google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wendesday June 9, 2021 Julian Lim

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Jun 9, 2021

Wendesday June 9, 2021 Julian Lim

Theme. SURRENDER[S.]  The second word of each two word theme fill is a synonym for capitulation. There's a flaw in the unifier though, as we shall soon see.  

17. *"Rockin' the Suburbs" alt-rocker: BEN FOLDS.  A person's proper name becomes a verb. 

Moderately amusing, but Cf 33D

To FOLD is to capitulate.

24. *"Anything wrong?": WHAT GIVES?  You OK?  Inquiry into someone's general well being.

To GIVE [up or in] is to capitulate.  A different sense of the verb GIVE.

36. *Not much interest: LOW YIELDS. Not much return on investment, like T-bonds and money markets these days.

To YIELD is to capitulate. The noun YIELD becomes a verb, just like magic!.

52. *Ursine dens: BEAR CAVESWhere they spend the winter.

To CAVE is to capitulate. Another noun to verb transition.  Lots of grammatical alchemy going on here.

60. Concede ... or a hint to the last words of the answers to starred clues: CRY UNCLE.

Another way to capitulate.

 

But, you'll notice that the theme fill all end in "S," while the corresponding verb in the unifier does not. The latter represents the base form of the verb in present tense, as used in first and second person.  The added "S" indicates third person.  For example, I sleep and you sleep, vs he/she/it sleeps.  This may be a niggling little quibble, but I find the inconsistency to be troubling, and am issuing a citation.

Hi gang.  Jazzbumpa here, evidently in critical mode.  Let's see what else gives. I will not capitulate!

Across:

1. Twistable container part: CAP. A type of removable top for a bottle or jar.

4. Stark daughter on "Game of Thrones": ARYA.  The deeply troubled middle child of Ned And Catelyn [Tulley] Stark.  If you are familiar with her, no more explanation is needed.  If not, neither of us has enough time.  Read about her here.

8. "__ tardes": BUENAS.  Good Afternoon in Madrid.

14. Kwik-E-Mart owner: APU.  From The Simpsons

15. Spell the end of: DOOM.  Seal the fate of.

16. "Bewitched" witch: ENDORA.  Samantha's mother.

19. Periods of duty: STINTS.  As defined.

20. 38th-parallel land: KOREA.  Approximately the border between North and South Koreas.

21. Covered, as with sugar: COATED.

22. Novel makeup: PROSE.  Not unusual cosmetics; instead, it's normal written language, as opposed to poetic verse.

27. Responsibility: ONUS.  A duty or responsibility.

28. Aviation pioneer Sikorsky: IGOR. [1889 - 1972] Influential in the development of both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.

29. Bottle part: NECK.  Located just below the CAP.

30. Like many MLB players: LATINO.  Many from the Dominican Republic.

32. Sun and Sky org.: WNBA. Chicago Sky and Connecticut Sun are teams in the Women's National Basketball Association.

35. Cowboy Rogers: ROY.  Leonard Franklin Slye [1911-1998] was an American singer, actor, and television host. Following early work under his given name, first as co-founder of the Sons of the Pioneers and then acting, the rebranded Rogers then became one of the most popular Western stars of his era.

39. Do sum work: ADD.  +1 for this nice word play.

42. Southwest art hub: TAOS. In New Mexico.

43. Low-tech travel guide: AAA MAP.  Paper map from the American Automobile Association.

47. The "F" in UHF: Abbr.: FREQ.  Frequency - the vibration rate of a wave.  For Ultra High Frequency [UHF] the range is 300 MHz to 3 GHz.

49. "Not happenin'": UH-UH.  Nope.  No go.

51. YouTube vote: LIKE. Thumbs up.  You could give one to Ben Folds.  [I didn't] 

55. Really cold: POLAR.  Relating to the north and south poles, or weather patterns that come from those directions.

56. Riverdale High redhead: ARCHIE.  From the comic books.  Archie first appeared in Pep Comics #22 in 1941 and soon became the most popular character for the comic. Due to his popularity, he was given his own series which debuted in winter 1942 titled Archie Comics




57. Tablet download: E BOOK.  Reading material, usually in PDF format.

59. "All set here": I'M GOOD.  

63. Epicure: FOODIE.  One with a particular interest in food and its preparation

64. Actor Brad: PITT.  William Bradley Pitt is an American actor and film producer. He has received multiple awards, including two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award for his acting, in addition to another Academy Award, another Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award as a producer under his production company, Plan B Entertainment.

65. 62-Down homonym: AIR.  They sound alike, and no mistake.

66. Astronomer Celsius: ANDERS. [1701-1744] He was a Swedish astronomer, physicist and mathematician.

67. Lemon drinks: -ADES.  They are helpful in hot weather.

68. "Fresh Air" network: NPR.  National Public Radio.

Down:

1. Semi driver's spot: CAB

2. Impersonate: APE.  Mimic.

3. Quit like a wimp: PUNK OUT.  I'm not familiar with the phrase, but it's easy enough to suss

4. Love to bits: ADORE.

5. One played on stage: ROLE.  By an actor

6. "'Sup, bro?": YO DAWG.  Slangy greetings.

7. Alarm-setting hrs.: AMS. In the morning.

8. Make smitten: BESOT.  Quaint ways of falling in love.

9. De-identify, as an Insta photo: UNTAG.  Disassociate the picture from a name, as on FaceBook.

10. Add, as to text: EDIT IN.

11. "Ain't gonna happen": NO, NEVER. Dream on.  Cf 40D.

12. Like many Miami Beach structures: ART DECO.  Read about it here.

13. Airline to Sweden: SAS.  Scandinavian Airlines System or legally Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark-Norway-Sweden.

18. Kind of fuel: FOSSIL. a fuel formed by natural processes, such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms, containing organic molecules originating in ancient photosynthesis that release energy in combustion.  Mainly oil and natural gas. 

21. __ asada: CARNE.  Roasted meat at your local restaurante mexicano.

22. Campaign pro: POL.  Politician.

23. Genetic letters: RNA.  Ribo Nucleic Acid

25. "My guy doing okay, doc?": HOW IS HE.  Inquiry into his physical or mental condition

26. What's up to you?: SKY.  Where the stars are all aglow

28. Illinois neighbor: IOWA.  Flyover country.

31. "That's __ fair!": NOT.  Play nice, now.

33. Lackluster: BLAH.  Meh!

34. Crest box abbr.: ADA. American Dental Association.

37. "__ been served": YOU'VE.   What did I get?

38. Spot for a Wild West brawl: SALOON.  Cliche scene.

39. Langley, e.g.: Abbr.: AFB.  Air Force Base.

40. "Like that'll ever happen": DREAM ON.

 

 41. Response to awful news: DEAR GOD.  Oh, my.

44. Dairy container: MILK CAN.

45. Letters before a pen name: AKA.  Or alias: Also Known As.

46. Each: PER.

48. Scanned black-and-white image: QR CODE.  This thing.


50. Online handle: USER ID.

53. Group with scores: CHOIR.  Musical scores to sing from.

54. Senate staffers: AIDES.

55. Mopes: POUTS.  

58. Data storage unit: BYTE.  The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit of memory in many computer architectures.

59. "__ tree falls ... ": IF A.  Yes, it makes a sound.  Physics does not care where you are.

60. Tax pro: CPA.  Certified Public Accountant.

61. Sassy reaction: LIP.  Disrespectfully talking back.

62. Misspell a word, say: ERR.  Any sort of mistake.

With no further mistakes, we've completed another Wednesday.  Hope you didn't have to capitulate.

Cool regards!
JzB




70 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIWrong, as expected. My WAG for 6d was "gOD! AW, G(ee)", and I have no knowledge of GoT characters.

This was only Wednesday? Seemed tougher, or maybe I'm just off my feed. Felt sort of BLAH all day, for no good reason.

TTP said...

The following never happened...

The constructor submitted this puzzle before it was ready for prime time, and the editor responded with 40D's answer. "DREAM ON."
The constructor replied to the editor with, (6D answer) "YO DAWG ? (24A clue) "Anything wrong ?" (24A answer) "WHAT GIVES ? Where did I (62D answer) ERR ?
The editor responded with the clue in 36A. "Not much interest." "It's just so (33D clue) lackluster. It's just so (33D answer) BLAH"

With a (61D clue) sassy reaction, the constructor replies "That's (55A clue) really cold", and then he (55D answer) POUTS for a bit.

"Well, (3D clue) don't quit like a wimp and don't (60A answer) CRY UNCLE", said the editor.
The constructor emphatically retorted, (11D answer) "NO NEVER ! That (11D clue) ain't gonna happen."

The editor's assistant chimed in. "The (27A answer) ONUS is on you to (10D answer) EDIT IN some sugar-(21A answer)COATED entries that the solvers will (4D answer) ADORE. (37D answer) YOU'VE got to (39A answer) ADD some entries that the solvers will (51A answer) LIKE !"

Knowing the editor and assistant were correct, the constructor gave way and conceded.

"You are preaching to the (53D answer) CHOIR, but (59A answer) I'M GOOD. I know my (5D answer) ROLE. I'll check with some of my (54D answer) AIDES such as (14A answer) APU, (35A answer) ROY, (28A answer) IGOR, (56A answer) ARCHIE, and (66A answer) ANDERS. We will attempt better (22A answer) PROSE in our clues. I should easily find them at that (12D answer) ART DECO style (30A answer) LATINO restaurant in (42A answer)TAOS, eating (21D answer) CARNE asada, I think it's called (18A answer) ENDORA. Anyway, they'll be there stuffing their faces and each trying to prove that they are a more knowledgeable (63A answer) FOODIE than the other."

After the exchange, the editor turned to his assistant. "Constructors like that will (15A clue) spell the end of me. (41D answer) DEAR GOD, (59D answer) IF A another email submission comes in from that (50D answer) USERID, put it in a (44D answer) MILK CAN and seal the (1A answer) CAP. Then put it on an (13D clue) airline to Sweden or (20A answer) KOREA. Make certain that there is no (48D answer) QR CODE on it; I don't want it returned. Give it a real (8A answer) BUENAS, adios ! Better yet, have it delivered to some (55A answer) POLAR (52A answer) BEAR CAVES that can only be found with an (43A answer) AAA MAP. I need a break from all of this. I'm going to have a cold one over at the (38D answer) SALOON."

The crossword was never published.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

OwenKL said...

ANDERS Celsius, an astronomer guy,
Observed auroras in the POLAR SKY.
He made the grade
Proposing centigrade,
But with zero to freeze, one-hundred to fry!

When he first met Luke, did he say, "YO, DAWG!",
That little Sith guy, like a green frog?
An amphibian form,
When he was born
Did he start life as a YODA-WoG?

{A-, A.}

KS said...

FIR, but really disliked all the slang phrases. Meh!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Love me a themeless Wednesday. Went looking for the uncles, and found Uncle BEN at 17a, but couldn't find the others. D'oh. Many MLB players were LATINO; d-o thought they were LAID UP. A tad of Wite-Out saved the day. I thought the plethora of modern jive expressions would trip me up, but d-o got 'er done in only slightly longer than normal Wednesday time. Thanx, Julian and JzB. ("a fuel formed by natural processes, such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms, containing organic molecules originating in ancient photosynthesis that release energy in combustion." Now that's some highfalutin jibber-jabber.)

TTP, great expo. You must've put in hours on that post. You should really try blogging a puzzle sometime.

UNTAG: Calling all techies. Windows Update ran yesterday (2nd Tuesday of the month), and now there's a new icon on the r-h side of my toolbar. It opens to some Microsoft news page and gives me the current weather in Phoenix (thanks to my VPN). I don't like or want it. How do I make that thingie go away? I can't find it in any of the W10 settings.

OwenKL said...

Wow, TTP! That was great! I considered doing a l'ick around bits of that, in a much more pedestrian way, and glad I didn't, you would have overshadowed me so much!

I hadn't known ANDERS Celsius, but ILU his wiki, and he was a prolific guy! He was the first to relate the aurora to the Earth's magnetic field. He proposed a measure of gauging heat from the freezing point to boiling point of water. But his scale was 100° for the freezing point, and 0° for the boiling point. He did some other remarkable things, too.

TTP said...



IF A man is all alone in the forest and says something, is he still wrong ?


D-O, right click on the icon that's on your taskbar. If there's a checkbox next to "Lock the taskbar", uncheck it. Towards the top of the menu, select News and Interests. Deselect Show icon and text. Then select Turn Off. You can lock your taskbar again, if you desire.

BTW, no, that post didn't take very long to write. Also, I'll leave blogging puzzles to the pros !

TTP said...



Thanks, Owen !

A few of the phrases caught my eye as I was solving.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Well, Owen and TTP are certainly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning! Kudos to you both. I caught the theme after Folds and Gives, but the reveal was a cute and clever Aha. Some unknowns were Arya, WNBA, and Anders, but all easily perped. Julian gave us scads of duos today: Polar/Bear, Air/NPR, SAS/Sky, User ID/Byte, EBook/QR Code, AKA/ADA, Air/Err, Dear God/Choir, and Pol/Iowa. And, he certainly brought his A Team: Arya, Andora, Korea, WNBA, ADA, Iowa, AKA, If A, and CPA. CSOs to Owen (Taos), and Lucina (Buenas and Asada).

Thanks, Julian, for a mid-week challenge and thanks, JazB, for the detailed and informative expo.

Late yesterday afternoon, I was feeling hot so I checked my thermostat and while it was set at 72, the temp was 80. The fan was running but the air coming through the vents was not cold. This is the same problem I had a few weeks ago which resulted in getting a new thermostat and, up until today, the system was working fine. It was too late to call for service, so I was going to stick it out until this morning. About an hour later, I heard a loud whooshing noise, followed by a plume of smoke from the outside unit. That dissipated quickly and there were no further incidents. Long story short, tech will be here between 12-4; meanwhile, the ceiling fans are somewhat helpful and, luckily, the outside temps are 80’s not 90’s like we had a few days ago.

FLN

Pat, thanks for sharing that adorable video; the little guy’s graceful “jeté” brought a smile.

UncleFred, thanks for your advice and comments. I may look into a small outdoor grill, one that doesn’t need a huge propane tank.

Have a great day.

desper-otto said...

Thanx, TTP. That pesky icon has been eradicated.

Yellowrocks said...

Crunchy for a Wednesday. I ERRed or foundered in the Great Lakes. ArLa instead of ArYa. Strange name. I had LO DAWG. YO makes more sense. I was so concerned about this that I didn't stop to find the theme.
I immediately pictured the black and white code. I was worried about the QR perps, but I let it stand.
I usually read ebooks on my Kindle. Someone donated a raft of print books last week for us to take. I read one and return it to the pile and take another. I no longer keep piles of books. The ereader has the advantage of storing tons of books to be accessed with one small device.
I sussed ART DECO from a few perps. I was surprised to see that Miami Beach is known for it.

FLN, Anon T, thanks for the reassurance about the dark web. I suspected that out of date info would be harmless, but I wasn't sure..

Lemonade714 said...

TTP you remain un untapped gold mine.

Julian used to be my bane for his Friday puzzles but he has softened up. I did not see the puzzle as blah, maybe JzB you need a vacation.

Have a great day all

ATLGranny said...

FIW today due to failure to proofread. Left BUENoS. One square. Again. But I easily got the theme after the reveal. Didn't see the inconsistency JazzB pointed out. Good catch! And good review today. Thanks. Had a few WOs, starting with 1A where I put lid. DH pointed out later that lids are pried while CAPs are unscrewed. I also had ShIfTS before STINTS. It seemed to fit but UNhAG and NO, fEVER seriously didn't work. Anyway, I'M GOOD and thank you, Julian for an enjoyable start to the day.

That was quite a story, TTP! I thought you had stepped in to blog a puzzle a few times to help out. WHAT GIVES? More of DO's humor?

Middle of the week already! Hope all goes well for everyone.

staili said...

Like d-o, I also was momentarily confused by Uncle Ben and was looking for other UNCLEs before I realized that we were supposed to use the whole phrase CRYUNCLE. I agree with Jazzbumpa that the fact that the first four theme answers all ended in -s but the reveal did not was confusing. But a solid and enjoyable puzzle otherwise.

Anonymous said...

Got this done in just a little under 8 minutes.
Not a fan of all the "yo dawg," "no never," "what gives," etc., but I didn't have a problem with "cry uncle" being singular when the theme answers were plural. Then again, I didn't notice the theme.

kazie said...

Since I don't speak Rap, this was not my favorite Julian Lim Xword, but it caused another interesting juxtaposing for me this morning because of the QR code inclusion. I had just received the following as part of an email from an old school friend in Canberra, ACT, Australia. I'm curious as to whether such a Covid tracking system was ever used in any part of the USA. Anyone? The following is a direct extract from her email:

Every time we visit a coffee shop, restaurant, the gym, the movies or the theatre, we use the App on our phone to ’check in’. You just point your phone’s camera at the QR code displayed on the door or the counter and the App opens and says you are checking in at Joe’s coffee shop or whatever, and you click to confirm. It’s easy to create a list of friends whom you can check in (Richard and Peter for example) so that one person can check others in while someone else is ordering the coffee. The NSW App, but not the Canberra one, also allows you to check out so that if you do get Covid or visit a venue where someone else had Covid, the local Health Department can contact you and tell you to get tested and quarantine if appropriate. It’s compulsory for some venues (e.g. cafes) but in Canberra not for others (e.g. shops). The business owner is supposed to have an alternative way to check you in if you don’t have a smart phone (e.g. through a tablet where the business enters your name and phone number). This is one of the ways that the Victorian Health Department was able to contact several thousand people who were exposed to Covid in the lockdown over the last fortnight. Of course, this only works if the number of Covid cases is relatively small.

Bob Lee said...

Actually, I liked the long phrases except for Ben Folds. Blech!

And AIR and ERR aren't homonyms here in NY!! (New Yawk)

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Some good comments already and interesting reading. Julian has been my bane, too. Agree with KS about slang. Was ready to YIELD a Natick at ARYA x YO DAWG, but WAGged the 'Y' and Tada; FIR. Was my victory pyrrhic? Overall; Wednesday level so' OK.
MILK CAN - Back in the 40's, our milk was shipped to the co-op in 10 gal. MILK CANS. That's 86# of milk plus the tare, making each full can ~100# or so. Each can was filled in the dairy barn and then brought by wheelbarrow to the milk house and placed in an ice water tank (mostly below floor level) until the pick-up truck came the next morning. Lots of repeated heavy lifting. I was lucky, I guess; being still too little to be tasked to handle these particular chores.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-No chance on BEN FOLDS and ARYA but Julian threw me a bone with ROY ROGERS and ARCHIE
-Award winning film actress Agnes Morehead hated the inane ROLE of ENDORA but liked the money
-AAA MAPS – I can’t remember the last time I wrestled with one of these to navigate
-My STINTS of recent driving make me wonder how long haul drivers can tolerate that much time in the CAB
-My dad slung 80lb CANS of MILK before bulk tank trucks ended that practice
-QR CODES now yield restaurant menus which assumes most everyone has a smartphone
-As long as nits are in season, I’ll pick one. An unheard falling tree makes no sound but does make vibrations
-Off to see the Titanic display!
-From yesterday, Lemon the air temp here is lower than at home but the humidity is incredible!

Big Easy said...

If YOU'VE never heard of BEN FOLDS, ARYA, or QR CODE this this puzzle could give you real trouble finishing make you CRY UNCLE. Perps to the rescue for me. ANDERS was all perps.

QR CODE- seen them all over the place but never knew the name. Restaurants are now putting them on tables or on the wall next to the table and want you to scan them to download the menu. I just tell them to give me a menu.

20A clue- 38th parallel land. I know it refers to the KOREAn DMZ but the 38th latitude goes through many countries, north and south of the equator.

PUNK OUT- JzB, I've never heard that term either, only WIMP OUT. The PC crowd of snowflakes will probably protest the use of that word.

LOW YIELDS- best investment if a Series_I Bond.

kazie said...

Bob Lee...not where I'm from either!

desper-otto said...

Kazie, I was trying to figure out why you were using a Not-Safe-for-Work app. Then it dawned on me.

Wilbur Charles said...

I thought the slang would give problems. I saw enough GoT to recognize ARYA. I actually read through the link. Theme:Empowered women

I'm staying ahead, finally grok'ed where Michael Paleos was going on Thursday.

TTP, I liked your tale of constructor vs Editor. YO DAWG keep'em com'n. Jeremy was nice enough to provide Across perps for his arcane downs.

WC

Anonymous said...

“Err” does not properly rhyme with “air.”

Spitzboov said...

Merriam gives the following pronunciations:

Air : \ ˈer \

ERR: \ ˈer , ˈər \

Looks like they rhyme to me. Here in the upper Mohawk Valley which is known for its proper pronunciation of English, they rhyme exactly.

CanadianEh! said...

Wacky Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Julian and JazzB.
Back today after lurking yesterday due to elder sitting.
This CW was a BLAH for me due to unknowns (BEN FOLDS, ARYA) and slang (is this the millennial-attracting update that we were warned to expect?). I won’t Sugar Coat(ed) my reaction. (Loved yours, TTP!)
I got the theme and noted the inconsistency noted by JazzB.

I tried Tours before STINTS, App before EBOOKS, Tavern before SALOON.
My Miami Beach structures were On Shore before ART DECO.
I thought of TripTik before AAA MAP.

No POLAR weather here. We are hot and humid.
Wishing you all a good day.

CanadianEh! said...

Yes, Spitzboov, on the northern side of the border, we also know our English pronounciation (and spelling😁🤣), and ERR and AIR rhyme exactly. Lol!

Ben Folds said...

Yellowrocks ARLA and LO DAWG actually make perfect sense. LO as in short for HELLO. Not fair.

Lucina said...

Hola!

I'm not sure how to react to this puzzle. I finished it just fine but can't say I liked it. If Julian Lim wants to regale us with slang that's ok for him but it's not my cup of tea. Yet, it was not difficult only because I've been exposed to enough reading that I recognize good PROSE as well as slang.

BUENAS tardes and CARNE asada surprised me!

QR CODE. So that's what it's called. I had no idea and of course I can never read it because I don't own a smart phone. DNF for me since I had FREE not FREQ. Even the TV news shows have that now.

Also I had USA MAP not AAA MAP.

I did know IGOR Sikorsky, Brad PITT, ANDERS Celsius, ENDORA, even APU but not ARYA. I have not watched either The Simpsons or Game of Thrones. Never heard of BEN FOLDS either. I could not believe that was a real name.

Many years ago my late brother was in a coma for six months so HOW IS HE became our mantra.
Yes, the hospital bill was in the millions of dollars but the insurance paid it.

JazzB, I agree with you that CRY UNCLE is inconsistent with the theme answers but can we really criticize a puzzle that has no parallel in grammar? I think Julian was just having fun in straying away from convention. Thank you for that thorough explanation without which I would have been at sea.

Kazie:
I've not seen anything like that here.

ERR/AIR sounds the same to me.

Have a fabulous day, everyone!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Has anyone here ever said, "YO DAWG" in their lifetime? Me? NO NEVER. UHUH. DREAM ON. DEAR GOD, please deliver us from slang & irreverence. UNCLE! UNCLE!

PS: I wrote the above before seeing TTP's epic PROSE. BRAVO!

JzB: thank you for your work on our behalfs. (behalves?)

DNK: ARYA, UNTAG, QRCODE, ANDERS, BEN FOLDS (I thot his name was FOLas or something)

Julian Linn, you are an imp.

Anon said...

Absolutely disliked the puzzle. Awful, terrible, too many obscure unknowns. If I had checked that Julian Lim was the constructor, I would not have attempted this thing.

desper-otto said...

BEN FOLDS: Sounds like a play-by-play of the poker game.

AtlGranny: Yes, it was my crude attempt at humor. TTP was one of our regular weekly bloggers for many months. Perhaps that was before your time here. He quit when it finally got to be too much with all the other things he had going on.

inanehiker said...

I enjoyed this puzzle - most of the unknowns were solved by perps. "Game of Thrones" has become like "The Simpsons" for me - I have never watched either - but I know all sorts of characters just from solving crosswords and doing Sporcle quizzes. ARYA is nice and short with common letters so I'm sure we'll see a lot of her in the future. I can never remember how to spell Daenerys Targaryen (just cut and pasted it here) but fortunately it has only been a clue and never an answer that I can recall!

YR - I generally read EBOOKs only when traveling for convenience- but my preference is to hold a paper book - I spend so much time on the computer for work - I don't want to spend more time on it for leisure! In my book club, we always read a classic once a year - usually something really old like "Count of Monte Cristo" but this year it is a YA classic "Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry" - such a touching story, but sad that it was set in 1933 and not enough has changed in the last 90 years!

Thanks JzB and Julian!
Enjoyed your story TTP!

unclefred said...

Irish Miss @7:32 Weber makes a very nice small unit that uses a small propane tank. It is made to be portable, so u can buy a foldable stand for it. I’ve been using one of these units for many years, although I’ve converted mine to use a large, standard sized propane tank. The Weber grill is still available at Home Depot or on Amazon. The other nice things about it are the cast iron grill and the fold up able side thingees that you can set your food on. Give it a look.

unclefred said...

Irish Miss @ 7:32 I just looked up the Weber grill I’m talking about, and it is still available for $189. If u want the stand for it, which I recommend, it’s another $95. Anyway, I’ve been using one of these for about ten years, and highly recommend it.

unclefred said...

Irish Miss @7:32 I forgot to mention that where I looked it up was on Amazon.

CrossEyedDave said...

TTP@6:29
I love it!

Makes me wonder if every crossword tells a story...

Can you tell me a story again tomorrow?
(hmm, or a daily event: The crossword story)
(tales of intrigue, suspense, and general puzzlement :)


To appreciate this really dumb pun,
you need to know the Spiderman story,
and really like rice...

unclefred said...

FIR in 28. As others have mentioned I found the CW a little crunchy for a Wednesday, but doable and fun. Thanx JL!! ARYA was all perps. I seem to be the only person in the country to NOT have watched Game of Thrones so had no idea. ENDORA also ended up being perps since SAMANTHA did not fit and I couldn’t remember mother witch’s name. Only W/O was NOtEVER:NONEVER. Once I had the TA I knew it must be TAOS but didn’t think it was an air-hub, until the perps educated me. Thanx also to JzB for the outstanding write-up.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

That was fun Julian, thanks!

You didn't like the BEN FOLDS [Book link*] Five song, JzB? I thought it was kinda funny. Thanks for the expo.
For those that don't realize - the QR CODE is for wikipidia.org.

WOs: ENDuRA, started MILK J[ug] -> MILKpAN -> MILKCAN
ESPs: ARYA, IGOR (as clued),
Bad parsing: NON EVER(?) Is that more slang?
Fav: 'Do sum work' was cute

A+ TTP! //who was it that would write a little noir PROSE?
{B+, A (sith or a jedi?)}
Funny, CED. UnPC, but funny.

D-O: another annoying thing about Win10 is that some websites will ask, "do you want to keep up to date....?" If you click yes, you will get news notifications, etc.
Click Start and type "notifications." From there you can select what applications & websites can pop-up notifications.

PK - Would it surprise you if I said I've said, "Yo Dawg! Sup??" ? :-)

IM - sorry to hear about your A/C - smoke sounds expensive. :-(
Look for the Coleman party grill - has a little baby propane tank. The Webber UNCLEfred mentioned looks nice too.

QR CODES - iPhones are better about informing you what the QR "says" [see: red box] before allowing you to (choose to) go to a website (I don't know if Androids do that).
Before thinking about security, a "smart" phone would blindly follow a QR Code to a websites (even if it is porn!).
Oodles of fun for a hacker with some stickers to paste about town :-)

Cheers, -T
*I have the book but only read a bit before I got distracted with A Man Called Ove.

Wendybird said...

Canadian ‘Eh, I miss AAA Triptics - very satisfying to flip to a new page and feel we were making progress!
Uncle Fred, I have never watched Game of Thrones either - part of the proud minority I guess.

This Michigander does not rhyme AIR and ERR - sort of POTATO POTAHTO I guess.

Thankyou, Julian, for a crunchy but doable Wednesday - can’t wait to spring “Yo Dawg!” on my fellow octegenarian friends.

Thanks, Jazzbumpa for the fun tour.

ATLGranny said...

DO @ 11:13 AM I thought I remembered TTP's blogs! And AnonT @ 12:17 PM, I remember the noir PROSE guy too, but not his name.

kazie said...

Desper-otto...I don't know what you mean by "not safe for work app".

Spitz...In Aussie English, ERR is pronounced as in "lurch".

Lucina, thanks for your input. Nice to see so many of the old hands still on board!

oc4beach said...


I agree with many others about today's puzzle from Julian. I wasn't thrilled. I didn't get the theme and I also didn't know ARYA, UNTAG, ANDERS and BEN FOLDS. I spelled BUENAS with an O instead of an A. Plus I needed Red Letters to fill in the puzzle, so it was an official DNF.

IM: I hope your Air Conditioning problem is fixable at a reasonable price. My system has been working OK for the last 5 days after the two visits by the repairmen.

I agree with Wendybird about AAA Triptiks. I still go to the AAA office and get paper maps for when I'm traveling. I mark up the maps with a highlighter with the route I plan to take, so that I have an overall idea where I'm going. I do have a built in GPS in each vehicles, a Magellan GPS and the map app on my IPhone to use if necessary but the AAA maps have never tried to take me across a river where there is no bridge like the GPS has tried to do.

Well, now we wait to see what Thursday's puzzle will be.

Have a great day everyone.

Yellowrocks said...

My pronunciation of err does not rhyme with her or pair. I use has the vowel sound of MEH, the same sound I use for MERRY, different from MARY, MARRY or MURRY.

inanehiker, we all have or preferences. I have a cover for my Kindle which allows me to hold it exactly like a book, carry it around, and read it in bed. For reading in bed, I like that it is so light weight. When I am using it for reading it does not feel like a computer. It is so much like a book I forget which one I am reading. I swipe to turn the page on print books and try to lift the page corner on my Kindle. A big advantage that it is lighted and I can enlarge the print. At first, reading on a Kindle might seem awkward, but soon it feels natural.

Anonymous said...

I always learned that AIR and ERR are not homoNYMs, they are homoPHONEs. Bat and Bat are examples of homonyms. A quick google search shows *some* people (wrongly) include homophones and homographs within homonyms. these are mutually exclusive definitions. It would be like having some people think that the word 'square' includes all quadrilaterals and not just ones with all 90 degree angles and equal length sides.

waseeley said...

Wilbur Charles. @9:40 AM Don't give it away. I blogged it and I'm still trying to figure it out! I did include an Easter Egg for you at the end though.

Cheers,
Bill

Misty said...

Fun puzzle, Julian, a bit crunchy, but still, many thanks. And thanks for your always helpful comments, JazzB.

I found this a bit tough in places, but was happy to get many of the names: ENDORA, ROY Rogers, Brad PITT, and IGOR, among others. But I didn't get ARCHIE--guess I don't remember cartoons after all this time. And, is there really such a thing as a MILK CAN? In all my years I've seen milk in bottles and cardboard containers, but not in CANS.

Have a good day, everybody.

Anonymous T said...

YR - do you have the old-school eInk Kindle? I can tollerate reading from that.

Misty - Milk cans are used mostly on the farm for large quantities of milk. They are also used for daring escapes :-)

Cheers, -T

desper-otto said...

Misty in my ute the farmers transferred the milk from the milking machine into a can like this. It's no dainty little jug, as mentioned earlier, a full milk can weighed about 100 pounds. Later dairy standards ruled that Grade A milk may not be exposed to the open air from cow-to-dairy. That was the death knell of the milk can.

TTP, so you think the Kindle is "old school?" I love my Paper-White. It's light-weight, backlit, easy to read, and a battery charge lasts more than a week at my reading rate. The print is high-contrast, and it's easy to select a comfortable print size. When my last Paper-White failed, I tried reading on dw's spare Amazon Fire tablet which had to be recharged daily. Nope. Too heavy. It was only a matter of days before I ordered myself a new Paper-White.

desper-otto said...

Apologies to both Anon-T and TTP. Yup, d-o did it again!

Lemonade714 said...

My Uncle lived on a farm for a while with his second wife. They were very good at fighting and one evening I rode with my father to break up a fight and my uncle threw a milk can at her. They are heavy and he missed. Except for me they have all passed on, so I doubt they care about the story now. The cans are also very important in New England Art MILK CAN ART

Emile O'Touri said...

I think that any crossword puzzle is at least somewhat fun, so they’re all good. This was a glaring exception. Imagine thinking YODAWG is a good thing to put in your puzzle. Just full of slang and tone deaf idioms.

Kelly Clark said...

I get what JazzB says. One fix would be something like a SHEEP-FOLDS/CRIES UNCLE pairing, but gee...with all the theme material Julian gives us, that might've caused construction nightmares. I do so appreciate this blog!

Jayce said...

Like oc4beach I was not thrilled with this puzzle. I had to do a "Grid check" to reveal that many Miami Beach structures are not ORT DECO nor is BUENOS correct. So technical DNF.

I pronounce AIR and ERR the same. I say toe-MAY-toe and my wife says toe-MAH-toe. I say APE-ricot but I hear many say APP-ricot. But heck, I'm also the guy who used to say PEEN-a-lope.

The anchor person on our local news just called a magnetometer a MAG-o-meter again last night. Sheesh.

Take care, all.

Lucina said...


Besides those large cans of milk there is also evaporated milk which comes in a can though a much smaller one. That is what I thought of first.

BUENAS noches. Buenos dias. Night is feminine and day is masculine in Spanish.

I have a NOOK for reading but just could not get comfortable with it. I, too, like the book in my hand and turning the page.

Jayce or others who live in northern California:
My friend is planning a road trip to see the Redwood Forest and then a drive eastward. I think her goal is Idaho. Are you familiar with those roads? I wonder about the state of the roads and how many places to stop overnight. The map is not very helpful. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you.

Lucina said...

Also, BUENAS TARDES. TARDES means afternoon, so good afternoon.

JJM said...

Anon T: I knew you'd come to the rescue re Ben Folds. He's different... but that's what makes him unique. Have all his albums. My favorite tune from "Rockin' in the Suburbs" is Zak and Sara_

Jayce said...

Lucina, we are familiar with the roads going north from our home in the San Francisco Bay Area to the redwood forest area. The best route is Highway 101, which goes along the coast (very pretty) and right up into the redwood forest. There is a side route called Avenue of the Giants where some of the most majestic trees can be seen. So maybe stay overnight in Santa Rosa, which will give her plenty of time to drive up there, stop, get out of the car, and sightsee. After that, continue north to Eureka and stay the night there.

As for heading east, frankly there really aren't any roads that go east to Idaho from there. If your friend has the time, I recommend continuing north on Highway 101, along the gorgeous Oregon coast, where there are several wonderful places to stop and sightsee. Finally, at the north edge of Oregon there is a major road, Interstate 84, that goes east along the southern bank of the Columbia River. Your friend can continue to stay on I-84, through the famous cowboy town of Pendleton and eventually reach Boise, Idaho, or branch off more northward, not an interstate highway but not a bad road, through Walla Walla, Washington and end up at Lewiston, Idaho.

We've made that trip and enjoyed it. I would allocate at least 3 days to do it, maybe 4 days if she takes the time to stop from time to time not only to fill up on gas but to take in the sights.

Misty said...

Desper-otto, my goodness, what a gigantic MILK CAN! Thank you, for setting me straight on this. Also, thank you, AnonT and Lemonade. You learn something new on the blog every day.

OwenKL said...

Re -s, the reveal just says a hint , not a synonym. I see no problem with that.

Space-age koan: If a tree falls in a vacuum, does it make a sound?

I was parsing 11d as an awkward NON-EVER until I read today's write-up.

Homophone for ERR -- I considered ARE and OAR/ORE/OR before deciding AIR was the best fit. But it was a toss-up. As a punster, a near fit is fine for me.
Before I started doing crosswords so heavily, I never used ERR for anything, always ERROR. The only time I ever saw ERR was in "To err is human, to forgive canine". or "To err is human, to forgive, infrequent."

Yipes! Thank you Tony for catching my error! Yoda is a Jedi, not a Sith!

NSFW = Not Safe For Work.
NSW = New South Wales, Australia.

Anonymous T said...

D-O: I thought Amazon dropped eInk when they introduced the Kindle Fire. I didn't realize they brought it (eInk) back (or that it really didn't go away(?)).

I love eInk; easy on the eyes and closer to reading a dead-tree book.

Jayce - come early August we'll be visiting your neck of the (red) woods. I wrote down Avenue of the Giants -- we took 101 the last time we went north to see the trees. I'll run it past DW for approval. :-)

Cheers, -T

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

Hey Ron: YO DAWG! I am pleased to see you tell it like it is!

FIR but with my usual trio of W/O's:

EDITED/EDIT IN; BUENOS/BUENAS; QUxxxx;QR CODE --> I just arbitrarily penned a "U" after the "Q" before reading the clue . . .

No nits, really; the puzzle parsed itself; for me, anyway. I was tempted to put DIESEL before FOSSIL but resisted

I "get" that all of the added lingo and jargon that fits a generation three or four times removed from many of us here can be unnerving. I realize from a number of failed attempts, (actually, the attempt was good; the editor just didn't care for it) that creating crossword puzzles that will satisfy an entire audience isn't easy. Crossword Puzzles have to appeal to the younger generation(s) if they're to survive

unlcefred: Hands up for being another who's not seen Game of Thrones. Now if they had based the show on the wineries along a certain river in France, I'd have watched. Of course the title would be "Game of Rhones"!

wendybird and oc4beach: Here is a link to the AAA Triptik website. Didn't realize that these are still available. We are going on a long road trip this summer, and I may download the APP and see how it works. I remember those (TripTiks) from my youth. BTW, oc4beach, does the "oc" in your handle refer to Ocean City? Just curious

TTP: too funny! Are you getting back into practice for blogging? I still need a sub for later this summer . . . ;^)

oc4beach said...


Chairman Moe: Yep, it stands for Ocean City, Maryland. I have a beach house there and like to go there as much as possible. However, I was there just before the pandemic hit and then didn't get to go back until last month. Missed being there for 14 months. However, we will be going more often now that we have been vaccinated. It's a great place to relax. The only downside that we found last month were the number of restaurants that we liked have closed down for good.

Also, when I was in college during the early '60's I worked for two summers in Ocean City, NJ. I like them both.

Wilbur Charles said...


"proper pronunciation of English".. Isn't this an oxymoron ?

WAseeley, that's all for the Thurs xword talk. Are you doing the write-up? Evan Birnholz Wa-Post xword guy has pulled something similar as TTP may attest tomorrow. I'm stuck on one square.

Misty, ARCHIE was a popular comic book with Veronica and Jughead. Anon-T mentioned a while back a file sharing method that used those monikers

Waseeley, I think I finally grok'ed out the SE. All sorts of mental alphabet runs. Miracle if I FIR

WC

Lucina said...

Jayce:
Thank you! That is really helpful. I'll pass the information to my friend. She will be the one driving, of course.

The Curmudgeon said...

From Wiktionary (air):
Homophones: Ayr, ere, eyre, heir, are (unit of measurement); err (one pronunciation); e'er (US)

>> Roy

unclefred said...

laziest @ 12:47 “ERR is pronounced as in “lurch”. Wait. What? Lurch sounds nothing like “ERR”. I do t get it.

TTP said...


Chairman Moe, perhaps so, but have you considered asking Desper-otto ?  He's filled in from time to time, and he's really good at picking off themes, despite his attestations to the contrary.   Plus, he doesn't tick people off as much as I do, so C.C. gets far fewer complaints.

Uncle Fred @ 11:49, you were correct in your thoughts that TAOS is not an air hub.  The clue was  "... art hub."   Hand up here with the same initial misread.  

However, I think you may need to get your vision checked (or turn auto-correct off on your phone), because it was Kazie (not laziest) at 12:47.  Anyway, people from some areas will pronounce err as the "er" sound in lurch, just as you might pronounce the hesitation or filler word er.  The power of er, um, uh, like, well, you know…
 
Dash T,  I wish you hadn't brought up the question of who it was that wrote those Tec stories in the manner of 40s and 50s film noir.  It will come to me in time, but now it's just bugging me.

Good night, all.

PK said...

Tony, No, nothing you would say or do would ever surprise me. If I said, Yo Dawg, to any of my friends or family over 40 yrs. old, they would be so insulted...

NaomiZ said...

I did the puzzle at breakfast, FIR and enjoyed it. Came here late to see if the constructor collected his due praise, but see there was a lot of gnashing of teeth instead. I can't predict how the Corner will react!