google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, August 18, 2021, Jerry Edelstein

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Aug 18, 2021

Wednesday, August 18, 2021, Jerry Edelstein

Theme: THE BLOCKS STOP HERE

20. Longtime game show that features stunts and a time limit: BEAT THE CLOCK.

33. High-quality investment: BLUE CHIP STOCK.

43. Lose it: BLOW ONE'S STACK.

57. Megahits, and what the interior letters of 20-, 33- and 43-Across effectively are?: BLOCK BUSTERS.

Melissa here - but I had to ask C.C. about this, which I'm going to blame on lagging vacation brain because this is a very common theme gimmick that I missed: The word BLOCK is broken up in three different ways.

I got hung up on the crossword meaning of the word BLOCK. In a crossword puzzle, the black squares are also known as blocks. For LA Times puzzles, the maximum word count for a 15x15 is 78, and the maximum block count is 43. Today's puzzle has 76 words, and 40 blocks.

Across:

1. Inferior in quality: CHEAP.

6. Temple mascot Hooter T. __: OWL. Temple University, in Philadelphia, PA, was founded by Russell Conwell, who began tutoring working class citizens late at night to accommodate their work schedules. These students, later dubbed "night owls," were taught in the basement of Conwell's Baptist Temple (hence the origin of the university's name and mascot). A History of Hooter.

9. Edsel and "Ishtar," e.g.: FLOPS.

14. Gossipy Hopper: HEDDA. American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, her readership was 35 million.

15. Month in printemps: MAI. Printemps is French for spring. It is also the name of a famous department store in Paris.

16. "Chicago" showgirl: ROXIE. Played by Renée Zellweger in the 2002 film.

17. Singing the praises of: EXTOLLING.

19. "Tiny Alice" dramatist: ALBEE. Three-act play written by Edward Albee.

22. State as fact: ASSERT.

25. Parlor art, briefly: TAT. Tattoo parlor. 

26. Horror film director Craven: WES. Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream movies.

27. Website help sect.: FAQ. Frequently Asked Questions.

28. Résumés, for short: CVS. CV = Curriculum Vitae, a Latin term meaning course of life. Sting refers to this in his song, Nothin' Bout Me:

1:28
Check my records, check my facts

Check if I paid my income tax
Pore over everything in my C.V.
But you'll still know nothing 'bout me

31. Family nickname: SIS. All my family calls me Missy. Except my husband.

38. Quiet: STILL.

39. __ pay: NET.

40. Wynonna's mother: NAOMI. The Judds, a talented family.

46. Kalamazoo-to-Cincinnati dir.: SSE.

47. Only even prime number: TWO.

48. Ka __: southernmost Big Island point: LAE.


49. "Black-ish" network: ABC.

52. Weaken: EBB.

54. Pax __: ROMANA. A bit obscure for anyone else, or just me? The term "Pax Romana," which literally means "Roman peace," refers to the time period from 27 B.C.E. to 180 C.E. in the Roman Empire. This 200-year period saw unprecedented peace and economic prosperity throughout the Empire, which spanned from England in the north to Morocco in the south and Iraq in the east.

61. Sported: HAD ON.

62. Didn't stop behind in time: REAR-ENDED. I have a theory that people's driving styles mimic their personalities. In my IT days I knew a micro-manager who caused a number of accidents because he did not know when to back off.

66. Muscat native: OMANI.

67. Managed: RAN.

68. Corpulent: OBESE.

69. Router button: RESET.

70. Texter's "Yikes!": OMG.

71. Bit of hardware: SCREW.

Down:

1. Michael of "SNL": CHE. Co-Anchor on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update.

2. Spell: HEX.

3. Summer hrs. at Augusta National: EDT. Held April 8 - 11 this year. Winner was Hideki Matsuyama.

4. Acrobat maker: ADOBE.

5. Not as tanned: PALER.

6. Forget about: OMIT.

7. Crave, e.g.: WANT.

8. Tenth word of the National Anthem: LIGHT. O say can you see, by the dawn's early light ...

9. Elementary math subject: FRACTIONS.

10. Lounge around: LOLL.

11. U-shaped river bend: OXBOW.
Learn how The Nature Conservancy is restoring oxbow wetlands to help wildlife and people in Iowa.


12. King or queen, perhaps: PIECE. As in chess.

13. Goes after: SEEKS.

18. Hold (onto): LATCH.

21. Part of 46-Across: EAST.

22. Dover and Edwards, e.g., briefly: AFBS. Air Force Bases.

23. "Pass the __": SALT. Not buck.

24. __ kick: tricky football ploy: SQUIB. A short, low, line drive kickoff that usually bounces around on the ground before it can be picked up by a member of the receiving team.

29. Asti product: VINO. Asti is a sparkling Italian wine. VINO is the Italian (and Spanish) word for wine. In French it's vin.

30. Used up: SPENT.

32. Order to go: SCAT. Ooooh, great misdirection.

34. Wings with rooms: ELLS. In architecture, an ell is a wing of a building, at a right angle to the length of the main portion. Ells are often additions to a building.

35. Tightly connected: CLOSE KNIT.

36. Hearty entrée: STEW.

37. It's not a bear: KOALA.

41. Classic name in shoes: MCAN.

42. Maker of BILLY bookcases: IKEA. In my last house I lined an entire wall with black Billies with the glass doors - like these.

 44. "MacArthur Park" songwriter Jimmy: WEBB.

45. More angry: SORER. It's a real word, but sounds awkward, right?

49. Detest: ABHOR.

50. Fault: BLAME.

51. Musical endings: CODAS. From Wikipedia:
a concluding musical section that is formally distinct from the main structure. 

53. Grand Canyon animal: BURRO.

55. Thins, for instance: OREOS. Who knew? Less Oreo, same price.

56. Rachel Maddow's network: MSNBC. She might be leaving.

58. Volcano apex: CONE.

59. Ore source: SEAM. "
A stratum of coal or mineral that is economically viable." Here's an image of an iron ore seam marker in Birmingham, Alabama.


60. Strong taste: TANG.

63. __ Spiegel: DER. The largest German news website.

64. Legal conclusion?: ESE. Legalese.

65. Morning moisture: DEW.

Notes from C.C.:

Here's a cute picture of Melissa's granddaughter Jaelyn on her first day of the kindergarten. She's with her sister Harper. Melissa says "She was disappointed that she couldn't read after the first day. "See all those signs? I can't read any of them!"  




39 comments:

  1. Good morning!

    This was a quick trip around the block. No missteps, no Wite-Out. Nothing really stands out. Thanx, Jerry and Melissa Bee. (Cute kids!)

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  2. I got around the block today in just a little under 6 minutes, despite not knowing the gossiper, the dramatist, or the songwriter.

    Never heard of Ka Lae, despite having driven around much of the Big Island.

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  3. Easily solved but never saw the gimmick.

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  4. FIR, but erased hbo for ABC, put ON for HAD ON, laze for LOLL, mine for SEAM, and outro for CODAS. DNK HEDDA, LAE, ROMANA, or BILLY bookcases.

    Jimmy Webb penned a lot of songs most folks know, like "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "Worst That Could Happen", and "All I Know".

    "Pass the SALT" is so white-bread. Fraternity of Man would just say "Don't bogart that SALT my friend, pass it over to me."

    The rich lady was riding in her limo when it had a flat. The chauffer got out the spare and was flailing around with the tire iron, trying in vain to remove the hubcap. The lady got out to help, and rummaging around in the trunk asked the chauffer "you wanna SCREWdriver?" The chauffer replied, "might as well - can't get the danged hubcap off."

    Thanks to Jerry for the fun puzzle. And thanks to Melissa B for the tour. Adorable kidlets.

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  5. FIR today to continue my current streak. Clever theme by Jerry and some tricky fill (I'm looking at you "order to go"). WOs were ball/SALT and wine/VINO. Easily straightened out by perps. SQUIB was new to me. A fun puzzle. Thanks, Jerry.

    Thanks Melissa B for a nice Wednesday review complete with helpful extras. Fun to see your granddaughters. First day of school is special. Hope you all have a special day today!

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  6. Good Morning.

    Pretty smooth puzzle for me today. I didn't parse the theme clue, but it fit. Then I came to Melissa's tour and Wow! I shoulda had a V-8. Duh! Thanks Jerry for a doable puzzle on a very busy Wednesday here.

    Nice trip around the grid, Melissa. Thank you. My daughters still send first day photos of the grandkids. Time flies. The girls are cute. I love the reading assessment!

    Have a very sunny day today.

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  7. It had to be apr or MAI. I think BC's Eagle started appearing about the same time

    It finally dawned on me that it wasn't elBOW and Edsel was a FLOP. Then I recalled The Oxbow Incident


    Oops, gotta run

    Be back in pm

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  8. Good morning.

    I spent more time reading Melissa's review and links than solving the puzzle. I always like Jerry's puzzles, and today was no different. My favorite clue was "Order to go" for SCAT.

    Oxbow always reminds me of the great movie starring Henry Fonda, "The Ox-Bow Incident" so I did a Google search to refresh my memory. The knowledge panel on the right lists one of the co-stars as Henry Morgan. No, that would be Harry. I didn't report it. Yet.

    It reminded me that in April this year I did a Google search on "NBA all time centers" and "Atlanta Hawks" was the associated team name shown under the image of Bill Russell. So I reported it and suggested it should indicate Boston Celtics. The next day I got a response that said, among other canned text, "If accepted, suggestions will be updated on Google Search where they will help return richer information and more meaningful results."

    If you Google search it now, there is no team associated with his image. Richer and more meaningful ? Well I guess it's better to have no caption rather than an incorrect caption ?

    Sometimes they correct the info pretty quickly. A while ago, a knowledge panel had image of Steve McQueen (the American actor) but the text underneath it was for Steve McQueen (the British director of "12 Years a Slave".) That one was corrected pretty quickly.



    At Der Spiegel I found the following: Kreuzworträtsel

    Perhaps Spitzboov or Kazie could solve it.

    Second day of school for the children in our district, and the bus drivers seem to be learning the new stops. For the first time in years there's no stop on my corner. Seems odd. Though I won't miss having to repair the ruts left in my yard by careless (or care less) parents. :-)

    Jinx, did you see the video of the UK quarterback eating the over ripe banana, peel and all ?

    Finally got around to solving yesterday's offering. Grocery shopping in the morning and then a full day of catching up on the neglected yard work. So ibuprofen with my coffee this morning.

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  9. Good Morning:

    I saw the theme after entering the second themer. I didn’t care for the SSE ~ Ese or the numerous three letter words but I did like the Webb/Ebb and Two/Dew duos. And I’m always happy to see a mini critter theme: Owl, Burro, Koala, and Ox. The only unknown was Lae and Romana, which I thought would be Domini.

    Thanks, Jerry, for a mid-week treat and thanks, Melissa, for an informative and fun tour. Thanks to you and CC for sharing the two cuties! I’d say that Jaelyn’s comment suggests a budding avid reader and eager student.

    I have to take my sister to the eye doctor later, then back to my house for Bloody Marys and lunch, while the dreaded dilation drops wear off. While she’s at the doctor’s office, I have to get blood work done at a lab in the same building. Two birds, on stone! 🤗

    Have a great day.

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  10. FIR, but didn't suss the theme, although I saw that each of the theme phrases had BL and CK. DUH!
    SCAT was filled before I got there. I was expecting a word that meant leave, so I would have gotten it.
    I never hear of Billy bookcases, but 4 letter furniture had to be IKEA.
    I have heard of PAX ROMANA.
    TTP, LOL obviously you know what Kreuzworträtsel means, because you presented it to the Corner. I do remember that much German. More and more my German vocabulary is dwindling to "ein bissel" after 60 years.
    Cute kids in the first day of school picture, Melissa.
    My David exclaimed with surprise, "I can read!" when he read his first library book. I pointed out he had been reading all along at school. He told me that was only with the teacher.

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  11. Good morning everyone.

    Nice pix of the grandkids, MB. Thanks for sharing.

    Not hard today. Got it all w/o wite-out. Saw the theme had something to do with 'CK' but didn't dwell on it. Theme fill was all easy. FIR.
    DER Spiegel - - Spiegel means 'mirror' in German.

    TTP; I'll take a look at the Rätsel later. Don't imagine I'll get far with it since I'm used to Rich's editing.

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  12. Thanks Jerry for a Tuesdayish Wednesday puzzle, which sans any BLOCKS, practically filled itself. And thank you Missy for a fine review. I too am sometimes THEME challenged, but I know that I can always call on the team to help me overcome any BLOCKAGES. In this case 57A was very REVEALING and I saw the light right away.

    6A DNK this one, but "Hooter T." and the O in 6D OMIT filled it for me.

    40A Fav JUDD is ASHLEY. Loved her in STNG. I think Wesley had a CRUSH on her.

    54A Pax ROMANA I knew this as it was the era in which Christ was born. Unfortunately it wasn't all PEACEFUL for Him and His followers.

    4D ADOBE. Their ACROBAT READER and the PDF file format, permitting easy file exchange between applications and operating systems, was a tremendous contributing to computing.

    8D The first word in the Anthem is of course "O", as in the "Os", as in the "Orioles", about whom nothing more will be said.

    11D Loved the pic and the link on OXBOW wetlands.

    24D DNK SQUIB kick, nor have I ever seen one. Tricky kick, clever clue.

    59D Thought a SEAM was the same as a VEIN, but it sounds much BIGGER.

    63D As Spitz has already told you, Der Spiegel is German for "Mirror". Sounds like a common name for news media, e.g. the UK's "Mirror". "Holding up a Mirror to reality?". Not always.

    Adorable Granddaughters Melissa. Jaelyn sounds like she's already on the fast track to literacy!

    Cheers,
    Bill

    TTP I got 1A ISLAMABAD and then I was KAPUT!

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  13. My blood pressure, a big problem my entire life, got out of hand the last few days, so this morning I decided to try skipping the morning jolt of coffee and half bottle of “5-Hour Energy” that is my usual morning start-me-up. I had a real time of it getting the brain in gear without them. Big struggle beginning this CW, and a lousy 26 minute FIR. W/Os included WINE:VINO and PALID:PALER. Very nice CW, though, and I did suss the theme and get the reveal. Thanx JE for a perfect Wednesday CW. Melissa you always have such terrific write-ups, thanx for all your effort. I enjoyed your brief history of Temple U, none of which I knew. Beautiful little girls, lucky you. When IKEA came up at 42D it reminded me of buying an IKEA armoire when I turned my home office into a proper guest room several years after retirement. I followed their instructions to put it together lying on it’s back on the floor, but when I stood it up I did it wrong, and the whole thing crunched into a heap. I had to go get another one and start over. Today I finally meet with my roofing contractor to discover the cost of replacing my entire roof, including many rafters, due to massive termite damage. Don’t use Hulett for termite treatment or control. They failed me completely.

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  14. Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Jerry and melissa bee (great photo of the grands - our school doesn’t start until Sept. 8).
    This was a quick solve and I saw the theme (although I entered Chart BUSTERS at first). I liked the progression of B LOCK to BL OCK to BLO CK.
    But officially a FIW because of my personal Natick cross of ROMANA and MSNBC. (This Canadian needs to memorize your American networks! Plus we had ABC today.) But I should have know Pax ROMANA.

    We had ATTEST because Aver was too short.
    Yes ATLGranny, it took me a moment to accept SCAT as an order.
    SQUIB was all perps.
    Those IKEA Billy bookcases are iconic.
    I wanted Follows for “Goes after”, but it was too long. SEEKS fit.

    How many of you will admit to singing the American anthem and counting to ten on your fingers to reach LIGHT. For Canadians, the answer to 8D, as clued, would be Love. (Rich just assumes that everyone will think of the American National anthem with his clue😮🤔👎)

    Wishing you all a great day.

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  15. Musings
    -First day of subbing as teacher got exposed to Covid at a concert and tested positive
    -Kids are quietly engaged in computer work while I blog
    -I loved “Didn't stop behind in time: REAR-ENDED”
    -I learned CV here
    -Our Spectrum boxes act up too frequently and we have to RESET them which takes about 15 minutes
    -FRACTIONS - pat yourself on the back if you can add 1/2 and 1/3 correctly (hint, it is not 2/5)
    -Because of an OXBOW of the Missouri River you must drive ever so briefly through Iowa to get to Omaha’s Eppley Airfield
    -From where I am sitting I can see the ELL that is being added onto this school
    -LEGALESE – “In witness whereof the parties hereunto have set their hands to these presents as a deed on the day month and year hereinbefore mentioned”. (These guys bought this land on this date)

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  16. Why is ABC the "black-ish" network ?

    F Y I ...
    To those of us who haven't heard this name ... it has nothing to do with being black, or afro-sympathetic. And, the answer was not BET...

    black-ish is a sitcom with Tracy Ross and Anthony Anderson, from 2014, involving issues like racism, police brutality, LGBT issues and 2016 elections, on ABC.

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  17. HG, how about 5/6, using LCD. People who get 2/5 are either careless or have entirely lost common sense. If you add (a positive) something to 1/2 and you get something less than 1/2 you have an error. If you add a third of a pizza to a half-pizza, you shouldn't end up with less than a half pizza, at least until the eating begins. We used to call this the "reasonableness test".

    Of course I am terrified when I see a clerk try to make change when the computers go down. I'm kinda "that guy" on the tv commercial where young adults are turning into their parents. I like paper boarding passes, I do point out landmarks (but not to strangers) while the plane is in its climb-out, and I do bring peanuts from home so I don't have to pay airport prices. And dad jokes? My speciality!

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  18. Well, this took a bit of work for a Wednesday, but still found it a pleasure--many thanks, Jerry. And helpful commentary, thanks, Melissa, and what sweet little kids!

    I found a subtle bit of negativity throughout this puzzle, with words like CHEAP, FLOPS, OMIT, ABHOR, BLAME, SCREW, BLOW ONE'S STACK, REAR ENDER, OBESE, STEW (oh, wait, that was a hearty entree, wasn't it?). But this is countered by some nice folks, HEDDA and ALBEE and NAOMI.

    Irish Miss, hope you and your sister gave yourselves a nice treat after your medical visits.

    Have a good day, everybody.

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  19. Once I got BEAT THE CLOCK and BLOCK BUSTERS, it helped me fill in the middle section where I wasn't so sure. Is Beat the Clock still around?

    LOL re: FRACTIONS. When I tutored H.S. kids in SAT PREP, I found they really needed a refresher on those, because include multiplying and dividing fractions, and adding variables like x and y in them, they were totally lost.

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  20. Hola!

    Quick and easy puzzle. Thank you, Jerry. BEAT THE CLOCK is not what I do but this was a fast solve.

    Yes, I remember the book, the OX BOW Incident. Whew! That was a long time ago. In fact, I may STILL have it. That reminds me of the book I'm currently reading, Blind Tiger by Sandra Brown in which STILL has a different meaning completely. It takes place in the 1920s when Prohibition was in full swing.

    Changing WINE to VINO and DAWN'S to LIGHT were my only w/os.

    Gary, the answer is 5/6 if I correctly recall how to add FRACTIONS.

    Most students of history will recall the Pax ROMANA. Back in the days when the RC Mass was in Latin, that was a common phrase to encounter. In those days, Roman soldiers were often paid in SALT, a precious commodity then.

    SQUIB is a new term to me but I recall either ink or pen by that name but with two Bs, Squibb.

    I've been to IKEA only once. It's not my kind of store.

    I used to love the LIGHT in student's eyes when they finally understood FRACTIONS.

    Thank you, Melissa Bee, not only for your wonderful presentation but for sharing the photo of your granddaughters. What a thrill! The first day of school!

    For my daughter, Chicago is a favorite movie so it played many times over on our DVR and ROXIE is permanently etched in my memory.

    Have a blessed and wonderful day, everyone!





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  21. For a humpday did fine but a mental block over the theme. Misdirected to look inside the clued themed words rather than the front and back.

    To lounge around is to loaf to me but apparently it's to LOLL ( lounge and don't speak: lollygag?) ..
    Started penning in "Arithmetic" (oops..too long) for FRACTIONS.
    IKEA should pay something toward all their free CW advertising . With an "S" and an "L" I filled slag instead of SEAM (slag is what's left over?)

    Been to the "Big Island" but didn't know Ka LAE.🌴🥥

    National Anthem...Up till a few years ago I thought it was "Who's brought stripes and bright stars".... Instead of broad 🇺🇸

    Yesterday we had ILLER...Today I'm SORER making me even more ired (If I were doing the puzzle online I would be Emad). Pax ROMANA occurred under Augustus C. I believe. (Pox ROMANA is the Italian version of the GERMAN measles 🥵

    Yes, kids, in the stone age before NETFLIX there were BLOCKBUSTERS, now essentially extinct, that inhabited strip malls, (NETFLIX ironically airs a documentary called "The Last Blockbuster") 🦖🦕

    What the NYS Thruway was supposed to become...EXTOLLING
    Candy and/or breath mint?.....ASSERT
    Gymrat obsessed with belly muscles...ABHOR.🙊
    Objects are closer than they ____ SEAM
    ADOBE again and you get ____ OBESE

    My deceased Dad's baby sister Aunt Fran died last night at 93. The last surviving aunt or uncle. My cousins and I noted the strangeness of the end of a generation. A very early memory at age 4 at her wedding, her sister, Aunt Tess holding a paper bag of rice telling me to reach in an throw some at the bride and groom when they left the church. I remember thinking "Do what??"

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    Replies
    1. Ray - O @12:29 PM ROMANA was also the first Lady Time Lord back the old Dr Whovian days. Actually there were two women who played the role (a "regeneration" thing). The second was LaLa Ward, who later married Richard Dawkins. Poor LaLa!

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  22. Lucina, Bristol Myers Squibb is a drug manufacturer. Your "still" comment reminded me of the old saw, "She was only a moonshiner's daughter, but I loved her still."

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  23. Some tough bits for me. No idea about CHE/HEDDA, ROXIE/ALBEE/OXBOW nor SQUIB and MCAN/NAOMI was hazy for me. WAGs to FIR.

    Melissa Bee Thank you for the learning moment about TEMPLE and why their mascot is an OWL. One of my best friends went to TEMPLE. Another good friend grew up there as her father was a TEMPLE professor of Chinese. Never knew the night school origins!

    Here are my photos of DW and me venturing from Koreatown to MACARTHUR PARK in June.

    Has anyone else been there? The park is quite beautiful, but so many people without housing have taken refuge there. We were over there to eat at Langer's Deli. We were fortunate to meet the owner of this Los Angeles legendary eatery, Norm Langer, who is in one of the final photos.

    From Yesterday:
    Lucina and WA Seeley Thank you for the very kind words about my IV Fire Rescue Training photos and videos. Yes, the dummy did not look to be in good shape! I was fascinated by how they brought it up the cliff side with an overhang.

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  24. Enjoyable puzzle and tour today, however I didn't see the theme until I read Melissa's write-up.

    No real hang-ups. I didn't know Ka LAE, and I thought 15A was MAe. Perps fixed em.

    Right now the remnants of TS/Hurricane Fred is roaring through Central PA. Lots of rain and lightning. Hoping it eases up soon because I have a funeral to go to. They are not a lot of fun to begin with and the weather makes it worse.

    Have a great Day of The Mid-week Bog-down everyone. On to Thursday next.

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  25. This Wednesday grid was a good one.

    No write-overs today.

    Unclefred…I already asked…no termite bond by the previous company?

    Mr. Morgan appeared as Henry Morgan, then Henry Harry Morgan, then finally as Harry Morgan. Apparently to avoid confusion with some comedian, according to Wiki.

    See you tomorrow.

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  26. Jinx and Lucy, Of course you are right. 1/2 + 1/3 = 3/6 + 2/6 = 5/6! I always told kids you can MULTIPLY an apple times an orange (1/2 x 1/3 = 1/6) but you can only ADD apples to apples and oranges to oranges so you must do a conversion to the same units.
    Fractions are like the metric system in that we teach them in school but the kids don’t really use them that often in their lives.

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  27. PVX, thanks for letting me know that Harry Morgan originally acted under the screen name Henry Morgan. Who gnu ? I knew him from MASH as Col Potter, and then later saw the older Dragnet programs he was in. The Dragnet programs are on ME TV in the early morning, following Highway Patrol. I don't know which of those two programs I find to be more contrived.

    I wonder how many other actors have screen credits under one name and then got credits under another name ? Offhand, I can't think of any others right now, but I'm sure there would have to be some.

    One of the reasons I like watching the really old programs and movies is to see and recognize some of the long-careered actors. For example, it's kinda neat when your first recognition of Harry Morgan is as Col. Potter, and then you see a very young version of him in "The Ox-Bow Incident". You recognize them but can't quite place them. IMDb is a great resource that often helps me when I'm stumped.

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  28. An enjoyable Weds PZL from Mr. Edelstein.
    Cute girls, MB! Thanks for sharing.

    "Call Me by my Rightful Name" Department:
    Seems I'm not the only one who was unfamiliar with SQUIB.
    I did not know the short kickoff sometimes used to try for a quick recovery by the kicking team even had a name of its own.
    I shall now bug everybody in the viewing room by shouting "SQUIB!" the next time I see one in a TV game.
    ~ OMK
    ___________
    DR:
    : Two diagonals, one to a side.
    The front end diagonal yields a curious anagram, consisting of 13 of the 15 available letters.
    This seems to be an injunction to offer our own descriptions of senior citizens, specifically elderly gents.
    At any rate, that is how I understand it. It calls on us to...

    "DESCRIBE COOTS"!

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  29. Anonymous T ~
    FLN:
    Thanks for the correction yesterday.
    Yes, I was referring to Young Frankenstein rather than Son of Frankenstein.
    I skipped a generation, as Gene Wilder was actually playing the grandson of the title character.

    And truth to say, the weird spelling of YGOR was used in the latter (chronologically earlier) film by the character of the lab assistant, played by none other than Bela Lugosi.
    Perhaps in Romania they use strange spellings (in addition to whatever bizarre spells they may cast).

    In any case, many thanks...!
    ~ OMK

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  30. I enjoyed this puzzle. Some stuff I knew, some stuff I didn't know, which is to be expected.

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  31. Whew! I just missed the rainfall. Should have gone grocery shopping much earlier but missed the Wednesday crowds. There is not much I needed besides lettuce and tomatoes for salad and decided on rotisserie chicken for dinner.

    Thank you, Gary. It seems I haven't forgotten everything and I do occasionally use FRACTIONS in cooking when converting a recipe.

    That was fast! The rain started and stopped before I finished typing this.

    Today is my grandson's 15th birthday and tomorrow is his dad's so had to buy some cards for them. He is a serious Nintendo player as well as a collector of Pokeman cards.

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  32. TTP: For Der Spiegel, the "kossakführer" is an ATAMAN.

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  33. Husker G: Is that lake next to the Omaha airport really in Iowa somehow, like the map seems to say?

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  34. Michael, thanks. Also, I thought that the Kranken clue answer must be AMBULANZ, but wasn't sure and didn't get much after that. And I seem to recall that the name for an ambulance in Germany was Krankenhausenwagen. Something like that.

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  35. TTP... as kid I remember a 50's sitcom called "December Bride" where Henry Morgan played a neighbor called Pete. He had a wife Gladys who was never seen. A spin off "Pete (again played by Henry Morgan) and Gladys" was a flop.

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  36. Hi All!

    Figured out theme @43a when ACK wasn't OCK.

    Fun puzzle, Jerry. Thanks. Enjoyed the expo, Sting, and OREO link; thanks mb! (cute Grands too!)

    WOs: elBOW (hi WC), put WES in TAT's where which led to WEST before 46a was even inked.
    ESPs: HEDDA, MAI, ALBEE, SQUIB, LAE, WEBB (clue'd as Dragnet's Jack, however...)
    Fav: I liked the cluing at SCAT
    Runner-up: TWO's clue.

    Nature ABHORs a vacuum and I'm not so keen on SORER.

    "Well, he's about this tall, white hair, yells at kids to get off his lawn..." How'd I do OMK? :-)

    Ray-O: Sorry to read about your aunt but what a hilarious memory of Tess & you at Fran's wedding.

    C, Eh! - I counted to get to LIGHT. Did you know it was the 10th word? If so, I feel bad 'cuz I don't know anything after "O Canada!" :-)

    LOL SCREWdriver joke, Jinx.

    Cheers, -T

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  37. FIR. Northeast corner was the last to fall. Kept wanting RENEE, instead of ROXIE, because it took me forever to finally remember OXBOW. Duh! Once that happened, I was done.

    I also got the theme.

    Picard, Hedda Hopper was quite a character:

    Hedda Hopper

    We have a photo of her standing in front of our museum (when it was still Houston’s airport terminal building).

    I’ve probably mentioned before that William Hopper, who played Paul Drake on the original Perry Mason series, was Hedda Hopper’s son. Both Raymond Burr and William Hopper read for the Perry Mason role. During casting, Earl Stanley Garner himself was the one who said of Burr, “That’s Perry Mason!”

    Nice puzzle, Jerry; great expo, Melissa. Cute grandkids!

    ReplyDelete

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