google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, December 22, 2020 Jake Halperin

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Dec 22, 2020

Tuesday, December 22, 2020 Jake Halperin

There's Nothing to See Here!  The first word of each theme answer is another word for Nothing.

17-Across. "Quiet!": ZIP YOUR LIP.

27-Across. Sinful financial craving: LOVE OF MONEY.  Why Love means nothing in tennis.  Tennis is also a game that has been lethal to royalty.


36-Across. English national anthem originally in French: O CANADA.  Hi, CanadianEh!


46-Across. Exercise involving a push-up position: SQUAT THRUST.

And the unifier:

60-Across. "Just a scratch, really" ... and a hint to the starts of 17-, 27-, 36- and 46-Across: IT'S NOTHING.

Across:
1. Jobs for plumbers: LEAKS.

6. Protein-rich vegan fare: TOFU.

10. "Warts and all" wart: FLAW.

14. Written so as to discourage erasure: IN PEN.  Hand up if your first thought was In Ink.

15. Library ID: ISBN.  This stands for International Standard Book Number.  The ISBN deciphered.



16. Witness' promise: OATH.

19. Pre-performance pitch-setting wind: OBOE.  Did you ever wonder why the Oboe is used to tune the Orchestra?

20. Bible man made from earth: ADAM.  From dust to dust ...

21. "The Matrix" hero: NEO.  The Matrix was a 1999 movie that starred Keanu Reeves (né Keanu Charles Reeves; b. Sept. 2, 1964) as Neo.


22. Chipmunk, e.g.: RODENT.  They are cute little critters.  Everything you wanted to know about Chipmunks, but didn't know to ask.


24. State-sponsored gambling game: LOTTO.

26. Play-calling gatherings: HUDDLES.  Think fútbol, American style.

Geaux Tigers!

29. Ballpark hooter: BOOER.  Meh!

30. Iron mine output: ORE.  A crossword staple.

31. Bacon go-with: EGGS.


35. Form W-2 org.: IRS.  The infamous Internal Revenue Service.

40. Half of dos: UNO.  Today's Italian lesson.

41. Belle's counterpart: BEAU.

43. Fútbol cheer: OLÉ.  The game Americans call Soccer.


44. Clarifying words: I, MEAN.

50. Bigwigs: TOP GUNS.  Top Gun was a 1986 movie about students at the United States Navy elite fighter weapons school competing to be the best in their class.


53. "It __ stopped me yet!": HASN'T.

54. Past the pain of a breakup, say: OVER IT.


55. Have something: AIL.

56. Stop-motion medium: CLAY.  Stop-motion is also known as Claymation.


59. Humans-on-the-moon org.: NASA.  As in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  Hi, Gary!



63. Wrinkle remover: IRON.  Ironing in the age of Zoom.

64. Hammer target: NAIL.


65. Simple question type: YES / NO.

66. Skin concern: CYST.

67. Like a cloudy day: GRAY.  We have been having a lot of gloomy and gray days recently.


68. Pencil maze word: ENTER.  Sometimes the word Enter is just implied.



Down:
1. Minnelli of "Cabaret": LIZA.  Liza Minnelli (née Liza May Minnelli; b. Mar. 12, 1946) is the daughter of Judy Garland.



2. Katelyn Nacon's role on "The Walking Dead": ENID.  I have never seen The Walking Dead, and am not familiar with Katelyn Nacon (Katelyn May Nacon; b. June 11, 1999).


3. Horse with a spotted coat: APPALOOSA.  Apparently they come in all sorts of spotted patterns.


4. Decision that clinches the victory: KEY MOVE.


5. __-Caps: candy: SNO.  Yummers!


6. Lose interest in: TIRE OF.


7. Scandinavian capital: OSLO.  Alfred Nobel (Oct. 21, 1833 ~ Dec. 10, 1896) was Swedish, so why is the Nobel Peace Prize awarded in Oslo, Norway and not Stockholm, Sweden where all the other Nobel Prizes are given out?


8. "The Blacklist" agcy.: FBI.  As in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The Blacklist is a television series starring James Spader (b. Feb. 7, 1960) and Megan Boone (b. Apr. 29, 1983).  The show has been running since 2013.


9. Not cut back, as branches: UNPRUNED.


10. Edible coloring: FOOD DYE.



11. Nutrition info spot: LABEL.  How to decipher the Nutrition label.



12. Make restitution: ATONE.  This is becoming a crossword staple.

13. Arouses: WHETS.

18. "Do __ others ... ": UNTO.  Words in the Golden Rule.  The major religions of the world have a version of the Golden Rule.

23. Emotional poem: ODE.

25. Choreographer Saarinen: TERO.  The only Saarinens I am familiar with are the father (Elie) and son  (Eero) architects, who often make guest appearances in the crossword puzzles.  I don't believe that Tero Saarinen (b. Sept. 7, 1964) is related to the architects.


26. "Hava Nagila" dance: HORA.  Let us rejoice!


27. Passed-on stories: LORE.

28. Painter Claude: MONET.  Claude Monet (né Oscar-Claude Monet; Nov. 14, 1840 ~ Dec. 5, 1926) is sometimes referred to as the Father of Impressionist Painting.  He is probably best known for his series of Water Lilies from his home in Giverny, France.


29. Highchair wear: BIB.



32. Party attendees lineup: GUEST LIST.


33. Irksome insect: GNAT.  Here are a few different types of Gnats.


34. Luke, to Anakin: SON.  A reference to the Star Wars movies.

37. Relying (on): COUNTING.


38. Hooray antonym: ALAS.

39. Goes public with: AIRS.

42. R.E. Lee foe: U.S. GRANT.  As we have previously noted, Ulysses S Grant's given name was Hiram Ulysses Grant (Apr. 27, 1822 ~ July 23, 1885).


45. Third-largest German city, to Germans: MÜNCHEN.  Today's German lesson.  The city was founded by Benedictine monks, hence, the name is derived from Old High German meaning "by the monks' place."

47. Who, in Quebec: QUI.  Today's French lesson.c

48. How carpaccio is sliced: THINLY.  Carpaccio is thinly sliced meat or fish that is generally served raw.  You, too, can make carpaccio.


49. Angelic aura: HALO.



50. Vodka mixer: TONIC.

51. Seed-bearing organ: OVARY.

52. Cuban coins: PESOS.


55. Where Israel is: ASIA.  Sometimes when you go to a restaraunt in Israel, they will tell you they serve Asian food.  What you will get is what we consider middle-eastern food.



57. Diarist Frank: ANNE.  Annelies Marie Frank (June 12, 1929 ~ Feb. 1945) was a Holocaust victim.


58. "Son of Frankenstein" role: YGOR.  Ygor was played by Boris Lugosi in the 1939 movie.


61. Sailor: TAR.  Sailors have been referred to as Tars since at least the 1660s.  It may derive from the word Tarpaulin, which was a cloth covered in tar to make it waterproof.

62. Nautical rope: TYE.  Hi, Spitzboov.  I'll let you explain this word.

Here's the Grid:


חתולה

Merry Christmas, Everyone!


49 comments:

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Started right off with CLOGS where LEAKS needed to go. That's never a good sign. Also tried INKED. Oops. Plus, d-o has gotta get better at reading the complete reveal clue; missed the theme again. Completed in good time, so life is good, even so. Thanx, Jake and Hahtoolah. (I chuckled at your "Boris Lugosi.")

W-2: Usually see lots of 'em at tax time. Our tax program is likely to remain on hiatus next spring. I'm still working at recertification, but wonder why.

UNPRUNED: Sunday night the wind blew over a tree in our front yard, barely missed the car, but damaged the eaves in a front corner of the house. In addition to removing the dead tree, we had the tree crew PRUNE a 100-footer out front that always drops a few dead branches when it's windy. I've got a handyman due to show up this morning to take care of the twisted gutter.

HORA: "Hava Nagila, have two Nagilas, have three Nagilas, they're very small..."

MÜNCHEN: D-w spent two weeks there in late November. Had to trek over to move her mother into assisted living and clean out the apartment. The country was supposedly locked down, but nobody suggested quarantine to her. Odd.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Crossword friends. Did any of you get to see the "Christmas Star" last night? We ventured out to the levee and set up the telescope. Fortunately, it was a clear night and we were able to see the two planets. I probably won't be around the next time these two planets are seen so close together in the sky.

QOD: You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him. ~ Leo Aikman (Dec. 22, 1908 ~ Dec. 1, 1979), American journalist and historian

Lucina said...

Hola!

Hooray! The constructor is correctly listed today! Thank you, Jake Halperin. I enjoyed solving this puzzle.

Many years ago I began training as a librarian but found it really dull (apologies to librarians everywhere) so ISBN is familiar.

Nice CSO to Canadian Eh!

My GUEST LIST for Christmas Eve includes only my daughter, her family and their long time friend, Bret. He and my son-in-law are devoted Batman fans so guess what gifts they are getting?

LOTTO/LOVE OF MONEY near each other tickled me.

No GRAY skies here; it's bright and sunny every day. Now is the best time of the year when temps are in the mid 70s.

I wonder how many young people know what an IRON is or use one? I'm sure my daughter and granddaughter don't even own one.

Thank ;you, Susan, for your sparkling narrative with cute illustrations!

Have a happy day, everyone!

inanehiker said...

This was a quick puzzle with a clever theme - I got a kick out of one of the theme answers being "O Canada" so the nothing being actually O meaning zero in that case. I definitely needed to wait for perps for TERO Saarinen.

We had a great view of the Christmas Star (2 planets) last night - it was very clear and it was cold but not freezing. There is a Mexican restaurant perched on a hill less than a mile from my workplace - so we met friends outside on their patio (we were the only ones crazy enough to be out there) I thought of Tinbeni as we toasted the sight from atop Margarita hill (local nickname). We could still see the two planets but they were so close that if I wasn't focusing hard then it looked like one.

Thanks Hatoolah for all the fun links/blog and to Jake for the puzzle!

ATLGranny said...

FIR today but hurried to read Hahtoolah's review, forgetting to think about the reveal and theme. So missed that important part of the puzzle fun. Sigh. My excuse is that I will have my first therapy on my hand this morning. Exciting to see progress here.

Had a couple of WOs, mainly acne before CYST and COUNTs on instead of COUNTING. Should have read the clue more carefully. I didn't fall for IN ink, getting APPALOOSA in time to see it was IN PEN, the way I do the puzzle every day. Lovely fun, Jake. Thanks! And Hahtoolah, you didn't disappoint today . Thanks to you as well.

Hope you all don't have a GRAY day. Enjoy!

Malodorous Manatee said...

Green Eggs and.....Bacon!
An abacus joke.
A great start to this day.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Appropriately a tad harder than yesterday (Even Tad says so). FIR, plus the theme was more str8forward today.

You can lose a LOTTO MONET if you LOVE gambling
Tennis LOVE: a corruption of l'oeuf "the egg" in French, supposed to look like a zero 🥚 .Accordung to Hahtoolah's link this is incorrect but I like this explanation better than the one given

The puzzle implies that Zero is nothing Here is proof that ZERO is something at Camp Swampy (not Army base, post, or fort)

Almost put soya instead of its product, TOFU when the O from Oslo showed up but knew "The Blacklist " agcy. was the FBI. If I wanna see SNO caps I look out the window. Was looking for a specific color 🌈 for FOODDYE. Bacon go-with? (Francis wouldn't fit). Waited for perps for in ink/INPEN.....YGOR?...wha?

Lucina didn't comment but UNO dos is Spanish. Uno, due is Italian.

Canada eH..Had a 🇨🇦 fraternity brother from PEI who made sure we pledges could sing O CANADA at the drop of a RCM's hat. He'd be asked. "Danny, what part of Canada are you from?" He'd answer "Prince Edward Island". Frequent response "C"mon where you REALLY from!!"

Munich is called Monaco di Baviera (of Bavaria) in Italian so not to be confused with the principality. Monaco means "monk" which fits with the city name origin.

OVARY: although the clue was "seed bearing" in plants could have been added.. When you eat a fruit you're munching on an ovary.

Thought "LIZA with a Z" was just a song

Like fresh plums...UNPRUNED
Ghost....BOOER
One who misplaces macintoshes.....APPALOOSA 😒🙄

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Pretty straightforward and not hard. FIR; no wite-out needed. Liked seeing APPALOOSA. MÜNCHEN was cake.
TYE - A sailing vessel term: A chain or rope used for hoisting or lowering a yard. A tye runs from the horizontal center of a given yard to a corresponding mast and from there down to a tackle. Sometimes more specifically called a chain tye or a rope tye.. We didn't do TYES on our destroyer.
OSLO - We have seen the venues where the Nobel Peace prize is announced in OSLO, and the other Nobel awards are announced in Stockholm. The guide in Stockholm told us that when Norway was granted independence from Sweden in 1905?, the Norwegians, being a contentious lot, were given the Peace Prize to manage and award. (And now you know the rest of the story.)
Anne Frank diary - I have a couple chapters in the original Dutch. Beautifully written. I can see why it captured the world's interest.

In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus:
Eins, zwei, g'suffa ...
Da läuft so manches Fäßchen aus:
Eins, zwei, g'suffa ...
Da hat so mancher brave Mann:
Eins, zwei, g'suffa ...
Gezeigt was er so vertragen kann
Schon früh am Morgen fing er an
Und spät am Abend kam er heraus
So schön ist's im Hofbräuhaus.

מזל טוב

Tinbeni said...

Hahtoolah: Outstanding, informative write-up & links. Good job.

Hand-Up for seeing the "Christmas Star" last night.

Needed E.S.P. (Every-Single-Perp) to get 25-d, TERO, a learning moment.

A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.

Cheers!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I enjoyed the solve and the reveal was a complete surprise which is always a bonus, IMO. Tero was the only unknown but easy to get. I liked the Tar and Tye entries and the abundance of O endings: Sno, Neo, Lotto, Uno, Yes/No, Unto, Oslo, Tero, and Halo.The Ygor spelling is not used often, so I originally had the more familiar Igor.

Thanks, Jake, for an enjoyable romp and thanks, Hahtoolah, for a fun and fact-filled write-up. As usual, several visuals didn’t appear, but I’ll check those again later. However, I really enjoyed André Rieu’s rousing rendition of Hava Nagila. I saw him in concert and it was a fantastic show. I also enjoyed the video of the Carpaccio (which was in a recent puzzle) preparation. I had it so long ago, I can’t even remember where, but I think it was prepared more simply than the video’s representation, especially that sauce addition.

FLN

Dave, I hope Carol will return to good health and get back to her own place soon. Good for you on getting your first vaccine dose.

My mechanic jumped the battery and I ran the car for 30-40 minutes and it’ll be driven for the remainder of the week, as I loaned it to a great-nephew who is home for Christmas. My mechanic wouldn’t take any payment, so I gave him a 1.75 liter of Dewar’s. I’m pretty sure I’m going to sell the car because it’s not being used and I don’t want to have to start it and run it every few days, especially in the cold weather. My insurance is due in January, so this seems like a good time to get rid of it.

Have a great day.

Canada Lover said...

Hahtoolah, loved your blog.

But you missed a little point about all the Zeros or "nothingness".

O CANADA has 2 zeros .... O in front... and NADA ( nothing) on the rear end.
So, a zero at the beginning and a zero at the end.

Merely, a play on words, for an otherwise, obviously, great country.

Irish Miss said...

Mea Culpa for forgetting the CSOs to Mrs. Canada and Mr. NASA. 🤗

Hahtoolah, just checked all of the visuals and was quite amused. My favorites were the ones for Leaks, Nail, and Tire Of.

Malodorous Manatee said...

I.M., while there are other issues that you are considering, for about $40 or $50 you can purchase a "smart" battery charger, also called a Float charger. It is very simple to use and you can then pretty much forget about having to start the car just to keep the battery re-charged.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-ZERO issues with this fun puzzle
-Gotta love word processors, IN PEN discourages editing
-My aunt said my uncle had one breakup, never got OVER IT and died a bachelor
-Thanks for the shoutout, Susan and Agnes, this is my face mask
-I agree with Paul and Art
-Oh, English is a language not a country!
-LORE – The older I get, the better I was
-U.S. Grant’s initials came to be known as “Unconditional Surrender” Grant (fabricated by newspapers) and FDR tossed that phrase onto the table at the 1943 Casablanca Conference without telling anyone first
-We rode a tour bus from MUNCHEN out to Dachau. It brought some realities home to us.

Alice said...

IM, Obviously your mechanic appreciates you very much. :)

Bob Lee said...

I had fun with this one, although I didn't suss the long answer clue until I finished IT WAS NOTHING as the hint. Haha--O Canada!

BTW, the S in U.S.Grant was a mistake when he enlisted at West Point. From a site-> Despite Grant’s best efforts to correct the record, the name stuck, and he eventually accepted it as his own. “Find some name beginning with “S” for me,” he joked in an 1844 letter to his future wife, Julia Dent. “You know I have an “S” in my name and don’t know what it stands for.”

[Always interested in Civil War trivia since my name is Robert Lee. I get asked periodically about my middle initial - it's not E]

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

IM..Is your 🚘 idle for COVID reasons? Would you regret not having it available once life returns to normal? Mal man had a good suggestion.

Lucina said...

I don't know if it was too early or too late but I didn't see the planets last night and it was quite clear. It was 6:45 when I went out and the sky itself was beautiful, sparkling with many stars!

Ray:
I meant to comment on UNO but by the time I posted I had forgotten about it. That is how diminished my memory is. Sigh.

waseeley said...

Thank you Jake for a puzzle that was really SOMETHING, and which I FIR for a change. And Susan I found your review to be highly educational and it WHET my appetite for more.

19A The two O’s in OBOE were pitch perfect for the theme. Even as a non-musician music lover I knew that the OBOE was used to tune the orchestra, but Susan’s extensive link on how we settled on middle A was really fascinating. Who knew?

27A Likewise the link on LOVE,a many splendored thing, especially the subplot on the history of the lethality of tennis to French kings. I’m not a tennis player and I’ve always been mystified by tennis scoring. I think I now understand it much better despite its irrationality. As it is an essential skill for Xwd solvers (like the Greek alphabet and the names of Santa’s reindeer and Snow White’s dwarfs), I have now committed it to memory – Love, 15, 30, and 40. Did I get that right?

31A Green Egg’s and Bacon? Dr. Souse might scrapple with that.

56A A more proper medium for this would by POLYMER CLAY, but it’s too long. “Real” CLAY dries out very quickly and is usually a dull gray color. Polymer clay does dry out eventually, but it can be vibrantly colored. And BTW 20A is traditionally believed to have been molded from CLAY. Earth doesn’t clump too well.

6D TIRE OF. Snoopy claims that “dogs never get bored” -but that's because “there’s never very much to get excited about". Except perhaps when he’s locked in mortal combat with the RED BARON.

Spitzboov 9:16AM If I'm reading your German correctly, I would just add, as long as you have a "Ein ausgewiesener Fahrer".

Bill

NaomiZ said...

I enjoyed the puzzle but was nearly stumped by TERO and YGOR (not iGOR). Loved the review, Hatoolah, especially the suicidal TIRE and the remains of the Elf on a Shelf. We continue to see folks gathering for holidays, in spite of all the ICU beds being full. My daughter's boss has COVID-19, her husband's supervisor has COVID-19, my stepdaughter's hiking partner has COVID-19 ... and my brother is still struggling with symptoms of COVID-19 from the bout he had in April! If everyone would frigging stay home for two weeks, we'd be over this! Since they won't, protect yourselves!

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

As Lucina said, the AZ Republic correctly ID’d Jake Halperin as the constructor. Nothing to complain about although as others said, TERO was solved by perps; my line IN PEN mistake was having LISA/LIZA, but ZIP YOUR LIP quickly corrected

Susan, great illustrations and explanations; I know this one took awhile for you to assemble. Thanks!

Spitz, I hate to admit that I had a minor in German in college. I took German from grades 7-12, and earned 20+ credits in college. Sadly, I never maintained it either through reading or conversation. Es tut mir leit ...

Three more shopping days ‘til Christmas (counting today)

Lucina—> I live in E Mesa and was able to see the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn from about 6:10 - 7:00. It was not as “spectacular” as I’d been led to imagine. I somehow had this image of the Christmas Star (as depicted in many books about the birth of Jesus), but in actuality the spot in the sky was quite tiny. I did see the two planets, though, and a friend of mine in FL (who has a mega telephoto lens on his camera) took a picture which showed not just the two planets, but several of Jupiter’s moons ... sorry you missed it 🙁

Misty said...

Yay, Jake, so glad you got credit for this delightful puzzle in the LA Times this morning! What a fun puzzle, and I loved the NOTHING theme. And thank you for pointing out the O and Nada in O CANADA, Canada Lover.

Susan, as soon as the pictures started piling up, I knew you were the constructor today--they are such a pleasure, many thanks. I especially loved seeing all those APPALOOSA images, and that UNPRUNED garden.

Like others, I too wanted EERO for Saarinen, but had to go with what filled in. And I left IGOR because I've never seen him spelled with a Y. And nice to have my German help out with MU[E]NCHEN.

Hope you manage a good resolution for your car, Irish Miss.

Hope you get helpful therapy, Granny.

Have a good day, everybody.

Ol' Man Keith said...

An excellent pzl from Jake Halperin (properly credited in the LA times), and a brilliant Corner follow-up by Hahtoolah!

How strange to see APPALOOSA appearing again so soon, and just after I posted that picture of one last week.
I know we are to expect coincidences in Cruciverbaliana, but this is really stretching it!

Busy day ahead. I'm expecting a visit from a top digital tech guy this afternoon--coming to help me straighten out a mess of problems with my new iMac.
Cross my fingers, this will actually solve some things...
~ OMK
____________
DR:
We have three diagonals on the far side today. I won't try to make anagrams, though, because these three beat the odds for consonant/vowel distribution.
The main diagonal has only two vowels among the 15 letters, and they are both "U."
The flanking diags go in the opposite direction, each sporting only 2 or 3 consonants!
Meh.

Husker Gary said...

Addendum
-In returning to read more comments, I remembered that this is the day after the Winter Solstice and you can make plans on how to spend your four extra seconds of sunlight as the darkest days are now behind us – astronomically and hopefully in reality. 2020 – begone!

AnonymousPVX said...


Irish Miss...ditto the above, the float charger is what I use for my car(s). If you don’t want or need to drive anymore, that’s one thing, but otherwise, this COVID deal will end. What then, Uber? Might get spendy.

I thought this Tuesday go a bit crunchy.

Malodorous Manatee said...

Of course, per Melvin Kaminsky, it is actually EYE GORE.

Young Frankensteen

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Jake. Dude. Two names and a type-o-horse to start the NW?.... Oy! Thanks for NOTHING :-)

Wonderful Expo Hahtoolah - I still have links to click later (LOVE'd The Matrix trailer!)

WO: Lus(t)->LOVE
ESPs: ENIS, TERO, TYE
Fav: NEO. I thought The Matrix [Neo learns Kung Fu] was going to be another dumb hacker movie (ever see The Net released around the same time? - total crap) and didn't want to see it. Blew. My. Mind.

Spitz - thanks for the explanation of TYE.

Ray-O - you're in find fettle this morning.

IM - Yeah, that chef took way too much time on that Carpaccio sauce. Plus, now you're eating raw EGG and raw meat?!?
//And what MManatee said re: charger - I have one on the '86 Alfa that I drive maybe 2x a month.

Zero's my Hero.

Hahtoolah - Last night I posted this snap of Saturn & Jupiter I took on my iPhone though binoculars.

Girls & I are making cookies today... I'm going to need a nap first.

Cheers, -T

Jayce said...

Zip zoop and solved. I enjoyed this puzzle and Hahtoolah's illustrated exposition. Hand up for having IN INK before APPALOOSA fixed it, and for not knowing TERO Saarinen. Very cool to notice that O CANADA has "nothing" at both ends.

I vehemently agree with NaomiZ. If everyone would frigging stay home! You do not have a "right" to behave in a way that puts others at greater risk of getting sick.

LW and I did go out and see a tiny dot in the sky last night. We know it was not an airplane but we weren't sure if what we were looking at was the "Christmas Star" or some other heavenly body. Shoulda brought the binoculars.

Our daughter in law grew up in MÜNCHEN.

Good wishes to you all. Stay far away from unmasked folks out there.

Hahtoolah said...

Thanks for sharing the photo. We didn’t get a picture, but did see it through the binoculars.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Anon T ....and I asked for coarse fettle!!

Lucina said...

Of necessity I had to venture out to the grocery store today and I must say people are good about wearing masks and staying away from each other. It helps, of course, that the floor is marked with X for standing purposes and so far we are all well. No sickness here, I'm happy to report. The weather is glorious so no need for heavy coats, etc.

Irish Miss said...

MalMan, Ray O, Anon PVX, and Anon T

The main reason my car is idle is that I am a homebody by nature and the older I get, the less comfortable I feel behind the wheel. I haven’t driven on a freeway in probably 10 years, as I get too nervous, even as a passenger. Anyone who only has to fill up the gas tank twice a year doesn’t need a car. The only driving I was doing was a rare trip to the supermarket, which is 3 miles from my house and to doctors’ appointments a few times a year. Uber would be a last resort because I have nieces and nephews who are at my beck and call, should I need them. I have been getting my groceries (and Dewar’s!) delivered for several years and I do a lot of online shopping. So, no, COVID has no bearing on my decision and life without the car won’t be much different than pre-COVID, at least not to any great degree. All’s good.

CrossEyedDave said...

in the spirit of the Theme...

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign...

Well, maybe just one crossword would be ok...

Jayce,
I went back & reread NaomiZ, & was about to say you misread...
But, reread your comments, &, I must say,
To vehemently agree is an oxymoron I was not familiar with...

CrossEyedDave said...

Irish Miss,

I am in the same Boat
(metaphorically speaking)
as you, as I have a 125cc scooter in Florida that runs
maybe 3 times a year...

I have told you before to put the dang thingie on a float charger,
but I have since discovered some more information that may be helpful.

My biggest problem with the Scooter, is the battery is tiny.
Way too small for something that is ornery to start.
So, even with the float charger, combined with starting the dang thingie
using a rental cars battery as a jump start, sometimes I would
kill the battery just trying to start the damn thing.

Fuel injection is great, but the old scooter has a carburetor
which if left sitting with 10% ethanol fuel evaporates into
green muck that just clogs everything. Even adding Fuel stabilizers can only
do so much...

Actually,
adding Seafoam to the fuel worked wonders on cleaning out the carburetors
tiny idle jets. The Scooter used to die going 50 miles an hour
if I suddenly closed the throttle to brake suddenly.

Anywho,
what I learned recently is that the only reason your car lead acid battery
can possibly last 5 years, is that it never uses ALL its energy to start the car,
& then gets recharged.
If and when your lead acid battery gets completely discharged,
it is toast...
There is a way around this,
Lithium Ion Battery PAcks can be completely discharged,
& recharged 1000's of times.

one of these in the glove compartment can get you out of a lot of jams...

Plus you can plug it into the wall at home and recharge it anytime...

Irish Miss said...

CED @4:04 ~ I truly appreciate your concern and advice, but if you read my 3:33 comment again, you’ll understand my reasoning better. 🤔

CrossEyedDave said...

Irish Miss,

Sigh...

I understand,

but my posts are never for just one person,
I hope to enlighten (anyone) of my mistakes.
if just one person gets their car started because of me,
my purpose in life is gratified...

Jayce said...

I, too, have ruined small motorcycle batteries by either neglecting them or overcharging them. I recently learned even the smallish (80 A-Hr, I think) battery in our current car is supposed to be charged at no more than 5 Amps or it will overheat (and thus be destroyed).

Avg Joe said...

One point I haven't seen mentioned in all this battery talk is that a dead battery is susceptible to freezing, which will ruin it. A charged battery is not. So, if the battery is frequently run down, it may need replacement regardless of age. This only applies to northern environs, but one more factor to consider.

TTP said...




@ 9:44 AM. I don't think Hahtoolah missed anything. NADA was coincidental. Perhaps your reveal clue had a different clue that the rest of us had. I read "60-Across. "Just a scratch, really" ... and a hint to the STARTS of 17-, 27-, 36- and 46-Across." The operative word was STARTS. Good catch anyway.


CrossEyedDave, I purchased that same NOCO GB40 a few months ago, albeit for $15 or $20 less than the current price shown on Amazon. It's not only handy for jump starting a car, but has other benefits. I've used it to jump start my push-button-start generator with a dead battery. It can also be used to charge phones or other USB devices during a utility outage. Pretty hand to have around. Dash T has the same one, as well as the GB70.


With temperatures heading into the 50's tomorrow, I think I'll take the time to clean up the yard a bit one last time in 2020. The neighbor has a Sycamore tree and I swear that its leaves are not only the last to fall, but they always wait until the wind is blowing in my direction. Washed the windows last week. Outside work is pretty much over until I get to run the snowblower again, but it looks like it will be awhile before we get any snow.


Avg Joe, yep. I pull the battery out of John Deere every winter and bring it into the basement, recharging it on a trickle charger a couple of times until spring.

Wilbur Charles said...

RayO, I like oeuf better for LOVE, too. I liked the curse of Tennis among royalty too, especially Henry playing tennis while Anne Boleyn was being executed.

Okay, no one wants to say it*. MUNCHEN is our Munich of "Peace in our time" infamy.

Speaking of "Camp" Swampy, the Marine "Bases" are referred to as Camps(eg Lejeune)

I was slow converting over from iGOR/YGOR. There used to be a var. after the clue to indicate , as IM pointed out, not the usual spelling. LIU, I'm wrong. Wiki says Son of Frankenstein(1939) assistant was YGOR.

Waseely, don't for get AD IN/OUT and DEUCE. 40-40 and any subsequent tie is called Deuce.

Re solstice. I was curious so I checked sunset time for Boston vs Tampa. Boston:4.15 pm; Tampa:5.40 pm. Ok. Tampa is ½ a time zone west of Boston so there's 30 minutes. The other hour must come from latitude. I'll have to check the Summer soltice diffs.

WC

*Okay, RayO did as I go further along in posts.

Ps, I'm kate because I was out buying a chicken coop. Not a hen house I was told. Don't ask. Plus the guy came to program a new Honda key that Phil somehow lost. I'm through Thursday on xwords. Ooh, Jeff Wesch for Friday. Woohoo as our xword girl of the day, Misty would say.

LEO III said...

Thanks Jake Halperin for a very nice puzzle today, and thanks Hahtoolah for a very nice review.

Exactly ONE letter kept me from an FIR. I have never seen YGOR instead of IGOR, and I didn’t even think of Claymation. I neglected to proofread, but it wouldn’t have mattered in that case. I also forgot to look for the theme. Duh!

I’ve never missed spelling her name correctly since her “Liza with a ‘Z'” TV show a long, long ago.

CanadianEh! said...

Trying Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Jake and Hahtoolah.
I have been AWOL with Christmas prep, backyard/garage visits, but worked this CW while driving to a visit. We go into complete lockdown on Boxing Day.
I got the NOTHING theme (how did UNO get in the grid?!), but had several crunchy areas where I was sorry that I was filling IN PEN. Plus I FIWed in TWO spots! (Igor instead of IGOR, a misspelling due to not knowing my German MUNCHEN and not being familiar with CLAY; misspelling APPALOOSA even though OMK, I think it was, gave us the word and photo last week, not seeing BOOER, and not knowing TERO. Wow that was a run-on sentence!)

I had to show up here, even if late, to claim my CSO. All at attention for our national anthem! Thanks for the Tenors version, Hahtoolah. Because we are a bilingual country, there is a bilingual version of the anthem (which they sang). Plus we had some French today from Quebec.

I smiled at "Wrinkle remover" above "Skin concern"; I don't think I want to IRON my wrinkles.
We had NAIL and AIL, CLAY and GRAY.
Who wants TOFU and EGGS instead of Bacon?

We had Grey (not GRAY) cloudy skies and could not see the Christmas Star.
Wishing you all a good evening.

CanadianEh! said...

Canada Lover@9?44 - LOL re O CANADA -"O in front... and NADA (nothing) on the rear end"

Ray-O- you probably learned the English version (now updated to "in all of us command" instead of "in all thy sons command" to include the women). We are NOTHING but inclusive!

The history of our anthem shows a number of changes over the years.
https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/anthems-canada/history-o-canada.html

Wilbur Charles said...

Well, finished Friday. Jeff did not disappoint. It recalled a Christmas in 1965 when my brother was in seminary and the fam paid him a visit. There was to be a mass etc but prior to a group of seminarians and my self were watching Green Bay vs Baltimore Colts.

As the game neared it's climax the call went out and all the seminarians had to immediately depart.

And I watched the denouement which was a made or missed Field Goal at the end. Green Bay won of course and went on to the NFL Championship and first Super Bowl. Anybody remember that game! Was the FG good or did it miss.

At the end the seminarians sang a song which delighted all and Jeff reminded me of that day.

WC

Wilbur Charles said...

No, it didn't take me an hour but SW held me up. More on Friday

Yellowrocks said...

Leo,me too, one bad cell, IGOR.
Also, me too, having a German minor and PA Dutch German dialect heritage, I no longer can read the poem. Although my German has atrophied over the years, I still could translate somewhat a few years ago.
I prefer the egg (goose egg) meaning of love in tennis, no matter however iffy.
Hi, Misty. Great pic.
David and DIL want to visit me Christmas week to exchange gifts.I miss them and Kenny so much. David wants to help me buy and set up a laptop then. I miss them all so much. I am having difficulty saying no, but I dare not risk bringing the virus to Alan because of his and his friends' comorbidity household. 2020 brings a heck of a holday and birthday. I am trying to find the courage to say no. David has followed the rosy minimizing philosophy.

Wilbur Charles said...

Well I couldn't help myself. I went and completed Saturday, too. Looks like another hour.

A very typical Saturday solve. Some obscure pps. Best news on both days: If Wilbur can solve it, it's there for the taking

Happy solving. Now for Evan Birnholz Wa-Post from Sunday.

WC

Yellowrocks said...

SUsan, are you saying Santa ate the Elf on the shelf?
How distopian! Yuck.

Becky said...

Yellow Rocks, seriously just say no. Everyone will be better off. If I see my family, daughters, grandsons, whom I haven[t seen since Thanksgiving, which was windy and chilly on my back patio, it will be in their back yard with no food no drinks, so no one will have to take their masks off. We are in LA which is supposed to be in serious lock down. We do it but other people don't. I hate this.