google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday February 28, 2021 Mark McClain

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Feb 28, 2021

Sunday February 28, 2021 Mark McClain

Theme:  "Start the Music" - The start of each theme entry is a music genre.

26A. Summer cottage, perhaps: COUNTRY RETREAT.

48A. Prior conviction, e.g.: RAP SHEET ENTRY.

64A. Iberian landmark that's an insurance company logo: ROCK OF GIBRALTAR.

84A. Personal exam?: SOUL-SEARCHING.

108A. Commonsense approach to behavior analysis: FOLK PSYCHOLOGY.

15D. Start celebrating: POP THE CORK.

70D. Topping for chicken enchiladas: SALSA VERDE.

We also have 52A. One of the ones that "say so much," in an Elton John hit: SAD SONG.

Often our first themer starts in Row 3. Today it starts in Row 4. Probably because it gave Mark the best result. If you have 7 theme entries with 15-letter middle, this is a great grid to emulate. Notice how he always uses the maximum word count? He always prioritizes clean fill rather than splash long entries.

Mark McClain

Across:

1. Short-legged hopper: TOAD.

5. Untidy types: SLOBS.

10. 25% of doce: TRES. 3 & 12 in Spanish.

14. Period: SPAN.

18. River in Tuscany: ARNO.

19. Tiny island nation near the equator: PALAU. Composed of more than 200 islands.

20. Slew: HEAP.

21. Mom-and-pop business: STORE. Just bought some Job's tears from a Korean grocery store. It's operated by a Korean couple. 


22. Fallon predecessor: LENO.

23. Became aware of, with "to": AWOKE.

24. Victor's wife in "Casablanca": ILSA. She really loved Rick though.

25. Cobbler fruit: APPLE. Do you guys have SweeTango in your local store? I like it better than Honeycrisp. Both were developed here in Minnesota.


29. Emotive speaker: ORATOR.

30. Fell in pellets: SLEETED. Is it common as a verb?

31. Result: AFTERMATH.

33. Musician's gift: EAR.

34. Fitness ratio: Abbr.: BMI. Body mass index.

36. Lake south of London: ERIE.

37. Have something: EAT.

40. Oklahoma's top crop: WHEAT.

44. Handle: SEE TO.

46. Dairy-based quaff: NOG. Eggnog. Also 54. Brewpub choices: ALES. 61. Drinking noise: SLURP. 102. Port alternative: MADEIRA. 106. Bar accessory: OPENER. 117. Champagne spec: BRUT. 34. Bud, for one: BEER. 74. Half of a dinner pairing: WINE. Cheers!

47. Phobia lead-in: ACRO.

55. Pitchers that can't throw?: EWERS. Nice clue angle.

56. Peachy-keen: A-OK.

58. Coronary chambers: ATRIA.

59. Name of the Baltimore Ravens' mascot: POE. Not as lovable as our TC Bear.

60. Programmer's problem, perhaps: LOOP.

63. Facebook count: LIKES.

68. Put back to zero: RESET.

71. Villainous look: SNEER.

72. Half a game fish: MAHI. I had mahi-mahi at Red Lobster ages ago.


73. Reverence: AWE.

76. Unfitting: INAPT.

77. Dusk, poetically: EEN.

78. Not treating nicely: BAD TO.

80. Fussbudget: PRIG.

81. Some fort components: PILLOWS. Our local Star Tribune often has a big ad from MyPillow. I'm amazed. 

87. One way to rest: EASY.

88. Zugspitze, e.g.: ALP.

90. With full force: AMAIN.

91. Senate staffers: AIDES.

92. Pioneering TV brand: RCA.

93. One covering the bases: TARP.

95. Online notes: IMS. Instant Messages.

96. Symbolic uncle: SAM.

98. The other way around: VICE VERSA. Great fill.

112. Showed the courage: DARED.

113. Credit union seizure: REPO.

114. Carpenter's machine: LATHE.

115. Concerning: IN RE.

116. "Let Me Ride" Grammy winner: DR DRE. Encountered quite a bit of legal issues.

118. One who shows the way: USHER.

119. Yemeni city: ADEN.

120. Leave in: STET.

121. AOL and Comcast: ISPS.

122. "Beau __": GESTE.

123. Moms in a glade: DOES.

Down:

1. Barber's powder: TALC.

2. Lunch box treats: OREOS. Chinese packages. Chips Ahoy! on top. Oreos bottom.

3. Set aside: ANNUL.

4. Lorna of Brit Lit: DOONE.

5. Peloponnesian city-state: SPARTA.

6. Many a Grisham hero: LAWYER.

7. Prayer opening: O LORD.

8. Whip up a cake: BAKE. Thank God we have CrossEyedDave! The kid in black jacket.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ctM_QAnokSNMJnFcj-genYvA7fFkgiv2dsrJNonZDRn7de0Jx4sjVGauFSMkXql8lKaMrho_f4oCWMGLEdFN4zH-9VioRLX2wHzbmjzixDmA6J6BfklyOli2JpTzdAplBd-o6WE3_TVa/s1600/Dave2.PNG

9. Bird feeder cake: SUET.

10. Heist figure: THIEF.

11. Be empathetic: RELATE.

12. NBA's __ Conference: EASTERN.

13. Cruise ship feature: SPA.

14. Mar. honoree: ST PAT. Here's a memorable St Patrick's Day celebration. Dear Agnes lost two of her sisters since then.

L-R: Anne, Agnes, Eileen, Mary, and Peggy (March 17, 2019)

16. 1968 album containing "The Motorcycle Song": ARLO.

17. At no time, in old times: NE'ER.

21. __ Lee: SARA.

27. Saw things: TEETH.

28. Bonnie with 10 Grammys: RAITT.  Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.

29. Luxury watch: OMEGA.

32. Jamaica's Ocho __: RIOS. OK, Google says it is "where world-class luxury and tradition collide. Ocho Rios is known for its breathtaking beaches, beautiful views, and a wide selection of shopping options great for high-class brands to charming souvenirs and special mementos."

 


35. __ wear: MEN'S.

38. Immortal army leader: ARNIE. Palmer.

39. Draped garments: TOGAS.

40. Sub alternative: WRAP.

41. Image in a religious painting: HALO.

42. Foil alternative: EPEE.

43. Pack animal: ASS.

44. Starting point: STEP ONE.

45. Colgate rival: ORAL B.

47. Moving around: ASTIR.

49. 1964 Civil Rts. Act creation: EEOC. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

50. "Return of the Jedi" beings: EWOKS.

51. MYOB word: YOUR. Mind Your Own Business.
53. __ Lama: DALAI.


57. "The Honeymooners" surname: KRAMDEN.

60. Popular long shot: LOTTO.

61. Title for Richard Starkey: SIR. Ringo Starr

62. Montana motto metal: PLATA. Oro y plata.

64. Email option: REPLY.

65. Professional charges: FEES.

66. Piazza de Ferrari city: GENOA.

67. God with a hammer: THOR.

68. Redder, perhaps: RIPER. My grandma used to have two persimmon trees. They were bitter if not ripe.


69. Computer that was retired in 1955: ENIAC.

73. Quite dry: ARID.

75. Poaching targets: EGGS.

78. Cartoon explosion sound: BLAM.

79. With no changes: AS IS.

80. Key letter: PHI.

82. Do a garden chore: WATER. Still lots of snow in our yard. But spring is coming. And all my three T's are back to the blog. I'm happy.

83. Czech or Serb: SLAV.

85. Inuit craft: UMIAK.  Feel cold just looking at this picture.



86. Stephen King's role as the minister in "Pet Sematary," e.g.: CAMEO. And 107. 86-Down, for one: PART.

89. Would rather have: PREFERS.

94. Support: PROP UP.

96. Sweet-smelling pouch: SACHET.

97. Hold fast: ADHERE.

99. Unmoving: INERT.

100. Give up: CEDE.

101. Places to put coins: SLOTS. 106. Santa Anita numbers: ODDS.

102. Enduring legends: MYTHS. You guys have heard a lot about mooncakes and Mid-Autumn Festival from me over the years. Here's the myth behind it. Most of the fancy mooncakes tins have Chang'e on the cover.


103. It ends with the burial of Hector: ILIAD.

104. Last movement of Beethoven's "Waldstein" Sonata, e.g.: RONDO.

105. Come to terms: AGREE.

109. Connect, in a way, with "in": PLUG.

110. RSVP convenience: SASE.

111. Strong desires: YENS.

113. MLB stat: RBI.

C.C.


41 comments:

  1. Good morning!

    Clever d-o read the puzzle title and found the music genres. Yay. Zipped right along until I put IN REVERSE where VICE VERSA needed to go. Wite-Out to the rescue. Thanx for the challenge, Mark, and for the expo, C.C.

    Motorcycle Song -- "I don't want a pickle. I just want to ride on my motorcycle." The song (I use that term loosely) is really about the pickle.

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  2. As C.C. said, Mark's puzzles are always so clean. I've solved over 200 of them over at the Best Crosswords website. Solvers there rate him as one of the top constructors. He is the highest rated among those that have crafted 300 or more puzzles. I especially like his "Weekly Breeze" puzzles.

    Perhaps it is because they are so clean, or perhaps because I am so familiar with solving his puzzles, or perhaps because I got the theme immediately with Rock of Gibraltar, but for what ever reason, I'm fairly confident that today was my fastest Sunday solve ever. The timer on the app shows 25:31.

    That's pretty fast for me. Of course super fast solvers will blow that out of the park. I looked in Dan Feyer's link for solving times of the LAT. "Glen" solved last Sunday's in 6:35 and last Monday's in 1:59... There's always someone faster.

    I enjoyed reading of the myth behind the mooncakes.

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  3. Hello Everybody !!! Good bye February, Hello March. Thirty Days hath September, April, June and no Wonder. All the rest have 31 except Grandma, who drives a Buick !! Weather forecast for Minnesota.. March 1, the last day of winter. The next six days are all over 40 - Good bye snow !!!!!

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  4. I had IN REVERSE for a long time until I finally gave it up for Vice Versa.

    The only error I had was aGain cross with uGiak instead of aMain cross with uMiak. Oh well.

    Ah--I had to deal often in my early coding days (1970s) with the dread Infinite LOOP!! As a last resort I would put in print statements in multiple places so I could see what section(s) repeated.

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  5. Good morning everyone.

    Nice crisp puzzle. FIR. Nice theme - easy to identify with.
    Job's tears - Looks like a good nosh. LIU'd. A millet. Has a nutty oat taste.
    77a. EEN - L. German for 'one'. Double e sounds like the 'a' in 'late'.
    36a ERIE - Glad to see it's back. Did you know that when the wind sequence is right, Lake Erie can be set up to oscillate? Its primary period is a little over 13 hours. The oscillation is called a seiche. Outflows to the Niagara River can as much as double from elevation rise at Buffalo-Ft.Erie.
    88a Zugspitze - The highest point in Germany. Hard by the Austrian border.
    43d ASS - German Esel. Funny - L. German is Langohr (long ear)
    40a WHEAT - German Weizen; L. German Weet. I always heard 'Weet' and 'Hafer' (oats) when I was a kid.

    Yeah, Boomer, it's our last day of Winter, too.

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  6. Musings
    -A_AIN/U_IEK was tricky but I earned a “got ‘er done!” AMAIN?
    -Title gave away the gimmick and I wondered if Mark would have/need a reveal
    -For a SPAN of 30 years, Husker FB was among the very best.
    -Peleliu in the PALAU chain still has artifacts in the AFTERMATH of 1944
    -John Lennon wrote BAD TO ME for Billy J. Kramer And The Dakotas
    -Only funny thing my first principal ever said, “All teachers with AIDES stay after the meeting”
    -Shouldn’t TARP be clued, “It (not one who) covers the bases”?
    -Our SUET blocks will be gone quickly when the dreaded grackles appear this month
    -JEN o ah, Italy, jen NOH ah, Nebraska
    -Gotta run!

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  7. Good Morning:

    I think I have post-vaccine brain fog because not only did I not read the title of the puzzle, but I never even thought about it until reading CC’s expo. I had no idea what the theme was until I filled in the last two themers and saw the music thread. Even then, it never occurred to me to look at the title, and I was a little annoyed by the lack of a revealer. I also blame a morning solve as I always solve at night. Okay, excuses over! Most of the solve hummed along until I made a mishmash in the East Central area by putting Sad Soul, About, Aorta instead of Sad Song, Astir, and Atria. Once I got that straightened out, I had no other difficulties.

    Thanks, Mark, for a fun solve, despite my blissful ignorance and thanks, CC, for the insider’s comments and summary. What, pray tell, are Job’s Tears? I was surprised to see the St, Paddy’s Day photo but it brought back happy memories. Thank you for remembering.

    Have a great day.

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  8. DNF as I had to cheat to fill in the crossings of
    Atria, astir, arnie, (oh, that army.)
    Although, I think I could have sussed it if only I had the "R"
    In Gibralta...
    (Hey, I grew up in Brooklyn, it's always been Gibralta....)

    Learn8ng moment, plata is Spanish.

    2nd relearning moment: oh, THAT song!

    A lot of rememberences at Palau are hidden underwater.

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  9. Hola!

    Fast Sunday solve! I can't recall ever having finished a puzzle before leaving for church! Thank you, Mark McClaine and C.C.! Your Blog is clean and clear.

    I sashayed right along without having to jump around then looked for the music after finishing. I like ROCK and FOLK music but of course classical is my favorite though I didn't see that here. RONDO will do.

    My preference is SALSA roja (red) and not too spicy.

    I'm glad to see WINE was included with POP THE CORK and OPENER, too.

    We hardly had a winter here as it never reached freezing; very mild weather all winter. Spring training will start this week.

    IrishMiss:
    That is such a lovely photo of you and your sisters.

    Have a blast today, everyone!

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  10. Valerie handled most of the chores this morning and steadily worked through the puzzle. Oddly, the last to fall was the Poaching Targets clue where we kept trying to make a game animal fit. Poached EGGS. Three letter word for head slap DOH!

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  11. After I AWOKE and was ASTIR I decided to work this puzzle AMAIN. Three 'A' words. I thought Rich had a limit of ONE.

    Never noticed the music types but I think that all the RAP people think a RAP SHEET ENTRY is a prerequisite for fame. Or maybe they think it is VICE VERSA. Refer to DR DRE and see how much he paid his LAWYER(s). Either way, commit the crime for street cred or the morgue.

    The PILLOW fort had me stumped until the end.
    Only change was KAYAK to UMIAK. Very fast solve.

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  12. Thanks, all for the nice comments, and CC for the wonderful explanation. You were my inspiration for what I like to call the "user-friendly" grid. I'm pleased that Rich chose to used the clue Zugspitze for ALP. That is a place that I have fond memories of as my wife and I visited there twice during my tour of duty in Germany. You can reach the top by cable car (terrifying ride, about a 5,000 ft. climb in one run. Someone mentioned it's right on the Austrian border. The building at the top actual sat (sits?) on the boundary, and at that time you had to show your papers to go from one end of the building to the other. Here's a link to a picture I took at the top (ca. 1968) https://crosswordsbymark.wordpress.com/2021/02/28/zugspitze/

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  13. Loved the START THE MUSIC theme, though I am not a fan of some of those genres. Surprised CLASSICAL did not make it in. Thanks for stopping by Mark McClain!

    Off to a joyful start for me with TOAD, one of my favorite animals. I had one as a pet for many years as a kid in SILVER SPRING.

    Here my dear Cousin Sam posed with my pet TOAD.

    Sadly, Sam died young of the same thing that killed Jim Henson. Strep throat gone into sepsis. I still think it was medical malpractice.

    I loved the LONDON clue for ERIE! CanadianEh I am sure you did, too!

    Here are just a few of my hundreds of photos in LONDON, Ontario.

    We were there so I could attend a work conference at the Western University (University of Western Ontario). Very beautiful campus. I bet it gets cold in winter!

    When I was a student in Boston I got to see ARLO give a free concert in Fenway Park. All I could afford then. Everyone wanted him to play THE MOTORCYCLE SONG. He said it had to be the dumbest song anyone had ever written. But he played it for us!

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  14. From Yesterday:
    Big Easy and Husker Gary Thank you for telling your stories of visiting the VAST Boeing assembly plant in Everett, near Seattle. They don't allow photos inside. But a kind stranger on our tour sent me a photo. Now I am not sure where I put it!

    AnonT Thanks for validating my hazy memory about the mythical SNIPE used to fool the young and naive. I am still easy to fool.

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  15. Hi Boomer,

    Are you saying February is almost over ? I only have a couple of days to finish off this gallon of milk.

    I was watching "How It's Made" and "Bowling Balls" came up as one of the segments. Thought you might enjoy this little 5 minute video. The Hammer being polished and stamped from about 3:50 on looks almost exactly like my Hammer Real Deal. Who knows, maybe this fall I'll see if my 17 year old technology still works...



    Mark, I went to Garmisch and went up the Zugspitze in I think either 1976 or 1977 while serving. It was beautiful up there.

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  16. Thank you Mark for a "Goldy Locks" Sunday puzzle. Lots of interesting fill, and at least one word that I added to my Crossword vocab. Didn't look for the theme, so C.C. had to point it out to me. And thank you as always C.C. for lots of interesting comment worthy commentary, about which more below.

    21A There is no neighborhood STORE to buy Job's Tears from, but I was so intrigued by the name that I just ordered a pound from Amazon. Looks YUMMY.

    30A SLEETED? We live on the "FALL LINE" (divide between the Piedmont plateau and the Easter Shore) and we've been getting a lot of sleet this winter. You've got shovel it right away or you get a layer of ice on your sidewalks if the temps drop.

    55A EWERS? A cruciverbalist will hit one out of the park every time!

    59A The RAVEN's mascot is not very cuddly, but very POEtic.

    14D ST PAT. Our priest today gave a great sermon comparing St Patrick with Harriet Tubman. They were both people who escaped from slavery and then turned around and went back to help free those still enslaved.

    27D SHARP clue!

    38D Another clever one. Fortunately ATILLA wouldn't fit and then I remembered ARNIE'S ARMY.

    68D My sisters will try to tell you that I used to feed them unripe PERSIMMONS from a tree in our backyard, but I CATEGORICALLY DENY IT!

    78D I hear Acme Corporation is having a fire sale on BLAMS this September in celebration of Wile's 85th birthday.

    85 UMIAK is new for me, as I couldn't make KAYAK work. Fortunately it perped.

    D-O @ 6:39A Thanks D-O. ARLO perped, but I didn't remember the Motorcycle Song, and just your mention of the first line brought it all back home.

    FLN - SNIPES are not really mythical. You're just not likely to find one in the woods. And PICARD, I'm with you on CLASSICAL.

    Cheers,
    Bill

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  17. I liked the puzzle today. Interesting fill. I didn't look for the theme because I had no title. It seems that the theme would have been easy to find. IMO theme fill is easier too find on paper.
    When David and Motoko came on Wed. we celebrated Christmas and my 12/25 birthday. Then we chose a laptop at Best Buy and left it for the Geek Squad to transfer my data from the old CPU. David came on Friday and connected it to my printer which can be converted to wireless. It worked great as wireless. Then there was a prompt to update the printer firmware. Doing that scrambled the printer's brain. It would turn on but had a black screen. Epson said it was out of warranty, but the problem was caused by the firmware. More $$$ for a new printer.
    I am on my own machine but will have to check how to turn blue again.
    YR

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  18. No slog today. A smooth sail all of the way. The musical genres helped get things going for the themers and the fill was fairly clued. A ROCKOFGILBRALTAR story from 2003:

    We followed Rick Steve’s advice on parking outside of Gibraltar and walking in. Katie and Tom had a strong desire to tour Gibraltar totally on foot. An aggressive cab driver told us we’d never be able to walk to the top. We walked up to St. Michael’s caves and ate a reasonable good lunch with a good view at the associated restaurant. Then we walked up to the summit: O’Hara’s Battery. A couple of the old nine inch guns are still up there. From the summit, we found another trail along a ridge. Katie was acting as a scout for us and checking out the trail up ahead. She was carrying a plastic bag with some water and granola bars. An ape ran up behind her and snatched the bag away. The ape and his group tore into the contents immediately. That encounter made us decide to descend from the rock. We walked back down and though the shopping area where we stopped for a snack. We got back to the car at about 5:30 PM. Our foot tour of Gibraltar took about 6.5 hours. We walked about 8 miles, some of it uphill, and across an airport runway twice. (CapeMayBeach.net OnTheRoad2003 number 12)

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  19. Fun puzzle.Fun theme.Easy for a Sunday.

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  20. Many moving bushes in the Brenner Pass during our honeymoon in 1961. Turned out to be soldiers in camouflage who did not like my husband's lederhosen.

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  21. ,I would not presume to disagree with Arlo, but, sometimes, leaned over in a big sweeping curve or leisurely riding through the forest or accelerating rapidly as required, or sharing a laugh with riding buddies, he can be forgiven for writing that dumbest song ever.

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  22. Beautiful puzzle and exposition -- thank you, Mark and C.C.!

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  23. Sunday Funday. Thanks Mark (glad to have you drop by) and C.C.
    I needed one red-letter help to finish, and arrived here to discover that I had forgotten to look for the theme music. (Add EAR to the Easter eggs today.) Ah well!

    More music when I thought of
    "Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain
    And the wavin' WHEAT, can sure smell sweet
    When the wind comes right behind the rain".
    We had RAITT, ARLO, DR DRE, and SIR Ringo Starr to add to C.C.'s SAD SONG by SIR Elton John. Plus a RONDO for the classical music fans!
    And who can see ILSA and SAM without thinking of "As Time Goes By".

    C.C. beat me to noting all the alcohol!

    I changed Hero to WRAP (and smiled at the crossing with RAP SHEET).
    Yes, Picard, I was in Britain before Canada for the ERIE clue. Smiled broadly to see it.
    I also smiled at IN RE and DR DRE.

    Picard - great photos of London and Western University. (Friends' daughter is a prof in the chemistry department there). I think your visit must have been a few years ago because London's population in 2021 is listed at 511,000.

    How fast can we go if we go AMAIN in that UMIAK? (hand up for Kayak first)

    Similar to my OHSA or OSHA dilemma, today we had EEOC "Equal Employment Opportunity Commission". I am used to EOE - Equal Opportunity Employer.

    Wishing you all a good day.

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  24. A super Sunday puzzle today. Thanks, Mark. Glad you stopped by, too. Saw the theme entries with COUNTRY and POP, which was a help. Eased around the puzzle, enjoying the clever clues, until an abrupt stop at AMAIN and UMIAK. I guessed the M, then began reading C.C.'s excellent explanation. FIR! A lucky day. Thanks, C.C. for helpfully clarifying answers I didn't completely understand.

    Another pretty weekend day here before rain returns tomorrow. We need it, too, from time to time, of course. Enjoy your day.

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  25. I can't find the directions to get back to my avatar and profile. I didn't want this particular email to be public. I used xword.puzzle.
    YR

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  26. Lemonade, I think it was popemobile (I thought the puzzle was referring to Francis Ford Coppola) and I can't remember the other one.

    Becky

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  27. Delightful music theme for this puzzle, many thanks, Mark--and thank you for stopping by. And I always love your expo, C.C. and was especially pleased to see that sweet picture of Irish Miss and her sisters. Thank you for that too.

    Besides the music, there sure was both food and all those drinks. Made me hungry and want to get glass of Merlot--but not at 1pm on a Sunday, nope. Well, okay, besides the wines, there was also WATER, wasn't there.

    Irish Miss, did you notice that my Dad's RCA job cropped up again today?

    Have a lovely Sunday, everybody.

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  28. Lurking for many years. Just trying to navigate...

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  29. Sunday Lurk Say...

    YR - do you have your ID & pwd for bogger? That should get you back in sans email. Maybe the Geek Squad can push that over to you new computer.

    For those that never heard ARLO's third opus (Alice's Restaurant is #1; City of New Orleans #2), here's the significance of the Pickle in the Motor Cycle Song.

    Enjoy'd reading everyone. Play tomorrow!

    Cheers, -T

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  30. I, too, enjoy reading everyone's comments and today I especially liked Hungry Mother's @1:29. It brought back memories of my visit to Gibraltar though we avoided the apes as we had been warned about their aggressiveness. I have a small souvenir rock on my key ring.

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  31. Anon T I have no idea,where to start or where to plug them in. This from my Kindle, not my computer.

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  32. Thanks for that -T. We can credit Arlo with the invention of a new genre: RockaBilly DaDa.

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  33. Would have been a record time finish but as Spitzboov said:
    "A_AIN/U_IEK was tricky..... " For me however, I never got the "M" in either word.

    DNF for me.

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  34. Well, back from the salt mines, having worked Friday and Saturday. Still haven’t had time to finish either of those puzzles or read your comments. I’ll get to them.

    Today’s took a while, and after using a bunch of Wite-Out, I thought I had won, but the expo showed otherwise. Some of the perps were not kind to me. Still, I enjoyed the puzzle.

    Thanks, Mark and C.C!

    Yes, I was IN REVERSE for a long time too, and I didn’t know UMIAK. You don’t even want to know how I messed up the far west. Suffice it to say that I never ever thought of THAT kind of a fort.

    Unfortunately, the slots now will also take $20 (and I assume higher) bills. My limit is $20, PERIOD!

    Later….

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  35. I enjoyed this puzzle very much. Thanks to Mark.

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  36. JJM - Bob Lee and Husker, among others, commented on the AMAIN/UMIAK cross.

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  37. 30A was unexpected. In British English 'sleet' is a mixture or rain and snow - Wiktionary suggests 'slush' as a synonym.

    I've lived over here for more than 30 years and only today learned that 'sleet' in American English means 'ice pebbles'!

    Does American English draw a distinction between 'sleet' and 'hail'?

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  38. FLN, C-Moe, In Horsefeathers Groucho says Jumping Anaconda. Also, as Gary says, in the jargon the race is a CLAIMER

    "Fell in pellets:" That would be Hailed.

    O LORD won't you buy me ..

    I inked weSTERN but saw it wasn't going to fit even though my Spanish arithmetic is lousy.

    MaloMan, yep and DOES was taken

    Mark, makes one wonder how Hannibal got those elephants across.

    Picard, Sam looks like a TV character that I can't place. My biannual NH→ GR trips took me through London. Yep, Port Huron to get to Michigan. Soooo civilized there.

    Watching that bowling video I'm reminded of Ted Williams and his custom made Louisville Sluggers. Amazing that cheating is considered so black and white.

    I've learned, finally. I'd left the O in Lorna of Brit lit blank because I was thinking of Fallon as connected to medicine. Yep, LIU yields an ad for Fallon Health,(HMO) in Worcester. But I recalled Lorna DOONE but never read it. Actually, this is my idea of Lorna DOONEs

    Wow, finished xword at breakfast station at 11am and here it is midnight. Talk about posting to the ether except the early risers will see this.

    Well clued and entertaining xword.

    WC


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  39. Here's the web's opining about hail etc.
    Go to the AccuWeather link for info about "Graupel" a xword clue sublime

    Hail is a chunk of a ice that can fall during thunderstorms. Unlike snow, sleet, freezing rain and graupel, which occur in colder weather, hail is most common in warm conditions. The size of the ice can vary based on the strength of the thunderstorm, with the largest hail comparable to the size of a softball.

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  40. Did anyone else watch the Golden Globes? I haven't been to any movies this year so it was meaningless to me. I've decided to watch more Netflix since many of the awards were on it. I really admire both Jane Fonda and Sean Penn for their activism. Many people criticize them but I believe they do a great good for people.

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