google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday September 7, 2020 John Guzzetta

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Sep 7, 2020

Monday September 7, 2020 John Guzzetta

Theme: RNS (69. Hosp. staffers, or an initial feature of the answers to starred clues) - Each theme entry is in the pattern of R* N*:


16. *Glowing circular phenomenon in the constellation Lyra: RING NEBULA.

19. *Harlequin publication, e.g.: ROMANCE NOVEL.

35. *Sound of tires on a highway, say: ROAD NOISE.

55. *Budget college meal: RAMEN NOODLES.

60. *Letter stereotypically created from cut-and-paste newsprint: RANSOM NOTE.

Boomer here.  
 
In these days of Covid-19, my heart goes out to the thousands of RNs in our country who are working overtime to help bring health back to the millions of victims. 

Across:
 
1. Hit the slopes: SKI.  It's a bit early, but Minnesota has many ski slopes for enthusiasts.  All they need is that white stuff, and I am sure it will be here soon. 

4. Divide according to delivery area, as mail: SORT.  In the past I used to SORT thousands of Topps baseball cards into complete sets of 792 different players.

8. Pleasant vocal cadence: LILT.

12. Charged particle: ION.  I watch "Law and Order" on ION television.  "Positively Entertaining".

13. Nairobi resident: KENYAN.

15. Sheltered from the wind: ALEE.

18. Cranberry sites: BOGS.  Add a "G" and you have Wade BOGGS of the Boston Red Sox.  His 1983 rookie card is worth quite a bit.  I am sold out, sigh.
 
21. "The Time Machine" author: H G WELLS.

24. Big sports venue: ARENA.  These are mostly basketball ARENAS.  A bigger sports venue might be a football stadium.

25. Dollar bill: ONE.  Bill Bradley of the NBA's New York Knicks was also known as "Dollar Bill".  I am not sure why, I am sure he made more than that.
 
 

26. Strong old-time cleanser: LYE SOAP.  Never used it.  I like Irish Spring.

30. TSA agents' requests: IDS.  The Minneapolis' IDS Center is a 57 story building towering over downtown Minneapolis.  I've been to the top lookout area.  Just to look, not to jump.  Interesting that the IDS was built in 1970 and people joked about the Minneapolis skyline.  Now about a dozen tall buildings have been built, but tradition is that no building can be higher than the IDS. 

31. Toothpaste holder: TUBE.  Not needed but my Fixodent comes in a TUBE.

33. Entomologists' subjects: INSECTS. Our mosquito crop has been fairly limited this year.  Thanks for small favors.

39. Manner of behavior: BEARING.  I believe older cars had BEARINGS in the wheels.  Just another thing to go wrong.

41. Tolkien brutes: ORCS.

45. Friend: PAL.  All of you out there are my Crossword PALs.

46. Golden __: General Mills crackers: GRAHAMS.  Delicious!  I think we used to use GRAHAM crackers to make SMORES,  If you had one, you always wanted SMORE.

50. It can be bruised: EGO.

51. "Laughing" critter: HYENA.

53. Find suitable: DEEM FIT.  I have not yet found a suitable golf course.  They are all too hard.

59. Greek god of war: ARES.

64. Mailed: SENT. We have had our cluster mailbox removed last week.  We still do not have all of our mail.  However, I watch the news and it seems the Post Office is going through some unwanted changes.

65. Harmonize: ATTUNE.  "Oh how we could harmonize" (Heart of my heart).

66. Feel crummy: AIL.

67. Consumes: EATS.  Hershey chocolate, marshmallow, and graham crackers.  Do you want  S'MORE ??

68. Jumps on one leg: HOPS.  Gather a few and brew some Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Down:
 
1. Knighted one: SIR. Or in Uncle Sam's Army, a Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel, and or General.

2. Zen garden fish: KOI.

3. The Boar's Head in "Henry IV," e.g.: INN.  I've mentioned it a few times.  The C'Mon INN in Billings, Montana.  One of my favorite stops.  The last time I was there however was the National Bowling tournament in 2002.  

4. Fitting: SEEMLY.

5. Hoping to score a run: ON BASE.  My Twins are having trouble getting there.

6. Olympic miler Jim: RYUN.  From Kansas, he won a silver medal in the 1500 meter run at the 1968 Olympics.
 
7. Barber's powder: TALC.  There are a lot of commercials around that this stuff may be bad for you.

8. Hard work: LABOR.  And a Happy LABOR Day to all of you.  Why do they call it "LABOR DAY" and then millions of people take the day off work.

9. "Couldn't be happier!": I LOVE IT.  Bowling, Golf, and food.

10. Arthurian tales: LEGENDS.

11. Some electric cars: TESLAS.  I hardly ever see an electric car.  I know TESLA stock is doing well, but I have my doubts.

13. Small hill: KNOLL.

14. Scottish denial: NAE.

17. College sr.'s test: GRE.

20. Parts of necks: NAPES.

21. Sizzling: HOT.  "When you're hot, you're not you're not."  Jerry Reed.

22. Wildebeest: GNU.

23. Spider's creation: WEB.  I was wondering which insect created this world wide WEB.

27. Three-time PGA leading money winner Vijay __: SINGH.  He won over 50 PGA events, but now, at age 57, I think he has moved over to the Champions Tour.


28. Tokyo's Yoko: ONO.  Very news worthy when she became the wife of John Lennon.

29. "__ see it ... ": AS I.

32. Disco or jazz: ERA.  Also a pitching stat.

34. Title for Amazon's Jeff Bezos: CEO.  All that money and he can't even afford hair. He is incredible.  Started by selling books and CDs out of his garage.  Now he sells almost everything.  And he sells it to almost everybody who might be afraid to leave their home due to Covid-19.

36. Wurlitzer product: ORGAN.  Great for Church music.

37. Broadcast: AIR.  We need it to blow up footballs and volleyballs and basketballs. Bill Cosby.

38. Target of a cheek swab: DNA.

39. San Francisco vicinity: BAY AREA.  I have a couple of sisters out there.  The fires are causing bad air.  I guess you do not need to spend money on cigarettes.  Just go outside and inhale.

40. H or O, in H2O: ELEMENT.  Interesting how if you mix the two, you get water.

42. NFL official: REF.  Sometimes they are called Zebras.

43. Technique used for many film explosions: Abbr.: CGI.

44. Boozer: SOT.  Years ago, I would stop after work at the Stardust for one quick one.  But I was never a SOT.  I had to drive home 15 miles and did not take chances.

45. Sentence segment: PHRASE.

47. Makes sense: ADDS UP.

48. Cantaloupes and honeydews: MELONS.  Our favorite are watermelons.  They are pretty heavy but they taste sooooo gooood,

49. Terse summons about an exam grade: SEE ME. I never got a SEE ME.  I think I was teacher's pet.

52. They're built in birdhouses: NESTS.

54. AOL rival: MSN.  I use MSN.  Not sure what it stands for.

56. New Deal prog.: NRA.

57. Sworn promise: OATH.  You are not allowed to LIE under OATH.  Also I've heard that your nose will grow.

58. Leery of: ONTO.

61. Rowboat mover: OAR.  I used two of them many times at North Star Lake, North of Grand Rapids MN.  Then my Dad bought a five horse motor.

62. Metal in bronze: TIN.  Speaking of Grand Rapids, MN the original home of Judy Garland. NOT. Michigan. TIN reminds me of Jack Haley, the Tin Man who needed some oil to get moving on the way to OZ to ask the Wizard for a heart. 
 



63. Raised urban trains: ELS.  Golfer ERNIE.
 
Boomer

54 comments:

OwenKL said...

To send them to their journey's next stage,
Picard would tell the helmsman to "engage".
Could a RING NEBULA
On a finger be enough
When ROMANCE in his plastic heart would rage?

RAMEN NOODLES are a college student's fare,
And a box of GOLDEN GRAHAMS they may share.
Tho he's just a pup
Malnutrition ADDS UP
And he may find he's in the infirmary's care!

{B, B-.}

Wilbur Charles said...

Boomer, apparently Ted Williams never had a baseball card. I had Musial but never heard of a Ted. Would that be correct? I heard he had a deal with Tom Yawkey to opt out.

Wade Boggs was kept in the minors far too long. OBP(ON BASE%) was not appreciated in 1980 and 1981 was a wasted year in AAA.

As I recall Bradley was simply very cagey about money and being payed his worth. Despite being a college superstar he attended Oxford until finally signing with Knicks midseason(68). His debut was a mega 60s event

RYUN was in three Olympics. He was tripped in '72.

The Scots say "If there's NAE wind there's NAE Golf". Substitute gambling, lying and swearing for wind.
Throw in club-throwing.

And a CSO to TIN my fellow Floridian

WC

Hungry Mother said...

FIR, no write-overs. I found the theme useful, but not necessary to complete the grid. My favorite recursive acronym: Gnu’s Not Unix. Jim RYAN was easy for me as a long time runner, but I began 9 years after his Olympic silver. I spent my first 12 years in the BAYAREA.

Hungry Mother said...

I saw Bill Bradley play in the NCAA Eastern Regional at Cole Field House in 1965. Some years later I was at a math conference at the University of Maryland and was able to walk right into the field house and watch Lefty Driesell lead his Terps in a practice session. I was the only spectator. That reminds me of when I was in New Orleans at a math conference and walked into the Super Dome and watched a practice session for the halftime show for the next weekend’s Super Bowl.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Failed to notice the theme until Boomer 'splained it. This was a quick SKI run to the bottom. Missed the reveal clue, because RNS was already filled in. Thanx, John and Boomer.

SENT: Boomer, "cluster" seems an appropriate description of the current U.S. Mail system.

SINGH: Only familiar with Lakshmi Singh, the mid-morning news anchor on NPR.

MELONS: Some have been known to attack crossword solvers.

BobB said...

I saw Wade Boggs play with the Bristol (Connecticut) Red Sox. Also Fred Lynn, Jim Rice and Oil Can Boyd. Saw Roger Clemons pitch in 1983 after the team was moved to New Britain.

Boomer said...

Hello Wilbur Charles, Yes Ted Williams had many Topps baseball cards back in the 50s. I owned a few in the 80s but probably sold them or traded for Harmon Killebrew. The Boston Red Sox were affiliated with the Minnepolis Millers Triple A team from 1957-1960. Prior to that it was the New York Giants, but Minneapolis built a new stadium and the Giants flew right over us to San Francisco, we divorced them and signed up with the Red Sox. They would come for an exhibition game once a year, and Ted Williams would usually get one at bat and then sat for the rest of the game. Then in 1961, Calvin Griffith moved the Senators from Washington, and brought us a guy named Killebrew so we forgot all about Willie Mays and Ted Williams.

TTP said...



Fun puzzle. RNs as a theme became obvious early on, bit I like how John fit the reveal in at the very end.

Thanks, John. Thanks, Boomer.

Boomer, I like Irish Spring as well. DW does not. We use Ivory.

Stardust Bowl in Addison, IL is where I used to bowl in leagues after moving to Chicago. They have a lounge and a grill. The name of the grill is The Big Labowlski. I thought that clever.

WikWak bowled there too, but we didn't know each other then. Even if we did, and we bowled on the same night, it would have been possible to not run into each other. 84 lanes !

Speaking of grills, I think I'll put out some brats for later today.

ATLGranny said...

FIR without much laboring this morning. To make more of a challenge, I started out only doing acrosses. That led to a couple of missteps but caught in time. Just a little extra ink spent. Seeing the reveal helped confirm my guesses on a couple of theme answers. All in all a satisfactory start to the day. Thanks Boomer and John.

I never ate ramen in college since I ate in the dorm cafeteria, but recently have tried them after reading of some trendy restaurants serving them. Not so bad in combinations.

Boomer, MSN stands for Microsoft Service Network, I learned, not Microsoft Network as I had thought.

Y'all enjoy the day in some way.

Yellowrocks said...

We have a cluster mailbox. It has a keyed box for each homeowner in our section, a slot for outgoing mail, and two large doors for packages. If they removed your cluster box, Boomer, where does the letter carrier leave your mail?
I think ramen noodles were not popular when I was in college. I doubt I even knew about them.
During my stay in Japan we sometimes were taken to delightful authentic Japanese restaurants and sometimes we were given money for lunch. My colleagues bought inexpensive ramen and used the money to shop. I am not a shopper, I treated myself to tasty meals.
FLN, I have heard of the blue tick hound. Could that be what visited your homestead, PK? I see that the blue heeler is not related.
The difference
Today we have PAL, yesterday we had PAISANO. When my kids were young the Anglos jokingly called their friends PAISANO(s).

thehondohurricane said...


Ted Williams never had a baseball card???? Rookie card was 1939 Playball. Also appeared in 1940 & 1941 Playball. Then it Gets serious. 1 1950, &n '51 Bowmans; 1p55, 56, & 57 Topps. And none of them are cheap. He aldo had a slew of minor issues. If you are interested. google him on EBay. No Ted cards were issued when he was serving in Korea.

Anonymous said...

Took 5:17.

If someone runs a 1500 meter race, is he/she a miler?

desper-otto said...

Anon@8:26, I'd call 'em a 1500-meterer. If my math is correct, one mile is slightly more than 1609 meters.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Thought the puzzle might have more of a Labor Day theme, but I guess not. But RN's are certainly involved in Labor stuff. Our oldest was born on Labor Day weekend. Otherwise the puzzle was fine.
Wildebeest means wild animal in Dutch. Who GNU that?
TESLAS - A couple weeks ago I regaled you with 'tales' of my son's visit in his new TESLA 3.
"Oh what a tangled WEB we weave when first we practise to deceive!" per W. Scott
Barber's powder - Barbers use a styptic powder to treat or soothe small nicks as they shave, etc. Knowing I'm on warfarin, my barber gave me a small vial to use at home. Works pretty well and obviates the need for a bandage every time one gets a small nick.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

While the R N sequence was obvious, the reveal was a surprise. Ring Nebula was an unknown but no write overs as the fill was pretty straightforward. Noticed the DNA/NRA/Era group and the See Me/Seemly visual. My only nit would be the excessive, to me, number of three letter words, a personal peeve of mine. Nice CSO to Tin.

Thanks, John, for a pleasant start to the week and thanks, Boomer, for your commentary and wisdom, sprinkled with Boomer humor!

DO @ 6:39 ~ Indeed! 🍉🍉

Have a great day.

Lucina said...

Hola!

Happy LABOR Day!
Thank you, John Guzzetta and Boomer for a puzzling start to the day.

Like d-o, I made a SKI run to the bottom of the KNOLL and took no notice of the theme as it blurred by me. HGWELLS made me pause but two letters and I was on it.

In a few days I shall be going to the BAY AREA and I LOVE IT. The temps are much cooler there.

Every now and then I see a TESLA on the road.

Not often, just dometimes I had to write SEE ME on a student's paper, usually for not following directions.

Boomer, you and my niece's husband should meet. He works for Topps and contacts the players to sign their cards usually during spring training when so may teams are here but sometimes he travels to other cities for that purpose.

Aha, NEBULA emerged today but not as a book title.

Everyone, have a LABOR-free day and relish it!

Lucina said...

Oops! SOMETIMES not dometimes though it might have been DOOMtimes for that student.

CanadianEh! said...

Marvelous Monday. Thanks for the fun, John and Boomer.
I FIRed in good time and saw the theme (a little meh IMHO but ok for a Monday). I almost had an error with Ryan, but NEBULA corrected the A to U. (We had NEBULA the other day also)

I smiled to see LABOR in the CW today, but I did not have enough room for the proper Canadian spelling 😁
Boomer, I believe the name of the holiday is associated with labour unions and is meant to celebrate workers.

Yes, I thought of IM with MELONS. (Melon was TETE the other day.)
I saw Leer at 58A and already had the O . . . and started to enter Ogle. Does Leery match with Ogly? No, ONTO,

31A was just TUBE, not The Tube.
This Canadian has done enough CWs to know NRA and MSN/AOL.

YR- RAMEN NOODLES were not on my college menu either. But plenty of KD and spaghetti. (Reminds me of the day my roommate prepared noodles for supper, but my biology lab that afternoon had us looking at tapeworms. No NOODLES for me!)

FLN (I lurked), HEELER was unknown to me, but my some rare coincidence, my Facebook feed this morning brought up a lost Blue HEELER with photo. (Great story PK)
Picard - photos were beautiful. I could never brave that climb!

Wishing you all a great Labour Day.

oc4beach said...


Good Monday puzzle from JG. Sailed through it fairly quickly. No write overs or mistakes today, just once across and once down and was done.

Boomer's grid tour had a lot of meat in it, as usual.

I did see the R-N theme, but not until the puzzle was all filled in.

The first name of my next door neighbor on the left side of my house is VIJAY and the last name of my next door neighbor on the right side is SINGH. Neither of them are golfers.

Ramen noodles were unknown when I was in school in the '60's, but were very popular when my kids were in school in the '80's and '90's. My son would go to the Warehouse Club store and buy them by the case.

Going to get the grill out for some burgers and dogs today. Something I haven't done much this summer with the pandemic in full bloom.

I hope all of you have a great holiday, and please wear your masks.

inanehiker said...

Nice and easy Monday - solved online since no holiday newspaper in my small town!

My kids all ran cross country and track - in track they ran 1500 meter - but occasionally a race would have a mile run for nostalgia. Mile runs are actually easier to watch and figure out where people are because at 1600+ meters - its approximately 4 laps around the track.

All the talk of baseball cards - I want to give a shout out to Lou Brock who died yesterday at 81. I heard him give a talk once - a role model on and off the field!
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinals-legend-lou-brock-dies-sunday-afternoon-at-81/article_1fb0067d-7526-5d8c-b92d-4896a9b91e6b.html?fbclid=IwAR3bzUv3LDwcQnEDoq2aV_E1iHPQrdnYqgq7MH26CVjZjlI93FsANRA3RHk

Ramen was definitely a staple of my student years - it was released as a product in 1971 in the US. Now I just use it for an a ramen slaw that is a favorite to take to potlucks.

I think they're are more Teslas out there than you might think- especially now that they have a model that's ~35K! It's not like a Mercedes-Benz with the distinctive medallion on the front- it just looks a lot of other car companies cars from a distance.

Thanks Boomer and John!

A P.S. to the comments about the buzzer beater win by the Raptors a few days ago - the player who made the shot is OG Anunoby- he is from Jefferson City and went to my kids high school before heading to Indiana. A wonderful young man.

CrossEyedDave said...

Everything you wanted to know about the Ring Nebula. (5:21)

Picard said...

Fun tribute to all of the RNS who are on the front lines now. Happy to see RING NEBULA. There was an eccentric guy here when I was a grad student who would set up a telescope in front of our little supermarket in Isla Vista. He would charge a quarter to see the moon, but lesser known astronomical objects were free. I was delighted when he introduced me to the RING NEBULA!

OwenKL thank you for the shout out! I wish I could "Engage" and go there for real!

CanadianEh thank you for the kind words about my LEDGE photos at Sedona. Yes, not many people were comfortable going out there. But I am sure you would enjoy the scenery without having to go out on a LEDGE!

Lucina I am guessing you have been on some of those trails at Sedona?

I probably have thousands of BAY AREA photos.

But here are some BAY AREA scenes that may be new for you.

It was Christmas Day 2015 and almost everything was closed. So I was thrilled to join this Sierra Club hike at Alviso Marina County Park. In the 1830s-1840s it was an important port for shipping crops grown in Santa Clara. The construction of a railroad in 1864 left this area abandoned. It was fun to explore such a huge nature area in the BAY AREA where every square inch of land is so valuable. The only hard part was dealing with the mud!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Fun easy typical Monday. Inkovers Ork/ORC: anyone who says they put RYUN instead of Ryan first without the U from NEBULA is lyin'. 😉

SEEME, SEEMLY, DEEMFIT nice combo.

The theme? There's a theme? Right Now I don't see it? 🤔

Does showering with LYESOAP clean right down to the bone? 🦴🦴

During college my evening post office job consisted of cancelling stamps and to SORT mail by hand

A cantelope is a MELON. A honey dew is a DW's list of chores.

Oh no! ONO is back. A GNU GNU IS GNUS in a zoo!!

More bad GNUs...

Where the cliff terminates......LEGENDS

Addams family cousin's girlfriend's shout out "_____!!".. I LOVE IT

Border of a old carpet eventually ______ PHRASE.

Ursine band of jewel thieves ...BEARING.

The closing church became an ______ donor...ORGAN

Happy ______ Day to all expectant Moms...LABOR

Misty said...

Wonderful Monday Labor Day puzzle, John, many thanks. It was really fun to get the theme as the last item in the puzzle, and then to go back and find all the RNs in so many of the longer items. Given the hospital clue, I was surprised to see the discussions today devoted pretty much to sports. Well, our Boomer is a very sporty sort of guy, so that's perfectly fine, And, believe it or not, I got RYUN even though I clearly never heard of him. Anyway, a great way to start the week, thanks again, John and Boomer.

And your poems were a delight, as usual, Owen.

Have a great week (hopefully cool) week coming up, everybody.

Picard said...

Boomer thanks for sharing your preferred alternative to LYE SOAP. For most of my life, my preference was Lux SOAP. Anyone else? It was the only soap that didn't have a stench of perfume. Even Ivory SOAP has too much perfume for my taste. I was so upset when Lux was discontinued.

From Yesterday:
Malodorous Manatee hope you had a joyful extended birthday celebration! Thank you for explaining the connection to the "permanent floating" song.

Thanks to YouTube here is the song and the scene "Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game" from Guys And Dolls starring Frank Sinatra.

Yellowrocks thank you for the kind words about my STREET CAR photos and I am glad they brought back happy memories of you riding them with your grandmother! Even though we owned a car in Europe, STREET CARS were often our preferred transportation and I loved them, too!

And thank you for all of the examples of Janus words like RAVEL. I knew you would have something valuable to share about this!

Lucina thank you for the kind words about my LEDGE photos. I am guessing you have hiked in that area, too?

Wilbur Charles sorry for triggering your acrophobia with the LEDGE photos! One of my mentors at UC Santa Barbara created the first Virtual Reality laboratory for exactly this purpose. You can put yourself in a terrifying spot while knowing that if you "fall" you won't get hurt. The trick is to focus on where you want to go and to ignore the "what if" of falling to the side. Easier said than done, I know!

Glad you enjoyed the STREET CAR photos, especially of the Boston Green Line CAR. Yes, I loved riding all the lines when I lived in Boston. The old Orange Line felt like a rickety old roller coaster on the ELS line. I learned later that they sometimes fell off! Did that trigger your acrophobia to ride that section? I am sorry that the ELS were all dismantled and the Orange Line was completely re-routed.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

TTPN @ 7:10 am
Said..
"Speaking of grills, I think I'll put out some brats for later today."

What a great way to make little kids behave!!!👍



inanehiker said...

I forgot to mention Jim RYUN still lives near KU in Lawrence, KS - he was a US rep for several years after his running career was over. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Ryun

KU is one of the few universities that has a dedicated permanent cross country course (others just convert a park or golf course for races) and it has silhouette metal sculptures of the different elite runners that came out of KU running program like Wes Santee, Glen Cunningham, and RYUN. Our kids have run that course and it is so fun to watch races there!
https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20825819/visionary-venues/

Vidwan827 said...

Thank you Mt. Guzzetta for an easy Monday puzzle and Boomer for your charming review and genial sense of humor. ;-)
In that spirit, Boomer, I hope you'll forgive me for my own attempt at humor.

On 9 Down, I LOVE IT ... in your case, it would be, bowling, C.C., food and golf.
- in strict alphabetical order, or course. ;-)
RE: BEARINGS, you said,'I believe older cars had bearings on the wheels.' I did not know that they did away with bearings. Has something new been invented to take its place, to reduce the rolling friction ? Maybe I misunderstood your comment.

I see and I can feel your enthusiasm on collecting baseball cards. Are they still popular with the younger generation ? I used to collect coins and old dollar bills, and at a show aboout a year ago, every visitor was a senior citizen !! No young uns. And this was REAL money ! Maybe, they're collecting old debit cards.

'Singh', as in the xword golfer, is one of the most common surnames in northern India. There must be atleast 36 million of them. (per Wiki). I have personally known atleast a half dozen "Vijay Singh" 's myself. None of them famous, and they wouldn't know a golf course, from a cow pasture... This Vijay Singh is actually from the island nation of Fiji, and never set foot in India. Other Vijay Singh(s) are an actor, a Fox Star Studios CEO, a quartermaster general and an indian ambassador.

Vijay means victory (!) and Singh means lion.
As the famous Indian saying goes, 'Too many Lions, and not enough Indians' ;-)




Malodorous Manatee said...

Happy Labor (Labour) Day to all of us here is the U.S. and in Canada. The RN theme of the puzzle was appropriate as Valerie, though now retired, worked as an RN for quite a long time at a very well know hospital here in Los Angeles.

The solve was quite breezy even for a Monday. No sticking points, and the CW set an appropriate tone for the start of the week. I am not familiar with John Guzzetta by name although I may have come across his puzzles before. It is only in the past few years that I have paid attention to who the constructors are (well, other than Merl and, prior to that, Sylvia Burstyn and Barry Tunic revealing my L.A. Times parochialism). I find that knowing the constructors adds a level of enjoyment and, because getting inside their heads is helpful, the familiarity aids in solviing.

Ray, great word play. I don't love Itt but I loved it. Picard, your link reminded me of my mother. She was a pianist and clarinetist. When I was was watching the Ken Burns "Jazz" series I asked my mom if she had been aware of the scene in NY at the Savoy. She replied, simply, "I was there." In any event, she had strong opinions about music and musical theater and, IIRC, she much preferred the original Broadway cast to the star studded Hollywood movie performances.

...by the sharp lapels of my checkered coat, ciao.

WikWak said...

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. (No offense meant to our own Lemon...) no naticks and very few pauses. I didn’t even notice GNU until the whole puzzle was done, and it’s one of my favorite words.

Boomer, around here (west suburban Chicago) electric cars are becoming ubiquitous (also they’re seen everywhere). Illinois has special license plates, starting with EL, for electric cars. Yesterday I saw my first non-Tesla electric. Don’t remember the make, but it may have been a Toyota.

TTP, my wife used to bowl in several leagues at the Stardust Bowl. Since we moved further west, it’s too far to go there and nobody’s bowling these days anyway. :(

I used to enjoy RAMEN NOODLES but they are so heavily laden with salt that I’ve had to give them up.

Off to see the (masked) grandkids. :)

Stay well.

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

More than challenging for a Monday; good job John Guzzetta, and Boomer for the informative recap.

I’m sure I have a Ted Williams baseball card among the couple dozen I kept from my childhood days

FLN, Shankers—> yes, to the AZ Republic missing at least 3, maybe 4 clues. My paper was delivered missing some sections, too

WEES, the “RN” theme was pretty evident as I solved from top to bottom, left to right. Hats off to these wonderful care providers, and first responders

My ex was a big fan of ROMANCE NOVELS. I think I tried to claim Harlequin as a deduction on our taxes

Favorite clue was 60a

LYE SOAP? I remember Lava Soap, Fels Naptha, and Murphy’s Oil Soap from my youth

Nice CSO to our north of Tampa crossworder, TIN! My first toast will be to you, tonight. Sans ice! 🥃

Couple of write-overs: LALA/LILT; RYAN/RYUN; SAT/ GRE

Haiku du jour:

The fife producer
Took today off; celebrates
(The) Flutes of his LABOR

Malodorous Manatee said...

"Nice CSO to our north of Tampa crossworder, TIN! My first toast will be to you, tonight. Sans ice! 🥃"

Neat !

Irish Miss said...

CanadianEh @ 10:16 ~ What might KD be?

Ray O @ 12:28 ~ I take umbrage 😤 (what a funny word!) at your questioning my honesty. I immediately entered the correct Ryun for two reasons: #1 It’s a most unusual (and remembered by Moi) spelling of the very common Irish ☘️ surname, Ryan (please note my User Name and Avatar!) and #2 Jim Ryun was in the news recently for being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. But, as you are a fellow New Yorker, all is forgiven. 🤗 All kidding aside, I love your sense of humor! 🤣

Yellowrocks said...

WikWak, yes, I agree. Packaged instant ramen is way too salty. What is served in Japan. and presumably in China is much better.

Picard, the trains in Switzerland were wonderful. We could take a train from close to our hotel and get off at many different trail heads. We would walk up to the ridge and hike along it for as long as we had time and energy. Then there were many trails that we could take back down the mountain, all ending near a train stop back to the hotel.
Plenty of Dr. Patels around here. Dr. Singh, too.

Bluestar.com: Most vehicles sold today are equipped with wheel bearings that are sealed inside a hub assembly and require no maintenance. Sealed bearings are found on most newer cars, and on the front wheels of trucks and SUVs with independent front suspension.

PK, I wasn't doubting you, just thinking that bluetick hounds are more common. Loved your story.
London broil and sauteed mushrooms tonight. I made the pasta salad yesterday. It is so much tastier after sitting a day.
Ryan before RYUN.
Someone gave mom homemade lye soap when I was a kid. It was quite caustic.

Jayce said...

I enjoyed this puzzle.

Spitzboov said...

Funny, from yesterday - - , we have a classified ad in today's paper:

AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOGS
(blue heelers) 7 weeks, 1st
shots, 1st worming. $600,
please text ***-***-****

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thanks John for the fine LABOuR [Hi C, Eh!] Day puzzle.

Thanks Boomer for the fine review [um, just how much for the Boggs card? I wonder if my (Army) Bro has one - he had Biggio's rookie card & gave it to me. //Lucina - I'd want to meet your Niece's husband; what a cool gig!

WO: didn't read College & put in SAT b/f GRE
ESPs: SINGH [hey - D-O!, I listen to Lakshmi too]
Fav: Anyone ever EAT at LEGENDS in Norman, OK? They have fancy brunch. //their website looks like those in the AOL/MSN days! :-)

{B, B+}
LOL C.Moe!

Hungry Mother - I'm still hangin' /w ya Bro. I have GNU's Win32 tools (and gVim!) on all my Windows boxen. Add the Xmouse hack (w/ no raise on mouse-over) and MS Windows is tolerable.

Picard - Funny (peculiar, not haha). I use Ivory 'cuz it's the only SOAP that doesn't make me sneeze.

Vidwan - the younger generation is still into collecting coins. You'll note the lack of 50-cent rolls in this shot (I was rolling my loose change 'cuz local businesses had a coin shortage(?)). Eldest wanted to inspect every penny - literally.

DW & I ate a boat-load of RAMEN sans Cup-O. [NPR] in college [Oc4 - yep '89-90s (takes time to rack up all those degrees :-))]. We still keep them on hand for a quick meal.

Inanehiker - I didn't hear about Lou Brock. Another Cardinal hero of my ute.

Spitz - re: Blue Heelers. That is funny (again, peculiar; not ha-ha). //wait, $600 for a dog? That's some racket! :-)

Have a great afternoon!

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Ooops, for got my second ESP: RYUN. Certainly RYUN. -T

Boomer said...

Yellowrocks - It sounds like our previous mail boxes were similar to yours, except we do not have a slot for outgoing mail. Up until now we only received a few pieces of mail. I think our association outfit did not plan well. As of now, maybe I can pick up mail tomorrow. Also our new mail boxes are to be installed tomorrow. I have some doubts, because the concrete has been laid and is hardened, and they did not put bolts in the concrete. So I guess I will wait and see how they are mounted.

triple crown said...

For c.c.
Our trip to China was an all-inclusive tour, but the first night, in Beijing, they took us to the hotel and we were on our own till morning. We went to the hotel restaurant and somehow managed to order some grilled eggplant for a snack. It was the best!! Never duplicated in the States. Second best place for Chinese food is Paris.

Wilbur Charles said...

Hondo, you solved it I guess. Korea. My card days were 1952-54. I believe fe that a '52 card would cover the 1951 season. I hope I didn't come across as a knowledgeable collector. Btw, I resurrected my Ferris Fain "Days off trivia" that you solved effortlessly.

Boomer, it was Minneapolis where Ted had an unneeded minor league season in 1939. Later the Redsox had an affiliate in Louisville where they had the rights to Pee-wee Reese. But Joe Cronin didn't want the competition at SS.

Picard, no problem. I'm not going out on any ledge.

We had a Jim RYUN discussion at FB recently. Very famous runner. I just noticed error on clue "Olympic miler".

WC

SansBeach said...

Hi All. Hope you had a great Labor (u) day. WEES today's xword, except 41A & 43D cross. Didn't know CGI and Orc ended up Orts. Senior moment.

Picard, DW cannot stand any soaps that leave odors. (allergies) So laundry soap has to be one type and bath soap another. She uses Jergen's white. You can find it in Walgreens but not many other places.

FLN, I enjoyed the conversation re Bowling Alleys. Yes, I am old school and haven't been in touch with a bowling establishment for quite sometime. I guess changing terms can help in changing images. While I was partying my way through life, many of us would head to Colorado on skiing vacations. We would meet for dinner and some places were a tad spendie. Some of the DW's would wrinkle their noses at the prices and that would elicit a "This ain't no bowling alley". Always worth a laugh.

Thanks John for the Monday challenge and thanks Boomer for the 'splainin'.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-It filled so fast and the reveal was the last item, so I had to look for the theme: RN’S – modern day heroes!
-My Labor Day featured a 9:00am tee time with my 15 and 18 year old grandkids on a course an hour away. It was a perfect day on a challenging course and I had a hoot!
-I remember Jim Ryun for being the first high schooler to run a sub four minute mile and also for tripping/getting tripped in the Munich Olympics and not making the finals.
-“Very news worthy when she became the wife of John Lennon.” Insert the word ONLY before when. Everything I’ve read about her says she is a very nice person.

CanadianEh! said...

IM - KD stands for Kraft Dinner. Is that a Canadian short form? (We were poor students and didn’t have a million dollars!)

inanehiker- thanks for the background story on OG Anunoby. I’m watching the Raptors’ game right now (Not a great start with Score of 25-11 at the end of the first, but they can come back yet.

Spitzboov - between my Facebook feed and your paper, we should remember Blue Heelers.

Lucina said...

Ray-O:
I will not tell a lie! It took four perps to fill RYUN and then I doubted it since I'd never heard of him, not being into sports, you know.

Anon-T:
Yes, I can tell you that Chris, my niece's hubby, loves his job! It's a weekend one, actually. Otherwise he works for Anheuser-Busch, another one he loves.

Picard:
I don't go to Sedona often and even less lately because the population has exploded but in years past, it was a favorite destination in the summer.

I found great sales today! But some places had the nerve to be closed!

LEO III said...

Didn't get to do the puzzle until later today, but I FIR in fairly good time. Had a few write-overs, but nothing critical. Didn't fall into the RYAN/RYUN trap, because I attacked the long fills first, and RINGNEBULA was my first one. Saw the theme too.

Thanks, John and Boomer. Very nice puzzle and expo.

I think everyone else pretty much covered the waterfront already, so I'll see you tomorrow.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Irish M. I'd say my lyin/Ryan/Ryan claim was tongue-in-cheek but whenevery I try to do that...I BITE my tongue

OWIE!!!....😝😝😝

Irish Miss said...

CanadianEh @ 6:16 ~ KD could be used in the States, as well, but it’s just not familiar to me. Ramen noodles are familiar, but I’ve never had them. Thanks for enlightening me.

TTP said...



Ray-O,

Those brats were really good. I sizzled them in beer !

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Geesh TTP why not just take away their cell phones.

The Curmudgeon said...

RYUN was unknown to me, but I knew NEBaLA was wrong.

My sister made LYE SOAP in Home Ec; I created badly-made knick-knacks in Industrial Arts (AKA Shop).

>>Roy

Lemonade714 said...

LOU BROCK .

Lucina said...

My grandmother and her sister, my aunt Lala, both made LYE soap. I still have a chunk of it which I've kept just to remember them. I can recall my grandmother stirring the soap with a big wooden paddle in a large vat. That would have been in 194? What I don't remember is what molds she used for it to set.

JohnB said...



The Wizard's response: ".......Why there are people who do nothing but good deeds. They're called philan... philanth... phil... Good deed doers."