google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, January 22, 2020, Jared Tamarkin

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Jan 22, 2020

Wednesday, January 22, 2020, Jared Tamarkin

Theme: CRACK THE CODE

20. Combat: ARMED CONFLICT.

28. Compel to land, as a plane: FORCE DOWN.

48. Red or white unit: BLOOD CELL.

58. Speaking Spanglish, say ... or a hint to what's hidden in 20-, 28- and 48-Across: CODE SWITCHING.

Took me a bit to crack this CODE and realize the theme - the word CODE is SWITCHed up and spans across two words in three theme answers. A real mix of gettable and huh? words made this one last a little longer than a typical Wednesday. An enjoyable solve when it was finally completed.

Across:

1. Construction guideline: SPEC. Specifications, also called specs, are the details for the work that needs to be completed in a construction project and includes information such as materials, the scope of work, installation process, and quality of work.

5. Pitfalls: TRAPS.

10. Bible book that chronicles the conversion of Paul: ACTS. Acts of the Apostles, the fifth book of the new testament.

14. Rake prong: TINE.

15. Soprano Fleming: RENÉE. Renée Fleming names six of her all-time favourite soprano arias, below.


16. Fluctuate: VARY.

17. 500 sheets of paper: REAM.

18. "I'm on __!": A ROLL.

19. Access, as a computer program: OPEN.

23. Characterized by: PRONE TO.

24. Provide parenting for: RAISE.

27. Art Deco icon: ERTÉ. Romain de Tirtoff was a Russian-born French artist and designer known by the pseudonym Erté, from the French pronunciation of his initials. Erté was known for his glamorous opera sets, jewelry, costumes, and graphic arts. His work is quintessentially emblematic of the Art Deco style in its use of tapering lines and simplified ornamentation inspired by the natural world.

32. Massage therapist's employer: SPA.

34. Penn. neighbor: DEL. Pennsylvania and Delaware.

35. Handling the situation: ON IT.

36. Lilly of pharmaceuticals: ELI.

39. Coffee cup insulators: SLEEVES. My daughter and I traveled to Burbank, CA earlier this month to take the Gilmore Girls fan tour at Warner Brothers. Luke's coffee was served (exceptionally good) with the Luke's SLEEVES, along with pop-tarts and other GG-inspired fare (those are dragonfly shortbread cookies).




42. Texting format, for short: SMS. Short Message Service.

43. "Boogie Nights" actor Reynolds: BURT.

45. Night school subj.: ESL. English as a Second Language.

46. Fashion plate: FOP. Wikipedia: Fop became a pejorative term for a foolish man excessively concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th-century England. The pejorative term today carries the connotation of a person, usually male, who is overly concerned with trivial matters (especially matters of fashion) and who affects elite social standing.

51. Put one over on: FOOL.

54. Islamic denomination: SUNNI. The larger of the two main branches of Islam, which differs from Shia in its understanding of the Sunna, its conception of religious leadership, and its acceptance of the first three caliphs (rulers).

55. Oregon city near the mouth of the Columbia: ASTORIA.

62. Competent: ABLE.

64. Suck-up: TOADY. Huh? A person who behaves obsequiously to someone important. The word toady has a gross, yet engaging history. Not familiar with this word.

65. Afrikaans speaker: BOER. Huh? The Dutch and Afrikaans noun for "farmer." In South African contexts, "Boers" refers to the descendants of the proto-Afrikaans-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th and much of the 19th century. From 1652 to 1795 the Dutch East India Company controlled this area, but the United Kingdom incorporated it into the British Empire in 1806.

66. Shiraz's land: IRAN. Shiraz is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province. 



67. Make one's case: ARGUE.

68. Cupid's wings: ALAE. Wings or flat winglike process or structure, such as a part of some bones and cartilages. ALAE is the plural form of ALA. This is an awfully scientific term for a fictional character - but common enough in crosswords.

69. Anti-DUI org.: MADD. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.

70. Tango moves: STEPS.

71. "This is for you": HERE.

Down:

1. Guitar support: STRAP. Not stand.

2. Missouri River capital: PIERRE.

3. Fill with affection: ENAMOR.

4. Fixes in place: CEMENTS.

5. Activist's handout: TRACT.

6. Install new shingles on: RE-ROOF.

7. Quote book abbr.: ANON. Anonymous.

8. Ill-gotten gains: PELF. Huh? Money, especially when gained in a dishonest or dishonorable way. New to me.

9. Move for money: SELL.

10. Guacamole ingredient: AVOCADO.

11. Underwriting?: CAPTIONS. Nice clue.

12. Roman three: TRE.

13. Many a crossword clue: Abbr.: SYN.

21. Ocean trenches: DEEPS.

22. Fury: IRE.

25. Enjoy the pool: SWIM.

26. Tonsillitis-treating MDs: ENTS. Ear, Nose and Throat specialists.

29. Former "Entertainment Tonight" co-anchor Nancy: O'DELL.

30. Make growl, as an engine: REV.

31. Sheet music symbol: CLEF. Any of several symbols placed at the left-hand end of a staff, indicating the pitch of the notes written on it.
33. Actor Baldwin: ALEC.

36. Goes back out: EBBS.

37. Humdinger: LULU.

38. Like a rock-solid contract: IRON CLAD.

40. Language suffix: ESE.

41. Start of civilization?: SOFT C.

44. Constantly: TO NO END.

47. Bureaucratic bigwig: POOHBAH. Grand Poobah is a term derived from the name of the haughty character Pooh-Bah in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado.

49. Impersonated: DID.

50. On the injured list: LAID UP.

52. Camden Yards player: ORIOLE. Major League Baseball ballpark located in Baltimore, Maryland.

53. One-dimensional: LINEAR.

56. Eye annoyances: STYES.

57. Be on the same page: AGREE.

59. Share-a-ride pickup hrs.: ETAS. Estimated Time of Arrival.

60. Microsoft Excel command: SORT.

61. Compensation: WAGE.

62. Crossbow wielder's asset: AIM.

63. Maidenform garment: BRA.

Melissa

Note from C.C.

Here are two great pictures from the Gilmore Girls tour Melissa and her daughter took earlier this month at Warner Brothers'. Click here to see more.

lorelai's house
on the couch at "central perk" from friends

37 comments:

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR with no erasures. DNK RENEE, and like Melissa, PELF. I was surprised that SMS is common knowledge. What's next, seven-layer protocol puns?

I thought that Boogie Nights, starring Ol' BURT and other A-Listers, was maybe the best soft porn movie ever made. More research is in order.

Hampton Roads was home to the first battle between IRON CLADs. I-664 runs through the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, known as "the M&M" to traffic reporters. The "tunnel" part is required because the USA's only aircraft carrier construction yard is just upstream, and bridges aren't allowed in order to protect the open channel to the Atlantic Ocean.

Thanks for the easy-for-Wednesday puzzle, Jared. I liked seeing ARGUE and AGREE together. And thanks to melissa b for the fun tour.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

No problem with TOADY or PELF; both are long-term residents of my file of useless information. What stumped me was a coffee cup SLEEVE. I've never visited Starbucks or any other coffee purveyor. But guess who actually read the reveal clue today? Yup. Still struggled to find the hidden CODEs, but finally got it. Whew. Thanx, Jared (I worked with a guy named Tomarkin years ago, "o" not "a") and Melissa Bee (looks like you two had a good time).

Lemonade714 said...

Beautiful pic MB looks like much fun.

It is so chilly here (40 degrees!?) I would n't be surprised if I ended up with a CODE in my nose.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Only mistake was in PELF. A learning. Still, as D-O said: useless information. OPEN helped me spell AVOCADO correctly. Had to read Melissa's fine intro to get the theme. Guess I wasn't ENAMORed by it.
BOER - Farmer. Dutch boer, L. German Buur, German Bauer. Growing up, I heard Buur (pl. Buurn) a lot, in the patois spoken at home.

Oas said...

As you said Sptizboov . Didn’t know if Renie would work but left PILF in . Thought it might come from “pilfer”
Schveens buuah Pig farmer
Cheers

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I saw the CED string of letters early on but didn't make the effort to expand on them, therefore, the reveal was a big surprise. I've heard the term Code Switching but in a pejorative reference, such as a Northern politician pandering to his deep South audience by lapsing into a folksy Southern dialect. My only stumble was Dupe before Fool. I didn't give Astoria a moment's hesitation because of the recent conversation about it. I'm not fond of the Soft C type of clues or fill. CSO's to Lucina (ESL); Bluehen (Del., we miss you!), and oc4beach (PA, I believe; we miss you, too!).

Thanks, Jared, for a mid-week challenge. (If you're a newcomer, welcome; we're seeing lots of new names lately, at least new to me.) Thanks, Melissa, for the fact-laden expo and the beautiful arias sung by the beautiful and talented Miss Fleming. Nice photos of Mom and daughter, BTW.

Have a great day.

Big Easy said...

Crack the CODE? Nope, just finished the puzzle. Didn't know PELF, wanted GELD, but the perps wouldn't allow. Never saw "Boogie Nights" but "Smokey" was an easy fill after BU was in place. E.T.'s ODELL- haven't seen that show either; perps.

TOADY- aka brown-nose

Treble-Every Good Bird Does Fly and F-A-C-E
Bass- Great Big Dogs Eat Animals and All Cars (except Tesla) Eat Gas
Alto & Tenor- not for a piano or trumpet

Hungry Mother said...

My only problem was grasping the meaning of the reveal, both literally and what it indicated. Doubly lost I guess. It was a fast and fun solve otherwise.

inanehiker said...

This was a smooth solve even though I didn't know the term CODE SWITCHING - though I knew of the concept. WEES about PELF and trying geld first - even finished I thought PELF might be a yiddish word, but no it has French/English origins.

I think the clue for ALAE was fun with it's extra layer of meaning: Cupid's wings with the answer being the Latin word for wings and Cupid being a Roman god.

Thanks Melissa - my daughter would have enjoyed the tour too - she was a big "Gilmore Girls" fan! and thanks to Jared as well!

dbud said...

Can someone explain TRACT being the answer to "Activist's hangout"?

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I’ve never heard of CODE SWITCHING (probably heard in many an ESL class) but the puzzle was a fun exercise
-The weather here today will VARY from rain to sleet to snow
-In The China Syndrome, welding SPECS were compromised
-I’m PRONE TO having many computer programs OPEN at any time
-TOADY appears too often when I type TODAY
-Senators will ARGUE ad nauseum and no one will change their mind
-My guitar STRAP broke while I was singing at a candlelight wedding but I picked up the instrument and soldiered on (out of tune)
-Having to RE-ROOF her house took $7,000 out of MIL’s house proceeds
-Lovely write-up and pics, MB!

melissa bee said...

dbud - 5D is "Activist's handout," not "hangout."

jfromvt said...

Had PILF instead of PELF. I get that CODE was switched in the answers, but the Spanglish connection goes over my head, Surprised we could solve it without circles..lol...I couldn’t resist.

Jinx - I wouldn’t say that “Boogie Nights” was made as a soft-porn movie. It was about the porn industry, so they had to tone it down to get an R (vs X) rating. Anyway, it was a good movie IMO; Burt did some good stuff later in his career.

desper-otto said...

dbud, it's handout, not hangout. The TRACT is a pamphlet.

dbud said...

thanks everybody, need to get my eyes checked!

And I learned that a TRACT is a handout. Sweet!

Lemonade714 said...

Pelf was one of the very popular fill NY Times words in 70s and 80s/.

New York Times - Nov. 15, 1994 New York Times - Dec. 24, 1993
New York Times - Aug. 02, 1993 New York Times - Mar. 24, 1993
New York Times - Jan. 17, 1992 New York Times - Mar. 07, 1990
New York Times - Jul. 12, 1989 New York Times - Oct. 14, 1987
New York Times - Dec. 30, 1984 New York Times - Jul. 15, 1984
New York Times - Nov. 16, 1983 New York Times - Sep. 21, 1982
New York Times - Oct. 23, 1981 New York Times - Aug. 20, 1981
New York Times - Aug. 20, 1980 New York Times - Feb. 15, 1978
New York Times - Feb. 11, 1978 New York Times - Dec. 26, 1975
New York Times - Oct. 27, 1974 New York Times - Feb. 25, 1973
New York Times - Jan. 21, 1973 New York Times - Jul. 14, 1972
New York Times - Jun. 28, 1972 New York Times - Oct. 26, 1971
New York Times - Oct. 13, 1970

It has been in 4 LAT before today
LAT - September 11, 2016
LAT - October 27, 2012 (Boomer's birthday)
LAT - May 31, 2012
LAT - March 25, 2016

melissa bee said...

inanehiker (and any other GG fans) - it looks like the GG tour will be an annual event at holiday time, perhaps your daughter can plan a visit someday. they have the whole town of stars hollow all lit up for the holiday, it's beautiful. people were dressed up as different characters from the show (you can find all sorts of GG-themed clothing and accessories on etsy). also there are two bakeries to try when in the area: porto's and magnolia bakery. lauren graham mentions the banana pudding from magnolia bakery in her book "talking as fast as i can," which we listened to on on our drive. we only had time for porto's, which is about 2 miles from the WB lot. their potato balls and cheese rolls are to die for - we didn't bring enough home.

Yellowrocks said...

Monday easy, quick sashay. I needed the reveal to see the CODE SWITCHING. Quite a few bilingual friends and family throw in a bit of each language. I have picked up quite a bit of Yiddish that way. My SIL who is an interpreter for the deaf sometimes throws in the ASL signs when speaking to the hearing.
All was familiar to me, except for the barely familiar RENEE and ODELL.
ShopRite has free coffee for shoppers, but no sleeves. Many of us double up on cups to protect our hands. I believe sleeves would be cheaper for the store than the extra cups.
Novels speak of ill-gotten gains as PELF. It seems to come from the 1300's from the French meaning booty.
This fan of Michener learned quite a bit about the Boers in his novel about South Africa, The Covenant.
To me Uriah Heep is the quintessential toady. The word seems apt. We had toadies on our teaching staff.The word brown nose is just as unsavory when you consider where the nose has been.
My older son thinks fiction is too trivial and prefers nonfiction. I have learned so much from well chosen fiction, especially since I then research the facts. This month I am reading totally escapist fare.
Soft G is not my favorite type of fill.
Most of my life I have pronounce PIERRE, SD as (pee air) as did my teachers. Several years ago I learned it is (PEER).
I attended a church where many people talked about the track rack where you could get free pamphlets.
If the temperature stays on an even keel I can become inured to the cold or heat. These fluctuations are what cause difficulty. We had 60's last week and low teens this week.
Off to the bank. Have a nice day.

Lemonade714 said...

dbud - actually as D-O said it is a pamphlet or similar writing on a topic hopefully of interest to many. Because of the desire to educate, or convince people, they often become a handout, but they are not synonymous.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Partial fills, perp aids, and a slew of alphabet runs but eventually ABLE to finish.

Play a state capital naming game with my 8 y.o. grandson. He's got them all down cold....unfortunately doesn't work in reverse.

So the NE corner was last to go. Had stand instead of STRAP, endear instead of ENAMOR but finally remembered the accent aigu answers RENEÉ and ERTÉ

First thought for ACTS was "John" or "Matt" but wouldn't fit with Roman "III" or "tre"

Spanglish is CODESWITCHING? My grandparents spoke an evolved now extinct Calabro-Neapoltan-Siculo-English mixture to be universally understood in similar communities in the NE

Never heard of PELF.

Yesterday's FOP,

The Boers were no bores and stubbornly managed to keep Apartheid alive in South Africa till the mid 90's.
Recommend "The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah's book "Born a Crime" living as an illegal mixed race child.

The outside AC has been turned on the last two days in Ft Myers. Into the 40s last night. Better then 15 in CNY.

At least down here the only "snow" we get is when a flock of seagulls flies overhead.

Back to the arctic circle in a couple days.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Yesterday's Fop...today's Metrosexual. (Darn autocorrect)

Lucina said...

Hola!

See that! I did a CODE SWITCH. When my mother was alive CODE SWITCHING was common in our conversation. Today the younger generation know only English so only occasionally does a Spanish word slip in. If my sister and I want to discuss something secretive, then we switch languages.

Today I had a difficult time finding a puzzle because my newspaper did not appear or was possibly stolen. That happens on Wednesdays occasionally. In the past Mensa was a good place from which to print the puzzle but it's no longer available. I found it on The Washington Post.

The puzzle was quick and easy and since my pencil was not immediately handy I used a pen and surprisingly had only two write overs. Wite-out to the rescue (hello, d-otto), SELL/RELO and VEER before VARY.

TRACT reminds me of Thomas Paine who, in colonial times, used them to spread information.

I learned the pronunciation of PIERRE, ND, from my former son-in-law and his mother who are from SD.

I'll take a CSO at ESL though it's been many years since I retired.

If PELF has been used before I've forgotten. It looked strange to me.

Thank you, Melissa. Your tour sounds wonderful. I'll have to tell my daughter about it.

Have a special day, everyone!

NaomiZ said...

Enjoyed the puzzle and the comments! I checked in here just to see what the heck was going on with PELF, and learned that it's a thing, and that a few of you knew it! Love the blog. Thanks!

CanadianEh! said...

Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Jared and melissa bee. (Loved the photos - my daughter is a GG fan too.)

Officially a FIW today. Like Oas: "Didn’t know if Renie would work but left PILF in . Thought it might come from “pilfer”." I see that others had never heard of PELF either.

I did see the CODE SWITCHING but didn't understand what that had to do with Spanglish. (Do I need ESL?) When I LIU, there seems to be some controversy about the definitions.*
I'm not familiar with either term, but do know some francophones who switch effortlessly from English to French and back in the same sentence. Would that be Frenglish?**

Perps to the rescue today. Somehow the P in SPEC brought to mind Peoria (which I now know is neither a capital nor on the Missouri River). PIERRE perped.
But I tucked ASTORIA into my CW memory the other day; I didn't expect to use it so soon!

I wanted 7D to be OpCit or Ibid but ANON perped. Rather bland IMHO. Ditto re bland (meh!) for 49D "impersonated=DID" (aped wouldn't fit).
My crossbow wielder's asset was Arm before AIM.
Did anyone else want III for Roman three. (I already had ACTS, which negated that thought immediately).

My great-uncle served in the Canadian Mounted Rifles in the BOER War. We have his silver spurs. There is an interesting back-story (ask me to email you if you want a link).

Wishing you all a great day.

*"Code switching is the use of both Spanish and English in the same sentence, phrase or conversation by a single person.
Spanglish is the combination of an English word and a Spanish word to make a new word that does not technically have a meaning in either language."

**LOL, when I LIUed, the term Frenglish is actually used!

Picard said...

So many learning moments today! Never heard the term CODE SWITCHING. Lucina good to know it was a thing in your family. DW does it all the time when she is talking to her family and friends. But I never heard the term.

Hand up PELF and RENEE unknown, making the cross a WAG. FIR. TOADY I know well, but learning moment about its origin. I love TOADs so I am sad to know they were sacrificed for such an ignoble cause.

Here is my article about our adventures at our local AVOCADO Festival.

Plenty of GUACAMOLE as well as AVOCADO ice cream. Delicious! Who knew?

From yesterday:
CanadianEh I will look forward to the continuation of our email discussion of the new NAFTA when you have time. Have fun with your grandchildren!

Wilbur Charles thank you for the kind words of encouragement. I will search for the Mud People photos. They are from my pre-digital era of photography. As for Picard, I read in the New York Times Sunday paper this week that he has his own series now on a CBS streaming service. I don't do streaming services so I will have to wait until it is available on DVD.

AnonymousPVX said...


Hit some snags in this Wednesday try, but got the solve.

Write-overs....you bet....III/TRE (anyone else?), AMIS/ACTS.

Had a partial when I started filling in RH...for Rhonda...before cutting it off...knew it wasn’t Ronda, then remembered RENEE. Rhonda was an actress.

This is the odd puzzle that would have made some circles okay, as I never looked for CODE iterations.

So on to Thursday.

Anonymous said...

The 12 down clue is one of the most misleading I've seen.

Tinbeni said...

melissa: Wonderful write-up and nice photo's.

I enjoy a theme I can figure out quickly.

Have to admit I needed E-S-P (Every-Single Perp.) to get RENEE.
Not up on knowing any opera Diva's.

Well it is freezing here in Tarpon Springs ...
Yup, it was 38 degrees at 6:00am ... and every true Floridian will tell you:
"It's F**KING FREEZING outside."

A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset with some Scotch ... NEAT!!!

Cheers!

oc4beach said...


TIN and all Floridians: It was 11° this morning in central PA. When we lived in Florida many eons ago my son would go to school wearing shorts and a T-Shirt while all of the local kids were bundled up in heavy parkas when the temperature dropped below 60°.

Wilbur Charles said...

I did this early but just got a chance to read posts. The north started slowly as I inked flyer/TRACT and then relo/SELL. I thought of Gilt/PELF. But ICT clued the long across. Everything under that flowed as fast as pen could write.

WC

Spitzboov said...

dbud - The clue was activist's handout. Merriam defines tract as : a pamphlet or leaflet of political or religious propaganda
also : a piece of writing that is suggestive of such a tract.

Oas re: Schveens (pigs). In Hamburg they have a L. German ditty Hopp, hopp, hopp in Swiensgalopp. "Hop hop hop in the pig's gallop.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Thanks for the photos of Melissa and daughter!
And a special thanks for the gift of RENEE Fleming's description of her favorite arias.
I was surprised and delighted that she included the Korngold aria, Marietta's Lied--a favorite of mine too.

Yes to CanadianEh! as to choosing III before TRE. I'm sure we weren't the only ones...

PELF is a great word, one that we rarely use. I knew of it, but never before used it myself.

Missing Misty this a.m. She had to hurry off to teach a class, so may be here later today.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
One diagonal, NE to SW.
It offers a couple of anagrams.
There is, for instance, a reference to an alien who presents an appallingly bad stand-up act, the...
"COSMIC CREEP,"
- or -
to the spontaneously regenerating mysterious cornfield runes, the...
"CROP RE-CIRCLES"!

Lucina said...

OMK:
Considering the definition of PELF, I'm glad to hear you never use it for yourself! I think of Oliver Twist, et al.

My Mother had her own style of creating Spanglish terms, more like Spoonerisms, really. She called masking tape, smacking tape and others I can't recall at this moment. I'll have to ask my sisters.

Ruberap said...

Just a small note: MADD is not against the perps, but against the action. Mothers Against Drunk DRIVING.

Jared X said...

Thank you all for the kind words. This is my 2d puzzle in the LA Times and it’s exciting to read people’s comments.

As it happens, I’m an ESL teacher, so code switching occurs every day in my classroom (and is a beautiful thing!). Hope to see you all in this space again soon.

Roy said...

I had to memorize this in high school Literature:
BREATHES THERE THE MAN
(EXCERPT FROM “THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL”)
by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land?
Whose heart hath ne’er within him burn’d,
As home his footsteps he hath turn’d,
From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell.
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonor’d, and unsung.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Safely flew into SPI today and, boy, are my arms; F*** it's cold!!
Pop said the forecast calls for 3" of snow, but so far just a dusting.
But coming up from Houston... It's just COLD!

I did the puzzle this morning at the airport (followed by the NYT & WSJ) so hold on a sec while I mentally separate which was which...

Ah, Yes. Jared's CODE SWITCHeroo. Fun theme and a joy to play over a breakfast taco & coffee at Hobby Airport. Thanks for stopping into The Corner Jared. Did you know we were here when mb expo'd your first LAT?

Nice expo mb and a beauty tossing in Luke's coffee. My girls will get a kick out of your pics in Stars Hollow.

WOs: Hand-up - III -> TRE. Plus... ACRoss->SYN, heADY->TOADY, and Stand -> STRAP. Move for money [better paying job?] was not ReLo.
ESPs: SOFT-C FOOL'd me. TOADY after I SORT'd out an ETA. ALAE, PELF(?)
Fav: POOHBAH (though it messed me up at Friend of Tigger in the WSJ :-))
Like Jinx noted, ARGUE/AGREE was cute.

Two out of this world DRs OMK!

Argg! Cornerites that never heard of Code Switching? YR, myself and MdF discussed it 1/4 and 1/5 of this year. :-)
DW tells me that it's not just mixes of foreign languages; it's also the use of our own. Depending on the various groups that we belong, we switch our language to indicate we belong with that group. Like my black friends talking way differently together outside of work than at work (or with a majority of white guys); or how my slang and short-cut words switch when I'm with my hacker friends indicating "I belong" but will totally "code switch" with military buddies to a different set of terms and slang.

Heck, we Code Switch here at The Corner. Who IRL has said "My DW..." and had to stop themselves because the listener has no idea you mean "Dear Wife"?

IM - I consider politicians' attempt at code switching ('cuz you know they don't really 'belong' to that group) pandering :-)

Ray-O: Born a Crime stand-up [7:58].

Have a great eve!

Cheers, -T