning on the 3 letter theme prefixes, but I'll take it. I always enjoy Gail and Bruce puzzles.

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Gail and Bruce, and Hahtoolah (I'm not touching that QOD!).
I FIRed in good time and saw the triple letter theme. (Like inanehiker, I was looking for CCC to follow AAA and BBB.) I wondered if this might be a pangram but I cannot find an F or a G (seems strange as these are more common than Z, Q, X, J, which do appear).

My tires were Bare before BALD, and I had Sour before TART.
I searched for 4 of the same letters in Corvette for the quartet, then wondered whether it was a car or a boat. I actually missed the TIRES dupe.
I waited for perps to decide between Silos, Barns or SHEDS.

Hand up for not knowing Fronton and waiting for perps to reveal ALAI. I learned Jai Alai in my early years of CW solving. I think I learned ARCO the same way.

Canada and other Commonwealth countries follow the British lead with a PM as government head. We currently have PM Trudeau (the younger). (Jinx, we do have an Embassy in Baghdad with ambassador Ulric Shannon. Hopefully we don't have to reprise Argo.)

More Canadian content today with Love It or List It REMODEL. It started in the Toronto area, but has expanded to Vancouver, UK, Australia, Quebec.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year's Eve day.

Lucina said...

Hola!

Surprise! A puzzle that starts with a Spanish surname is fine with me! Thank you, Gail and Bruce. What a nice, easy way to end the year.

I also thought the triple letters would be alphabetical but it's a clever theme, nonetheless. Thank you, Susan, for the illuminating narrative and cute graphics.

My niece's husband received a long sleeved MARC Anthony t-shirt for Christmas; it's soft and comfortable according to him.

SHEDS immediately brought that State Farm commercial to mind.

Be safe tonight, everyone!

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-AAA, BBB, I immediately thought of Civilian Conservation Corps or 300 Roman soldiers
-My Christmas-decorating bride buys at least 100 BATTERIES in December
-ARCO is bowing and Pizzicato is plucking
-An UNHIT/UNBLOCKED pass rusher is a QB’s worst nightmare
-SQUISHY supporters just aren’t really sure
-E _ M _ palindrome. Hmmm, I wonder what it could be?
-Aristotle – “The whole is greater than the SUM of its parts”
-PIN seekers at our city’s Midland University
-Houses built with triple garages are replacing SHEDS in my neighborhood
-“If you’re ever: - In a JAM, here I am, In a mess, S-O-S, Up a tree, phone to me, Down a well, Ring my bell”

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I always enjoy Gail and Bruce's puzzles and this was no exception, but I missed their usual word play and tricky themes; this was pretty straightforward, with an easy theme that was obvious early on. My only unknown was Lea (never saw that show), and my tires, like CEh's were bare before bald. As Hatollah pointed out, Tires appeared in the grid and in a clue, as did Pin. Perhaps the no-no duplicate rule is becoming passé. Only saw one duo, Arch and Arco and only one nose-wrinkler, Unhit. Thought of Boomer and TTP with Taps next to Pin.

Thanks, Gail and Bruce, for ending our year with ease and thanks, Hatoolah, for the fun graphics and links. I liked seeing Sela Ward who I so enjoyed in her FBI role. Her replacement is fine but I preferred Sela's understated, measured portrayal.

A neighbor (92 going on 60!) invited me and some others over tonight for drinks and snacks. I doubt I'll see Midnight, but you never know!

Stay safe everyone and enjoy the New Year's Eve festivities! 🎉🎈🍾

Wilbur Charles said...

Although criticized, I concluded that exams in college are often retakes of the SAT's eg ability to do multiple choice

But not Iran. I didn't know there was no border until I saw that map. Oran is the other border State.

Mia married Nomar, who was an All-American soccer star at Georgia Tech

I just loaned out my "Annotated Sherlock Holmes". From this blog 7/5/18: "In The Adventure of the Abbey Grange the Inspector thinks Sherlock's"methods" unusual. Holmes replies"But they did result in finding the silver" The Inspector allows himself to be convinced that the Silver was a RED HERRING. I'd better re-read the story.(The term Lastrade used was "blind")*

"RETORTS. Am not! Are too!", Neener,neener. (Sat)

I too had problems in the SE beginning with POT LUCK then IN A RUT going down. I finally grok'ed that the "Renegade" was an auto(JEEP) and not a Ford. I knew the Fronton (Jai)ALAI connection but thought they were looking for the thingy the whosis hits with the whatsis.**

WC

** In the LIU the ref(url) was to my post on 7/5/18. I reread and ironically it was the day us jumblers overdid it, a troll complained and we lost Chairman Moe.

Jai Alai. The "player" hits the "pelota" with his "basket".

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thanks Gail and Bruce for a fun puzzle. Like HG, I was thinking "What'cha' gonna do for C and D? Either of them dealing with BRAs?"
Curiosity leads me to ask - was this puzzle highly edited after submission? I notice PIN UNHIT and Wrestled down; Tires dupe that Hathtoolah called out, and SHOE in both EEE size and "In Her's" @1a. My guess is the only way dupes are missed is by copious tweaking.

Thanks Hahtoolah for the enjoyable illustrated expo.
I go to that same IKEA when I want to get cheap kitchen tools like tongs and cutting boards [you can never have too many of either!]
Of course, I usually walk out with about $100 of other stuff I didn't intend on buying :-)

WO: N/A
ESPs: ARCO, MOLL, LEA, EMME [I know what a palindrome is :-)], ALEI
Fav: I like the parallel RETORT | REPORT but TWIT is always fun [Monty Python - 4:20]

On the way to work yesterday, I noticed Smart Financial Centre's marque and made a mental note: MARC w/ a C.
More serendipity, you ask? Eldest plans to make Baked Brie for tonight's 2020-eve party.

C, Eh! - I thought of you and your PM Trudeau. Re: Iraq Embassy - My Army bro is supposed to be home from Kuwait at the end of the month. I purchased tickets last night for a flight up to see him. I get a text this morning - "Did you see the news? May be a change in plans." I just added "insurance" to my tickets.

TTP - so ILU. Seems we've had SQUISHY in clues (Squishy lowland: FEN; Squishy lump: GLOB; Squishy Hasbro toy: KOOSH BALL; Squishy area: MIRE - you get the idea) but not as an answer. 'Course, I may have over looked something in 3 pages of results.

Cheers, -T

Wilbur Charles said...

BTW, The days of "Thumb typing" texts is passe thanks to Smartphones and autocorrect (shudder). This "improvement" is the demise of texting while driving (which is effective, midnight tonight in FLA). Once proficient, one could thumb text without looking at the phone using 1 tap for A, two for B etc

Some teenage girl could knockout 60-80 words per minute using that method. And of course all the Lol's, omg's and the new/old texting vocab.

BTW, I had to reedit autocorrect several times in those two paragraphs.

WC

AnonymousPVX said...

Nice end of year puzzle, no issues.

Nice to be back home.

Happy New Year !

Wilbur Charles said...

"Of course, I usually walk out with about $100 of other stuff I didn't intend on buying :-)".

Not to speak of an order of Swedish Meatballs"

WC

Anonymous said...

FLN

Forgot two of my favorites:

Robert B Parker (deceased, but the series go on)
Louis L'Amour (also deceased, but his stories live on, especially The Last of the Breed)

KerryS_in_Carefree

Ron in LA said...

Re: 12 down,doesn't that apply to all cars not just a Corvette ?

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke, for a fine puzzle.

Did this on paper via L A Times site. Cruciverb was out to lunch.

Puzzle went through easily. Caught the theme after I was finished.

My only inkblot was writing in WEB at 63A instead of WWW. Fixed that later after ANWAR.

EMME was unknown, but as a palindrome I had it after the EM.

BELT. My daughter has a black one, from her teenage years. She really liked Karate.

Anyhow, lots to do. See you tomorrow. Happy New Year's Eve. My wife has to work tonight until 10:00. b We will celebrate a little after that. I may start early.

Abejo

( )

Abejo said...

Thank you, Hahtoolah, for a fine review. Don't know how I forgot you. You are the best!

Abejo

Yellowrocks said...

Happy New Year to all. I plan to do nothing this evening, except finish my novel and do paper work tomorrow. I have had a busy satisfying two weeks. I need quiet time now. On Saturday, Alan and I will celebrate New Year's by going out to breakfast with a long time friend of more than 30 years.
I enjoyed the puzzle which I completed at the luncheonette. When I arrived home I forgot to look for the theme. I believe I hit every one of the erasable words: Web/www, silos/sheds, Elle/Emme,
Yesterday I accidentally switched my Kindle keyboard to thumb typing. Good old Mr. Google helped me out.
I did like the pun: animal that sounds dull/ boar.
L'Amour is one of my favorite authors. I have enjoyed many of his Westerns. I have always been fascinated by the westward movement of the pioneers. But my favorite is the historical novel, The Walking Drum.
I have spent hours today looking for an inexpensive 4G flip phone for Alan. He does not use text or data. 4G phones are expensive. Many are locked and usable only with a specific carrier. Alan is rough on phones. Rugged phones are expensive, too. When Alan scrambled his phone we were sent two replacement phones which barely (rarely) worked. I find the carriers are great if your phone can be fixed, but not when your phone is not fixable. P&P is being tested.

desper-otto said...

YR, if Alan doesn't use text or data, why do you need 4G? You can get a Consumer Cellular flip phone for $30 and get 250 minutes/month for $14.25 or unlimited minutes for $19.

Tinbeni said...

HAPPY NEW YEAR ... I've already "Toasted" 4 times.

Hahtoolah: Wonderful, informative write-up. Good job!

CHEERS!!!

Misty said...

Delightful Tuesday puzzle--many thanks, Gail and Bruce, and Happy New Year to You. Also, great pictures, as always, Susan--thank you too, and have a great end of the year.

Got DIAZ and MOLL instantly--a fun way to start a puzzle. Only I put in CAR BATTERY before those odd BBB and EEE beginnings turned up and I figured out the theme. The IRA answers usually end in N--but when I checked to see if Q might possibly would work, SQUISHY popped right up, and made me laugh--fun clue and answer. Had ELLE before I fixed it with EMME. Couldn't imagine what word might end in DTH--oh, WIDTH, of course. Anyway, lots of fun and a perfect puzzle for ending the year. Thanks again, Bruce, Gail, and Susan.

And I wish everyone a wonderful and more joyful 2020 coming up!

Picard said...

I was hoping there was more to the theme than random tripled letters. Hand up I liked SQUISHY. Hand up for WEB BROWSER before getting the theme.

The top center looked like a repeat of Monday's disaster with a block of crossed proper names: MOLL, MIA HAMM, LEA, EMME. Fortunately, we have seen MIA HAMM before which saved it for me.

Here are my photos and a video of the LA BREA TAR PITS spanning several decades. I have shared this once before

From yesterday:
There is a difference between "crunchy" and blocks of crossed proper names. To me, "crunchy" means that it challenges the solver to be creative. Blocks of crossed proper names just seem unfair. Feel free to disagree. I just find it interesting that the "easy days" like Monday seem to have more of this than the "harder days".

CanadianEh thanks for following up! Yes, I emailed you back yesterday. Sorry for the long delay!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Bill G said...

Anonymous,

Thanks for your list of favorite authors. Robert B. Parker and Louis L'Amour are old favorites of mine too.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle. I love the word SQUISHY also. There's a commercial on TV where what looks like a bunch of executives in a meeting all talk in high squeaky voices in praise of Haribo candy and one of them says something like "and it's so squishy." One of the rare commercials that makes me smile. The She-shed commercial kinda annoys me, though it was sorta funny the first time.

I also wrinkled my nose at UNHIT and also had never heard of Lea DeLaria.

I liked the clues for ORE, TO TASTE, BOAR, and JEEP.

Love the cartoon of the bald tire demanding the Rogaine.

Please be safe tonight, everyone.

Lucina said...

Bill G:
You might like Martha Grimes, too. Her RICHARD JURY novels are especially good, IMHO.

CrossEyedDave said...

Did the puzzle early,
But must claim a DNF as I had the red letters on,
And got stuck at the crossing of emme(pms....

What was fun was for the 1st time the alphabet run
Of the palindrome did not send me all over the puzzle .

I click on A, & it sends me next door, where I try B,
& it sends me next door where I try C, & it sends me next door
Where I try D...

This actually made my day, not having to fiddle with the puzzle commands.
I was actually sad when I got to M...

Oh well,
DW went to the beach, while I went fishing,
She reported they installed porta potties, & I thought
Great to have while drinking wine while watching the sunset.

Then she reported they are having fireworks!
Oh nuts! Won't be able to park within 10 blocks of othe beach!

Sheesh, my fav fireworks was wine while watching the s8nset..

Anonymous said...

D-O, the phone you linked is a 4G compatible phone.

3g for Verizon is being eliminated today

Ol' Man Keith said...

"Fast away the old year passes, fa la la la l-aah!"

IKEA, eh? I have bought things at IKEA, but cannot remember what. They are probably still underfoot (or under rumps....).

Tonight will probably be one of the quietest nights of our year, sitting and watching other folk having the sort of frantic fun we once thought essential...
Ah, we have it made.

2020--what a wonderfully round number! Hurrah!
~ OMK
____________
DR:
A 3-way on the near end.
The main diag offers a reference to military practice conducted in terrain-appropriate garb, a...
"CAMMIE DRILL"!

Hungry Mother said...

Not mush resistance here today in spite of dozing off while typing after last night's red-eye from Vegas to Miami. I liked the there and it helped somewhat. Last puzzle of the year for me.

Yuman said...


I would like to have a nice New Year’s Eve, but the idiots around here shoot off loud fire works and guns, some of it semi-automatic. The newspaper and tv have run PSA how scary this is for pets, folks with PTSD, kids with ADHD etc. but every year it gets worse. It’s all illegal but the police are overwhelmed.
I hope all of you have a healthy, happy New Year!

WikWak said...

Thanks to Gail/Bruce and Hatoolah for easing the old year out smoothly. Abejo has already mentioned that Cruciverb didn’t have the puzzle for the 2nd day in a row (but today they DID have yesterday’s puzzle). As a result I was forced to do it on the LA Times’ WWW site, which I really don’t like.

Hand up for silo before SHED and web before WWW.

I liked the misdirection for TIRES. I was thinking “hmmm... TTOPS?”.

Wilbur Charles @ 10:31 — I’m with you all the way. Autocorrect has become my worst enema.

I’ll just see myself out. Happy New Year everyone!

Irish Miss said...

Jayce @ 1:49 ~ I, too, get a kick out of that Haribo commercial, too. Thumbs down on the She-Shed, and my vote for the latest, most annoying ad is the "Struggling actor" who needs all the help he can get, tripping, stumbling, mangling, Liberty Mutual's name; he's even more annoying than Doug and LiMu, if that's possible.

Lucinda @ 1:59 ~ I, too, liked the Richard Jury novels, comically enhanced by the Melrose Plant and Aunt Agatha characters, IIRC. I always found it interesting that Martha Grimes, an American, wrote so convincingly about all things British. I also liked P. D. James's Inspector Adam Daglaish (sp) procedurals. On the lighter side of the dark side of the criminal element, I liked the Lawrence Sanders series with Archie CNally and, of course, Sue Grafton's alphabet series with Kinsey Millhone.

Irish Miss said...

My New Year's resolution is to proof read more carefully. One too too many in the first sentence and Archie is Mr. Mc Nally. Sorry.

Yellowrocks said...

We have had it with Consumer Cellular. Boo hiss
They only guarantee their phones for 45 days. Their replacement phones barely work. We had two bad ones in two months. That is all they allow within one year. We are sure the replacements were poorly refurbished returned phones. If your phone doesn't work, their only solutions are remove and replace the battery and do a hard reset. That might get the phone working for a couple hours or a couple days. Then they claim they did their duty. The only recourse is to try these same moves again and again.No better phone is provided.

For myself, I am a Verizon customer. My 3G phone is grandfathered for all of 2020. Today I asked to have it reset to Alan's number. No, that removes the grandfather clause. New activations are 4G only. I got a free smart phone today as a loyalty reward. I bought a flip phone for Alan and added him to my service plan for no more than he was paying Consumer Cellular. I am happy, but I am so afraid he will drop the new phone and scramble it again.

TTP said...


Dash T, I didn't even remember seeing squishy a clue.


The other formula part of the "Love It or List It" is that the couple are always at odds as to whether to sell or remodel. I like the program. Among other things, you see plenty of design and decor possibilities.


Irish Miss, I had "even" back to back in my comments. It probably rubbed off on you. I chuckle at the Struggling Actor commercial. The actor playing the inept actor nails the character, and I love when the director says with an exasperated voice, "Cut, we'll dub it !"


WikWak, too funny !



I waited, thinking surely someone would object to 16A, Still standing, as a bowling pin: UNHIT.

It doesn't happen all that often, but I've personally seen it in league play a few times, and I'm confident Boomer has seen it in person as well.

There are a number of videos on the interweb. Here's one:
PBA Professional Bill O'Neill doesn't get the strike

Anonymous T said...

WikWak - TTP hit on it but I could only think of TMBG's Own Worst Enemy. Funny, you.

Anyone listen to NPR's All Things Considered today? They did they whole debate (that we had yesterday) on 'is it a new decade?" / there's no year zero.'
They ended the kerfuffle with "if Prince says it's the end of a Millennium that settles it." :-)

I'm getting a nap b/f festivities get started. If I don't wake/post in time...

Here's wishing all y'all's best day in '19 is your worst of '20.

Cheers, -T

Wilbur Charles said...

-T, they're actually the same thing, no?

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Lotsa mistakes this last night of a new decade.

Spelled WWWBROWSER with a "z" (rhymes with bowzer)

New to instead of NEWAT.

All corrected..but..Stubbornly stood by "Elle" even though 5D made no sense so FIW.

Why should Marc Antony get a Latin award? As an ancient Roman it's his native tongue!!

Although I'm not BALD..I'm kind of SQUISHY. Time for my annual never-kept-more-than-a-month resolutions to hit the gym 3 times a week, OUST desserts and stop being a "large loafer"

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Gail, Bruce and Susan!

Have been so busy with Word Solitaire so haven't been working xwords. Also have troubles with blood pressure and brain not working very well.

No problems with this puzzle.

oc4beach said...


I hope it is a great New Year for all.