google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, September 18, 2020, David van Houten

Gary's Blog Map

Sep 18, 2020

Friday, September 18, 2020, David van Houten

 Title: I AM what I AM 

I begin with wishing all those who will celebrate the Jewish New Year, starting this evening at sundown, Shana Tovah-שנה טובה. I renew my prayer for Abejo for a return to health.

I am neither Popeye nor a sailor man, but I am your guide through this add a bigram at the end of a phrase puzzle. Similar to my last Friday blog, this looks like a Tuesday with some hard clues added into to make it a Friday. The word count, average word length, and newness all bespoke an earlier in the week puzzle. It had charm and some trickiness, so here we go, first recognizing some nice long fill ADMIRALS, TERRIBLE, BASSINETS,  and UNDAMAGED.

Then to the theme:

20A. Nickname for the first Web user?: INTERNET ADAM (12). This a good guess for the first human in cyberspace. 

34A. General Motors toy?: BABY GRAND-AM (11). The piano becomes a toy car long out of production.

41A. Cheese snack for the road?: DRIVERS EDAM (11). My favorite phrase, though I do not believe EDAM is the choice of truck drivers. It is a semi-hard Dutch cheese originating in the town of Edam in the province of North Holland. It is made with part-skim milk.

55A. Hangover ... and a hint to 20-, 34- and 41-Across: MORNING AFTER (12). The last time I saw Jane Fonda in person was at a promotional party for this Movie. Good times.

On to the rest.

Across:

1. Sit tight: BIDE. Your time.

5. Lucy who played Watson on "Elementary": LIU. She was an interesting character; Angeline Jolie's first husband was not.

8. 10-Down instrument: PIPES. 10D. Part-goat god: PAN.

13. Isn't with more people?: AREN'T. Very cute, assuming more people speak English correctly.

15. Miller of "Room Service": ANN.

16. Winner of four FIFA World Cups: ITALY. Who can forget the headbutt by the star from France?

17. French toast part: SANTE. Speaking of France, Health!

18. Baby goat: KID.

19. Arc lamp gas: XENON. A xenon arc lamp is a highly specialized type of gas discharge lamp, an electric light that produces light by passing electricity through ionized xenon gas.

23. California peaks, with "the": SIERRAS. Extending more than 250 miles (400 kilometres) northward from the Mojave Desert to the Cascade Range of northern California and Oregon, the Sierra Nevada varies from about 80 miles wide at Lake Tahoe to about 50 miles wide in the south.

24. Peace, in Russian: MIR. Did you know that 21 September is the International Day of Peace? Here are 35 ways to say PEACE.

25. Pen name: BIC. I like this simple misdirection

28. Family nickname: SIS. I never had one, never will. I do call my Thai s-i-ls Sister.

29. Benjamin Hoff's "The __ of Pooh": TAO. If you like your philosophy taught this WAY.

30. Japanese wrestling: SUMO. Derived from Old Japanese verb 争ふ (sumapu), modern 争う (sumau, “to contend, resist, compete

31. Middle of summer?: EMS.

37. Stylish flap: LAPEL. Flap indeed.

39. Tarzan's Cheeta, for one: APE. Chimpanzees are part of the APE family.

40. Evasive maneuver: DODGE. Or an out of production car.

44. Until now: YET.

45. Vogue rival: ELLE. A magazine for stylish people. 

46. Volume-increasing addition, usually: ESS. Absolutely no idea.

47. Small untruth: FIB. Rhymes with rib.

49. Mall __: RAT. Or the MOVIE

50. Japanese yes: HAI. How funny; I did a "say it in many languages" for yes years ago. I bet we can find it now with our enhanced search engine.

51. Pitcher's malady: SORE ARM. Local resident TOMMY JOHN had an arm surgery named after him.

57. "Death of a Salesman" family name: LOMAN. Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy.

60. Ambient music pioneer Brian: ENO.

61. SoFi Stadium NFLer: LA RAM. Oops, no, not part of the theme.

62. Winner of 15 Grammys (2009-2017): ADELE.

63. Fort Worth sch.: TCU. Texas Christian University.

64. Snail trail: SLIME.

65. Loser to Roosevelt and Truman: DEWEY.  He came close. There are advantages for incumbents. 

66. Remained idle: SAT. This write-up involves much sitting at the computer.

67. Keep: LAST. Comments?

Down:

1. Foundation: BASIS. There are many synonyms for each.

2. Afghan's neighbor: IRANI. More geography.

3. Al __: DENTE. Didn't he blog Thursdays here years ago?

4. Goes into: ENTERS.

5. Land O'__: dairy aisle brand: LAKES. My brand of choice and home of Boomer and C.C.

6. Competitive: IN IT. Still in the mix.

7. Intact: UNDAMAGED.

8. "Cars" maker: PIXAR.

9. Tabloid twosome: ITEM.

11. "Evil Woman" gp.: ELO.

12. Example, for instance: Abbr.: SYN. Very nice misdirection.

14. Adjective for Alexander's day, in a Judith Viorst kids' book: TERRIBLE THE BOOK

21. Mars rover org.: NASA. Did any of you watch AWAY with Hilary Swank?

22. Couture giant: DIOR.

25. Mac: BUDDY.

26. It might be spitting: IMAGE. Cute.

27. Dancer companion: COMET. Reindeering on your parade?

29. Varieties: TYPES.

30. __-cone: SNO.

31. Ranking member, as in a village: ELDER.

32. Actress Gibbs of "The Jeffersons": MARLA.

33. In need of mopping up: SPILT.

35. Baby beds: BASSINETS. It has been so long since I had a baby in my home, I had forgotten this word. They were wonderful when you did not want to leave your room to comfort a baby.

36. Military leaders: ADMIRALS.

38. Portentous time: EVE.

42. Bring up: REAR. Raising.

43. In __: confused: A FOG. All too often these days.

48. Come about: BEFALL. I see that as backward.

50. Dear: HONEY. So many sticky appellations.

51. Pig feature: SNOUTModern snout?

52. Naturally lit courtyards: ATRIA. Open areas.

53. Paper quantities: REAMS. 500 sheets.

54. Big Apple sports mascot: MR MET. Another appearance of the ball headed one.

55. Tom or bull: MALE. There are also many synonyms here.

56. Ancient Cuzco resident: INCA. Did they eat couscous there? So much HISTORY.

57. Bloke: LAD. Steve, I miss you already, though MalMan and Chairman Moe are doing great work.

58. Wordsworth wrote one to duty: ODE. Would you like some extensive COMMENTARY?

59. Pound sound: MEW. Do they really take cats to the pound?

I still am trying to adjust to the new rules to create a write -up but it is still fun to fight my way through the process. I hope we are still entertaining. Thanks, David. Lemonade out.




53 comments:

  1. Shana Tovah to all our Jewish friends.
    It's Friday, so add a letter or two. Fun theme, David.
    TAO was all perps TAO of Pooh was new to me.
    How long will milk last (keep) outside the fridge?
    Mr. Met was dissed last time. I like Mr. and Mrs. Met.
    Smoked EDAM is a good choice for this driver. But, we don't eat in the car.
    I didn't understand increase in volume = ESS.
    Fine job, Lemonade. Despite the hard work and learning curve with the new format, the quality of all the daily blogs has not suffered. Thanks for your diligence, all of you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. FIRight, but got the theme wrong. Saw they all ended in DAM, so thought that would be it. If they were going down, they could be like "like water past the hydroelectric plant", over the dam. I was disappointed when I saw it was just the AM part that was added after, but did not realize that what it was after was also an in-the-language phrase, since I'd already blocked out that dam D!

    Let's BIDE-a-wee, forget the strife,
    Enjoy the skirling of the PIPES.
    Amazing Grace,
    Or a tattoo pace,
    Such is the musical Staff of Life!

    ARE BABY GRANDS kept in BASSINETS?
    Are they lulled to sleep with castanets?
    If their flaxen hair
    Could cause despair,
    Is it fine to dye them to brunets?

    ReplyDelete
  3. {A, B.}
    Could a single volume increase to volumes by adding an ESS?

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is probably it, OKL. Kinda meh.
    Befall is old fashioned. These old words appear in novels all the time.
    Whatever befalls we will find a way to cope with it. My motto is YES,WE CAN.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well this Friday AM it wasn't difficult to notice the AM addition at the end of the theme fills. IMO it was too easy for a late week puzzle. The unknown A&E clues & fills were easily filled. I did know of MARLA Gibbs but not ANN Miller, TAO of Pooh, or of Judith Viorst's books.

    ESS- I filled it but like Lemonade, "Absolutely no idea" other than the perps were solid.

    Pontiac's GRAND AM was GM's idea of trying to upsell customers into thinking they were getting a cross of the best features of both Trans-AM and Grand Prix while charging a premium price. The GRAND AM was really was was a Pontiac Tempest with fancier features. Lipstick on a Pig. General Motors tried that con job on all their brands. Remember the Chevy MONZA, Cadillac CATERA, or whatever Buick produced? They tried to make small cars but didn't know how and still don't.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ah! Volumes to Volumes! D'oh! Thank you OKL

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good morning!

    I knew there was something happening with the long answers, but I didn't know what it was, did I, Mr. Jones? Totally missed the bigram -- to me that's just a large pickup truck. UNDIVIDED when it, UNDIVIDED came out, UNDAMGED when it, and then I threw it out. But finally put it back in. And why did I think it was the NIM of Pooh until TAO showed up? Even so, d-o got 'er done in short order, so life is good. Happy New Year, Lemonade and Hahtoolah and probably others here at the corner. Thanx for the diversion, David.

    SIS: Had two, and have one left. Same with Bros.

    MEW: Lotsa folks call animal shelters "the pound." And yes, they take cats as well as dogs.

    Back to the great bicycle pedal exchange this morning. One of the old ones is rust-frozen in place. I'm hoping to break it loose this morning, after soaking it in penetrating oil last night. Luckily, the stuck one is the undamaged one, so if I can't get it out, I can still ride the bike. It'll just look weird.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "when it" = "went in" -- Thanx a bunch, otto-correct.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh, and I'll take the rap for UNDAMGED.

    ReplyDelete
  10. FIR, bur struggled with DRIVERSEDAM for too long; didn’t know MARLA. I liked the theme and it was helpful. Nice to see a Kevin Smith movie in the puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Took 7:28. I expect longer for a Friday.
    "ems" and "ess" weren't enjoyable. WIth the "s", I confidently entered "syrup."

    Didn't the "morning after" newspaper declare: Dewey defeats Truman...?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good Morning.

    I did yesterday's puzzle first this morning to wake up my brain. Thanks, Mike. Nicely done, Manatee-- a very successful Maiden Voyage. xoxo and prayers to our dear pal, Abeyo.

    Thanks, for today's offering, David. I caught the theme endings, but didn't understand the theme statement at first. Duh! And there's my can of V-8!!

    Thank you Lemonade for the hard work on the new tour route. I appreciate all the effort our tour guides are putting into the new system. All around fun today!

    Have a sunny day.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good morning everyone.

    Caught the schtick with INTERNET ADAM, confirmed by the reveal at 55a. Entertaining enough, I guess. Ultimately got it all without help. Had 'amp' before ESS on the volume increase. Seemed a tad easy for a Friday. Agree with YR about BEFALL. Languages seem to use different registers, for speaking, writing, chat with friends or family, etc.

    Have a good day.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lemonade, it seems as if I may have caught a bit of a break by never having worked in the previous blog format. Happy New Year to you and to all.

    Thank you, M.D. and Y.R. for your kind comments.

    At first i did not get ESS, either. I am thinking, now, though that our collective head scratching might "speak volumeS" and the ESS turns I-don't-know-quite-what into that idiom. Probably not what David was getting at but it's my best guess.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Musings
    -Relax, play this PAN PIPE (also called pan flute) music as you blog
    -Lemon’s summative paragraph works for me
    -I told a 50ish grocery clerk that she looks like ANN Miller (I didn’t say “spitting IMAGE!). Her blank look reminded me of my age
    -BIC pens could serve as an example of ubiquity
    -DODGE ball is alive and well where I sub
    -Lee J Cobb originated the Willy LOMAN role on Broadway and later reprised it on a TV movie special. No one else need to play it.
    -How long will that EDAM keep/last in the fridge?
    -Thanks, Lemon. That movie just made my playlist!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Aha moment in the shower after reading the discussion of ESS - adding an 's' to the end of many nouns changes them from singular to plural, thus increasing the number (volume).

    I sure do enjoy reading this blog, particularly when I get stuck.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Got the "am" trick right away, but completion of some came slowly like adam and edam. I had Lui before Liu and needed susses for Tao and sante. Otherwise a successful fill in average Friday time. Watching the U.S. Open golf and the terrible downfall of Phil Mickelson yesterday shooting a 79. He just turned 50 a couple months ago and is obviously ready for the pasture with the senior geezers.

    ReplyDelete
  18. My Dutch spouse always eats cheese in the car.
    😜

    ReplyDelete
  19. Good Morning:

    This was way too easy for a Friday, IMO, aided and abetted by a plethora of three-letter words. I also thought the theme was too obvious for a Friday, but I enjoyed the solve all the same. ELO and Eno were cute, especially because of their music-related commonality. Nice CSO to our resident Space Commander, HG (NASA).

    Thanks, David, for an enjoyable solve and thanks, Lemony, for the entertaining and informative solve. My learning moment was that Jonny Miller was once married to Angelina Jolie because I was 100 percent certain that he was once married to Madonna. Where I came up with that notion, I haven’t a clue.

    Happy New Year to Hatoolah, Lemony, and Picard and all others who celebrate.

    Thanks, OKL, for solving the Volume/Ess issue.

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Correction, “for the entertaining and informative summary.”

    ReplyDelete
  21. I thought several times of ESS to make a plural of volume, but discarded it until perps confirmed it. I didn't like it, but many of you thought it was fine. On the other hand some of the nits I read here don't bother me at all. Whatever floats your boat. We have a multiplicity of views and wheelhouses. It makes for interesting conversations.

    ReplyDelete
  22. IM, thank you for using your Sherlockian skills for recognizing Johnny Lee Miller as the first Angelina Jolie's Husbands.

    LONE PAISLEY turn blue and come play in out sandbox.

    Thanks for more M. Duarte

    ReplyDelete
  23. So far, I like Lone Paisley's explanation the best.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Well, I'm never sure I actually want to do Friday or Saturday puzzles, but Lucy LIU caught my eye at once--I love watching her on "Elementary." So that got me started and pretty soon I was on a bit of a roll, getting chunks here and there without any problem. So, many thanks for a fun Friday, David. And, of course, your comments are always a help and a pleasure, Lemonade.

    Lots of clever clues to enjoy. As soon as I saw "Dancer companion" I knew it had to be a reindeer--yay, COMET. Of course I put in ARF for the "Pound sound," but it just wouldn't work. Oh, MEW--kitty cats, well, they have to wait around in pounds for adoption too, don't they? And always nice to see ADELE in puzzles. Anyway, lots of fun.

    Have a great weekend coming up, everybody.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I enjoyed David's puzzle today. Lone Paisley solved 46A correctly, in my opinion: S, when used as an addition to nouns, increases the number (or volume) by making them plural. Not too far fetched for present company to solve!

    Cats definitely go to the pound. My friend's father surrendered their cat to the pound every year and came home with a new kitten, explaining that the cat was old now and would die soon anyway. She was shocked when she grew up and discovered that her cats lived to be 20 years old. Apparently her father really liked kittens in spite of having a heart of stone.

    Shana tovah! May the coming year be filled with kindness for all, and healing for Abejo.

    ReplyDelete
  26. OKL provided the same solution for ESS at 5:31 AM.

    ReplyDelete
  27. After my personal debacle testerday, I was thrilled to FIR today with no problems, feeling quite proud of myself. Then I turned to the Blog and read that it was unusually easy for a Friday. Sigh!

    Thank you, David for an enjoyable ride, and thank you, Lemonade, for a nice tour. Several comments were made about “the new format” and its challenges. What’s that all about?

    I liked the inclusion of some words not used often, such as BEFALL, BIDE (The Dude!), UNDAMAGED, PIPES/-PAN, TAO.
    I have The TAO of Pooh and love it. Also I’ve read Judith Viorst’s book abour Alexander’s tribulations to my at-risk literacy students countless times. It’s a favorite!

    I read recently that many companies are re-naming some of their products in the interest of “sensitivity”.
    Aunt Jemina pancake mix, Uncle Ben’s rice, Mrs. Butterworth, and LAND O LAKES are among those scheduled for the chopping block.

    Happy New Year to all who celebrate today.

    Masks up!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hi Gang -

    Mostly pretty good puzzle, though the theme eluded me. The BABY-GRAND-AM theme fill really threw mw off. I wanted to find a way for the other two to have a middle word fit outside words, but they aren't built that way. To my way of thinking, this is a pretty severe flaw in the theme.

    Also, spelt out letters are the lamest sort of fill, and today we got two - both with overly cutesy clues.

    That said, the puzzle is not TERRIBLE.

    I'll let my other nits pass. I'm not really as grouchy as this sounds.

    Happy weekend and Shanah Tovah

    Cool regards!
    JzB


    ReplyDelete
  29. Hi All!

    Fun little theme there David. Glommed on at BABY GRAND AM and then filled the (decidedly non-technical) ADAM.
    //Tim Berners-Lee was right out.

    Thanks for the Expo Lem. Loved 'Mall RATs' back in the day; Jay & Silent Bob still cracks me up.

    WO: wrong REaR, started writing the clue Dear(y) at 50d so had to ink-over the de with HOney.
    ESPs: ANN, ESS(? - Oh. *groan*)
    Fav: You'd think I'd say ITALY but 31d made me think of Car Talk's "Somewhere there's a village missing their idiot."

    FLN - MManatee! Wow great debut expo to a puzzle I DNF'd //only filled the low-hanging fruit and, before I got back to it, it was bedtime; that & all the Frawnch intimidated me.

    FLN - God Speed Abejo. You know The Corner is in yours.

    {A, B+}

    IM - Too easy?!? Don't rain on my (and Windybird's) Friday parade :-)

    CED - thought you were done updating? Apple just released iOS 14.

    Welcome Lone Paisley.

    Lot's to do but I'll try to read everyone FLN later.

    Shanah Tovah!

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  30. Yellowrocks, I agree that "OKL provided the same solution for ESS at 5:31 AM" except that OKL's solution focused on making the word "volume" itself plural, whereas Lone Paisley and I say the ESS increases the *volume* of (almost any) noun.

    ReplyDelete

  31. From yesterday....I read the comments and the blog every day. I HAD to read yesterday to get an explanation of UTOPIA.

    DODGE did not go out of business...at least not yet. They still make Charger, Challenger, Grand Caravan,Durango and Journey.....Were you thinking of Plymouth?

    Anyway, a nice Friday grid.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Easy but confusing challenge for Friday. Seems the degree of difficulty has been all over the map this week for me. Only inkover: spill/SPLIT. Shoulda waited for "you dirty RAT" for the T

    FIR but some of the theme answers seem clunky...I get the AM thing but DRIVERSADAM? INTERNETADAM? these are not homonyms or real things? BABYGRANDAM is the only kinda fun answer.

    How is a Hangover a MORNING AFTER. ..that's when it happens. (Should have gone with mourning after maybe as a goof?)

    Isn't an IRANI an Afghani neighbor. An afghan neighbor is a quilt. For Italy those awards must have been scary (FIFA, in Italian means "a sudden fright")

    1954.... Mom puts new baby brother in BASSINET. Mom tells 4 year old me "Don't touch the baby's head, he has a soft spot" so when parents are watching TV. Overwhelmed with curiosity I sneak up and touch the side of head which of course is hard. (the fontanelle is only a small part of the top of the infant skull) ...Me: "Mom the baby's head isnt soft"..Mom: "What did I just tell you!!: Go to your room, no "Howdy Doody" tonight"

    KTel record company: :"As _______ TV."....XENON
    ______ on the totem pole.....LOMAN.
    A homerun with ____ loaded!....BASIS
    "You KIDs want ice cream?" " ______.!!".....DEWEY
    "Some ______ , we envision the solutions".....SIERRAS.
    My EGOT ____ always wrong! ..PIXAR
    After all the injuries he inflicted on them Curly and Larry finally decided to ____ SUMO

    SANTÉ a tous. Portez les masques!!!

    ReplyDelete
  33. I zipped through this puzzle much faster than I expected to, it being Friday. Is it because I was on Mr. Van Houten's wavelength? Probably not; it was simply because the puzzle was easier than expected, as many of you have pointed out.

    I prefer Owen's explanation of ESS, being specific to "Volume." Increasing the number of something is not the same as increasing its volume.

    I loved the clue for SANTE. Of course my first thought was of food. Second favorite clue is "Pen name."

    I had a bit of a hiccup at the crossing of two sports answers: LARAM and MRMET.

    XENON is the gas used in camera flashes. These days the cameras in phones use very bright white LEDS.

    ADELE does have a darn good voice.

    Why is the brand name LAND O LAKES going on the chopping block?

    Good luck with that bike pedal, desper-otto.

    TAOism is an extremely subtle and complex philosophy. It is fascinating to me.

    Continued hopes for your recovery, Abejo.

    ReplyDelete
  34. At last I got back to read the blog (thanks, Lemony) and found out I FIW! I'd spent the intervening time after an early AM solve feeling smug but was mistaken. My eggy bread French toast was SAuTEd and Mr. Al DEuTE seemed to work. (Edward Duarte, I'm looking at you for that idea.) Next time I do an alphabet run I'll recognize SANTE as a drinking toast in French like Salud in Spanish or Prost in German, I hope. I first put gaS for volume increasing addition before perps fixed that and I realized it was referring to forming most plurals.

    At least I got the theme with the added AM after a common phrase, although like OwenKL I saw DAM early and was misled. Thanks David for the puzzle. No complaints about the difficulty level. Stupid mistakes happen on all levels for me.

    Hope everyone is doing well today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My recipe for French toast:
      2 eggs
      Squirt of maple syrup
      Scoop of vanilla ice cream
      1/4. C milk
      Cinnamon
      Pinch of salt
      In a blender=the BEST custard

      Use Texas toast type bread

      My nephew Al says hi, y’all

      Delete
  35. I recall a Senator SS named Sam DENTE. I see he played for the Redsox in 1947. Boomer probably has his card.
    Lo and behold there was ELO playing on my Sirius. It's no longer YACHT ROCK it's back to Love.

    I had castanet before BASSINET perped in. I LIU the former. Like a maraca. As Owen pointed out. And probably right about ESS.

    BE, I had a Tempo. Poor man's Tempest?

    Re. "Sensitivity/renaming". Thumper, thumper.

    This wasn't "easy" as I recall. Except there were just enough perps to fill the unknowns. I picked up on (D)AM early.

    I'd like to see if those folk find (tomorrow) Saturday "easy".

    WC

    ReplyDelete
  36. Jacye - Land-o-LAKES brand stays; it's the Native American (don't know which tribe, or I'd call her that) girl on the box that is going. Et.al. w/ other brands' "mascots."

    ATLGranny - Thank You! I could swear there was a U in the 'toast' and kept pausing after SA --- Ah, it's Spanish that has it...

    Ray-O: Song about Baby's soft-spot [Judy Bats].
    //The song, I think, is from the perspective of a new father hearing both his DW's & newborn girls voices telling him what NOT to do.

    Still haven't read FLN.
    Back to work.

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  37. Le Shana Tova everyone, including those who celebrate ! With so many New Years all throughout the year ... there is always a time to celebrate.

    I am reminded of a Hallmark card, for a Birthday celebration .... it has a picture of an indian ascetic, (swami?), in de minimis clothing, and he is sitting cross legged, in the lotus asana Yoga position.
    The front of the card says .... TIME is only a Concept, ...a Continuum .. there is no PAST, there is no FUTURE ....
    The inside of the card says ... There is No PRESENT ....Happy Birthday !!! ;-)

    Thank you Mr. van Houten for a relatively easy puzzle, that I enjoyed very much. Thank you Lemonade, for a very humorous and interesting review. I followed the ESS clue discussion with interest, and was fascinated by the answers by both OwenKL and Lone Paisley and NaomiZ.

    OwenKL I love your limericks every day, and your poems, especially today. Thank you.

    Xenon is named after xeno, as in stranger. Like xenophobia - Fear or Hatred of strangers. This was because Xenon was considered a strange gas, er, element.
    I remember Marla Gibbs, the housekeeper in The Jeffersons. She was SASSY ! ... and fun.

    Have fun Lemonade, and blow your shofar today ... tomorrow is Sabbat and you wont be able to do it.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Xenon133 isotope used in lung scans to evaluate pulmonary ventilation often part of pulmonary emboli assessmnt

    Now replaced by CT studies. More accurate m easier to interpret.

    Started to write Argon for the clue answer.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Jayce, I am with you on ESS.
    Lucina, I hope you are reading this. I'll bet you are having a ball this week.
    Our mayor helped connect me with the County Clerk who sent me a change of signature application for elections.Thanks for caring.

    ReplyDelete
  40. EdwardD - In Texas, we just call that bread :-)

    Buddy of mine, who immigrated (w/ family) from Hong Kong when he was 6yro, asked...
    "You know what we call Chinese food in China?"
    Me: ???
    "Food."

    He cracks me up.
    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. WHYis it only toasted on one side???
      (😜🎉🤪)

      Delete
  41. Slowed down a bit at the 10A/10D Pan instrument,
    & was a little disappointed that it was pipes...
    Wasn't there a more complicated name for that contraption?

    Pan pipes/flute does not do it for me either,
    but it did lead me to the story...

    Anon-T,
    Yes, I am finished updating for now. I am done, finito, had it!
    hmm, but maybe, version 14 is the lucky one?

    LOL Vidwan, gotta get me one of those Birthday Cards!

    Jayce, your White LEDs gave me a flashback:
    I remember when there were only red LEDs, White were impossible...
    I remember when flat TVs were science fiction...
    I remember when 56K was considered the unbreakable speed of communication...

    AH, all this is enough to get you CrossEyed...

    ReplyDelete
  42. She tried her very best to last through 2020. A valiant lady.

    ReplyDelete
  43. i was very sad to hear the news. I admired her.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Late to the party and this will be short. Thanks David and Lemonade for the fun.
    I FIRed and got the theme (after I got around the DAM).

    Thanks for explaining ESS. I agree that it was a meh with EMS.
    I learned about The TAO of Pooh with a previous CW (and I remembered!)

    I smiled at DENTE crossing SANTE. (after I figured out the toast was not bread)
    And I am still a little misdirected by SYN; (are Example and for instance the SYNs?) OK.

    Perhaps Steve could weigh in on Bloke being a LAD. I think Blokes are a little older than LADs. Does it refer to Boys also??

    I had an Ember spitting at 26D (I had the M from SUMO). That whole area was an inkblot when I got IMAGE.

    Wishing you all a good evening (and Shana Tovah)

    ReplyDelete
  45. Good enough pzl. Tough but doable.
    ~ OMK
    ____________
    DR:
    Two diagonals, one to each side.
    Disappointing in the anagram department. The near diagonal has only one vowel. The far diagonal has two, but even so, the best I can come up with is a single word, a word that rather overstates its assets...
    "SPLENDORS"!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Well, ANOTHER DNF! I really thought I was on a roll today. Draw a line along the top diagonal blanks. I easily got everything south and east of that line; everything north and west of it, not so much.

    Thanks David and Lemon!

    Shanah Tovah!

    ReplyDelete
  47. Almost caught up says...

    FLN - {B+, A}; Funny Moe-KU.
    FLN - re: Minute Maid Park - Glad to help C, Eh! :-)

    OK - who recommended We Are Legion [We Are Bob]? I'm only on page 10 and, as a Defcon attendee, I can identify.
    "[...]nerds tend to overtip. [...] casinos are less happy with the level of gambling. Turns out nerds understand probability."
    LOL!

    The only difference between Bob's con and Defcon: On a number of occasions the 'nerds' have knocked-out and/or hacked the elevators & gaming machines. #GoodCleanFun

    Cheers, -T

    ReplyDelete
  48. How sad to her of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's passing. What a terrible loss. I kept hoping and praying she'd make it through another year or more. We will miss her very much.

    ReplyDelete

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

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

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

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

No politics, no religion and no personal attacks.