google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, January 30th 2020 Dan Margolis

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Jan 30, 2020

Thursday, January 30th 2020 Dan Margolis

Theme: That's that - the theme entries are clued literally with a description of each one:

20A. "That's fine": POWDERED SUGAR. Very fine indeed. The Brits call it icing sugar, also known as confectioner's sugar in these parts.

27A. "That's all folks": THE HUMAN RACE. This was my first theme solve which put on the right wavelength. I noticed the missing comma from the Looney Tunes hook line. Very nice cluing.


49A. "That's not the point": PENCIL ERASER. I seem to use all the eraser before I've used all of the pencil which probably says more about my inaccuracy than the design of the pencil. I've got stand-alone backups.

58A. "That's rich": CHOCOLATE CAKE. Chocolate and kale in the same puzzle - as I said last week why do I crave chocolate, and not kale?

So, a nice theme and .... and? The fill is pretty sluggish, there's not a lot to admire. A workmanlike puzzle, but too many obscure names for me and too many throwaway entries to get too much enthusiastic about. It's a shame because there were some great clues for an otherwise dull fill. Let's go explore!

Across:

1. Healthful berry: ACAI. It could be GOJI so wait for a cross to confirm.

5. Sommelier's concern: NOSE. Why don't we just say "this wine has a fine smell?" A sommelier's nose could also be an asset.

9. San Antonio cagers: SPURS

14. Bananas: LOCO. Crazy like a ... chicken? I like El Pollo Loco's grilled chicken.

15. "... the __ blackness of the floors": Poe: EBON

16. "The Fox and the Grapes" storyteller: AESOP

17. Dutch cheese: EDAM

18. Way to go: ROAD

19. Queen's milieu: DRAMA. Drama queen. This one made me smile.

23. Get going: HOP TO

25. "Knives Out" Golden Globe nominee de Armas: ANA. Thank you, crosses. I'm not familiar with the movie and checking her credits on IMDb, I've not seen any of the movies she's appeared in.


26. Lansing-to-Flint dir.: ENE

32. 1960s chess champ Mikhail: TAL. Crosses to the aid again. I'm sure chess enthusiasts will know all about this gentleman, but a little before my chess-conscious time.

33. Mustard family member: KALE

34. They're tapped: KEGS

37. Bundle: PILE

39. On the money: RIGHT

42. Kentucky coach with 876 victories: RUPP. I went with RUUP first for no good reason, which made SUREE look a little strange. Easily fixed. Legendary basketball, fifth on the all-time wins list.

44. Foolhardy: RASH

46. __ avis: RARA. "Rare bird". I learned this from crosswords past, thankfully, as it helped with the crossing proper names.

48. Mex. title: SRA. Señora (from Sonora!)

53. Withdrawal site: ATM

56. Carnival city: RIO

57. Words before "so sue me": I LIED

63. Polynesian language: MAORI

64. Sitar music: RAGA. Here's a raga mix of "Uptown Funk"; you just cannot watch it without smiling!

65. Yemen's Gulf of __: ADEN

68. Conclude with: END ON

69. Indicator: SIGN

70. Feet-first race: LUGE

71. Video chat choice: SKYPE

72. "What __ is new?": ELSE

73. MP3 player: IPOD. Do Apple even make these any more? It seems your phone does everything that an iPod did, with the added bonus of, well, being a phone.

Down:

1. Cream __: ALE

2. Fish that's salted and dried to make bacalao: COD. Originally from the Portuguese, where bacalhau is the name of the fish.The Norwegians have assimilated the dish into their national cuisine where it is now spelled "bakalau". There's more to a bit of dried fish than meets the eye. Here's balalau con tomate.



3. Like Pentatonix numbers: A CAPPELLA

4. Flying insect with prominent eyespots: IO MOTH. Not sure that I knew this. ACAI and LOCO helped me out though.

5. Bookish type: NERD

6. Wind up on stage?: OBOE. Nice clue!

7. Fly like an eagle: SOAR

8. Win over: ENDEAR

9. Hapless sort: SAD SACK

10. Ucayali River country: PERU. The main headstream of the Amazon river, it becomes the Amazon at the confluence with the Marañón.

11. Grammarian's concern: USAGE

12. Type type: ROMAN. Times New Roman, for example, which was commissioned by the London Times newspaper in 1931.


13. Just-in-case item: SPARE

21. "The Caine Mutiny" novelist: WOUK

22. Paternity identifier: DNA

23. Web address letters: HTTP

24. Atheist activist Madalyn: O'HAIR. A new name to me. I'm familiar with the golfer Sean O'Hair, not so much atheist activists.

28. Deface: MAR

29. "When We Were Kings" boxer: ALI. And Joe Frazier; the movie covers the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" heavyweight championship fight from Zaire in 1974.

30. Pola of the silents: NEGRI. Another proper name requiring crossing rescue for me today.

31. Poetic contraction: E'ER

35. Dressed to the nines: GUSSIED UP

36. Wild period: SPREE

38. Uncommon sense: ESP. It looks like it has lost its "abbreviation" status.

40. Actor Holbrook: HAL. Another unknown proper name for me today, hence grateful for the "RARA" cross.

41. Amount past due?: TRE. "Uno, due, tre, quattro ...." Nice cluing again for a little word.

43. Ranch bud: PARD

45. Wonder Woman, for one: HEROINE

47. Plot-driving song, perhaps: ARIA. I assume arias drive the plot lines of operas?

50. Zilch: NIL

51. Rough around the edges: COARSE

52. High-pH compound: ALKALI

53. Summits: ACMES

54. "__ goodness": THANK

55. Temperamental: MOODY

59. Edit for size, as a photo: CROP

60. Follow: TAIL

61. Confident juggler's props: EGGS

62. Candy __: CANE

66. It may need a boost: EGO

67. Flanders who inspired the band Okilly Dokilly: NED of "The Simpsons" fame. There's a band from the UK called "Ned's Atomic Dustbin" who named themselves for a sketch from a BBC radio comedy show which aired in the 60's.


And with that, it's okilly dokilly, here's the grid!

Steve


50 comments:

D4E4H said...

Carol and I FIR in 54:06 min.

Good morning Cornerites.

Thank you Dan Margolis for your enjoyable Thursday CW.

Thank you Steve for your excellent review.

Ðave

TTP said...



Wasn't a slow solve, but it sure didn't feel like a smooth solve.

D'OH ! DRAMA queen ! Got the answer but didn't get it. Thanks, Steve.

With that IOM start, there had to be something wrong, but no, it worked out.

Loved the clue, "Amount past due" for TRE.

Pola NEGRI and Theda Bara. Silent Films femme fatales.

Madalyn Murray O'HAIR was a gimme. A much reviled woman nationally but probably moreso in the bible belt. On the news frequently for her views and activism. Then the disappearance, the speculation and the mystery. Then it was almost daily news coverage. All happened around the central Texas area that my family calls home.

Zip, Zero, Zilch. None, Nada, NIL.

In tennis, love means a score of zero or nil. Deuce means the score is 40-40. Weird scoring names and numbers in that game.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Got through this one in good time, and even figured out the theme. Hey, I'm gettin' good at this game. Steve, I can understand that you didn't recognize OHAIR (she was murdered about 25 years ago. Then a couple of her kids and a wad of her organization's money disappeared.), but I thought you'd know Hal HOLBROOK. He's perhaps best known for his one-man show Mark Twain Tonight. Both KALE and KEGS in this one -- I'll take the latter. IO MOTH evokes John Lampkin's great bug shots. Enjoyed the outing, Dan, and the expo, Steve.

CHOCOLATE CAKE: Is there any other kind? If it's nae chocolate, it's nae candy.

Hungry Mother said...

Surprisingly easy after keeping me nervous the whole solve. Very few answers came without a few letters in already. Fun stuff.

OwenKL said...

The EBON blackness of the floors
Hides the dust while Roomba snores,
Its Pentagramal path entails
A tracing of deveined entrails
And NOSING up peyote mushroom spores.

An AESOPIAN DRAMA occurs
When a LOCO lobo or fox SPURS
A sour grapes sigh
For berries ACAI,
Covered with POWDERED SUGARS!

{B, B.}

For a bonus l'ick related to the pentagram, check out my Facebook page.

Yellowrocks said...

I thought the punny theme answers were great. Favorites were amount past due = tre and withdrawal site = ATM. IMO, interesting, fun puzzle, Dan,
Strange that common sense is not very common.
With IO MOTH, I checked to see if this was a Lampkin puzzle. I remembered the eyespots.
RUPP, ANA and TAL were new to me, ESP. I knew Hal as Mark Twain, Negri, and controversial O'hair who was always in the news, as DO aptly pointed out.
Why isn't nose just called smell? It reminds me of an exasperated student in my Japanese class who complained that last week the teacher said that the word for large was X and this week she tells us it is Y. Nose in this sense seems to be used only in describing wines. I like it.
Just my take on it.
I wondered why DRAMA? Duh! Thanks, Steve.
I have known gussied up forever, so it is interesting that I never hear it.
My dad used to day, "Hop to it."

Anonymous said...

10:43 to finish. Much like our reviewer today, I enjoyed the theme, which was a clever deviation from the standard "scrambled" word puzzles lately. I don't enjoy clues about 1960s chess champions, atheist activists, silent film stars, and any directional clue (ENE).

Oas said...

Good morning all.
Neat puzzle today
What Hungry Mother said
At first pass I timidly filled a few then started at the bottom and came up surprisingly quickly.
I liked the four longer answers and puzzled over DRAMA too long stuck on thinking Monarchs or Bees.
DRAMA QUEENS can be cute and entertaining at age 2-4 , but are incessantly annoying as adults.
Our great grand daughter just turned three and keeps us smiling with her antics . More fun to watch than anything on the tube these days.
Cheers

Jinx in Norfolk said...

DNF. Had no idea about Pentatonix, and for some reason couldn't finish HO_ TO. I use that expression occasionally to this day. Also didn't know TAL, and won't know it next time.

Erased realm for DRAMA (I was thinking Ellery Queen when I fixed it), sO orDERED SUGAR (or some such thing), and WOlK (UNTIE!).

RUPP was a gimmie. I was a student at UK during his last year as coach. He just never could warm to the idea of having black players on the team. I knew several players on the UK freshman team (remember those?) and to a man they told me that Joe B. Hall, RUPP's main assistant, was running the team anyway. Shortly after RUPP retired, Hall coached a largely-black UK team to the NCAA championship. UK plays at RUPP arena. I keep thinking that there will be an effort to rename it.

I seem to remember cream ALE. Wasn't it a red soda?

I usually refer to Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain here in the Corner. Usually in connection to Designing Women or Dixie Carter. Didn't know some wouldn't get the connection.

Thanks to Dan for the fun challenge. But I did have a love/hate reaction to TRE for "amount past due." I liked the pun, but didn't like it with a foreign word. And thanks to Steve for another fun review.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

A couple lucky WAGs and I FIR'ed. A learning with the A CAPPELLA clue and answer. Wasn't sure about TAL, but the Natick was avoided. I use "GUSSIED UP" a lot. A somewhat whimsical theme, but I liked it. Don't know if I'd call the fill 'dull' but I respect Steve's opinion. In the eye of the bee holder, I guess.
KALE - I believe all the cruciferous vegetables are in the mustard family even including turnips and rapeseed (Canola).

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

No hits no errors. Dislocating my shoulder patting myself on the back. Definite EGO boost But... almost spelled OHAIR as Ohare.

RUGG and PARD were wags. (Pard seems like a stretch)

Cod in Italian is "merluzzo" when the fish is happily swimming around but bacalá (interesting cognate) once prepared on the plate. Usually Christmas Eve. In that vein "amount passed due" was an ingenious head slap.

Have seen jugglers toss firebrands but not EGGS. Fairly small performance props to be seen from a stage I would think.

Our little woodwind OBOE makes another cameo appearance. Lots of ALE showing up lately.

Was POWDERED SUGAR purposely placed "over" CHOCOLATE CAKE?

Yum

I'm hungry

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Now “That was a blast!” [SOUND OF DYNAMITE] grid spanner
-POWDERED SUGAR gave me the theme and made me laugh out loud
-I could use any PENCIL but the ERASER on my Sharpwriter won me over
-Very recent ANA offset by long gone NEGRI
-Obscure TAL offset by “very familiar to me” RUPP
-I often say “He’s a rare bird” because using RARA AVIS would sound pretentious
-The last two Husker seasons ENDED ON last second FG losses
-Using SKYPE to talk to granddaughter in Grenoble in real time amazed me!
-Congressional party line vote? So “What ELSE is new”
-Oh, that “Wind”. Cool!
-O’HAIR and her sons were cremated and buried in an unmarked grave in an undisclosed cemetery
-Command + Shift + 4 is my “go-to” cropping move

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Dan Margolis, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.

Well, Cruciverb is up and running again. Wonder of Wonders!

Zipped through all the Across clues and then Zipped through all the down clues and then I had a foothold here and there.

Got all the theme answers but I have to admit I did not get it. Steve explained it. Works for me.

Remembered Madalyn OHAIR. She was in the news a lot. And I seem to remember that she was murdered. Not good to be an atheist in the bible belt.

1D was a gimme for me. I have drank cases of Genesse Cream ALE. Brewed in Rochester, NY. It is pretty good. Maybe was pretty good. Not sure it is still around. Next time I get back east I will have to look around.

Had to re-spell COURSE to COARSE.

Remembered TAL. Amazing.

Anyhow, I have to run. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

The fun part of this solve was trying to figure out what the equivalent phrase would be, per the clue. I agree that much of the fill was pretty lifeless, but the clever cluing far outweighed this feature. Tal, Ana, and IO Moth needed perps and Queen's milieu=Drama needed Steve's explanation. (This was one of the clever clues.) I liked the Tal and Hal duo and I also liked Gussied up, an old-fashioned but fun saying. I saw Hal Holbrook perform as Mark Twain and, as always, he was excellent. Unfortunately, the theater's sound system left much to be desired, thereby lessening the impact of Holbrook's lines and delivery.

Thanks, Dan, for a Thursday treat and thanks, Steve, for the candid and spot on review.

Dave4, nice to hear from you. How is Carol feeling.

Keith, I hope you'll chime in later with the good news that Janice is home.

Have a great day.

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Dan and Steve.
Officially a FIW for me today. I had difficulties in the east and finally Googled that river in PERU to open up the top corner. (Hand up for not understanding DRAMA until seeing Steve's explanation!)
But my personal Natick was the cross of RUPP (unknown to me) and EER. My poetic contraction was EEN (which seemed okay with NUPP).
It took me a while to "get" the theme and I was underwhelmed IMHO.

Let me count the other unknowns which fortunately filled with perps - TAL, WOUK, Ucayali River, ANA. IO MOTH was also unknown but perps were solid. (Apparently, IO is Greek for moon and those eyes are full-moon-shape.)
A CAPPELLA always requires perps to decide the number of Cs, Ps and Ls.
TRE was a lightbulb moment bringing a smile. The new clue for OBOE was another lightbulb moment (took a while to see the short I vs. long I wind).

Did anyone else smile at the NAVE clue on Jeopardy last night. Contestant was hesitant but I knew it!!! Blog education.

SKYPE and Facetime are great for keeping in touch with kids and grandkids wherever they are located, or when travelling.

Wishing you all a great day.

Lucina said...

Hola!

Drat! No newspaper again today but I'm grateful for its availability in the Washington Post for printing.

I loved this puzzle! Thank you, Dan Margolis. Puns amuse me and these were FINE ones.

With the discovery that the down solve was faster, that's how I went with it and finished it in good time. Thank you, Steve, for explaining the mysteries behind TRE and DRAMA. I filled them but didn't quite understand.

RUPP/EER almost stymied me because I didn't know the coach (no surprise) and the poetic contraction could have been EE'N but RUPP sounded better than NUPP.

EGGS as juggling props made me laugh. That would require not only unmitigated confidence but great skill as well.

As others have said, Madalyn O'HAIR dominated the news because of her activism against religion in any form in government. I.e., prayer in the classroom.

I knew Paola NEGRI but not ANA de Armas. TAL simply perped. And IOMOTH recalled John Lampkin' beautiful pictures.

Thank you, Steve, and though you didn't think highly of the puzzle, you helped to understand it.

Have a magnificent day, everyone! It's bright and sunny here.


Spitzboov said...

Can Eh! I had the same reaction you did @ NAVE on Jeopardy.
Our church is pretty much all Nave and just about no Apse, The floor plan is like a squished hexagon with the altar area occupying the longer top side. (Don't know the name of such a shape.)

Anonymous said...

I solved this as a theme-less. Way too many obscure names and an abundance of clues that were a stretch made this kind of sloggish, but I kind of enjoyed it in spite of itself.

Ron in LA said...

Please explain 27 across, how is the human race the answer to "that's all folks"?

Misty said...

Fun Friday puzzle, Dan--many thanks. I got big chunks of this puzzle before I needed a bit of help, and could tell that the theme answers were going to be tricky. I got THE HUMAN RACE early on but couldn't imagine how it could possibly relate to the clue. Oh, the missing comma--thanks for explaining, Steve. Wish I had understood that because I got POWDERED, PENCIL and CHOCOLATE but had trouble with all those easy second words. But I don't mind getting puzzled by a clever puzzle like this one and really enjoyed it. Got AESOP right away but put REALM for the queen's milieu--but that just didn't work with the downs and so eventually DRAMA turned up, oh, I see, different kind of queen. Surprisingly few names, which helped a lot. Anyway, nice way to move toward the weekend.

Have a good one, everybody.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Ron, that one took me a while too. What do you call everyone on earth? "All folks" is one answer. Ergo, he human race is "all folks".

Spitzboov said...

Ron @ 1151 - - That's all folks points to all folks which would be all the people there are; ie THE HUMAN RACE.

Ol' Man Keith said...

OwenKL’s amazing ability to produce poetry nearly every day inspires me to try my hand.
Forgive me if this also happens to be a pitch for the sister web site that Owen created--to offer a parallel forum for those who do the Jumble!

If you’re a fan of the daily “Jumble”
Of anagrams (the mixed-up prose),
Come try our site, give us a tumble,
Come have fun with your amigos!

Owen launched our page in twenty-eighteen,
A few of us also made the grade.
We welcome all! It’s a chance to preen,
Come strut your stuff (...or find some aid).

You may have reasons NOT to come
To visit us; perhaps you need
To solve alone, or maybe you’re glum,
Down in the dumps, going to seed?

But if you’re in fine--or finer--fettle,
Just click right here and test your mettle.*
____________
*When you reach the site, click on the date you want in the "Blog Archive," lower down in the far right column.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Whoops!
Sorry - I forgot to include today's Diagonal Report.
Here it is*:
____________
*DR
: One diagonal on the near side, NW to SE.
This anagram seems to be a rather serious one--apparently a reference to a Götterdämmerung, a truly...
"GODLIKE DOOM"!

desper-otto said...

CanadianEh! and Spitz, congrats on getting NAVE on Jeopardy!. I bet my APSE and blew it. Just about everything I know about churches I learned from doing cws.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

DNF - I had to Google NEGRI to see THE HUMAN RACE and not THE HAM TRACK (right, Porky?).

Thanks Dan for the puzzle. Fun theme (ARIA(?)) and nice execution. I could have done w/o the crossings TAL/OHAIR but WAGs won out.

Fun Expo Steve - that RAGA version is great!

WOs: RIO in ATM's squares, RAjA, HIE TO (I'm old fashioned that way :-)) b/f HOP
WSPs: Names! How many ways can you spell Accapella, acapeella, acappella...
Fav: TRE's clue is brilliant.

{A, B+}
Ominous DR. Good prose too.

HG - A rare bird or an odd duck?

A little HAL on cats and congress.

Juggling EGGs? Meh. If you do drop one just quip re: scrambled? or 'Chickens can't fly at that age.' Of course, a real card will hard-boil the EGGs 1st.
A confident juggler will do chainsaws between the legs... Sure, he's half-nuts but... :-)

Did someone mention RASH? [Rush 5:36 - I love this as they poke fun at themselves; nice Canadian Boys, them]

Cheers, -T

Big Easy said...

It was slow going until I had filled enough perps to see THE HUMAN RACE. IO MOTH & PERU were unknowns and ROMAN only came from perps. The literal cluing was slowing everything down until the V8 moment hit. TRE for "Amount past due" was great. Took about 15 minutes to complete.

I had no idea what Pentatonix referred to- only thought 5. A CAPPELLA filled after enough perps were in place. I just looked up Pentatonix and they are a singing group.

Mikhail TAL? Really? I can only believe Rich left that one because the crosses were easy. Hope to never see that one again. Never heard of the movie-Knives Out- or the actress- ANA de Armas.

CanadianEh!- You can add Google DUO and Whats APP to SKYPE and Facetime (which only works with other Apple devices).

Yellowrocks said...

On Jeopardy last night, this PK got NAVE right off but cringed at the clue.
The part of the church where the clergy sit is not the altar. The ALTAR is the communion table. It would be sacrilege for the priest to be on the altar. LOL. The CHANCEL, the part of a church near the altar, reserved for the clergy and choir, and typically separated from the nave by steps or a screen, is where the altar is situated. The announcers who discuss church services as they are occurring have perpetuated this mistake.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

THEHUMANRACE is not "all folks" but includes one stammering porcine.

AnonymousPVX said...


I hate to be the outlier, but I thought the clueing in this Thursday grid left much to be desired.

Got the solve without much drama but the “punny” clues - if that’s what we’re calling them - were a bit of a stretch, IMO.

Anyway, write-overs...

URLS/HTTP, PINS/EGGS.

See you Friday.

Anonymous T said...

PVX - I too thought pinsS b/f EGGS. Pins are fun to juggle 'cuz you have both cadence & rotation to master. I only have amateur plastic pins; they don't hurt as much when you miss :-)

My favorite thing to juggle are my Devil Sticks [a 101 course]

Cheers, -T

Wilbur Charles said...

The "Rumble.." was Ali vs George Foreman
Jinx, thx for RUPP input. First-hand beats wiki or even Wilbur memory. But…
Let me add that RUPP coached the famous Black and White game (1966) where West Texas (now UTEP) beat the invincibles. Pat Reilly was on that team.
PS, I'll be in Ocala tmw aft.

Re. XW… it started slowly and then I saw that I'd completed North despite the wierd POWDERED SUGAR. Then I persevered and loved DUE Clue and chuckled when Steve revealed "Queen!".

If there's nae EBON it's nae poetry (or vv)

It did seem easier from the bottom. Ironically* two clues: "angst genre"** and DUE(Sp two) had me stymied in my Wash Post EB XWord.

Ray-O, a truly confident one juggles those EGGS while riding a unicycle on a tightrope connected between two 60 story roofs (no net)
Abejo, this abstainer had CreamATE(and seeing it I see I spelt itt wrung

That's quite a conundrum: atheist murdered by God-fearing folk

-T, I want a video of Tony juggling

WC
.
* Or is cross-clueing explained in a mundane way
** Was angst genre yesterday?


Ol' Man Keith said...

I call on other theater folk to back me up here:
I feel obliged to point out that DRAMA is not the right milieu for real "Drama Queens."
In live acting ensembles world wide, one is not likely to find persons who play ego games, throw tantrums, or generally resort to "histrionics" to get their way. Theater folk depend too much on their collaborators to abuse them in such a manner. If anyone pulls such ploys, he/she won't last long in the biz.
"Drama Queen" designates a layman who occasionally dips a toe in bad theatrics.
~ OMK

TTP said...



Wilbur, they were killed by a former employee member of the atheist organization and a couple of his associates.



OMK, Drama Queen in this case is about a person, typically female, that makes melodrama out of the most insignificant issues. A person that is overly critical and emotionally angry for the purpose of being the center of attention.

Not that I would recommend a steady stream of it, but to get a real good idea, watch an episode or two of any of the "Real Housewives of ..." (Housewives of Atlanta, Housewives of New Jersey, Housewives of Beverly Hills, etc) You'll see them.

Wilbur Charles said...

Thx TTP. Other than the name I knew no details. Obviously. And...

There are definitely Drama "Kings" but we call them A-holes. Or F@#$& "-"

OMK, if one relies on tabloids, the movie making industry has had it's , let's call them, obstreperous, actors and actresses. Marilyn allegedly had her moments as did Liz.

WC

CrossEyedDave said...

Best Juggling act with an egg...

Lucina said...

CED:
That was funny!

Anonymous T said...

CED - LOL! I was going to link Michael Davis too. #Synchronicity.

WC - I'll film me juggling as soon as I have a functioning middle-finger.
//Funny that, the hospital just called asking how I'm doing. Well, I'm not dead yet but how much did that just cost?

-T

Ol' Man Keith said...

Wilbur ~ Right!
And that's a major difference between live theater and film. In film, actors' time with one another is far less than on stage. Rehearsals for film are minimal, and once a scene is in the can, everybody goes home. A stage play typically runs for weeks, even months on end, eight shows a week.
Also, there are far more big money "stars" on film. And stars, like Marilyn, Liz, Judy, etc. are the ONLY ones who can get away with such crap.
~ OMK

Ol' Man Keith said...

JANICE is HOME from the hospital!
~ OMK

Anonymous T said...

Great news OMK! Give her all your TLC. -T

inanehiker said...

We had out of town company this morning - so puzzle until after work for me today!
I enjoyed this theme - all the theme answers gave me a chuckle! Thanks Steve for the link to the RAGA music/Uptown Funk mix.

When I think of juggling - I always think of the "Flying Karamazov Brothers". When I was in college they were just getting started - they would sometimes just show up on the plaza in front of the bookstore doing their routine for change thrown into a hat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVG8FBIW_iA

I had heard of RUPP as the long time Basketball coach of UK - but it was the movie "Glory Road" which made me more aware of his opposition to having black players on NCAA Div 1 teams and the story of little Texas Western (now UTEP)beating them to the national title in 1966 with an all black team. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44w1yZl3dK8

Thanks Steve and Dan for an enjoyable post work diversion!

Picard said...

WEES. But I do want to say one thing:

KALE IS NOT FOOD.

It has to be said and I am glad that others are saying it, too. It makes no sense to eat something with a horrid taste and think that will make you healthy.

billocohoes said...

TTP, "deuce" in tennis means you need two straight points to win (if no tiebreaker), "love" is from the French l'oeuf, the EGG as in goose egg, another word for NIL

Genny Cream was my go-to in college.

Spent time wondering what Freddie Mercury's milieu was

WikWak said...

Well, I don’t care… I thought it was funny. Count me in with the late solvers; I just finished it.
I had to come here to find why the amount past due is TRE. Excellent misdirection.
I’m sure someone here will know for sure, but I don’t remember ever seeing All GUSSIED UP in the puzzle. My folks used to use that expression very frequently.
As Abejo mentioned, Cruciverb was finally back online today, with all this week’s missing puzzles. Drives me LOCO when this happens. (Yes, TTP, I acknowledge that it’s a short drive.)
Back to the salt mines. CU tomorrow.

Spitzboov said...

Re: KALE. I'd be the last to haul the water for the kale lovers, but c'mon, it's not so bad. I like baby kale in a salad and BH makes a delicious ST. John's Kale Soup. which has beans and sausage or chorizo in it. I do have to be careful because it messes up my blood thinner readings as I'm, on Warfarin.

TTP said...





billocohoes, at 40-40, the score is known as "deuce", and yes, it also means you have to have two straight points to win. Not solely that you need two points to win. The French l'oeuf as the basis for "love" is accepted by some historians and disputed by others. The scoring is wierd. From 0 to 15, 15 to 30, and from 30 to 40. Why 40 ? Why not 45 ? Why 15, 30 (and 40) in the first place ? As with "love", different theories exist.

The first beer I ever tasted was a Genessee Cream Ale in a pony bottle. Later, a Rolling Rock and then an Iron City.

OMK, good to hear that your wife is home. I didn't 'splain Drama Queen very well. I meant Drama Queen is not limited to stage, film and actors, although that may be where the phrase originated. The young woman down the street is a drama queen. I think we all know the type. I only used the "Housewives of..." because it seems having a drame queen on each of those various programs seems to be part of the reality show formula for those (and other) programs.

Picard, I don't care for kale, but my wife does. Twice a week she buys a container of mixed salad greens that contains baby kale, spinach and some other salad greens for our salad course. As Spitzboov said, the baby kale isn't all that bad, but I still push it away if it makes it onto my plate. Unless I have a spicy dressing that offsets the bitter taste.

She also buys the regular kale and blends it in the Ninja blender with the blueberries and other things she has in her smoothies. A few years ago she was making kale chips in the oven. I didn't like those either.

WikWak, my father used to say "all gussied up". Especially when my sisters were getting ready to go on dates with their future husbands. As in, "Where are you going, all gussied up ?"

GUSSIED UP was used twice in the NY Times. Once in 2004 (In one's Sunday best) and once in 2016 (Dressed to the nines).

Misty said...

Wonderful news, Ol'Man Keith--so good to hear that Janice is home!

Lucina said...

OMK:
That is wonderful news about Janice being home! I hope she fully recovers.

I confess to never having eaten or had the desire to eat kale.

One of my late friends used to say when recounting episodes from her youth, "we got all GUSSIED UP to go."

Ron in LA said...

Thanks to all for the human race explanation, great clue !