google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, July 29, 2021, Gary Larson

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Jul 29, 2021

Thursday, July 29, 2021, Gary Larson

 




Good morning, cruciverbalists!  Malodorous Manatee here with the post-puzzle recap.

Today, Gary Larson returns to The Los Angeles Times with a very straightforward theme,  As you probably already know from solving the puzzle or, if you have yet to complete the puzzle, from the presence of the gentlemen above, we greet this Thursday with the strains of a traditional BARBERSHOP QUARTET.

Each of the four themed answers contain a word for an item that one might find at a Barbershop.   I believe that they call this a "Partial Entry, Category Member" type of theme.

Here is the reveal, followed by the themed answers:

60 Across:  Where to find the ends of 17-, 25-, 36- and 49-Across: BARBERSHOP.  Or, if you prefer, BARBER SHOP.  A quick bit of web searching reveals that both one word and two words are acceptable.

17 Across.  One of the only two NBA teams that share an arena: LA CLIPPERS.  The team currently shares Staples Center (used as a clue two days ago) with the Los Angeles Lakers but the CLIPPERS are building a new arena in Inglewood, CA.  Oddly, Inglewood is where the Lakers used to play.  The Phoenix Suns defeated both the Clippers and the Lakers in the NBA playoffs this year.

25 Across.  Hive feature: HONEY COMB.

Jimmie Rogers with Dick Clark


36 Across:  Simplicity-based problem-solving principle: OCCAMS RAZOR.



49 Across:  Nevada state flower: SAGE BRUSH.


While the theme was quite straightforward, some of the clues were less so.  However, we do get quite a few crossword "staples" to ease our way.  Let us, now, take a look at the clues and answers:

Across:

1. Letters in a water molecule diagram: HOH.  We commonly refer to water as Aitch Two Oh.



4. Slip by: ELAPSE.  Ah, the classics:  "As Time Elapses" -  Play it, Sam.   "Funny, How Time Elapses"   - Willie Nelson.  "Elapse Elapsin' Away" - Paul Simon

10. Cook's protector: MITT.



14. Vincent's agent in "Entourage": ARI.  ARI Gold is the name of a character in the television show.

15. Light cotton fabric: MADRAS.  When I was in Junior High School, madras shirts, with their distinctive tartan-esque patterns (and, yes, MADRAS and tartan are not the same), were all the rage.  Bitchen!

16. Actor Sharif: OMAR.  What?  You were expecting Dr. Yuri Zhivago?



19. Web __: PAGE.  Could have been SITE.  Or, FOOT.

Webster Webfoot


20. Happens: OCCURS.  Synonym.

21. Put on weight: GAIN.




23. Getaway: LAM.  From the idiom "Take it on the LAM" meaning to flee or escape.

24. Pre-High Holy Days Hebrew month: ELUL.  The months ELUL and ADAR often appear in crossword puzzles.  Fifty percent vowels.

27. Exit via the jetway: DEPLANE.  An intransitive verb meaning to disembark from an airplane.  DESHIP?  See also 66 Across.



30. Stand for something: EASEL.  Noun or verb?  Verb or noun?  Take a principled position?  Nope.  Something on which to put something such as a painting. 

31. Dazzling displays: ECLATS.  The clue defines the answer.

35. Distribute: METE.  Also, a hockey player - Victor METE.

39. Gaucho's weapon: BOLA.



41. Take on: ASSUME.  ASSUME often takes on a different meaning such as "suppose to be the case without sufficient evidence".  I assume that, in this case, it is used as in "to assume the role of".

42. Engineer Citroën: ANDRE.  I never knew his first name.  Thanks perps.

The Eponymous Citroën Deux Chevaux


44. Mix drinks: TEND BAR.



53. Fayetteville sch.: U OF A.  The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas.




54. NBC skit show: SNLSaturday Night Live often airs in our puzzles.

55. Outplay: BEST.  BEST, in this instance, is used as a verb although it can also be used as an adjective, adverb or noun.  If you defeat the reigning  champion did you BEST the BEST?  Could the highlight reel be called "The Best of the Best of the Best"?  Or, do we simply leave that one to the Men In Black?

56. Parodies: SPOOFS.


"Corona Virus Rhapsody", A SPOOF


58. Commotions: ADOS.  Does anyone use, see, or hear this word outside of crossword puzzles?  Shakespeare, of course, being an exception.

62. Tales and such: LORE.

63. Spiny lizard: IGUANA.  An IGUANA also visited us last Thursday.  Same reptilian answer.  Different photograph.  If this keeps up, Thursdays might come to rival Taco Tuesdays.  Nah, it's not alliterative.



64. Mine find: ORE.  Valuable solid material often found in crossword puzzles.

65. "Watermark" musician: ENYA.  Alternatively, an Irish singer who frequently appears in crossword puzzles.

66. Can't abide: DETEST.  The teacher handed out de test to de students.

67. Unmatched: ODD.  There are several ways to define ODD.  The constructor, or the editor, elected to go with a slightly ODD definition of the word.  Now, where did I put that sock?


Down:

1. Like the moon, at times: HALOED.  Okay, another little-used expression but not untrue.




2. Soothsayer: ORACLE.  This could have been clued something along the lines of "Larry Ellison's giant software company".




3. Glitch: HICCUP.  An idiom used to describe a problem that delays or interrupts for a while but does not cause serious difficulties.

4. Qatari leader: EMIR.

Tamin bin Hamad al Thani, Emir of Qatar


5. Relay units: LAPS.  It could have been LEGS of a relay.  While a portion of a relay race isn't always a lap, or laps, it certainly could be.

6. Payroll service initials: ADP.


7. Sauce whose name means "please": PREGO.  E italiano, si?




8. Kitchen wrap: SARAN.  I almost went with The Fugs song "Saran Wrap" here (NSFW,  you can look it up on YouTube when you get home).



9. Nail polish brand: ESSIE.  This marine mammal really needs to up his knowledge of nail polish brands as so many of them have been adorning our puzzles recently.

10. Clean, in a way: MOP.



11. "Beatles '65" song: I'M A LOSER.   Beatles '65, not to be confused with "When I'm 64", is the album title.  But, you knew that.  These days, would the song be IM (instant message) A Loser?


Shindig


12. Pepcid rival: TAGAMET.  Both products are used to treat symptoms associated with excess stomach acid.




13. Show fear, maybe: TREMBLE.



18. Soothe: LULL.  We often hear something along the lines of "a LULL in the action", meaning an interval of relative quiet.  Today we get the verb as in to "LULL someone to sleep" or into a false sense of security.

22. "Science Guy" Bill: NYE.  Alternatively, a TV scientist appearing regularly in crossword puzzles.  Perhaps, someday, we'll see a puzzle with Professor Proton.

Professor Proton
The Door to his Office is Always Open


25. Big wheels: HELMS.  A bit of misdirection.  Semi trucks?  Kahunas?  Children's vehicles?  No, the large steering wheels on ships.  Take the helm!




26. Gear for stealth, briefly: CAMO.  CAMOflage.

28. Former nuclear agcy.: AEC.  The Atomic Energy Commission was referenced in "The Wild West" a song recorded in 1953 by Tom Lehrer.  I have the original issue of this album:




29. Indiana-based sports org.: NCAA.  Were we really expected to know where the NCAA is based?  Easily perp'd especially since there are not all that many sports orgs. and the NCAA appears quite often in xword puzzles.




32. Stubborn equine: ASS.  MULE would not fit.  We can each probably think of a few proper names that might.

33. Word in a court oath: TRUTH.



34. Indistinguishable, with "the": SAME.  Lock-down was great.  I didn't work.  I didn't socialize.  I barely left the house.  SAME as usual, except I didn't feel guilty.

36. Stars and Stripes: OLD GLORY.  Both the clue and the answer are idioms for the American Flag.



37. Word with health or hair: CARE.  A pair, there.  Fair.

38. Type of garden: ZEN.  ZEN gardens were originally created in Japan to assist Buddhist monks with their meditation.

39. Pub brand with a red triangle logo: BASS ALE.




40. Endlessly: ON AND ON.  In lieu of the obvious Stephen Bishop link let's just move on.

43. Wane: EBB.



45. Many old comedy teams: DUOS.  E.G., Abbott and Costello,  Martin and Lewis, Laurel and Hardy, Cheech and Chong.

46. Sarcastic "So sad": BOO HOO.  I almost cried.

47. Manage to pay: AFFORD.




48. Filed, in a way: RASPED.  I have a rasp in my toolbox but I cannot recall ever having said that I had RASPED something.  More often used to describe a harsh, or grating, noise.

50. Bridge term: REBID.  It sounds, to this marine mammal, more like something an amphibian would say.




51. Practice: USAGE.


52. Swaggering gait: STRUT.




56. D.C. group: SENS.  SENatorS  D.C. is the abbreviation for District of Columbia ergo the answer will be an abbreviation.

57. Start to fall?: PRAT.  A PRATfall is a staged, often comedic, fall.  It derives from pratt, meaning buttock.

59. Coral, for one: SEA. Shtick used by constructors playing around with the convention that clues are always started with a capital letter.  Of course we never know if the leading  "cap" is coincidental or part of the clue.  Without the cap, POLYP or a color.  With the cap, the proper noun, Coral SEA.

61. Sweetie, in modern lingo: BAE.  Alternatively, a slang expression appearing far too often in contemporary crossword puzzles.  We don't have to go back to "main squeeze" but . . . .

With that bit of commentary,  let's wrap things up.  For the outro, some Barbershop Quartet music from the 2011 International Barbershop Quartet Champions:




________________________________________________________________



_______________________________________________________________




55 comments:

PK said...

MalMan: the weight gain picture: the position of the left hand on #2 guy is unfortunately startling. LOL

Interesting challenge, Gary. Very fine expo, MalMan with good jokes.

OwenKL said...

There was a young miss from MADRAS
Who'd exhibit a very fine ASS!
Any time that it brayed,
The sound that it made
Was "Pfrrrt!" (And it didn't eat grass!)

The MOON has a HALO when the weather is right,
It usually happens on a cold winter, bright.
Sometimes it forms
An ORACLE of storms,
Or at Christmas, it's an "O", holy night!

{A, B.}

Lemonade714 said...

I hate when that happens...just deleted my post.

The puzzle was very doable for a Thursday, all part of Gary Larson's plan to take over the world of crossword puzzles. Joseph's write-up was stellar.

I had no idea what the Nevada state flower was, but the theme led me to the fill. I do know some things about SAGE BRUSH .

I too wore madras as a young man and got thrown out of the Sunday chapel for wearing some exquisite madras pants.

Thank you gentle men/

Lemonade714 said...

PK, you naughty minded girl!

OwenKL said...

Also, a big wheel is someone important, like the CEO who HELMS an enterprise.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Don't know where ELUL came from, but it bubbled up effortlessly. Didn't get the theme until the reveal (which I actually read), but then it was obvious. Really enjoyed that Corona Virus Rhapsody -- it actually brought tears to my eyes at "I hope I don't run out of beer." Very nice, Gary. Exceptional expo, Mal-Man.

ORACLE: My former employer fell victim to their software. I think it resulted from a corollary to "Nobody ever got fired for recommending IBM." Nice database, but the software was terrible. I preferred programming in Delphi (pun intended) at the time.

GAIN: Unfortunately, d-o resembles image #3. PK, you'd probably even see something other than innocent shadows in this photo.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIW, sticking with BOLo. Couldn't figure out what hair CoRE or health CoRE were, but at least it was a word. I think I have been reading too much crime fiction, and BOLo just got stuck.

I thought MADRAS was the color pattern, not the fabric. As a kid I had a MADRAS jacket that my mom made me wear to Sunday school and church every week. That's right, I used to go to church every week. And didn't get hit by lightning doing so.

I took a half-day trip on the USS Normandy as a guest on "friends and family" day. I spent about an hour in the bridge, and was surprised that the HELM was so small. Also that the HELMSman couldn't see what was in front of him. One of the officers on the bridge would say "recommend left 2 degrees to 113," and the captain would call "course 113", and the HELMSman - an enlisted guy - would turn the wheel. I was amazed that this voyage, just from Norfolk to Yorktown, was so thoroughly planned and meticulously executed. (BTW, most HELMS on sailboats are tillers, not wheels. In Europe, a lot of large sailboats use tillers, while in the US, boats over 25 feet usually have a wheel. (My avatar is my former 33 foot Hobie racer with a tiller HELM.) OHH OHH! Just occurred to me that a Saturday clue for this fill might be "Dean Martin and Anthony Franciosa" (because both played Matt HELM.)

FLN, thanks for the Dragnet link, -T. I want to watch the whole thing today.

Thanks to Gary for the fun, doable (except by me) Thursday puzzle. And thanks to MalMan for the tour, and the dirty picture.

ATLGranny said...

I DETEST it when this happens. FIW! And I had question mark by the down fill CoRE, but ASSUMEd BOLo was fine. (Hi Jinx!) I also did the hokey pokey with LAPS/legs/LAPS and tried swear/TRUTH and slip up/HICCUP. In general I got the fill and enjoyed the theme, Gary. Many thanks.

MalMan, your witty review revived my cheerful mood this morning and cleared up the questions I had. Thanks! Hope you all find ways to stay cool today.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Theme: BARBERSHOP, got it, but not that there are four (quartet) items...oh well..

Thought Fayetteville was in NC..but that wouldn't fit..ah "filed" as in nails not documents..gotcha..thus..finally I FIR.

light cotton fabric..guess "seersucker" is too long. Like Mal man/Jinx.. I remember MADRAS as a popular 1960's clothing print design not so much as a fabric. BTW I did a double take like PK on the second to the left guy in the picture!! 😳 ASS/ASSUME (makes an ASS of U and ME)

"PREGO" (you're welcome) is also the reponse to "grazie".. "I pray"..."pregare" actually means "to pray"

Is OCCAMSRAZOR as good as my Gillette Atra? (a CW frequent flyer).

I've learned from CWs that CAMO is not an abbrev. Why I guessed at ZEN garden since I have no idea what it is. Is ZEN hard to grow?

Finally guessed BAE right off (but like many other CW terms never heard used outside of puzzle answers)

I still watch and enjoy SNL ...it has had its ups and downs of course. Kate McKinnon is a genius at impressions. TENDBAR or bartend?
The only Hebrew month I remember is Adar, perpwalked..plus didn't know "Vincent's agent"

inkovers: Duke/UOF, beat/BEST, bolo/BOLA,

Greet's festive partner......METE.
Thrombus...ÉCLAT.
(fearful)"You don't have it" ___ ENYA.
What many senators are full of... non ___ SENS
" ____ be Thy name"...HALOED
Can't manage a Cadillac, so settle for ____ AFFORD

Drove in from the lake this AM to work...peaceful way to start the day...Have a great rest of it..

billocohoes said...

MM, re usage of ADOS, an emcee will finish a long introduction with "without further ADO." Don't hear the plural much, though.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Wait, that came out wrong, I drove my CAR from the place by the lake on a ROAD back to work. 😊

Wilbur Charles said...

My w/o was SPifFS / SPOOFS

Nice xword from Gary L. Enjoyed MaloMan 's restrained write-up.

I was thinking H2O was HOO. A pair of P's got me the NBA team. LAM, of xword lore, got me going in NE(where I stalled). I date the 'still listenable' Beatles songs from 1966.

I see I didn't change the A in BEaT when I penned USAGE. Technical FIW akin to filling last box online sans "congrats!"

WC

RayO I was thinking NC too. U OF N? But that's in Chapel Hill.

Lizza said...

Hi everyone, Hope you’re all doing well. Just a quick comment. Really have enjoyed the puzzles lately very enjoyable. Of course there’s always something that I don’t get but that’s the fun of it all.
Engagement party Saturday at our house lots to do. Dear husband just left for EWR to pick up family who are arriving from MSP. First time meeting our granddaughter in person. Overwhelming. She’s 17 months. Damn Covid.
Best wishes to all

Brian said...

LOL If only Weight gain happens there

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Ray, there is an important Fayetteville, NC. A drinking town with a military problem. It is one of those cities where the dilapidated downtown has been restored and is quite charming. I wonder how many states have Fayettevilles. NC and VA have Lexingtons, but only the one in KY has the Wildcats basketball team.

Just found out that today is National Chili Dog Day, and National Lasagna Day. Has me wishing for "Groundhog Day" recurrence. So what's for lunch for DW and me? Cuban-rueben sammies at AJ Gator's (sigh).

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Jinx..there is Fayetteville NY, down the Thruway a wealthy suburb of Syracuse in Onondaga County AND a Lafayette NY also in Onodaga county..both named after the Marquis . We have a Lafayette St in Utica named in his honor when he visited here as an older fellow as well

Lizza said...

National lasagna day!!?? Truly one of my favorite foods of all time! Absolutely love it. Has to be made with veal and sausage.!And lots of mozzarella

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I had quite a tussle with this due to many unknowns: ADP (ADT better known to me), Elul, Essie, Andre, U of A, and Ari. The theme was obvious early on but the reveal was a nice Aha. My major holdup, however, was having Pesto before Prego and Legs before Laps and not being able to come up with LA Clippers, as I don’t follow NBA news at all. After a fashion, though, it worked itself out and success was had. I agree with our reviewer about the cluing which, to me, was a tad odd. I liked the Lore/Ore and Ass/Assume duos, along with Duos being in the puzzle!

Thanks, Gary, for a fun solve and thanks, MalMan, for a humorous and entertaining review.

FLN

Jayce, sorry I mixed up your birthday month. I know there is another Aries; AnonPVX, maybe?

Does anyone have any suggestions for getting my DVD to open? I played a Netflix disc last night and when it was over, hit the Open button but nothing happened. Tried again this morning, using the remote and the manual buttons on the player, but no luck.

Have a great day.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Another hot, humid “great for the corn but not people day” in Nebraska.
-No idea on ADP or ESSIE but eventual recall of MADRAS gave me a “got ‘er done!”
-MITT – Yogi’s tool
-“Stand for something” was a fun clue once I expanded my thinking.
-My SIL and daughter were forced to ASSUME a lot of work after his profligate uncle died in Arizona
-The Coronavirus Rhapsody SPOOF was fabulous!
-Google “Stupid NCAA rules” and be prepared to be amazed
-Author Paul Westerberg: “The TRUTH is overrated”
-Joe Cocker RASPED the song With A Little Help From My Friends
-It appeared that the KC Royals did BEST the White Sox last night and then the winning run was overturned by a lengthy TV review that showed the runner actually had been tagged on his “stubborn equine”. The next Royal up got a base hit that won it anyway but what a finish!
-Nice job, Joe!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Got it solved. FIR. Wasn't sure of U OF A, but DUOS seemed apt. Can't go wrong with a BARBER SHOP motif.

So Jinx, did you get to help off-load or take on ammo while at Yorktown? :-)
While on the bridge of the SS Veendam a few years back, I noticed their helm was small. too. Less than a car's steering wheel.

Steady as she goes.

Bob Lee said...

I also had BOLO at first, but eventually figured out it was BOLA when I got crossing CARE.

I tried HHO for the first clue, but when I got HICCUP I changed it to OOH (DOH!) That gave me OBLOID going down which was not a real word but seemed reasonable. Doesn't the moon look especially obloid tonight? Ugh. Well, the Earth is an "oblate spheroid" so why not?

Yes, me too. "Boss, de-plane, de-plane!" Didn't they try a Fantasy Island reboot recently?

ELUL was new to me. Also MADRAS.

Didn't know BASS ALE was the one with the red triangle but got it from the perps.

I loved the theme. Puzzle was tough for me for the NW and SW but it came (mostly) together. Dreading tomorrow as the past few Fridays have seemed especially hard.

waseeley said...

Thank you Gary for a delightful morning romp. And thank you MM for another HALOED review, delivered in 4 part harmony.

Selected Favs:

10A Had Romney used TEFLON MITTS he might not have gotten BURNT in 2012.

30A Gets a BEST in PUZZLE for misdirection.

53A Was Arkansas RAZORBACKS a hidden clecho to 36A?

63A I think your IGUANA BESTS my IGUANA MM. I TREMBLED at the sight of it!

64A The vowel/length ratio in this answer ASSAYS as 66.66%. Very gluey.

2D Could have also been clued: "Producer has his very own HAWAIIAN island".

8D The brand we use has a slicer built into the box to keep the wrap from clinging to everything in sight.

12D Best remedy I've found is drinking HOH until the indigestion disappears. Cheap.

18D Also the root of LULLABY.

22D Bill NYE is not really a scientist, although he does play one on TV. He has a degree in engineering (here's the difference), perhaps the reason he frequently confuses science with metaphysics. He actually got his start in SOLO comedy (couldn't he make it in engineering?), although he did engineer the SUNDIALS deployed by one of the MARS rovers. I wonder if he used Roman numerals to mark the hours?

45D I think DUO comedy routines are much, much harder to pull off than SOLO routines. Think of all the practice need to achieve the exquisite timing of the one we saw recently: Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?"

48D AKA a "B*****D" file. Well this is a family blog.

61D My BAE goes by TERI.

Cheers,
Bill

waseeley said...

Lemony @5:49 AM I hate losing posts too. I use a text editor (like Notepad or the freebie Notepad ++) to compose the longer ones. I then cut and paste them into blogger. I always have the original as a backup.

waseeley said...

This is a test. This is only a test. Had it been an actual emergency, you would received instructions to "Kiss your A** goodbye!" 😊

Let see if it worked! TTP taught me how to cut and paste emoticons into the Blogger desktop editor.

waseeley said...

He said that the trick is to NOT PREVIEW it before posting.

waseeley said...

PK @3:51 AM Thanks for "pointing" that out!

Malodorous Manatee said...

Bill, not a bad idea to have a backup copy of a recap. Don't ask how I know that.
Lizza, WOW! Enjoy the moment. . . and the lasagna if you head down that path.
PK, I totally missed that take on the graphic. We all have different perspectives :-)

TokenCreek said...

Aaron Tippin: "You got to STAND FOR SOMETHING or you'll fall for amything" Don't know how to post a link.

waseeley said...

The atoms in 1A are listed in their (almost) geometrical ordering within the water molecule. I say almost because the hydrogen atoms are angled slightly. MM's picture shows that IIRC.

Becky said...

PK, you piqued my interest so I had to go back to look. Yes, indeedy! Thank you very much!

MM, thank YOU for your wonderful commentary, which is always really entertaining. I DNF. I knew H20, but couldn't translate it too HOH. I have seen a haloed moon a couple of times in my life. Unsettling and beautiful.

Becky

unclefred said...

IM @9:38 Almost certainly there is a tiny hole on the DVD door that u can carefully push a straightened paper clip end into to pop it open. Or maybe a stick pin.

unclefred said...

A fun FIR for me. I liked and got the theme. Best clue: 30A: Stand for something. Good misdirection. SNL twice this week! As clued, “Relay units” is more accurately LEGS, since they are not always LAPS. MM u have a picture that says “The stare is sagebrush.” I don’t understand that bit. ADAR/ELUL are 50% vowels but also a 50% guess for me, not being Jewish. Plenty of DNKs to wrestle with: ARI, ESSIE, ANDRE, BAE. Like several cornerites mentioned, I too thought MADRAS was the pattern, not the fabric. I used to work for Merck and at one point sold Pepcid, and still had to struggle to remember Tagamet. (DOH!) Only five names in this CW; unfortunately I only knew two so needed PERPS for the others. Overall a fun CW with almost all good cluing. Not LEGS/LAPS though, my nit to pick on this otherwise fine offering, thanx, GL. Terrific write-up as usual, thanx MM.

Malodorous Manatee said...

😃 👍, TTP !

Misty said...

Fun Thursday puzzle, many thanks, Gary. Didn't get everything, but really enjoyed it all the same. Great pictures, MalMan, enjoyed those too.

Popped in ELAPSE and that gave me the top middle section and got me started. Always love seeing the "Science Guy" Bill NYE show up in puzzles. Liked the hair theme, and the way CLIPPER, COMB, RAZOR, BRUSH got attached to other words. Seems like ORE turns up daily.

Have a great day, everybody.

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Gary and MalMan.
I FIRed in good time with just one inkblot. HALOED was the last to fill
Plus I got the theme in time for it to give me RAZOR and BRUSH.

Beat changed to BEST. Apron would not fit, but MITT did. It was HELM, not Semi.
I had to reach deep into my CW memory-bank to get BOLA.
I wagged and perped the SAGE part of 49A, ANDRE, BASS ALE.
ELUL, LULL took some perps and alphabet runs to complete.
As usual, there was some Canadian disadvantage filled by perps. Thanks MM for the A=Arkansas in U OF A. ADP and AEC were also unknown.

I noted ELAPSE crossing LAPS.. Hand up for seeing ASSUME and ASS.
I remember MADRAS outfits. They tended to bleed in the wash as I recall.

Apparently, Queen Elizabeth (and Duchess Kate) like ESSIE nail polish in the neutral colour Ballet Slippers.
I introduced AnonT to a favourite Canadian DUO, Wayne and Schuster.

I learned in my final year at university of a brand new class of medications that would revolutionize care for GI upset, ulcers etc. TAGAMET (cimetidine) was the first of the histamine H2-receptor antagonists which came on the market about two years later. It was followed by ranitidine (Zantac), and then famotidine (Pepcid) and is not as popular now. (Plus, we got the PPIs like Losec, Nexium)

Today’s favourite was the clue for EASEL.

Off to finish my bread and butter pickle canning. What else can you do when one cucumber plant produces 30 cucumbers in a week!😮😮
waseeley- the BLATs were great. Thanks for the recipe.
Wishing you all a great day.

Irish Miss said...

TTP @ 10:42 ~ Your suggestion, plus some poking and probing, did the trick. Thanks for saving the day!

Uncle Fred @ 11:10 ~ I don’t see any openings on the door, but my player is quite old. This is the first problem I have had with it, but it may be time to update. I like having access to the more current movies at a reasonable monthly fee with Netflix by mail. Thanks for your suggestion.

Anonymous said...

"Stand for something" and "OLD GLORY" in the same puzzle

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Irish M

You DO realize when a DVD gets stuck in the player it's usually a movie you don't want anyone to know you were watching

Let me guess..."Fifty Shades of Grey"?

😄😄😄

Chris Cruciverb said...



ELUL + ADAR = EL AL

Two common jewish months in Cws, added together make the favorite jewish ( Israeli ) airline, also common in CWs. El Al means heavenward, aloft .... Up, Up, and away.

EDAR - Everyone Deserves A Roof, Ca. homeless project
ELAR - English Language Arts And Reading / Educator Licensure And Recruitment
ALAR - Approach and Landing Accident Reduction / As Long As (its) Reasonable

ALUL, ADUR, EDUL -- ???

Anonymous said...


RayOSunshine, so long as you're here ...

Shouldn't an ECLAT be a thrombus on the internet, or a insoluble bug in a program.

And a latino Lawrence Welk, would've said ... An Una, and ADOS and a ....

AnonymousPVX said...


This Thursday Larson grid presented the “usual” problems, haha.

Write-overs…PESTO/PREGO, SATEEN/MADRAS, EASE/LULL, SEMIS/HELMS, BEAT/BEST.

Yes, I am an ARIES.

I have a large collection of both Madras and Seersucker shirts from Lands End. Love how light they really are, they really do the job.

I’m about ready to go full APPLE…got the iPhone and iPad, the mini-Mac or Mac is next. Always an issue of some kind with the PC.

WEEKEND UPDATE on SNL…I just record it on the DVR as I often discover the show is over and I’m still in the la-z-boy. I still think the show is funny.

I’ve taken a bit of a hard stance on the Vax…you don’t want it, don’t get it, I don’t care what happens to you and I appreciate you cleaning up the gene pool with your sacrifice. Meanwhile I’m ready for my booster.

See you tomorrow.

Malodorous Manatee said...

I share your take on those who seem to desire to earn a Darwin Award. The problem, of course, is that the pool of unvaccinated provides a place for the virus to breed and mutate. Because that is what all life forms do. The Delta variant will not be the last and, soon, one is likely to emerge for which the existing vaccines will not prove to be effective. They are putting everyone at risk. Let us hope that we do not reach the Omega variant.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Spitz, they herded all us civilians onto busses before the offloading started. We knew why we were making the voyage, but not officially.

When I went to the bridge while we were underway, the skipper welcomed me, but told me to look all I want and to stay quiet. It was a wonderful experience, but MAN that was a lot of stairs.

Big Easy said...

Sometimes the V8 moment waits for a while to hit. I knew the Hydrogen Hydroxide formula (HOH) but had zero knowledge of either ARI or ELUL (ADAR shows up sometimes). Then the 'ring around the moon' hit me and HALOED let me FIR. No BOO HOO today.

I'm glad I remembered the MADRAS fad from back in the 60's. I changed LEGS to LAPS for the 'Relay units' and ESSIE was a total unknown; the only 'Nail polish' I know of it Cutex.

As for the CLIPPERS, COMB, RAZOR & BRUSH I trim around my beard with a razor once a week but neither the comb or brush is needed for the nonexistent hair on my head.

ANDRE Citroen is the only other unknown today.
STRUT- MM, you should have referenced Sheena Easton's song-'Strut'.

Pepcid (and Prevacid, Nexium, Prilosec, & Protonix) inhibits the production of stomach acid and must be used many hours BEFORE any stomach problems, as in every day for a few weeks; Tagamet & Zantac work afterwards just like Tums & Rolaids (calcium carbonate)

Irish Miss said...

Ray O @ 2:13 ~ Sorry, Ray, you guessed wrong! The captive DVD was Rocket Man, the Elton John biopic.

AnonPVX @ 3:11 ~ Thanks for confirming that you are the misremembered Aries!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Anonymous; I have had two episodes of embolism, ÉCLAT ("a clot, thrombus) in the pulmonary artery from ÉCLAT (thrombus)in a vein in my leg from a cast from a fractured fibula from a fall from cutting down weeds on a hill ..GOT ALL THAT?

oh and I have to take a blood thinner, etc. to prevent ÉCLAT from recurring , which sometimes causes me to bleed, become anemic and iron deficient.

Oh to be 50 again and bid ADOS to these pills.

☹🥺




Avg Joe said...

The ultimate Strut reference, IMO.

Jayce said...

When I saw this puzzle was constructed by Gary Larson I figured I would like it. I was not wrong. I had to make a few writeovers, as many of you did. Last to fill was BEAT --> BEST. When I see U OF A I always think of the University of Arizona in Tucson.

MalMan, excellent review. Thank you.

OwenKL, nice verses. Thank you.

Melissa, if you are reading this, I want to clarify for you that your iMac's keyboard and mouse are not wirelessly chargeable. To charge them you have to plug them in with a USB-to-Lightning cable (the same as an iPad). The wireless part is that they communicate with the computer via wireless Bluetooth rather than being connected with a cable.

Best regards to you all.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Same here, MM.
I didn't know Citroen's first name either.
Didn't know he was even a person. I guess I thought Citroen was some Frenchified name for fruity gasoline-fed vehicles.
Y'know, a variant of "Citric."
Like C₈H₁₈, with an extra coupla Cs.

Live & learn. I think I have GAINed more from XWDs this past five years than from any other source.
(Sorry, Google!)

I once rented a Citroen.
I was in Athens (Greece) and could only afford the cheapest model, called the "Diane."
Diane proved fickle. I was driving with my wife through one of the main traffic circles in downtown Athens when the gas pedal came off.
I mean right under my foot, the accelerator just gave up the ghost.
The pedal seemed stuck to the sole of my shoe. I couldn't go any further without a pedal. This was near rush hour, and a platoon of tucks behind me were very unhappy with this American tourist.
I had to get out of the car to search for the pedal which, of course, flew off of my shoe underneath the *#@! car.
After crawling on my belly I rescued the pedal and stuck it back in place--and beat it out of town as fast as that little auto could be PEDALed.
I have been to other places in Greece but NEVER back to Athens. I wouldn't dare.
~ OMK

The Curmudgeon said...

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fayetteville may refer to:

Fayetteville, Alabama
Fayetteville, Arkansas, the Fayetteville with the greatest metropolitan population
The Fayetteville Formation
Fayetteville, Georgia
Fayetteville, Illinois
Fayetteville, Indiana
Fayetteville, Washington County, Indiana
Fayetteville, Missouri
Fayetteville, New York
Fayetteville, North Carolina, the Fayetteville with the greatest city population
Fayetteville, Ohio
Fayetteville, Pennsylvania
Fayetteville, Tennessee
Fayetteville, Texas
Fayetteville, West Virginia

Alice said...

I thought I was a good chemistry student, but obviously not so good because I started this puzzle with HOO, and finished without HICCUP. Did not know DE PLANE!

The rest of the puzzle solved easily and enjoyably.

IM, I saw Rocket Man and thought it was great. Hope you liked it too.

Lemonade714 said...

The Corner is more and more fun and you all send me after so many rabbit holes. I had forgotten about Tony Franciosa as Matt Helm, and so many madras recollections.

Becks, what was unsetling about the "haloed moon?"

LaFayette, Alabama, a city (where my ex-wife lived after we dicorced with her mother and sister)
Lafayette, California, a city
Lafayette, Colorado, a Home Rule Municipality
LaFayette, Georgia, a city
La Fayette, Illinois, a village
Lafayette, Indiana metropolitan area
Lafayette, Indiana, a city
LaFayette, Kentucky, a town
Lafayette, Louisiana metropolitan area
Lafayette, Louisiana, a city
Lafayette Parish, Louisiana
Lafayette, Minnesota, a city
LaFayette, New York, a town
Lafayette, Ohio, a village
Lafayette, Madison County, Ohio, a census-designated place
Lafayette, Oregon, a city
Lafayette, Tennessee, a city
Lafayette, Virginia, a census-designated place
Lafayette, Wisconsin (disambiguation)
Faubourg Lafayette, Louisiana, a division in the city of New Orleans
Mount Lafayette, New Hampshire
Lafayette County (disambiguation)
Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania
Lafayette Park (disambiguation)
Lafayette Reservoir, Contra Costa County, California
Lafayette River, entirely in the city of Norfolk, Virginia
Lafayette Square (disambiguation)
Lafayette Township (disambiguation)
Lafayette Village, a historic district in North Kingstown, Rhode Island; on the National Register of Historic Places

CanadianEh! said...

I wondered about the clue for LA CLIPPERS and shared arenas but had no time to LIU. I knew that the Toronto Raptors share the Air Canada Centre with the Maple Leafs (except during Covid😒), and figured that they were the second team in the clue. But on closer examination of the clue, it refers to two NBA teams sharing an arena (between themselves, not with some other sports team).
(And speaking of Covid, the Blue Jays return to play in Toronto tomorrow night😮😁👍)

Big Easy- Actually, both H-2 blockers and PPIs decrease gastric acid production in the parietal cells (but by different mechanism, and H2-blockers to a lesser degree), but H-2 blockers have a much quicker onset of action (1/2 to 1 hour vs. 24 hours or more). H-2 blockers may be taken before a meal that may be known to cause heartburn; they may be combined with an antacid (Asian Pepcid Complete), for even more rapid but longer effect if not taken until the onset of heartburn.

Curmudgeon- how was this Canadian ever to know the initials for that “Fayetteville school” if there are that many Fayetteville’s in the USA. Rich, have mercy!😮😮😮

Yellowrocks said...

Alan's still in the hospital.

OwenKL said...

Re: Fayettville, TN. xkcd: No, the other one. There are 13 places named Fayetteville in America. Nine towns in the United States go by the Lafayette moniker.

TTP, thanks for the ⊞+. tip! I use the CharMap app and a browser add-on, but the ⊞+. looks easier to use for most emojis and emoticons! It doesn't seem to have quite as much range, so I'll keep the others handy for a bit, just in case.

Chris@2:34
ALAR wing shaped
ALAR banned apple pesticide
AGAR Petri dish coating
AGAR food thickener
ARAR oops, that's an ERROR!

Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammu, Av, Elul, Tishrei, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, Adar I&II (leap month for the Lunar calendar). (Someone needs to compose a crossword with those as clechos, if it hasn't already been done.)