google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday April 27, 2020 Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke

Gary's Blog Map

Apr 27, 2020

Monday April 27, 2020 Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke

Theme: DOUBLE ROOMS (56. Hotel accommodations for couples, and a hint to both parts of 20-, 27- and 49-Acros) - Room can follow both two words in each theme answer.

20. Strategy with delaying tactics: WAITING GAME. Waiting room. Game room.

27. Rental industry with units for extra belongings: PUBLIC STORAGE. Public room. Storage room.

49. Household gathering to discuss something: FAMILY MEETING. Family room. Meeting room.

Boomer here.

I couldn't help but notice how the theme answers seem to fall into our fight with Covid-19. It certainly is a waiting game to try to get back to at least partially normal.  I am sure we all have family meetings to decide how to spend time while we stay at home.  And hotel accommodations??  I see reports on TV almost daily about Las Vegas and the empty hotels. In the meantime we have golf courses here that are open with strict rules.  I am still staying at home but I could try golf in a week or two.  Hoping you all are well and coping.

Across:

 1. Pull a pre-exam all-nighter: CRAM.  Or try to fit a dozen golf balls in one of those small pockets on your golf bag.

5. High-five sound: SLAP.  Or SLAP a 40 foot putt into the hole.

9. Hamster homes: CAGES.

14. Word in a bailiff's order: RISE.  "ALL RISE !"  Yankee Aaron Judge's nickname.


15. Comics possum: POGO.  POGO has internet games.  I play the Trivial Pursuit daily, but it seems that it will not be available next year.

16. Seashore recess: INLET.  In our lakes we call them bays.

17. Mail-routing abbr.: ATTN.

18. How some close NFL games are won: IN OT.  The NFL draft took place this week.  Now we have to wait and see if there will be a season.

19. Black, in Bordeaux: NOIRE.

23. There's no winner in one: TIE.  I have some TIEs in my closet that are winners.

24. Defense org.?: ABA.  American Bar Association.

25. Enticed: TEMPTED.  Yes I am TEMPTED to see if I can still hit the ball. FORE!

32. Grabbed a bite: ATE.

33. Loafer or moc: SHOE.  I have two pairs of bowling shoes and two pairs of golf shoes.  I have one pair of black leather dress shoes I only wear to church so they have been in the closet for awhile.

34. Outlying communities: EXURBS.  It seems that the virus is less dominant in rural areas.

37. Brown shades: TANS.

39. Push in some chips: BET.  Sorry, not available on the "Sin City" Strip for awhile.


41. Fab Four first name: PAUL.  Not JOHN.
42. "Jeepers!": SHEESH.

45. Agrees quietly: NODS.

48. Capote nickname: TRU.  I remember Truman's book "In Cold Blood" about a nasty murder in Kansas.

52. Pancake flipper: SPATULA.  The spat won't do it all by itself.  It needs an operator.

54. Not within walking distance: FAR.  Where Aaron Judge hits baseballs.

55. Ab neighbor: PEC.  A bushel and a pec and a hug around the neck.  (Doris Day.)

62. Dog collar dangler: ID TAG.  We called them "Dog Tags". Mandatory item to wear in the Army.

64. When many start lunch: NOON. I usually start mine about 11:00 but that's AM so it's noon somewhere. 

65. Slender wind: OBOE.

66. Eat away at: ERODE.  I can ERODE a bag of sunflower seeds.  When I had real teeth I would eat the salted in the shell variety.  Now I just settle for the seeds.

67. Lump of dirt: CLOD.  Golfers call it a divot.  Pick it up and put it back where you found it.


68. Bread with hummus: PITA.

69. Sensitive skin spots: SORES.  Golfers may get these on their feet in the Spring.

70. Cooped cluckers: HENS.  Plenty of them at my Uncle Bill's farm on Burnikel Road in Siren Wisconsin.


71. Place to hold a snifter: STEM.

Down:

1. Stick in one's __: CRAW.  Does a CRAW have a father?? CRAWDAD ??

2. "Lovely" musical meter maid: RITA.  Lovely Rita meter maid, may I inquire discreetly, when are you free to take some tea with me ?  (Sergeant Pepper's Lonely hearts club band.) I own the vinyl album on a bookshelf.


3. Piedmont wine center: ASTI.

4. __ telepathy: MENTAL.  You need some of this to finish these puzzles.

5. Veggie favored by Popeye: SPINACH.  I'm strong to the finish, cuz I eat my spinach.

6. Like epic novels: LONG.  "A LONG, LONG time ago, I can still remember when the music used to make me smile."  Don McClean - "American Pie".  I have that one next to SGT. Pepper.

7. Super-excited: AGOG.

8. Idaho product: POTATO.  At least I have not heard of those being scrapped and not sent to market.

9. HBO-owned broadcaster: CINEMAX.  These guys are going crazy now with movie theaters closed.

10. "It's __-brainer!": A NO.  A Doctor.  Dr. No - Bond, James Bond.

11. Beautiful people, as a group: GLITTERATI.

12. Like a fog-enshrouded cemetery: EERIE. Actually these days, nearly any quiet walk in the evening. 

13. Jouster's mount: STEED.  A five-letter word for horse.

21. Sacred Nile bird: IBIS.  A Latin word for a bird with a long beak.


22, Not more than: MERE. We went to the grocery store for milk and canned fruit and spent a MERE $100.00 

26. Scrolling PC key: PG UP.

27. Frisks, with "down": PATS. A TSA guy frisked me at the airport in February. Evidently my hernia created a problem.  TSA guys do not look too busy now.

28. Salt Lake City's state: UTAH. The great Salt Lake is the eight wonder of the world.  I have only driven by the Southern Shore on I-80 but it is magnificent.  The only puddle we have that comes even close is our Mille Lacs Lake in Central Minnesota.  

29. Philanthropist: BENEFACTOR.

30. Get all blubbery: SOB.

31. So, so small: TEENY.  Itsy bitsy yellow polka dot bikini.

35. Severely overcook: BURN.  Or one half of a surname.

36. Fake coin: SLUG.  I have never seen or used one.  I guess they are great subway cheaters in NYC. 

38. Couch or bench: SEAT.  Rosa Parks would not give hers up.  Way to go, Rosa.

40. Quarterback Brady: TOM.  With the Buccaneers now.


43. Erasure marks: SMUDGES.

44. Big Island port: HILO.  I have never been to Hawaii but I know it's on the biggest Island.

46. Comes to the aid of: DEFENDS.

47. Scorch: SEAR.

50. Cape Canaveral event: LAUNCH.  I have only been to central Florida but I know Canaveral is off the eastern coast on what is sort of like a long island.  Maybe it is called a cape ?

51. Bunches of Brownies: TROOPS.  My buddies in Hardheim Germany were also called TROOPS.

52. Seekers of intel: SPIES.  Bond, James Bond.

53. Martinez with three Cy Youngs: PEDRO.  Pretty good pitcher with the Green Monster behind him.


57. Tree trunk: BOLE.

58. Minnesota's state bird: LOON.  That is our bird.  We are all a bit LOONIE.


59. Last bio: OBIT.

60. Bit of dust in a sunbeam: MOTE.

61. Tailor's line: SEAM.

63. Drink suffix: ADE.

Boomer


59 comments:

  1. FIR with no erasure. OK Boomer, I had to wait for PAUL / john too. DNK BOLE, GLITTERATI or that HBO owned CINEMAX, or what my golf buddies call Skinamax.

    Minithemes with the Beatles and NFL. I like Tampa Bay and admire the long-suffering Bucs fans. It may kill me to cheer for TOM Brady's team, but I'll do my best (unless they are playing my Cowboys).

    My golf buddies say that the units on STORAGE Wars are "seeded" by the producers with fun and unusual loot. Don't care, I still like it. So uplifting - if that lard-butt German guy can land a babe like his, there is hope for us all.

    Are there any other types of snifters other than ones for brandy?

    Everyone knows I can't spell two gud, but a man who was only a heartbeat away from the presidency says it isn't POTATO.

    I drove from Sarasota to Cape Canaveral to watch the next-to-last LAUNCH of the Space Shuttle. Well worth the drive. It actually brought a tear of pride to my eye. If you tell anybody I'll have to kill you.

    Thanks to the dynamic duo of Gail and Bruce for the fun, easy exercise. And thanks to Boomer for another fun review. Do your courses leave the cup above the hole so you don't have to reach in to retrieve the ball? If so I hope you don't leave any putts short.

    ReplyDelete
  2. FLN, Jayce and CED I misread what you are doing at the LAT site. I just print out the puzzle, not work it there. At least they got off the Flash platform.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Did much better flying through the puzzle than trying to whiten my coffee with bleach this morning.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good morning!

    This was a nice early-week lope. It never ceases to amaze me how the constructors come up with these double-match two-word expressions. Well done, GG, BV, and BB.

    INLET: What's the difference between a bay and a cove? Merriam-Webster doesn't seem to know.

    SHOE: I'm down to four pairs -- three walking and one pair of dress shoes that haven't been worn in years.

    EXURBS: Yup. That's where d-o resides. Unfortunately, (IMO) the area is becoming less EX and more URB.

    RITA: I've got two versions of Sergeant Pepper's.. on my music server. The original plus the 2017 remix version.

    SLUG: In my ute we picked them up at new home construction sites where the electricians had knocked them out of the metal wiring boxes. Didn't work in the soda machines, but the juke boxes thought they were quarters.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I tried a cup of bleach with my coffee today. I think it may have helped?! Nice puzzle. Just started on the L.A. Times’ puzzles about a week ago. Do they get more difficult as the week progresses?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Unknown, yes they do. Monday is the easiest, Saturday the hardest, Sunday the biggest but only Wednesday-hard.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This sprint lasted 4:08, and the theme was never seen.

    With my apology to Sir Roger Bannister, I don't know if I've broken the 4:00 minute mark. How many of you have?

    ReplyDelete
  8. FLN Bobbi @ 9:34 pm last night. I got help with a clue yesterday. To return the favor.

    Paraphrasing an online quote

    Swipe left(verb) A phrase used to describe your acceptance of something. The term was originally a reference to the Tinder app, a dating site. On Tinder, swiping right means you approve of a male/female after judging them by a few picture and a short bio. Swipe left you reject them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Some think this will be a "Down" year for the PATS(11-5?)

    There was a board game in 50s with little plastic disks which did what the slugs did.

    Actually, I did this online at LATimes site and it went slow. I had to hunt for the X. I was off the wave length (fe) I had PILE and COUPLES. It all came together but took 24 minutes. I doubt I could copy it in in 4 minutes.
    Also, I need perps 20% of the time, even Mon-Wed. Sunday, because there are so many clues, is closer to Friday but has usually about 20+ Mon-Wed clues.

    For example: The Brownie (TROOP)clue was a Sunday-ish clue.

    In fact (FLN-late) Bobbi mentioned that she had more trouble with Sunday than Saturday for which all the regulars here cannot identify with at all. But, upon some thought, the theme(again very simple, IMHO) and style of the clueing made it difficult for some.

    WC

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good morning everyone.

    No problems solving. Theme was easy to see. Always enjoy Gail's and Bruce's puzzles.
    SHEESH - Something Jayce says when he is piqued.
    CRAW - Syn. for 'crop. Ger. Kropf, L. Ger. Kropp.
    LOONIE - You can put Canada's in your pocket. Exchange rate @ US 71¢.

    Jinx said "Are there any other types of snifters other than ones for brandy?"
    I've got a couple Belgian Beer snifter glasses. The stem is thicker than that of a brandy snifter.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Musings
    -Geroge Carlin on storage
    -I found some fun movies searching NOIRE on Netflix
    -For some reason, my uncle took me to see In Cold Blood when I was 12
    -Every teacher wears an ID TAG on the first day. From then on…
    -Anyone remember this 50’s TV show with a BENEFACTOR named John Beresford Tipton?
    -I saw a Shuttle LAUNCH from four miles away and it still shook the ground.
    -18 holes today with my “Winter Texan” friend who just got home. The holes on our course have a styrofoam collar on the flag so the ball only goes down about an inch

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good morning old friends!
    I sailed through this Monday puzzle. I didn’t know NOIRE but perps took care of it. I usually come and read the daily expos even if I don’t comment. I love Boomer's comments on Mondays.

    LEMONADE, I have received several emails from you. I have responded to them, but no return response from you.

    Churches opened in Montana yesterday, but my brother-i-law and I are in our mid -70s so chose to stay home.

    As someone said, slugs worked in Nickelodeons when I was young and worked in my dad's soda shop. He hated them.

    Montana opens everything except bars, restaurants and school today. We"ll stay home a bit longer.

    Montana

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good Morning:

    It's been awhile since we had a G and B and this one was fun and kept me guessing about the theme until the reveal, which always makes me happy. Immediately thought of Jayce at Sheesh! Nice CSO to our two Toms and to Lemony with Ade. I like this type of theme for a nice change of pace.

    Thanks, Gail and Bruce, for a fun start to the week and thanks, Boomer, for the chuckles, groans, and memories!

    Lemony, late last night I discovered two of the bogus emails in my Junk box. Dispatched both post haste.

    Stay safe, all.

    ReplyDelete
  14. If there was (were? conditional tense? Impossible scenario) an easier puzzle than a Monday CW this would be it. Filled in as fast as my bic pen could write.

    For another unseasonably cold April day the synapses were firing away. Almost dislocated my shoulder trying pat myself on the back.

    The color black in Fr as a noun is noir. NOIRE is the feminine singular adjective.

    But no escaping....

    In Boston they're known as _____ , PAUL & Mary......PITA

    Tiff with "Vlad theImpaler"....SPATULA

    Divorcée's "Old Spices".....EXURBS

    Portmanteau:
    Midday meal during blast-off....LAUNCH.

    Following up the miraculous bleach cure logic

    A Koala bear eats only eucalyptus leaves.
    No Koala bears have contracted COVID 19
    Therefore eat only eucalyptus leaves and you wont contact COVID 19.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gail and Bruce, thank you for a nice Monday morning stroll. Boomer, a great tour, as always.

    Had to change SHUCKS to SHEESH, and then straight to the bottom. Didn't know that you could download and print from the LA Times site -- have been doing Sunday online since we don't get it in our local paper. Will have to try that this weekend.

    Stay safe, all.

    Montana -- good strategy.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Marvelous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Gail and Bruce, and Boomer.
    I finished in good time and saw the DOUBLE ROOMS. But I had two SMUDGES (one of them a FIW).
    Shucks changed to SHEESH (hello Crockett1947) (I should have thought of Jayce first!); EbURBS should have been EXBURBS (I thought CINEMAb looked odd!).

    I noted CRAM crossing CRAW, and smiled at the clue for ABA.
    Yes, Boomer, we Canadians are Loonie also. Actually the LOON is the official bird of Ontario as well as Minnesota. (Yes, Spitzboov, that exchange rate is not great, but I am not planning to cross the border!)

    Wishing you all a great day. Stay safe.

    ReplyDelete

  17. Nice, quick and easy puzzle from Gail and Bruce. Boomer provided a great tour through the grid.

    Once across, once down, done. No virtual erasures today.

    HG: I saw a couple of Shuttle launches with the most impressive being the launch of Endeavour with the first US element (UNITY) of the ISS on STS-88 . It was a night launch that had been delayed by a day. It had been cloudy but at the last hour the sky cleared up and the Shuttle was visible all the way until the engines shut down. Amazing sight.

    If your state is opening up soon, please still be careful out there.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Good morning, folks. Thank you, Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Boomer, for a fine review.

    Crocket1947: I print the puzzle from the L A Times site all the time, when cruciverb does not work. You just have to sit through an ad.

    Puzzle was fine. Easily zipped through, being a Monday. Caught the theme after 56A.

    Now I know the state bird of Minnesota. Pennsylvania is the Ruffed Grouse. Illinois, the Cardinal.

    Well, we got ERIE again. Nice. With an extra "E" in front. Oh well. Works for me.

    See you tomorrow.

    Abejo

    ( )

    ReplyDelete
  19. Good Morning,

    Greetings, all. Thank you for your many good wishes. My surgery was Thursday April 9, and the resection was successful. Not too many pain killers, but I can fall asleep at a moment's notice. Crossword, chair, tv, knitting, reading--all fabulously soporific. But better each day. My brother asked me how I was doing. Not as well as I expected, but then I didn't remember how old I was. Ha!! All's well that end's well, even after a long haul.

    Thanks Gail and Bruce for a fine start to my week. I hope to do better this week and finish a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday!

    Nicely done, Boomer. My aforementioned brother is the starter at a local course. He is more than pleased that they will begin again on May 1 with myriad safety rules as it appears Minnesota has also established. Probably PGA protocol.

    Went out for the first time in FOREVER yesterday. We drove to my daughter's house to see her and her hub and the grandkids. Patio and driveway distancing, but great fun. The kids (14 and 12) sat with us the whole time. Fun stories all around. A great memory. AND my first glass of wine since Christmas.

    Be well, all of you. I am glad to be back in this wise and witty spot. Enjoy the sunshine.

    ReplyDelete
  20. A very appreciated Monday puzzle. Thursday's puzzles are frequently the start of my weekly butt kicking. Thanks Bruce and Gail. Boomer's review was, as always, creative.

    Robo-Crosswwords has been my go to app for years. Free with no ads. It still works for me, but it doesn't appear in my installed apps list. I guess it is no longer available to download.
    MO

    ReplyDelete
  21. Delightful race from one clue to the next -- across, down, across, down -- with no slogging through the long list of clues, hoping for something familiar. A great Monday puzzle. Thanks Gail, Bruce, Boomer, and Cornerites.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anon above did this one in 4:08. I don't have a stopwatch so my time isn't down to the second, just rounded off to the closest minute. It took me 10 minutes, but having benign tremor doesn't help as I have to be very deliberate in writing the letters in each square, so that slows the time a bit. Kinda like running in boots. Anyway, I did this one, the United Syndicate puzzle which is always easy, and the Sudoku all in 30 min. Nice cloud cover in Phoenix today to keep the temps down just a bit as we hit our first 100° of the year yesterday with many more to come. Now is the time I appreciate my seven years working in beautiful Toronto, eh?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks, Shankers, for answering the timing question. I usually solve online, via the WAPO, which starts the timer automatically.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Unknown@7:18, I don't know if you do the NY Times puzzles as well as these. The NY Times has themeless Fridays and Saturdays both, while the LA Times has themeless Saturdays only. Also, the NY Times puzzles towards the end of the week, particularly Saturday, are really hard. I like the LA Times puzzles, which get harder but are not insanely difficult.

    I've never gotten below 4 minutes. If I ever want to enter a crossword tournament, I'll need to focus on speed if I want to do well, but I generally like to be leisurely at my crossword solving. Everyone is different, but if I focus on time, it becomes the goal, and I don't enjoy the process of solving the puzzle as much.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hey, what is the big deal about bleach? They have been advertising bleaching your teeth for years? I never have understood the joy derived from solving a puzzle quickly. For me, it is like PE, premature elucidation.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hola!

    A Gail and Bruce treat is a great way to start the week! Thanks to both and many thanks to Boomer for the amusing review.

    As has been noted, this was quick and easy. I never time myself and I leisurely drink coffee (no bleach) while I solve. No WAITING GAME here. It was a fast fill.

    I like the word GLITTERATI; maybe because I like glitter.

    And I learned that HBO owns CINEMAX. Since I don't watch either one I'm indifferent about that.

    ANO. We know that is year in Spanish. If my computer has a tilde, I can't find it.

    CSO to PAT(S).

    I often wonder what and why people have to store. In my neighborhood there are three very large STORAGE facilities. It's true that many people divide their time between here and some other state or country so perhaps they need STORAGE space for their belongings.

    Our shelter in place orders will expire Thursday so it depends on what the governor decides but I also won't be going out and about any time soon.

    Enjoy a pleasant day, everyone!


    ReplyDelete
  27. Woohoo! I got a whole Gail and Bruce Monday puzzle, plus Sudoku, Kenken, and Jumble without a single error--woohoo! Weeks don't start any better than this--many thanks, Gail and Bruce. And always love your write-ups, Boomer.

    Fun to get RITA right at the beginning, and PITA right at the end--though it's always RITA Moreno for me, not the meter maid.

    Cool that Popeye got kids to eat their SPINACH in those early days.

    Got PAUL instantly. I'm not great on music, but I still remember my Beatles.

    My sweet Dusty still wears his ID TAG even though he hasn't left the house and back yard in several years now. Hey, he's almost 17 years old.

    Have a great week coming up, everybody.

    ReplyDelete

  28. Lemon: Ads talk about whitening (bleaching) teeth. But the primary ingredient that they use is Hydrogen Peroxide.

    A friend used pure bleach to sanitize her husband's coffee mugs. He ended up with sores in his mouth. The dentist recommended that they stop doing it and his problem cleared up. I guess they didn't wash the cups well enough after using the bleach.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Lucina, on my old Mac you hold down the Option key while typing an "N." Then type the "N" again. Voila! Ñ as in "año." Does that work for you?

    ReplyDelete
  30. OK, Boomer, I got a problem with that picture of Tom Brady. That player is a No. 12 on Tampa Bay, but it is not Brady.
    #1 Brady has yet to be photographed with a crowd at his back in Tampa
    #2 The team has not been together yet to vote him a captain
    #3 I'm pretty sure Tom Brady is not a lefty

    ReplyDelete
  31. I’m with those who don’t time themselves . I like to just enjoy it and finish whenever.

    Bill G., THANK YOU for the tech tip - it works!

    Monday’s are easier, but today’s theme was still very clever with both parts of the answer relating to it. It still seems like magic to me that folks can create these puzzles.

    Thanks , Gail and Bruce. Thanks to Boomer as well for the explanation and all the cogent comments.

    The beautiful, mournful sound of a loon at night on a lake in Ontario, Canada is one of my most favorite childhood memories. Thinking of you, Canadian Eh.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I find myself uttering "SHEESH," perhaps in lieu of a fouler word, quite often during the afternoon press briefings from the White House.
    Isn't it time these briefings were removed from an obviously political forum, from the executive branch, to the CDC's HQ?
    SHEESH...

    I remember when POGO was quite the "in" cartoon. Do others recall when it preceded "Peanuts" in the nation's cool consciousness?

    Misty ~ I don't think it was Popeye who got us to eat our spinach. That fat-forearmed foretopman ate his straight outta the can. Yech!
    That gluttony was funny to watch in cartoons, but nothing we wanted to emulate. SHEESH.
    In my home, it was our mom who got us to eat our spinach. We actually loved it, not from the can, but warmed and with plenty of vinegar. Yum!
    ~ OMK
    ____________
    DR:
    A 3-way, near at hand.
    The central diagonal gives us the anagram for what the girls in my junior high school (now Marina Middle School, San Francisco) used to call the boys with whom they did NOT want to Bunny-hop.
    These unfortunate fellows were...
    "COOTEE BAIT"! Yuck!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Thanks, Gail and Bruce, for the fast and fun puzzle! Fast and fun expo, Boomer, thanks for that!

    Hand up for SHucks before SHEESH.

    I was in a Brownie TROOP, then moved up to Girl Scouts. Loved primitive camping; pitch a tent, lash together a table, gather wood for a fire to cook our food, make a shower. Now my idea of camping is an ocean view condo.

    CSO at 27a PAT S. My maiden name starts with S so this works.

    With all the crap that's going on in the world these days, I give you this for calm, serene beauty:Lake Michigan and vernal ponds

    Have a nice day!

    ReplyDelete
  34. Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe development of natal amphibian and insect species unable to withstand competition or predation by fish. Certain tropical fish lineages (such as killifishes) have however adapted to this habitat specifically.

    Vernal pools are a type of wetland. They can be surrounded by many communities/species including deciduous forest, grassland, lodgepole pine forest, blue oak woodland, sagebrush steppe, succulent coastal scrub and prairie. These pools are characteristic of Mediterranean climates, but occur in many other ecosystems.

    From Wiki

    ReplyDelete
  35. I guess I am in a minority, or I may be falling victim to agoraphobia, but I don't think I'll ever want to go outside again. Not beyond my own property line.
    This lockdown has shown me how comfortable I am with staying in--and letting the world come to me via books, social media, and video entertainment.
    Visitors will be welcome in future, but please don't expect me to venture out. Up to a point, we must be adventurers to be good citizens. But when we reach a certain age, we are no longer obliged to go forth.
    I have seen the world, and I am happy to report that it offers little more than I find in my own back yard.
    ~ OMK

    ReplyDelete
  36. OMK,
    Re: Spinach...

    Interesting! With Vinegar...Hmm...
    (I could eat almost anything pickled...)

    But you somehow brought back a childhood memory,
    my Dad used to saute Brussel Sprouts in Butter,
    & then I would help him make two cuts thru the stem
    to make an "X", & then we would stick another pat of butter in the "X".
    a dozen or so Brussel Sprouts (& a dozen pats of butter )
    would be devoured post hate...
    (Hmm, I meant to say "post Haste," but I leave the typo uncorrected...)

    I could never eat spinach, because it would squeak in my teeth.
    Creamed spinach however is acceptable as a slippery sidedish.
    So I went looking for Spinach recipes "that make it taste better,"
    & came across this from 2014!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Lucina, on Windows-based machines holding down the "alt" key and typing 164 gives you ñ. Alt 165 gives you Ñ. You may have to use the numbers on the numeric pad (make sure NUMLOCK is on) instead of the numbers above the letters. If you want a stand-alone tilde it is just under the "esc" key on Windoze keyboards. ¿Does that help?

    ReplyDelete



  38. Tuesday's (4/28/20) edition of the Wall Street Journal contains a crossword puzzle (Double Down) by C.C. Burnikel


    It is accessible to download or solve online at Link C.C.'s Puzzle

    Enjoy !


    ReplyDelete
  39. Hello everybody. I liked this puzzle, as I almost always like G&B's creations. Neato theme. I solved this one across across across down down down. Zip zoop! Since I already had the PA I knew it was Paul, not John.

    Enjoyable write-up, Mr. ----ikel. Keep staying well.

    Was there something in the news about putting bleach in one's coffee? I'm going back to read the news again. (Sheesh, some people are astoundingly, mind-boggling stupid.)

    Good wishes to you all this fine day.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Dear Blogspot friends,
    I fear I may have been negligent this past weekend in not visiting here to thank all 18 people who wished me a happy birthday. Unfortunately, I have fallen into the habit of not looking at the CWs on weekends because my husband, whose other wife is his job, is normally only available to me then, and so I don't manage to concentrate hard or long enough to manage their level of difficulty. So with the added excitement of my 74th birthday, it was even more impossible to get here.

    Rest assured, the birthday was adequately celebrated with a Skype session with the family in Germany and a "distanced" surprise visit from our younger son and his family, who stayed safely apart from us as we talked on our driveway. They brought cupcakes and fresh veggies too!

    I apologize profusely for neglecting to show my appreciation for all your good wishes before this. You are a wonderfully kind and thoughtful group, led by C.C., who never fails to remember every one of us and keeps track of all our life events.

    Thanks to all, and especially C.C., our amazing leader!

    ReplyDelete
  41. Just thought I would let you folks know, Old Okie turned the big Eighty today. And still solving crossword puzzles.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Happy birthday, Old Okie!

    Jinx:
    This is what I get with those directions: ☺
    There is likely some way to type the tilde but I don't know the formula.

    Jayce:
    Last week the President intimated that ingesting disinfectant would kill the corona virus or perhaps render one immune. It's not clear what he meant exactly but today he tried to deny he said that. We heard it, though.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Happy Birthday to Old Okie. Don't recall having seen you here before; so, Welcome!

    ReplyDelete
  44. Hi all, first time posting here.

    Couple of things re posts above: Do NOT bleach your teeth!!!!! Do not do that!!! If you must, you can put a little hydrogen peroxide on your brush. Do NOT ingest or put bleach anywhere inside your body, please, no matter what trump says.

    ANO in Spanish actually means "anus." You have to have the tilde to make it "year."

    I don't know how someone did today's puzzle in 4:08. How can you write that fast?? Took me 8:00:50 and I thought I was going pretty quick.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Oh, I forgot, one little note about today's puzzle. Groups of Brownies are NOT troops. Those would be Boy Scouts. Groups of Brownies are PACKS.

    Not often I find such a blatant boo-boo in a puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Lucina, you have to hold the ALT key while you type all three numbers ALT 1 gives you the smiley.

    Others, I would quote Dr. Birx regarding how Trump processes information and why he would say such a thing. But it doesn't support the acceptable political standards of the Corner so I won't. But if you drink bleach because of something someone told you that any president said, I consider it a victory for Darwin. #Thintheherd

    ReplyDelete
  47. Happy birthday Old Oakie!

    I wasn't sure how to personalize your cake,

    this was my 1st impression...

    & this was my second...

    But my favorite so far is this one, even if it is a few years off...

    ReplyDelete
  48. Wendybird and Shankers - great to hear your wonderful memories of Canada!

    MadameD - welcome back! Good to hear that your surgery went well and you are recovering.

    Happy 80th Old Okie!

    Welcome Vermontah.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Happy Birthday Young Okie. Hope you had an Okie Dokie day!

    ReplyDelete
  50. Vermontah--I don't know where you got your information, but I was involved with Girl Scouts from 2nd grade thru 12th and we were always called TROOPS, never packs. Maybe it's regional terminology.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Kazie, thanks for dropping in. And hbd, I think I neglected to add that yesterday and I'll add an hbd to old oakie.

    My son is all wrapped up in what I call internet politics and he calls realism. So I said, I have the perfect example and raced to show him Jinx's post from yesterday. Gone. Which was my point: CC in her wisdom doesn't want that rathole to interfere with our discussions of (fe) "Swipe left" or the origins of NOM.
    .
    My outfit who's alias is "The Friends of Bill W" of which Splynter is a member has the same philosophy: No politics, no religion. We have about the same luck. *

    One last item. When I finished the last box there was no "Congrats!". I searched through and replaced the B in CINEMA B to CINEMAX and tada. So .

    Did I FIR or FIW?
    .
    WC

    But with out a CZAR to rule absolutely. In fact the above is labeled a "Tradition"

    Ps, I used to label these posts "ether". TTP or was it Santa informed me that most regulars check FLN before posting anew

    ReplyDelete
  52. Pat, like everything I know, I got it from Wikipedia!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girlguiding

    ReplyDelete
  53. As a teacher I attended many fly up ceremonies where members of Brownie troops became Junior Girl Scouts. The capital B made this one a gimme.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Happy B'day, Old Okie...
    --or, as we share a prefix, should I just address you as "Young 'un"?
    ~ OMK

    ReplyDelete
  55. Howdy there!

    I have been wondering when this pair would make another appearance. Glad it was today; I am ready for some fun things to do. FIR in just under 8 minutes. I remember getting one in 5, but 4 seems unreachable for me.

    Happy birthday to Old Okie (from Muscogee?). You’re 5 years ahead of me.

    OMK: I grew up on a steady diet of Pogo. It was and still is my favorite cartoon. For years I enjoyed it for the funny characters and the way they talked; by the time I got to High School I was more tuned in to the political substory. I believe the Jack Acid Society Black Book was my favorite of the political stuff. (I bought the paper bound book and probably still have it somewhere.)

    Ditto on the LOONs, WendyBird. For years I spent a month in the summer canoeing in the Boundary Waters (MN) and Quetico National Park (ON). Hearing that EERIE sound at night you could almost believe you were in another world. Beautiful. (Hi, C Eh!)

    Welcome back, Madame DeFarge!

    H G, I remember The Millionaire quite well. Used to watch it every week.

    Lucina, trying to sell this house and buy another is a nightmare; where do you PUT 30+ years of stuff (SHEESH) so your house is easier to sell? Why, in a PUBLIC STORAGE facility! We have two goodish-sized lockers. (AND we sold the house, Covid-19 and all!)

    There were >45 comments by the time I got here... it must be late. I’ll just slowly fade away.

    ReplyDelete
  56. WikWak- glad you enjoyed your international camping experience. Friends from Thunder Bay camp regularly at Quetico.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Hi All!

    Thanks Gail & Bruce for the comfy, er ROOMy, puzzle. Thanks Boomer for kicking-off another appropriately social-distanced afterparty.

    WO: the wrong SEeM (brickin', ricken' racken')
    ESPs: HILO, BOLE
    Fav: last week we had __stick and I thought, 'POGO would be better clued as the comic.'
    ☑ Wish

    Liked today's DR OMK.

    Welcome back MdF!!!! Glad to hear you're healing well.

    Happy Birthday Old Okie! Post more often - you're tales are fun.

    I always ate my spinach b/c I knew it'd make be big and strong like Popeye. That and I liked the taste - fresh out of Grandpa's garden.

    Montana - those emails from Lem where bogus. Having responded, be on the lookout for future scammers asking you (specifically) for help / money.

    Welcome Vermontah! Um, I recall Cub Scouts were Packs but IIRC my girls were in Daisy, then Brownie, followed by Girl Scout Troops. I confirmed this with Eldest who offered the caveat that, like Girl Scout cookie names, perhaps what a collection of Brownies are called varies geographically.
    //And there we are Pat - the wiki spells it programme in 'chapter' 2 :-)

    Jinx - did you notice the Es flanking each side of the block POTATO ends at? Let's 'ketchup' with Quayle's POTATOE kid.

    HG - I love Carlin's 'stuff' sketch. DW wanted a bigger house for more storage - I said we just have too much stuff. //she got the house (our current) anyway
    The irony? - we have a 20x40 main attic AND a 15 x 15 'lower' attic and both are basically useless for storage b/c some brain-trust put the mechanicals at the entrance to the attic so you can't put stuff up there w/o climbing over ducts, pipes, and such (while holding heavy box)*.
    So, yes, we have a STORAGE unit. :-)

    Ray-O: I can't say SPATULA w/o a Transylvania accent.
    Ex-herbs is LOL!

    See y'all tomorrow. Hopefully I can get to The Corner b/f 11p CDT.

    Cheers, -T
    *Apparently before the furnaces, they (three+-owners ago) put a doll house up there. It is still there.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Carol and I FIR in 18:35 min.

    Good "next evening" Cornerites.

    Thank you Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke for your enjoyable Monday CW.  

    Thank you Boomer for your excellent review.

    Ðave 

    ReplyDelete

For custom-made birthday, anniversary or special occasion puzzles from C.C., please email crosswordc@gmail.com

Her book "Sip & Solve Easy Mini Crosswords" is available on Amazon.

Please click on Comments Section Abbrs for some blog-specific terms.

Please limit your posts to 5 per day and cap each post length at about 20 lines in Preview mode.

No politics, no religion and no personal attacks.