google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, April 3, 2020, David Van Houten

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Apr 3, 2020

Friday, April 3, 2020, David Van Houten

Title: Let's go to the movies.

David is back for his second LAT publication. I blogged his debut in January. This time he adds to a one-word movie title and clues the new phrase with a reference to the movie chosen. A simple and tight theme. Just as with last week's puzzle which TTP blogged, this grid is more similar to an early week effort with no long fill outside the theme. The most striking thing is that the puzzle is just an "M" short of a pangram. So...

20A. Never heard of a 1996 Robin Williams movie?: DON'T KNOW JACK (12). This MOVIE is the first of two Diane Lane movies that David has chosen.

37A. "You grabbed the wrong Stephen King movie"?: THAT'S NOT IT (10). This MOVIE is not for you if you do not like horror.

43A. Essay about a 2015 Christina Applegate movie?: ON VACATION (10). This MOVIE is the second generation of Griswolds travels.

58A. Start a 2001 Keanu Reeves movie?: PLAY HARDBALL.(12). This MOVIE which was an early effort of Michael B. Jordan.

Across:

1. "Get outta here!": SCAT. Various theories of the ETYMOLOGY.

5. Snatch: GRAB. 28A. Have a sudden inspiration?: GASP.

9. Give up: QUIT.

13. Sweater outlet?: PORE. We have a friend who suffers from Hyperhidrosis. A classic use of the homonym misdirection.

14. Concerning kidneys: RENAL.

16. Annapolis sch.: USNAUnited States Naval Academy

17. "Roots" author Haley: ALEX.

18. Actress Graff: ILENE. You may know her work but not her NAME. She has been a puzzle regular since 2003.

19. Ain't fixed?: ISN'T. Cute.

23. Wipes away: ERASES. My mind immediately went HERE.

24. Juegos OlĂ­mpicos prize: ORO. Spanish for Olympic Games and Gold.

25. Road crew's supply: TAR.

31. Sexually attractive: NUBILE. One of my favorite words when I started chasing women. Definition of nubile. 1: of marriageable condition or age nubile young women. 2: sexually attractive —used of a young woman a nubile starlet.

33. Magical phrase starter: ABRA. Cadabra.

39. The Parthenon, e.g.: RUINS.

41. Cry from a card holder: UNO.

42. Roof worker: TILER.

46. Fallon's predecessor: LENO. Do they really hate Jimmy Fallon?

47. __ symbol: STATUS.

48. Ancient queen, familiarly: CLEOpatra.

50. Immigrant's subj.: ESLEnglish as a Second Language. I am eternally grateful for this course.

51. Rap name contraction: LIL. 66A. "Rhyme Pays" rapper: ICE-T. 56D. Better, to a rapper: ILLER. Urban dictionary...iller
adj: more ill, better, sweeter, cooler.

53. Like some numerals: ARABIC.

61. Rattle: FAZE.

64. Flower girl, perhaps: NIECE.

65. Paella pot: OLLA.

67. Unsettled states: SNITS.

68. __ fee: USER.

69. Sainted historian: BEDE. An interesting HISTORY.

70. Backbone or spine: GRIT. Or 25D. Words on a spine: TITLE. Definition 2 for "spine": the part of a book's jacket or cover that encloses the inner edges of the pages, facing outward when the book is on a shelf and typically bearing the title and the author's name.

71. Weight allowance: TARE.

Down:

1. Garden tool: SPADE.

2. Rainbow flag component: COLOR. There are others.

3. Fan belt?: ARENA. Belt indeed.

4. Messages sent from cells: TEXTS.

5. Is amused by: GRINS AT.

6. Move, in Realtor-speak: RELOcates. Not an easy time for these sellers either.

7. From the top: ANEW.

8. Scruggs' strings: BANJO. A musical interlude.

9. NestlĂ© product suffix: QUIK. Suffix?
10. Initials before a state's name, sometimes: USS. Navy.

11. Imaret, say: INN. Miriam-Webster tells us that this is an inn or hospice in Turkey. I have some friends from Istanbul, but they have not taught me that word.

12. Bit of ink: TAT.

15. Profits (from): LEARNS.

21. Brew holder: KEG. A CSO to my beer brewing and selling family.

22. Matter: COUNT.

26. 1979 sci-fi classic with three sequels and two prequels:  ALIEN.

27. In style again: RETRO.

29. Close: SHUT.

30. Go to pieces: PANIC. My certain reaction if I spent much time with Sigourney Weaver.

32. Bubble, in a way: BOIL. To me-
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.

33. Emanated (from): AROSE.

34. Diamond strategies: BUNTS. No baseball yet.

35. Same-state opponent, often: RIVAL. Auburn/Alabama. Florida/Florida State/Miami.

36. Future doc's subj.: ANATomy.

38. Plane, e.g.: TOOL. Not up in the air, but...

40. Racing craft: SCULL.

44. Chinese and Indians: ASIANS. And so many more.

45. Most closely related: NEAREST.

49. Chicago airport code: ORD. O'Hare originally named Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field opened in 1942. Midway (MDW) opened in 1926.

52. Not true: LYING.

54. Give or take: ABOUT. Circa.

55. Modeling wood: BALSA. This WOOD is a CSO to our Canadian friends.

57. Shannon's county: CLARE. Learn MORE.

58. Townshend of The Who: PETE. More music.

59. Son or daughter, often: HEIR. Rather macabre.

60. When Juliet says, "Go ask his name": ACT I. Our Friday Shakespeare reference.

61. Little lie: FIB. Such an absurd concept.

62. Frequent winner: ACE. This leads us to the end...

63. British jazz element?: ZED. The middle Zs.

There you have it, the first Friday of April and some fun stuff that shouldn't have over-worked your stressed brain. Be careful, be safe. Wash your hands, gargle with warm saltwater. Thank you for being a cyber family I can count upon. Lemonade out.


47 comments:

OwenKL said...

֎ I still don't get ARENA for fan belt
֍ I agree QUIK isn't a suffix
֎ I've read about Imaret before. A fascinating concept, I thought. IIRC from what I read in the past, Christians and Jews were actually given preference at the imarets. I guess the rational was that charity to outsiders was even more charitable than to ones own fellow worshipers.

A NUBILE girl is quite a pearl,
And a pearly pair she may enfurl!
A male's allowed to GASP,
But not to GRAB nor grasp,
Tho with love perhaps may curl.

"Get outta here!" he told the cat,
"Go on, QUIT this place and SCAT!"
Then came the Plague
That made him beg,
"Come back and kill the flea-bag rat!"

{B+, B.}

Anonymous said...

I don't get ARENA for fan belt, either.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I don't get ARENA, either. Looked sideways at "Not true" -- LYING. Went wrong with CEDE/QUIT and SHELL/SCULL. Didn't appreciate equating "Parthenon" with RUINS -- I live on Parthenon Pl. But at the end of the day, d-o prevailed, so life is good. Thanx, David and Lemonade. (I knew IMARET, but think of it as one of the stops on the Silk Road -- old timey.)

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR with no erasure. Didn't know I was such a rap expert. Hand up for not getting ARENA.

Waited for gin / UNO.

Wanted "hippie chick" for "flower girl", but it wouldn't fit. Maybe my brain was tainted by NUBILE. Guess "lady plumber" wouldn't have fit either.

FLN: TTP, I giggled like a school girl at the mental image of you starring in your DW's video conference.

Congrats to Bob Kraft for using his plane to deliver the N95 masks. In respect I won't even use the obvious joke about whether he stole them. That might rub some people the wrong way.

Thanks to David and Lemonade for the fun start to the weekend.

BobB said...

Another don't understand fan belt = arena.

Fallon can't hold a candle to Leno. Leno as Joe is terrific on Last man standing, I am sure the Lefties hate him.

Anonymous said...

Fan as is an avid supporter of a team.
Belt as in an area (Bible belt, rust belt etc).
Fans congregate in an arena.

I'm not defending the clue, just explaning.

Took 10:14. Just meh.

TTP said...


I only recognized two of the movie TITLEs. IT and VACATION. Thanks, Lemonade. Nice job, David !

Hunters and trackers have a different definition of SCAT.

Have a sudden inspiration = GASP was my favorite.

PANIC in consecutive puzzles.

Flower girl ? How about a little Flashback Friday with this 1967 hit with the lyrics, I Love The Flower Girl by The Cowsills ?

We had four or five of the fun "You DON'T KNOW JACK" trivia games that ran on the old Win95 system. They're probably still in a box in the basement.

"Fan belt ?" has a question mark in the clue, so it's not to be taken literally. Fans sitting or standing in the arena surround, and figuratively gird the court or field of play. As in gird ~ girdle ~ belt.

I didn't think too hard about it during the solve, as the perps gave it away.

Jinx, when I got, THAT'S NOT IT, I was somewhat confident you'd parse it differently.

Big Easy said...

Filling the puzzle was way easier than I expected for a Friday. But as a non-movie watcher I'd never heard of JACK. A lot of people don't know jack xxxx either. Just listen to them. The other movie title them clues I filled by perps.

ILENE Graff- don't know her work and didn't know her name-perps, along with ILLER.

anon@6:22- I didn't get the ARENA clue; maybe like the rust or bible belt. The Arena is where the fans are.

ON VACATION- the medical community IN HOSPITALS is working day and night while other nurses and medical staff that work in doctor's offices and clinics are filing for unemployment because elective surgery has been stopped. Meanwhile, my granddaughter- a 2nd semester nursing student- and the entire LSU nursing school has been assigned to work in emergency rooms at hospitals. Something's wrong with this situation. Experienced licensed people doing nothing while students, with no experience are going to work.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Thought it would be real hard when I couldn't get the top started except for BANJO and RENAL. Filled in the bottom half and then the top seemed easier. Guess the coffee was kicking in. Had USNA crossing TAT; and finally sussed the QUIT/QUIK cross. PORE was the last fill; great cluing. Only wite-out was I had 'mug' before KEG. The ZEDs were easy.

Lemon, thanks for the intro.

Hungry Mother said...

FIR with two over-writes: TARE for lAdE, TILER for TarER. Surprisingly easy for a Friday.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-GRAB/GASP! That doesn’t sound good
-FAZE, BEDE and ZED had me confuzzled for a while
-One golf partner is always either happy or in a SNIT
-Kids had to use the TARE knob first when doing the Archimedes Principle lab
-There will be no fan belts in ARENAS for the foreseeable future
-I ask people about their TATS and they seem very willing to share the story
-Bernard Baruch: People who matter/COUNT don’t mind and people who mind don’t matter/COUNT
-Our shop teacher was very upset if you didn’t set your PLANE down on its side

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

A side bar to the epidemic are daily changes in guidelines concerning personal protective devices sent to us from the hospital "incident command center" through email. After discouraging routine face mask we are now instructed to wear them the entire time we are in the hospital. Initially told never to reuse P95 respirator masks. Today given steps required to do exactly that.

I laughed out loud when I read a clarifying statement today that although masks need to be worn even in the hospital cafeteria they could be removed while EATING!!

Fairly easy Friday puzzle. Unusual for me but caught on to the theme early and was familiar with most of the films

Perp walked virile for NUBILE 1and cede for QUIT.
Held off on RUINS. the Parthenon is an example of a "ruin" singular. The Acropolis contains RUINS

Add me to the Fan belt/ ARENA conundrum. Agree with Owen, QUIK is a made up word and not a suffix.

Since Masses are suspended...for Palm Sunday one of the Utica parishes was planning to distibute drive-by palms with gloved hands much like the current take out food windows. After talking to local heath officials the Bishop of Syracuse said essentially.....

"NOLITE FACERE!!" translation "fuggedabout ii!!

Sonwont be spending my Sunday off work making palm crosses like every year....

On to Saturday.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I liked the theme but I'm always disappointed when a Friday puzzle offers little to no resistance. The only serious complaint is seeing Iller; I know we've had it before, but it really grates on my nerves. I had Quit before Cede, also, and Ilene was an unknown, even after seeing her photo. I knew It and Jack but not Vacation or Hardball. I read the book, It, and was sorry I wasted my time. Noticed lots of O words: Relo, Banjo, Retro, Oro, Uno, Leno, and Cleo.

Thanks, David, for a fun Friday and thanks, Lemony, for a very entertaining and enlightening commentary. I'm not a Jimmy Fallon fan but, then again, I'm not a fan of any of the late night hosts, nor do I watch their shows. A comedian I do like is Jim Gaffigan who appears often on CBS Sunday Morning.

FLN

YR, I always try to reference the time of any post I'm commenting on, just as a convenience to other commenters.

Stay safe, all.

Lemonade714 said...

The career of JIM GAFFIGAN is very extensive. I first learned of this comedian listening to BOB and TOM on my radio driving to work many years ago.

Lemonade714 said...

George, I think the use of nursing students rather than the temporary hiring of out of work health care employees hinges on two factors: 1- they work for free, and 2- they are not likely to leave.

I understood the genesis of the arena clue but did not find it witty or fair. A belt is a homogenous geographic region. There are MANY BELTS IN THE US . I understand the desire to create a new clue or fill (I keep trying to get someone to like IT IS HIGHER THAN KEA but this attempt fell flatter than Phyllis Diller.

Worse was attempting to claim QUIK is a suffix. There is no word "NESTLE'SQUIK."
QUIK doesn't change or expand the meaning of NESTLE'S. At best the clue/fill is a foolish example of encouraging companies to make everything a portmanteau.

Anonymous said...

Wednesday level at best. And WEES about some of the clues. Still, some fun as well. Here in Illinois we are closed for the month. The old Chinese curse comes to mind. I hope everyone stays well physically and mentally.

JB2

Lucina said...

Hola!

Fun Friday, thank you, David Van Houten! Easy, too, which I don't always expect in late week puzzles. Thanks also to Lemonade for a well illuminated and illustrated expo.

Spanish words and derivatives stand out for me. Today, UNO, ORO, ARENA (it means "sand")and OLLA. Of course, I'll take ESL as a CSO.

I did not see any of the movies referenced but am familiar with the TITLEs. My daughter is a big fan of Stephen King and I've seen IT on her bookshelf.

My favorite clue was for PORE.

ALEX Haley injected a strong dose of reality into the nation with not only his book but with the mini series it spawned.

The RUINS of the Parthenon are a harsh reminder of the saying, "sit transit gloria" roughly translated as "so passes glory."

An Imaret as an INN? I must research that.

CSO to Canadian Eh? at ZED.

St. BEDE the Venerable is also a Doctor of the Church, meaning he is a source of church doctrine and tenets.

I hope you are all still keeping well and safe.

Have a joyful, if confined, day, everyone!

SwampCat said...

Yesterday we were discussing Zoom. This morning I came across this npr article on its dangers. I don’t know how to link but maybe someone can read This.

https://apple.news/AoCV0ryHtSpqXR_X9cR4cXg

Yellowrocks said...

Such a fast Friday, easier than yesterday's puzzle. "I don't know Jack" about these movies. but FIR.
In re, RELO, as some other's have said here many times, "It may be legitimate, but I don't have to like it." It grates on my ear, but the dictionary calls it informal, not slang. Educated adults do use it.
I can better tolerate ILLER because it doesn't claim to be legitimate, just "teen speak." Educated adults do not use it. Is it still in vogue?
Parthenon immediately brings to my mind images of ancient ruins.
For fan belt, I did think of the same excuses for it that many others gave, but I still think it is rather poor clue. Belt in this sense means "an area characterized by some distinctive feature (as of culture, habitation, geology, or life forms.)" Nah!
I just made my last grocery run for this month. I wanted to get it done before the situation in our county becomes even more dire. They had a limit of how many customers could be in the store at one time. There was no long wait getting in or checking out and the aisles were blissfully uncrowded. There were adequate supplies of everything except TP. Being there within a half hour of opening I got one of the last multipacks of it.
No cabin fever here. Just plenty of time to read.

Wheels42 said...

I really enjoyed this theme. I thought it was tight and snappy. The SW corner gave me issues but once I figured out ICET, everything fell into place.

I didn't have an issue with the QUIK clue, but I understand your comments that "Quik" is not truly a suffix of Nes-Quik.

Wheels42 said...

Here is SwampCat's link in clickable form: https://apple.news/AoCV0ryHtSpqXR_X9cR4cXg

Misty said...

Wow! I got almost this whole Friday puzzle with a few problems only in the southwest--a real treat! Many thanks, David. Didn't know any of the movies, but it all filled in, happily. Loved funny clues like 'Sweater outlet'--kept thinking arm or neck hole, or something like that, but PORE filled in and I laughed out loud--oh, sweat coming out of pores, hilarious. And thanks for the link to look up BEDE, Lemonade--what a fascinating historical figure!

So, we are all in lock-downs and my women friends are noticing that since we can't get haircuts we are all developing shoulder-length hair. Before long we'll look like teenagers again--okay, ancient teenagers.

Have a good weekend coming up, everybody.

Spitzboov said...

Condolences to Lucina on the loss of her fellow Phoenician, Reba. 51 yrs is too soon.

Anonymous said...

"Fan Belt" - the belt around the playing field where fans sit.

Anonymous said...

In the blog article, what does "CSO for our Canadian friends" mean? What is CSO?

oc4beach said...


I can see that others had varying experiences with today's puzzle. I actually didn't see the theme until Lemon explained it. However, I was able to finish it in less time than usual because of the generously clued Down clues that helped fill in the theme answers. Lemon's tour through the grid was enlightening.

There were a few words I got right away and a few that took a while. I wanted ROMAN numerals, but it was too short, so ARABIC it was. BEDE was an unknown along with ILENE.

LENO was a gimme and after watching Lemon's video, I agreed with them about Fallon being infantile. I don't watch any of them anymore. But when it comes to late night hosts, Johnny Carson was the best.

YellowRocks: I can understand how RELO would grate on one's nerves. It doesn't bother me much, but the one that really bothers me is VACAY as a shorthand for vacation. It just seems lazy to not say the whole word. But, that's just my opinion.

I, too, am way overdue for a haircut. Even though I'm bald on top, the sides and back are getting scraggly. Years ago, DW used to cut my hair because she complained about how the barber cut my hair so I said if she didn't like it, she could do it. Which she did quite well. She hasn't done it since I retired, but I think I'm going to have to ask her to cut it during the isolation. As some have said, we are only a few weeks away from finding out what everyone's true hair color is.

FYI: Vinyl and Nitrile gloves are hard to find, on-line and in most stores and pharmacies. If you are looking for gloves to wear when you have to go out to shop, etc. I found a good place to find them in-stock. Auto Parts stores, which in our state are considered essential businesses. They have nitrile and some vinyl gloves in stock that auto mechanics wear sometimes when working on cars. Most of them are black, but I did find some blue ones at AutoZone. I got a box of 100 black gloves for under $15.00. The next thing we will need to find or make is face masks.

I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe.

waseeley said...

Most arenas are ring shaped (belt shaped), and they are full of fans hollaring ole! ole!

desper-otto said...

Anon@12:24, Check out the Abbrs in the Olio section on the r.h. side of the main blog page.

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

Somebody help me.

I keep losing the puzzle today. Three times, I was around half way done, working on my iPhone 7, I was logged in to my account, I saved the puzzle and continued on. Whenever I touched the screen on the left or right border, another screen would come up and I couldn’t get back to my puzzle. Although I had saved it, I can’t find any way to restore it. Does anyone have an answer?
It’s very frustrating.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Whoot! After yesterday's crash-n-burn, it was nice to end the work-week with a FIR. Though, I will admit it was dicey in the SE corner... OLLA? CLARE? TARE? Tha' be ILLIN'

Seriously, I spent more time in the S/SE (Y HARD BALL and below) than the rest of the puzzle combined.

Thanks David for the fun puzzle. I'm not a movie guy and only know of IT [and Vacation but not the remake] but the phrases are familiar. Reeves' movie that I was going for The Matrix but (ILU) that was '99.

Thanks for the expo Lem and the link to Shannon county. I figured it was Irish but that still didn't help w/ CLARE.

WOs: E in square 65 b/f ABOUT showed; another errant E in RUINe [sic - was thinking rune]
ESPs: ARENA and INN as clued, BEDE, OLLA | CLARE (WAG'd A for the win!)
Fav: 63d was cute and didn't fool me.
Sparkle: Clues for ABOUT & COUNT

The brand of (strawberry of chocolate) flavored powder for milk is Nesquik so QUIK is a suffix used by Nestle. My $0.02

{B+, A}

FLN - TTP, I hope your brother doesn't really need the pacemaker just yet... it will be a while here (currently 4 May).
Yes you can see the I35 corridor and I-10 (from SanAntonio-Houston-NOLA) on the map of red-dots. I noticed Naperville's number is second-highest; my brother used to live there. Curious about the DuPage county lockup - any cases there yet? I think my nephew still has a bed at that INN.

Oh, and I hope you don't end-up on Twitter like This Guy :-)
TTP (from today) - I loved "You DON'T KNOW JACK." DW and I played it a lot in college.

@12:24 - CSO - Coincidental Shout Out. See all Comments Section Abbreviations under Olio.

Re: Fallon - I like him OK. His pop-culture stuff and eschewing politics sets him apart in late-night. Some folks appreciate vapidity and not hearing political humor (I'm not one of them).

FYI - Zoom released patches yesterday. Update ASAP. (It should ask you to update right after a meeting - mine did last night).

Cheers, -T

Jinx in Norfolk said...

TTP, like Crocodile Dundee saying "That's no knife, THIS is a knife". Thanks for keeping it from sailing completely over my head.

Ray, good to hear they are handing out "palms with gloved hands". If I remember my ANAT, gloved hands usually come with palms.

oc4 (et al), back in the day it took a dinner and a movie to find out someone's true hair color. Sometimes even a second date.

So we were being lied to when we were told that wearing a mask was more dangerous for the lay person than not wearing one. I guess they had to, given that the dumb masses are still hoarding TP.

AnonymousPVX said...


This Friday grid went fairly quickly.

Write-overs....TRET/TARE.

9D...the product hasn’t been called Nestle Quik for a bit over 20 years. In 1999 they rebranded worldwide to Nesquik and that name appears on a lot of products other than the chocolate and strawberry mixes, cereals for instance.

Stay safe one and all, see you tomorrow.

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, David Van Houten, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.

Wow! This was probably the easiest Friday puzzle I have ever done. I started at the top, NW corner, and worked my way down to the bottom. Finishing in the SE corner. Unbelievable for me. But, I will take it.

I never caught the theme. The only movie I knew was VACATION. Which was a great movie.

My favorite was BANJO. My favorite Blue Grass group was Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys. They also played and sang the theme for the Beverly Hillbillies. Enjoyed the link where they played Foggy Mountain Breakdown. I did not see Lester Flatt in the link. He may have died by then.

Enjoyed the history of Bede. There were so few people that wrote history down way back when, that we are missing a lot of that. Thank goodness Bede wrote a lot and much of it has survived.

Just had LIL the other day with Abner.

I had no problem with ARENA and belt. If you look at an arena from above, the fans form a belt around the center.

I did Wednesday and Thursday puzzles, but had no time to log in here and report. I got them both. Of course I have time now.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

CrossEyedDave said...

The fan belt explained...

They used to cool the planet, that is until some one
tried to cram them into an arena for a concert, where they created a tornado
of snitty remarks...

FLN
I too was curious about Throgs Neck...

The explanation is actually interesting...

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Thanks CED about the Throg Neck derivation...There is a tongue-in-cheek entity we like to show new radiology residents called THROCKMORTON'S SIGN. .."On a male view of the pelvis the penis indicates the injured side in 50% of cases"

The German speakers call it << der Schwanz zeichen >>

Big Easy said...

Lemonade-"George, I think the use of nursing students rather than the temporary hiring of out of work health care employees hinges on two factors: 1- they work for free, and 2- they are not likely to leave."

The students are to work 12-hour shifts and will be PAID.

NYC is getting all the press but the Orleans and Jefferson Parishes has the highest per capita concentration of Covid19 in the country. As of noon CDT, there were 148 deaths in New Orleans and 85 deaths in adjoining Jefferson Parish, where I reside Covid19 free. And I intend to stay that way. WE treat everybody we see like a leper. No exceptions.

TTP said...


Big Easy, the projections here are such that the Illinois Department of Health has been asking retired doctors and nurses to register to be called back to staff as needed. In the last week, they added dentists to the request. Yesterday or the day before, they started asking veterinarians to register.

Dash T, my brother said the it wasn't an emergency surgery situation but he needs to get it done as soon as the hospital tells him to come in. He had a stroke a couple of months ago. The AFib was a probably a factor.

Don't know about the DuPage lockup. Haven't seen or read anything in the news about it. Due to an outbreak in the jail, Cook County was selectively releasing criminals that weren't convicted of violent crimes.


Lucina said...

What to do during isolation? Why, clean the carpet, of course! It is now in the process of drying. Actually, we would have done this in anticipation of Easter, anyway.

I've never heard of Throg's Neck but that explanation is certainly interesting.

Sptiz:
I'm sorry. Reba who? Guess I should look more closely at the obituaries.

Spitzboov said...

Lucina - She was the beloved elephant in your Zoo. WSJ had it on pg. 4. An AP report.
I didn't mean to startle you.

Bill G said...

Hi everybody.

Well, I never thought it would happen but it did; I just experienced a really bad pizza. I ordered it from a local place. The antipasto salad was good. I ordered a pizza with green peppers sausage and mushrooms. Barbara commented on the way it looked as soon as she opened the box. It was if they ground up some green peppers, sausage and mushrooms and piled a large spoonful of each onto the pizza. You couldn't even seen a base of tomato sauce and cheese. Dreadful!

I called the place back and explained my negative reaction. The lady apologized profusely and made a new and improved pizza which was just delivered. I'll have it for dinner and hope for a better result. Keep tuned to this station for the updated news to follow...

~ Mind how you go...

Lucina said...

Spitz:
Aww. She was a wonderful elephant, greatly admired by the many students I took on field trips to the zoo. Thank you for the notice and I accept your condolences.

Bill G:
That's terrible about your pizza but I'm glad they delivered another and good for you on complaining.

I'm planning to order fish and chips from Grub Hub. Furniture, lamps and knickknacks are on the dining table so it's not conducive to eating on it.

Ol' Man Keith said...

A real winner, an excellent Friday pzl!
(Excellent, of course, becausee I was able to finish it!)
I credit Mr. Van Houten as a master in the art of cluing! Creating the word- interface is difficult enough, but creating the right clues, with just enough misdirection, is the topper--in my book.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
Four diagonals, 3 on the near end and 1 looking back...
The main diagonal's anagram names the beverage enjoyed by a group of homeless men after they wash their hole-y socks.
Yes, it is the...
"HOBOES' TEA"!

Irish Miss said...

Spitz @ 3:32 ~ I'm not sure if Lucina was startled, but I certainly was! I thought you were referring to Reba Mc Intyre. I even Googled her name and was relieved at the absence of morbid headlines. LOL.

Bill G @ 6:02 ~ I hope pizza #2 is an improvement. Years ago, we had several very good pizza parlors, but none today. I don't understand it because there are lots of good Italian restaurants but no one seems to know how to make a good pizza. The best pizzas I've ever had were made by Greeks.

Lucina @ 6:13 ~ Enjoy your fish and chips, one of my favorites!

I had Florida Stone Crab Claws for dinner. They are very tasty but a pain in the S. S. A. to crack and de-shell.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Bill G, we had a similar experience last week. We had just gotten back from Florida and were too tired to cook. We ordered a deluxe pizza and added pineapple and banana peppers. When it arrived it was a pineapple and banana pepper pizza (hold the deluxe).

This week I ordered the same pie, and told them what they had done last week. They believed me and gave me a price break on the latest version, which they made sure was made to my specifications.

IM, our second-best pizza place is a Greek restaurant. Our favorite there is The Zorba.

CrossEyedDave said...

Bill G.

I had lentil & veggie soup for dinner...
I was going to make pizza, but the frozen dough I had
was in the upper part of the fridge for about 4-6 weeks
since I was in Florida. Not only is the dough kinda gray,
the sealed plastic bag it was in has this sticky, slimey coating...

DW says throw it out, but I say, ten minutes @ 500 degrees will kill anything!

So, to recap, if you have flour, and yeast (optional if you are participating in the Exodus...) you can make your own pizza!
Pizza stone helps, but any clay tile will do...
An Oven will work, but a BBQ is even better!

Honey,sugar, or better yet, malt extract is a plus.
tomato, cheese,olive oil, oregano, basil, red pepper flake...
(I forgot the parmesan!)
(Oh nuts, this is getting complicated.)

Here is a much simpler bread, that I guarantee
is super tasty, and you can turn it into whatever you want!
(& it is easy to make in the woods without an oven!)

A food wishes recipe...

Wilbur Charles said...

I'm very late. Solved it by 4pm but various and sundry got in the way.
I noticed JLo on the cast list of "Jack". I was getting "Vacation" mixed up with Chevy Chase vacations.

I was fortunate to see ILLER previously. Was it la-xword or Wa-Post? Ps, the latter was something last Sunday.

Two solid W's today, Owen.

Wow. "Surprisingly" difficult for a Friday. Is knowing the movies the difference? fe, Applegate movie?

I don't know if this is what various posts have tried to say but ARENA="A place or scene of activity, debate, or conflict. " So, Boston is the "belt" of Redsox fans eg. The ARENA of said fan activity. Strangely, now I get it. You're welcome, Rich Norris

I'm with Wheels on QUIK. But I had QUIL
When I filled the last box there was no blaze of trumpets. Ergo, nada. I had to hunt rather than use the ignominious red letters. There it was:HOLE*/SHADE, easily correctable. I'll call it a 90% FIR.

*Thanks to Misty, I finally got it. Sweat-er as in me after scything up in NH one 4th. Fiveway bypass three days later .

-T, I was just showing Phil county Mayo but I was trying to fit CORK(E?). It's said like one word. And your.02 is right on.

Looking back I agree, xword seems easy. Perhaps it was the misdirections and as OMK said, clever clueing.

WC





CanadianEh! said...

Well I am later than WC. Thanks for the fun, David and Lemonade.
I'm on the bench with AnonT for spending more time on that SE corner than the rest of the CW.
We got our fill of movies today - especially if you add ALIEN.

Yes, Lucina, I smiled broadly when I got that British/ Canadian ZED.
But I had no idea what Lemonade meant about a CSO to Canadian friends with BALSA. I clicked on the link and I think he misread the line about balsa being like poplar in Northern Ontario and growing quickly. Further on, the article states that balsa grows in South America especially Ecuador.

Yes, I have been watching those Zoom reports after asking here last week about Zoom security.

Sobering figures coming to us today re projections and Two year forecast.
Stay safe all.