google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday May 18, 2020 Matt McKinley

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May 18, 2020

Monday May 18, 2020 Matt McKinley

Theme: What THE Road

20. Discards as useless or obsolete: KICKS TO THE CURB.

35. What people are saying: WORD ON THE STREET.

49. Through many experiences: AROUND THE BLOCK.

Boomer here. 

A long, long time ago, I can still remember ... a visit to Great America Amusement Park near Lake Michigan and a few miles north of Chicago. I used to play Pacman (mostly in bowling centers) and Great America had a machine in the open air of the park.  I popped in a quarter and ran up a score of 208,000.  When I finally lost, there were about a dozen people behind me watching me run up that score. No applause.  The reason I bring this up, and since most of us are safely in our homes for more hours than we would care to admit, I found a Pacman game on the internet.  Just Google Pacman on Google and it will appear.  It's not the same as the original screen, and of course there is no joystick.  You need to move Pacmann with the directional arrows on the keyboard.  My high score is 54,710 and you're not allowed to use any of those nasty four letter words when a ghost gobbles your Pacman.  C.C. rules, not mine.  Enjoy!

Speaking of home confinement, I had a nasty fall a week ago which created an injured left leg.  C.C. was a very great help in getting me through this and I can walk now without a limp, and playing golf today. I had to skip last Monday. 

Across:

1. Parson's home: MANSE.  Parsons is a very famous national electrical contractor based in Minnesota.  I have a great hoodie they gave me at their Christmas banquet.


6. Wall St. hedgers: ARBS. Arbitragers. I heard that there was a U.S. Senator or four that fooled around on Wall Street sometime in February.

10. Seize with a quick motion: GRAB. I guess they were GRABBING a profit or avoiding a loss.

14. Carne __: burrito filling: ASADA.

15. Anklebones: TALI.  "The shin bone's connected to the anklebone."

16. Piece that starts next to a knight: ROOK.  Bishop didn't fit. The ROOK is supposed to look like a castle (for the King and Queen.)

17. Set of blank pages for notes and doodles: SCRATCHPAD. A little different than a SCOTCHPAD, which can sooth what itches you.

19. Rowboat pair: OARS.  "Gently down the stream".  My dad purchased a boat for our lake cabin and it was "Oar powered".  (Guess who got to pull.)

22. Bro's sibling: SIS.  I have three, but no BROS.

23. Ones elected to office: INS.

24. Make illegal: BAN.  I wish we could BAN Covid-19.

25. It comes before the ques. on "Jeopardy!": ANS. Answers. I wonder if Alex is doing okay.  There is nothing but reruns on recently - maybe due to the fact they cannot have a studio audience.

26. Unfilled calendar slot: OPEN DATE.  Lots of OPEN DATES for professional sports these days.

31. Desire: WANT.  "If you want it here it is, come and get it, but you better hurry 'cause it's going fast.  (Badfinger).

33. Going __: fighting: AT IT.  I believe I'll skip this one.

34. Mangy mutts: CURS.

38. Deuce topper: TREY.  Deuces and Treys are worthless.  I believe we remove them from the deck for a game of 500.

39. Riles up: IRES.

40. Snakelike fish: EELS.  I really would not call an EEL a fish.

41. Diminutive two-seater: SMART CAR.  We own a dumb van.

43. Morning moisture: DEW.

44. Furniture wood: OAK.  I believe that most of our furniture is particle board.

45. Come out on top: WIN.  "Root, root, root for the home team, If they don't win it's a shame.  Because they are all going to play in Arizona and Texas.

46. Musical gp. that performs summer programs at Tanglewood: BSO. Boston Symphony Orchestra.

54. Persia, now: IRAN.

55. Car showroom site: AUTO DEALER. Not sure if they are open around here. They are all advertising free delivery.  Are they selling cars or pizzas??

56. Route-finding app: WAZE.

57. Baseball Hall of Famer Willie: MAYS.  Willie played for about a month for our minor league Minneapolis Millers, farm club of the Giants. I was very young, but the Giants returned to Minneapolis to play the Millers around 1957 for an exhibition and I saw Willie hit one about 500 feet.

58. Appliance brand: AMANA.  Based in a city of  the same name in Iowa. 


59. Do as ordered: OBEY.

60. Fashion monthly: ELLE.

61. Battery components, to a doctor: TESTS.

Down:

1. Surgeons' protection: MASKS.  We were able to find some for our use when we go to a grocery or Target. I am still seeing a few people without. I have a VA appointment coming up in a couple of weeks and I am curious to see how strongly they have adapted the medical center.  They cancelled two of my blood draws in April and May but June is a bit more important.  Last time we were there, the blood draw area was a zoo. 

2. Computer data acronym: ASCII. American Standard Code for Information Interchange.


3. Feds busting dealers: NARCS.  I think our governor closed down our drug dealers with a stay-home order.  He hasn't opened them up again.  Sorry, I should not create sarcasm about these worst of times.  I apologize.

4. State known for 60-ft.-high presidents' faces: S DAK.  I was on my way one day, but it was really foggy.  So I turned around.  I've been to Deadwood, but I regret never having been to Mt. Rushmore.

5. Erodes, as profits: EATS INTO.  I cannot imagine what has happened here in the U.S. Airlines traveling at 10% capacity, Restaurants, bars, and bowling centers shuttered.  And Las Vegas must be going crazy!!

6. Musketeer pal of Aramis: ATHOS.

7. Engrossed: RAPT.

8. Uninteresting: BLAH.  A woman from the supermarket ran to call a cop. "He must be high on something someone said."  Though it never made the New York Times, in the Daily News the caption read - and Blah Blah Blah.

9. Auxiliary wagers: SIDE BETS.

10. Airplane maintenance group: GROUND CREW.  They are not too busy these days.

11. Lion's warning: ROAR.  In the old days it was the ROAR of the crowd when the LIONS came to U.S. Bank Stadium to play the Vikings.

12. Choice of two: A OR B.  I'll take "B".

13. Novels and such: Abbr.: BKS.

18. Amazon delivery boxes: Abbr.: CTNS. We get a few of them on our doorstep since all of the local stores are closed.  Except grocery, drug, Target, Costco and Walmart.

21. Recycled container: CAN.

25. Longtime "60 Minutes" closer: ANDY ROONEY.  I write a column on mnbowling.com.  I used a pen name "Randy Ooney" out of respect for this grumpy old man.


26. Significant __: OTHER.  The most important person in my life, C.C.  I hope all of you and your "significant others" are safe and healthy.

27. Crusted desserts: PIES.  My favorite is still pumpkin.

28. "The Clan of the Cave Bear" author Jean: AUEL.


29. "__ chic!": TRES.

30. N.J. winter hours: EST.  Eastern standard time, an hour ahead of Minnesota.  I remember when the East Coast had Daylight time and we did not.  Then the TV shows were all out of whack.

31. Wriggling bait: WORM.  Sometimes C.C. and I would dig a dozen or two from our garden.  Sometimes we would buy them at a bait store.  Probably the best fish bait you can find.

32. General vicinity: AREA.

33. Gillette razor: ATRA.  I like the BIC product better.  5 blades!!

35. Lb. and kg.: WTS.

36. "Stevie" for Stevie Nicks, e.g.: NICKNAME.  Why not just call him NICK ??

37. Former magazine aimed at adolescents: TEEN BEAT.

42. Greek cross: TAU.

43. Conked out: DIED.

45. Start of a question of possession: WHOSE.

46. Gauchos' weapons: BOLAS.

47. Bloodhound's pickup: SCENT.  There was a report that men are trying to train dogs to see if they might be able to sniff out Corona virus.  I can see them now standing next to the TSA agents at the airport.

48. Gumbo vegetables: OKRAS.  Gumbo is a strange name for soup.


49. Speedy steed: ARAB.

50. Level, as an abandoned building: RAZE.  It's amazing to watch a skyscraper come down.

51. For two countries, as citizenship: DUAL.

52. "Chat soon," in texts: TTYL.

53. Unconvincing, excuse-wise: LAME.  There does not seem to be any excuse for the virus.

54. __ Jima: IWO.

Boomer


65 comments:

PK said...

Hi Y'all! No one else up yet?

Thank you, Matt, for a fun & fast puzzle!

Thank you, Boomer, for a funny & fast expo. Glad you are having no lasting affects from your fall. Your "significant other" is pretty significant to us Cornerites too, altho in a different way.

DNK: TALI. I tried TARSI confidently then LIU. I've broken 4 Tarsal & one metatarsal bones, plus the tendon located in a sinus under the TALUS. Very important little pieces. Amazing how they all work together to move you along.

Tried SkeTCH PAD before SCRATCH.

DNK: BSO, ASCII.

Stevie NICKs is a female.

Anonymous said...

I liked this puzzle. I did not know that MANSE had a specific meaning. I thought it was just another term for a mansion. Thank you, Matt, for my learning moment for the day!

I'm not sure I understand 23A, Ones elected to office = INS. Does INS stand for something? Or does this mean "ins" as opposed to "outs"?

Lemonade714 said...

Thank you, Matt and Boomer. For some reason, this took me a bit to get started but it stilled filled quickly after I got a toehold. I guess because of the low word count, it played harder.

You are no longer able to buy a new SMART CAR in the US. They were very big in Denver for a while as an alternative to taxis; you got a code, got in the car, and then drove off. GPS kept them located.

Sorry about the fall Boomer and happy for you and C.C. Her WSJ today was fun.

Hungry Mother said...

Wanted SCRApbooks for a very short time. I spent 8 weeks at a summer Mathematics conference at Williams College in 1972. One weekend, we visited Tanglewood and saw Leonard Bernstein. That adventure and the clay courts on campus are my fondest memories of our stay in the Berkshires.

Bluehen said...

I can't believe it. FIW on a Monday! I finished the fill promptly enough, but was surprised not to get the "grey screen tada". I looked and looked, but I'll be darned if I could find the mistake. Finally turned on red letters to find it. One cell! And I still think "around the clock" is as valid an answer to the clue as AROUND THE BLOCK. Oh well, a little humility never hurt anyone. Dagnab it, anyway.

PK, hand up for sketch b4 scratch. And yes, you are right. Stevie Nicks is very much a female. I have an eye for these things.

Moussaka and a Greek salad tonight. I should have it assembled by noon and the casserole in the oven ready to fire up automatically at five o'clock. That gives me the entire afternoon to catch up on my yard work. I know that I'm going to suffer from the pollen, but so be it. DW's legacy of a front flower bed of irises is blooming profusely this year. I'm sure they are giving off a lot of pollen, but I don't care. The yard work has to be done, and the flowers are gorgeous with vibrant colors of purple, yellow and white. Worth the sacrifice.

Cya!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

"What the road" is something I've never (and will never) say. I usually replace road with something more colorful. I can understand "CLOCK," Bluehen, but how do you explain TEEN CEAT? Enjoyed the puzzle, Matt, and your 'splainin', Boomer. (I liked your dumb van comment.)

OAK: Our sofa is an Amish design made of quarter-sawn oak.

MASKS: Ordered 100 from A-to-Z in March, and they finally arrived a couple of weeks ago. Last time I shopped mask-wearing was at about 50%.

ASCII: The were numbered 0-255, 8-bits worth. Here's the chart. "A" is 65, while "a" is 97. Numbers above 127 were reserved for special codes/characters.

ROAR: Remember this musical from the '60s?

ROONEY: My eyebrows have begun to look Rooneyish during the lockdown.

SMART CAR: There are a couple of them in our little town. Both on the same street.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Matt McKinley, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Boomer, for a fine review.

Got up early today. I was sleeping on the couch and my wife got up to make more face masks. That's her side gig now. So, I made a cup of tea and worked on the crossword. Then she went back to bed and here I am.

Puzzle went fine. Caught the theme after I had all three. Made sense.

Did not understand 61A TESTS. Got it with perps.

Did not know AUEL. Perps.

There was a lot more to Persia than just Iran. Afghanistan was also a part, plus more. Those two countries still speak the same language.

We had tons of rain yesterday. Everything is waterlogged. No electric outage thoough.

Have to go. Stuff to do. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Bluehen said...

DO, re: Teen Ceat - I can only plead ignorance. I never read teen magazines when I was one, and I'm certainly not up on them in my dotage. You mean teen ceat isn't some form of newspeak teen slang?

Boomer, sorry to hear about your fall, but glad to hear that you are recuperating so well. Be careful, my friend.

OwenKL said...

FLN -- SPAM. (You may need to be a Facebook member to see the first link, which includes funny comments. The second link is just the picture, titled Wartime Austerity Measures.) SPAM

Anonymous said...

4 minutes 21 seconds. 22 seconds too slow.

Golf, bowling, and now Pac-man scores - I have no idea what's next for us to look forward to.

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Ah, more rain. If we could only figure out a way to transport it to the fire prone areas out West. The riverbeds are disappearing rapidly.

Thanks, Matt, for a bit of Monday work for me. I misspelled WAZE and ASCII on the first turn. I wanted sports car first, but just the opposite: SMART CAR. I laughed out loud when the light shone on TESTS. I've certainly had batteries of those lately.

Thanks for the tour, Boomer. I'm glad to hear you will be out on the course. Gumbo is the African (maybe Angolan??) name for those okra pods. I think it's very hard to make. First of all it takes all the patience in the world to create a perfectly darkened roux. Okra is a tricky one, sometimes getting slimy if not added carefully. I have used file (accent ague on that "e") powder. I do love Louisiana cooking!

Another lovely day in Corona-ville. I think I'll study Italian today. Lately, when I have trouble with something, I translate it to French. Ah ha, Bonne Idee! (Ah that accent ague again--I don't know where to find it!) We're off on an afternoon drive again to check out our environs and enjoy what's blooming. Have a sunny day.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This was an easy, pleasant start to the week. The theme was obvious after entering Curb, then Street. I liked the Ins above Ans and Rapt abutting Blah. Masks is so timely, but in a negative way. I always enjoyed Andy Rooney’s curmudgeonly ruminations (this is underlined in red-is it misspelled?) CSO to Wilbur at BSO. Not surprisingly, Tanglewood has cancelled their summer schedule.

Thanks, Matt, for an enjoyable solve and thanks, Boomer, for a healthy dose of humor. Sorry to hear of your fall but happy that you bounced back with CC’s TLC.

PK, are you and the Sandman at it again? 😴

Anonymous @ 5:38 ~ Yes, it refers to those IN office, IOW, those who are elected. It’s a fairly common crossword clue and fill.

Another gloomy, rainy day. Whatever happened to sunny, glorious May weather?

Stay safe, all.

Yellowrocks said...

Monday easy FIR. I finished my novel before starting the puzzle. Only three theme answers. I thought of curb, street, block but that did not seem substantial enough. I kept looking for more.
Glad you recovered well from your fall, Boomer.
ANON @5:38 MANSE could mean a stately home or mansion or it could mean a parson's home. I often read about manses on estates in British novels. I suspect MANSE as a parson's home is becoming old fashioned.
Being a Lutheran PK, I grew up in five parsonages, but my dad was not called a parson. Lutheran clergy are called pastors.
I miss Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes. He was a lovable curmudgeon, whether I agreed with him or not. I felt the same about Archie Bunker, although I seldom agreed with him. I still loved that character.
A battery of tests is a series of tests, medical, educational, what ever.

Sherry said...

Didn't know arbs but Athos filled it in. Otherwise all good. Read Jean Auel's books on the clan. Liked them alot.

OMaxiN said...

Boomer. I'm glad you recovered quickly. My fall downstairs (damaged knee) ended golf for me. Yesterday's Skins Game raised $millions$ for the CDC and Nurses.
ASCII symbols are still helpful. eg. alt0177 for plus/minus; alt0189 and others for fractions

FIR. Changed cLOCK to BLOCK. Quickly entered dealership at 55a., but corrected to AUTO DEALER filling down.
MO

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Easy solve. No errors. Did enter 'sport' CAR before WORM and AREA insisted on SMART CAR.
No additional comments to offer. Boomer and the above commenters have probably extricated all the commentable tidbits worth commenting on.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-If I hadn’t quit looking for a reveal, I’d still be, uh, circling THE BLOCK
-A pastor once told me to “Meet him at the rectory”. He finally saw I didn’t know what he meant and said “his home”
-GRAB – I’ve told the story here about the 11’ long python that got me
-My barber has opened up and is swamped. He finally found an OPEN DATE for me
-Need a new word? The high cost of homologation means Smart Cars are not for sale in U.S. anymore
-I wear the MASK but glasses keep fogging up so I remove them and walk around with my 20:70 vision
-My first thought of data acronym

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2 (Hey, what else am I doing today?)
-OAK – Our Amish table arrives tomorrow after a 90-day wait
-17 miles south of Rushmore’s 60’ tall president heads the 563’ tall Crazy Horse Monument has been under construction since 1948
-I couldn’t find what I wanted at Menards and so I ordered it on my iPhone while waiting in line to pay for something else. The CTN was on my doorstep the next morning.
-Putting green question – WHOSE ball is out?”
-My significant OTHER has been my rock through this and many other trials
-Handling a student who is the source of a foul SCENT is tricky business

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Took slightly longer to FIR as I needed to periodically stop to lick my wounds after Saturday's assault. But figured out the theme early which helped to move things along.

IMHO narration should say "Chat later" TTYL. "Chat soon" is TTYS. My one inkover.

(Glad you're back playing golf). When you said "I had to skip last Monday" my first thought was skipping down the sidewalk??...what a fast cure!!...lol

Although IRES as a verb pops up frequently it just never sounds correct to me.

The obvious for others is frequently the head slap for me Battery/dr...TESTS ...was thinking a pacer battery change..LOL.

BKS and CTNS seems like just fill.

Almost put bore for BLAH

Speaking of "bore"ing

Gypsy hex......CURS

Raptor featured on a chip bag....AUEL

McDonalds hamburger makers....GROUND CREW

Clock captured by the enemy would only TICK. was threatened: "We have ______of making you TOCK"....WAZE.

As it's just possible we've seen the last of snow in the Mohawk Valley I decided to brighten up my dreary blog picture.

Shankers said...

Among above, you will break the 4 minute barrier some day soon I'm sure. This one was worthy of T.V. Guide. The fill was as fast as I could write with my shaky hand. No slip-ups. Now what to do with the rest of the day? I play Slots Era to recreate part of the day. It's free, mindless fun. Bridge, too, is back on the calendar thank goodness.

Shankers said...

Should be "anon" above, not among.

inanehiker said...

Well this was an enjoyable run - though a little more crunchy than I expect for a Monday! I'm working from home today - so I have a little more flexibility. A little slowed up by putting AROUND THE CLOCK before BLOCK - but I had heard of TEEN BEAT though I've never read it.If I read anything back then it was "Seventeen" magazine.

I thought the clue for NICKNAME should have been "Stevie" for Stephanie Nicks, as that was the given name for the vocalist for Fleetwood Mac, but maybe that would make it a clue for later in the week.

Thanks Boomer - glad you're moving better this week after your all! and to Matt for the puzzle!

CanadianEh! said...

Marvelous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Matt and Boomer (glad you are feeling better after your fall).
No newspaper today because it is the Victoria Day Holiday here in Canada.
WhyWeCelebrateVictoriaDay
But fireworks are BANned and it is rainy. So I completed the CW online and saw the theme. Smiled to note that we can get our SMARTCAR from the AUTO DEALER, take it from the CURB, down the STREET, and AROUND THE BLOCK. We can use WAZE to choose our route (A OR B).

I also smiled to see WAZE crossing RAZE (and then MAYS was just to the right).

Hand up for Irks before IRES.
TESTS took a moment to dawn; my brain was in car mode, and battery made me think of conked out=DIED with components being anodes, cathodes. Cells from that SMART CAR would have fit the spot . . . but then there was a doctor in the clue?? Oh, medical!

Don't place any SIDE BETS on that ARAB steed if it is LAME.

Yes, I ventured out last week for the first time in weeks, wearing a MASK. Hand up with HuskerG for having the problem of glasses steaming up. If I pulled the MASK right up on my nose enough that I could put the nosepiece of the glasses on top, steaming was minimized. Perhaps a mask with a flexible wire at the nose to adjust the fit there (the way an N95 mask is fitted) would be better.

Wishing you all a good day. TTYL

Wilbur Charles said...

No, the Congress people in question didn't hedge which would be the type of ARB in question. They did sell stock, which was in their possession, ahead of an anticipated price collapse.
The issue is priviledged information. The same information was out on the web a week or two earlier. Timing was bad eg Intel report.

Willy was o-fer a few weeks. He broke out with a homer off Spahn. I had his rookie card and I said (to no one) 'Boy, this guy's good why haven't I heard about him?". This was after the "Shot" game for which he was on deck when Thompson homered off Branca

ASCII was 7 bit. When I started I programmed in 6-bit.

And later it was the "ROAR of the Greasepaint and the Smell of the Crowd"
FIW in last across. But how are TESTS Battery components to anyone? Dr or otherwise????

Nevermind. I just realized that a Dr preforms a "Battery" of TESTS. Three careless FIW's in three days. The Coach is gonna bench me.

I'll post now in case I've duplicated other posts especially my last sentences.

WC

Ron in LA said...

What do FIR and FIW stand for? Thanks

Anonymous said...

"So, Ayla, what authors do you enjoy reading?"

"Auel or nothing"


Jerome

Brian said...

Ron in LA: FIR and FIW mean Finished it Right and Finished it Wrong. See a more complete list of Abbrs at Comments Section Abbrs (under Olio on blog main page) for some blog-specific terms.

NaomiZ said...

Finished It Right and Finished It Wrong

Wilbur Charles said...

Re. "Dup's". Right out of the barn, PK pointed out "Stevie" wasn't Steven. And D-O, right on CUE has that musical, and Abejo was also duped by TESTS

ASCII 8-bit??? I was seven in my day. Here's an answer that says we're both right
7 or 8 bit? *
Yes…
Thank you Matt McKinley for making us work a bit on a Monday. Apt that Boomer is talking Rushmore and last week we talked Denali vs McKinley

Madame Defarge , today you answered the question I had about:
"Jambalaya crawfish pie 'fil-ay' gumbo"(sing Along with me and Fat's now…) For tonight... On the Bayou

IM, I never made it to Tanglewood but did get to the Pops. Is there a "Pops" like nickname for Tanglewood?

And, YR, I too read AUEL. 1 and 2 anyway.
HG, feel free to tell us about the python. I'll tell the tale about the train bearing down on me at a Tampa RR Xing again if you do. And ... Gigo was my first thought but I couldn't remember it.

Boy I'm chatty today, BLAH,BLAH,BLAH.

Wilbur out

* We had a 6-bit -* ASCII conversion program with a neat moniker I can't remember

Boomer said...

Boomer here. No need to ask how the golf went today. Seems that Crash Davis left the sprinklers on all night and the course was too wet to play. Either that or a lot of rain on Sunday did the trick. Not terrible news, my knee is at about 60 per cent so it could have been a challenge today. Things should be better next week --- Unless it snows. (I do live in Minnesota.)

Misty said...

Boomer, so glad you're okay after your fall. And, C.C., thank you for taking such good care of him. We'd sure miss his fun Monday write-up.

Wonderful Monday puzzle, Matt--many thanks. Figured the little two-seater had to be a SMALL CAR and was surprised when I had to change it to SMART CAR. I have a 2004 Subaru and I gotta tell you, that's a SMART CAR, still doing well after 16 years and 60,000 miles (you can tell I don't get out much).

I thought NICKNAME was a funny but silly clue for Stevie Nicks, and had no idea it referred to a female. The things you learn in crossword puzzles.

Never heard of WAZE. When I need to find a route, I look it up on the map.

Vaguely remembered AUEL and so glad it was right. I always enjoy getting 100 on a Monday puzzle.

Have a great week coming up, everybody.

NaomiZ said...

Enjoyed Matt's puzzle and FIR. Joining you all here afterward makes it even more enjoyable. Boomer, thanks for the write up, and take care of that leg!

Bobbi at 4:18 AM commented on yesterday's blog that she was "using lots of tomes from [her] extensive home library" and still found the puzzle unsolvable. She suggested that the rest of us were probably using online "cheat sites." I should ignore this bitter accusation, but I did finish the entire week in the CW with only one bad square. I don't consult anything other than what's between my ears. If I fail, I come here for my comeuppance. And if I am curious about a clue, after having admitted defeat and put my pencil away, I may do a Google search but *never* look at those useless crossword answer sites.

I do find that my crossword intelligence grows with practice, so I encourage folks to keep at it.

Anonymous said...

Irish Miss, this is Anon@5:38. Thanks for clarifying INS for me! I'm still relatively new at doing crosswords regularly, so a lot is still new for me.

I also had irks for IRES. As Ray-o-Sunshine said, nobody uses IRES as a verb. Except for crossword constructors!

Wilbur Charles said...

Ok, by popular demand (Rock) Around the Clock *

Misty, I just said to Betsy that I've gotta get me some paper maps. I mentioned recently that WAZE has replaced blinking headlights for Smoke(y) alerts.

*I truly detest Bill Haley and the Comets. Thank God for Elvis and Buddy

Irish Miss said...

Ray @ 10:16 ~ Your new avatar is a welcome and cheerful sign of Spring! Your sense of humor brightens my day-I chuckled at Ground Crew! 🍔🍟

Wilbur @ 12:02 ~ I’m only aware of Tanglewood as a venue for the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the summer and many other musical groups/artists, including the Boston Pops. I attended a performance by the Pops, Keith Lockhart conducting, several years ago at the Naples (FL) Philharmonic and eons ago, a performance led by the incomparable Arthur Fiedler at the RPI Field House. (Hi, Spitz!)

CrossEyedDave said...

Enjoyed the puzzle, & all the comments,
& even amused that Bobbi has not yet learned the lesson
from Thumper yet, (You'll get there Bobbi, hang in there...)

Learning moments:
(There were several, but I already forgot some of them...)

Quarter sawn, (hmm, spell check does not like "sawn...")
Love wood grain patterns, & all of them are unique, but did not know
how the cutting method can affect the results...

43A Morning Moisture = Dew sidetracked me into a Broadway Play...
(I am easily sidetracked...)

And, the theme, Out on the streets, in these times is disturbing.
Am I the only one that feels the Angst of denying the Beggar...
Actually, if they had an amusing, or silly sign, I would be glad
to acknowledge that they made me smile.

Except for this guy, He seems just a little too well dressed...

AnonymousPVX said...


Stevie Nicks was/is part of Fleetwood Mac...how did anyone ever escape knowing about her?...FM was huge.

Although I was never a fan of her voice....I’d call it “goat like”.

Anyway, this Monday grid went quickly.

Write-overs....SMALLCAR/SMARTCAR.

Smart Car...possibly the worst car imported, compared unfavorably to the Yugo. That’s bad. We called it the Opposite Car. Give it a second...

And on to Tuesday. Stay Safe.

Lucina said...

Hola!

Well! As you can all deduce I slept late today, likely was more tired than I realized after cooking yesterday afternoon. But I feel well!

And it is entertaining to read all your comments to which I have not much to add. This was a perfect Monday puzzle with those long grid spanners that made for easy fill. Thank you, Matt McKinley!

I have to say that I perked up at seeing carne ASADA in the puzzle. If anyone is interested I believe the recipe is still in the OLIOS.

AUEL's series of BKS was intriguing at the time and I read them all. By the fourth one I lost interest.

Boomer, it's so nice to see that you are still in good humor and I'm glad the fall did not cause serious damage. Yes, C.C. is significant to us as well!

So far my entire calendar is an OPEN DATE since I haven't been able to go out much but I hope that will soon change.

I trust you are all having a beautiful day. Happy Victoria Day, to C eh! and all Canadians.

Lucina said...

Ray-O:
I like the flowers in your Avatar!

You and Blue hen are in rousing form today!

Yellowrocks said...

I enjoyed Auel's first four books. After four I usually lose interest, too far a stretch or too predictable, erring in one direction or the other. John Jakes could be an exception.
Vanity, they name is woman, so they say. The bane of my stay at home existence is this strubley hair.

CrossEyedDave said...

ANon-PVX,
Perhaps you are remembering Stevie "later" voice.

Everyone's voice lowers as they age...

Here is a refresher...

Joni Mitchell, was often accused of having a "high" squeeky voice,
which changed dramatically as she aged, & she made great use of it...

Personally, I love them all...

If you wish to continue to disparage some one's voice,

I will sing for you...

CrossEyedDave said...

Ah nuts, forgive me for (nearly) overposting,
but I forgot why I was posting in the 1st place,
(Dang it Anon-Pvx!)
Fell down the Youtube rabbit hole of "Fleetwood Mack."
(see silver springs...)
(ah nuts, you will not see the relevance of Silver Springs without...)

It was about Tick-Tock...

My Grandfather Clock broke,
it kept ringing the inbetween hours chimes...
(a pin broke)
Seeing it was already busted, & I could not make it worse,
I tried to learn what went wrong...
(a pin broke)
I would post a link, but it is a rabbit hole worthy of Alice...

Suffice it to say,
My Grandfather clock now chimes nicely,
but, having worked on it so intimately,
I can tell when it is not quite right...
Sometimes, I can hear it go Tock, Tick,
instead of Tick, Tock...

I can also feel when a pebble gets in my car tires groove,
& throws off the balance... My Mechanic thinks I am crazy,
but I cannot help what I feel...

ANywho,

It turns out I am not the only one...
Just ask Tick Tock Tony,
can you feel the beat?

(scroll down for video...)

Lemonade714 said...

I went to school in the Berkshires and Tanglewood was in between where I lived and went to school. I saw many wonderful performances there, including my first Joan Baez concert. Good times in the 60s.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Lemonade ~ I was at Tanglewood in the '60s too. But, sadly, I just visited the grounds and never saw a concert.
I taught at Williams, and except for one summer when I directed at the Williamstown Festival, I went elsewhere during the summer concert season. Definitely my loss.

I enjoyed today's pzl, but thought it very easy--even for a Monday.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
Four diagonals today, one on the near side and a 3-way opposite.
Unfortunately, the balance of consonants and vowels is poor for finding anagrams.
The best I can do is with the bottom diag on the far side.
This identifies the junior miss size of the proper young Muslim's garment, a...
"TEEN BURKA"!
(I know, I know! You'd think one size fits all, wouldn't you?)

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle and very much have enjoyed reading your write-up, Boomer, and everyone's comments.

Anonymous T said...

Boomer - that you picked 42 [the answer to life the universe and everything] for your ASCII ART* almost makes up for calling Stevie NICKs a dude
[I have it on good authority Pop had a serious crush on her but I was on the Edge of 17 ]

Thanks Boomer for kicking off the after-party - It was a hoot reading you and everyoneelse today.

Funny you thought of Badfinger. The first time I heard them I thought 'Beatles?' Kinda - Written by Paul & produced by Harrison at Apple Records. Listen...

Matt: I found your puzzle freshly clued and Tuesday worthy (seriously, ATHOS to start the week?). Fun solve.

WO: TAo //I don't think I was fully awake by then...
ESPs: MANSE, ATHOS, AUEL [saw the movie, never read the BKS]
Fav: BLAH. The greatest speech ever given used only that word. Don't believe me? Watch Alex's accept RRHoF award.

FLN -
{B+,A}
BlueHen & Steve: I heard a replay of Splendid Table's interviewing Jacques Pépin and thought of y'all.
OKL - But I don't like SPAM!
YR - LOL on if god wanted us to fly he'd given us wings... Folks drive and we don't have wheels.
HG - Astros' games have the same Radio / TV LAG. DW hated my radio 'cuz I'd react b/f the pitch
HG - you also mentioned Donna Summers. A buddy (who, D-O & TXMs might know, was resident DJ at Numbers) does a Wednesday night set from his home for us Covid bound hackers. Two weeks ago he showed off all his Summers' posters.

OKL - But I don’t like SPAM!
//I'll have yours, darling.
//I love SPAM.

MdF - I've never had good Yankee Gumbo. But, It does sound like you know what your doing. //I tried once and, yeah, no.

Ray-O: I like the new avatar. On the same note, look what I found today.

WC - You sure you're not thinking of EBCDIC?
//no, that's 8bit too and you looked it up as well.

@12:22 - we were all once n00bs. Stay and play!

OMK - LOL on today's DR.

CED - when I get a bit more time, I'm heading back to watch TikTock-T.

Cheers, -T
*I did C.C.'s fun WSJ too [man, that was a lot of Fs :-)]

SansBeach said...

Hi All. Late today. Started with plans to go fishing on the Gulf...T boomers and wind ended that thought. Thanks for the puzzle Matt and thanks Boomer for the write up. OMK, needed an easy solve after Fridays DNF (NW corner) and Saturday's slaughter...should have been a do not start (DNS). Hats off to those pros that FIR on Saturday. Today's FIR helps restored a little confidence. :o) Only miscue was spelling Bolas, bolos until the microwave company fixed it. Hope everyone had a great day.

CrossEyedDave said...

Anon-T
I am overwhelmed...

1st, that edge of seventeen link!
Wow! I wish I could capture an audience, with a single mute note!

2nd, that is a great song from The Magic Christian!
& now I know why I cannot find it under The Beatles...
(it was Badfinger???)

3rd, Ok, the blahs were a bit much...
but towards the end, I could still detect his emotion at winning!

4th, (I saved it for later,, Spam ages really well...)


5) A green pepper? ALready?
I think it is meant to turn red...

6) Ok you lost me...

7) HeHeHe, took a moment, but then the V8 can hit,
well played sir...

Bill G said...

Mini quiz:

I know many of these. How many can you add?

Horses - Equine
Cats - Feline
Dogs - Canine
Cows - Bovine
Sheep - Ovine

I know the next two. Do you?

Foxes - ?
Rabbits - ?

I don't know the next one.

Goats - ??

Others??

SwampCat said...

MmeD, we are soul mates, Cher! Yes the roux is everything. And a good gumbo takes all day to make. I like chicken and sausage... but the okra thightens it up and makes more of it. Gumbo has always been a pi’ folks dish. You need to stretch it as much as you can. I’m sure my gumbo is the best. But everyone who makes a gumbo thinks the same.

One wonderful story.. and it’s true! Jon Besh who was a famous celebrity chef, after Katrina washed away our city, gave away free meals including his famous gumbo to first responders. As one of them walked away he said, my mamas gumbo is better.

John Besh said in that moment he knew New Orleans world be okay. You are supposed to think ya mamas gumbo is better!

SwampCat said...

And YR, MANSE is not an old term . My church has always had a MANSE for our pastor, and we still do. I suspect that’s true of many churches.

Spitzboov said...

IM - Yes I've seen Arthur Fiedler at the RPI Field House. I've also seem him at Newport Naval Base in 1960 and in the 'Shell?' at the Esplanade in Boston. Thanks for sharing.

Bill G. FLN - - The Liberty bird is an Emu. I find their ads hokey, but still better than most of what is on television.
A goat is a caprine.

A bear would ba an ursine.

Husker Gary said...

Snake story tomorrow!

Wilbur Charles said...

HG, not to use up bytes on Tuesday I'll recount my experience with Amtrak in Tampa. I was heading east towards Tampa and thought I'd cut over (N) to another east-west(MLK) road using a well traveled N-S road.

I missed the No Thru way sign and approached a RR xing and slowed. The big road was going nowhere. I actually was stopped in the tracks and looked to my right. And…

Looked right into the lights of the Amtrak. "Fiat don't fail me now, I thought" gassed it, and to the ROAR of locomotive horn the train passed.

It wasn't that close. Maybe a whole five seconds. 1. No bells or whistles at the Xing. 2. No horn from the train as expected at an urban Xing . Later, putting 2+2 I recalled that neighbors around Tampa had been complaining about those train horns/whistles.

Yes, I did think of abandoning ship eg jumping out of the car. I could not have afforded a stall and then a jump.

EPILOG. This part of Florida makes a lot of assumptions that the North doesn't. I also had another thought: Covid-19 quarantiners are saying "If one life can be saved…". Well, blowing that horn just like the engineer blew it for all he was worth might just save a life too. Neighbors be damned

Ok, now I'm ready for that python.

WC

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Bill G I'm going to guess..from Italian fox is "volpe" so maybe volpine?
Rabbit (hare) is "lepre"...leprine?
Wolf "lupo"...lupine?
Pig would be porcine

Or am I deriving from a donkey and just being asinine??

Roy said...

When I first started learning programming, I used ASCII, BCD, and EBCDIC. Now it's the ubiquitous UNICODE.

I haven't read anything by Auel; I learned the name from CWs.

Roy said...

lupine
leporine

TTP said...

Water is supposed be something that comes out of the faucet, not the walls in your basement.

So much for my "not a big deal comment" yesterday afternoon at 4:07. That was about 12 hours after I got up, and 10 hours before I finally got to bed around 2:30 AM. 22 hours makes for a long day.

Then 4 hours of sleep and back at.

Two bags of hydraulic cement later...

Never had a problem before, but the ground was so saturated from the over 8" of rain in the last few days. My downspout extension on the front of the house had separated, so all the water collected by the gutters on the front roof was deposited in my flower beds rather than out into the yard.

Finally got the big leak to stop around 5 PM today. And then cleanup, and finally a shower. What a mess.

As for the puzzle and Boomer's review, I will have to solve and read tomorrow or Wednesday.

Good night all. Hope your Sunday and Monday was better than ours.

Roy said...

vulpine

PK said...

YR, I give up. What exactly is "strubley hair". I'm imagining Medusa-like, with a little giggle.

Anonymous T said...

Swamp: Why can I hear 9th Ward [NOLA accents 3:06] in Mamma's Gumbo's better quote? :-)

Now there's a Serpine (? BillG, Ray-O ?) cliff hanger HG. Poisonous Serpent?
//I've got a Snake Story involving MIL & DW's commentary... Stay 'toon'd!

WC - Pop's hero story is of someone that didn't quite avoid the train. He was there, rushed to help after the fact, but...
Good to read your "Fix It Again Tony" made it out.

CED - there's few perks to living in Houston but early garden results are one. Don't worry, come June/early July it will be too hot for flowers to set.
Here's another Badfinger you'd swear was The Beatles.

OK, wait .... 8" of rain TTP? You sure you haven't left Houston?
//Talked to Mom today (she's (way!) down-state in Nokomis) and she confirms rain-rain-rain, and more rain.

Best news I've heard in 8 weeks [let's hope Moderna's results hold]

Obligatory SPAM.

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Snake story...

FIL was very ill slowly being eaten by pancreatic cancer about a week before hospice.
He was setup in the guest room of his & MIL's apartment. This is in Bryan, TX (just N. of College Station - home of A&M)...

MIL went to check on him and saw a snake (likely a garter) in his room:
"So I went to the shed [read: patio store room] and got the hoe.
"And I ran back in and started whacking the snake with it
"Trying to cut off it's head
"I kept whacking and whacking, but the hoe was too dull...

DW, w/o skipping a beat,:
"Yeah, Mom, nobody likes a Dull Ho"

MIL didn't get it at 1st but the rest of us were biting our lip.

Sometimes, Gallow's humor is the best LOL.

Cheers, -T

Vermontah said...

Jeezum Crow! Sat down with the puzzle, thinking this would be a Monday breeze, even thought of timing myself to see if I could break that magic 4.00 solve. But it was not to be! Needed a ScotchPad to scratch my head over a couple of things.

Got off to a bad start when I wrote BORE instead of BLAH. Which made SCRATCHPAPER a ROOKie fail. Also failed Spanish 101 when I forgot that "carne" is a feminine noun, so ASADO didn't work at all. Got a little further but knew that EOPS_NTI was nowhere near right for eroding profits. Yikes. By this time the 4' was a lost dream.

PKGS instead of CTNS didn't help my sorry situation.

Still scratching my head over INS. Someone explain how that's an elected official? Does that make the rest of us who aren't elected to anything OUTS?

It's now 1:20 a.m. so probably no one will read this but I'm here all by my lonesome until 7am so I'll just keep tapping away. BLAHBLAH.

I do like how we're still talking about SPAM! For your entertainment, enjoy the actual song! https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2hwqlw

"Could I have egg, bacon, sausage and spam, without the spam?"

"Ewwwwww"

IRE, according to my interwebs, is really a noun. So IRES is a stretch, really. Show of hands, how many of you have ever said something like "Boy, this shutdown really ires me!"

Also, OKRAS isn't really a word. OKRA is a plant, the pods of which are added to things like gumbo. The plural of OKRA is OKRA. Just as the plural of fish is fish, but the plural of EEL IS EELS. English is so confusing.

I'll be back first thing in the morning when the papers are delivered!

Anonymous T said...

Vermontah - you can do much worse w/ a Python reference.
//how is it all the cool-kids know everything there is inre: BBC humour?

I suppose the INS are the good folk who can get you 'IN' with the sausage making. I got it at first ink, but still, a head-scratcher. //YR 'splain yourself! :-)

Or maybe INS are the cool kids who can link a META bore, er, BLAH from '80s BBC. :-)

Good luck overnight.

Cheers, -T

Michael said...

Vermontah @ 12:36 am:

<< Still scratching my head over INS. Someone explain how that's an elected official? Does that make the rest of us who aren't elected to anything OUTS? >>

That's simple ... they are IN your wallet, and you are OUT of cash!