google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, September 21, 2021 Chris Sablich

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Sep 21, 2021

Tuesday, September 21, 2021 Chris Sablich

Same Word, Different Meaning.  As we wind down the baseball season (Game 1 of the World Series is scheduled for October 26), let's take a look at some of the sport's figures.

20. Football-shaped gem: MARQUISE DIAMOND.

Baseball Diamond


Marquise Diamond



28. Get revenge: EVEN A SCORE.

And the Red Sox Win!

48. Retriever retriever, perhaps: DOG CATCHER.

Carlton Fisk, former Red Sox Catcher

Here's the Unifier:

54. Estimates, and what the last parts of 20-, 28- and 48-Across are, in different ways: BALLPARK FIGURES.

2021 Red Sox figures

As you read today's commentary, I will be somewhere between New Jersey and the D.C., area as I make my trek back home after spending the past 2 months in New England.  Thus, this will be a somewhat abbreivated commentary.

Across:
1. Unit of parsley: SPRIG.



6. Gridiron gear: PADS.

10. Souvenir of a ticket: STUB.  Can it really be 25 years ago that I went to this Stones concert?


14. 2000s first lady Bush: LAURA.  Laura Bush (née Laura Lane Welsh; b. Nov. 4, 1946) married George W. Bush (b. July 6, 1946) in 1977.


15. Sheltered, at sea: ALEE.

16. Overblown publicity: HYPE.

17. Perpendicular to the keel: ABEAM.

18. Travel aimlessly: ROAM.

19. Monopoly token replaced by a cat: IRON.  I rather liked the Iron.



23. "The Addams Family" cousin: ITT.  A new Addams Family movie is coming out in October.


24. Switch positions: ONs.


25. Winter sports footwear: SKIS.

35. Author Rand: AYN.  Ayn Rand (née Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; Feb. 2, 1905 ~ Mar. 6, 1982) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia.  She moved to the United States in the 1920s.  Her best known works are The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

36. "__ the Falling Snow": Enya song: AMID.


37. Gas up: REFUEL.  I will have may refueling stops on my drive from New England to Louisiana.

38. Train making all the stops: LOCAL.

40. Assist: AID.

42. Column-bottom number: TOTAL.


43. Right away: AT ONCE.

45. Danson and Nugent: TEDs.  Ted Danson (né Edward Bridge Danson, III; b. Dec. 29, 1947) is a former model and actor.  Ted Nugent (né Theodore Anthony Nugent; b. Dec. 13, 1948) is a musician.

47. Hudson Riv. engineering school: RPI.  As in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  Hi, Spitzboov!

50. Own (up): 'FESS.

51. Vietnamese soup: PHO.


52. Anti-discrimination initials: EEO.  As in the Equal Employment Opportunity.

63. Side squared, for a square: AREA.


64. Zippo: NONE.

65. By oneself: ALONE.

66. Thailand, once: SIAM.

67. Dealing with the issue: ON IT.

68. Pasta wheat: DURUM.  Everything you wanted to know about Durum, but didn't know to ask.

69. Angel's instrument: HARP.


70. After normal hours: LATE.

71. "Austin Powers" genre: SPY-FI.  A pun on Sci-Fi.

Down:
1. Grand __: SLAM.

2. Old sunscreen ingredient: PABA.  Para-Aminobenzoic Acid (PABA) is not used so much in sunscreen products, in part because it is a strong sensitizing agent and can cause allergic dermatitis.  

3. Remorseful one: RUER.  You'll rue the day ...

4. Baghdad natives: IRAQIs.

5. Entire spectrum: GAMUT.

6. What birdies barely beat: PARs.  A golfing reference.

7. Skin soother: ALOE.  A crossword staple.

8. Perfectly accurate: DEAD ON.

9. Business training session: SEMINAR.

10. Leveling wedge: SHIM.  This word is becoming a crossword staple.

11. Beginner: TYRO.  Can you use this word in a sentence?

12. Stratford-__-Avon: UPON.  This city is best known for being the birthplace of Willie the Shakes.  (Hi, OMK!)



13. Curve in the road: BEND.

21. Checkout counter unit: ITEM.

22. Portfolio listings: ASSETS.

25. Dish with greens: SALAD.  My favorite salads are Caesars.


26. Former capital of Japan: KYOTO.  The city of Kyoto is known for its Buddhist temples, Shinto Shrines and beautiful gardens.


27. Undercover, informally: INCOG.

29. By way of: VIA.

30. Archie's spouse: EDITH.  A reference to All In the Family


31. Corp. money manager: CFO.  As in the Chief Financial Officer.

32. Bizarre: OUTRÉ.  The word comes to us from the French

33. Brings in at harvest time: REAPS.

34. Clothing designer Perry: ELLIS.  Perry Ellis (né Perry Edwin Ellis; Mar. 3, 1940 ~ May 30, 1986) was a fashion designer.


36. Li'l Abner creator: AL CAPP. Al Capp (né Alfred Gerald Caplin; Sept. 28, 1909 ~ Nov. 5, 1979) created Li'l Abner in 1934.


39. Mandela's org.: ANC.  As in the African National Congress.

41. Low grade: DEE.  Not a good grade.

44. Fuel additive: ETHANOL.

46. Eins plus zwei: DREI.  Today's German lesson: 1 + 2 = 3.

49. Popular Mexican beer: CORONA.  Not to be confused with the Corona Virus.

50. Make a mess of: FOUL UP.

53. "Yipes!": EGADS!

54. Wild party: BASH.

55. Opera highlight: ARIA.  Aria from Carmen.



56. Shakespeare's mad king: LEAR.

57. Genie's abode: LAMP.
58. Work with needles: KNIT.  A CSO to some of our regulars.

59. Big bash: FÊTE.

60. Golfer McIlroy: RORY.  Rory McIlroy (b. May 4, 1989) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland.

61. Sufficient, in texts: ENUF.

62. Game before the finals: SEMI.

Here's the Grid:


חתולה





Notes from C.C.:

1) Safe travels, Hahtoolah!

2) Please send your prayers and positive thoughts to Agnes (Irish Miss), who was just released from hospital yesterday. She continues to feel weak and worn out from various tests. Feel better soon, Agnes our sunshine!
 
 
Eileen (Agnes's sister) and Agnes
 

35 comments:

  1. A DIAMOND is a shape, a geometric FIGURE.
    A SCORE is a number, an arithmetic figure.
    And in a BALLPARK
    Players who do their part,
    The pitcher and CATCHER are athletic figures!

    A gasoline additive may be ETHANOL.
    A CORONA beer is mildly alcohol.
    For a real kick,
    Fast acting, quick,
    Nothing beats P.D.A. in a school hall!

    {B-, B+.}

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  2. Good morning, crossword friends. Today looks like another nice driving day on my trek back home.

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  3. Good morning!

    Enjoy your drive, Hahtoolah. This was a Wite-Out-free Tuesday. No nits. No carps. Nice. Denny's was my first thought at Grand Slam, too. Nice CSOs to Spitz and Mme Defarge. Thanx, Chris and Hahtoolah. (Wow, I never realized how short Dubya is.)

    Spin Class: That's exactly why we mount the toilet paper backwards chez d-o.

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  4. FIR, but erased nada for NONE and marques for MARQUIS (UNTIE!). Waited for eoe/EEO.

    The only Enya tune I know is "Only Time", the lovely tune used in the Kraft Cheese commercials.

    I always think of SEMINAR as being in academia instead of business training.

    I admit that I FOUL UP frequently. I rarely say FOUL, though.

    My REFUEL stop Sunday ran to $224. After my discount, I paid $191 for 62 gallons of diesel. Everyone said RVing would be fun, no one said it would be cheap.

    Thanks to Chris and Hahtoolah for the fun.

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  5. QOD: Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, the poetry is just the ash. ~ Leonard Cohen (né Leonard Norman Cohen; Sept. 21, 1934 ~ Nov. 7, 2016), Canadian-American singer-songwriter

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  6. 50D is nearly another themer.

    Mark Twain said not one person in a thousand can play a harp, and everyone likes variety in their music, yet a heaven is imagined where everyone plays a harp and sings the same song over and over for eternity.

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  7. Hi Y'all! Thanks for a fun puzzle, Chris. For once I knew all the names. Yay!

    Such dedication, Hahtoolah, to post a great expo just before your long trip. Enjoyed the comics. Thank you. SO sorry for the loss of your dad and hope you find your home intact after the storms.

    Only DNKS: 2d PABA, 32d OUTRE, 39d ANC, & SPYFI. However, all of these filled before I got to the clues.

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  8. I made it around the bases today in a little under 5 minutes.

    Marquise and durum were unknown to me.

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  9. Have not done the puzzle but just a comment FLN re milk. Up here in Token Creek, and the rest of "America's Dairyland" for that matter, State law says that if nae come from a cow or goat, container can nae have the word "milk"on it.

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  10. Another FIR today, again with a few WOs. Did not know SPYFI but scifi had serious perp problems. Some mental slippage while writing in IRAnI and when trying to remember how to spell ETHANOL. But it worked out fine and getting the theme was additional fun. Thanks, Chris! MARQUISE DIAMOND is an uncommon crossword fill, I think.

    Thanks, Hahtoolah, for your devotion to the blog. I didn't feel deprived at all by your review today. It seemed richly filled with the usual extra treats. Hope your trip goes smoothly. And hope everyone has a good day this Tuesday!

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  11. Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Chris and Hahtoolah (safe travels).
    I FIRed in good time and saw the baseball theme and FIGURES.. (A for #1 Owen)
    FOUL UP was a baseball Easter Egg. ( billocohoes saw it!)

    Several inkblots quickly corrected by perps- Irani to IRAQANI, Refilled to REFUELED, Duram to DURUM.
    I noted SPRIG and STUB, SEMI and SEMINAR, plus BASH and FETE.
    Hahtoolah’s illustration for 42A caught TOTAL and ASSETS.
    We had ABEAM and ALEE for the A- haters.

    CSOs to Spitzboov (Madame D too!) (RPI) and OMK with LEAR (plus UPON Avon).
    DH and I will be in Stratford, Ontario (also UPON Avon) later this week for an outdoor performance (under their new canopy) of Serving Elizabeth.

    AnonT- see FLN re PPC

    Wishing you all a great day.

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  12. Can someone please remind me of the acronyms that are used here in the comments? FIR? I know DNF is didn't finish, but that's about it. Thanks!

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  13. Good morning everyone.

    Piece of cake today. No strikethroughs. FIR. Liked the baseball motif.
    BEND - When the bridge wanted a little more speed (rpms) than what the engine bells called for, the engine watch would use the phrase "bend on the turns".
    RPI - Thanks Hahtoolah. Class of '59. IM's neighbor.
    DURUM - I'll bet PK has seen a lot of it.
    ETHANOL - Not an additive in terms of energy. More a reduction or diminution. A gallon of gas with ethanol has less energy (mpg delivery) than straight gasoline, and they charge you more for it.

    Hahtoolah - Sorry for your sad loss. Have a safe trip.

    IM - Hope you get your strength back quickly and that your tests will have a good outcome.

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  14. JohnK: This gets asked so often, I wish one of the admins would just post these links directly above the comments, instead of telling people to search all through the loooonnnngggg main page for them.
    The "Olio" section on the main page is at
    #Text4, and the abbreviations page under that heading is at comments-section-abbreviations

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  15. Thank you Chris for a nice day at the PARK with a WALK OFF FIR.
    And thank you Hahtoolah for giving us one of your fine, fun-filled reviews on your ROAD TRIP. If there was anything missing I must have missed it. We are praying for your SAFE slide into HOME. And please wave as you pass CHARM CITY.

    A few fav clues and annotations:

    19A IRON And did your CAT share your opinion about that?

    24A Promise not to tell, but DW thinks that switches only have ON settings.

    25A A CSO to JOE.

    35A AYN Rand. Also well known for her 66.66% ratio of vowels to consonants in her first name.

    13D Also the place where the crimedy series Shakespeare and Hathaway filmed. Shakespeare is the blond in the pink jacket.

    Cheers,
    Bill

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  16. Thank you Chris Sablich for a nice and easy Tuesday puzzle, and Hahtoolah for a charming review. I hope you have a safe and pleasant long drive, all the way down to La. I am more concerned about a solo drive, by a lady, down the highways ... hopefully you have no unexpected stops during the journey. Get plenty of rest, at night.

    I had no problems with the puzzle. The Ethanol ( alcohol - ) is added to reduce our dependence on imported gasoline. It is less efficient, energy wise, and more expensive .... and is a sop for the ethanol manufacturers. But, I guess it's patriotic, and now it is Federal law.

    Prayers and Best wishes to Agnes, Irish Miss. I hope I'll be as cogent when I'm her age.

    Laura Bush was, and has been, a very stabilizing figure in her husband's life, ... as my wife has been, in mine.

    I looked at your 'simplified' Assets and Totals ... and I was surprised to see Prepaids and Deposits in the Assets. Generally Prepaids and Deposits are mostly refundable monies that other people and other entities have paid to the company, in cash. So, they would be a contra-asset, to 'cash', and hence in the short term liability section. Unless, they are deposits made to other parties...

    I thought Ted Nugent was the ex-hubby of Luci Baines Johnson. That was Patrick John Nugent, an ex-Nation Guard, and the marriage was on cover of LIFE.. Aug 19, 1966.

    I hope Ray-O-Sunshine is feeling better, to solve the CWs and come to the blog.

    Have a nice day, all.

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  17. So sorry to hear about your trip to the hospital, Irish Miss. Sending you positive energy and best wishes.

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  18. A fun puzzle today. My white-out got the day off.

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  19. Hola!

    This puzzle was finished in a flash! The best part, though, is that it contained no, well, very few, made up words. I'm looking at ENUF. Also a dearth of abbreviations. Hooray for Chris Sablich! He can be forgiven for INCOG and ENUF though they make me cringe.

    BASH and FETE call for a party!

    IrishMiss:
    I hope you are soon well. I did not know you were hospitalized.

    Hahtoolah:
    Thank you for going the extra mile, literally, by posting while you travel! That is a long trip and I wish you well.

    Happy Tuesday, everyone!

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  20. What happened to I-M? I haven't seen any mention of it prior to today's commiseration comments.

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  21. Delightful Tuesday puzzle, Chris--I loved it because I got the whole thing! Thank you, thank you! And thank you, too, Hahtoolah, for giving us this great commentary with all those lovely pictures with your long trip underway. Take good care of yourself.

    Great to see so many favorites in this puzzle--LAURA Bush, EDITH Bunker, TED Danson, AL CAPP, and others. Oh, yes, and cousin ITT.

    Always happy to be able to use my German with "Eins, zwei, drei."

    C.C. thank you for letting us know about Irish Miss and her illness. Hope she has a good and quick recovery.

    Have a good day, everybody.

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  22. Aha, I see it now. C.C. must've posted that after I'd already read the blog this morning. Feel better soon, I-M.

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  23. Hi All!

    Thanks Chris for the quick Tuesday grid.

    Thanks Hahtoolah for the expo - loved the 'spin class.' Safe travels!

    WOs: N/A
    ESPs: PABA, RORY, TYRO
    Hey...: reFUEL / FUEL additive (44d); BASH / Big BASH (59d)?
    Fav: I'll go w/ CORONA; cheers, Tin!
    //I did like the clue for the themer DOG CATCHER

    {B+, B}

    IrishMiss - happy wishes for your speedy recovery.
    D-O: we should have noticed something aMiss - she hadn't posted since 9/14; I thought she said she was going in for tests but...

    FLN - Thanks C, Eh! I did look it up but couldn't figure out what distinguishes each party (hence the Python quip / clip :-))

    waseeley - I love Shakespeare & Hathaway; I catch it on Saturday nights on PBS.

    Anyone else think of Robin Williams at Genie's LAMP?

    Back to work; play later.
    Cheers, -T

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  24. A quick solve this morning. Thanks , Hahtoolah, for the recap. The "parting shot" of your extended family at Spin Class brought back memories of one of my Labradors who enjoyed that activity.

    Irish Miss, please heal well and quickly.

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  25. Agnes, hugs & best wishes for your recovery. We miss you.

    Hahtoolah, knowing of your trip has me thinking of the trips to and from Texas to Massachusetts to live & back months later. I did it 60 years ago at age 20 with another driver, but both trips had scary & memorable incidents. Stay safe.

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  26. A fine Tuesday PZL from Mr. Sablich. Well answered by Hahtoolah.

    Owen ~ Thanks for providing JohnK with the link to acronyms. You are always looking out for others.
    ~ OMK
    ____________
    DR:
    One diagonal, on the near end.
    Its anagram (11 of 15 letters) celebrates a tiny piece of American history. Among native peoples, the Utes were famous for their skill as horsemen.
    They took pride in fighting their foes in mounted attacks.
    Thus, it was strange when a training session for the youngest warriors-to-be was interrupted by one pre-teen cadet who found he got "horse sick" (a plains version of mal de mer) every time he tried to ride.
    The patient instructors had seen young riders feel sick before, but this case was unusually severe. It was so bad they chose to give the young man a new tribal name. Henceforth he would be known as the...

    "QUEASIER UTE"!
    The name was consiered a courtesy, as it left a vacancy for some future young man to be called the "QueasiEST."

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  27. Spitzboov, I don't know if I've seen Durum wheat or not. I read that Durum is planted in the spring. We always planted varieties of Hard Red Winter Wheat, planted in the fall & harvested in late June or July. My husband harvested in several states & we took some scouting trips between home & the west coast where I saw more wheat than anything else, but I'm not sure if Durum was among them.

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  28. I was familiar only with "Durham" wheat--
    which, upon Googling, seems to be a derivative of DURUM.
    ~ OMK

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  29. Musings
    -I liked the iron too, but c’mon, it’s a kitty!
    -Those two TEDS are light years apart politically
    -After her freshman in college year, daughter and we had to discuss what it means to get in LATE
    -Ethanol is a great market for corn here
    -The Downton Abbey family was always attending or planning a FETE
    -Best wishes, Agnes!

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  30. PK - A wiki review suggest that most US DURUM is grown in N. Dak. and Mont.

    ReplyDelete
  31. This was a nice, easy start to a rainy morning. Thanks, Chris S., for the exercise, and thank you, Hahtoolah, for your expo. Lots of great pics and links.

    Only 2 w/o's today,Cpa/CFO, and DURaM which was corrected by ENUF.

    Best wishes to all who are healing from injuries, may you improve quickly.

    My thought at DURUM; Roger Whittaker's Durham Town.

    I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!

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  32. I liked this puzzle. I also liked your write-up, Hahtoolah. I wish all of you well and that those of you who aren't, you get well.

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  33. Spitzboov, I missed that reference telling about Montana & N. Dakota. On our last trip before my husband's death, we saw a lot of wheat in those two states. Probably was some Durum. The man loved to harvest wheat. He'd stop the car on a back road, leap out and go wading into some beautiful field, thrash a few heads in the palm of his hand & bring the grains back for me to taste. I kept a book or knitting nearby so my patience didn't run out.

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  34. Wishing you well, Irish Miss. hope you are feeling better.

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  35. PK @ 1857 - - Yes, I can identify with that. I sampled the wheat, too, if I was walking past one of my Dad's wheat fields as a youngster.

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