google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday February 9, 2020 Yaakov Bendavid

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Feb 9, 2020

Sunday February 9, 2020 Yaakov Bendavid

Theme: "No More Tears" - Different forms of "cry" are replaced by words with the same vowel sound but different starting consonants.

23. Chicken lover's comment?: NOTHING LIKE A GOOD THIGH. Nothing like a good cry.

43. Denial from one with a very recent white mustache?: LIE OVER SPILT MILK. Cry over split milk.

62. Local monastery VIP?: THE TOWN PRIOR. The town crier.

67. Bad do result?: A DYEING SHAME. A crying shame.

85. Young shepherd resigned to losing his flock?: BOY WHO SIGHED WOLF. Boy who cried wolf.

108. Evita's exhortation to use sunscreen?: DON'T FRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA. Don't Cry for Me, Argentina.

Our blog labels show that this is the LAT debut for Yaakov Bendavid, who has had 6 puzzles published by the New York Times. Congratulations, Yaakov!

I've mentioned before, sound deletion/addition/replacements are very difficult for me. I admire constructors who can pull this off.

Across:

1. Stand array: ZINES. Magazines.

6. Exams for aspiring MBAs: GMATS. GRES too, right?

11. Border: ABUT.

15. Word with dance or union: HALL.

19. Work as a team: UNITE.

20. Draw a bead on: AIM AT.

21. Old alphabet character: RUNE.  Old Germanic.


22. Inter __: among others: ALIA.

27. Most exceptional, in recent lingo: INSANEST.

28. Relish: ENJOY.

29. Afternoon service: TEA SET. Afternoon tea (Yum Cha) is a daily social activity for many retired people in Guangzhou. The dim sum plates are quite cheap. People just split the plates then chitchat.   Not now though. People all stay at home.

30. Not cluttered: NEAT.

31. Race: GUN.

32. Tannery tub: VAT.

33. Cycle starter: TRI.

34. What many writers work on: SPEC. Same for many crossword constructors.

37. Attains: REACHES.

41. Gondoliers' tools: POLES.

46. Ant or Arkin: ADAM.

50. Like much junk mail: UNREAD.

51. Title words before Legend or Woman: I AM.

52. Consume: EAT. Traditional Japanese breakfast. Freshly cooked rice, natto, green onions and raw egg.




53. "You __ Beautiful": Joe Cocker hit: ARE SO.

54. Roast job: MCING.

55. Some notebooks: PCS.

56. Reporter's query: WHEN.

58. Decides one will: OPTS TO.

59. Ewe, for one: SHE.

60. Biblical prophet: AMOS.

64. Air__, 2011 Southwest acquisition: TRAN.

65. Chicago's __ Tower: SEARS.

66. "Now, where __ we?": WERE.

71. Italian actress Virna: LISI. Learned from doing crosswords. Beautiful.


72. Submissions to an ed.: MSS.

75. Big name in plastic explosives: SEMTEX. New to me. What's it used for?


76. First name in folk: ARLO.

77. Hwy. crime: DUI.

78. Hogwarts potions master: SNAPE. "Harry Potter" films.


80. Word before county, river or Bill: PECOS.

81. Cincinnati-to-Detroit dir.: NNE.

82. Japanese assent: HAI.

83. "Turn! Turn! Turn!" songwriter: SEEGER (Pete)

84. Hand measure: SPAN.

89. Resignee before Richard: SPIRO (Agnew)

91. More jumpy: ANTSIER.

92. Camp equipment: COTS.

93. Soccer star Hamm: MIA. Bill G met him a few times.

96. N. American land: USA.

97. 82-Down's predecessor: FDR. 82. DDE's predecessor: HST.

98. Lawless role: XENA. Lucy Lawless.

100. Short __: little or no consideration: SHRIFT.

102. Environs: AREAS.

104. Drives out: BANISHES.

111. Aunt Bee's charge: OPIE.

112. Boathouse items: OARS.

113. Ancient: Pref.: PALEO.

114. Rock-'n'-roller whom Forrest Gump supposedly met: ELVIS. Did he? I can't remember clearly.

115. Look as though: SEEM.

116. Small amount: SPOT. My brother updates me often on the Coronavirus in Xi'an. Early last week it's 20 cases, then 70 cases a day later. One guy in his neighborhood went to Wuhan before Chinese Spring Festival. He then infected mom, who then lost her life. He also infected his two sisters.

117. Strict: STERN.

118. Saxes, e.g.: REEDS.

Down:

1. New Mexico native: ZUNI.

2. Aware of: IN ON.

3. Petty peeves: NITS.

4. "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" co-director: ETHAN COEN. Born and raised here in Minnesota.


5. Paris divider: SEINE.

6. Comic: GAGSTER. Spell check does not like this word.

7. Jazz legend Jackson: MILT. I googled him before.


8. Friend of Paris: AMI.

9. Personal point of view: TAKE.

10. "Casey at the Bat" autobiographer: STENGEL. Casey of course.


11. Gas in some lasers: ARGON.

12. Cheer (up): BUOY.

13. 108-card game: UNO.

14. Roger Ebert gave one entitled "Remaking My Voice" in 2011: TED TALK. What's your favorite Ted Talk?

15. "Funny not funny": HA HA.

16. Sought-after guests: A LIST.

17. Hybrid big cat: LIGER. Quite majestic.


18. "Swing Shift" actress Christine: LAHTI.

24. Got warmer while searching for: NEARED.

25. "... __, and a lasting peace": Lincoln: A JUST.

26. Head of Québec: TETE.

32. Electrical unit: VOLT.

34. Jacob Riis concerns: SLUMS.

35. Skosh: PINCH.

36. Like typical King novels: EERIE.

38. Reebok rival: ASICS. Are they good? I heard a guy raving about Brooks shoes at Dick's Sporting Goods a few weeks ago.

39. Pros with schedules: CPAS.

40. That guy: HIM.

41. Liszt's instrument: PIANO.

42. "Being and Nothingness" philosopher: SARTRE. Whatever between them, it worked. 

44. Unpredictable events: VAGARIES.

45. Tournaments: MEETS.

47. Bandleader Arnaz: DESI. Lots of "I Love Lucy" items at our local flea market.

48. Regarding: AS TO.

49. Peaty land: MOOR.

53. Kept in the know: APPRISED.

55. Pioneering video game: PONG.

56. Hacky Sack maker: WHAM-O. This is Chinese Hacky Sack. We call it Jianzi.



57. Present: HERE.

58. Change for a five: ONES.

61. Tailless feline: MANX.

62. Color named for a duck: TEAL.

63. D-Day conflict: WW II.

64. Jackson Hole backdrop: TETONS.

65. Kate, pre-taming: SHREW. "The Taming of the Shrew".

67. Dangerous biters: ASPS.

68. Insightful: DEEP.

69. Community pool site: YMCA.

70. 2009 Panasonic purchase: SANYO.

71. Mario's brother: LUIGI.

72. Myopic Mr.: MAGOO.

73. Competed in a British bee: SPELT.

74. Feudal workers: SERFS.

77. Roast site: DAIS. Good-natured roast.

79. English coal mining city: NEWCASTLE.

81. Filmmaker Ephron: NORA. I like "Sleepless in Seattle".


83. Unruffled: SERENE.

85. Small bars: BISTROS.

86. "Barry" star Bill: HADER. Read more details here.


87. Merging places: ON RAMPS.

88. Common nut shape: HEXAGON. Not the edible nut.

90. Musical dragon loved by Little Jackie Paper: PUFF.

93. Windows precursor: MS-DOS.

94. "That's my dream": I HOPE.

95. Memorable links nickname: ARNIE.  Palmer. He co-founded the Golf Channel.


97. Put icing on: FROST.

99. Bay Area NFLer: NINER.

101. Bullet point, e.g.: ITEM.

102. Curly do: AFRO.

103. Dodge City, to Ford County: SEAT.

104. Storied fox title: BR'ER.

105. Honey site: HIVE.

106. Writer Bagnold: ENID.

107. Cause for a kid's grounding: SASS.

109. Babble: YAP.

110. Belgian or brown: ALE.


Happy birthday to our Splynter (Richard), who turns 49 years old today. Splynter faithfully guided us on Saturdays for many years.

Splynter told me that Jan 8, 2020 was his 15-year anniversary in AA. He's still taking care of his mom, who might need to move to a nursing home soon. He's still looking for that perfect job. Wish all your dreams come true this year, Splynter!


41 comments:

Bill G said...

Hi everybody.

It's 1 o'clock (am) here and I thought I would say hi before turning in.

Hi!

This was an enjoyable puzzle for me though I have a hard time being able to intelligently explain the theme. Would it be replacing the 'CR' in expressions that have the word 'CRY' to make another humorous expression?

I used to be a fan of Ellen and her TV show in the afternoons. No more. She has to make comments about her houses and at least one expensive car. She tries to make it funny but it still seems like bragging. She promotes being kind but then she enjoys playing tricks on people that have to make them uncomfortable, irritated or embarrassed (maybe all three). For me, jokes are fun when nobody gets hurt. If the jokee is unhappy or uncomfortable, then so am I.

Dunno why I felt the need to bring this up. Feel free to ignore it. YMMV...

I got into a very enjoyable music loop on YouTube an hour or two ago. I watched videos with Emmylou, then Chet Atkins, then The Maple Leaf Rag, then Stephané Grappelli, Hank Snow, Patsy Cline, etc. I would still be going but I finally was able to tear myself away. I love old musical classics.

I hope you are having a good day.

~ Mind how you go...

WikWak said...

OK... this time I was determined not to be so late posting. How’d I do?

Thanks, Yaakov, for putting me through my paces for sure. Finally FIR in 33 minims but gosh, it felt like an hour. Had a very hard time getting the northwest done; not sure why, I just did. I finally gave it up and moved on to the rest, which came together nicely. After that the pesky northwest resolved itself fairly quickly.

The very first entry (1A) is the one that held me up the most. “Stand array”... right away I thought of a news stand but couldn’t make anything fit. Now of course I know why: ZINES? Really? Who calls them that?

I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite TED TALK. There have been so many good ones. Sometimes I watch them on YouTube and sometimes I just listen to the podcast. Good stuff, IMHO.

I had a little nit with Chicago’s SEARS Tower... it hasn’t been named that for a long time now. Sears bailed out and since then it’s been the Willis Tower. It was only a little nit though; nobody actually calls it the Willis Tower. I think it will still be SEARS to most folks forever.

SEMTEX is a plastic explosive, much loved by people who love blowing things up. It sees a lot of use by the military and by bad guys who blow open safes with it.

Interesting placement of SARTRE and DESI Arnaz, right next to each other.

C.C., I hope your friends and family are not being terribly upset by all the disruptions in their lives, and that they will stay healthy.

OK, it’s bedtime. Night, all.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Fun challenge, Yaakov, but the theme was a punny groaner that was also chuckle-worthy.

Great expo, C.C., thanks! I have been wondering about your family & friends in China. Praying they are able to avoid this health crisis. What a scary situation!

When I was unable to fill anything on the top line, I thought this puzzle might be a slog, but I just kept picking around and WAGing my way thru to a finish. Some really good stuff in here.

Never heard a TED TALK except what has been mentioned here on the Corner. Trying to come up with this fill for Ebert gave me fits. I was having trouble with all the words in that little section. Couldn't come up with a GOOD adjective to describe THIGH. Had to resort to red-letters for the "D". Duh! Then went back and filled in GOO... Surprised it was right.

Happy Birthday, Splynter! Miss you! Congrats on 15 years sober! Sorry to hear your mother is not well. Glad she has a concerned son to take care of her. Best wishes in your continued quest for a job worthy of your intelligence.

BillG: Ellen lost my interest over those mean games too. Hate them. Don't watch her.

Lemonade714 said...

I do not do the Sunday NYT very often any longer but YAAKOV né Jeffrey Davis is a Sunday specialist with all of his publications 21x21 grids. He said he spent much time creating his word list and theme words, he needed the extra spaces. He was raised in a very orthodox neighborhood in Brooklyn N.Y. and moved to Israel and adopted his current name. I hope he stops by and talks with us. Thank you, Yaakov

The writings of JACOB RIIS shocked the public at the turn of the 20th century.

As WikWak alluded, Semtex and C-4 are similar products. ... C-4 is 91% RDX. Semtex can refer to one of three explosives which combine RDX with another explosive PETN. The three flavors of Semtex range from 4.6% to 41.2% RDX and 40.9% to 76% PETN.

Thank you for the update on Splynter and the reality of what is going on in China. We will pray for all of oyur family and friends.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Stuck with ONTO (INON) for far too long. I knew ZONES had to be wrong, but the penny just wouldn't drop...until it did. Good one, Yaakov. Enjoyed the tour, C.C. (I don't think Mia would appreciate you calling her a him.)

SEARS: I had the same nit as WikWak. It hasn't been SEARS since '09. OTOH, I still call the Chase Tower in Houston the Texas Commerce Tower.

FLN: YR, thanx for explaining about your "terrace" room. Heap big chief -- funny. Bobbi, ETS in M-I-B refers to Extra-Terrestrials -- aliens.

As I was solving this morning I was listening to a song by the Haden Triplets about the 1935 plane crash at Point Barrow, Alaska. "Willy Post and Will Rogers, they were dead...They shall never be forgotten so long as time shall run." The irony made me chuckle.

Happy birthday, Splynter, and congrats on your 15-year anniversary.

jfromvt said...

Got everything except the Z in the very first square. Started going through the alphabet, but lost interest and didn’t make it to Z. It’s obvious now.

Fun puzzle, an entertaining start to the day. Love play on word themes. Didn’t know there were so many expressions with CRY in them!

Yaakov Bendavid said...

Thanks C.C. for your congrats on my LAT debut (and I enjoy solving your puzzles), and thanks everyone who commented.

It's fun and educational to see my puzzle discussed. Knowing what worked and worked "less well" helps me be a better constructor.

As for "groaners", I've always thought that the ranking of reactions to puns is:
Best: "funny and clever!"
Next: (so bad that maybe it wrapped around to the good side)
Last: meh!

Until next time!

- Yaakov

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Got started in Maine, went down the entire Atlantic coast, across the South and finished in Washington state with ZINES
-Yesterday I showed Paris AIMING AT Achilles heel
-I encounter NEAT desks when subbing for women. Men…
-Jacqueline Matthews must not work on SPEC. Her puzzles run every day in another part of my paper and her “straight forward” cluing make them pretty easy
-We here in “fly over country” loved that KC attained a Super Bowl win
-Roast job = EMCEE? No, MCING
-Unmanned window cleaning unit at the SEARS (Willis) Tower
-SEEGER adapted Turn, Turn, Turn from King Solomon in Ecclesiastes
-Fill in the blank, “So from my personal point of view, get an _ _ _ _ girl to marry you”
-Vagaries – “Life is what happens while you are making other plans”
-Carry coals to NEWCASTLE = Running a sprinkler during a rainstorm
-HBD, Splynter!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I enjoyed this solve and thought the theme and wordplay was fun and clever. The lack of unknowable proper names and places was refreshing and appreciated. I needed perps for the jazzy Milt, but I think we've seen him before. Snape came easily because of its regular appearances. My only w/os were HPs/PCs and having Edge before Abut led to Gin before Uno. I liked the She ~ Him, Spilt ~ Spelt duos and the historical references of FDR ~ HST ~ WW II. Jinx gets a CSO at Unite and my favorite C/A was Afternoon service=Tea Set.

Thanks, Yaakov, and congrats and welcome to the LA Times forum and thanks, CC, for keeping us up to date with an insider's view of the crisis in China. Your review was entertaining and informative, as always.

My cable box died yesterday, so my nephew just came to pick it up and take it to Spectrum for replacement. I hope everything gets back to normal so I can watch the Oscars. The only two films that I've seen are "The Irishman" and "Marriage Story", plus clips from the other nominees. Based on what I've read, Jacquin (sp?) Phoenix, Reneé Zellwegger, Brad Pitt, and Laura Dern are shoo-ins for the top acting awards, but Best Film and Best Director could be upsets or, at the very least, surprises.

I don't watch Ellen's games shows but I have seen her talk show in the past. I always enjoyed her humor and her message of kindness, but I was always uneasy when she scared someone, badly, in the midst of a normal conversation. I wouldn't like that done to me and I do think it's only funny to the prankster. I guess we all have a different interpretation of humor.

Have a great day.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIW x 3. wAGSTER wasn't caught by (G)MATS (my uni used a home-grown reentry test instead), and I actually erased ALIA for ALai. Don't remember why - DNK LIGER or LAHTI.

pINES gave way to ZINES, eat up to ENJOY, run to GUN, emcee to MCING, tent to COTS, thumb up to TED TALK, and ricci to LiHTI. My camping doesn't involve cots. It does involve DirecTV, a washer/drier, ice maker and convection oven. The manufacturer's motto is "roughing it smoothly".

Has anyone ever gotten the long SHRIFT?

CSO to moi at "work as a team" and "schedule pro". Important elements of project management.

When I first bought the program Visio, I was aggravated that it required me to upgrade from Windows 3.0 to 3.1. I was even more so when I bought that upgrade then found out I had to buy a new version of MS DOS for 3.1 to run on.

Bay Area NFLer had to be NINER because "runner up" wouldn't fit.

Thanks to Yaakov for he fun but tough puzzle. My favorite was TETONS, but that might just be my fixation. My least favorite was SNAPE. I've seen enough Potter fill to last me the rest of my life. And thanks to CC for the review and personal insight. Good that you heard from Splynter. I miss him and his obsession with sticks.

Big Easy said...

Good morning.I caught the word change but didn't realize until the end that all of them were replacing a form of CRY.

The MCING area had me stumped until I realized that MC was used for Master of Ceremony instead of EMCEE. I'm not familiar with PINCH being used for Skosh and it was perped, along with LISI, INSANEST, SNAPE, SEMTEX, ETHAN COEN, LAHTI, HADER, TED TALK.

WHAMO was a logical fill for "Hacky Sack"- never heard of it.

PK- this blog is the only place I've seen TED TALK- Ideas Worth Spreading. I looked it up and it seems like the 'elite intelligentsia' want to "spread ideas and experiences, improve communication and connection, spark conversation, and enlighten minds". I translate this to be: we know more than you and you should believe everything we say and live the way we want you to live.

Lucina said...

Hola!

Have I mentioned how much I like puns? These were fun if teary.

I had a hard time starting and even ZUNI took a long time to emerge. TETE gave me a toehold then I filled diagonally westward and down. I tried LIGER, erased it, then filled it again, changed ELITE to A-LIST and so it continued. Finally that NE corner was finished.

I loved DON'T FRY FOR ME ARGENTINA!

Usually parts of Sunday puzzles prove problematic for me and so it was with Jacob Riis' concerns which seemed familiar but finally LIU for SLUMS and I couldn't accept MCING until forced to do so.

Thank you, Yaakov, for the entertaining challenge! WWII, HST, FDR and even SPERO recalled the horrors of those terrible times. Having just read The Last Train to London, I have fresh memories of the tragedy and suffering that occurred.

And thank you, C.C., for the informative review as well as news from the dreadful events in China. I hope your family is staying well.

Happy birthday, Splynter! Congratulations on 15 years! Your mother is fortunate to have you to care for her.

ENJOY your day, everyone!

Lucina said...

oops. SPIRO Agnew, not SPeRO.

Anonymous said...

Terrible answers (ZINES, INSANEST, MCING, GAGSTER ???) and no consistency in the theme. Hopefully Mr. Bendavid gets better editing in the future.

Misty said...

Delightful Sunday puzzle, Yaakov, and thanks for checking in with us. I always have to start in small places and corners, but was happy to know a lot of names, which was a big help: OPIE, of course, and DESI, MIA, NORA, ENID, LAHTI, ARLO, and the frequently appearing Mr. MAGOO. But SARTRE was a special treat. ELVIS was nice too, but I didn't remember that from the movie. And even though it took a bit of help, I even got two sports guys, STENGEL and ARNIE. GAGSTER was new to me, and like Lucina, it was fun to finally get DON'T FRY FOR ME, ARGENTINA. So thank you again, Yaakov and welcome. And C.C. I too will pray that your family in China stays well.

Have a good Sunday, everybody.

Jinx in Norfolk said...



Big easy: :)

NaomiZ said...

Northwest corner was the hardest for me -- ZINES, INSANEST -- but the word play in the long answers was fun. Admittedly, I couldn't figure out GAGSTER, didn't know MILT, and wasn't sure of the graduate exam name, so I wound up with blanks where the GM belonged at 6 across. Thanks for an enjoyable challenge!

Jayce said...

I very much like the CRY variations and the funny phrases resulting therefrom. I would count myself among those who openly admit there's NOTHING LIKE A GOOD THIGH. Like NaomiZ, I struggled with the GM in GMATS; that M was the last letter I filled. (SILT somehow just didn't seem to be a person's name, but one never really knows how somebody is going to spell their name, does one?)

Bill G, I enjoy reading your comments describing what you think about this and that. I first learned of Stéphane Grappelli from a friend years ago and I'm glad I did.

Happy birthday, Richard, and congratulations.

Speaking of ARGENTINA, I do love watching, and hearing the music to, a good Argentine tango. A close second is a good Flamenco.

Happy Sunday, all.

Wendybird said...

From yesterday, thanks TTP for pointing me to the abbreviations site - I FOUND it at last.

I found the theme answers to be perfectly consistent, and there were several clever fill answers. Difference of opinion I guess.

Rain today at the beach. We need it!

Looking forward to the Oscars even if there won’t be many surprises.

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the puzzle in general But...

Like many others, ZINES was my final entry. I think that there should be something in the clue that makes it clear that it is an abbreviation or slang (or abbreviated slang). And having that be the very first clue cast a shadow over the rest of the puzzle.

I also agree with WikWak that, although ZINES is a standard word in crosswordese, I've never heard it used in real life.

I also agree with those who said that crossing the un-guessable GMATS with a proper noun should have been avoided.

CrossEyedDave said...

My mistake was trying my luck on the NorthWest corner,
& it scared me off..

I would have tried harder if you threw me a bone around 1A/1D!

Hmm, where to find a cake for Splynter...

Bill G said...

Hi Jayce

Thanks for your response to my comments. Not only is Grappelli a very accomplished fiddle player, he plays the kind of music that I really like. For example, Sweet Georgia Brown, Misty, Satin Doll, Let's Fall in Love, and my all-time favorite, Nuages.

Wendybird, where near the beach? We live in Manhattan Beach and light rain started around noon and has tapered off since.

OwenKL said...

I'm going to come to the defense of a significant word to me. As a former zine editor, let me assure you that within the small-press culture of science fiction and related fandoms, zines, short for fanzines, is a common term. I've "pubbed my ish" many times in the pre-Internet days of the 80's, when I edited "the Alpha Centura Communicator" (for the Albuquerque Star Trek club), "The National Fantasy Fan" and "Tightbeam" (both for the N3F, which I invite you all to join), and "Tempest in a Teapot" as a personal zine. Pro-zines like Analog and F&SF shared rack space in book stores with fan-mags like Sixteen and Teen Scene. In those pre-Web days, there was a saying that the 4 C's of Faandom [sic -- ultra-fandom] were Cons, Clubs, Corry and Zines [SF conventions, local clubs, correspondence, and amateur fanzines].

I FIR eventually, but it was hard. Just seeing the cry-related gimmick didn't help me get the glosses on "crying" (instead of "cry") OVER SPILT MILK or "crying" (instead of "a crying") SHAME. So those two sections fell long after the rest of the puzzle had been solved.

I would write M.C.ing as MC-ING, never as just MCING to explain a crossword solution.

Funny using a picture of the diet-pill SEMTEX brand to illustrate the SEMTEX explosives brand. There's also a SEMTEX energy drink brand unrelated to either of the other two!

Hungry Mother said...

I had a stand of Pines and Enos and Semtec and it was a bad day. My running shoes are all Hokas.

Anonymous T said...

Sunday Lurk say...

HBD Splynter! Many of us at The Corner really miss you. God Speed to you and your mom.

Big E: You're a little tough on TED Talks but ~1/2 right. They've descended into 'empowering stories' much like The Moth Radio Hour has. Once they have the platform/industry, they need to come up w/ more stuff [And TEDx - oy!].
That said, here's one of my favorite TED Talks about counter-phishing.

C.C. - Thank you for the updates on what you know re: coronavirus; I read the US edition of China Daily [it's an insert in the Houston Chronicle] and it seemed to have a bit of an atonement tone in the story of the Dr. who figured it out - and then was cited for inciting panic. May your extended family stay healthy.

Y'all have a great Sunday afternoon. Rain just started falling; perfect nap=soundtrack; right, WikWak? :-)

Cheers, -T

Bill G said...

Can you imagine being a member of his band and hanging out with them in Paris back in their heyday?

Lemonade714 said...

I must support OKL with the validity of ZINES as a stand-alone word. Comic Book readers, RPG players, and so many others know the word. It is part of keeping up with the new world. Just like those who complain about references to Jane Eyre and SHAKESPEARE quotations, puzzles are not confined to any single knowledge set. That is part of why they are fun. IMO.

Yaakov, shalom and thank you for stopping by the Corner. We encourage you to become part of our family which like all families do not always agree but has fun doing it.

Picard said...

This was tough getting going for me. CC "sound deletion/addition/replacements are very difficult for me". Me, too! When I did get the theme I had fun with it and was happy for the challenge.

Yaakov Bendavid thank you for the puzzle and for stopping by!

Did anyone else think TAXIS before ZINES? FRIAR before PRIOR? Hand up Irish Miss for EDGE before ABUT. Tough areas for me: Around MCING. Around ZINES. Around PRIOR. Last to fill was actually YAP/SPOT crossing. Tough but fair.

We see PETE and/or SEEGER fairly often. It was time to dig out photos of the time our parents took us to see him perform. No, the photos are not the best quality. But there he was in person for us. I was just eight years old but I knew some of those songs and learned some new ones. And he totally directed his energy to us children.

Here I was with my family at age 8 getting to experience Pete SEEGER in person.

I am puzzled at some of the TED TALK comments. It costs $10,000 to attend one. And you have to be invited. So it seems rather odd for people to turn up their noses at the chance to listen to as many as you want for free. They are quite short, so it is not a big time commitment to check out a few. Yes, some are overly slick for my taste. But some offer a chance to hear from cutting edge people in industry, science and the arts to explain how they see the world. What is so scary about checking it out?

Lucina said...

I just saw the movie, Knives Out; it's entertaining and amusing! It ends with a good twist which is not an original trope, but its effectiveness redeems it. IMHO, anyway. The audience burst into laughter at the end.

Picard said...

Learning moment that the SEMTEX name has been used for nutrition marketing! I am quite familiar with it as a plastic explosive.

From yesterday:
TTP thank you very much for your thoughtful comments about those words and expressions I had never heard of. It seems that in the case of TERRACE LEVELS it may be a regional term more than a real estate term. Bobbi did not like it at all! For me, a learning moment.

The four HANDS was so perfect for yesterday. DW and I have become friends with "The Piano Boys" and their parents. The family is from Lebanon and they are a showcase for the best of what immigrants bring to our country. Zeyn is just 15 years old and his brother Rhyan is just 14 years old. We befriended them when they were even younger.

Santa Barbara is not very welcoming to street performers, so I have been impressed that they have set up on the street and in shopping centers performing classical music to perfection on a portable keyboard. They are very polite and do their best to get permission in advance.

But yesterday their family actually rented out a local church just so they could perform in a "real" place.

Here is my video of The Piano Boys performing Mozart's Sonata in D Major with a PIANO QUARTET of HANDS.

I have other videos of them performing, but this was fresh yesterday along with that puzzle entry!

Abejo said...

Good evening, folks. Thank you, Yaakov BenDavid, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

Started the puzzle this morning. Finished this evening. Did not work on it all day.

Caught the theme with THE TOWN PRIOR. Got all the rest, but some a little slowly.

I also put in EMCEE for 54A. Nothing worked in that area and I was sure I was right with EMCEE. Then I got EERIE and I saw MCING. OK.

Liked TEASET for 29A.

Never heard of a TED TALK. Maybe I don't get out enough.

Never heard the term ZINES before. Maybe I don't get out enough.

Happy Birthday, Splynter, and many more. Stop in sometime.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Wilbur Charles said...

Array? Of pines. Lines(of taxis or limos). I never seem to get all the way past W on my alphabet runs. I missed SPEC inking PC'es(why not that plural as in Ex'es. And I forgot the T on INSANESs/MILs.

So many boxes to fill I didn't go back and check. Mr S assured me that Mr Riis might have done PLUMS in vases. Oops, lemonade informs me that he was a writer. Wait, I knew that.
Anybody recall the old name for GMATS. I took it senior year as I recall (1966)

Misty, congrats on getting STENGEL, Casey got that name from KC, his hometown. He had a degree in dentistry

Yaakhov, that anon@1038 I'm sure you've encountered at the Rex(NYT blog). eg IGNORE!

WC

I'm late because I came up to the HITs Trilogy equestrian competition. 150Gs. I wonder if one can bet on them. My gut lost on the last jump. Betsy used to jump so I got the color commentary.

Splynter, my fellow traveler in sobriety. 15 is great. Regardless of time(40+) we still attend meetings for our SERENEty.*

CC, keep posting on Corona virus. The virus has gone internet viral. Who to believe?


Wilbur Charles said...

* And to help others. Guy not "Gut"

Wilbur Charles said...

Picard, I see you dropped in. Owen mentioned a Star Trek ZINE, did you catch it? I'll repeat a post from way back:(re. SciFi)

Asimov stated that"The Foundation" was actually history using SciFi as method.
I stumbled upon his main character: Hari Selden's ID- N.(Nathan)Ratshilde(founder of the Rothchild banking dynasty.

WC

TTP said...



C.C. has a puzzle, "Up For Sale" over at USA Today.

C.C. has a puzzle, "Hidden Appellation" over at Merriam-Webster.

PK said...

Picard: I have no idea where one goes to check out a TED TALK. I have no access to public radio.

Anonymous said...

PK can you Google TED TALKS?

Lucina said...

I love good movies and I love the Oscars! Presentations just finished here and now I have to find out all about Parasite! It was a big surprise to me.

Jane Fonda, who is my age, looked FABULOUS! All it takes is money I guess and she used it for all the right places.

Michael said...

Lemonade @ 4:24 " It is part of keeping up with the new world."

True, but there is a hidden assumption here, that "keeping up with the Joneses" (or with the Kardashians for that matter), allowing ourselves to be chasing the new and putting aside the 'old', is something positive. ISTM that this is not "either-or", but another "both-and" situation.

Wendybird said...

We also love Grappelli and saw him at the Monterey Jazz Festival years ago. At that point he performed sitting in a chair, but he was still great.
We are in Laguna Niguel, at the beach end. Rained off and on until 9:00.

Unknown said...

Great puzzle. Hats off, Yaakov! I’m late finishing this as we did a road trip yesterday-Milwaukee to Chicago in the snow. Not fraught with danger but... Anyway, for those of you who had trouble with Semtex, all I can say is you read the wrong books! Hahahahahaha!!!