google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, March 28, 2020, Doug Peterson and Brad Wilber

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Mar 28, 2020

Saturday, March 28, 2020, Doug Peterson and Brad Wilber

Themeless Saturday by Doug Peterson and Brad Wilber

Today we have a tag team offering from Doug Peterson and Brad Wilber. This picture is from the NYT puzzle site about another of their collaborations.

The gentlemen left several very "gettable" Easter eggs around the grid which greatly facilitated solving and I managed to get through quite nicely. The NW and SE corners were full before I knew it. O HOLY NIGHT was a freebie but was counterbalanced by my complete ignorance of its neighbors of LANA DELREY and SLADE. Constructors giveth and constructors taketh away.


Off we go:

Across:

1. "Play it cool": ACT NATURAL - Ringo gets a chance on this cover of the Buck Owens ear worm


11. A cup's 48: Abbr.: TSPS.

15. One of a set of faddish toys that at its peak made up 10% of all eBay sales: BEANIE BABY 


16. D-Day code name: UTAH - My bride's Uncle landed at UTAH Beach on D-Day+2


17. Staple of many Oktoberfest costumes: LEDERHOSEN - What my cousin in Eastern Switzerland had this to say about this apparel (his English is way better than my Deutsch): Lederhosen are not traditionally worn, LEDERHOSEN belong to the Bavarian costume. From time to time she sees with us at local Oktoberfests, which were looked at and copied by businessmen from the Bavarians. I have no Lederhosen. These are very expensive and cost about 400 to 500 $. My son Fabian owns one, because he goes to such festivals. I am not a fan of drinking a lot of beer and the music played there.
18. Casual gait: LOPE.

19. Superhero uniform symbol: ESS - I literally wore mine until it fell apart! Sometime I will tell you the story about wearing it while I was up on a roof...




20. Pipe section: TRAP.


21. Investigations with strange features: X-FILES Mulder and Scully


23. Ferrari's former parent: FIAT - Both are now looking into making ventilators for Italy


24. Tuna __: Betty Crocker brand: HELPER.


25. Portico support: COLUMN - Here we are in front of COLUMNS that are part of a famous North Portico 




28. "Prince of Motown": GAYE Four minutes of social comment and "that voice"


29. Subj. of some 2015 WikiLeaks content: NSA Here 'ya go


31. United hub: O'HARE - United Airlines hubs




32. Honeycomb holder: CEREAL BOX - Cute!


34. One-track: MONO - Even in MONO, the Everly Brothers sounded great 


35. Declined: WANED.


36. Drip site: EAVE.


37. Fearmongers: ALARMISTS 


39. Swiss city with suburbs in Germany and France: BASEL - BASEL sprawls out across both sides of the Rhine from Schwiez into Deutschland and 
Frankreich 




40. Qantas baggage tag abbr.: SYD.


41. Greek war god: ARES.


42. Repair request recipients: SUPERS - Do you remember the name of this TV SUPERintendent?


43. Like many stored measuring cups: NESTED.


45. Dispatched: SENT.



46. Military lodging: BILLET - It used to not be optional

47. Breathing space?: LUNG - A real area of concern with COVID-19 


48. Degree for a CFO: MBA.


51. Tourist mecca with a mausoleum: AGRA Eight secrets of the Taj Mahal


52. Napoleon is a dictator in it: ANIMAL FARM - ...all are equal except some are more equal than others


55. Rid oneself of: SHED.


56. Main menace: PIRATE SHIP 


57. Ocular inflammation: STYE.


58. Aids in coping with pressure?: SPACE SUITS - SPACE SUITS dealt with the LACK of pressure in the vacuum on the Moon (YES! WE WENT TO THE MOON!)


Down:


1. Proficient: ABLE.


2. The limits of chic?: CEES ChiC


3. Wee ones: TADS.


4. Peoria-to-Green Bay dir.: NNE 


5. Exposure, to a deejay: AIR TIME - Paul Simon gives credit to a Florida DJ for giving Sound Of Silence a lot of AIR TIME after many requests from kids and giving him and Art Garfunkel a big boost


6. World capital in 1979-'80 headlines: TEHRAN - The 52 hostages held in TEHRAN for 444 days were one factor that cost Jimmy Carter a second term


7. Lusitania sinker: U-BOAT A fascinating, detailed story of America's delayed reaction 


8. Gravelly utterance: RASP - RASPY-voiced Joe Cocker TV theme song


9. Japanese host of the 2019 G20 summit: ABE - Shinzo ABE will not host the Olympics for at least a year. The G20? Don't know.


10. Sharp-sighted: LYNX-EYED They were forced into the open, easy prey for the first LYNX-EYED Mercutian. "Slaves of Mercury" by Nat Schachner. A variation of eagle-eyed that is new to me


11. Lily family flower: TULIP.


12. Theft not involving money or merchandise: STOLEN BASE - This baseball fan took too long to get this one


13. Explains too glibly: PAPERS OVER - A favorite of mine!


14. "__ Like the Wind": "Dirty Dancing" tune: SHE'S - Patrick Swayze sings the song and, uh, engages in Dirty Dancing


22. Circus hopper: FLEA - You really want to see one?


23. Public outcry: FUROR.


24. Leveret raisers: HARES - Leveret and mom HARE


25. Deep sleeps: COMAS.


26. Christmas song containing "a thrill of hope": O HOLY NIGHT 


27. "Summertime Sadness" hitmaker: LANA DELREY Here 'ya go!


28. Restroom label: GENTS - or...


30. Rink acrobatics: AXELS - A triple AXEL in a roller rink and 
33. Did 30-Down: LEAPT.


32. Studied for a job?: CASED - Prepped for a bank job (robbery)


35. Bugs: WIRETAPS 


38. Second sock: MATE.


39. Butchers: BUNGLES 


42. 100-member group: SENATE - Rather than a 100-member group it can often be a 53/47 unit




44. Glam rock band: SLADE Their top ten hits. 
Uh, I didn't know many (any)


45. Rash cause, maybe: SUMAC.


46. Sarastro in "The Magic Flute," e.g.: BASS - Franz Xavier Gerl sang this BASS role at the September 20, 1791 Vienna premiere under the direction of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart


47. Italian bread that's no longer tender: LIRA - Italian LIRA ceased to be legal tender in Italy as of February, 28, 2002

48. Half a seafood dinner?: MAHI.


49. Liverpudlian, e.g.: BRIT - This house at 251 Menlove Ave. in Liverpool, England was where BRIT John Lennon was raised by his Aunt Mimi and her husband George Smith. His three band mates were also Liverpudlians


50. Bandstand boosters: AMPS.


53. Obedience school no-no: NIP - No, Fido, no!


54. Sch. with five Orange Bowl victories: FSU - When Husker Byron Bennett missed this FG in the 1994 Orange Bowl, FSU won 18 - 16 and the Husker lost a National Championship, sigh...



Comments for Doug and Brad?

56 comments:

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

This one was sufficiently tough Saturday fare. I liked the crunch in the CEREAL BOX. My only misstep was AIRPLAY/TIME. Easily corrected. Thanx, Doug and Brad. (Why does it say Doug and Doug?) And thanx for the tour, Husker.

LEDERHOSEN: I've seen them in Bavarian folk dances with the men in lederhosen and the women wearing dirndls. (Is that the way to make dirndl plurable?)

OHARE: Houston IAH is another United hub, but not really crossword-friendly.

BILLET: Can also be your military job -- the slot you fill.

Gotta run...time to self-isolate.

1derfool said...

Can someone please explain 11A?

BobB said...

11A there are 48 teaspoons (tsps) in a cup.
20A. A trap is not a pipe section but it is a drain section.

jfromvt said...

A big DNF for me today. My worst effort in a long time. Could not get any of the long answers on the right side to get me going. Just not on the same wavelength as the constructors. Probably gave up too soon.

With the time change and current events, I’ve been getting up earlier than usual. Sure makes for a lot of free time, wish I had more stuff to do!

Jinx in Norfolk said...

DNF, looking up "leveret" and Orange Bowl records. Interesting that the clue could have read "sch. with five Orange Bowl LOSSES".

Erased tots for TADS, stolen name for BASE, and women for GENTS. There is a fun restaurant chain in Florida named Ford's Garage that has a lot of fun features. One is stenciling on the frosted window of the men's room. When exiting, it reads "WOMEN". Gives one pause until one realizes it would be a mirror-image if real.

FLN, my home network consists of a Arris Surfboard 6183 cable modem, Linksys WHW03 mesh router, and a cheap Aumox ethernet switch. (I wanted to keep my wired ethernet connections but the router has limited ports. I tried using my old router as a switch, but the purpose-made switch works better.)

Thanks to Darryl and Darryl (as long as we're making up names) for the fun toughie. My favorites were "main menace" and "circus hopper". And thanks to Gary for another fun read.

Anonymous said...

This puzzle was off my wavelength at every turn.Felt like an enormous slog DNF by choice. This whole thing was a dreadful slog. 

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Woohoo. Got it all; eventually. Only wite-out was I had 'trot' before LOPE, and CIA before NSA. Some great mis-direction. Favorite was the clue for PIRATE SHIP; mis-direction and succinct alliteration - 'main menace'. BASEL came easily - great map, Husker.
BILLET - In the Navy, it slso means a job or position such as Gunnery Officer or Main Propulsion Assistant. (M-W def. # 3.) Quarters on a ship are called berthing. Agree with D-O.

Fine puzzle from Brad and Doug. Stellar intro from HG, Thanks.

Big Easy said...

Gettable- Google doesn't like that word, bur TEHRAN & U-BOAT were gimmes and after the 'Wee ones' changed from TOTS to LADS all I had to do was the old Buck Owens song, ACT NATURAL-LY to finish the NW. LEDERHOSEN was a no-brainer for the costume clue. But I've never heard of LYNX EYED, only Hawk or Eagle EYED.

The NE flew by and with the Napoleon- "some animals are more equal than others" as the clue for ANIMAL FARM and the SENATE gimme, the SE fell.

The SW was the last to fall. LARA DEL REY and the song were unknowns- all perps.

inanehiker said...

Some of this must have just been in my wheelhouse - because it was a faster Saturday than most! Of course lots of answers needed several perps before the lightbulb like CEREAL BOX - but it was a very clever clue. I kept trying to remember what the boxes where beehives are called!
I have a good friend from college who got a pair of LEDERHOSEN back when he studied abroad and from the time he got them on, he wore them to everyone's wedding or celebration no matter the weather. He was a huge guy - always brought a smile with those little leather shorts on :)

Thanks Gary and Doug& Brad for a fun run today!

We had a massive golf ball hailstorm last night - it's the loudest hailstorm I've been in - it felt like we were in a pinball machine! Tornado last year, CoVid , now this - wondering if the locusts will be here soon!

Anonymous said...

This one flew by for a Saturday. Didn't use the timer, but seemed like a Thursday level.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

We haven't seen this duo in quite some time but I was certainly on their wavelength this morning and had the completely opposite reaction and experience as Anonymous @9:07. In fact, I finished in well-below average Saturday time due to the (mostly) easily discernible long fill. The cluing was especially clever and the fill was fresh and lively. A big plus in my book was the very low count of three letter words.I had a few stumbles: DNC/NSA, Mangles/Bungles, and Lire/Lira. I needed perps for Gaye, Basel, Slade, and Bass and Hares, as clued. Never heard the expression Lynx-eyed.

Thanks, Doug and Brad, for a very enjoyable solve and thanks, HG, for your always witty and wise commentary. Nice picture of you and Joann.

FLN

Sandyanon, feel free to write whatever you want about the puzzle, the solving experience, or any personal tidbit that you'd like to share with us. Personally, I enjoy reading the personal tidbits more than reading about the puzzle as everyone has such different experiences and opinions. (I have a pad and pen at the ready and jot down thoughts as solve.)

FTNBL (From the night before last, e.g. Thursday)

Since YR made the only comment on Tony's link, I'm assuming no one else clicked on it. As a personal favor, I'm asking that you go back to Anonymous @ 10:50 and click on the link. It's well worth your time and may bring a tear and a smile. Thanks. ☘️

Stay safe, all.

Sandyanon said...

I really love the Basel map. What a sprawling place. I'd like to know if the topography influenced the sprawl.

As far as personal, I'm expecting an Instacart delivery today (fingers crossed), and wondering what to do about it. That is, what can I wash, what wipe off, what leave outside for a day, etc. I do salute the shoppers, though.

TTP said...





TADA !

Took a while, but I really enjoyed it. The right side gave me the most difficulty. Like Husker Gary, it took to long to realize it was STOLEN BASE. PAPERS OVER didn't come that easily either, but finally saw Tuna HELPER (not in my larder), and X-FILES (not on my viewing list). Then it all came together.

It was good that I finally got HELPER. That was probably the key for my finish. I was stumped my "Leveret", and couldn't decide whether it was going to be mARES, fARES, or HARES. Couldn't think of any "Tuna" food sounding names that started with mEL--- or fEL---. HEL---. Oh duh !

I was thinking that Leveret might have been the name for that little arm on the meter that a hack flips up when starting a fare.

Some really good cluing today that was tough but fair. I too especially liked "Main menace".

Never saw the clues for ABE and SLADE until reading Husker's write-up.

It stormed last night in Chicagoland. Hard. Pounding. Rain. Thunder and lightning. It was as if the storm stalled over our area. Didn't see any hail (Hi, inanehiker) in the flashes of lightning.

TTP said...




Irish Miss, I watched it Sunday morning on Sunday Morning. Moving, for sure.

Sandyanon, I make a solution of diluted bleach water, don gloves, and wipe all packaged goods down. Fuits and vegetables get rinsed in the sink. The bags and gloves go in the garbage. Then I don another pair of gloves and wipe the packaged goods with wet wipes that were doused in isopropyl alcohol. Then and only then do the items come in the house from the garage. Do the best you can with what you have.

Oas said...

Hi all
FLN Thanks TTP for the CSO .
We needed to go out for some groceries yesterday so I picked up all the different newspapers I could .
I prefer doing the crosswords in ink without look ups . Yesterday I DNF. Got a little over half done before I yielded to Google . Never turned the corner but should have known there was a gimmick when DISG didn’t make sense but had to be there.
I enjoyed last nights blogs and felt an affinity with WC & OMK. I haven’t read todays blogs yet but hope to pick up a paper later today and try the crosswords . Got to fill the time as DW is thinking of resurrecting the old and greatly feared JOB JAR . She seems to feel that the outside windows need washing again. I’ll get to it later today if it doesn’t get to windy.
Cheers and keep safe

Ray - O - Sunshine said...



All synapses, axons dendrites firing at full capacity plus a extra cup of coffee. Lots of perp walks and crossouts but FIR on a Saturday!

Embarassed to admit but I thought "a cup's 48" referred to a voluptuous bra size. ***blushing**

Tried to squeeze in "intellectual property" for STOLEN BASE. Glosses before PAPERSOVER... Trot before LOPE so the NE was the "main menace" and last to go.

(Doesn't anyone see the "Burma Shave" signs behind that fake moon landing tract)

Never thought of a TULIP as a lily but if with the petals removed the reproductive parts are identical.

Liked Betty's Mahi Mahi helper combo. Do SUPERS wear an ESS on their T-shirts?

And of course.....

German head fireman with the main water source....LEDERHOSEN.

He lost the race to the tortoise by a _____ HARE. (When he came from Erin it used to be spelled O'HARE)

Feline voted out of an old quiz show. "You are the weakest _____" ....LYNX

Landscaping around the Taj Mahal.....AGRAculture.

My adult LD daughter first called it Cannolli virus...now we just suppress a laugh ..
she's upgraded to Canola virus.

Sandyanon said...

TTP, thanks. I do the best I can. But, no gloves, no wet wipes (some dry ones), some bleach.

9mileSkid said...

Thanks to Doug and Brad, and to Husker for the fine tour. I had a difficult time with the puzzle but finally put it to rest when BUNGLES and ANIMAL FARM appeared through the fog. @Sandyanon and everyone, really - this is quite possibly THE best information on bringing groceries into your home that's available right now. Very good and current information: https://youtu.be/sjDuwc9KBps

Happy Saturday and please be safe!

Spitzboov said...

BASEL - The Rhine generally delineates the Swiss German border in this reach. There are a few enclaves where the border departs from the River. Husker's map depicts one such enclave where the City section of Riehen (Swiss) is on the right bank of the river.

Dirndl is kind of an English adaptation word taken from the Bavarian word for the wearer. The German word is Dirndlkleid. (girl's dress). As such it takes an 's' for the plural (dirndls).

TTP said...


Sandyanon, our canisters of wet wipes were all dried out as well. We could never find them when we were making our annual trips to Texas, so we'd get another one. But yes, they were dried out, so I pried off the lid, out an ounce or so of isopropyl in the canisters, and then inverted it every once in awhile.

The only issue with that plan is that the use by date on the isopropyl was a year and a half ago. Still figure it's better than nothing.

Sandyanon said...

9Mile, I just watched the video and it seems very useful indeed. Thank you.

Misty said...

Well, yesterday's crossword was so daunting that I just let it go. But this Saturday puzzle was a delight--many thanks, Doug and Brad. I got pretty much the whole west section of the puzzle and had trouble only in the east. My German came in handy with LEDERHOSEN, but it took a long time to get BASEL in Switzerland even though I spent a year there once on a faculty exchange. Got NIGHT and tried to remember that Christmas song with "thrill of hope" in it, and all of a sudden the music just popped into my head. Got AGRA and OHARE, and was happy that I got LIRA for that outdated Italian bread instantly. So lots of fun all around, many thanks again, Brad and Doug.

Loved your pictures, Husker Gary, and recognized every one of the people in your SUPER picture, but can't remember their names. Could you give them to us?

Have a good weekend at home, everybody.

John E said...

Irish Miss, thanks for your reminder to go back to Anonymous T on Thursday. Wonderful video.

Lucina said...

Hola!

Thanks to Doug and Brad for providing today's lovely entertainment. It was an hour well spent on another home-confined Saturday.

After scanning the grid with no apparent fill to start, I realized that 48 TSPS would fill a cup then UTAH fit and LOPE came next followed by X-FILES.

I've never used Betty Crocker HELPER but it quickly emerged. CEREALBOX was the trickiest and one of the latest to surface. I was stuck on beehive but couldn't fit it in. Finally, when I got AXELS, the light bulb turned on.

I've also never heard of LYNXEYED, only eagle-eyed. We called one of our teachers in high school Eagle-eye because she saw everything and never missed.

I suppose all animals have to maintain an eagle eye to survive.

It took me way too long to remember O HOLY NIGHT and I kept singing it in my head but the title escaped me. Finally, when it came, so did much of the SW corner though I've never heard of LANA DEL REY.

BUNGLES took too long to emerge because MANGLES wouldn't move until I recalled BASEL as the Swiss city.

This was really fun and I especially enjoyed the unusual and misleading cluing especially for FLEA, CEES (though I got it wrong), PIRATE SHIP and so many others. Really well done, Brad and Doug!

Also well done, Gary; stellar review!

Now I'll go back and watch that video. Yesterday I scrubbed my kitchen in every nook and cranny!

Stay safe, everyone!

Lucina said...

I, too, had seen Anon-T/s link on Sunday Morning.

Husker Gary said...

Misty
-Here's the info on that show!

Wendybird said...

At first pass, I was sure I’d never be able to finish this puzzle. I finally got a toehold in the Deep South and clawed my way up from there. There were some clever misdirections, such as the one for LIRA and CEREAL BOX - I took forever, trying to fit in something to do with bees. This was a nicely crunchy puzzle I think, and I am delighted I could reach the TA DA with no help.

The video was enormously helpful, 9mile. I have been doing much of what he suggests, but I guess we need to be even more diligent to be really safe. So far, jigsaw puzzles, knitting, reading and gardening, and of course CWPs, have kept us relatively content and free of cabin fever.

Stay safe everyone.

OMaxiN said...

Fun & rare FIR Saturday. Very nice misdirection for some longer answers.
Spelling apparently is not my strong soot. That's very bad for someone like me that loves xwords. Tried lederhausen. Nope. Too many letters.
Did not know Basel, Slade, Lana Del Rey & a few others. Wags & crosses to the rescue.
Agree with Big Easy & Lucina on LYNXEYED
Thank you Doug, Brad & Gary

AnonymousPVX said...


This Saturday go was much easier than yesterday, IMHO.

I had the constructors’ wavelength today for sure.

No write-overs today.

Never heard of LYNXEYED, but not much starts with LYN.

I hope all are coping well.

See you Monday. Stay safe.

NaomiZ said...

Some very challenging entries today -- LYNX EYED ?? -- but none insurmountable. As long as I can FIR in one (long!) sitting, it's a pleasure!

Irish Miss said...

John E. @ 12:28 ~ You're welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed it. That little boy has stolen my heart!

OMaxiN @ 1:03 ~ Your third sentence tickled my funny bone! (I'm easily amused!)

JJM said...

Yesterday's puzzle gave me fits!! Took me over 38 min to finish! That's the longest Friday puzzle for me this year. Today however... a totally different outcome. I finished in under 15 min. For me, at least, the easiest Saturday this year. Funny how everyone processes these puzzles. Sometimes they're right in your wheelhouse and you bang it out of the park, and other days, you swing and miss on every pitch.

Stay safe and healthy!

Misty said...

Thank you, Husker Gary, it was fun to look them up.

CrossEyedDave said...

Waees
(What almost everyone else said...)

I found it a tad easier than most Saturdays, a wavelength thing I guess.
But I wasn't going to do it at all, except boredom reigned and I kept coming
Back to it. Maybe that is why it seemed easier, I kept coming back.

Another puzzle solved was how to do it on an iPad when 1/2 the puzzle is obscured by the keyboard,
And freeze ups are solved by clicking on a clue when everything else is stuck. I still do not know how
To go directly to an across versus down grid space when it gets locked up.

CrossEyedDave said...

FLN, Bill G, re: why i bookmark.
(To entertain you, of course...)

Actually, unlike DW, who leaves every screen page open forever,
I obsessively close and shut down every site I am on in an attempt to keep
My iPad running fast. I think it comes from my Gamer days when frame rate was everything
And we were always closing, shutting down, and stopping programs running in the background
To gain just that extra fraction of a second of frame rate. About the only thing I did not do was
Overclock my CPU as I was afraid I would burn it out.

Task manager was my best friend.

You would do this too if you were flying your Spitfire into a ground attack situation on a
Highly graphic intensive airfield, and you 60 per second frame rate slowed to a crawl.
(It would get you killed!)

So, when I reopen the blog, I never know where I was because umpteen new posts automatically load.

Rather than just blather on like I did above,
I include a (hopefully) amusing link tied into the theme.

TTP said...

9mileskid, thanks for that link from the Michigan doctor.


Dave, would that fraction of a second be a NANO second ? >)

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Doug Peterson & Brad Wilber, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Husker gary, for a fine review.

Well, got through this puzzle fairly easily. Much better than yesterday which I could not finish.

Lots of misdirection in these clues today, but they were doable if you thought about the alternatives.

Liked FLEA for 22D. Took me a while.

CEREAL BOX took me a while. I never heard of honeycomb cereal.

Great puzzle. Can't wait until tomorrow.

See you then.

Abejo

( )

LoveSoCal said...

https://www.thekitchn.com/coronavirus-grocery-produce-safety-23016495

Maybe you’ll find this helpful.


Greatly enjoyed this puzzle. Not timing my solve rate. I have plenty of time to make it a leisurely event!

Stay safe everyone

Ol' Man Keith said...

A fun, doable Saturday pzl. Thank you to the Peterson/Wilber team!

Glad you did so well, Misty. Funny - I thought of you as I inked in LEDERHOSEN und BASEL!

We have a lovely spring day here in SoCal. SO many flowers a-bloom after our rains! The recent breezes have WANED, so I enjoyed the opportunity to do my exercises outdoors.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
A 3-way on the distaff side.
The main diagonal reminds us of the naughty behavior (in the eyes of the church) of a certain group of "painted ladies," the infamous...
"HARLOTRY SIN"!

Hungry Mother said...

Nice and easy outing for a Saturday. My son and daughter-in-law met on a work site in BASEL. She gave us a guided tour of the city about 15 years later. Not a single write-over. Lots of fun.

Jayce said...

Well gosh, it took me over an hour to finish this puzzle, which, unlike most of you, I had plenty of difficulty with. I had to look up what a leveret is, Betty Crocker's tuna HELPER, and since I had MANGLES instead of BUNGLES I had to look up the Swiss city. I also wanted to spell LEDERHOSEN as LIEDERHOSEN so I concluded, wrongly, that the real answer must be something utterly different. Adding to the bullet holes in my feet, I couldn't shake my belief that "A cup's 48" needed an answer such as INCH (48 inches as measured around the chest). But, the answer needed to be an abbreviation, so that attempt also had to be abandoned. And finally, I thought the singer's name was LANA DEL RIO. More bullet holes in my feet.

But I did finally finish, and in hindsight greatly appreciated the high quality construction and devilish cluing. I especially loved the clues/answers for CEREAL BOX and PIRATE SHIP. Many thanks to Doug Peterson and Brad Wilber.

Thank you, Jinx, for the exact model numbers of your cable modem, mesh router, etc.

Good wishes to you all.

Hungry Mother said...

We live on the other side of the state from the Orange Bowl. I spent a wasted year at FSU and did my graduate work at Penn State. My wife and I were lucky to land two tickets to the 2006 Orange Bowl between those two teams. The game went to 3 OTs.

Sandyanon said...

Hungry Mother, my youngest grandson (Navy, at NOLA) has been studying online at Penn State, working hard to finish his bachelor's degree in polysci. His commencement was to be May 9, but, well...

Never knew much about Penn State before, but now I seem to notice it mentioned a lot.

Wilbur Charles said...

This made up for yesterday. But.. Lots of white to start, lots of smudge to end. Like IM, I had MANGLES and DNC but held off on lire/lira. But…

I was thinking MAINZ and therefore RATIONALIZE, then Patronize. Like Gary, I never thought of baseball even though I'm the Billy baseball around here (and elsewhere)

For second "sock" I had LEFT as in right/left combo. And… Physics says when one puts two MATES into the wash, two should come out of dryer. Uhuh

I should have gotten the Xmas Carol. I remember moving to burbs and hearing that song played for the first time. In 1954 Catholics were not exposed to "Protestant" hymns.

And.. Absolutely, IM, that Thurs (late) link about the foster child and his foster pups was truly endearing

So… I'm happy anytime for a Saturday FIR.

WC

Ps, I just LIU Peoria. I would have guessed it was East of Green Bay. I was thinking of Jamie Farr and Toledo.

Lucina said...

Jayce:
I'm still laughing at the "holes in your feet" hahahahahahahaha
Thank you for that!

Whoever posted that video about correct cleaning, thank you. It was helpful.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! A mighty challenge from Doug & Brad for me. Thanks. Thanks, Gary for adding some fun.

After the first pass I had 2/3 white, especially on a diagonal NE to SW and everything in between. Truly would have gone no further without red-letters to show some toeholds.

Had to sing from "a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices for yonder lies a new and glorious day..." Sounds like a good message for the current situation. Finally got to "O HOLY NIGHT". Voila!

Don't think I've ever heard of LEVERET. Sounded like a small LEVER to me. When it perped in HARE, I just repeated "HARE? HARE?" aloud. Also couldn't believe the "limits of chic" = CEES. Geez!

I've never read ANIMAL FARM. Only know the French emperor Napoleon.

TUNA HELPER escaped me for a time. I only put it on the table once. My kids wouldn't eat it. And they snarfed down most everything.

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

Took awhile before I got a toe hold. Only had to look up LANA DEL REY, and then BILLET appeared, as SLADE meant nothing to me. GLAM? Not my style ... I think ...

Just a few write overs TOTS/TADS & MANGLES/BUNGLES. Lots of great clues and answers ...

A couple of haikus today (for my buddy, Haiku Harry):

A soldier was asked
If he could pay for lodging.
He said, “No. BILLET.”

Just maybe, Hitler
Did not understand. Folks cried:
“FUROR!” Not Führer.

CrossEyedDave said...

Leveret raisers?

I was thinking the middle wooden control stick
on these thingies...

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Whoot! I got a Sat 100% on my own (in ink!). What a feeling...

Thanks Doug (you the same Doug that constructs for Southwest's inflight magazine?) and Brad for a doable-Sat. Enjoyed the puzzle between chores today.

HG - I've links to click later. Thanks for the wonderful expo. Q: Do Ferrari's ventilators idle at 3000 breaths / min? :-)
Your SUPER - Snider? //I LIU - spelt Schneider

WOs: TotS b/f TADS, trot -> LOPE (Hi Spitz!), honey[-]box (oh, bollix), RaY b/f SHED fix'd it.
ESPs: LANA DELREY, BASEL, LYNX(?)
Proudest Moment: I finally remembered AGRA sans perps! All this puzzlin' has paid off!
Fav: ANIMAL FARM as clued. Took me a bit but the smile was worth it.

Funny OMK.
LOL #2 C. Moe!

Re: Groceries and such delivered or curb-sided: I wouldn't worry too much about it. Outside of a lab, the virus doesn't have a long shelf life; exceptions are hard surfaces (doorknobs, plastics, etc.) Here, watch Fauci answer these Qs w/ Trevor. Stay Safe!

I've heard of Slade but thought heavy metal -- not the one's HG link'd. I'll research later if Super-bored.

Today we got tomatoes, peppers, and herbs (finally!) in, DW's flowers arranged out front, and the rains came to bless the plants.

As WikWak would say... NapTIME.

Cheers, -T

Lemonade714 said...

There have been some classic Nebraska-FSU and Nebraska- Miami Orange Bowl games. Of teams with 3 or more appearances, Florida has the best winning percentage.



Rank Team Appearances Record Win pct.
T12 Florida 4 4–0 1.000
T8 Penn State 5 4–1 .800
7 Clemson 6 4–2 .667
T15 Georgia 3 2–1 .667
1 Oklahoma 20 12–8 .600
T3 Miami (FL) 10 6–4 .600
6 Georgia Tech 7 4–3 .571
5 Alabama 9 5–4 .556
T3 Florida State 10 5–5 .500
2 Nebraska 17 8–9 .471
T8 Colorado 5 2–3 .400
T8 LSU 5 2–3 .400
T8 Notre Dame 5 2–3 .400
T15 Kansas 3 1–2 .333
T15 Michigan 3 1–2 .333
T15 Mississippi St 3 1–2 .333
T12 Missouri 4 1–3 .250
T12 Tennessee 4 1–3 .250
T12 Virginia Tech 4 1–3 .250
T15 Maryland 3 0–3 .000
T15 Syracuse 3 0–3 .000

Bobbi said...

Oh no! Here she comes again! Yep, it's the old may sayer. After an hour slogging through this toughy, the NE corner did me in! In my seven decades + of living ivey NEVER heard the term "lynx eyed" and "papers over" has always meant making light of serious matters which is far worse than being glib. Well, there's my two cents worth. Guess my hissy-fit is a symptom of my cabin fever. Gotta go take a walk !!

Terry said...

No, Bobbi, right on.

Spitzboov said...

Well, I've never heard it either, but LYNX-EYED has been around since 1597. Maybe it's a Brit term.
I agree with Bobbi on PAPERS OVER.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A man is concerned about his wife’s hearing, so he goes to the doctor. The doctor says, “Stand behind her and say something and tell me how close you are when she hears you.”

The man goes home, sees his wife in the kitchen, cutting carrots on the countertop. About 15 feet away he says, “Honey, what’s for dinner?” Nothing. He gets halfway to her and repeats the same question. Nothing. Very concerned, he gets right behind her and yells “What’s for dinner??”

She turns around and says “For the THIRD time, beef stroganoff!”

Sandyanon said...

For anyone interested, I received my Instacart grocery order about half an hour ago. So much out of stock. I basically told my shopper to use his best judgment on any possible substitutions. He was stellar. Have disinfected the frozen stuff as best I could. Some of the rest is still sitting in bags on my patio outside my door, waiting for me to get to it.

This guy said that he has to shop at stores all over to make his day worthwhile, and I thought a person just worked one store. Imagine. I think people must be desperate to take that job these days. But many of us need them. I always include a tip in my orders, but left him extra cash today too.

I'll place another order very soon, looking for a delivery date not too far away.

So that's the story.

Irish Miss said...

Sandyanon @ 7:22 ~ I believe Instacart workers have vowed to go on strike on Monday. I hope for your sake, and others, that it's short-lived or, better yet, that their demands are agreed to and the strike is called off. Good luck! The two markets that I use have their own employees fill and process the orders and a private delivery service called Shipt delivers the orders. (I had an order delivered on Wednesday that was scheduled for a 12:00-1:00 window; it was here at 11:20.)

Sandyanon said...

IM,I asked my shopper about that and he texted that he hadn't heard anything. I guess not everyone has gotten the word.
They're asking for free protective supplies, hazard pay, and expanded sick leave. I think they need and deserve all of that.