google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, May 6 Kevin Christian & Mangesh Mumbaikar Ghogre

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May 6, 2020

Wednesday, May 6 Kevin Christian & Mangesh Mumbaikar Ghogre

Theme: All Your Secret Are Belong To Us.  Various Codes get broken.

I have to present the theme answers in pairs to make sense of this.  Let's look at the unifier first.

64 A. Intelligence agency employee, and what a black square acts as in rows 3, 5, 8 and 11: CODE BREAKER.  A person who solves an encryption code and thus is able to translate and understand messages sent using that code.  In the puzzle the names of various types of codes are split, or "broken" by a black square in the grid.

On to the theme fill --

17 A. World's oldest golf tournament: BRITISH OPEN. Founded in 1860, this tournament now rotates among a select group of courses in the U.K.

19 A. __-purpose flour: ALL.  There are specific flours for bread, pastry, cakes, and several even more specialized types, like gluten free.  ALL purpose flour is a compromise blend made from hard and soft wheat that is good for most purposes.

Spanning the black square we have PENAL.  A PENAL code is the collection of laws dealing with crimes and their punishments.

23 A. Course standard: PAR. In golf, the expected number of strokes for a first-class golfer to complete a hole or course.

24 A. Like a big grin: EAR TO EAR. Descriptor for a broad grin on a happy face.

Together they give us AREA.  An AREA code is a three digit number that identifies your telephone service region.

39 A. "Name another person": WHO ELSE Self explanatory

41 A. Some Greek islanders: CRETANS.  Inhabitants of CRETE,  the largest and most populous of the Greek Islands.  It is the 5th largest island n the Mediterranean and 88th largest in the world.  Who measures these things?

A SECRET code is a method of encrypting messages to maintain security and confidentiality.  This is the sense I was thinking of in the theme title.

52 A. Starbucks amenity: FREE WIFI.  A no-fee function granting internet access.

55 A. Short agent?: REP.  Abbrv for REPresentative: one who acts on your behalf.  Short in the clue suggests an abbreviation in the fill.

A FIRE code is a set of building and property regulations designed to establish a mandatory standard for a building's ability to resist the start and spread of a fire, as well as facilitating the prompt and safe evacuation of the occupants.

Hi gang.  JazzBumpa here.  Looks like this is the first L.A.T. puzzle by the team of Kevin Christian & Mangesh Mumbaikar Ghogre.  Congrats, Guys!  Clever and original theme approach and an all-round top-notch puzzle.  Now let's break in and see if we can decode it

Across:

1. Out of whack: AMISS.  Something isn't right.  How come things running smoothly are never in whack?

6. Sounding shocked: AGASP.  One of those dreaded A-words you are unlikely to find outside of an X-word.

11. Kissing on a crowded sidewalk, for short: PDAPublic Display of Affection.  Regardless of your attitude towards these things, please avoid crowded sidewalks.

14. Dyed fabric: BATIK.  An Indonesian technique of wax-resistance dying applied to whole cloth.

15. __ Mesa, Calif.: COSTA. A city in orange Co.

16. Acted as guide: LED.  Only if you followed.

20. In itself: AS SUCH.   Per se.

21. Short-term sculpture material: ICE.  Alas, they melt.

22. Country's Lovett: LYLE. [b 1957] He is an American singer, song writer, actor and producer with 13 albums who has won four grammies.  In the early 90s he was briefly married to Julia Roberts.  In 2017 he married April Kimble after a 14 year engagement.

26. McKellen of "Vicious": IAN.  What - no love for Gandolf?!?  He [b 1939] is a versatile British actor.

29. Stout servers: PUBS.  Where portly proprietors might also serve you porters.

31. Peddled: SOLD.

32. Febreze target: ODOR.

34. App's early version: BETA.  A version made available to a limited group of users for testing.

36. Talus neighbor: TIBIA.  The innermost and longer of the two bones between the knee and ankle [talus.]

43. Augment: ADD TO.

44. Vivacity: BRIO.

46. Letter before bravo: ALFA.  First letter of the NATO phonetic alphabet, used to spell parts of a message where confusion might occur.

47. Untruths: LIES.  Mendacity

49. "Marriage Story" Oscar nominee Driver: ADAM. [b 1983] He has received a Volpi Cup [Venice Film festival] and has been nominated for 3 Academy awards, 2 Emmys and a Tony.

51. Prune: LOP.  As, frex. a tree branch.

57. Bonny gal: LASS.  A lovely lady from Lanarkshire.

58. Spa bath choice: MUD.

59. Digital brokerage pioneer: E-TRADE.  Founded in 1991

63. Angsty music genre: EMO. A variety of pop music similar to punk, but with more complexity and emotion.

66. Monkey in "Aladdin": ABU.  Star of the show?



67. Seething: ANGRY.  The original meaning of seethe is to boil.  This is one of those "hot" words used to indicate anger.

68. Having too much: OD-ING.  Figuratively Over-Dosing.   

69. Soak (up), as sauce: SOP.  As defined - from Old English.

70. See 12-Down: REESE.   Delloreese Patricia Early [1931-2017] known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades.



71. Wound up costing: RAN TO.  Added up to a total cost.

Down:

1. "Fernando" band: ABBA.



2. Singer Bruno who won six 2017 Grammy Awards: MARS.  Don't believe me?  Just watch.



3. Words before and after "what": IT IS.  A tautology that developed into an idiomatic phrase indicating the immutable nature of an object or circumstance.

4. Suddenly pay attention: SIT UP.  Mental attention reflected in physical posture.

5. Slopes headgear: SKI CAP.  Googling gets me knit beanies.  Who knew.


6. Berlin cry: ACH.  An expression of surprise, impatience, disgust, etc.

7. Most like s'mores: GOOIEST.  It's from the toasted marshmallows.

8. Shelter org.: ASPCA.  The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, established in 1866.

9. Heads (toward): STEERS. Directs one's direction to.

10. Rave's opposite: PAN.  Extremes of the rating spectrum for stage performance. PAN is harshly critical.

11. Cooperated: PLAYED BALL.  Worked willingly with others.

12. With 70-Across, "Touched by an Angel" star: DELLA.  Vide Supra.



13. Stella __ Studio of Acting: ADLER. [1901- 1992] She was an American actress and acting teacher.[2] She founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City in 1949.

18. Bushes: SHRUBS. Woody plants smaller than trees, with several main stems arising at or near the ground.

22. Title girl whose given name is Dolores: LOLITA.  Sue Lyon played her in the movie, but could not attend the premier because she was too young


25. Subscriber's bonus: TOTE.  Bag for carrying parcels, and frequent promotional gift.

26. Hawkeye State: IOWA.  This popular nickname for the state of Iowa is said to have come from the scout, Hawkeye, in James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans published in 1826. According to the Iowa State web site, "Two Iowa promoters from Burlington are believed to have popularized the name." The nickname was given approval by "territorial officials" in 1838, twelve years after the book was published and eight years before Iowa became a state. [Reference]

27. Ritalin target, briefly: ADHD. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.   A person with ADHD has differences in brain development and brain activity that affect attention, the ability to sit still, and self-control.

28. Ramen restaurant offering: NOODLE SOUP.  Ramen are quick cooking egg noodles.

30. U.K. network, with "the": BEEB. The British Broadcasting Corporation.

33. Laces again: RETIES. As shoes.

35. Part of DNA: ACID.  The rest is deoxyribonucleic.

37. Recon details: INFO.  Information.

38. PDQ: ASAP.  Stat. Hurry. Rush.  Be hasty.

40. Big name in movie theaters: LOEW.  Marcus LOEW [1870 - 1927] was an American business magnate and pioneer in the motion picture industry.  He formed the MGM movie studio.

42. Lion, at times: ROARER.  Relevant



45. Las Vegas NFL team: RAIDERS.  The keep moving.

48. Four-time Olympic gold medal winner Biles: SIMONE. [b 1977] She has a combined total 0f 30 Olympic and World Championship medals, and is considered by many to be the greatest gymnast ever.

Believe it or not I can't do this.



50. Celestial body: METEOR.A small body of matter from outer space that enters the earths atmosphere where heats to incandescence from friction, and appears as a streak of light.

52. Causes of scratching: FLEAS. Small wingless jumping insects that feed on the blood of mammals and birds.  They sometimes transmit disease.

53. Recurring Stallone role: RAMBO.  Is there always blood?



54. Sundae topping: FUDGE.


56. Popular red-carpet fashion: PRADA.  An Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1913.

60. Like, with "to": AKIN. Similar

61. 64-Down blemish: DENT.  Ouch!

62. Cogito __ sum: ERGO.  "I think, therefor I am." Rene Descartes.

64. Garage occupant: CAR.  Without blemish, I hope.

65. "Sayonara": BYE.  Adios!

Perfect note to end on.  Speaking of notes we were also able to get quite a bit of music today.

Happy Wednesday, all.  Stay home.  Stay safe.  Don't break any codes.

Cool regards!
JzB



52 comments:

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I loves me a themeless Wednesday. D'oh. No, I didn't read the complete reveal. No, I didn't get the theme. Yes, I FIR, but not without missteps: SKI HAT, PLAY NICE, NOODLE BOWL. Heads/STEERS weren't cattle? Thanx, Kevin, Mangesh and JzB.

IOWA: Gimme for this one-time Hawkeye. Our radio station was KHAK -- Kay-Hawk.

REP: Became a REP for a heavy equipment manufacturer after leaving IOWA.

FUDGE: Tried to cook hot fudge from scratch. Only once. It turned to concrete and I had to throw away the saucepan.

OwenKL said...

FIW. Had AGASt instead of AGASP (spellcheck doesn't like either one. aghast is the proper spelling of the word.) Rave I thought of as either a party or "rave and rant" in anger. The positive sense didn't occur to me. How tAN fit either definition I didn't know, but at least it was a real word, perhaps tanning someone's hide as you were raving mad at them.

When something is AMISS, it's OUT OF WHACK,
Out of order, on the fritz, off the tracks!
Meanwhile, back in London
When the museum's low on fundin'
That's the time when Madam Tussaud's out of wax!

IT IS WHAT IT IS, is to say
In itself, AS SUCH, it is per se!
That's a model meta,
An ALFA, not a BETA,
And it means exactly what it means to say!

OwenKL said...

{A-, B.}

Sorry I haven't been around the past couple weeks. My bi-polar depression was giving me a bad time. Still is, so no guarantee I'm back for more than today yet. I did post a few things on Facebook that some of you might find of interest. And if you check that out, feel free to friend me while you're there.

Lemonade714 said...

MANGESH used to post regularly here many years ago. He has 4 prior LAT publications and three NYTs. He was the subject of this INTERVIEW BY C.C..

billocohoes said...

“BRITISH” isn’t necessary, officially it’s The OPEN Championship. All other opens (US, Canadian, etc) are imitations.
Had to mute the Bruno Mars video. At our daughter’s wedding, the bridesmaids asked my wife onto the dance floor for Uptown Funk, and she pulled a groin. I guess at a certain age you have to stop dancing with 25-year-olds

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

My apologies to Mangesh for missing his earlier publications.

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday.

Cool regards!
JzB

Yellowrocks said...

Fun puzzle, but I didn't find the codes. Nice theme.
Unknowns were SIMONE, IAN, ADAM, gotten with friendly perps. I knew Della Reese starred in Touched by an Angel, but I couldn't dredge it up until the Initials, D in 12 down and R in 70 Across jogged my memory.
One of my favorite movies is The Devil Wears PRADA, a morality tale starring one of my favorite actresses, Meryl Steep.
Why are TOTES such a popular promotion? I get far more than I can use. Before the pandemic I used some of them as grocery carriers.
CRETAN, relating to or from CRETE, not to be confused with CRETIN.
I don't trust FREE WIFI.
LOWE is lion in German.
When I was a virtual assistant to a roofing, siding and window contractor, my boss's favorite saying was "It is what it is." Good advice. I tend to dwell on things that can't be changed. Don't cry over spilt milk.
The A words are often found in written language instead of spoken language. I think they are great.
"Where the dull thunder and the tossing spray warned us from sunken reefs, we heard the harsh challenges of gulls; where the pallid surf twisted in yellow coils of spume above the bar, the singing sands murmured of treachery and secrets of lost souls agasp in the throes of silent undertows."
"On the widescreen DVD edition, some of the lushly painted backgrounds left me agasp, and the animation teems with quality and craftsmanship."

TTP said...


Good morning ! Broke the CODE to this puzzle in short order. Thank you, Kevin Christian and Mangesh Mumbaikar Ghogre.

Almost messed up by having PLAYED weLL rather than PLAYED BALL. TIBIA LED me to BALL. Then started grinning EAR TO EAR. WHO ELSE almost went AMISS there ?

Then had ROCKY before RAMBO.

JzB, I actually keyed in another one of those crossword A words when I got to seething. Afire before ANGRY. That FIRE was quickly put out.

Happily though, there are no blemishes smudges on my grid. I imagine that if I were to solve on paper, I'd take time to check the crossing fill.

BTW JzB, I had to enter your explanation of 3D into Google Translate to understand what you said. :>)

Part of my Wednesday plans have been superseded. Last evening as I swiveled the spout on my laundry tub faucet out of the way to get a bucket in the basin, it snapped off just above the escutcheon. Yes, I blurted out "Oh FUDGE" or something AKIN to that as the water shot up to the basement ceiling.

It is what IT IS. So an R & R operation is in order. The only way to access the connections is by removing the drywall on the other side of the wall. That meant moving the the large German Schrank out of the way first. Those tasks were done between 5 and 6 this morning, but now it's on to getting the repair parts and a new faucet.

See all y'all later n'at !

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Fine puzzle from Kevin and Mangesh. Lots of fresh fill. Favorite clue was for REP: Short agent.
CODE BREAKER was a bit stubborn to yield; I want something like ……READER. Finally saw AKIN and the solve romped home.
FIR. JzB - Thanks for explaining PDA.
GOOIEST - four vowels all in a row. Reminds me of the (no relation) Dutch verb 'gooien': to throw.
ALFA - When giving info over the phone and spelling is needed, I use the NATO alphabet because it is the fastest (for me), and precisely clear.

Schrank = cupboard.

Anonymous said...

6 minutes 27 seconds, never saw the codes to be broken.

I find the "a" words to be alazy and aannoying.

Madame Defarge said...

Good Mroning.

I had an easy run of fill today. All of my first entries (guesses!) worked. I was just left to move around a tie up the loose ends. I couldn't parse ODING but it fit fine. I had to wait for JazzB to explain it. No, I never saw the very fine CODE BREAKER. I'm usually with D-O on themes. It was very, very clever and made me smile EAR TO EAR!

Thanks, Kevin and Mangesh. Nice tour, of course, JazzB. Thank you.

From Monday: So sorry, QAS. I think you will always have lots of fine stories to pass on.
Thanks, Abejo. I hope you are recovering and getting back on your feet!
Picard: Best of luck for your surgery.
Jayce: Chernow's Hamilton is a great read. Give it a whirl. It's a long one, but so well-written.

It's sunny here. At least for now. I will go out for a walk. A little longer each day. I am so grateful for daffodils and forsythia! Enjoy some sunshine wherever you are!

Anonymous said...

Yellowrocks, I am also a big fan of the movie of The Devil Wears PRADA. I know it's not the most original or most creative movie ever made, but I just really enjoy it. The final car ride in Paris between Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway is really well done.

Notting Hill is another movie that I just really like for some reason.

I really liked this puzzle. Nice and breezy, and I liked that the theme was kind of secret, which fit this theme well!

OwenKL, like you, I had a wrong answer that at first seemed to fit. I had SKIHAT rather than SKICAP. So that made TUBS the answer to "Stout servers," rather than PUBS. But I just thought, "Oh, isn't that interesting that they serve stout in tubs?" and moved on. But then I realized there is no such thing as ASSUHH, and I figured out it was ASSUCH and therefore SKICAP and PUBS fell into place.

inanehiker said...

Enjoyed the creativity of the theme - but I didn't BREAK the CODE until I got to the blog with JzB's fine explanation!
Timely puzzle as my son just had his "virtual" graduation from Georgia Tech this week getting his master's in Computer Science. When we visited him at USAFA parents' weekend one year, the professor had a German Enigma machine from WWII for us to play around with in his coding class. I think I will send a link to him of this - although he isn't a crossword solver!
I always enjoy all the music in your blogs JzB - my favorite today was all the old movie choreography matched with "Uptown Funk". I can't imagine how many hours it took to get all those dance clips matched to the music - but they did a wonderful job!

Thanks JzB and Kevin & Mangesh duo!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

This just ain't my week. Like Owen KL though not as eloquent I FIW wrong with agast/A GASP which stuck me with .tan/PAN. Same error as yesterday not perceiving the clue needed a twoword answer (tie a & I lied). Thought my spelling of agast was a variant and subsequently the wrong perp tan was some esoteric answer to rave...

Remember when I first started tackling the Utica Observer Dispatch crossword (when Dad would fall asleep before he got to it) the clue would indicate if the answer had more than one word. There must have been some International Cruciverbal Conventionthat outlawed that practice at some point..

But those are really just excuses for stoopidity (var.) Just A SAP.

Must be hard tromping around Hell if the Devil wears PRADA. He'd look kind of silly too.

Thought ALFA was spelled with a ph SIMONE perpwalked. WAGed LOLITA but was still surprised her name was Dolores (like the robotic host protagonist West World.) Why won't Rocky fit?...oh yeah he played that other guy too.

When I was a tyke my Dad would take me to the afternoon Sunday MGM cartoons. I'd wait in the lobby till he gave me the all clear "you can come in. The Lion is done Roaring" I was terrified of loud huge Leo. Thanks a lot for scaring me all over again!

Just one apropos clue variant:

Lass (2 words) .....A MISS

Off to Thursday with fingers crossed.

OMaxiN said...

Finished this one right after erring Mon. & Tue.
Great to see Owen back in limerick stride.
JzB:. Simone Biles b. March 14, 1997
MO

Yellowrocks said...

OKL. good to hear from you. You were missed. I especially liked your first poem. I hope your revival today is a harbinger of many more good days to come.
TTP, what a big problem and so much work. I would have to call a plumber, if I could get one.
To my taste, using A-words is creative, poetic, scintillating, and the strict avoidance of them is prosaic and dull.There are many, many examples of their use in current newspapers and novels.
This time of year is lovely here. I must follow your example, Madame D, and get out there and walk. It is not crowded in our development and it's easy to keep your distance.
My new avatar is very bright and clear in my picture file. Too bad it looks so dark here.
Ray, LOL. The devil in the Devil Wears Prada was a she-devil in high heels and expensive fashions.

Husker Gary said...

Musing
-Sussing out the gimmick AFTER the reveal was great fun!
-Did anyone else think of Alan Turing and Bletchley Park?
-A colleague’s wife was from Crete, NE. He called her an “Excretion”
-ASKEW was AMISS, literally
-Janis IAN wrote and sang this powerful EMO song in 1975 long before the word was coined
-We thought our new sink/faucet would be $1,300 but it RAN TO $1,800
-Fernando - Swedish lyrics made for an EMO song about a lost love. English lyrics were about a soldier in the Texas/Mexico war
-“IT IS WHAT IT IS” is AKIN to “Que sera sera” and “Play it where it lies”
-Don’t like the question? STEER your answer to the question you want to answer.
-A student who forgets to take his Ritalin is an entirely different child
-My new favorite (pretentious?) ERGO phrase

Kevin Christian said...

Hi, this is Kevin, one of today's co-constructors.

Mangesh came up with this theme idea. When he mentioned it to me I immediately liked it, so I was more than happy to collaborate on it with him.

Our original version had one more theme answer pair. We had MORSE split as FORCED HUMOR on one side and SET on the other side. That grid was too packed with theme material and therefore it had too much lousy fill. It also had a lot of three letter answers. I don't remember how many three letter answers it had, but it was too many. The editor Rich asked us to revise, so we removed one theme answer pair in order to get cleaner fill and reduce the number of three letter answers.

Thank you everyone for solving. - KevinC

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I really liked this puzzle and thought searching for the codes upon completion was the frosting on the cake. Roarer and ODing grated a little, but those are tiny nits. I liked the duo of Lop and Sop and the big CSO to Tony at Alfa! No w/os and no unknowns.

Thanks, Kevin and Mangesh, for a mid-week challenge and thanks, JazB, for the informative summary and the memory lane links of music and dance. Someone recently sent me a video of Bob Hope and James Cagney dancing on a very long table, surrounded by older men. I don’t know if it was from a movie or just a skit, but their dancing routine was impressive, to say the least. I knew Cagney could dance, but not Bob Hope, at least that well.

Owen, may brighter days lie ahead.

Madame Defarge, nice to hear you’re recuperating and getting back to your old self.

FLN

Thanks to Barb L for dropping by.

Stay safe, all.

oc4beach said...


Filled it all in correctly, but never saw the theme. Even took a few minutes to digest JzB's theme explanation before the V-8 can slapped me in the head.

I didn't know BRIO or ABU, but perps filled them in nicely. I wanted SCHWAB but ETRADE was the answer. I guess the SCHWAB commercials were stuck in the gray matter folds today.

TTP @8:29am: I feel your pain. When replacing the Fluidmaster fill valve in the first floor powder room, I just turned the water off with the shut-off valve under the toilet. All went well right up until I tried to connect the hose between the shut-off and the fill valve. In twisting the nut on the hose, the shut-off valve sheared where it connected to the pipe inside the wall. Water everywhere. It's amazing how fast I was able to sprint downstairs to the main house shut-off valve to stop the gusher. Had to call our local plumber to replace the valve and repair the water pipe where it broke. They were there in less than 30 minutes and took about an hour to fix the problem. Even though I "can" replace fill valves, I no longer do it myself. It's worth the $100 or so to get the plumber to do it for me. Keeps DW happy also.

Abejo: There was snow in St. Marys and Johnsonburg this morning.

Stay safe everyone.

Husker Gary said...

Addendum
-I remembered that Mary Lou Guizzo lives in Dayton, OH and so I wrote to tell her that Barbara Lind, who wrote today’s (now yesterday’s) puzzle, also had Dayton roots. This was Mary Lou’s reply:
- Thanks for the info Gary. I’m actually friends with Barb on FB. However, I’ve not been doing the LAT on a regular basis lately. Might have to give it a try today. What’s the best way to get the LAT .puz for Across Lite?
-I remember exchanging FB messages with Barb about a few puzzles and she mentioned she was from here. She told me about her love for Graeter’s Ice Cream (one in Oakwood, regional chain based in Cincinnati).

SansBeach said...

Hi All, Thanks JzB and Kevin & Mangesh. Didn't understand the reveal clue as it talked about rows and all I could see were the numbers (columns) FIW. Natick at 6A & 6D. My German failed me Ich? I gasp sounded possible. My wife knew Prada (the perps were about to give it up) Looks like winter is going to give the northerners another visit, but here in Fl the "cool" spring has been good. Enjoy.

jfromvt said...

Nice puzzle. The row numbers in the reveal clue was a bit different, but I figured it out. One nit - I have never heard of a SKICAP, looks like a made up word to me. A cap has a visor, have never seen one on the slopes.

Shankers said...

No problem today. Almost seemed like a Monday. Had elan before brio, otherwise no hiccups. The a-words are more of a minor nuisance than anything. I used to like Meryl Streep until she started making political speeches at the Oscar's. Who watches award shows to hear actor or actresses platforms? That's what the mute button is for. Personally, I mute ALL lawyer commercials when watching t.v. They upset my tummy.

Wilbur Charles said...

Careless again. I had ("What"(IS IT). Corrected IT to IS(SUCH) but then didn't correct the first word.

The only "code" I found was secret but I didn't grok that the broken words were prefixes for CODE.

Yes, solving on paper is a kind of Art. Past blotches and smudges remind one to check a perp or two before inking.

Bill Parcells didn't like "potential" or "played great" . "You are what you are" eg What your won lost record is, is what you is

J a Vermonter must know his SKI Apparel. For me if someone is skiing and has something on his head it's a SKICAP. Or her.

WC

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Kevin Christian & Mangesh Mumbaikar Ghogre, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for fine review.

oc4beach: Saw your note about the snow in J-Burg. My wife already heard about it from facebook. My brother-in-law built a snowman this morning. You never know.

I read the interview C.C. had with Mangesh Mumbaikar Ghogre. Very interesting. I noticed that he mentioned LAKE ERIE in his commentary. Good for him. I wonder if his middle name indicates that he was born in Mumbai? Could be.

This puzzle amazed me. There was a lot of fill that I did not know, but that I wagged and threw in a letter that I thought looked good. When I finished I got the tada from cruciverb. I was blown away.

I got all the theme answers, but could not figure out the theme. Got it when I came here. Then it was simple.

Some tough words: MARS, ADLER, BATIK, CRETANS, BRIO, SIMONE, PRADA, ADHD. Anyhow I was elated that I finished this so easily.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Misty said...

Delightful Wednesday puzzle, Kevin and Mangesh--many thanks. I had a little trouble in the southeast, but then I got CODE BREAKER and went back to check--and there they were! Neat puzzle theme and execution. Have heard of STELLA ADLER but didn't know she was an acting coach--thanks for the explanation, Jazz. Always love seeing ABBA in a puzzle. And also got MARS even though I've never heard a Bruno MARS SONG. The neat things you learn in puzzles. Thanks again, guys, and nice of you to stop by, Kevin. And great write-up, Jazz.

Owen, so glad you're feeling a bit better, and what a treat to get your verses.

Have a good day, everybody.

NaomiZ said...

oc4beach at 10:09 AM described my experience exactly, but said it better than I might have: "Filled it all in correctly, but never saw the theme. Even took a few minutes to digest JzB's theme explanation before the V-8 can slapped me in the head." Thanks, everyone.

Anonymous said...

Surprise! Ski cap on Wiki refers to a WWII German field cap. Probably not the constructor' s intent.

Lucina said...

Hola!

Well, even after reading the explanation I still don't get the CODEBREAKER. ????
Guess I'm still a bit sleepy; I had trouble last night unable to sleep until after 1:00 A.M. and must still be groggy. However, I did finish the puzzle, thank you KC and MMG! Well done!

I love the movie, The Devil wears PRADA! It is Meryl Streep at the top of her game, acting the shrewish CEO. I might watch it again today.

I also love IAN McKellen. He is such a versatile actor.

There is a small Vietnamese restaurant in my neighborhood that has the most delicious, tasty NOODLE SOUP!

A big CSO to AnonT at ALFA!

It's such fun reading all your comments! And thank you, JazzB, yours are fun, too.

I have nothing more to ADD TO all your comments except to wish you all a good day! It's already very hot here, in the 100s.

Inanehiker said...

HG - lots of memories listening to the link of Janis Ian's "At Seventeen" - I was 16 going on 17 when it came out - most of us could relate to it - just as it is today - even the girls who like they have it all going for them on the outside are dealing with insecurities.

desper-otto said...

Lucina, those codes are "broken" -- split by the black square.

mangesh ghogre said...

Hi everyone ...glad to see this puzzle come out. Its my birthday and its so cool to have a LAT puzzle published ..thanks to Kevin for the patience on this puzzle. Thanks to Rich for having Mumbaikar in my byline..tribute to my city ..

CanadianEh! said...

Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Kevin and Mangesh (thanks to you both for dropping by, and Happy Birthday Mangesh), and JzB.
I FIRed but only got 3 of the 4 themers. In Row 5, I saw REAR code and thought it was AMISS. ACH, it was AREA!

Hand up for wrinkling my nose at ODING (and no indication of a short-form in the clue!).
But I did smile to see ALFA and BETA; I also noted LOP and SOP.

Moving up from the Talus, I soon realized that Fibula was too long, and TIBIA was needed.
My original thought for that golf tournament was Scotland, but BRITISH OPEN filled the spot. So I LIUed; it took place in Scotland.

I debated between SKI CAP and Hat. This Canadian might call it a toque!
And you all know that in Canada, the Febreze target is Odour.
BYE.

Is there a story behind the avatar, YR?
Wishing you all a great day.

AnonymousPVX said...


Ok, first, from yesterday...

McKinley was not impeached...he was assassinated.

Quite the difference, especially to McKinley. Succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.

Also...LEDE...
1950s: alteration of lead, first used in instructions to printers, in order to distinguish the word from text to be printed.

Ok, now for this Wednesday grid.

No issues, although I didn’t look for the theme.

And no write-overs today.

On to Thursday. Stay safe.

Yellowrocks said...

Canadian Eh! I was tired of the butterfly I used for years. This was a particularly good picture of David and me taken down the shore two years ago. I will have to take it down because it does not work here. I wonder why.

Hungry Mother said...

FiW because I thought PDA and wrote PSA. Then I didn’t know sELLA REESE, but didn’t check the first letter of the name. Very sloppy. I would blame it on the Auto Train, but we haven’t left the station yet.

Ol' Man Keith said...

W O W
Just "WOW"! Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for posting that amazing video of "Old Movie Stars Dancing to Uptown Funk." It is wonderful how modern editing can bring all these terrific dance stars into a synchronized display of their virtuosity.
I believe that's Bob Fosse doing the back flip in the clip from Kiss Me Kate.
And who is the babe in Broadway Melody, 1936 imitating Groucho Marx's fancy leg flip?

Loved your limericks, Owen!
I think they are emerging as my favorite form for rhyming.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
Nothing to report, except that in losing all diagonals today, we can at least report that both sides came a cropper in the same square, smack dab in the middle of the grid, at (namely) square 113.

Wilbur Charles said...

PVX, lol. I think there's a fourth impeachment that took place, against one of the forgotten Presidents post Jackson and pre Lincoln. I'll LIU. Ok, it looks like it was vs Tyler but never got out of the House.

I believe it apocryphal that McKinley's last words were "I'd have preferred impeachment"

WC

Big Easy said...

Good Afternoon. After a rip-roaring Cinco de Mayo (in our kitchen) consisting on one Tecate Cerveza, chips, and a bowl of Pace's Pecante sauce there were certainly no after effects today. The puzzle- a rare one with no real unknowns. I don't know who IAN or ADAM are but they show up enough in the puzzles to recognize. And ADLER was a toss between E or A but the PDA took care of it. Did I BREAK the CODE today? No way. But it took less than 10 minutes to finish.

billocohoes- oh, the BRITISH insist on calling it THE OPEN and tv announcers are forbidden to call it BRITISH OPEN. I loved it win Nick Faldo broke that taboo and said "we always called it the British Open. Similar rules apply to Wimbledon- they can only call it THE CHAMPIONSHIPS.

I like to wear a SKI CAP to take a nap in a recliner. Just pull it over my eyes.

Adios Amigos.

CrossEyedDave said...

mangesh ghogre,
you deserve a cake!

I FIW'd, but alas, never saw the codes...

Here is a code breaker you might remember,
but why is code breaking done under intense circumstances?

CanadianEh! said...

Thanks YR. it looks like a special photo but the avatar photos are small and it is hard to see details. Too bad.

Lemonade714 said...

YR, I was able to blow up your avatar and there was much detail.

Kevin C. and Mangesh - thank you both for stopping by.

Zip said...



Would someone please decode Jazzbumpa's theme: All Your Secret Are Belong To Us ??

Thank you !

Jazzbumpa said...

Zip -

It's a play on an internet meme taken from a video game from ca 2002.

All your base are belong to us

Cheers!
JzB

Picard said...

Not sure if anyone will see my post this late in the day. I very much enjoyed the theme. I had to finish the entire puzzle before I was able to go back and play CODE BREAKER to see the hidden theme answers. Way cool.

Kevin and Mangesh thank you for stopping by and telling some of the backstory.

I don't think of a METEOR as a Celestial Body as it is so close to Earth. I wonder if that was the original clue?

Here are a few photos and a very short video I made of an ICE SCULPTURE being made.

MadameDeFarge thank you for the good wishes! It seems we have not seen you for awhile?

Picard said...

From yesterday:
AnonT thanks for the history of Cyber Monday. But I remember those AOL floppy discs being sent out by the millions in the mail. That was definitely in the days of Modems where people thought about BAUD rates.

PK not sure if you will see this. Your epigastric hernia is certainly more colorful than mine! No weird noises for me!

As for how it was discovered? I woke up one morning and realized there was a lump in the middle of my chest below my sternum. I asked my wife to verify that it was not there before. I find lumps a bit scary. Good to know it is not much of a danger as long as it is fixed reasonably soon.

Picard said...

PS:
Jazzbumpa thanks for that amazing SIMONE Biles video! She is an athlete whose name I knew in an instant. She is such a perfect athlete and so beautiful, too.

PK I just realized I didn't really answer your question. My doctor felt my lump and sent me immediately for an ultrasound image. An hour later I was at the surgeon's office and that image was good enough for him to know exactly what was needed.

PK said...

Picard: thanks for the information. I don't know if what I have is an epigastric hernia. I think the noises are somewhat alarming and am trying to figure out what they are, since the doctors aren't around when they happen and don't know the source.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

That code was pretty easy to crack, eh? Thanks Kevin and Mangesh for the cypher. Thanks Kevin for the inside baseball - resulting puzzle was smooth w/ sparkle [see: below]. Happy Birthday Mangesh!

Enjoyed it JzB - fun sub-threads running through the expo. I especially liked All Your Base Ref. Oh, I got it w/o expo :-)
//if you want to hear how it sounded, listen [you just need the first few seconds]

WO: RETIEd
ESPs: COSTA, IAN, BRIO
Fav: Alfa [thanks for the SOs IM & Lucina]
Sparkle: EAR TO EAR, FREE WIFI, eTRADE, PLAY BALL, NOODLE SOUP, ... WHO ELSE?

{A, A+}

YR - Thanks for the distinction; all day I was thinking CRETIN from CRETE. HG - LOL ExCRETion.

Inane - congrats to your son. OU gave me one of those years ago, I'm curious how it's changed. He planning PhD or getting out of academia?

Oc4 - I'm w/ you. I can do it, I have the tools to do it, but I have the money to let a pro do it so, if bad things happen, kids don't hear words stronger than FUDGE. Right, TTP? :-)

D-O: We had the exact same FUDGE recipe - pan and ALL.

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Now, how much fun is this... Seinfeld's new standup with 3d (IT IS what IT IS) front and center [FF to 8:00].

And that's a day. -T

TTP said...



What are you doing up so late ? Or so early ? Usually it's only the spammers at this hour :>)

So here's the thing. My next door neighbor and beer drinking buddy is a plumber. so he would do it for free. But I like projects. It sure did catch me off guard when the spout broke off in my hand. But after almost 30 years, I guess that Sterling faucet was due to be replaced.