google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday April 5, 2020 Paul Coulter

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Apr 5, 2020

Sunday April 5, 2020 Paul Coulter

Theme: "The Other Half" - One part of a familiar phrase is replaced by its partner in a "A and B" phrase.

23. Pasta on the barbie?: GRILLED MACARONI. Grilled cheese. Macaroni and cheese.

32. Like the club that Sinatra, Zappa and Capra belonged to?: FULL OF FRANKS. Full of beans. Franks and beans.

51. "Don't forget we're having omelets"?: BRING HOME THE EGGS. Bring home the bacon. Bacon and eggs.

68. Town group that decides what kinds of lawns are allowed?: TURF BOARD. Surf board. Surf and turf.

88. Unexpected eccentric skydiver?: A NUT OUT OF THE BLUE. A bolt out of the blue.

101. Lucky one at the dairy raffle?: BUTTER WINNER. Breadwinner. Bread and butter.

118. Sniffing the jalapeños?: SMELLING PEPPERS. Smelling salts.

Love the first four as the base phrases are all food items and the changes are so smooth.

The last three still have a food item in the theme entries. 88A & 118 are a bit odd-man out to me as the phrases are "nuts and bolts" & "salt and pepper". 

Across:

1. Haunt: OBSESS. This Coronavirus model seems to be the most reliable. Click on United States of America, then scroll down to your own state. Minnesota will peak on April 22, 2020. Louisiana and New York on April 9th.

7. Mountain geography feature: GAP.

10. Calypso offshoot: SKA.

13. Pond buildup: ALGAE.

18. Arrive onshore, perhaps: ROLL IN.

19. Slate or Salon: E-MAG.

21. Plop or plunk preceder: KER.

22. Nobelist Bohr: NIELS.  Physics Nobelist.


26. Bill with billions: GATES. Great clue. Great visionary. Thank you, Bill Gates!

27. Brother of Andrew the Apostle: ST PETER.

28. Detective's aid: LEAD.

29. Chilled: ON ICE.

30. Churchill's "so few": Abbr.: RAF. Royal Air Force.

35. Like Stout's Wolfe: OBESE.

40. Buxom: BOSOMY. Not a word I use.

42. Hawaiian for "long": LOA.

43. Some summer shows: RERUNS.

45. Each: A POP.

46. Defense gp. since 1948: OAS.  Organization of American States.

47. Give or take, say: VERB. Another great clue.

55. Sea of troubles: ARAL.

56. On the job, for short: TCB. Take Care of Business.

57. Havens: OASES.

58. Au pair's subj.: ESL. English as a Second Language.

59. How early LPs were recorded: IN MONO.

61. Roswell sightings, briefly: UFOS.

63. Johnson of "Laugh-In": ARTE. Learned from doing crosswords.


64. Peke or Pom: LAPDOG.

65. Angry reaction: SNARL.

73. Legal claims: LIENS.

74. Court contest: TENNIS. Not legal court.

76. Ravel's "Gaspard de la __": NUIT. Listen here.

77. Banned fruit spray: ALAR.

79. Kiwi or rhea: RATITE.

80. "Anderson Cooper 360°" channel: CNN. Also 123. Atlanta-based channel: TBS.

81. Facebook option: SHARE.

84. "The Gold-Bug" monogram: EAP. Edgar Allan Poe.

87. School near Windsor: ETON.

93. Basic video game: PONG.

94. "Saving Private Ryan" craft: Abbr.: LST. Landing Ship, Tank. Also 102. WWII sub: U BOAT.

95. "I, Claudius" role: NERO.

96. "You left me no choice": I HAD TO.

97. Mag man with a mansion: HEF.

98. Square: EVEN UP.

100. Condition: STATE.

107. Splitting target: LOG.

109. Opposite of love: ABHOR.

110. Yours, to Yvette: A TOI.

 111. Largest of the Balearic Islands: MAJORCA. Rafael Nadal was born and got married here.



117. Lush: SOUSE.

122. Makes less unruly: TAMES.

124. Ad headline: SALE.

125. Biblical miracle units: LOAVES.

126. In check: AT BAY.

127. Approx.: EST.

128. Nintendo's Super __: NES.

129. Suppressed anger: SPLEEN.

Down:

1. Assns.: ORGS.

2. Diamond used as an abrasive: BORT. Never heard of the term.


3. Tongue trouble?: SLIP. Slip of the tongue.

4. W competitor: ELLE. W magazine is now on hiatus.

5. Bank deposit: SILT.

6. Contemptuous look: SNEER.

7. Beauty: GEM.

8. Doc bloc: AMA.

9. __-12 Conference: PAC.

10. "Cheers!": SKOAL.

11. Martial art with bamboo swords: KENDO. Literally "sword way". Japanese "do" is like Chinese "Dao"/"Tao", meaning "way".


12. "Exodus" hero: ARI.

13. Sweater material: ANGORA.

14. Jungle climber: LIANA.

15. Arrive: GET IN.

16. Smart follower: ALECK.

17. Saint-Saëns trio: ESSES. Just the three letters in Saint-Saëns.

20. Walk clumsily, like the Jabberwock slayer: GALUMPH.

24. Blah: DRAB.

25. Bank (on): RELY.

31. Features of beer and sponges: FOAMS.

32. Pays: FOOTS.

33. June 14 honoree: FLAG. We have the best flag in the neighborhood. Thanks, Spitzboov!


34. Fuddy-duddy: FOSSIL.

35. Uranus, e.g.: ORB.

36. Ernie's pal: BERT.

37. Obama attorney general Holder: ERIC.

38. Getting too many rays: SUNBURNING.

39. Coll. major: ENG.

41. WWI battleship Graf __: SPEE.

44. "Beat it!": SHOO.

46. Leering sort: OGLER.

47. Colonial bloodsucker: VAMPIRE BAT. "Colonial" because they live in colonies. Wish all the bats would just disappear from this world.

48. Wear down: ERODE.

49. Wouldn't stop talking: RAN ON.

50. Modern sources of reflections: BLOGS. Most blogs, yes.

52. Brewer's oven: OAST.

53. Architect Saarinen: EERO.

54. This, in Toledo: ESTA.

60. Kiara's mother in "The Lion King": NALA.

62. Dart: FLIT.

63. NYC dance troupe: ABT. American Ballet Theatre.

65. Throat problem: STREP.

66. "Cool beans!": NEATO.

67. Austrian composer Webern: ANTON. Also unknown to me.


69. Full-length: UNCUT.

70. "Babe" in the 1995 film, e.g.: RUNT.

71. Dry Spanish sherry: FINO. We had this before.


72. Sticker in a bar: DART.

75. Undercoat: SEALER.

78. Mormon prophet, or the Utah city named for him: LEHI.


81. One in a roundup: STEER.

82. Pedestrian startler: HORN.

83. In conflict with, with "of": AFOUL.

85. "Crimes and Misdemeanors" actor: ALDA (Alan)

86. Short stroke: PUTT.

89. Brief warning about the links?: NSFW. Not Safe For Work.

90. Shows for the first time: UNVEILS.

91. "How's that again?" words: EHS.

92. Help-wanted ad abbr.: EOE.

97. Luther's crime, per the Diet of Worms: HERESY.

98. Carbon compound: ENOL.

99. Splendor: POMP.

101. It's enough for Juan: BASTA.

103. Hitching aid: THUMB.

104. Where mariners go: TO SEA.

105. Poetic feet: IAMBS.

106. Bikini blast: N TEST.

108. Iona College athletes: GAELS.

112. Asian genre influenced by The Beatles: J POP. When I left Guangzhou in 2001, Namie Amuro was hugely popular.



113. Australian export: OPAL.

114. Debussy's dream: REVE.

115. Hudson Bay nation: CREE.

116. NBA part: Abbr.: ASSN.

118. Canonized Mlle.: STE.

119. "At Seventeen" singer Janis: IAN.

120. 2019 MLB World Series champs' division: NLE. National League East.

121. Some appliances: GES.


Happy 79th birthday to dear Irish Miss, the sunshine of our corner. This picture is so precious. Those simple, loving and chatty days! Thanks for being my friend and supporting me and this blog all these years, Agnes! Boomer cherishes and always finds strength and comfort in your cards.
 
L-R: Anne, Agnes, Eileen, Mary, and Peggy.
St Patrick's Day, 2019

2) Happy Birthday also to Abejo (Bradley), the certified master gardener! Bradley worked in Iran for a few years, hence his handle Abejo, Persian for "beer".

39 comments:

OwenKL said...

So many problems! The far NW and SE corners, plus the triple NUIT+FINO+ABT natick in the center. Also never heard of BORT, W (I had Gore as Dubya's competition) in the NW, JPOP or REVE in the SE, and only heard SPLEEN as expressed anger, just the opposite of suppressed anger.

Needed the expo today to clarify a few. I thought "full of baloney" giving franks and bologna, a little further out than frank and beans. And I was thinking milk and butter or butter and eggs, so didn't see "bread winner".

Any recommendations on the best font to use with Across Lite when there are circles? I used the default for years, but my eyesight is declining.

OwenKL said...

NERO Wolfe was an OBESE sleuth,
And also Mycroft Holmes, forsooth!
Their minds were hot
Their bods were not,
They couldn't join a perp's pursuit!

It's hard to be VAMPIRE ants
Instead of fangs, they've clamps.
And worse, the necks
The head connects
Are so thin they're oft decapit-ants!

There seems to be an ASSOCIATION
Between the first clue and the last.
That's how the puzzle's ORGANIZATION
Keeps the framework sticking fast!

{A, B+, B.}

Paul C. said...

Thanks, C.C. I'd like to add my birthday wishes to Irish Miss and Abejo. Good job on the limerick, Owen. The first stanza was a hoot. I'll try to provide more rhyme-friendly fill next time. This one had the working title Managing Partners. An entry I liked that didn't make the cut was PEANUTBUTTERFISH. Pretty hard to clue, however.

My granddaughter Addie turned 4 on Wednesday. No April Fools. That really is her birthday. I bought her a play house, which got delivered during the winter. My son Dan and I were planning to build it together, but he did everything alone. Except, he needed me to hold the roof, while he attached it from inside. So we weren't technically six feet apart (which he's pretty strict about, since he works as a public health official.) At least there was a wall of wood between us. The play house looks great now that Dan finished. Addie just loves it. She made sure I knew it's not a play house, but her real one. I was planning to sing Happy Birthday through the window to the girls (my younger granddaughter Ava turned 1 three weeks ago) but Dan and Emily let Addie come out and play. I was very careful to stay well away. The best part of the day was, I could hear Addie shouting, "Grandpa's here, grandpa's here!" as I came up the walk. My favorite thing I've heard in years. Stay safe and well everyone.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I got the theme...well, more than I usually do...but I still couldn't see the "other half" with FRANKS (beans) and NUTS (bolts). BORT was an eye-opener. BOSOMY? I guess, because PARTONISH was too long. Thanx, Paul and C.C.

Happy Birthday, I.M. and Abejo.

BobB said...

Got it done eventually. Never did understand the theme clues/answers.

jfromvt said...

I usually like Paul’s puzzles, but this is one I couldn’t get into. Seemed like a lot of obscure answers, and clueing not on my wavelength. I guess it’s just one of those days.

Big Easy said...

OBSESSed- that's what I was with this puzzled. But it was a DNF. I sorta figured out the other half but due to unknowns I missed a few and just made some wrong WAGS.

FULL OF FRANKS- I was thinking of a club and had HALL and GALAMPH; never heard of GALUMPH. That left HOOT for FOOT, which I knew was not right.

Then there was TURF BOARD- RUNT, FINO, & NUIT were unknowns. I made correct WAGs of RUNT and NUIT but FINO- now way. TURN BOARD was my fill.

BORT- never heard of it either but perps were solid. ANTON-hadn't heard of him either or LEHI, UT but at least I got 'em. I guessed K-POP before MAJORCA corrected it.
NSFW- I just learned about that abbr. lately but it was in an article about porn, as in Not Safe For Wife.

W competitor- wanted either OMNI or GORE (remember him) but perps wouldn't allow. ELLE was it.

As for the Covid19 link, I've been using my local one every day. It lists the cases and deaths by parish. As of noon Saturday there were 409 deaths in LA and 12,496 KNOWN cases of Covid19. There are probably 10 times that number of people who show and feel non symptoms but carry the virus.

http://ldh.la.gov/coronavirus/

I was reading an article yesterday about things that spread the virus after it got out of China. Soccer match in Italy that was against a Spanish team; the crowd spread it and the team carried it back to Spain. Mardi Gras here where somebody came from who knows where and spread it. But other places lucked out. The Daytona 500 had over 150,000 people attending. College & NBA basketball games with people crammed in arenas. Hockey games-ditto.

Yellowrocks said...

Paul, I loved this theme. I caught on with Bring home the eggs.
I looked at it this way:
The base saying is bring home the bacon
What is often the partner of bacon? Bacon and EGGS.
Go back of the base saying and substitute eggs for bacon. The result will fit the clue.
The result is whimsical. Some of them are not really in the language.

Our neighbor used to tell my little brother that he was FULL OF BEANS, lively, rarin' to go.

BORT was new to me, but perps were solid. NSFW, FINO, ANTON also needed many perps. I forgot what the BALEARIC Islands are. LIU. So a DNF, but it was lots of fun.

A very happy birthday to Agnes and Bradley. I look forward everyday to your contributions.

TTP said...




HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IRISH MISS !!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ABEJO !!!

Great diversion this morning.

ReeLIN, FoLLoW FRANKS and NUIc prevented the puzzle Congratulations! today.

The perps weren't good to me on those ones. Probably should have know FLAG day, or at leased figured it out. Never heard of BORT, and never thought of SLIP for "Tongue trouble" after getting stuck on lisp and trip.

Figured out all of the theme answers except for FULL OF FRANKS. Never thought of Full of Beans, and was stuck on a club of people that idolize people named FRANK.

There were some other really tough areas for me today. SEALER for "Undercoat" took forever, and I couldn't get my mind off of golf even with -SFW in place. D'OH !

So many words had to be worked out bit by bit, and I loved it. Balearic Islands ? No idea, but worked it out.

This puzzle reminds me of what I thought when I first started solving crosswords about eight years ago. Well, that's when I started doing them more than a few times a year. I found them online, and saw there were options for Regular and Master. I thought there were two sets of clues. Regular would have easier clues, and Master would have much tougher clues. Nope.

Great job, Paul ! You too, C.C. Thanks for the projections link. Bookmarked it.

Paul, I'll be building a makeshift office in the den for my wife today. She's been working at the dining room table, but we had a little incident last week while she was on a video conference call. Not sure if I'll be attending her company picnic next year.

Nice story about your granddaughter. Little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. The 5 y.o. granddaughter next door is a hugger. Last week she and her grandma were out in their back yard, and I in mine. Grandma stopped her as she headed towards me. She was devastated. Too young to understand.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

DNF, giving up at MAJORCA x JPOP & SPLEEN. Even then I had sullen instead of SPLEEN and revl instead of REVE. I got pissy at FINO x NUIT too.

"Buxom" was BOSOMY, not "gifted".

After losing 55 pounds I am no longer OBESE. If I lose anther 25 I will no longer be overweight. But I'm not so sure I want to have a bod like Robert Mueller's.

IONA's new basketball coach, Rick Pitino, should improve an already impressive program. If he doesn't use hookers to recruit high school kids. He had an NCAA record that was likely to never be broken. He coached a national champion team for two different schools in the same state (Kentucky and Louisville). Now that his Louisville victory was vacated by the NCAA, that record must be gone (or at least asterisked).

HBDTY Irish Miss and Abejo.

Thanks for the puzzle, Paul. I really liked the theme and misdirection of having PUTT just before NSFW, but there were too many esoteric fills for my enjoyment. Thanks to CC for another enjoyable tour.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Start off with a big salute to C.C.'s FLAG in the nice picture. Very sharp; the flag, too.
Happy Birthdays to Irish Miss and Abejo. Hope you both have a great special day.

Satisfied with my finish. Took red letters at NES and REVE. Should have known REVE.
Thought the theme was at the same time brilliant and somewhat clumsy as CC pointed out. I got most of the theme fill without thinking about the theme.
41d Graf SPEE - This is the WWI German battleship; but construction stopped a year short of completion so it never joined the fleet. It was scrapped in 1921.
The Graf Spee of WWII was a completely different ship and was built as a pocket battleship to conform with naval treaties. Built during the mid 30's, it was scuttled in Dec. 1939 off Uruguay.

Bruce Wayne said...

Bats are very important to the ecosystems in which they live. I don't understand why people hate bats. Sometimes they swoop near your head but they are not usually concerned with humans and are merely eating the insect that may be hovering near your body. Yes, they can carry rabies but if we leave them alone they will rarely bother us and they offer very important contributions to humanity. They keep the insect population in check and even pollinate flowers and spread plants seeds.

OMaxiN said...

FIW. Got the theme at bring home the eggs, but too many other unknowns just like OwenKL
Thank you Paul & CC.

Lemonade714 said...

Paul C., you always deliver an entertaining and doable puzzle. BORT was not in my wheelhouse, but solvable. This is the official first appearance in a LAT. It has a history in crosswords, mostly in pre-Shortzian NYT.
Universal Crossword - Oct. 24, 2009
Universal Crossword - Feb. 4, 2007
New York Times - March 14, 1993
New York Times - June 23, 1990
New York Times - Sept. 5, 1986
New York Times - Dec. 31, 1985
New York Times - July 6, 1979
New York Times - May 29, 1976
New York Times - Jan. 3, 1974
I think the reason almost all of us do not know the term is that it has very limited usage in literature. I could only find- A bit of diamond bort, or even a clear though off-color stone may be employed ."On Laboratory Arts" by Richard Threlfall,

Other important abrasives are emery and corundum, garnet, pumice, diamond dust and bort, and feldspar . "The Economic Aspect of Geology" by C. K. Leith.

He may have industrial-grade diamonds, of the type called bort . "The Flaming Mountain" by Harold Leland Goodwin.

I also did not know Rick Pitino had a new gig at IONA .

Very happy and healthy birthday wishes to our April 5 twins.

Thank you C.C.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I thought the theme was cute, but I found the solving process tedious for some reason. I have mixed emotions about Sunday grids and it's probably because of the plethora of three letter words and unknown proper names, although today there were only a few entries requiring perps: Kendo, Anton, Nuit, and Bort. I liked Lap dog and Snarl and the duos of Eng/ESL, and Est/Esta, plus the crossing of Ste/Est. I had Lisp before Slip; coincidentally, they're anagrams. Big CSO to CanadianEh at Ehs.

Thanks, Paul, for a Sunday diversion and for stopping by (the girls sound precious) and thanks, CC, for the detailed analysis of the theme and theme entries and your always appreciated bird's eye view. Most of all, thank you for your birthday wishes and very caring comments. Knowing you and Boomer, even though we've never met, has brought me much joy and happiness. I treasure our friendship.

Happy Birthday to my April 5 partner, Abejo. I hope you have a special celebration. 🎂🎊🎁🎉🎈🧸

CanadianEh, are you familiar with the painter, Maude Lewis? I watched a movie last night about her life and the obstacles she overcame and was very moved by her grit and determination. The title is "Maudie" and Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) portrays Maud and Ethan Hawke plays her husband. Both performances are outstanding and I highly recommend the movie.

Stay safe, all.

Lemonade714 said...

George's link for the one-click crowd. CORONAVIRUS .

We also have timely? ironic? news about CORONA BEER

Lucina said...

Hola!

Happy birthday, Agnes!
Happy birthday, Bradley! It likely won't be the usually large celebration but perhaps you each are planning the same as my family for a big BASH after the isolation period is over. So far we've missed three birthdays.

Thank you, Paul Coulter, for the puzzling fun! I enjoy your puzzles and seeing you comment here. Cute story about your granddaughter. You are such a doting grandfather!

It's a treat to see GALUPH, the Jabberwocky slayer! What unusual fill.

I must agree with Bruce Wayne above on the importance of BATs. As he mentioned, they consume millions of insects a day and pollinate flowers. Their guano is valued in many countries as fertilizer.

FINO is unfamiliar to me and if we have seen it before, it long ago left my memory.
BASTA and ESTA, however, are in my vocabulary as is ESL. I hate to say why I know BOSOMY. BORT is totally unknown and new learning for me.

CSO to all of us Cornerites at BLOG and CSO to Spitz at TO SEA.

HERESY, ST. PETER and the miracle of the LOAVES and fishes rounds out a mini religious theme.

OAST, EERO, and U BOAT are among familiar fill we see often.

NALA and Alan ALDA also conjure some pleasant cinematic memories.

Jinx:
Robert Mueller is easy on the eyes, IMO, so why wouldn't you want to look like him?

Thank you, C.C., for the photo which we've seen before but it's so nice and for the detailed explanation of the theme which I failed to understand well.

Have a safe and healthy day, everyone!

Misty said...

I always love Paul Coulter puzzles, so thank you so much for stopping by today, and telling us the sweet story about your little grand-daughter. I always need a lot of help with Sunday puzzles, but I really enjoyed this one. My favorite clue was "Bill with billions"--it helped to have the B capitalized and so I got that one instantly. And, C.C. your Sunday commentaries are always a treat. Thank you for posting the neat pictures of Irish Miss and Abejo, to help celebrate their birthdays.

Have a wonderful Sunday at this difficult time, everybody.

Brian said...

FLN: Thanks, Gary @1:49PM for the story behind getting the video of the LEM Ascent Stage. It was fascinating that it took 3 tries (Apollo 15, 16, and finally 17) to get the shot. A lot of factors had to be considered to get everything right.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I couldn’t let go of HILL(?) OF FRANKS but gave up verbs DROP and FELL OUT OF THE BLUE
-Dan’l Boone blazed a trail through the Cumberland GAP
-In most all NCIS episodes, Abbie and her Mass Spectrometer provide the LEADS
-Streaming services are paying big bucks for Seinfeld RERUNS
-A very famous display of TCB
-RATITE, LIANA and BORT?
-EAP joins more familiar YSL and TSE
-Oh, a pedestrian startler not starter
-HBD to Agnes and Abejo. Love the pix!
-I loved the puzzle and story and appreciated the note, Paul!

Abejo said...

Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Paul Coulter, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

Paul coulter, thanks for dropping in. Liked the puzzle and liked hearing about your family.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes for myself and irish Miss, my Birthday partner. Hope we can do this again next year.

Jinx: Interesting about your weight loss. Here's my story. I have lost 35 pounds since last summer. I was neither obese nor overweight. Now I am a bag of bones. I cannot wait to gain it all back. Just have to get through my health issues first.

Puzzle started off with a bang. I was zipping all over filling in words. Then I hit a few tough spots. The North, GALUMPH and EMAG. Then dead center, NUIT, FINO, and RUNT, also a NUT OUT OF THE BLUE. I had CAME OUT OF THE BLUE for a long time. SE, GAELS, JPOP, REVE, LOAVES, and SPLEEN. Finally got them all with some perping and wagging.

I only got half the theme. I did not catch the double word matchup. Just did not look hard enough. Oh well.

See you tomorrow. At my increased age, I hope I can get up tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Hungry Mother said...

Took a long time, but everything made sense except for RATITE, which I got by perps. Very tough, but very satisfying.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Our Sunday paper prints a two week old version of the NYT CW. So the blog is spared from my nonsense.

Well not quite..

Wishing HBD to Irish Miss and Abejo. Have a great day and.....

1. Sing "HB to you" twice while hand washing.

2. Blow out the candles with an electric fan.

3. Make a wish with a sanitized knife

4. Remove face mask before eating cake.

inanehiker said...

I thought the theme was very clever. I got stuck in a few areas that I wouldn't let go of, so slowed me down considerably. Like HG, I had HILL OF FRANKS and HONK before HORN. I also had OUT OF THIN AIR for the last half of that theme answer before A NUT OUT OF THE BLUE came to the fore when I got stuck!
WEES about RATITE and BORT - yikes!

Thanks CC and Paul!

Happy birthday Agnes and Abejo - hope you are enjoying your quiet birthday this year - hopefully some neat phone calls from family and friends!
I live on a circle - and a retired teacher had us all color or print off Easter eggs and put on our windows or doors so the little ones in the neighborhood can go on a "hunt"... citywide we had a "bear hunt" where families could drive around and find stuffed animals in people's windows and trees!

Bill G said...

Hi everybody.

Thank you Paul and CC.

Happy birthday Irish Miss and Abejo. I hope things are going well for both of you (and everybody else).

I thought this puzzle was harder than usual. I finally figured out the theme. Very clever but it was a struggle. I didn't know BORT, that particular piece by Ravel, ANTON WEBERN, BASTA, GAELS or LIANA. So it was a slog. I patted myself on the back when I finished, even though I needed red letters.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Lucina, I agree that Mueller makes a striking figure at the podium. I'm just not an adherent to the adage "you can never be too rich or too thin". I was very thin until I was about 25. If someone offered me a magic pill to be that size again I wouldn't take it. I'm aiming to get another 25 pounds off over the next year or two, which would put me on the cusp of normal/overweight, and about 20 pounds heaver than I was at 25.

Lucina said...

Jinx:
Good for you on trying to reach a healthy weight. I hope you succeed in your goal.

I also am not familiar with ANTON Webern nor his works. And I don't know that particular piece of Ravel's, Gaspard de la NUIT. Bolero? Oh, yes.

FOOTS as a verb intrigues me; I'm going to research its origins.

TTP said...



Husker, et al., for me, RATITE was a given. It may have been in my readings, but I believe it was Spitzboov that has mentioned it a number of times since I've joined. The second A in LIANA was a wag that worked out, but BORT was waaaaay out of my base.

Well, I finished that makeshift office in the family room for my wife. Cut a sheet of plywood in half lengthwise, put some moving blankets down on the hardwood floors, opened a pair of sawhorses on the blankets, and then the doubled up plywood on top of them. Voila ! She now has 16 sq. ft. of desk space with a view out the bay window. I believe we call a bay window oriel in the crossword world.

Also put the battery in John Deere, and mowed the lawn for the first time this year. Old Okie is probably at least six or seven mowings ahead of me by now... Fired up my walk behind Scag mower. It's the kind you see the professionals use. I'll use it more than John Deere. That's primarily for her.

It's good to stay busy in the yard and gardens and around the home front and not dwell.

Lemonade714 said...

Paul, I too love hearing the stories of your granddaughters and their lives. I encourage all Corner grandparents to continue to add their favorite pictures and stories here to amuse and charm us. My two girls are fishing in the Keys with their Dad who caught a BIG FISH and Charlotte who caught her own SPECIAL FISH.

Swagomatic said...

Hope. Just nope. So annoying i didn't even try to finish. Sorry, but yuck!

Brian said...

Lemomade @ 7:17PM, both of your photo links gave error 404.

Bobbi said...

Ditto here!!! Absolutely assinine theme (still don't understand it). Cutesy defs that got nowhere near the meaning of the words ..five hours of struggle while confined to quarters. Shame on the editors for offering this clunker when we needed light diversion. C'mon guys!! Aren't we frustrated enough without the frustration of an intolerable clunker like this one???SHAME ON YOU!!! Upon request, I'll offer up my list of 37 disagreements with the defs that were offered!Rich and Joyce, have a heart ....puleeease!!!!

Wilbur Charles said...

How does "Not Safe for Work relate to "Links"?
Happy birthday to Agnes and Bradley.

I solved in ink but messed up the NW. So… I tried the online and it filled quickly once I had OBSESS. AUSSIE MACARONI just wasn't cutting it. Then I filled the entire XW ending with the J(POP). I'm good with French but lousy with Spanish but that Majorca seemed familiar. But…
I never got the tada. But I'm calling it FIR. I can't find any errors.

My binge watch is "Mom" on Hulu. Hulu doesn't have long commercials. Seinfeld will compete with Cheers but Frasier is ahead of both. Then there's YouTube. Perhaps the 80s AandE Nero Wolfe with his ⅛ of a ton which isn't too bad.

I saw an old Dr rot which had me at 204. I last scaped at 173. Mostly smaller portions and no red meat.

I found I had to keep skipping large swarths and moving towards the SE. Finally I had to return to NW.

WC


Ps, Bobbi, you're a riot. But, I too never came close to grok'ing the theme. I'm a dummy that way. But...

I'm going to post a mindbender I got earlier today in a sec

Wilbur Charles said...

Ok. Here's the puzzler. If you get the answer how does it relate to baseball?

682,614,206,738,380

One Digit in its place
One Digit is right but in the wrong place
Two digits are right but in the wrong place
All digits are wrong
One Digit is right but in the wrong
place

Can you determine the three digit combination to unlock the lock?
Note: 1-5 relate to the list of numbers in their order.

WC

Wilbur Charles said...

The numbers prefixes were dropped when I pasted. 1-5 on top; 1-5 on the bottom

Wilbur Charles said...

eg. 738 => All digits wrong

Pinky Higgins said...


WC @ 9:01 pm, 9:03 pm and 9:52pm


The combination is 062


1962 was the first year the National League played 162 games due to the addition of the NY Mets and the Houston Colt 45's.

Lucina said...

Oh, Lemonade! I love talking about my great-grandson! At 7 1/2 months, he is cute as a button. Like a little chunk. Prior to the quarantine, my plan was to buy a new phone so I could post photos, many photos of him. I'll try it another way.

Did anyone else watch Windermere on PBS? It's the true story of 300 jewish children who were taken to England after WWII and rehabilitated from having been in concentration camps. It's much the same story as The Last Train to London. Very moving and sad.

Bobbi said...

Hey, guys! It's Bobbi again. No, I still think this puzzle stinks. I'm back to share the reason for my angst. In the past three weeks I've been a "shut in and out" for almost three weeks due to Corona. More than usual the Saturday and Sunday puzzles are my ONLY mental diversion. For three Sundays I loved the puzzles and couldn't wait 'till this Sunday's entry. Getting this clunker REALLY spoiled my whole day! I really do think that the editors were lax on not asking the constructor to make some changes. PLEASE: during this house arrest we need our diversions!!!