google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, October 23, 2020, Gary Larson

Gary's Blog Map

Oct 23, 2020

Friday, October 23, 2020, Gary Larson

Title: Where are they from?

Gary brings us a variation of a pinwheel grid with a central theme fill and 2 across and 2 down themers. It takes advantage of a very limited field of possible fill because it involves 5 countries which when paired with a defined phrase created a variation of the occupant(s) of the country. Which sounds a bit convoluted, but hey it is Friday. Gary has his third October here at the LAT this year along with his publications all over the place. 

In addition to the 5 theme fill - 47 squares, he dazzles with 11 seven letter fill. ATM FEES,  BISQUES, EMERITI, EYE EXAM, GRAFTON, GRETZKY,  GROUPIE,  HAT SIZE, SIERRAS, SKI PASS, and UNMEANT.

The theme:
17A. Grasslands around Dakar?: SENEGAL LEAS (11). And the people are SENEGALESE. A lea is an open area of grassy land. DAKAR is the capital city; here are some FAMOUS people associated with the country.

36A. Feature of a map of Baghdad?: IRAQ KEY (7). The IRAQI people are actually Mesopotamian in heritage. Maps have keys to understand them. Here is a wonderful ESSAY on Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s “On the Law of Nations.” 

57A. Laid-back attitude in Hanoi?: VIETNAM EASE (11). Both Vietnam and Iraq were very changed by European interference which is politics, so I will stop. 

11D. Longing in São Paulo?: BRAZIL YEN (9). Brazilian now has many meanings including those that I cannot link. Sorry, Moe. This combination was very creative.

32D. Hot spot in Al Ahmadi?: KUWAIT TEA (9). You had to know where that city is located, but the perps had given it away. 

On to the rest.

Across:

1. Ancient wizard: MAGE. Game of Thrones MARWYN.

5. Serbian-born NBA center __ Jokic: NIKOLA. He led the Denver Nuggets to upset the LA Clippers in the NBA playoffs this year with a triple-double in game 7, for those who care.

11. Fella: BRO. My son started using that in high school and I had to put my foot down. 

14. Speck: ATOM.  So many choices even yesterday's IOTA.

15. Bordeaux wine: CLARET. The wine from Bordeaux was a dark rosé spiced drink in the Middle Ages. That's why it was called "claret", from the French clairet. It changed to the present dry dark red in the 18th century

16. Narrow inlet: RIA.

19. Petition: ASK. "Petition" seems so formal, especially in my world.

20. High ranges: SIERRAS. A Spanish word; they are all over the WORLD.

21. Holder of 61 NHL records: GRETZKY. The great one, 


23. Chamber group: TRIO. Or not, as I learned reading this ARTICLE.

24. Comet relative: BON AMI. The cleaning agent, not the celestial flyer.

25. Retire: TURN IN. Not from working, merely from the day.

28. Jessica of "Dark Angel": ALBA. Now a mom.
                                    
31. Winter vacation purchase: SKI PASS. My son is leaving Denver after an 8-year run there with ski passes galore.

33. Part of a late 1900s demographic: GEN-Y-ER. Gen Y: Gen Y, or Millennials, were born between 1981 and 1994, including Jessica born in 1981!

35. "The Simpsons" storekeeper: APU.

38. MD treating canals: ENT. Sinus canals. 

39. Oklahoma tribe: PAWNEE. How many remember Pahoo-Ka-Ta-Wah? Your hint Jock Mahoney.

41. Accidental: UNMEANT. My clanker of the day.

43. Genesis twin: ESAU

44. Middle of a three-part start: GET SET. On your mark ...

45. Subtly points out: INFERS. Oh, this is so wrong. Rex Stout is rolling over in his grave.

48. Present time?: X-MAS. Very witty.

51. Uniform concern, maybe: HAT SIZE

53. Late author whose daughter wrote, "As far as we in the family are concerned, the alphabet now ends in Y": GRAFTON. Kinsey Millhone's creator left us before "Z as in..."

56. Behave: ACT.

59. Charlotte of "The Facts of Life": RAE.  Her OBIT.

60. Bivouac: ENCAMP. I learned this from watching Phil Silvers as Sgt. Bilko. 

61. Times past: ERAS.

62. Uma's "Pulp Fiction" role: MIAMIA WALLACE .

63. Perceived to be: SEEN AS.

64. Caesar and others: SIDS. Nice misdirection. 

Down:

1. One side of a physics equivalence principle: MASS. You think it is this LINK?

2. Bit the dust: ATE IT. Meh.

3. One with no hope: GONER. Depressing. 

4. Honored retirees: EMERITI. Latin.

5. Indiana-based sports org.: NCAA. Located in Indianapolis.

6. Troubles: ILLS.

7. Penn of "House": KAL. He is all over the place. His IMDB

8. Crater Lake locale: OREGON.
                                                    

9. Hear (of): LEARN.

10. Without a clue: AT SEA.

12. Take a shot at: RISK. Life requires risks.

13. Wine nuance word: OAKY. The ultimate CSO to our resident sommelier MOE. A LIST?

18. Exuberant fan: GROUPIE. Exuberant, hmm. They were omnipresent during my touring days.

22. IRS agent: T-MAN.

24. Fish restaurant offerings: BISQUES.

26. Unusual: RARE.

27. Eavesdropping org.: NSA.

29. Twisted: BENT.

30. Focus for some collectors: ART.

31. Watering holes: SPAS.

33. Masterpieces: GEMS.

34. Test involving gradually longer lines: EYE EXAM. A wonderful clue as each successive line is longer.
EYE CHART 


35. Mimic: APE.

37. Round Table VIP: KNT. Knight abbreviation? 

40. Creatures of habit?: NUNS. Hah, hah. 


42. Some bank acct. charges: ATM FEES. This has appeared in the LAT only once before. 

44. Homer's home: GREECE. D'oh! Not Springfield.

46. Fins: FIVES. Money not diving equipment.

47. Slate, for one: E-ZINE.

49. Original  console designer: ATARI.  The SKINNY.

50. "What a pity": SO SAD.

51. Wrong: HARM.

52. Smoothie fruit: ACAI.

53. Fed. lending agency: GNMA. Government National Mortgage Association. They guarantee mortgages.

54. Criticizes: RAPS.

55. Storied loch: NESS.

58. Brown shade: TAN. Boring, which means it is time for me to depart. I hope you had fun. Thank you Gary and all of you readers and posters.





61 comments:

  1. Good morning!

    Got 'er done in good time this morning. Tried MAGI before that E elbowed in. The theme must've been super-apparent -- even d-o got it. Nice stuff in this one. Thanx, Gary and Lemonade. (Did that Oregon map and nun photo come from McDonalds? They're super-sized.)

    MASS: To put mass one side, the equation would have to be M = E/C²

    MIA: We watched a PBS Age of Nature show last night. I was surprised when I found out the narrator was Uma Thurman. She did a creditable job, if you overlook the grating "nucular explosion."

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  2. D-O, I am still trying to master the new blogger formats and the NUN pic looked nice and intimidating big. I did not know how to tone it down

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  3. The map and photo look normal now. I guess you fixed 'em.

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  4. TTP, probably, not me. My skills are limited

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  5. Not me. C.C.

    I was making my coffee. Should have had it before starting today's puzzle. Off to read the review now.

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  6. Took me 9:02 to cross the line today. Clever/punny theme.

    I understood the physics to me M = FA. Mass equals Force x Acceleration.

    Have a great weekend.

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  7. Anyone else have SKImASk before SKIPASS?

    I outsmarted myself with IRAQuaY. Refused to change it as KNT didn't make sense to me and sometimes GAMS are masterpieces...

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  8. Ironically, just before solving I stopped by Publix and they were featuring lobster BISQUE. mmm, they make good soup .

    I didn't think SASS made sense but SAGE did. FIW. Duh, E=Mc²

    CSO To our CLARET expert C-Moe. Ah, I see Lemonade saved it for OAKY

    Ah, Comet cleanser. I guess I'm vaguely familiar with BON AMI.

    I actually remembered Jock from the Range Rider. Wow I was seven.

    Lucina has a habit of making tamales for XMAS.

    WC


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  9. 45A: Wrong answer. To infer is to gather thoughts from an implication.

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  10. Good morning everyone.

    Agree with Lemon on UNMEANT. Very odorous. Theme came EASily and I thought it was very clever. GRETZKY was an easy guess. Not too fond of compound fill like SEEN AS and TURN IN. GRAFT ON could have been one, too, if clued as a nursery technique. Gary's puzzles are fun for me and much appreciated. No erasures, or searches; one wrong cell.
    Knight - Akin to German Knecht (servant or farm laborer). German for knight is Ritter.

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  11. Oops. F = MA. So, F/A = M.

    I'll leave the physics alone, and stick to crosswords.

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  12. FIW, due to putting cAL (I knew better) and cRAFTON (I should have known better). I guess sour grapes, but how about very fair crosses on proper names? Or, maybe no proper names allowed, like SB? Anybody figured out my late mother-in-law’s middle name yet?

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  13. I got it done, but kind of a meh theme, and a few too many names and uncommon two word expressions for my liking.

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  14. Agree with Magilla on INFER

    Thought the singular of Magi was Magus, but OK

    Another near-themer would’ve needed too convoluted a clue - “Connected by OK tribe’s dog’s shin” - PAW - KNEE

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  15. Got the theme early. FIW. Entered GRETsKY and didn't change BRAsILYEN.
    Thought about miSS for MASS ie. Hit or Miss, but the V8 can finally hit.
    Had to guess the hockey player and KAL.
    I think this puzzle is J ust short of an xword pangram.
    Thanks HG and Lemon.
    MO

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  16. Good Morning:

    Sorry to be Debbie Downer, but I’ll just defer to Thumper.

    Lemony, great write-up.

    Have a great day.

    FLN

    Fingers crossed for your tamale fest!

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  17. Sorry, I forgot to type Lucina’s name. 🤭 But everyone knows who makes tamales! 😉

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  18. Musings
    -I had a delightful struggle with Gary’s puzzle and fun gimmick.
    -We had a MAGE named CASPAR recently
    -MASS = Energy (x speed of light squared)
    -Force = MASS x Acceleration and so MASS = Force/Acceleration
    -The PAWNEE ENCAMPED on the bluff above the Platte River and watched settlers and the railroad settle our town on the flat land across the river.
    -In Britain one might hear, Ready, Steady, Go
    -EYE CHART cluing was great
    -There are fewer and fewer of those creatures of habit
    -Off to vacuum!

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  19. Well, Friday puzzles are inevitably toughies for me, but I still really enjoyed this one. So, many thanks, Gary. And neat commentary, Lemonade.

    My favorite, of course, was EMERITI, since I'm a retired prof. Some pleasures like SPAS, where one might have a glass of CLARET, turned up. ESAU shows up pretty regularly in puzzles, doesn't he? I should probably get an EYE EXAM, but, boy, am I thankful for my cataract surgery some years ago--saved my vision. And, of course, it's always a pleasure to see X-MAS, coming up in a couple of months. My only sad moment was learning that Sue GRAFTON is gone--loved her alphabet works.

    Have a great weekend coming up, everybody.

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  20. Husker, isn't it E=MC² not M=EC²?

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  21. Busy morning here so just a couple of quick comments.
    Tamales? Si. Oui. Yes.
    Great write up with the detailed analysis of the construction and a wonderful use of links. I am going to have to study up on pinwheels.

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  22. Oops! Thanks D-O, I shoulda been more vigilant!

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  23. Pahoo-ka-ta-wah was played by the amazing German character actor X BRANDS who specialized in bringing native Americans to file. He was featured in YANCY DERRINGER

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  24. Talk baout dyslexia - bringing to LIFE! File that away

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  25. Hola!

    Thank you, Gary Larson, for this Friday-worthy challenge! I scanned it three times before the light bulb turned on then I was off and running.

    Mr. GRETZKY winters here in Arizona so his photo occasionally appears in the newspaper.

    NIKOLA was a pure guess but the name is dear to my heart because I was born on St. Nicholas day.

    It's true that many of the old communities of NUNS are slowly disappearing but new habit wearing ones are being established. Also some parishes are importing them from other countries such as Mexico and the Philippines where the tradition survives.

    Thank you, Jason! Your insights help in understanding the nuances of this clever puzzle.

    I wish everyone a happy day!

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  26. Great Blog Lemonade.

    Boo-boos on the klongs > Thailand-errs

    As for the 'famous' Senagalese, either you have to be a politician or a footballer.
    May I suggest, Ms. Maimouna Doucoure', a director of the movie Cuties, (french Mignonnes ) on Netflix. A controversial, coming of age, precociously sensual film, which has been much criticized.

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  27. No major problems with this Friday's puzzle,
    But a few minor nits, possibly...

    Nit#1
    Abbv 4 knight is not KNT,
    Everywhere I look, it is simply "KT."
    KNT looks more like an abbreviation for "knit."
    Now, here is a curiosity, there "is no" abbreviation For the word "knit."
    Don't believe me? Go look!

    Nit#2
    Ah nuts, I forget, it had something to do with infer,
    But when you mess with words like infer, you don't know what you are infer...
    (The above silliness was spellcheck approved...)

    Nit #3
    How do you provide a silly theme link without getting political?

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  28. Nit#3 was supposed to include this link
    But I left out the = sign after a href...

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  29. I thought I had FIR, amazing for a Friday and a Gary Larson puzzle. Alas, like WC I had sage/sass for MAGE/MASS (my physics knowledge is nil, and sage looked correct). Then I saw that cal/nicola were actually KAL/NIKOLA - who knew?! Finally ( this is stupid - I know better) I misspelled BRAZIL/GRETZKY with an “s”.
    I loved the theme, although, until I caught onto it, I
    was sure I’d be left with a sea of white.

    As a fairly new solver here, I am continually amazed at the variety of themes the constructors concoct for us. And when you folks also comment on the visual aspects of the puzzles, I know I have a long way to go. I look forward every day to the challenge and to your comments and repartee with each other.

    Thanks, Gary, for a wonderful challenge and Lemonade for the tour.

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  30. CED @ 1250. - - No knits allowed for this puzzle.


    FYE:

    k knit
    k1B knit stitch in row below
    kfb knit 1 into front and back of a stitch; single knit increase
    ksp knit 1 stitch, slip this stitch from right needle to left needle, pass second stitch on left needle over first stitch and off left needle; return stitch to right needle; single right-leaning decrease
    k2tog knit 2 stitches together; single right-leaning decrease
    kwise knitwise

    No rabbit holes were befouled in the development of the above information.

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  31. For Picard,
    In light of current events...

    This is a test post to see if it gets deleted.

    in memory of Sophie Scholl...

    Note that in order to delete this post,
    You would have to know or look up the content.
    But in doing so you "might" learn something.
    But isn't that why we come to the blog in the first place?

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  32. All this talk of tamales. Guess I'll put some on my shopping order. Going to try the El Monterey frozen tamales for now.

    Wilbur, while solving one of the puzzles this last week, I read the clue about Indian spice mixtures just as the news program gourmet was doing a feature story on a local restaurant that also sold many varieties of prepackaged MASALAS for those that want to make Indian dishes at home.

    Husker, I vacuumed five rooms yesterday, did four loads of laundry, rotated the mattress and did twenty-six reps of deep knee bends and curls of 30 lbs. My back is screaming at me today.

    Anon, yes, glad to see you caught your error. Newton's second law: A=F/M, but most recite it as F=MA.

    Magilla and Bill O, the answer at 45A, INFERS is correct. If the answer was something other than INFERS, the crossing answers would not agree. Therefore, the clue is wrong. That clue would be possible for implies.


    Belated Happy Birthdays to CROSS EYED DAVE, BLUE HEN and WILBUR CHARLES !!!

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  33. 45A - Good for Rex! I had to wait for perps on this, as I refused to fill in "infers", even though I knew that the constructor "implied it". Other than that a very enjoyable puzzle.

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  34. What a worthy challenge today! Thanks, Gary. Thanks, Lemony for your review in which I learned I had two wrong squares right from the get-go. SAGE and NIcOLA. I made a bad WAG for the c, but didn't even suspect the s was wrong. Sage looked OK and I forgot about MASS, joining your club today, Wendybird and Wilbur Charles. So FIW but got all the theme answers. The "hot spot" took a long time to come to me: oh, it's TEA! So, in general I had a good feeling about this puzzle. On to tomorrow!

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  35. I liked most of this puzzle and especially appreciate the theme gimmick. Parts of the puzzle I didn't care for are the fills UNMEANT and KNT, and the clue for INFER. The parts of the puzzle I especially liked are the clues for GET SET, BON AMI, GRAFTON, and MASS. Hand up for SKI MASK at first. Oh, and of course I entered METEOR for "Comet relative."

    Naturally I immediately thought of you, Misty, at EMERITI.

    Take care, all.

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  36. Yep, EMERITI. Misty and a half dozen of my college buddies. I think they got MA's and later PhDs in Economics. Whatever happened to John Maynard Keynes and his theories? Dustbin of history?

    WC

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  37. Thanks, CED. Yes, I definitely learned something, about courage especially.

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  38. Atl. Granny, I love your Polish pottery mug. I have several pieces myself and can’t seem to stop buying “just one more” when I see a new design.

    Spitzboov, very impressed with all your knitting knowledge. Those are instructions, not abbreviations. I love to knit.

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  39. Misty:
    Yes, I forgot to mention that EMERITI immediately brought you to mind. Keith, are you one as well? Anyone else? I know fermatprime is one, too, but she seems to have left us.

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  40. WOEs is me - it was ILLS. Boy did I mess up the NW|NCentral. And, it's not GREgZKY nor ATad.
    DNF.

    Hi all!

    Geography is not my bag Gary :-) Thanks for the puzzle. Like Lem noted, lots of sparkle. Theme is brilliant and well executed.

    Fun expo Lem - thanks for the LEARNing (and for IMPLYing it's not INFER).
    //I was thinking more of F=ma (Newton's second law [Hi TTP!]) but mc² works too (right D-O! @6:48)

    WOs: well, not MAGi...
    ESPs: um, yes(?)
    ???: PAWNEE are from OK? Best little-league team (won state, like, every year!) we played was sponsored by Pawnee Lumber from Pawnee IL.*
    Fav: SIDs [4:47] when it finally dawned on me NOT czars|tsars.

    CED - I don't think anti-nazi (yes, I LIU) would get your post taken down :-)
    //yet(???) *he says impishly*.

    TTP: Texas Tamale Co (available at H.E.B. but they ship!) are not Lucina quality but are still pretty dang tasty. We had them two nights ago. //WC - they're at Publix too(?).

    Enjoy'd reading everyone. Y'all have a wonderful afternoon.

    Cheers, -T
    *proudest baseball moment: executing an unassisted triple-play against them. Cool beans, right?

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  41. Loved the puzzle, Gary -- it took a moment to get a toe hold (thanks, EMERITI), but then I was off and running. Like Wendybird, I came here to learn that "cal/nicola were actually KAL/NIKOLA" ... a couple of crossing Naticks ... so FIW by one homonymic square. I do shudder at the misuse of INFERS for "subtly points out." Gary or Rich, I wonder? Lemonade, thanks for the lively tour, and thanks to all Cornerites for insights!

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  42. Wendybird @ 1506. I'll go with your advice, but the link had this at the top of the page:

    Knitting Abbreviations Master List

    It is maintained by the Craft Yarn Council.

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  43. Puzzling thoughts:

    Gary Larson provided us with a fun and challenging puzzle today; L714 gave us a thorough recap, and I followed many of the links ...

    A bit off my game today, as I kept trying to force CIA into 27-down, which f***** up my SKI P..S; couldn't decide whether it was NIKOLA or NICOLA or KAL or CAL; and for some reason I kept trying to force BENGAL into 17-across ... but the theme and its entries became pretty clear when I got BRAZIL YEN, IRAQ KEY, and VIETNAM EASE to fall without a second thought

    I never took Physics, oddly enough; not in HS nor college, though I briefly thought about becoming a Pharmacist (at Pitt) and took some advanced Chemistry ...

    Speaking of Pitt (University of Pittsburgh), its three iconic tower dormitories were nicknamed after the three competing cleansers of the day (Ajax, BON AMI [or Babo], and Comet). The dorms resembled cleanser canisters. Their actual names were Tower A, Tower B, and Tower C. They are now known as the Litchfield Towers ... click on this link to see pictures

    Speaking of wine, CLARET is, as Lemony described, now known better as a red wine blend. To some, it's a phrase the Brits use to identify Red Bordeaux; blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc.

    As for OAKY, I can vacillate on my likes/dislikes of it depending on how its used. Oak-aging of wine (done primarily in 225 liter barrels) is more like how a chef uses spices when cooking. The flavors that transfer into the wine, from the oak barrel, can vary depending on the source of the oak. For red wines, American Oak (mostly grown in Missouri) can give lots of vanilla and dill flavors; while French Oak (mostly grown in the central part of the country - the Limousin Forest - e.g.) tends more to the dark chocolate or cinnamon flavors. A lot has to do with the tightness of the grain pattern in the tree trunk. A 70 year old French oak tree may be the same diameter as a 25 year old American oak tree ...

    OK, I've reached my 20-line limit ... but can't leave without posting a Moe-ku:

    Al Ahmadi man
    Is known for poetry. He's
    A Hai-KUWAITi

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  44. C.Moe - your Litchfield towers reminded me of OU's Blender where we took most our maths. IIRC, there's fallout-shelter signs at every entrance.
    //OU is about 25m south of SAC's Tinker, AFB.

    That reminds me: ____ER and reading the clue wrong (oh, yeah 1900's was just then not 100 years ago)... I wanted [Boomer!] SOONER for GEN-Y-ER :-)

    Cheers, -T

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  45. Too bad other professions don't call their retirees EMERITI. As a retired prof myself, I rather enjoy the distinction of being Emeritus.
    It sure beats calling oneself the "former" or "ex-"whatever.
    It turns retirement into an achievement instead of a surrender.
    Actually, there's no reason others can't use the term. Give it a shot!

    Tough pzl today. I got about half or a little more on my own steam. Then I started looking for confirmations and hints, and finally outright cheats.
    The trick with the toughies is to know how to strike a balance between challenge and pleasure.
    There I go, being the old sage--again.
    ~ OMK
    _____________
    DR:
    . Only one diagonal today, on the near end.
    It has an abundance of sibilants and too few vowels to offer much in the way of anagrams.
    The best I can manage uses 12 of the 15 letters. It is a title for a team of intelligent dogs, trained in the national pastime, the...
    "SMART-ARFS SOX"!

    They're a new franchise. Haven't made the World Series yet. Nor the playoffs.
    Give 'em time. Arf, arf!!

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  46. Thank you, Wilbur and Lucina, and, of course, Keith, one of my favorite emerituses.

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  47. CED, the history of the WHITE ROSE and SOPHIE SCHOLL to me is just that, history. It is not politics any more than a reference to World War II. I thoroughly enjoyed your link and learned more than I knew. I truly hope this blog will not become an over-sensitive place that prevents discussion. If that were to happen, it might lead to our own rose. IMO. Of course, this is all up to C.C. as this is her forum and her creation

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  48. Moe, thank you for all the added insight into the use of oak barrels and the effect on wine.

    The SPOT OF TEA was a nice CSO to Steve.

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  49. Senegal and The Gambia - two haunting locations where Africans were held until embarking for North America!

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  50. I could say that I had a DNF, but the truth is I never got started. When I first looked at the grid and saw the clues for MAGE, NIKOLA and BRO on the top row, I knew it was going to be a bad day at the Corner. I didn’t know MAGE (guess what I’ve never watched), couldn’t remember NIKOLA (as I’ve said before, roundball is definitely my least favorite sport, PLUS after I looked it up, I put in ‘”C” instead of “K”), and didn’t like the cluing for BRO. Anyway, after skimming through the rest of the clues, I saw that things weren’t going to get any better, so I decided to take my DNF, phone a friend (Mr. Google) and not worry about it.

    I actually figured out the theme answers. Cute! I was also able to get more correct answers than I though I would. Also cringed at the clue for INFERS. That’s two errors this week, eds. (Of course, I haven’t made a mistake since, oh, about an hour ago.)

    Took me forever to get BON AMI. I kept looking for some other model of a Mercury automobile.

    Didn’t realize Sue Grafton had passed. A friend of mine has all the alphabet books lined up alphabetically (of course). Very nicely clued!

    Didn’t like some of the same clues others have mentioned (BIT THE DUST/ATE IT; AT SEA (I’m still without a clue there). Never can keep the GENS straight, so I had GENX first, but BRAZILYEN fixed that one.

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  51. Y’all gotta quit talking about tamales! There is a WONDERFUL little mom and pop tamale factory less than three miles away. Whenever my daughter hosts any kind of family get together (there are --- make that WERE --- many during the year, and SHE is in charge of them), I always order at least three dozen and take them for my contribution to the feast. (“Daaaauuuudddd --- two syllables --- you’re bringing tamales, aren’t you???”) I also always overbuy, so that I can leave some there and still bring some back home.

    Of course, there are other times when my car just happens to make a wrong turn and just happens to be passing by the place, but we won’t discuss that. Bet it happens sometime next week!

    I have other tamale stories, but one is enough for now.

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  52. CED, and all, to go along with the White Rose, here is a bit of information about the White Mouse:


    The White Mouse

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  53. RED and MM -- thank you for those links. I am so impressed with the different ways those two brave women found to resist evil.

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  54. -T --- FYI, Gotta work this weekend:

    Kid's birthday party tomorrow, 1000 - 1200, and I MIGHT hang around another hour or so after it is over. Depends on the aircraft traffic and photo ops coming and going. Saturday afternoons can be pretty dead for arrivals and departures.

    Regular work Sunday, which would be much better --- 1300 - 1700.

    Looks like the wind will be out of the north tomorrow, which can be good or bad. If they are landing to the north, they are already on the ground by the time they get to us; if they are taking off, they are already pretty high. We never know what the pattern will be until we get there, and a lot of it depends on the pattern up at Intercontinental. Houston Center up there is really in charge.

    Sunday, the wind is supposed to swing back around coming in off the Gulf, so we'll have either arrivals (probably) or departures (who knows?) into the wind right in front of us.

    C'mon by, if you like.

    TxMs and d-o --- You're always welcome too!

    From my Shameless Commerce Division:

    1940 Air Terminal Museum

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  55. Chairman Moe, interesting reading on OAKY.

    Dash T, thanks for the tip and link to Texas Tamale Co. Bookmarked. I miss Houston.

    Speaking of KEY on maps, any of you folks in or around Harris County familiar with KEY MAPS ? They're on Durham in the inner loop. Long before smart phones or GPS, Key Maps produced the definitive map books of Houston and Harris County. They apparently still do. I bought the laminated pages version circa 1982 or 3.


    Leo III, there was this unassuming hole-in-the-wall bar on a side street off the SW Freeway somewhere near the Bissonnet, Beechnut, Fondren area. I just can't recall exactly where. It was called the Frontier Lounge. A few of us that lived on the SW side would stop in on Friday nights when the bartender Trixie was working. No food served, so we would sometimes have the "kitchen sink" pizza delivered from Channelo's, which just happened to be her favorite. I couldn't find any info about Chanello's either, but I remember both of those names. And Trixie.

    Anyway, there was this middle aged Hispanic lady that would come into the place with a cloth lined and covered wicker basket full of warm tamales. You could buy 3, 6, 12 or whatever she had left, but when they were gone, that was it until the next time she made them. They were my gold standard for tamales.

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  56. Thank you Malodorous Manatee for the white mouse link.

    The comment by the publisher at the end says exactly
    What I wanted to say, but cannot on this Blog.

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  57. MM - thanks for the White Mouse link! Dang.

    Had to reach for that DR, eh? OMK. ;-)

    LEOIII - If we finally get that storm we were promised today [moved everything in the garage to bring DW's car in before hail(?), I did] I might have time. That was going to be a great storm but instead (did you notice?) the temp dropped.
    A lot!
    I had to put on jeans and a flannel overshirt.
    //folks, it was 80+ degrees this afternoon and it fell to a chilly 63. Tin knows what I'm talking about.

    TTP - Shortly after moving to Houston I was at a bar near the Montrose area (just off Richmond) with a few new co-workers.
    "Dude! The tamale lady is here."
    ?
    That was my 1st experience with street-food. And it was so good.

    If anyone missed my link from the other night - there's a 6 episode series on Hulu called Staged. It is hilarious. DW & I have one more episode to go.

    Cheers, -T

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  58. Fantastic Friday. Thanks for the fun, Gary and Lemonade.
    I’m late to the party after taking advantage of this warm fall day to get in some backyard visits. I managed to finish this CW, but hand up for choosing the C over the K in the Natick cross of NIKOLA and KAL. I should have known.
    “The spelling Nikola is widely used in Slavic language speaking areas, reflecting the transliteration of the Cyrillic spelling Никола.” Wiki

    But. I did manage to correct the S to M in the cross of MAGE and MASS. Yes, I thought the singular was Magus, but EMERITI was certain.
    OMK, I have an Emeritus certificate from my licensing body which was sent as requested when I retired and gave up my licence. I like the idea of using the word more broadly.

    GRETZKY was an easy fill for this Canadian. He was born and raised in Brantford Ontario and has a winery/distillery in NOTL.
    http://www.gretzkyestateswines.com/
    His Dad is still active in fundraising for many charities.

    I just learned about Malbec wine here recently and entered it with a big smile for 15A. Alas, CLARET was the choice of the day.

    Good evening to you all.

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  59. AnonT - we are having similar weather. 24C/75F today, storm tonight and 8C/46F forecast for tomorrow. Time to get out the woollies!

    ReplyDelete

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