google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday January 25, 2021 Craig Stowe

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Jan 25, 2021

Monday January 25, 2021 Craig Stowe

Theme: JUMPING BEAN (59. Tumbling seed, and a hint to each row of circled letters) - Four different beans are split up (jumping over other letters) in each theme entry.

18. Entirety of a manufacturer's goods: PRODUCT LINE. Pole bean.

23. U.S. Forest Service mascot since 1944: SMOKEY BEAR. Soya bean. Soybean in the US.

39. Indoor tanning aid: SUN LAMP. Snap bean.

53. Out-of-office investigator: FIELD AGENT. Flat bean.

HUMAN BEAN - Boomer. 

This puzzle is similar in approach to the PULLED PORK puzzle we had last week. Pretty tough for a Monday I would say.

RIP Hammerin' Hank Henry Aaron. I believe he started with Milwaukee in 1954. We Minnesotans adopted the Braves as our Major League team until The Twins moved to Minnesota in 1961. Below is a picture of 1955 Topps Double Header card of Hank. It is not mine, but I own the exact same card in my collection. It's in nice condition but has not been graded yet. Looks like this one got an 84.  Notice how the left margin is more narrow than the right. That will knock about 60% from the value. 


 Across:

1. Hesitant sounds: UMS.  University of Minnesota Singers?

4. Grand __ Auto: video game: THEFT.

9. A and B, for blood: TYPES.  Forgot O

14. Long of "Third Watch": NIA.

15. Gung-ho: EAGER.

16. Finnish bills: EUROS.  I purchased a bunch of EURO coins on Ebay when they first came out.  I'm not sure what I did with them.  Maybe I sold them at a flea market.

17. Method: WAY.  And more, much more. I did it "My Way". Frank Sinatra.

20. Sent out: ISSUED.  Tax return documents are ISSUED soon.

22. Inspiring Greek group of nine sisters: MUSES.

26. __ and found: LOST.  Oh My Darling Clementine.

29. Peace of mind: EASE.

30. Hightailed it: RAN.  If I RAN the zoo, said young Gerald McGrew I'd make a few changes and here's what I'd do.  Doctor Seuss.

31. Namesake of a new wing, often: DONOR.  I am not a DONOR, but I may be eligible for a new wing at the VA clinic some day.

32. Dolphin communication method: SONAR.

35. Oregon city south of Salem: EUGENE.  I had an Uncle Eugene, but we called him GUS.  His last name was Gustafson.

36. 4, in 2 + 2 = 4: SUM.  "What did you learn in school today, dear little boys of mine."  Tom Paxton.

41. Reuben bread: RYE.  Break out the corned beef and Swiss cheese.

42. Put-down: INSULT.

44. Inception: ONSET.

46. Lighter brand: ZIPPO.  I owned a couple of these. Don't need them any more.

47. Degree for a CFO: MBA.

48. [Purchase at your own risk]: AS IS.  Now they are selling plastic inserts for masks so you can talk and breathe better.

52. Floride, par exemple: ETAT.

56. Late-night host O'Brien: CONAN.  I miss Johnny Carson - Of course now I am asleep by late night if I'm lucky.

58. Whip (up), as grub: RUSTLE.

63. AAA service: TOW.

64. Author Asimov: ISAAC.  Author of a lot of those goofy quizzes in the newspaper.

65. Lawful: LICIT.

66. Night before: EVE.

67. Rock or pop: GENRE.  I'm afraid I never got out of the Sixties.

68. Traditional piano key wood: EBONY.

69. Like half a deck of cards: RED.  Also Pete Rose.

Down:

1. Not prudent: UNWISE.

2. Swamp gas: MIASMA.

3. Final approvals: SAY-SOS.  Or if your boat is sinking.

4. Conical home: TEPEE.  We have many of these in city parks in Minnesota.  Native Americans are hurting due to Covid.

5. "Jude the Obscure" author Thomas: HARDY.

6. Big head on the set: EGO.

7. Nourished: FED.  Did I mention taxes?

8. Writer Capote: TRUMAN. President when I was born.  Dewey did NOT win.

9. Lunar New Years: TETS.

10. Holiday fireplace blazer: YULE LOG.  We have a station that shows this on TV for 48 hours or so.  Not to me though - I spend my time with MSNBC, CNN, and the Game Show Channel.

11. "Orange Is the New Black" extra: PRISONER.

12. Geological period: EON.

13. Toronto-to-D.C. dir.: SSE.  You need to have a Covid test and a mask to make that trip now.

19. Mangy dog: CUR.

21. Hawaiian strings: UKES.  Famous golf  tourneys in Hawaii now.  No strings attached. 

24. __ flakes: cereal: BRAN.  I prefer Chex and Grape Nuts.

25. Body part thoughtfully tugged on: EARLOBE.  OUCH!  Not mine Please.

27. PlayStation maker: SONY.

28. Sloth's hangout: TREE.  We only have squirrels in our trees here.

31. Fool: DUPE.  Be careful on April 1.

33. Norsk Folkemuseum city: OSLO.

34. Macadamia __: NUT.  I don't think I've ever had one.  I like cashews.

35. Pair of madmen?: EMS.

36. Evaluate, with "up": SIZE.

37. Army outfit: UNIT.  Before Hardheim, Germany - I was in the 606th Medical Company (Ambulance) - Fort Campbell, KY.

38. Female '80s arcade sensation: MS PAC-MAN.  Never played her much.  I was an original Pac-Man player.  I think I mentioned that I drew a crowd about 30 years ago at Great America, Illinois with a score of 208,000.

40. Like neat freaks: ANAL.

43. As good as expected: UP TO PAR.  Golf season is on hold here now.  Too hard to find the white balls.

45. Graffiti signatures: TAGS.

47. Mix at a party: MINGLE.

49. Irish pooch: SETTER.

50. Smitten: IN LOVE.  If you go OUT here you'll need MITTENS.

51. Slow-boiled, as prunes: STEWED.

53. Convection oven need: FAN.

54. Water escape route: DRAIN.  I don't think water will escape from our driveway for a few months.  We need some 40 degrees please.

55. Unc's spouse: AUNTY.  That looks like a constructor's way to spell AUNTIE.  Ain't that right MAME?

57. "Good one!": NICE.

59. "The __ is up!": JIG.

60. Employ: USE.

61. Tot's mealtime protector: BIB.

62. Prefix with friendly: ECO.

 Boomer


60 comments:

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Wow, MIASMA is now a Monday-level word. We must be gettin' smarter. Enjoyed the tour by our "Human Bean," Boomer. (Your Eugene image didn't make the cut.) Nice offering, Craig.

ISSUED: The IRS has announced that the 2021 tax season will be delayed. They won't begin to accept returns until Feb 12th. There's been no announcement about an extended season.

ISAAC: Asimov was one prolific writer -- over 500 books, both fiction and non-fiction. He was a Russia-born professor of biochemistry at Boston University.

ATLGranny said...

An early start today with a FIR. It wasn't a SNAP, though. Extra ink wasted on SAY SOS, ONSET, FIELD AGENT and UNWISE before finding my WAY. Maybe I should finish my second cup of coffee before starting the puzzles to make sure I'm awake enough?

Thanks Craig for Monday fun with JUMPING BEANS for the theme, and thanks to Boomer for getting it under control. I had no trouble seeing your map with EUGENE. Fixed already?

Good to have you back, PK. And do be careful working under your car, Anon T! Hope everyone weathers the winter storms well. See you tomorrow.

Hungry Mother said...

Quick and clean today. I always wonder if it’s LICIT or LegIT, another “aver” or “avow” dilemma. I ignored the circles and have not idea what they are for.

desper-otto said...

Yup, "Forbidden" has given way to a map of Oregon. The elves must've been at work.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

ZIPP(o)ed through this NICE Monday challenge with EASE, but the theme? Do me a fava!..You gotta be kiddin' me ๐Ÿ™„

Unfortunately the first answer was a filler word ๐Ÿ˜ immediately over a TV proper name ๐Ÿ˜ . Not a great start. Have never even firstWATCHed so NIA was perped.

SMOKEYBEAR must be SMOKEY THE BEAR's nicotine addicted smoldering cousin. ...Geological period is an objective length of time (like epoch or era). EON is open ended. But LIU and apparently can be used e.g: "Precambian Eon" (but doesn't sound right ๐Ÿ™‰)

26D could make you go blind ๐Ÿ˜ณ!!...oh..EARLOBE!..never mind ๐Ÿคญ.... ร‰TAT, comme nรดtre Nouvelle York. Waited for BIB to lock in LICIT over legit (Hungry Mom)

Hardly legit:
____ frequently make _____ purchases ____ ...ASIS
As a truck driver _____ in many a mile. YULELOG
Manure.....FIELDAGENT
Before "Here's Johnny" "late night" was ______ UPTOPAR
Need help at sea? Just _____ SAYSOS
Inhaled swamp gas and it kicked up _____. MIASMA

Down to 9 degrees last night ๐Ÿฅถ

inanehiker said...

Quick Monday - with a little crunchiness for the first day of the week! I looked at the circles in retrospect after JUMPING BEAN was filled in - I had never heard of FLAT beans before. I momentarily put in GIG before JIG is up.
I had LEGAL which had to be changed to LICIT by perps - another word that I am more familiar with ilLICIT then with it standing alone.

Thanks Boomer and Craig!

I was hoping for a Packers/ Chiefs Super Bowl but alas only one of my teams was able to move on!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Agree with IH. Puzzle had more of a Wednesday feel. But got everything OK. Did not use the BEAN 'Schtick' in solving. No searches were needed.
EON - Agree with Ray -O - - LICIT, but not seen much

Thanks for the intro, Boomer.

Lucina said...

Hola!

POLE BEAN? It's NEWS to me but I thought of BEANPOLE to describe a lanky person and is FLAT BEAN the same as lima BEAN?

Besides BEANS, RYE, BRAN and NUT join the food group but IMO, it would be UNWISE to serve them STEWED.

MINGLE and MIASMA provided some sparkle today and YULE LOG reminded me that the Christmas season is well over and we are heading into Lent!

Very NICE, Craig Stowe, thank you. And many thanks, Boomer. I'm glad to see you in fine form.

I wish you a splendid day, everyone!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Lucina

Pole beans are a common site in Northeast family gardens. Vines grow upward saves space

Same variety grown as a bush called low beans

Tinbeni said...

Boomer: Good job on the write-up & links.

GO BUC'S !!!! Yeah, I will probably mention that a "Few Times" from
now until the Super Bowl is played at Tamp Bay on February 7, 2021.

And Yup ... I will be routing for the "Home Team."

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

With the score Tampa Bay 31 the Green Bay Packers 26 ... I sure did.

Cheers!

CrossEyedDave said...

Mexican jumping beans:

more than you ever wanted to know...

Vidwan827 said...

Thank you Mr. Stowe, for a nice and challeging puzzle ( for a Monday - ) and thank you Boomer for a humorous review.
Your note, on the lack of symmetry, on the Hank Aaron's baseball card, affecting its nominal value, reminds me on how US currency notes, in mint condition, are also evaluated.
Even a slight fold can reduce the value by Fifty percent.

If you indeed had the first Euro coins, of any european union nation, you should have held on to them, as a collector's item. They would always have been worth a lot more than in a flea market. Speaking of which, I'd love to be at your flea market, desite the fact that I have plenty of fleas in my own bed ...

The picture of Nia Long shows her wearing too many belts, or I'm having double vision ...

Have a nice week, all.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This had a bit of crunch for a Monday but no real obstacles. I saw the beans early on but the reveal was a surprise nonetheless. I never heard of a Flat Bean and while I’ve heard of the others, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of them. After filling in just the MSP, I thought it was leading to MS PIGGY. I never knew there was a female PAC MAN and I’m not even sure what PAC MAN is, other than a video game. I like the word Miasma, although not in the sense it was clued.

Thanks, Craig, for a smooth start to the week and thanks, Boomer, for “bean” our trusty Monday Sherpa and sharing your Boomer humor!

I’m glad so many of you are enjoying those PBS shows I mentioned. I taped last night’s episodes, so I look forward to watching them later today. My hairdresser is coming at 1:30 to cut my hair. She has been making house calls for me for quite sometime, after one of my infamous falls rendered me temporarily housebound.

Congrats to all the Florida folks on the Bucs win and to the KC fans, as well. May the best team win! ๐Ÿ‰

Have a great day.

Malodorous Manatee said...

Based upon the previous posts our mileage did vary. FIR, but I join several others in thinking that it was somewhat crunchy for a Monday. It took me half again as long to solve as the typical Monday puzzle. If I suffered from it, which, fortunately I do not, MIASMA, would not be acting up this morning (one of the very best Ray-isms - and there are many).

Montana said...

Nice start to the week. But, I didn’t know Nia or Miasma, then guessed wrong, so I didn’t finish it perfectly.
Take care, everyone.

Montana

Anonymous said...

Not into this puzzle. I'd never heard of a flat bean, a pole bean or a jumping bean.

A NIA/MIASMA cross on a Monday?

ATLGranny said...

Since there have been comments, I looked up FLAT beans. When I solved, Italian beans came to my mind, but I see now that lima beans and other sorts are also in that grouping. A Monday learning moment for me. POLE and JUMPING beans were explained by Ray O and CED.

Shankers said...

An easy peasy Monday romp in the park. Only change was legal to licit. Only problem is what to do with the rest of the day. Can't wait for the Super Bowl. Two great, great, great quarterbacks.

AnonDon said...


Boomer:
Have you tried spray-painting the golf balls red?

waseeley said...

Thank you Craig and Boomer.

Bit of a POLE vault for a Monday, but the bar
wasn't set too high and I FIR for a change.
As usual I didn't look for themes, but I'm glad Boomer
pointed this one out. I've been pushing dirt around my
garden for over 40 years and have tried many different
types of BEANS, so forgive me for PONTIFICATING a bit.
Here's everything you need to know about BEANS
(and a lot you don't!)

POLE beans, which I grow on rope trellises, take longer to mature than the BUSH varieties, but they yield for a longer period and are easier to protect from BEAN BEETLES. IMHO the two best varieties are KENTUCKY WONDER and BLUE LAKE STRINGLESS. The pods of the first are stringy but are generally grown for their plump BROWN BEANS. The latter variety, make the better SNAP BEAN,as the name implies, but can also grown for their WHITE SEEDS, which resemble NAVY BEANS.

PROVIDER BEANS are by far the best BUSH SNAP BEANS. They are fast growing,prolific producers, and have a meaty, stringless POD.

SOYA BEANS produce a high protein bean and are often grown as a cover crop and plowed under in the Fall to add NITROGEN to the soil. Their pods are leathery and difficult to shell. To grow them for food, you best parboil and freeze them, then thaw and steam them to loosen the pods. They can then be served with a drizzling of butter and easily shelled by hand at the dinner table. The Japanese refer to them as EDAMAME and are popular in SUSHI restaurants.

FLAT BEANS have been for me very difficult. The best are the POLE varieties, I've had zero success with FAVA beans and while I've attempted LIMAS many times, the yield is usually not worth all the effort.

Oh, in my reveries for the coming SPRING, I almost forgot the puzzle. I enjoyed it and as I said above it was a little more challenging for a Monday than usual, but doable. FAVArite answers were MIASMA and ASIMOV. The first because I knew from 1A that it began with an "M" but METHANE wouldn't fit so I had to move on for a bit then circle back. ASIMOV, not because he was obscure, but because I read a lot of his SciFi and SCIENCE books when I was young. He was absolutely one
of the most prolific writers of the 20th Century. He must have spent every waking moment of his life writing:

A Catalogue of Isaac Asimov's Books


Bill

oc4beach said...


Finished it with a few hiccups along the way today. As others said, it was slightly crunchy for a Monday, but doable. Even though there were circles, I really didn't look for the theme.

I liked Boomer's Human Bean.

A few of the hiccups:

LEGAL vs. LICIT
RETIREDCOP vs. FIELDAGENT (misread the clue)
? vs. MIASMA
ERA vs. EON
SOUND vs. SONAR

All of the above were easily fixed by perps.

I still have my 50+ year old ZIPPO. Haven't used it in decades.

And I feel that it should be SMOKEY THE BEAR.

Have a great day everyone and please wear your masks.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-UH or UM, NIA and MIASMA to start? Craig, don’t you get calendars showing Monday in Toronto? :-)
-We had BEANS and rice at our fav Mexican restaurant last night and the staff was nice enough to turn one of their 10 TV’s to the Chiefs/Bills game from the soccer they had on. Big Tip!!
-Trying to get a fastball past Hank Aaron is like trying to get the sunrise past a rooster
-Better known NIA Vardalos or NIA Peeples on a Monday? No, Rich or Craig went more obscure
-EUGENE is famous for letting Animal House film on campus.
-Grandson has a $30,000/yr offer from the Ducks.
-ZIPPO at Normandy
-I got the three dozen golf balls I ordered today. We are also getting 9” of snow and 35mph winds today and so testing PAR is a long way off.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Some Covid mask diversion: ๐Ÿ˜ท

Yesterday while grabbing a supermarket shopping cart I assumed the 30 something tall masked guy putting his little boy in his own cart nearby was one of our CT techs ......

Me: (muffled through my mask) "Kevin! How's it going?"
Other guy: "Doing fine. Thanks....Do I know you?"
Me: (briefly pulls mask down) 'Kevin, its me.."
Other guy: "Oh sorry, I'm Devon."

Lemonade714 said...

HG, Zippo at Normandy is 403 forbidden to me. I do not envy any crossword editors with so many negative opinions. Too hard! Too easy! Too many sports! Too many actors! Too much current events! Too much history! Too much science! I may not care for a clue/fill combination and I do not get them all right, but I have a good time.


NIA VARDALOS 559,000 google hits; 46 roles in IMDB
NIA PEEPLES 560,000 google hits; 81 roles
NIA LONG 105,000,000 google hits; 67 roles

Thank you, Boomer, Craig, and all who come and discuss


Picard said...

Wilbur Charles Thank you for the shout out yesterday with the video of Patrick Stewart (AKA as Picard sometimes).

Learning moment today. Never heard of POLE, SNAP or FLAT beans.

CrossEyedDave Thank you for that wonderful BBC video about JUMPING BEANS. As a child we had fake JUMPING BEANS that were just capsules with a BB inside. Good to see the real ones.

oc4beach, RayOSunshine and many others: SMOKEY BEAR is the correct name of the bear. But in 1952 a song was written called "SMOKEY the BEAR" which confused things. They said "the" was added to make the rhythm work. As a child in Washington, DC I remember getting to see the real SMOKEY BEAR at the National Zoo. My grandparents lived right by the Zoo.

Fun to see UKES today. Check out this young woman playing a UKE while surfing at UC Santa Barbara!

This was on our local KEYT TV news just last night.

Misty said...

Woohoo! I got this delightful Monday puzzle perfectly, even if some consider it a bit tough. Woohoo! So, thank you, Craig. And thank you for your write-up, Boomer. I especially appreciated your explaining the EMS in MadMen. I got it, but couldn't understand the solution until your image.

Nice to get Thomas HARDY and ISAAC Asimov--and, in addition, TRUMAN Capote.
I got EUGENE, too, but, of course, he's a city. Glad I'm not the only one who put LEGIT before I realized it had to be LICIT. Being a romantic, my favorite, of course, was IN LOVE for smitten. Fun puzzle all around.

Have a good week coming up, everybody.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Picard

Thanks for setting me straight. Darn and I've been calling one of my favorite singers Smokey The Robinson too..๐Ÿ˜ฒ

AnonymousPVX said...


Nice Monday grid, no issues besides the crunch.

Great games yesterday, SB LV, aka 55, ought to be a good one.

Stay safe.

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

CED @ 9:39 —> where DO you find these videos and images??!!! You must be using a different search engine than I ... ๐Ÿคก

So, as I await my third crossword puzzle to be totally accepted and put into a queue for publishing, I recall some sage advice from one of my two crossword mentors: always begin the NW corner with more common and or easier words and phrases. This gets the solver “excited” to see what comes next. As not to criticize today’s constructor, I found the NW a bit gluey with MIASMA, SAY-SOS, UMS, and NIA. This was my last corner to fill. Would’ve been fun to see EUGENE in that area of the grid as it would be more geographically accurate ... Boomer, thanks for the info on your recap. I still have a Hank Aaron card in my small remaining collection, as well as a Joe Adcock (his teammate in Milwaukee)

I too fell for the LEGIT/LICIT error but I soon knew that two EGOS would not fly in this puzzle

CORN/BRAN in the flakes answer (24-Down) but that soon corrected itself when the perps appeared

Second straight day of sub 60 degree temperatures here in the VOTS. More rain, too. Guess Monsoon arrived early this year ...

Not sure how I feel about the Super Bowl. I’ll watch. No particular “dog in the hunt” but I suspect it will be entertaining.

Bill G said...

Hi everybody,

I enjoyed the puzzle. Thanks Craig and Boomer.

Unlike many other people, I'm a big fan of lima beans. Cooked for about 30 minutes until they're soft, and served with butter, salt and pepper. Yum!

Mexican jumping beans are small pods, about the size of a peanut. They contain a little worm. As the worm flails about, it makes the bean move. Many years ago, I found a fellow in Tijuana selling some little 'jumping bean pigs.' They were about the size of a small walnut. The tail and ears were inserted into slots in the 'bean' and were wiggling, supposedly caused by a jumping bean inside the little pig. By the time I got it home, the wiggling had stopped. I pulled out the plug acting as the pig's snout. I looked inside and shook out the contents of the 'jumping pig.' Out fell five dead flies!

Lucina said...

The money count was quick today as attendance was very sparse at Sunday night's Mass, no doubt because of the cold and rain. Easier to watch it on TV.

My early experience with BEANS is almost entirely with pinto beans which we had nearly every day growing up. I learned of the other varieties only in adulthood. Lima beans were commonly served in the convent.

I also got a 404 trying to access Gary's link.

Anonymous said...


Ray O Sunshine, could you pl explain

how does Manure become FIELDAGENT ?

CrossEyedDave said...

Chairman Moe @ 12:49

I guess I just have a talent for looking askew...
;)

CanadianEh! said...

Magic Monday. Thanks for the fun, Craig and Boomer.
Just a little crunch today and I arrived here to discover that I FIWed due to entering urs not UMS, and then forgetting to correct for MIASMA (a word that I am familiar with).
I did see the BEAN theme early, but could not find the yellow and green bush beans that we grow every summer and share with neighbours.

My newspaper does not credit the constructor; I was glad to see fellow-Canadian, Craig, when I arrived here. Yes, we will not be taking that SSE trip to D.C. for a while. Besides the masks and Covid tests, we require a 14 day quarantine on return to Canada. Currently, we are being told NOT to travel anywhere as that would be UNWISE. Won’t need any EUROS either.

Hand up for wanting SMOKEY to be The BEAR. Thanks Picard for the explanation.
Another hand up for wanting Era before EON.

Ray-o, you are in rare form today. I thought of Carol Burnett’s trademark sign-off with EARLOBE.
Thanks BillG for the Mexican jumping bean story.

Wishing you all a great day.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Anon @ 1pm

A medium/product (agent) that is spread over a field (where crops are grown)....(yeah pretty bad ๐Ÿ‘Ž)



waseeley said...

CED @9:39AM The best RUBE GOLDBERG I've seen! LOL!

Ruberap said...

This was an exceptionally easy puzzle. FIR in less than 15 mins. A little disappointed to see Bernie in the rehash. I'm on the right and he is inescapable on my facebook feed these last few days. JK.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle. Hand up for having to change LEGAL to LICIT because of the BIB and ECO, and for wondering about the spelling of AUNTY. I too like the word MIASMA.

We lived in EUGENE for 4 years while I was getting my degree at the University of Oregon. Our son was born there.

I like that photo of Bernie Sanders and those mittens.

Bill G, I add my thanks to CanadianEh's for the Mexican jumping bean story.

Picard, thanks for explaining that SMOKEY BEAR is the correct name of the bear. I didn't know that. "Smokey the Robinson" funny :)

I just read today that it is not a good idea to get any other shots, such as a flu or Shingrix shot, within 14 days of getting a COVID shot. Looks like LW and I will now have to reschedule our second Shingrix shots for a few days later. But not TOO many days later, since the second COVID shot comes about 3-4 weeks after the first one. I'm not complaining, though; I'm glad to be getting them.

Good wishes to you all.

LEO III said...

Good afternoon! I FIR! This one seemed easy enough for me. The day of the week/degree of difficulty matter little to me. I can mess up badly ANY day!

Today, the NW corner (MIASMA) was the last to fall. I too had to wait out the UH/UM conundrum. Doing so saved a bunch of Wite-Out. Also had one foot in the LEGIT/LICIT trap, wondering how anyone could get away with BEB, instead of BIB. Oh, maybe if you put the correct word in 65A….

My actual only real unknown was NIA. I knew the word MIASMA, but I didn’t really remember its definition. Perps helped me figure it out, and I looked it up afterward, so now I know.

I had two Irish Setters. Lost them both in very tragic ways – the first one in a freak accident, and the second to cancer. Great dogs, but they KNOW they are beautiful!

My Zippo lighter was engraved with Snoopy lying on his back on top of his doghouse, speaking an expletive that ended in IT in the cartoon bubble above him. Lost it in a snowstorm in Denver, when I was crawling around putting chains on the car. It must have fallen out of my back pocket, which is where I carried it. Haven’t needed it since 1972 anyway.

How many of you guys have burned your leg after putting too much lighter fluid in your Zippo and having a little leak out onto your skin? Ouch!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Fun puzzle & blog, thanks, Craig & Boomer.

The BEANS were a bit al dente, but chewed on thru. Found them all & got the theme. Green bush beans were always a staple in my gardening days. The most memorable bumper crop year had me squatting to pick while I was 8 mos. pregnant. I was so relieved when the spider mites moved in and killed the vines. However, I had the easiest labor to deliver the biggest baby, 9#12 1/2 oz., so figured some good pushing muscles were developed.

DNK: NIA, HARDY, EMS, MSPACMAN. Hand up for Methane before MIASMA.

Glad to see that Bernie thinks his mittens meme is funny. A friend sent one last night that finally got a loud guffaw from me. He was in front of a now falling down tavern in a little town near my hometown that was infamous thirty years ago. Bernie can go home now. He's been everywhere worth seeing and some places he'd never want to see.

Rain here now for the past 12 hours. Not freezing yet. Hope it won't.

Spitzboov said...

Jayce @ 1435 - - When I got my Shingrix 1st shot, I was advised to wait at least 2 weeks before getting any other kind of shot. Probably a good idea; if there's a reaction it would be more clear to identify the shot that might have caused it.

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-This is the URL for the site where some are getting a 404 Error Message: https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images4/1/1216/16/zippo-sands-normandy-day-60th_1_2ffe25ef3b70caa1cb9251b6350f2faa.jpg
-I am a strictly OSX/IOS blogger and sometimes that doesn’t do well with PC’s
-If this was the 1970’s the cluing for SMOKEY BEAR might be Kojak with a Kodak

SansBeach said...

Good afternoon, all. Didn't get past 1a to record a FIW. Miasma an unknown. Nia has shown up enough to remember her. WEES for the other write overs. First entered says ok for say so. Thanks Craig and thanks Boomer for the'splainin'. Boomer, I didn't see Fox listed in your news programming.๐Ÿ˜Ž It's go Bucs for me. Enjoy.

Lucina said...

Bill G:
I enjoyed your JUMPINGBEAN story and have missed your stories lately. I hope you will have more for us.

When we were children we occasionally came upon JUMPINGBEANS and had loads of fun playing with them. I think the local grocer might have sold them.

Lucina said...

On Inauguration day I looked up the temperature in Washington D.C. and learned it was 46 degrees. Believe me, I would have been as wrapped up as Bernie was. The last two days I have worn my heavy coat here which I have only because a few years ago I visited a friend in New York in February.

unclefred said...

Ray-O-Sunshine: U.S. Forest Service would correct you, as they did me when I visited their D.C. public information area, and called the bear on display “Smokey The Bear”. No, I was told, his name is Smokey Bear, not Smokey The Bear. Consider your wrist slapped!

unclefred said...

FIR, but thought it a bit crunchy for a Monday. MIASMA perped in when METHANE didn’t fit. Never saw the theme, and couldn’t figure out how JUMPINGBEAN was supposed to expose it to me. Fun CW, though, thanx Craig! And terrific write-up, thanx Boomer.

oc4beach said...


Jayce: DW got her second Shingrix shot right before New Years, so she should be OK for our February 13 appointment to get our first Moderna vaccine shot. We took a friend's (a doctor) advice to not get them close together.

LEO III: The last time I used my ZIPPO was the Ides of March, 1973. It sits in a jewelry box on my dresser gathering dust.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Having more than one shot, even double shots is fine as long as it's limited to vodka, whisky, gin etc.

And my "DELETE" button is back...(someone tryin' to tell me sumpin'? ๐Ÿค”)

LEO III said...

Picard --- Good to see you today! Wish you’d post more often! I enjoy your perspective and commentary.

I have mentioned before that if the Chiefs made it to the Super Bowl, I would set aside my boycott of all major league sports and watch the game, since I am a HUGE Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid fan. I haven’t watched one minute of anything since last year’s Super Bowl. It isn’t anything political; I am boycotting ALL of the rules changes in ALL the sports, (especially my beloved BASEBALL, I feel is now forever ruined).

I was kinda concerned about TB having home field advantage (and I’d rather see the Pack in the game anyway), but I guess with only about one-third of the stadium’s being filled, and many of the attendees’ being from out of town anyway, it won’t matter much.

I grew up on lima beans, or as my uncle in Savannah called them, butter beans. He’d sit at the dining room table for hours shelling them. Yeah, when we weren’t visiting my aunt and him, we had to make do with the canned variety, but there was nothing better than his fresh ones.

oc4beach: Yeah, that's where mine would be, had I not lost it.

Ol' Man Keith said...

We used to hold a Twelfth Night party--for fellow faulty and students--on a weekend date as close to Jan 6 as possible.
We served Mulled Wine or Yule-Glug and Plum Pudding, and we burned a Yule Log.
We had our own custom with the log. It was a mid-sized piece of timber tied up with a bow. It would be handed around for guests to touch while projecting onto it "something you want to be rid of."
The idea was when the log burned down, that "thing" would be also be burned into ashes.

We kept our tree up (always a REAL one) through the party. Most people enjoyed that. Usually their holidays ended with a bleak New Year's Day. This was a jolly way to keep the Christmas spirit alive, well past Hangover Day & repeats of the Rose Parade..

Miss those parties. They were a lot of work, but I miss them.

Smooth pzl today. Had a bit of trouble getting started in the NW corner. Had UNWARY before UNWISE, and that slowed me down.
But not for long.
~ OMK

Ol' Man Keith said...

"faulty" = "faculty."
Interesting Google-Correct, no?

Malodorous Manatee said...

It seems then that the Cub Scouts, among others, also got it wrong. Remember the song?

Smokey the Bear. Smokey the Bear
Prowlin' and a growlin' and a sniffin' the air.
He can find a fire before it starts to flame.
That's why they call him Smokey and that's how he got his name.

Smokey The Bear Song - Eddy Arnold 1952

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thanks Craig for a fine way to EASE into the work week. Thanks Boomer for kicking-off the after-party.

WOs: ERA -> EON, Mut [sic] -> CUR, Legal -> LegiT -> LICIT
ESPs: MIASMA | NIA
Fav: ISAAC Asimov. I've read everything I could get my hands on.

Ray-O: Northern gardens... May explain why my pole-beans died; couldn't stand the Houston heat. I'll try again this year anyway. Thanks for the info on varieties waseeley.

CED - That BBC crew musta had a blast putting together that segment. Fun story Bill G.

ATLGranny - I won't be getting under there until Thursday eve / Friday afternoon but I'll stay safe.

LEOIII - hand up for burning my let with ZIPPO fluid. Stopped using a zippo when I started to wear slacks at mynew job (wore jeans at DOD); a fluid leak would stain.

Cheers, -T

Wilbur Charles said...

My nut is macadamia as in Pepperidge Farm cookies which ironically I was talking about last Monday*

Asimov's famous trilogy was written after WWII. He, himself, said it was history disguised as SF. The clue is Hari Selden=>N Ratschilde

Gary, I noticed how expensive Titleist Pro VI are. Pinnacles are more my style. Actually, putt-ability is something I look for in a ball. I mentioned those Senior tees yesterday.

I see I neglected to see the clue for ECO and had the G in LIgIT. Another Monday FIW. I saw EGO and never checked the clue.

Love Boomer Monday write-ups. Solving ahead the clueing seemed familiarly arcane and sure enough it was JeffWesch.

WC

Those three letter female actors ending in A seem to be NIA,MIA or AVA. Lemony has a point re. this mania for xword criticism. I like the honesty of Anon-T and Misty (among others) when they can't FIR.

WC

** I now have a Deal c for each day

Becky said...

When I was in college -- K.U. -- I learned the trick of using one hand to flip open the Zippo lighter. I don't recall if it lighted at the same time. I kind of don't think so. I got my vaccination yesterday!!! And an appointment for my second shot for valentines day. No time for the appointment yet, though. It was very efficient, it took three minutes, and then the requisite 15 minutes waiting time.

Becky

Ruberap said...

It seems I am probably one of the slower solvers who read this blog. So I find it funny that this was possibly my easiest solve ever at LA Times. Apparently most/all the clues were right up my alley, like the Slumdog Millionaire.

waseeley said...

Dash T @7:28PM Actually beans like hot weather. They're the last things I plant each Spring. They do like regular watering, but not too much. I water mine with an timer controlled drip irrigation system about an hour a day. They also like lime about once a month and mulch to retain moisture and control weeds. Like all veggies, they need to know that you care.

Anonymous T said...

Nothing puzzlepropos say...

HG, oc4, HungryMother, TTP and other space/computer nerds. I stumbled across this video of Saturn V's computer with one of the IBMers that worked on the computer system explaining it. [44:29] WAY cool!

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Didn't refresh before posting says...

Nice to see you again Ruberap.

Waseeley - Thanks for the gardening tip. Last year, I put the beans in a 2.5'x4' box (built 3 extras garden boxes for Covid 'cuz why not) with some eggplants (got about a dozen from 4 plants). I think I'll relegate them (beans) to the actual garden (which has the daily drip-lines tied into the sprinkler system) this year.

Becky - With jeans on, I could pull the Zippo out of my pocket, swipe back on my thigh to open in, and then swipe forward to light it before lighting my Camel. It was my best trick in high-school :-)

Cheers, -T