google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, February 24, 2022, Jessie Fielding, Peter Muller, Andrew White

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Feb 24, 2022

Thursday, February 24, 2022, Jessie Fielding, Peter Muller, Andrew White

 




Aloha, Cruciverbalists!  Joseph, AKA Malodorous Manatee, here on the Big Island of Hawaii where Valerie and I are visiting friends.  Fortunately, the internet knows almost no boundaries so this marine mammal is able to take some time away from the Moorish Idol fish and other denizens of the local reefs and stay connected with his friends here on the Crossword Corner.

Today we have a trio of constructors in what may be their L.A. Times debut as a team.  I don't know if the published names are real or if they are using noms de plume but, at four places in the puzzle, they have cleverly managed to work in the letters AKA which, of course is an abbreviation for Also Known As.  For the first time that I can recall, the reveal came right at the beginning (if you started at 1 Across):

1.  With 60-Across, disguise one's identity ... and what the answers to starred clues subtly do?: 
                                USE AN
60. See 1-Across:     ALIAS

The starred clues:

16 Across. *"On the Waterfront" director: ELIA KAZAN.  Appropriately, or sneakily, the first starred answer was an ALIAS (or at least a truncation) for Elias Kazantzoglou.  This might have led us to think that the themed answers were going to be the names of well-known people using pseudonyms.  But, no.

22 Across. *Open-water paddlers: SEA KAYAKERS.

33 Across. *Pungent French beef dish: STEAK AU POIVRE.  POIVRE is French for pepper.

44 Across. *Historic Pearl Harbor event: SNEAK ATTACK.  December 7, 1941.

54 Across. *"Godspeed" to the cast of "Godspell," say: BREAK A LEG.  An ironic "dead metaphor" (origin unknown) used as a jovial encouragement said to actors for good luck before they go on stage.  Some say that the phrase dates back to Elizabethan times when, instead of clapping, audience members would bang chairs on the ground.  If they liked the show well enough the legs of the chairs would break.

Here is how this all looks within the grid:



And now, for the rest of the story.

6. Common commuter org.: MTA.  Metropolitan Transit Authority.  Why didn't she simply put a nickle in with the sandwich?

The Kingston Trio

9. Key with no sharps or flats: Abbr.: C MAJ.  A musical reference.  C MAJor.  A MINor also fits the definition.

13. Gender identity spectrum: NON-BINARY.  A relatively recent addition to our vocabulary.

15. Origami bird: CRANE.  The standard bearer of the craft.


17. Lena of "The Wiz": HORNE.  

18. Switz. neighbor: AUST.  AUSTria.  It could have been FRAN, GERM, ITAL, or LIEC.

19. XL x XL: MDC.  A Roman Numeral math problem:  40 x 40 = 1,600

20. Not so concentrated: WEAKER.

21. MLB's Cards, on scoreboards: STL.  A baseball reference.  The Saint Louis Cardinals Major League Baseball team.

24. "Yikes!": YEESH.  Yeesh.

26. Econ. measure: GNP.  We never know if it is going to be the Gross National Product or the Gross Domestic Product but two out of the three letters can be quickly entered either way.

27. Madre's sister: TIA.  Today's Spanish lesson.  Mother's sister.  Aunt.

28. Green-sounding Navy jacket: PEA COAT.  Originally worn by sailors of European navies.  Peas are green (usually).  The coats are blue (usually).

32. Sq., for one: RECT.  A SQuare is a RECTangle with all sides being of equal length.  The abbreviation in the clue yields the abbreviated answer.  RECT ?  A partial and a bit of a punt.

36. Cache: STOW.  Used here as a verb.

37. Vehement: INTENSE.

38. Inner __: EAR.

39. FGs often end them: OTS.  Field Goals often end football games that have gone into OverTime.

40. "Am not!" retort: ARE SO.  Kids say the darnedest things.  "ARE TOO" would not fit.  "Bite Me" wouldn't either.

49. French possessive: TES.  Another French lesson.  We never know if it's going to be MES, CES or TES. . . or MON, SON or TON.

50. Puma rival: ADIDAS.  A sports shoe reference.  Not an animal kingdom reference.

51. Bobby on ice: ORR.  A frequent visitor.

Bobby Orr


52. Siena sweetheart: CARA.  Today's Italian lesson.

"CaraMia" - Jay and the Americans - John (AKA Jay) Traynor, Howard Kirschenbaum (AKA Howard  Kane), Kenneth Rosenberg (AKA Kenny Vance) and Sandy Yaguda (AKA Sandy Dean)

53. Bride of a title Orkan: MINDY.  From the TV show "Mork and Mindy"


56. __ Park, Colo.: ESTES.

57. Orange variety: TANGERINE.  Mandarin orange.

58. Slip end?: SHOD.  SlipSHOD.




59. "__ La La": Manfred Mann hit: SHA.  Doo ___  Diddy.  Wha? Wah.





Down:

1. Perturbed: UNEASY.  Rattled.

2. Many an "instant" product, e.g.: SOLUTE.  A substance dissolved in another substance.

3. Isolate, in a way: ENISLE.  We have seen this one several times previously.

4. "Grab __": "You're pinch-hitting": A BAT.  Another baseball reference.

5. Beat or neat suffix: NIK.  Maynard G. Krebs (beatNIK) or Felix Unger (neatNIK).

6. Miata maker: MAZDA.

1990 Mazda Miata

7. Place to race: TRACK.

8. "Atlas Shrugged" author Rand: AYN.  The 1957 novel that became the "bible" of  Objectivism.  John Galt visited us last Thursday which leads to the question:  Who is John Galt?



9. Raven's sound: CROAK.  Not a frog?

Caw vs Croak


10. Member of a pitching staff?: MARKETER.  Not, this time, a baseball reference.  A pitchman.

11. "The Vampire Chronicles" author: ANNE RICE.  Another author, today.   "Claudia, you've been a very very naughty little girl."

12. Taunts: JEERS AT.

14. Newborn's acquisition: NAME.  Just ask Jim Croce.

Django Unchained

15. For a song: CHEAP.



20. Jazz trumpeter Marsalis: WYNTON.  Also a very good classical trumpeter.

Hummel Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra - 1984


22. Kind of butter used in skin care: SHEA.

23. Showing surprise: AGAPE.


25. Gush: SPEW.  I had better be careful around here.

Mauna Loa


29. Strong watchdogs: AKITAS.  What kind of dog wears a uniform and medals?  A guard dog.

30. Art able to: CANST.  The archaic second-person singular form of can.

31. Tagged, perhaps: OUT.  A baseball reference.

32. Camper with a camper: RV'ER.  Recreation Vehicle ER

33. Plymouth Colony VIP: STANDISH.  Miles STANDISH was hired as the military advisor to the Colony.

34. Excoriated: TORE INTO.

35. "Out of Africa" author Dinesen: ISAK.  Yet another author.

36. Bits on some buns: SESAMES.



39. Green-lights: OKAYS.

41. Latin catchall: ET ALII.  And Others.

42. Legendary sister of Venus: SERENA.  Legendary? Was that to make us think they were looking for something pertaining to the Goddess.


43. Plains tribe: OSAGES.  That pluralizing S threw me for a bit.

45. Did sum math?: ADDED.  Nice wordplay.

46. Ark document: TORAH.  Not the title to Noah's boat.


47. Play area: ARENA.  More wordplay.  Not STAGE.

48. Jagged little hill: CRAG.  Jagged Little Pill?

52. Sigmund contemporary: CARL.  First name used in the clue . . first name for the answer.  Sigmund Freud / Carl Jung.

Carl Gustav Jung

54. First Korean act to perform at the Grammys: BTS.  The BangTan Boys.  A seven-member Korean boy band.

55. Hawaii's Mauna __: KEA.  An appropriate final entry.

Ski Mauna Kea


. . . and on that note . . . back to the reef . . . to the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a . . .


. . .  and the whales

Photo By MM


ALOHA!
______________________________________________________________




40 comments:

  1. FIWrong. I identified Venus as the goddess for that planet, so thought SELENA, personification of the moon, but a perp scotched that, so I switched to SIRENA, the Sirens maybe? I shoulda left the first E alone. Didn't know the French perp, so that was no help. I sure didn't ace that one!
    I did get the theme, at least. It bugged me that the reveal was right there at 1A, but it really didn't help that much. I only got the AKA looking at the themers after I finished. Four out of 5 had EAKA, and one of them included SNEAK, so those were red herrings before I got it.

    I had nObakE < SOLUTE, a new word to me.

    Still feeling foggy. Erased two poems without even finishing them.

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  2. Good morning!

    Finished in good time, Wite-Out-free. D-o's calling that a win, even if he didn't get the theme. ENISLE was my first thought. (I'm starting to worry about myself.) YEESH is close to Sheesh, so we should credit a CSO to Jayce. How do three people collaborate on a single puzzle? Puzzled. At any rate, thanx to Jessie, Peter, Andrew and Mal-Man.

    PEACOAT : It was the only piece of my Navy uniform that I kept for more than 36 hours after being separated from active duty. Even moved it with me to Texas, but gave it to GoodWill when I realized it was too heavy for SE Texas winters.

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  3. For some reason (brain fog?) I originally thought "MLB's Cards" was Ari" instead of StL" but I eventually came to my senses.

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  4. And I certainly didn't know the French possessive "tes" And, speaking of French, I didn't know the term steak au poivre" either. But through P & P, the answers eventually become clear, and I FIR, so I'm happy.

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  5. I was able to squeAK A win in 9:50 today. Like those posted above, I didn't see the theme, also put ARI at first for STL, and also didn't know the French (possessive or the steak).

    It's not quite to the levels of circles for me, but I am not a fan of doing "Roman math" in a crossword puzzle.

    Mahalo, M. Manatee.

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  6. FIW. Forgot my French and misspelled "poivre", even tho Usak didn't look right.

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  7. OwenKL, I am with you this morning with a FIW. My personal Natick was BTS crossing SHA. I put O , then changed it to A. I got luckier with my other WOs where the perps gave me the answer I needed. The reveal really came at the end for me. Only after I got ALIAS, was I able to fill in USE AN. Instead of UNEASY I had had the urge to put quEASY. It would have been a fun fill, but was not to be.

    Thanks, Jessie, Pete, and Andrew, for the puzzle today with some fresh fill. Rich Norris didn't edit this one? I didn't see his name. And huge thanks to MalMan for reviewing our puzzle during his holiday! Great place to add to your picture collection.

    Hope everyone has a good day!



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  8. Hola!

    Thanks to Messrs. Fielding, Muller and White for today's INTENSE puzzling.

    CRANE and HORNE started me off soon the entire east end was filled. Luckily I'm familiar with all the names used today: ELIA KAZAN, Lena HORNE, SERENA, CARL (JUNG?), STANDISH, MAZDA, WYNTON, and ISAK whose writings I studied.

    Irene CARA is also familiar. As far as I know she sang in only one movie, FAME (1980), and that movie is the first one we saw on a VCR tape.

    Aloha, MalMan! I'm sure you are having a grand time on the Island.

    Have a delightful day, everyone! The rain finally stopped sometime last night. We really needed it.






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  9. Rich Norris's name is at the top of my puzzle today along with Joyce Nichols.

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  10. Love MTA esp "When the train came rumbling through". In Boston, Dudley Station had that loud rumbling and my 7-10 'ute was spent traveling on those El trains.

    I'm embarrassed that I had to write down 40×40. I went slow on this one needing lots of perps

    Or Ma(chere femme)

    A PEA Coat would've been useful last week here in FLA

    FIR again

    SubG, The NFL Chicago Cardinals relo'd to Stl circa 1960 and kept the name when they moved to Ari. The LA Rams, sick of playing in the coliseum relo'd to Stl and finally back to LA

    Anon@726, of course, there were no circles

    Atl, pauvre is poor en francais

    AYN and CARL are at opposite ends of the philosophical spectrum(and this CW

    WC

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  11. This puzzle slowly but surely was solved. From Lucina's recent comment (and I had already suspected) the three authors of the puzzle are probably all aliases of people like Rich, Joyce, maybe Patti, or other constructors we know. It would have been a fun one to be published on April 1.

    I think of Irene CARA not only for "Fame" where she acted and sang, but she also wrote and performed the main song "Flashdance...what a feeling" for the movie "Flashdance", but she didn't act in it - as she is a singer not a dancer.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILWSp0m9G2U

    Thanks MM for fitting in the blog amidst your vacation - we are having snow again here and it's 17 degrees after it was almost 70 on Monday and will be back up in the 60s next Monday- never boring around here.
    And thanks to the trio of alias constructors - whoever you all are!

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  12. Thanks to the three collaborators for putting this one together. I don’t remember seeing a reveal contained in the first and last across clues, and I like the fact that there were no circles, requiring us to decipher the theme. Managed a FIR in 17:52, whatever time Anon (SS) comes in at, I can usually double almost every time. Took me a bit after to suss the theme after I finished, at first thinking that the key was somehow the EAK and not the AKA, but it came to me. DNK SOLUTE, CARA, or TES so those were perped. Liked the use of the proper names, all of which I knew. And now I remember BTS, cuz it appears quite frequently. All in all a fun Thursday puzzle!

    Thank you MM for an enlightening illustrative review! Enjoy your Hawaiian vacation, nice photo of the 🐳!

    Sad day in world affairs with the invasion of Ukraine

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  13. Happy vacation, Joe. Beautiful pic of the Moorish Idol Fish.
    One bad cell. I missed the S in SHA. I never heard of BTS or SHA LA LA. I know SHA NA NA.
    IMO 1A was not a giveaway. It needed 60A to make any sense at all. Even after I finished I didn't suss that the theme was the letters AKA. I did see the EAK commonality which didn't help.
    The Miata has been my dream car. Love its looks and style, but it's not practical if you can afford only one car. Too small, too light, not good in snow, a vanity car. A waitress at our diner owned one. She didn't drive it at all in the wintertime.
    My last fill was the Y in Wynton which provided the last fill for KAYAKERS. I am a big fan of WYNTON. I should learn to spell his name.
    The pea coat style of winter coat is "in". It has the same shape and buttons as the Navy one, but comes in many colors. I enjoy my red pea coat.
    Happy belated birthday, OMK. I hope you feel better soon.

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  14. Testing Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Jessie, Peter and Andrew, and MalMan (enjoy your holiday).
    Technically a DNF today as I required a couple of Google lookups. But I did get the AKA theme (and was AGAsp, AGAwp, no AGAPE to see the reveal at 1A).

    GDP changed to GNP., sECT changed to RECT.
    WYNTON required Google to open up POIVRE. Any hands up for wanting Bourguignon.
    I took a minute to get SOLUTE. Oh, Add water!
    Pitching staff had nothing to do with C MAJ or Grab A BAT. Clever clueing.
    On our Switzerland trip, we took short excursions into all of those neighbouring countries, with several days in AUST.

    I noted ALII crossing ALIAS.
    Jagged little hill clue brought Alanis Morissette’s album to mind.
    And I thought of Jayce with YEESH. (I tried to fit SHEESH at first.)

    FLN- Ray-o, LOL re ONTIME
    OMK- wonderful to find a Canadian branch in your family TREE. I have United Empire LoyalISIs in mine.
    Vidwan - thoughts and prayers for your continued recovery (and adjustment to all the meds). We missed you.

    Wishing you all a great day.

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  15. Awkward. Don't care for cross referencing and this starts out with one. Most of us probably begin with 1A...which here already refers to another part of the puzzle and yet-to-be-read starred clues. ..... I'm probably ired cuz I didnt pick up on the scattered AKA'S 😡

    and....

    Alas..FIW...just one letter 🙄..had BTC>crossing CHA....YEESH!! (or is it sheesh.) Not surprised though, a puzzle that pits three (constructionists) against one (moi). No fair !! (playground retort)😡😡😡

    Nestlé's Quick is the SOLUTE you dissolve in milk, the solvent. Thought my "pea coat" when I was a kid was black. I forgot Mork married Mindy. Ravens CROAK?🤔

    Syracuse University's campus paper was called "The Orange" so our paper as a college of SU was called "The Tangerine" K not CARL?

    I have read all of ANNE's but none of AYN's novels. I'm AGAPE that it's not "agasp" today.

    Something CARA is "dear" or "expensive"

    Monk head... ABAT
    Hast put up thy preserves....CANST
    "One if by land" guy...RVER
    Where campers camp...INTENSE
    With Priscilla Mullens, Miles was off- ____ STANDISH
    How military greet....SOLUTE

    C moe, nice pics. We drove for miles on the big island one night to watch the lava cascade into the ocean only to be turned back by officials because of toxic gas. 🌋

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  16. Musings
    -Joe! What a trooper, you produced a very fine write-up while in Hawaii! Hawaii!!!
    -Godspeed to cast of Godspell was my fav clue
    -square : rectangle :: tangerine : orange
    -Cincinnati rookie FG kicker Evan McPherson was a big part of getting the Bengals into the Super Bowl
    -Jay Black (AKA David Blatt) not Jay Traynor sang CARA Mia for Jay and the Americans
    -Second cousin just invited us to her wedding this summer in ESTES Park
    -Repeat of Ray - Nestle’s Quik (SOLUTE) + Milk (Solvent) = Chocolate Milk (Solution)
    -How good are McDonald’s MARKETERS? I can still chant the Big Mac ingredients from memory.
    -SERENA is a NONBINARY person who spent lots of time with me and Joann at ball games

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  17. Solute, enisle and yeesh got me. All I can say about that is, "yeesh".

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  18. Canada Eh ....I peer over NYS northern border expecting to find friendly sensible people.

    What's happening up there?

    Ottawa occupied and now

    WEXIT!!! 😳


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  19. A FIR due to dogged persistence, not knowledge. Winner of the Booby Prize again at 49 minutes. Lots of DNKs, which is why it took so long. W/O LOA:KEA, MENLO:ESTES. I always for some reason think of MENLO first, even though it’s NOT in Colo. (DOH!) solute was a gimme for this old chemistry teacher. How does Bang Tan Boys end up as BTS? Why isn’t it BTB? A bit embarrassed to take so long to FIR, but, as I’ve often said I’m not the best CWer. Thanx to the CW constructors, whoever they are, and also to MM for the wonderful write-up. I finally heard from the construction company: they have finally amassed all the materials needed to replace my entire roof, due to the extensive termite damage. It seems they will start work next week. I signed the contract in August, and have been waiting since then. By the time the dust settles, between the new roof and the solar panels I’m putting up there, I’ve gotta come up with about $80k in the next couple weeks. Oy. Bad, bad time to be selling my stocks to pay for this catastrophe. Thanx a lot, Putin.

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  20. This was a Thursday toughie for me, but still a delight. Many thanks, Talented Trio, and thank you for your commentary and pictures, MalMan.

    I remember Mork and MINDY fondly.

    Also nice to see ANNE RICE and ELIA KAZAN in the puzzle today.

    I hate the expression "BREAK A LEG" and I'm glad the only theater performance in my life was the Senior Play in high school. So my legs are still intact.

    Hey, I was born in AUSTria, but came to the States when I was eleven years old.

    I miss your poems, Owen.

    Have a great day, everybody.

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  21. I zipped through with most of it cause I love movies. Stuck a little on north west and south east but came together. At first thought it easier than yesterday.

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  22. DNF, and DNC (do not care). Just not in my wheelhouse today. I still don't understand how NONBINARY can be the gender spectrum when BINARY aren't part of it. Kinda like identifying the light spectrum as "green". I went down the path of trying to figure out SEAK / STEAK / SNEAK / BREAK, but couldn't quite get the link (because it wasn't there).

    YEESH = "yikes"? Sounds like how one of the critters in the cartoon "Mutts" says "yes".

    I will take a CSO at RV-ER. In 18 days I'll be a "house-er".

    Thanks to MalMan for checking in from Paradise.

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  23. Puzzling thoughts:

    RAY-O @ 10:36 --> today's blogger is MalMan not C Moe; I appreciate the compliment but Joseph is the photographer of these pics. But to your point, this Stooge was in Hawaii and saw a whale breach, as well as some black lava tinged sand. But that was many moons ago ...

    I FIW and never saw the AKA theme. YEESH! I saw 1/2 of the reveal in the NW Corner and never figured it was going to be a two-word answer

    My misteAKs were: not knowing the word SOLUTE, and having ET ALIA, not ALII in 41-down

    Clever theme; a bit crunchy for a Thur puzzle with some unusual fill words and phrases, but it all knit together in the end

    I am not aware of the names Fielding, Muller, and White in the crossword community, but if these are "real guys/gals/NON-BINARYs" and not ALIASes, then kudos

    My W/Os included: MEAS/RECT and CTRL before CMAJ (I was obviously looking at the KEYboard on my computer!)

    Joseph, I hope your friend in HI is doing OK - thanks for the fun links and commentary today

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  24. Hi All!

    Names and French got me today. DNF & FIW...

    Thanks Jessy, Pete, & Andrew for the grid. I enjoyed figuring out 1a & 60a w/o having seen the AKAs. Cute

    Thanks MManatee for finishing my grid and for some Jim Croce.

    FIW: SO cUTE(? - instant of fast-fashion?), square 52 has K for CARL
    DNF: square 35 is missing ink (oh, ISAK),TE_ and kAR_ making it OS__GES

    WOs: N/A
    ESPs: nope
    Fav: 32d's clue was particularly cute as was (themer) 54a's clue.

    Enjoyed reading everyone during meetings' boring bits.

    Cheers, -T

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  25. Once again I prepared an early morning post and neglected to hit send. Drat!

    PETER (PETE) MULLER had his first crossword success with multiple publications in the New York Sun and New York Times in 2006. While I found no independent information on Fielding or White, Mr. Muller has collaborated with others on about 50% of his published work. In fact, he has a steady job with Mr. White for the Wasington Post creating their mini/meta puzzle. WASINGTON POST . I think I read the Jessie Fielding is a male but no confirmation on that.

    I did not see any link to this topic MANDARINS and TANGERINES but as a Floridian we depend on Oranges of all sorts for our money. Oranges are just a hybrid form of Tangerines.

    IRENE CARA began as a child actor on a soap opera before her teens and has acted in movies, TV and the stage as her IMDB Page shows.

    Speaking of puzzles, C.C. is now also contributing to the Penny Dell puzzles under the Crossword Club flag.

    Friday comes next, I hope the blogger gets his a** in gear and finishes the write-up.

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  26. Many thanks, Yellowrocks! I appreciate good will, whenever it arrives.
    And, yes, I am feeling better today. We may celebrate on Saturday.

    What a neat bunch of "K"s in today's PZL from the Fielding/Muller/White team! Oh-KAY! And well parsed by our own MalodorousM!.

    I recall when I learned for the first time that it was proper to wish broken legs to one's fellow cast members.
    If anyone thinks it a particularly sadistic valedictory, consider that the German version is to wish actors a broken leg--and Neck!
    (Hals und Beinbruch!)

    I wonder why our high school chem teacher did not teach us the word SOLUTE. Well, live and learn.
    I swear most of my post-grad-grad education now comes from crosswords!
    ~ OMK
    ___________
    DR:
    We are back to a normal quantity of diagonals today, with a 3-way on the far side.
    The center diag yields another quaint anagram (12 of 15 letters).
    This one speaks to the surprising beverage to be found inside a toasting cup raised by a typically abstemious Bride of Christ.
    I say "surprising" because you are likely to discover a weakened wine or a nonalcoholic drink inside ...

    "A NUN'S TANKARD"!

    (Or maybe that's what they'd like us to think. Perhaps they can get as blotto as the best of us.)

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  27. Sitting at Broke Da Mouth Grinds. Reading the comments while waiting for the Kalua Pork and Furikake Chicken and Adobo Fried Rice. Thanks to all for your kind comments.

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  28. That should read Grinds not grinds. Also, the only photo I shot was the tail of the whale on 2 22 22.

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  29. MalMoe I mean C. Man...no wait I got confused guys 🙉 Sorry.

    Youse both do a terrific job. 😃

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  30. Well sheesh, not exactly my cuppa today.

    I still don't know what NON BINARY means.

    Sorry to be so grumpy lately. I am scared to death of an upcoming MRI my doctor wants me to undergo; scared because I am severely claustrophobic. I am getting conflicting information about whether they can or will put me to sleep or not. They tell me a simple tranquilizer pill will be enough, but I know it will not be enough. If they can't anesthetize me, I'm simply going to cancel the appointment or simply not show up. No way anybody is going to squeeze my body with my arms at my side into a 20-inch diameter tube where I must remain motionless for an hour unless I am 100% unconscious. Heck, if the dentist can run an IV into me and render me unconscious while he extracts my wisdom teeth, all while NOT in a "hospital environment," then the damn MRI people should damn well be able to perform the same simple service. The same thing goes regarding an endoscopy my doc also wants me to undergo: conflicting info about how it all works and what to expect. Do they put me to sleep or not? My doc has already set my expectations by telling me it is a "very unpleasant" procedure to endure. Gee thanks.

    Good wishes to you all.

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  31. Jayce, they have open MRIs, perhaps you would look into one of those. They say not to put you to sleep because one can have involuntary movements. Perhaps you need a different doctor!!

    Vidwan, you had a kidney transplant!!?? God bless you. All my good wishes for you and also for you Jayce.

    Becky

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  32. Thank you, Becky. I'll look into that.

    Best wishes to you, Vidwan.

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  33. Jayce, sorry to hear about your health problems. I wish you well.
    As for the colonoscopy, I have had several at 5 year intervals. I was not heavily sedated but was put to sleep. I felt nothing and was unaware of what was happening. Suddenly they wakened me and it was all over. No pain during or after. The unpleasant part is the total clean out the day before. Most people must take many urgent trips the bathroom. It seems never ending. All my friends and family say the procedure itself is not unpleasant, but the prep is awful.
    I agree that you can't be asleep for an MRI. If you move it has be be redone. I had to wait a long time to get my turn because the woman scheduled before me kept moving and having to redo it. Try to find a facility that has an open MRI. My David cannot stand the regular MRI, but it doesn't phase me.


    I'll be thinking of you.

    Nonbinary refers to gender identities that are neither male nor female‍.

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  34. Jayce

    Becky is right.

    As one of those "damn MRI people" 😃 here's what an open MRI looks like. Can still be a bit imposing. If necessary light sedation can be used. They'll even play your favorite kind of music through headphones.

    think OREO cookie


    😊

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  35. Ray-O, thank you. If I can spread my arms like that guy in one of those pictures I think I might even be okay. Doc has said she will prescribe an oral medication to “sedate” me.

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  36. Re. The OSAGES clue and why "tribe" resulted in the plural S. Perhaps the original clue was Plains Indians and that word is NPC.

    WC

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  37. Ray-o- LOL re your surprise at our Canadian situation. The Freedom Convoy started as a truckers’ protest re vaccination requirements at the border (both on US and Canadian sides). It morphed into a protest by varied groups (some of them far-right, but many just ordinary citizens who were tired of Covid restrictions). We have had more lockdowns and stringent rules that have affected businesses, students, sports facilities and gyms etc., and people just want it to end.
    One of the convoy organizers was on the governing council of the Maverick Party (formerly Wexit). (They only got about 1% of the vote in our last election and are not a major political entity.)
    After over 3 weeks of truck blockade and honking in Ottawa (and IMHO the Ottawa police not enforcing the laws that they had, but leaning toward keeping the peace), Trudeau invoked The Emergency Act and the RCMP and OPP cleared up Ottawa last weekend. Arrests were made but there were no riots. The Act has now been revoked.
    I hope the above isn’t too political, but I think it shows another side of Canadians. OTOH, nobody stormed the Parliament Buildings, there were bouncy castles and free food, and in some ways it was like a giant tailgate party. It just went on for too long.
    I will grant that there were undercurrents that were scary (guns in Alberta, reports of symbols of racism, disrespect of the War Memorial). We are not perfect up here in the Great White North!

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  38. Separate post in case the last one was too political and is deleted.

    OMK- I neglected to wish you a belated Happy Birthday. Hope you feel better soon and can celebrate.

    Jayce- sorry to hear of your health problems also. Sometimes all the tests are stressful. Hope things can be resolved to make you more comfortable.

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  39. Jayce:
    I'm sorry to hear of your trepidation about the impending MRI. I, too, am claustrophobic but when they covered my eyes with a mask and I closed my eyes, it all went well. Good luck.

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