google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, December 1, 2021 Joe Deenney

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Dec 1, 2021

Wednesday, December 1, 2021 Joe Deenney

 Theme: HOME is where you find it.  Hope you got the circles, because they are the place setters for the word HOME, which is hidden in each theme answer, can be found.  Let's have a look.

17A. Craven endeavor:  HORROR MOVIE.  Wes Craven has directed a few of them.  You can find the letters of the word HOME distributed across this fill.

22A. Like energy efficient buildings, for example:HIGH PERFORMANCE.  Well insulated with efficient HVAC systems.  Is your HOME one of them?

38A. Territorial Complex dissolved during the Napoleonic Wars: HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE.  It was established on Christmas Day in 800 C.E. when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor.

Acclaimed 2016 Broadway soundtrack, with "The": HAMILTON MIX TAPE.  This is more than a little bit strained.  Is a sound track a mix tape?  Really?  And TAPE?  By 2016 that would have been very old school.  But, it does give us the letters we need.

Final leg ... and a hint to each set of circles:  HOME STRETCH.  This is the last straight away section of a race on an oval track, leading to the finish line.  In each theme fill the letters of HOME are STRETCHED across the words, in each case beginning with H and ending with E.  The O and M are internal ,in order, and non-adjacent.  So there is a nice consistency to the construction.  Sadly, there are some vagrant E's and O's lurking in there also, which strikes me as a flaw.  In this type of theme there is no relationship among the theme fill other than accommodating the needed letters.  This is clever, well thought through, and pretty well designed, but I am less than delighted.

Hi Gang, JazzBumpa here, evidently in a nit-picking mood.  Let's see what else we can find.

Across

1. Surpasses 21, in blackjack:  BUSTS.  This is a betting card game where face cards count ten points, spot cards according to their numbers, and aces as either 1 or 11 at the player's discretion.  The point is to accept cards in order to get a count close to 21 without going over

6. Top-level performance:A GAME.  I remember my son saying when his kids were little that when they were at our house they had their A Game on. Alas, they are all adults now.

11. NBA legend familiarly: Dr. J. Julius Winfield Erving II (b. 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player.  During his 16 years in the NBA, none of his teams ever missed the post-season.

14.  Company that's proud of it quacks?  AFLAC.  This insurance company has a quacking duck in its commercials.  Cf. the Liberty Emu and Geico Gekko.  I hate them all.

15. Chopper topper: ROTOR.  The rotating blades on a helicopter.

Like the top half of Monaco's flag: RED.


16. In the style of: A LA.

20 A. Solar panel spot.  ROOF.  Where the sun shines.

21. Blockhead: TWIT.

29. Together in music: A DUE.  This refers specifically to the situation where a staff is carrying parts for two players, but they then play one part together.  From the French [of course] meaning "for two."

30. Acid found in olive oil.  OLEIC.  It is a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid, and the most common fatty acid found in nature.

31.  34 Across has one of them: TILDE.   The tilde  ˜ or ~, is a grapheme that changes the sound of the letter associated with it.  CF the next entry. The name derives from the Latin for superscript.

34. Historic ship: NIÑA.  One of the ships that Christopher Columbus used to pillage the new world.

35. QG's try: ATT.  Abrev.. for ATTEMPT - a football quarterback's pass intended for a receiver.  If he catches it, it's called a completion. 

41. Senator Klobuchar: AMY.  Like our own C. C., she represents Minnesota.

42. Orator's art: Abbr: RHET.  Short for rhetoric, the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations.

43. WWI President: WILSON. Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856 –1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. 

44. Dough: MOOLA.  Slang terms for money.

45. Resistance units: OHMS.  The standard unit of electrical resistance in the International System of Units (SI),  It is named after German physicist Georg Ohm.

52 By Jove: EGAD.  A mild oath, probably derived as a euphemism to avoid sayin, "Oh, God." in polite society.  Jove was the supreme god of Roman mythology, so it makes sense.

53.  Ticket datum:  GATE.   The total number of paying ticket holders. The amount they paid is gate receipts.

54. ___ Country:  ALT. Abrv for "alternative" - a sub genre of country music influenced by alternative rock.

62. Cartoonist Chaz: ROZ.  Rosalind "Roz" Chast is an American cartoonist and a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker. Since 1978, she has published more than 800 cartoons in The New Yorker. She also publishes cartoons in Scientific American and the Harvard Business Review.  


63.  Precipice: BRINK.  The edge [of something.]

64,  Like an egg: OVATE.  An oval expanded into the third dimension.

65.  Table for ___: TWO.  An intimate dining situation.

66. Passing words: OBITS.  Short for obituaries, brief writings about those who have recently departed.

67. Tranquilizing brand:  XANAX.   A prescription medicine used to treat the symptoms of anxiety, panic disorder, and anxiety associated with depression. Xanax may be used alone or with other medications.

Down

1. Harrumph: BAH.  Expressions of disgust or displeasure.

2. Eerie sky light:  UFO. Unidentified Flying Object.  Who knows what they are?

3. Canon letters: SLR.  What kind of Canon is this: a brand name camera, of course.  Single Lens Reflex refers to the specific construction.

4. Pitch.  Another word with many potential meanings, but here is is TAR.

5.  Organization whose income taxes are passed through to shareholders.  S CORP.  An S corporation, for United States federal income tax, is a closely held corporation that makes a valid election to be taxed under Subchapter S of Chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code. In general, S corporations do not pay any income taxes.   And that is more than I know about them.

6. Tanks and such: ARMOR.  In this context, military vehicles sheathed with metal plate for protection.

7. Digress:  GO OFF ON A TANGENT.  I try not to do that.  You be the judge.

8.  Dune buggy, briefly: ATV. An All Terrain Vehicle -- a small open motor vehicle with one or two seats and three or more wheels fitted with large tires, designed for use on rough ground.

9. L'étate, à Louis XIV: MOI.   "I am the State," he claimed,  expressing the spirit of a rule in which the king held all political authority. His absolutism brought him into conflict with the Huguenots and the papacy, with damaging repercussions.

10 Bard's before: ERE.

11. Outlined, maybe: DRAWN.  As with pen or pencil.

12. Museum piece: RELIC.  An object surviving from an earlier time, especially one of historical or sentimental interest.

13. Website for Jewish singles: J DATE.   Where one can connect with successful, like-minded Jewish singles. 

18.  Sushi topper:  ROE.   Fish eggs.

21. Half a Northwest airport: TAC.  Serving Seattle and Tacoma, This airport is coded SEA-TAC.  [Bah!]

22. Yoga term meaning "force":  HATHA.

23. "Under the weather," say:  IDIOM.  A group of words whose meaning is not literal.

24. Water-formed ditch:  GULLY.

25. Actress Lamarr: HEDY.  Hedy Lamarr, born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler; [ 1914 – 2000) was an Austrian-born American film actress and inventor. Read abut her here.

26.  Director of many "This is us" episodes: OLIN. Ken [b. 1954]

27.  What people who need People might do?  RENEW.  For those who subscribe to the magazine.

28.  Cocoanut Grove city.  MIAMI.   This is an upscale neighborhood on Biscayne Bay.

32. Swashbuckling Flynn: ERROL.  [1909 - 1959] After a checkered early life, he turned to acting, and became famous for his leading roles in adventure movies.

35. Tyler of Archer: AISHA.  [b 1970]  An American actress, comedian, director, and talk show host. 

36. Tread heavily: TROMP.

37. Future, e.g.: TENSE.   A grammar term used to indicate whether a sentence (or verb) is an action in the past, the present or the future. 

39. Ten time NBA All-Star Anthony, to fans:  MELO.  Carmelo Kyam Anthony [b 1984] is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. He has been named an NBA All-Star ten times and an All-NBA Team member six times. 

40. Story arc: PLOT.

44. Prefix with day: MID-.  Close to noon.

46. Symbol of affection:  HEART.  Indicating love.

47. Lit up: AGLOW.  As the heart of someone in love.

48. Passover staple: MATZO.  An unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover festival, during which chametz [leavening] is forbidden. 

49. Masks: HIDES.  As an ingedient with a strong flavor might mask the presence of another ingredient.

50. Wednesday kin: ITT.  A cousin from the Addams family TV show.

51. Copy, in a way: XEROX.  Where the brand name of a document copying machine is used generically for copying.

55. "Industry" network: HBO. "Industry" is British-American television drama series created by Mickey Down and Konrad Kay.  It follows a group of young graduates competing for a limited set of permanent positions at Pierpoint & Co, a prestigious investment bank in London.

56. Celestial sphere: ORB.  A round object in the sky.

57.  Cusomizable Nintendo avatar: MII.  It's how you can represent yourself in games on the Wii gaming system.

58.  Green of "Casino Royal."  EVA.  Eva Gaëlle Green [b. 1980] is a French actress and model. The daughter of actress Marlène Jobert, she started her career in theatre before making her film debut in Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Dreamers."

59. Share at the beach. TAN.   A skin tone you might develop from exposure to sun light.

60.  Windy City train letters: CTA.  Chicago Transit Authority. Also this.

61. Curse:  HEX.  An evil magic spell.

So ends the HOME STRETCH of another Wednesday, and begins the month of December.  Rabbit, rabbit!

Cool regards!

JzB


Notes from C.C.:

For those who wish to send dear Spitzboov (Al) a card, please email me (crosswordc@gmail.com) and I'll give you his address. His son told me yesterday that he's still in the hospital and he's now on antibiotics. Maybe Ray will tell us more. He visited Spitzboov after work yesterday.

Spitzboov, Betty & Argyle

 

42 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIWrong. Misspelt RehT, rehtoric instead of rhetoric. Crosses SOhOT I was expecting French, so it looked okay; MhLO was unknown.
Thought I had a natick at _TT + _ISHA, but then remembered AISHA Tylar, the moderator on "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?". I still don't know what ATT is, but I trust the expo will explain it. Another word I don't understand is SCORP (or S. CORP.?)

The theme revealed itself quickly, and was a good help with the later themers. in fact, STRETCH was the penultimate word I filled in before ALISHA.

It's jammed again, and wants a mechanic.
Trying to fix it could be a panic.
If I'm gonna try,
I'd best be high.
So it's time to take a XEROX XANAX!

Shelia was a bubble-head, that was her bent.
On flirting at Muscle Beach, her time was spent.
A dithering mess,
She would DIGRESS,
Then she'd piggyback and GO OFF ON A TAN GENT!

{A-, B+.}

Boomer said...

I was just wondering. I watch too much TV and I see 15-20 of those Medicare commercials every day. If these commercials make me sick, does Medicare cover that ???

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Ya got me, Joe. That meta clue for TILDE went whoosing over my head. Thought it was some feature of the ship, not a feature of the word. Didn't help that d-o wasn't familiar with HATHA. As a result, that elusive T remained blank. Bzzzzzt. Not a great way to start the new month. I'm slinking off to the abasement. Thanx, Joe and the curmudgeonly (at least today) JzB.

OVATE: Reminds me of 5th grade. In science class our teacher asked for the shape of the earth. She was expecting "ball." The class science nerd (definitely not moi) raised his hand and answered, "Oblate spheroid." The teacher knew better than to argue with him.

desper-otto said...

Whooshing, not whoosing.

Boomer, you only have to put up with 'em for one more week. Medicare open enrollment ends on December 7th.

Lemonade714 said...

The Grinch that stole JzB. With your legitimate nits notwithstanding (HAMILTON MIX TAPE..AWFUL)it appears to have punished you by leaving 16. of the flag clue and moving it to replace 19 . Such are the rigors of blogging. I also wondered why themers 1,2, and 4 show HOME in RED, and 3 it is reversed and in GREEN.

Joe Deeney (no extra N needed) is a themeless expert so maybe that is how this all makes sense.

Perhaps many do not know if you have shares in an S CORP you get to pay taxes on your percentage of the income the corporation makes, even if they do not pay it out to you.

I will redouble my prayers and thoughts for Spitz.

White rabbit, white rabbit and tonight it is 4 candles and the SHAMASH Be well all

BobB said...

Don't understand why 31A is paralyzed, there is only one tilda in Nina.
34A Nina, interesting cluing, Columbus pillaged😰

Unknown said...

Columbus pillaged? Really?

unclefred said...

Another tough slog for unclefred to win the “slowest solve” booby-prize FIR in 38 struggling minutes. My GOOFFTHESUBJECT wag at 7D slowed me down some, and made a mess of W/Os in the center. Fortunately I saw the theme immediately which helped. But DNK HATHA. I took 53A “Ticket datum” to mean something printed on the ticket, and GATE fit. Thanx for the challenge, and the fun, JD. And thanx for the terrific write-up, JzB. BTW, you have a typo at 35A, you mean QB not QG, I’m sure.

billocohoes said...

Owen, ATT is pass ATTempts.

Tried lATke before MATZO, needed the circle for _ATHA. Yes fred I thought Tickets tell you which GATE to enter the stadium. Answer beginning with GOOF had me thinking elsewhere for the right phrase.

Anonymous said...

Took me 10:24 to finally pull into home.

Oh joy, circles.

"Hamilton Mixtape" is the actual name of the soundtrack.
Dr. J played in the ABA before the NBA, where some of his postseasons occurred.

The clue for tildes says that the Nina "has one of them," thus pluralizing the answer. I guess.

Didn't care much for this puzzle.

Anonymous said...

I agree with BobB above. The clue is singular ("34-across has one of them"), and the answer is plural ("tildes"). Stumped me for a bit, because I was also trying to work out 33-down. That's really my only nit to pick. :-)

Big Easy said...

A tough puzzle for a Wednesday with all the A&E clues. No A GAME today but I FIR. It took Jazz's explaining on a few fills, starting with Craven and HORROW MOVIE, which was filled by perps after changing my IRS classification to S-CORP, sushi topping from EEL to ROE and vehicles from a UTE to a ATV.

HATHA, EVA Green, ROZ Chast, AISHA Tyler & Archer, Ken OLIN, MII, HBO's "Industry", and MELO- unknowns
ITT was filled by perps but didn't know there was a character on the show named Wednesday.
HAMILTON MIX TAPE was another unknown but an easy guess, although you can buy in on 'tape'.

Monaco's flag color RED, yeah I knew that (what a lie)
OLEIC acid- formic, tartaric, citric wouldn't fit and MALIC acid is in apples. So it was oleic by default.

"34. Historic ship: NIÑA. One of the ships that Christopher Columbus used to pillage the new world." "7. Digress: GO OFF ON A TANGENT. I try not to do that. You be the judge." Okay.

Boomer- DW and I are each receiving 6-8 pieces of mail daily from Insurance companies touring their plan. Medicare sent an email that stated there were 26 Advantage plans in Louisiana.

ATLGranny said...

It's December 1st (rabbit, rabbit) and a fine Wednesday puzzle FIR for me today, Joe. Thanks! The theme really helped after I got the two middle ones and could prefill the circles on the other two. My WOs were rushing ahead with an "er" instead of "or" before MOVIE and misspelling zANAX at first. Plus like billocohoes I put lATke/MATZO, which perps fixed. Agree with Anonymous about TILDES being plural which explains the clue.

Nice review, Jazz B. Thanks for explaining things today. We appreciate the time you spent. It's easy to let typos or autocorrect entries slip in without being noticed. We all have that problem. And if confusion results, someone will usually clarify. And thanks for the music selection!

Thinking of you, Spitzboov, and sending get well wishes. Hope you will be home soon! See you all tomorrow.

Wilbur Charles said...

DR J attended UMass and played originally with the ABA
MELO was an NCAA Champ his freshman year at Syracuse.

FIW, The victim of bad ink and darkness. I had inverted S and T on STRETCH so for perps I had barks and oTS. Wednesday kin threw me but now I recall Addams Family. And…

TAPE is used much like Wood for 3-Metal in golf. Similar to XEROX . However, I see "Dormie", 1 Up* etc are frowned upon as I'm sure "Wood" is too.

Oops, missed on TILDES. Had G thinking the Spanish were after gild. I didn't have Betsy to feed me yoga terms but Phil was around for Mii

I believe the "datum" is the GATE one would enter at.

From (fln) Chanukka song , latke was the staple.

Trade an extra X or two for a Q and you have 'em all. What's that called again? Oh yeah, pangram.

Owen, that's ATTempts eg shots at the basket. Very clever l'icks today, btw.

WC

Nice to see Picard, fln, with that great pic of the Bay.

CanadianEh! said...

Wednesday workout. Thanks for the fun, Joe and JazzB.
This was not one of my best ATTs, and I agree with Anon@8:07 that this is not one of my favourite CWs.
Officially a DNF and FIW several times in what I did complete.

I will blame some of my problems on Canadian disadvantage.
We are not subjected to those commercials, and I spelled AFLAC with a K. The unknown term SCORP crossing did not help.
I did not know Senator AMY and HATHAWAY did not appear.

Even DH could not help with the sports clues. I WAGged the J in DRJ guessing at Jewish date.
But I needed RHET (double meh for that one!) to give me the E in MELO.

Hand up for questioning the plural TILDES (but “one of them” does reference the plural them).

I misspelled MATZO with an S giving me Ros instead of ROZ.
We did have a plethora of Xs in the SE corner with XEROX crossing XANAX.
I’m not sure how original manufacturer Upjohn chose XANAX brand name for alprazolam?? Vidwan, is there a Hindi origin?

More Christmas decorating to be done today.
Continued thoughts and prayers for Spitzboov..
Wishing you all a great day.).

Wilbur Charles said...

I see we all had the same remarks. Btw this was at least Thursday difficult. I thought clueing was very clever.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I liked the reveal better than the theme clue/answers. Not too much to comment on other than one w/o, Money/Moola and one interesting duo of the double Xes, Xerox/Xanax. I needed perps for Olin, Hatha, MII, and S Corp.

Thanks, Joe, for a mid-week treat and thanks, JazB, for the honest critique and commentary.

FLN

Picard, thank you for that breathtaking view captured in your hard-earned photo.

Lucina, I hope you’re adapting to your new phone without too much angst.

Last night I was surfing through the TV channels searching for something decent to watch and what should be on TCM but An Affair To Remember with Cary Grant [sigh] and Deborah Kerr, one of my favorite movies! There was only a half hour left but I enjoyed every tear-stained minute! To say I’ve seen this movie hundreds of times would be an exaggeration, but I have watched it dozens of times and never fail to be moved by the ending. Even Cary sheds a tear!

Have a great day.

Yellowrocks said...

Hand up for AFLAK, K instead of C. I never heard of SCORP.
One look up, 2016 Broadway show. Wagged the mixtape part with perp help.
"The Hamilton Mixtape is a 2016 mixtape album featuring assorted songs from the 2015 Broadway musical Hamilton performed by various artists, as well as some deleted songs from the musical. It was widely well-received by critics." Wikipedia
I thought of airline ticket for GATE. No prob.
I just finished Marie Benedict's The "Only Woman in the Room" about HEDY LAMARR. I have enjoyed 4 of Benedict's novels about famous strong women.
Tildas deserves the S. In the clue, one of them, THEM is the tip off for the plural. One of what? Tildas.
RED, a three letter flag color. Easy.
Not an easy puzzle due to all the proper nouns. MELO, AISHA, EVA , SCORP were unknown to me. Perps to the rescue.
I had ITT, but needed JzB's explanation. Oh, I "knew" that.
I would give the constructor a B+.

waseeley said...

Thank you Joe for a fun Wednesday, for which I got a horseshoe, but no cigar. Definitely not my A GAME. The consolation prize was that I did manage to get theme (okay, so the circles helped a little).

And thank you JzB for an enlightening review. I wasn't bothered by the redundant O's and E's.

2D UFO. The "Flying" may be a misnomer, as most sightings report no visible means of propulsion. More like "Levitating". ULOs?

7D GO OFF ON A TANGENT. As I an wont to do this, this was not a STRETCH for me.

9D MOI. Louis XIV said "L'ètat, c'est MOI" ("I am the state"). His successor, Louis XV said "Après MOI, le déluge" ("After me the flood"). His successor, Louis XVI, lost his head. Apparently the French peasants didn't like cake.

13D JDATE with 48D MATZO continues our celebration of Chanukkah. DNK ROZ, but misspelled the Passover staple MATSO, which I knew better as we live in PIKESVILLE, the center of Judaism on the East Coast.

25D HEDY. Thanks for the link Ron. Ms Lamarr apparently led an ECSTATIC and very ECLECTIC life (6 husbands, a patent for the precursor to Blue Tooth, etc!). Here's a CSO to today's reviewer from her ECCENTRIC partner George Antheil, self proclaimed "BAD BOY OF MUSIC".

Cheers,
Bill

YooperPhil said...

Given the number of DNK’s I encountered I somehow managed a FIR in 13:24, AISHA, EVA, SCORP (which I had correct but viewed it as one word and not S-CORP), and HATHA (which the only other yoga term I am familiar with is the oft appearing ASANA). My wife often does yoga but I never hear her use any related words.

Hand up to all who were confused by the clue for TILDES, (the S being my last puzzle fill of SO HOT), and that GATE was info on an airline ticket. Without the perps I never would have gotten a perf.

Thank you for the Wednesday challenge JoeD, I noticed the grid was just a Q short of a pangram. And thanks JzB for the thorough dissection of the puzzle!

Also Boomer, TV is certainly inundated lately with the Medicare commercials. Doesn’t matter if it’s George Foreman, Joe Namath or Captain Kirk, they all seem to ring of “If it sounds to good to be true...”. Have any Cornerites actually made the call and listened to the spiel?

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Joe is our Supply Chain Manager from Massachusetts and I can't imagine what issues he must be having these days.
-He did supply us with four free letters for each themer in this wonderful puzzle
-This gentile who did not know the cartoonist Chast put an "S" in the wrong place - ROS/MATSO
-My lab had a solar panel with connected solar CELLS but Joe wanted the location not the parts
-Your dimmer switch can increase or decrease OHMS in the circuit to control brightness
-Watching the evening news informs us we are on the BRINK of many disasters
-Joe spared us "ILLIN" for "Under the weather"
-MELO is considered to be a selfish teammate who has no championship rings
-A Medicare extended agent took one look at the cost of my Entyvio infusion and hung up
-The Medicare ads are horrible but we are also being inundated with with this guy!

Vidwan827 said...

Thank you Jeo Deeney for a challenging puzzle, that I enjoyed very much.
Thank you JazzBumpa for an illuminating and explanatory review.
Rabbit, Rabbit, Hare and Dagbit .... for the new month...

I had a good time with this puzzle, despite the many names and words that I was not familiar with. All the circles in the long answers spelt HOME, so I thought the fifth answer would be HOME BASE ... or the Dugout. ( I haven't watched any baseball games ...)

I have heard of HATHA yoga, but it does not interest me. I do a moderate amount of excersize in my 'hood, every evening, when I can... but yoga is not my stuff.
And, as a general notice to others on this blog ... I am NOT an expert on Hindi ...or Sanskrit. 50 percent of the former, 5 percent of the latter.
So, I am the cross eyed, squint and fuzzy one eyed bevisioned who leads the blind ... out here.
In my arcane mother tongue, which is not even a recognised language, in India ... Hatha means a 'child's tantrum' ... not a good word. Hathi, in hindi, means an elephant ... which is neither here nor there, in this relevance.

Canadian Eh! ... does Xanax have a hindi meaning ? I cannot think of any ... but as a Pharmacist, I'm sure you would appreciate that it is becoming more and more difficult for Pharmas to come up with ... easy to pronounce, simple 5 letter, recognizable names for the new drugs they keep coming up with. All the good ones (on names ) are already taken ... so more and more wierd ones have to be concocted.

have a good day, you all.

Vidwan827 said...

From Last night;;;
Lemonade, can you remember a CW puzzle, from long ago, >7 yrs ago, which had the corner edge answers .. Across or Downs , in reverse letter order, because they were, in fact, hebrew words. ?
I remember the furor they caused among the bloggers that day. Argyle may have been the moderator ... but I think you chimed in too. This was because of ChairMoe's query last evening.

CrossEyedDave said...

home stretch?

(Ok, now that's out of the way...)

I actually liked the circles!
Filled in the 1st themer and saw "home,"
And went ahead and filled in all the other circles
Thinking "this is going to be easy!"

Not by a long shot ( or home, as the case me be...)

Can't list all the head scratchers,
But people who need people crossing
A WWI president crossing
Tyler of archer
Was a triple Natick for me.

Ok, maybe I should have known Wilson...

Tinbeni said...

Pinch ... Pinch ...

Hurray !!! Hurricane Season is OVER !!!!

Well I mailed my Christmas Cards out today ... I'm betting the U.S.Mail will get them delivered on time. LOL

A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset.

CHEERS !!!

Vidwan827 said...

S Corp ... Here goes, my two bits ...
It is a small business corp that is taxed like a partnership or a sole proprietorship.
The Corp itself pays no federal income taxes, but may be taxed at the state level, depending on your particular state. Main Aim: Avoids double taxation like a regular C Corp .. taxed on earnings, and also, later, on dividends sent to the shareholders...

The net income is distributed to the various shareholders, depending on their percentage share, and they have to pay indivd. fed and state income taxes,on their 1040's that very year. The actual net-of-tax-income can be left in the corp, to be distributed later, when nec.( ofcourse, the distribution then, would be tax free, having already been taxed.)

The S Corps have been very popular, for the last 20 years ... any sole prop or partnerhsip like structure can avail of them ... mostly Small and med sized businesses. They cannot be based on passive income, like rental properties, but must be active income businesses.

It gives some of the legal protection of a corp ... but you still should carry malpractice insce. It can save a lot of FICA ( and other employment taxes) taxes for certain hi income individs, but there are caveats.

Good for a hi inc self employed, professional... doctors, engineers, architects etc., .... And, for those who also dabble in a 'loss producing' side business, ... or any business that produces losses during its initial years. ( Surprisingly, many do ..)

It costs $50 to start a Corp in Ohio, and 7 days by mail... and 24 hours, by telephone, to the IRS, (... and free ), to start a S Corp tax entity, and a Taxpayer ID no.
You may want a CPA, or a tax lawyer ( more expensive.) to learn all the benefits.
Or, read up on them yourself.
Some added tax forms ...Form 1120 S, must be timely filed, as well as the Form 1040, separately.

Note:: This is free advice, from an anonymous internet blogger ... Caution and discretion is advised.... ;-o)
Get one of a hundred books on this subject from a library, or go to SCORE or some business school librarian.

Tax avoidance is legal, tax evasion is criminal.... who said that ?

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

I’m not going to pile on to what others have said about today’s puzzle. In Joe Deeney’s defense - coming from me, a fledgling constructor - anytime you have 67 letters to fill as part of the themer’s and reveal, you’re going to have a few clunkers. He had to fill 28 (if I counted correctly) three letter words. He had 4 fifteen letter fills! And it all came together in the “HOME STRETCH”. This had to have been a nightmare for him. If y’all knew what we constructors get paid for a published puzzle, Joe’s hourly pay was far below the minimum. I’d be curious to know how many hours he and Rich spent getting this one ready for publication.

HAMILTON MIXTAPE was the only themer I didn’t get. Hand up for LATKE before MATZO. I looked up HATHA and ROZ to allow me to solve the puzzle. And relied on the recap to confirm my ? answers. MII & SCORP were my head-scratchers

Lucina said...

Hola!
C.C., thank you for the news and address of spitzaboov.

Is it really Wednesday? This puzzle felt more like Saturday! But thank you for the challenge, Joe. And thank you, JazzBumpa, for explaining it all so clearly. This was definitely a HIGH PERFORMANCE from both of you.

I made it to the HOME STRETCH but not without angst and doubt. Easy fill like ERROL Flynn and HEDY LaMarr got me started and then ASANA, no HATHA yoga which reminds me, I haven't done it in a very long time and I do need to exercise.

RHET and one more T would have us in Tara of Gone with the Wind.

I have a bookmark with the names of all the presidents up to Obama so I did cheat on WILSON.

MATZO went right on and that helped with ROZ whom I did not know. I was AGLOW with satisfaction when I finished this puzzle.

AISHA? MELO? S CORP? CTA? JDATE All unknowns but perps filled them.

Wow! HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE all the way across. Impressive!

Yes, Irish Miss, I am slowly becoming acquainted with my new cell phone. It is more complicated than my flip phone but I see it has many more useful features.

Here we are at the beginning of December! I'm so glad I got a head start on my shopping and wrapping! Maybe today I'll finish. It's been several days since I was on task mostly because of my new cell phone.

Have a happy day, everyone!

YooperPhil said...

CanadianEh ~~ I can see how you would be at a distinct disadvantage since many of the clues and words in CW’s are unique to the US, such as today’s offerings of AFLAC, MN Senator AMY Klobuchar, or discussions of Medicare, definitely an added challenge for you! I certainly would be at sea with a clue like “Canadian Parliamentary member “_____ so and so”. I did watch every episode of the hilarious Canadian TV show Corner Gas, which reminds me of my own small town in Upper Michigan. :)

Picard said...

Bill Seeley, Wilbur Charles, Irish Miss Thank you for the kind welcoming words.

Today's puzzle seemed about right for a Thursday. The theme was essential for solving it for me. To me "Casino Royale" was the 1967 movie. Long before that actress was born. Not sure why Hollywood is so unimaginative that they keep doing remakes of perfectly good movies. There was also a Star Trek episode in 1989 based on it.

I remember Wednesday very well. I was probably about the same age as her when I watched the Addams Family in its first run. Clever clue.

We enjoyed this Chanukah performance at San Francisco Union Square by Jerry's Kosher Deli Band.

The band was hilarious as well as being excellent musicians. But it was just as fun watching the crowd which you can see in my videos. All just a few steps from our hotel. Stopping off after coming back on the MUNI train from our hike. And before meeting our friend Virginia for Turkish dinner.

Ol' Man Keith said...

A good, tough Humpday PZL. Thanks to Mr. Deeney.

Never knew what HATHA meant. Always nice to learn something I hadn't bothered to find out on my own.
~ OMK
___________
DR:
One diagonal today, on the far side.
It offers a curious anagram (only 10 of the 15 letters), which might suggest a vulgarity close to home.
But I will go with the farm equivalent. It describes a hand-to-udder milking situation, in which the bovine matron takes offense at something the human has done and so wriggles and kicks and jumps about in order to prevent the consummation of the morning process.
I think it fair to describe this as...

"TEAT JILTED"!

waseeley said...

Phil @12:22 PM My all time favorite Canadian series is "The Red Green Show", which I'm sure CEh! and I have swapped stories about before. It's an absolute hoot and you owe it to yourself to check it out. All 15 series are available for FREE on YouTube (I've seen all of them 3 times).

Picard @1:40 PM. Check out Eva Green and you'll see why. Apparently the 1967 movie was a parody of the original novel and Green's portrayal of Vesper Lynd is much closer to Fleming's intent.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Alas I see I FIW 😲..had "eAR" for TAR thinking musically and figured "BUSeS" was maybe some blackjack term I never heard of

"The call is coming from inside the HOME!!!"😳

Monaco has an inside down Polish flag (or vice versa)..🇵🇱

Much of Charley Main's territorial complex was beyond the Italian peninsula so It wasn't a Wholly Roman Empire

Jazz B.. A DUE is Italian like most musical notation. (á deux is Fr). Thought it was MOOLAh? Never heard of ALT country music.

Realized it was seaTAC only from prior puzzles but put "sea" first. Napoleon territory, "Louisiana" (the purchase) way to short
Ovoid or OVATE? only the perps know. Perped MII. "Chicago Transit Authority", original name of the band "Chicago"

MATZO does not end in A.

Deliver final thunderous acclaim....OVATE
Scarlet's love....RHET
Yoga is great. You ____ try it...HATHA

Off to Thor's day.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

I visited our friend Spitz briefly after work yesterday. If you would like to send a note C. C. has contact information listed above.

CanadianEh! said...

Vidwan- thanks for clarifying re Xanax not being a Hindi word. When I tried to Google the meaning, there were some Hindi sites that came up, but no information. That made me wonder about a connection. But maybe it just sounds like it should be a Hindi word!
Yes, brand naming of drugs is a huge issue. We even have a group that must evaluate re look-alike, sound-alike names to prevent confusion and med errors.

YooperPhil- I like to complain about my Canadian disadvantage (and it is a real thing), but often (like today with YR and S CORP), I find that American friends here aren’t familiar with a word or name either. I have learned a lot doing CWs.
Yes Corner Gas and The Red Green Show are iconic Canadian shows. Kim’s Convenience will join them (if it hasn’t already). (Simu Liu, new Marvel star in Chang-Chi, was on that show.
https://www.cbc.ca/comedy/you-watched-marvel-s-new-shang-chi-trailer-and-want-more-simu-liu-check-out-kim-s-convenience-1.5912442

Picard- that band is great, and the audience is having a great time.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Puzzle had much good stuff and a few clunkers but, on the whole, I enjoyed it. Gotta go.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

3 of 3 WAGS were correct?!? Sweeeet.

Thanks Joe for the puzzle; impressive horizontal (and vertical!) spanners.

Thanks JzB for the expo - needed your help parsing S-CORP.
//Oh, and WEES, The HAMILTON MIX TAPE is the name of the soundtrack.

WOs: put HEDdY [sic] in 24d, plOds b/f TROMP, XANTeX fixed by CTA
ESPs: SCORP, MELO, ROZ, HATHA | ADUE (1), OLIN | OLEIC (2), AISHA | ATT (3)
Fav: TILDES slowly emerged will I was still thinking of ship parts.

{A, A}
No comment on the DR :-)

Thanks for the update on Spitz, Ray-O.

Nice video Picard (and, FLN, fantastic photo!).
I noticed there were fewer masks than when I was in SFO over the summer (and we stayed at Union Square - Grand Hyatt, IIRC ).

I'll add "Kids in the Hall" to list of favourite Canadian shows.

CED - I LOL'd at the "limo" cat. I needed that chuckle this morning.

Cheers, -T

Lemonade714 said...

Once again I am reminded to never comment absolutley about anything you have not researched. The concept of HAMILTON Mix-Tape being correct...thank you -T.

Wilbur Charles said...

Joe might have clued this
ROZ 1998? Was it that long ago I binged Frasier?

Picard, they know how to have fun in Frisco, especially that little girl. Added bonus, Chuck Berry in Belgium, 1965, popped up after the Deli Band.

Betsy knew HATHA right off

I see the Hamilton MIX sold cassette TAPE Versions

WC

Lucina said...

I just watched "Casablanca" on TCM for about the 20th time. I love that movie! It's one of the best ever made and with a great cast.

Sigh. I'm still acquainting myself with my cell phone. It's charging right now so I can leave it for a while. I've tried putting this website on there but with no success. If anyone can give me some helpful hints I would be grateful.

LEO III said...

I really disappointed myself today. HRE and HOMESTRETCH were my first two fills, and the other three theme fills fell rather quickly. Yes, having HOME in the dreaded circles didn’t hurt one bit, but after starting off so well, I simply couldn’t come up with 29A, 31A, 42A or 33D and 39D. On top of all that, I found a couple of other errors as I read through JzB's expo.

Now that Thanksgiving is in the rearview mirror, I can say it: BAH! HUMBUG!

Don't get me wrong, Joe. I did like the puzzle. I was the problem.

I think I’m sitting on four CANON SLRs. I haven’t even had a chance to seriously learn how to use my newest one, what with working so much, and the pandemic keeping me close to home when I’m not working. The fourth one is definitely my last purchase! (I said that about the third one too, but I mean it this time!)

I had to switch back and forth between SEA and TAC a couple of times.

Jazz, you omitted an adjective when in your explanation of EVA Green – specifically, RAUNCHY film, “The Dreamers.” I loved it!

ATLGranny said...

Me, too. FIW, thanks to leaving MInI without further thought about ARIAnNE. I have seen ARIADNE before, sigh, but I'm in good company with Big Easy, TTP, and OwenKL today. Otherwise a great puzzle with interesting fill, Jeffrey. And the theme was easy to spot with BOLT. I too started with TACKINg but perps fixed that.

And thanks to MalMan for a jolly review, clearing up any remaining puzzlements. Glad to hear your hectic life was of the positive kind. Now you can relax in the mountains. Does Valerie ski too or just help keep track of your SKI POLES?

LUCINA (from last night), keep patiently "playing" with your smart phone and you'll get used to it and appreciate all it can do. Can your friend Mark help with your questions? I was slow to get started but now spend 99% of my time on it rather than other devices. My DH was more experienced and encouraged me at the beginning.

Hope you all have the BEST time today. It's Thursday and the week is flying by.