google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday September 17, 2021, Annemarie Brethauer

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Sep 17, 2021

Friday September 17, 2021, Annemarie Brethauer

Theme: Scrabble "T"iles

Hello, Cornerites! So, was anyone else (48-Down. Steamed ... and like five answers in this puzzle?) TEED OFF when they saw and solved this puzzle?? When I figured out 18-Across (Guitar connoisseur?: AX COLLECTOR), I immediately saw that a T was missing (TAX COLLECTOR), and thought, hmm, this could be interesting. Especially after (36-Across Cabdriver's pickups during a storm?) RAIN FARE (TRAIN FARE), and (1-Down Platform for primates?) APE DECK (TAPE DECK) emerged.

But as I drilled down to the last two, (41-Across Savings for replacing old tools?) RUST FUND, and (62-Across One with a lofty greeting?) HIGH SLAPPER, (TRUST FUND and THIGH SLAPPER) I was less impressed.

Still, it was a fun test - and my "Scrabble" reference in the theme fits, I think, as adding the letter "T" to the first words of the five long answers would allow you to score big points without sacrificing too many tiles . . .

Let's look at the rest of the fill:

Across:
1. Render speechless, maybe: AWE. Often I will use a homophone of this word when I have Facetime with my daughter and grandson ... AWW, he is so cute!

4. "Morning Joe" network: MSNBC. COFFEE didn't fit; LATTE does

9. Bach's instrument: ORGAN. I guessed wrong with PIANO but perps came to the rescue

14. Family nicknames: PAS. I'm not a big fan of these "forced" three-letter abbreviated plurals; unless of course I am using them in a puzzle that I construct!! LOL!!

15. "Goodies" singer: CIARA. Totally clueless. Not my music genre choice. Yours? Listen and please comment if you want

16. Muralist Rivera: DIEGO. Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera, was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the mural movement in Mexican and international art. Wikipedia

17. It may be bruised: EGO. Very clever clue, and yes, I've had mine bruised a few times

20. School team member who argues a lot: DEBATER. Sorry Ray-O-Sunshine, I'm gonna beat you to the punch:

Abe liked to argue,
As well as fish. It shows he's
A great DEBATER

22. Capers: LARKS. I initally thought of these when I saw the clue:

23. Fleecy females: EWES.

When rams in Trenton
Are paired with female sheep, Do
Folks say, "Hey EWES guys?"

24. Shakespearean villain: REGAN, and 26-Across. Shakespearean villain: IAGO. Clecho

29. Coopers' creations: CASKS. BARRELS didn't fit, but a CASK is a small one

31. Lets go: SACKS. The key to this clue is that the word "lets" is not spelled with an apostrophe

33. Burbank-to-Fresno dir.: NNW. Directional abbr.

34. Old Austrian money: KRONEN. Plural kronen\ ˈkrō-​nən \ Definition of krone 1 : the basic monetary unit of Austria from 1892 to 1925. 2 : a coin representing one krone. In German the addition of an "N" to a noun usually makes it plural. Spitzboov, Ist dass richtig?

38. Dunkable cookie: OREO. Had the word "cookie" been capitalized, one could argue that it would refer to what Alexander might do to his sister when they are in a swimming pool

40. Tall one: BEER. A Friday clue if I ever saw one. 16oz drafts are usually the "ones" that are "tall"

45. Chew out: RAIL AT. Vituperate is another term and synonym

49. Toward the 50-Across: AFT, 50-Across. See 49-Across: STERN. Does this count as a clecho?

52. "The Wreck of the Mary __": DEARE. This clue and entry appear about once a year, on average

53. Hoffman title role: HOOK. Dustin Hoffman played Captain HOOK; Robin Williams (shown below) played Peter Pan. Film trailer:

55. Hindu royalty: RAJAS. Rajas (Sanskrit: रजस्) is one of the three Guṇas (tendencies, qualities, attributes), a philosophical and psychological concept developed by the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy. The other two qualities are Sattva (goodness, balance) and Tamas (destruction, chaos). Rajas is innate tendency or quality that drives motion, energy and activity.

Rajas is sometimes translated as passion, where it is used in the sense of activity, without any particular value and it can contextually be either good or bad. Rajas helps actualize the other aforementioned two gunas.

Nothing here describes "royalty". Maybe I chose the wrong Wikipedia entry??

57. Indulge, with "on": DOTE. There it is: the ninth example from our Thesaurussaurus

58. Like some bulls: PAPAL. PAPAL Bull. It's actually defined as an edict by the Pope, but I kinda like this cartoon version myself

60. Like many tuxedo shirts: PLEATED. Jerry's isn't PLEATED, but it's much funnier! Beware of the "low talkers"

65. Texter's lead-in: IMO. In My Opinion. IYO, what do you think of this as an entry?

66. Dividing range: URALS. From novaonline.com: " The Ural Mountains (Уральские горы, Uralskie gory, the Stone Belt) as a mountain range run roughly north and south through Russia to Kazakhstan for a little more than 1,500 mi. The highest peak is Mount Narodnaia (about 6,200 ft.), while the average height varies considerably but is often in the 3,000 to 4,000 ft. range. Geographically the Urals are often divided into five parts: Southern, Middle, Northern, Pre-Polar (the highest) and Polar. The Ural Mountains are among the world's oldest mountains, 300 to 250 million years old, and erosion has lowered them considerably. In many places, the mountains are little more than hills. In many respects, the Urals remind me of the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States, also old and considerably eroded. The Urals do not form a natural barrier between Europe and Asia. For example, the mountains did not hinder the Mongol invasion of Russia in the thirteenth century"

67. Hollow winds: REEDS. Another Friday clue

68. __ Wiedersehen: AUF. Das zeiter Deutches Wort in diesem Kreuzworträtsel

69. Home __: DEPOT. Technically, it's "THE" Home DEPOT

70. Center: MIDST. Also could be clued as "in the thick of"

71. Bad check ltrs.: NSF. iNSufficient Funds

Down:
2. Fight in a big way: WAGE WAR. In some of the publications for crossword puzzles, the word "WAR" is frowned upon, but apparently the LA Times is not one of them. Just in case you were curious about submission rules

3. Song with the phrase "kiss me mucho": ESO BESO. A CSO to Lucina, perhaps?! ESO BESO = "This kiss"

4. MD-to-be's exam: MCAT. The SAT for would-be doctors

5. 44-Down, once: SIXER, 44-Down. Four-time pro basketball MVP: DR J. I don't think that DR J (aka, Julius Erving) had to take the MCAT's! He best known for playing with the Philadelphia SIXERs in the NBA

6. Caviar spoon materials: NACRES. Not sure that I knew this. From the French "Cuillère en Nacre", or spoon of Mother-of-Pearl (aka, NACRE). Did they choose this because fish roe taste better on shellfish material? Here is an example of one:

7. Bud: BRO. The word "bud" has many meanings; perhaps adding (slang) to the clue would've made it easier

8. Arrange local transportation: CALL A CAB. How many of you have ridden in a CAB in the past decade or so? LYFT and UBER have seemingly taken over the "taxi" industry

9. Baltic feeder: ODER.

Pollution has made
A noted river smell bad.
The ODER's odor

10. Daytime host Lake: RICKI. This lady

11. Scores high: GETS AN A. A CSO to our CC poet laureate, OwenKL. He usually GETS AN A from Anonymous T

12. Previously: AGO. "He left five minutes AGO." Previously . . .

13. Postal motto word: NOR. Actually, I was happy to see that this clue and entry wasn't the abbr. for NORway. From the USPS: "Neither snow NOR rain NOR heat NOR gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds". But throw a holiday out there and it will . . .

19. More rangy: LANKIER. I've never been called "lanky". "Stocky" is my physique's descriptor

21. Memorable JFK words after "And so, my fellow Americans": ASK NOT. More famous quotation words, and powerful words they were

25. Needlefish: GAR. From Wikipedia: "Needlefish closely resemble North American freshwater GARs (family Lepisosteidae) in being elongated and having long, narrow jaws filled with sharp teeth, and some species of needlefishes are referred to as GARs or GARfish despite being only distantly related to the true GARs. And now you know

27. Axl's group, briefly: GNR. From the semi-eponymous band: Guns 'N Roses. Axl Rose

28. Run up a bill, say: OWE. This cartoon guy had quite the healthy bill!

30. Feudal laborers: SERFS.

Feudal softball game
Became confusing to fans
When they said: "SERF's up!"

32. Golfer with three PGA Championship top 10s after age 60: SNEAD. Nicknamed "The Slammer" for his prodigious strength as a ball stiker.

From Wikipedia: "Samuel Jackson SNEAD was an American professional golfer who was one of the top players in the world for the better part of four decades and widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. His swing looked like a metronome

35. Not on any side: NEUTRAL. Like the Swiss

37. Curly-haired "Peanuts" girl: FRIEDA. Oh good! I get to post another cartoon!!

39. Like a mild chili: ONE ALARM. Unlike this guy. Homer goes to the Chili Cook Off:

41. Word of support: RAH. It's also a word found in many sports cheers; football especially: (with a slight correction to what Wilbur Charles entered on Sept 13) "RAH RAH ree, kick 'em in the knee. RAH RAH rass, kick 'em in the other knee"

42. Tabloid topic: UFO. Does anyone buy the National Enquirer?

43. Thrown-together: STOP GAP. Definition: a temporary way of dealing with a problem or satisfying a need. Thrown-together

46. Vientiane native: LAOTIAN. A native of Laos

47. Ross Martin's "The Wild Wild West" role: ARTEMUS. I never watched. A thirty second trailer for your viewing pleasure

51. Dozed for a bit: NAPPED. Happens to me occasionally

54. Painter Frida: KAHLO. Not to be mistaken with the answer to 37-Down. Her

56. Wintry rides: SLEDS.

59. Soft "Over here!": PSST.

61. In olden days, once: ERST. Crosswordese

62. 1963 Newman title role: HUD. More about this here

63. Real resentment: IRE. Did anyone else notice the plethora of three-letter entries today?

64. Louvre Pyramid designer: PEI. See 63-Across

The grid:

OK, folks! Your turn to add to the comments! Have a pleasant weekend. I am planning to play golf today; don't want to be late for my "T" time!

43 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIWrong. I labored over what DR.J used to be. SOXER? Sox were the wrong sport, I think. SEXER? Did he work on an egg farm as a kid? And the crossing was no help, S_ARA didn't ring any bells. Finally WAGed SIXERS (was there a team named "Spirit of '76, maybe?) No ta-da. Turned on the check button. SIXER was right, it was the perp that was wrong! CIARA was still totally unknown, but I've gotten MCAT wrong before, so should have gotten it right this time.

The theme was easy from the first one (after I changed AXE to AX), and helped me get the last three. But then the reveal said there were FIVE! That took longer to suss.

Wilbur Charles said...

Right off the bat I had sIARA and MsAT as in LSAT. Is the C for College? If I'd said MCAT aloud I'd've had it.

Villain made me think of Fagin but he's Dickens. CSO to the King (OMK)

DrJ played in the ABA(Nets) and UMASS.

Don't need the Enquirer we've internet

To think I came so close to FIR on that one letter. I needed every perp. P&P are geared to younger crowd now.

AX is guitar related?

Welcome back to Friday C-Moe

WC

OwenKL said...

CALL A CAB when the air
Is wet, you'll be a RAIN FARE.
Instead use your dime
To go back in time,
And you'll find yourself at a Ren Faire!

(Two of my grandsons have worked as staff at Renaissance Faires.)

Catholics may think PAPAL BULLS,
Are occasions to ring church bells.
But Internet's faithful
May think it more fateful,
When they're faced with PayPal bills!

{C, B.}

Lemonade714 said...

I am awed by the work you put in to find all the links you have provided for today's puzzle. As you said the theme jumped out and made the solve much easier aided by the many three letter fill. There were challenges though and fun clechos. Also the SACKS CASKS anagram answers were well done.
Because of the medical people in my family I was not slowed by Medical College Admission Test® which we just had on July 25 in C.C. and Tony's Sunday collaboration.
According to ThoughtCo.com, an Asian website "A raja is a monarch in India, parts of Southeast Asia, and Indonesia. The term can designate either a prince or a full-fledged king."
One tiny correction, NSF is from Non-sufficient funds.

Thank you AMB and Chairman

unclefred said...

Although I got the theme immediately with APEDECK, I still struggled to a FIR in (Gulp!) 45 minutes. One W/O PIANO:ORGAN, but lots of things I DNK, NACRES among them. And too many actor questions for me. But after a long struggle…. A difficult but clever CW, thank, AB. And a terrific write-up, lots of tie-ins, thanx, CM. Now, back to sleep for a while.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Moe and friends.

Not only do we have the Peanuts character FRIEDA and Frida, but we also have the married artist couple of Frida KAHLO (née Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, July 6, 1907 ~ July 13, 1954) and DIEGO Rivera (né Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez; Dec. 8, 1886 ~ Nov. 24, 1957).

QOD: In Hollywood, marriage is a success if it outlasts milk. ~ Rita Rudner (b. Sept. 17, 1953), American comedian

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

D-o used a GAG to "render speechless," and was off and stumbling. Further down my LUKE WARM chili slowed me a bit. But that's what Wite-Out's for. Could tell that something was going on with the long answers, but never tripped to exactly what it was. This one needed a reveal. (It had one? D'oh.) Thanx, Annemarie and C-Moe.

NSF: An NSF check resulted in my parting ways with Chase. I still don't believe the depositor should be penalized with an NSF fee when the check he deposited bounces. The deposit reversal is penalty enough.

ARTEMUS: Back in my sailor days, Wild Wild West was one of the shows that was bicycle-networked to the fleet. We looked forward to it. It's amazing what you'll watch when it's all that's available.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIW. That loud noise you heard was my dope slap when I saw it was HOOK, not HOOm and KAHLO not mAHALO. Should have known both. DNK CIARA, DEARE, AUF, FRIEDA or ARTEMUS. Erased piano for ORGAN (of course), ranai for RAJAS, ruffled for PLEATED, oboes for REEDS, and slap dap for STOP GAP.

I have always admired that JFK quote. Yesterday I happened upon a quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Now it is now the moment when by common consent we pause to become conscious of our national life and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return." I'll bet JFK was Holmes admirer.

Our resident Graybar retiree would know NEUTRAL as "the white wire."

FLN - Jayce, I'll bet you were a master DEBATER.

Thanks to Annemarie for the fine challenge. My favorite was "like a mild chili" for ONE ALARM, even though I like mine four- or five-ALARM. And thanks to C-Moe for the comprehensive tour.

ATLGranny said...

A FIR Friday, WO-free until SNEeD/SNEAD. The perp pointed that out. After that I slipped up on HulK/HOOK and ON??wARM/ONE ALARM. But got the puzzle right and caught onto the theme early with AX COLLECTOR and RAIN FARE. Lots of fun and challenges, thanks to you, Annemarie. C Moe, for today's review, you GET(S) AN A plus, providing us with extra information about the puzzle as well as humor. Thanks!

Have a fun Friday. AUF Wiedersehen everyone. Until tomorrow....

Malodorous Manatee said...

It took a while but everything worked out. There were a few proper nouns with which I was not consciously familiar but with help from the perps they eventually bubbled up from somewhere in the tar. The Papal Bull cartoon was great. IIRC, didn't Johnny Cash appear as a coyote later in that Simpsons episode? Or, perhaps, it was all just a hallucination.

billocohoes said...

Yes, WC, AX is slang for a guitar

Needed crosses for NACRES

DR J played for the Philadelphia 76ers ("SIXERS"), who were the Syracuse Nationals until the Warriors moved from Philly to San Francisco and the Nats replaced them in the bigger market.

King Lear's daughter REGAN doesn't make as many xword appearances as IAGO

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

L714 - thanks for the NSF correction, and for noticing the SACKS/CASKS connection.

It rained overnight and it’s still sprinkling, so no “T” time for Moe.

TGIF

Chairman Moe said...

I meant T Time - Doh!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

FLN - - Dash -T -Eldest has a beautiful voice aber ich konnte ihr deutsch nicht verstehen. I can't understand English opera either.

Toughie today but I finally got it done with4 red squares. Sigh. No HOOK, and no SIXER. But I did get the theme with the missing T. DEARE - a rare entry as CM points out. A mystery as I recall. Liked the PAPAL clue.
KRONEN - - C. Moe; Du hast Recht. Often the plural adds N, But umlauting, and adding e are also common. In Dutch, adding 'en' is almost 100%.
I first entered thaler for the Austrian currency. We get our word 'dollar' from thaler. Schilling was also a currency, but wouldn't fit.

Brethauer - Brett Hauer means board whacker in German. Thanks Annemarie for a fine Friday challenge. You 'whacked' me fine this morning:-)

Unknown said...

They use nacres as material for spoons because the salts in the caviar can interact/react with the metal and give the caviar a metallic taste. The nacres is natural and has no interaction with salt. FYI. :)

Chairman Moe said...

I will add to Spitz’ comment, Tony (Dash T); your daughter has a beautiful voice

waseeley said...

Thank you Annemarie for a Friday challenge, which thru several strokes of luck and lots of perps, I actually FIR. Sorta saw the theme when the reveal popped up, so I guess that counts.

And thank you CMOE for a great review. You were in fine form this morning.

Had some trouble in due North, as even after I got Dr. J at 44D I didn't know who he played for (yes I AM sports challenged) and still don't know what a (T)AX COLLECTOR has to due with guitars. Is AX slang for a guitar?

15A CIARA's GOODIES didn't CHEER me either MOE.

16A & 54D were a 42D ("Tabloid topic") in their day.

58A Had PAPAS before PAPAL. Loved the cartoon Chris!

6D I knew NACRE, but not that it was used to line CAVIAR spoons, but it was perps to the rescue. Anyway CAVIAR is too salty for my HBP.

10D Ricki was made famous by that BAD BOY OF BALTIMORE, John Waters.

11D IMO OwenKl is TOO HUMBLE. But I guess he became such a good poet by setting HIGH standards for himelf.

Cheers,
Bill

waseeley said...

Hahtoolah @ 5:49 AM AH CARAMBA!

waseeley said...

Bach played the harpsichord and the organ. The piano wasn't invented until the Classical era. But all the aforementioned were "Claviers", i.e. keyboard instruments.

desper-otto said...

Waseeley, do you remember Yakety Sax? Chet Atkins recorded it on his guitar as Yakety Axe. Yes, a guitar player is known as an axeman. Segovia probably wouldn't have approved.

inanehiker said...

Weird - my paper today has an Ed Sessa puzzle - I'll have to solve Annemarie's later -

CanadianEh! said...

Friday Foolery. Thanks for the fun, Annemarie and CMoe.
Officially a DNF and FIW today., but I did see the missing T. Theme.

Plenty of inkblots today. My cabbie had a RAIN date iinstead of a FARE. ( and I did correct the R with GNR, but missed correcting FRIEDA.
I required a Google search for KAHLO, which opened up the SW corner. I had HIGH Stepper before SLAPPER.
Yell at changed to RAIL AT, Alert changed to ALARM.

Hand up for thinking of piano before ORGAN, and assuming an apostrophe in lets. I needed an alphabet run for that S in SACKS.
I must not eat enough caviar, because I didn’t know about the NACRE spoon. Perps to the rescue. (Thanks Unknown @9:42 for the info)
The bulls clue was a great misdirection. I wanted NEUTered (to go with NEUTRAL LOL).

My nose wrinkled at the CALL A CAB and “Cabdriver’s pickups?” dupe. And doesn’t the plural “pickups” require a plural FAREs?

ESO BESO is an Anka hit that we see very often here.
Thanks Hahtoolah for the KAHLO/DIEGO connection.

Wishing you all a great day.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-The teacher for whom I am subbing had no pencil and so Ix had two ink write-overs – RAJAH/RAJAS and RIKKI/RICKI.
-APE DECK was a fun intro to the gimmick and the others were also entertaining
-Zorro’s secret identity, Don DIEGO de la Vega, is probably not in Rich’s playbook
-Shakespeare villain? Vowel-laden IAGO of course. Wait, there’s five cells. Wait, it’s the next clue!
-SACKS was a pleasant surprise because I did not notice the missing apostrophe and then BAM!
-Woody upon seeing Norm enter the Cheers bar, “Hey, Mr. Peterson, how ‘bout something tall and cold?” Norm, “Nah, I’ll see my wife later, Woody, give me a BEER.”
-Plebian me thought caviar spoons were made of wood
-My Omaha World Herald delivery person cannot always complete his rounds in a timely fashion because the paper can’t find enough people to do this task
-ONE ALARM - Buffalo Wild Wings has its own scale of hotness
-Sand bags serve as a STOPGAP measure here when the Platte gets out of its banks
-Nice job, Chairman. You always leave us wanting MOE!

Vidwan827 said...

Thank You Annemarie for a nice challenging puzzle, and Chairman Moe for a very nice review. You certainly did a lot of research and many, many links, all of which must have involved a lot of time and effort. Thanks.

First things first. As a local, self appointed 'maven' on all-things-Eastern and Hinduism et al, I feel obliged to comment on your blog note on Raja(s). To set the matters straight, I am NOT that religious, and my knowledge on hindu philosophy is very, very, limited, .... more as in from the seat of the pants. But your note completely befuddled me !!
I had NEVER heard of that concept before, ( and I am not surprised - ). That is deep hindu philosophy, well beyond my ken. So, here goes my comment.

Raja and Rajas, 99 percent of the time .... refers to Hindu princes and kings, as Lemonade so rightly pointed out. What you got was a disambiguation of the one percent, of profound philosophy of the 'humors' of the (human ) being and the soul. By the way, the hindi (devanagiri -) script, which you included, ( and which was a big help) pronounces the word as 'r(a)-ju-s' not 'ra-ja-s' .... which just emphasizes the near impossibility of transcribing one language to, say, the roman alphabet. As an example, sins, sines and signs sound alike but mean radically different things ... one would never be a replacement for the other ....

Raja and Rajas are not Friday clues, they are Monday clues .... such 'kings' were a dime a dozen on the indian subcontinent, before and during the british rule.
You should not be even thinking of the 'Rajus' or Rajas Gunas ... unless you're contemplating of doing a PhD in Eastern Philosophy...

Lucina said...

Hola!

Thanks to Annemarie and CMoe! This was a fine Friday finish.

However, I don't know CIARA and so MSAT/SIARA looked right to me.

Loved seeing some Shakespeare with IAGO and REGAN. DIEGO Rivera and Frida KAHLO are beloved Mexican artists. I saw the movie of their life many years ago. Also saw a display of their art, just don't recall which city I was in.

ONE ALARM chili? Who likes that?

CSO to my mother at BEER. She loved it.

ESO BESO. I kiss that.

RUSTFUND made me chuckle.

Have a fantastic Friday, everyone!

Vidwan827 said...


The CW was quite a job, ... like Hahtoolah, I also noticed Freida Kahlo and her husband Deigo Garcia, who enraged Rockefeller with his socialist murals. I have watched atleast 2 documentaries on their lives.

I have a collection of some nacre ware from the Phillipines, they are actually quite cheap, and very light. I've had caviar once or twice, it was with a silver spoon, ... nothing to sneeze at.

The MCAT is actually quite a difficult test, of complex logic, nothing like the SATs or APs ... which are regurgitations of pretty much straight forward knowledge. I helped my elder daughter prepare for the MCAT test, about 20 years ago, .... it floored me good, but she aced a 14 on it.

AX COLLECTOR and RUST FUND were somewhat confusing, but I've learnt to let go of logic in difficult puzzles. I first had Thaler ( the forerunner of the US Dollar ) as the Austrian coin. I have quite a few Maria Theresa silver Thalers in my lil collection... they were very common in that century and commonly used as currency in the arab middle east.

I was thinking more in the lines of Dustin Hoffman's title role in Midnight Cowboy (Ratso) or in The Graduate.

I agree with D-O that depositors should not be charged for other people's NSF checks. My bank, does not charge me ... although its been more than 20 years since I've had one.

What with my advancing age, and medications, I've stopped eating spicy food. This also prevents me from over eating.

have a nice day, and a good weekend, all.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Interesting & challenging puzzle, Annemarie, thanks. Thanks for a fun expo, Moe.

Got the theme early with APE DECK which helped with AX COLLECTOR & the others.

Last fill was the "C" in MCAT/CIARA.

KRONEr B# KRONEN. 14a tried sis, bro, mom, pop B4 PAS (meh).

DNK: KAHLO, ARTEMIS, GNR, REGAN, NACRES, LAOTIAN.

Despite being an NBA fan, I had to wait for perps for DR. J. & SIXERS. I do know SIXERS however. Dr. J. was before my watch time.

Proud to immediately plug in PAPAP bull.

FLN: AnonT, Lovely lady with a very lovely voice. You should be very proud. What is next for her?

AnonymousPVX said...


Well this Friday grid was a lulu.

Had one bad cell, MSAT not MCAT, thus SIARA not CIARA. HI Lucina.

Write-overs…PIANO/ORGAN.

See you tomorrow.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

DNF in the SE & SW (ah, HOOK, not anything to do with Ishtar).

Thanks Annemarie for the puzzle. Thanks C. Moe for the expo - fun clips and the PAPAL Bull (never heard of it - that's how good a Catholic I am!) comic was LOL.

Theme all about me? Little ol' -(minus) T? :-)
//cue Carly Simon

WO: SNEeD
ESPs: CIARA, REGAN, ODER, KRONEN
DNF: 46 & 47d xing 52 and 68d; 43 & 53d xing 53a & 58a
Fav: CASKS of BEER?

{B, B+}

FLN - I'll pass y'all's complements onto Eldest.
//I can't hide how proud I am of her hard work and talent.
PK - She's finishing a second degree in Psychology and will begin a masters/PhD program next fall. Between now and then, she hopes to pen a book(?).

Thank you ATLGranny - I was still thinking "Wiedersehen" was some dude's last name. Now I get it.

I thought caviar was served on whale-bone spoons or (gasp!) ivory. NACRES eventually perep'd into view. //had it a few times - not bad but you need some good Russian red bubbly or vodka to go with.

Vidwan - You not eat spicy? Define spicy.
I grew up in the Midwest on quite the bland diet but I love'd jalapeños and a good hot sauce.
I thought I could eat anything spicy until I went to lunch with a few buddies from India. Tha curry had me in a sweat... where's the yogurt sauce?!?
//my buddy from Hong Kong was laughing at me too.

NSF - I remember in college... Don't cash this 'till Tuesday (for the hamburger I had today? :-))

Cheers, -T

Big Easy said...

TEED OFF? Haven't hit a golf ball in two years. Fingers hurt too much to grip the clubs. But I'm slow and it took me all the way down to HIGH SLAPPER to notice the missing Ts. It took a WAG to finish the puzzle at the intersection of KAHLO (unknown) and HOOK.

Jinx, it was a toss up between Captain HOOK or Robin HOOD; HOOM didn't make the ABC cut. The only Hoffman films I've seen are The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, and Rainman, with the first two over 50 years ago.

Never heard or either KAHLO or CIARA (or Goodies).
Didn't know Austria's old money either. KRONA, KRONE, KRONER- those are the Scandinavian currencies.
ESO BESO was a guess since the song is a Xword regular.
NACRES- know the word but my knowledge of eating caviar is zilch.

Strange that the 36A clue contained CAB and RAIN FARE crossed CALL A CAB.
Also a 'Frida' clue and a FRIEDA fill.

The Ross Martin role was from when I was a kid.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Thanks to Annemarie Brethauer & Chairman Moe for a fine start to our Friday!

I enjoyed these fills. They seemed to explore areas new to us, not simply going over old terrain.
It was refreshing, for instance, to see at least one more "Shakespearean villain" than IAGO. Goodness knows there are a good many sinister types yet to be chosen.

I wonder if anyone else had to change LBJ (LeBron James, another MVP) to DR J?
~ OMK
____________
DR:
Again, no lettered diagonals, but a neat "Bend" of black squares smack in the center.
This time, a Bend Dexter!

Jinx in Norfolk said...

The reason I should have known KAHLO is because DW dragged me to see Salma Hayek play the title role in "Frida." I didn't want to go and didn't want to like it, but the movie pried open my closed mind and I enjoyed it very much.

Ol' Man Keith said...

I remember the schilling in Austria.
Divided into groschen.
~ OMK

Picard said...

Carelessly FIW by misspelling the names as SNEeD and FReiDA and not knowing DEARE. FRIDA KAHLO a gimme. Interesting as always how a gimme for some is a Natick for others. Jinx Good for you to watch the "FRIDA" movie and admit it was a positive experience. I thought that movie would make her name universally known.

Like Hahtoolah, Vidwan and Lucina I immediately noticed the presence of her and DIEGO RIVERA together. Yes, it was funny how Rockefeller was surprised that DIEGO RIVERA would make a MURAL opposed to his politics!

I have enjoyed DIEGO RIVERA murals in several cities, but the biggest surprise came with our visit to Detroit two years ago.

Here we experienced an entire MURAL room devoted to DIEGO RIVERA at the Detroit Institute of Art

Chairman Moe Thank you for the FRIEDA Peanuts cartoon. What is amazing is that I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it was about a half century ago!

Wilbur Charles Can you say something more about your interest in Eastern philosophy?

Picard said...

From Yesterday:
Bill Seeley Thanks for the follow-up regarding Greek hair color. I think I used the wrong term for my Greek friends, too. Their parents were immigrants from Greece. So, I guess that makes them second generation immigrants? Their mother used to come to our company events, too.

Jayce Thanks for the answer about TOES and CREE.

CanadianEh and AnonPVX I also had I'm HERE before IN HERE.

Wilbur Charles said...

"(ah, HOOK, not anything to do with Ishtar)." Thx -T, I needed a belly laugh, rotfl

"You're so vain!". As in arriving at Quantico in a 3 piece suit thinking I was the balls. I shared a cab with a Cleveland Brown football player* in jeans , sweatshirt and sneakers.

One of us was under a very (vain and) wrong impression.

BigE, wait til you see Saturdays golf clue. Aloe Vera capsules may help the hands. Speaking of…
I get giddy when I FIR a Sat.
Want one hint?**

Picard thx for Diego murals. And my thoughts exactly:SNEAD,SIXER and Dr J were LHF, FRIDA and Diego (and CIARA) UNK.

Picard I believe there's a Power and it's called by many names . Reiki is one.

WC

*I was just back from Nam and there he was making a big interception on MNF. I got the name : Billy Andrews

** I don't dare. Maybe later tonight. Ah hell. NERO Wolfe

Vidwan827 said...

Picard, thank you for those mural pictures of Mr. Diego Garcia, in Detroit.

The iconic mural that got John D Rockefeller's son, Nelson, upset, was at Rockefeller square. The art was purposely destroyed, and never remuralized .... Diego reproduced the same mural in his native Mexico

Click on the link, above, to get the whole story....

Anon-T, I define spicy as anything that would require me to gulp water after chewing the morsel. I can eat a decent amount of chilly peppers and cumin, but I am now averse to cinnamon, cloves, black peppercorn and ofcourse, wasabi sauce.

By the way, I was very impressed with your eldest's vocal repertoire and singing abilities ...( I, personally, having no knowledge whatsoever of the same ...). I wish her the best for the future.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle which made me struggle a bit. Last letter to fill was that C crossing MCAT and CIARA, as it also was for several of you. I agree that PAS as clued is kinda meh; perhaps less meh if it had been clued something like "--- de Deux in ballet" or even "Faux ---".

Prescient at DEBATER, as Jinx pointed out. (So, does a DEbater take the worm OFF the HOOK?)

Our son is spending the weekend in San Francisco and we are meeting for dinner soon. Looking forward to it. I learned how to use OpenTable to book the reservation.

Interesting how seeing MCAT in the puzzle reminded me of the research I had done into the MCAS software that caused those two Boeing 737 MAX crashes.

Good wishes to you all.

Chairman Moe said...

Jayce, yes a DEBATER would definitely take the worm OFF the HOOK! Good “catch”!

I actually found out that RAJAS is the plural of RAJAH after I did the blog, but didn’t change it as I wanted to see if others knew this. I thought the cluing for it was clunky given the fact that RAJAS (when Googled) has a different meaning. But who knew?!

TTP said...



Nice puzzle, Annemarie. Great job, Chairman Moe.

First, before I forget, congrats Dash T, your daughter has an impressive voice.

Just a few notes on the crossword, since so much has already been said, so I pared my notes from earlier today and added a few other things in.

Dunkable cookie ? I wanted Chips Ahoy, but then remembered that this is a crossword puzzle.

Wick Fowler's Two ALARM Chili Kit was a staple in the cupboard during my bachelor days.

ScreenPix Westerns channel on cable also regularly plays reruns of The Wild, Wild West. ARTEMUS Gordon was a master of disguise. We watched weekly back in the day.

Had to perp out CIARA and DEARE, but not Sam SNEAD. He holds the record for the Most PGA career victories. He wrote that when he sensed that something wasn't quite right with his game, he'd take off his golf shoes and socks and play a practice round in in his bare feet.

"Contrary to popular belief, the United States Postal Service has no official motto. However, a number of postal buildings contain inscriptions, the most familiar of which appear in New York City and Washington, D.C.

At the former New York City Post Office, at 8th Avenue and 33rd Street, these words appear:
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift
completion of their appointed rounds.

These words were adapted from a translation of the works of Herodotus, who chronicled the wars between the Greeks and the Persians around 500 B.C. The Persians operated a system of mounted postal couriers who performed with great fidelity." - The United Sates Postal Service "An American History" Pg 129.


Not related to the CW, but yesterday morning I had the news on for background noise, but wasn't paying complete attention. The news anchor, in his very serious voice, was speaking of the historic SpaceX launch with an all civilian crew. I thought I misheard him: "SpaceX made history... launching four civilians into orbit... None of them are professional athletes." Wait, what ? The rest of the morning news team couldn't control their laughing. Reminded me of The Mary Tyler Moore Show with Ted Knight reading the news.


Good night all.

Picard said...

Wilbur Charles and Vidwan Thank you for the kind words about my DIEGO RIVERA photos. I just Googled DIEGO RIVERA and I was surprised to learn that this Detroit collection is considered his best work!

I just dug up my DIEGO RIVERA photos from Mexico City. But it is late and tomorrow will be a full day for me. So I will have to save those for another time. DIEGO RIVERA seems to show up in puzzles from time to time.

Wilbur Charles So, you did not know DIEGO RIVERA or FRIDA KAHLO? But you knew DR J? Just the opposite for me.

And thank you for explaining a tiny bit about your beliefs. Reiki seems to be a form of therapy from my Google search. Again, I would be intrigued to know more. Perhaps you could email me off-line.

Vidwan I was mystified by your repeated use of DIEGO GARCIA instead of DIEGO RIVERA. A Google search shows DIEGO GARCIA is a remote island south of India and east of Madagascar. Perhaps that is what you were thinking of?

Yes, I was very familiar with the story of Rockefeller and the DIEGO RIVERA murals. Rockefeller should have known better. What is considered far left in the US is considered mainstream in Mexico.

Chairman Moe, Bill Seeley Regarding CIARA, not my style, either. DW introduced me to this genre with CARDI B. If you don't like CIARA, you won't like CARDI B, either. It is an inversion of the world I grew up in as a child in the 70s. At that time, women were demanding to be seen for their abilities, not for being sex objects. It seems these performers are inviting the world to see women as sex objects. OK if that is what they want for themselves.

Chairman Moe said...

TTP: thanks for the added info! Once a blogger, always a blogger!! 😂

Picard - like Wilbur, I too am more of a sports nut than an arts nut. But the beauty of this chat board is that we all contribute what we do know or have experienced to the betterment of all. I’ve learned so much more about “things” since being invited to blog every other Friday. And I can’t argue with you about CIARA, CARDI B, et al. As I said in my recap hers is not a music style I care for nor follow

Ol' Man Keith said...

Thanks, Wilbur, for the shout out!

When I played Lear, I thought of REGAN as my less appreciated evil daughter. Goneril gets all the boos and hisses, but REGAN, playing "cutesy," seems all the more vile in her "little girl" routines.
~ OMK