google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, March 24, 2022, Joe Deeney

Gary's Blog Map

Mar 24, 2022

Thursday, March 24, 2022, Joe Deeney


Good Morning to all of you Cool Cat Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here from the town of Mt. Crested Butte, Colorado at an elevation of 9,375 feet above sea level.  That's quite a change from two weeks ago when my review was assembled and posted at sea level.  Literally on the beach (with apologies to Nevil Shute).  Temperatures have dropped from the 80's two weeks ago to highs in the twenties and thirties with lows (at times) below zero.  What has not changed from the prior set of circumstances, however, is that the day's puzzle constructor is, once again, Joe Deeney.

National RADIO Day is still five months away but let's ignore that detail for now, turn up our radios, and get right to it.  Turn on, tune in, unscramble.  At four places in the grid, within answers to starred clues, we find adjacent, but scrambled, letters that spell out the word RADIO:

17 Across:  *Be silly: KID  AROUND.

24 Across:  *Loosen up: LET ONES HAIR DOWN.  Walk right in.  Sit right down.

38 Across:  *Grand Canyon traveler: COLORADO  RIVER.  There were other ways to clue this but Joe and Rich likely wanted something appropriate for  a Thursday.  Therefore the somewhat awkward, IMHO, "traveler".

52 Across:  *Nyctophobic: AFRAID OF THE DARK.  Thanks perps.

The reveal comes at 62 Across:  Shortened version of a pop song ... and a hint to what's hidden in the answers to starred clues: RADIO EDIT.  I was not previously familiar with the term but now, fifty-five years later, I know what to call that shortened (AM RADIO) version of The Doors song "Light My Fire".  Thanks, Mr. Deeney!

Here is how this all looks in the grid . . . .

. . . . and here is the rest of the story:

Across:

1. Tug: YANK.  Not a hard-working harbor boat.  Pull.

Big Toot and Little Toot

5. Grinding away: AT IT.  This might have been clued in a more mammalian manner.

9. Have because of: OWE TO.


14. English horn cousin: OBOE.

An English Horn

15. Hill by a loch: BRAE.  Loch tells us that we're visiting Scotland for this clue/answer.

16. Spacecraft docked at the ISS: SOYUZ.  International Space Station.  Hey, I have a great idea.  Let's outsource our space launch system lifting capabilities to the Russians.

19. Joints often replaced: KNEES.

20. Mag staff: EDS.  EDitorS

21. 12/31, e.g.: EVE.  In this case, Christmas EVE.

22. Exams for aspiring judges, briefly: LSATS.  Law School Admisions TestS

29. Sponge (up): SOP.

30. Student's hurdle: TEST.  EXAM would have fit the space.

31. Universal donor's type, briefly: O NEG.  A blood reference.

32. Recipe word: ADD.  MIX would have fit.

35. "Like, yesterday!": ASAP.


37. "Hunan Report" author: MAOReport on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan.  1927.

42. Dallas hoopster: MAV.  Hoopster is slang for a basketball player so we have MAV for the answer.


43. Sub: HERO.  The deli sandwich not the underwater war ship.

44. Broadcast from NBC's Studio 8H: SNL.  Saturday Night Live

45. Score symbol: CLEF.  A musical  reference.

Treble and Bass Clefs


47. Tuner toggle: AM FM.  Sometimes constructors enjoy messing with us by referring to a Clock RADIO -  the answer then can turn out to be either AM FM or AM PM.

49. Previously: AGO.

57. __ Challenge: soft drink promotion: PEPSI.



58. Hound: NAG.  Not a dog.  A verb.

59. Affirmative vote: YEA.  Sometimes AYE.

60. Catherine of "A Mighty Wind": O'HARA.  An entertaining mockumentary.


65. Clear: LUCID.

66. First name in stunts: EVEL.   EVEL Knievel

Winter X Games 3 - 1998

67. Put on board: LADE.

68. Feints on the ice: DEKES.  An ice hockey reference



69. Mends, in a way: SEWS.

70. Wear: FRAY.  Like a rug or a pants cuff.


Down:

1. Rustic type: YOKEL.


2. Withstands: ABIDES.


3. Silently acknowledges: NODS TO.

4. Mauna __: KEA.  We had this fill-in-the-blank clue / answer two weeks ago, also.

Muana Kea     13, 803 feet

Mount Crested Butte   12,162 feet

5. Higher than: ABOVE.

6. Most faithful: TRUEST.

7. Novelist McEwan: IAN.

8. 2021 Emmy winner for Outstanding Comedy Series: TED LASSO.  A comedy-drama TV show.

9. Liam's "Schindler's List" role: OSKAR.

10. Is unacceptable: WON'T DO.

11. "Full attention here": EYES ON ME.


12. Day planner abbr.: TUE.  Meh.  Could have been any day of the week, any month, and several other things, too.

13. Birth units: Abbr.: OZS.  Ounces

18. Driver's role in "Star Wars" sequels: REN.

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren

23. Bollywood strings: SITARS.  Bollywood is a portmanteau derived from Bombay (Mumbai) and Hollywood.

25. Iridescent gem: OPAL.

26. Block at a pass?: HEAD OFF.  Not a football reference.  An oater cliche.


27. Put on: WEAR.

28. Gps. like Partners In Health: NGO.  Non-Governmental Organization.

33. "How silly of me!": DOH.



34. Can't stand the idea of: DREADS.

36. Safety __: PIN.  Fill in the blank

38. Whale newborn: CALF.

39. Have trouble closing the suitcase, maybe: OVER PACK.

40. Fancy dressers: ARMOIRES.  Furniture, not fops.

41. Prince who inspired Dracula: VLAD.

Vlad The Impaler 1431 - 1476 (?)


42. Old Elton label: MCA.  Elton John


46. Spenser's "The __ Queene": FAERIE.

48. 57-Across sister brand, on labels: MTN DEW.

The First Mtn Dew Soda Commercial


50. Orientation "sensor": GAYDAR.  GAY raDAR

51. Bagel Bites brand: OREIDA.  Oregon Idaho

53. Modern checkout devices: I PADS.

54. Comes down hard?: HAILS.  Not the idiom for criticizing (to come down hard on someone).  Precipitation.

55. It may be massaged: EGO.

56. "Sons of Anarchy" actress Sagal: KATEY.


60. Corny, maybe: OLD.


61. Colorist's concern: HUE.

63. Hail, in a hymn: AVE.  Not precipitation.

64. Tolkien's Legolas, for one: ELF.  A Lord of the Rings reference.

_________________________________________________________

Turn It Up



________________________________________________________

I apologize in advance for being unable to respond, in a timely manner, to any concerns/comments that you might have.  While you are reading this I will likely be somewhere on the road making the fifteen-hour drive from Colorado back to SoCal.  I will try to catch up on the comments on Friday after trading my snow shovel for a paper shovel and starting to dig out.


42 comments:

  1. FIWrong. 3 cells, two of them in the reveal.
    cAV < MAV, cCA < MCA
    ARMOIuES < ARMOIRES
    KAsEY < KATEY
    uADIOEDIs < RADIO EDIT
    I didn't guess the theme either. I did find DO in 3 out of 4, but didn't expand my search to 5 letters.

    Yesterday was not a good day for me. Saturday I discovered the thief gradually emptying our bank account was Bren, scammed out of our entire bank account. "Fees to get a government grant" for some improbable amount of free money. And she let me think it was some anonymous thief so that I wouldn't stop her. How can someone be that gullible? She has a Master's Degree and I'm a college drop-out, but I think I paid more attention in common sense class! Now we're overdrawn and no way to cover it until the next check comes in, and just hope that's enough to cover bank fees and bills until the next check comes in after that, repeat ad infinitum.

    And to make it worse, I fell again today, let go of my walker before I was close enough to the bed. Bren had to call 911 paramedics to get me back on the bed. It left me too shaken to even open my laptop for hours. Bless those guys, I do this about every 6 months.
    Enough (too much) about my problems. Let's see if I can give you a smile!

    Tofu is made from soy ooze.
    Skimmed from soy soup to reuse.
    Then left to ferment
    Till it's a propellant --
    People go into space with a SOYUZ!

    People WEAR what they put on each day.
    To do else would be a Naturist's way.
    But do as you please,
    Once you wear out the KNEES,
    What you wear will wear out and FRAY!

    Now in a SITAR and OBOE duet
    Both may use the same music CLEF.
    But A.M. or F.M.
    It's a musical gem,
    To hear which instrument is the TRUEST!

    {A-, B+, B+.}

    ReplyDelete
  2. OKL, please take care of yourself in every sense of the word.

    Joe D. (not the ball player) has really expanded his creative zone with the themed puzzles coming regularly.

    I did not recall that Mountain Dew was introduced as MTN DEW and was suprised by the perhaps insensitive word GAYDAR and the continued clue/fill dupes, WEAR and HAIL(s).

    Joseph appreciate the extra effort in writing this up while you continue your travels and maybe HG will get a comment from the constructor.

    Be healthy all

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good morning!

    Fell into the DOG/NAG and NET/PIN traps, but that's why we have Wite-Out. As usual, d-o failed to read the full reveal clue, and failed to look for the theme. But the solve was correct, so life is good. Yay, me. Thanx, Joe and Mal-Man. (You'd better check your calendar.)

    RADIO EDIT : Back in the '60s Herman's Hermits had a hit with I'm Henry The Eighth, I Am. We had a RADIO EDIT of less than a minute, and played it every hour.

    OKL, it really hurts when someone close to you betrays your trust. Hope things work out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. FIR, but erased dog for NAG, aye for YEA, kai for KEA, and bad for OLD. DNK OHARA, TED LASSO, that IPADS were checkout devices, or that VLAD was anyone other that the mad man from the KGB. Also didn't know that Peggy Bundy was in the "Sons" series; makes me want to watch it.

    ONEG could be clued as "what astronauts feel at home" [ONE G].

    OKL, I am so sorry you are experiencing such physical and fiscal difficulties. And worse must be the loss of trust in Bren. Stay strong.

    Thanks to Joe for the easy-ish Thursday puzzle. And thanks to the malman for your solid road performance.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Took 11:15 to turn the dial.

    Got hung-up big time in the lower left. Had "Odd" for "Old," which made perfect sense to me for "corny, Maybe." Hue and Lucid eventually rescued me.

    Trying to keep things PG here, let's just say I incorrectly parsed "at it" for 5-Across.

    Ted Lasso is a great show.

    Good luck, OKL.

    ReplyDelete
  6. DNF. SE corner stayed blank, I couldn't remember Katey Segal.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Joe's puzzle was an easy fill for a Thursday- for the fills. I never saw the scrambled RADIOs and the term RADIO EDIT is something I've never heard. I had to make changes in the NE- O-POS to O-NEG, WORE to WEAR, & EYES OPEN to EYES ON ME.

    Some unknown A&E filled were all perps. TED LASSO, KATEY Segal, Catherine O'HARA, REN.
    ORC, ENT, or ELF- wait for a perp.

    LET ONE'S HAR DOWN- what if you don't have any?
    KNEE replacement on its 14th year and still working

    37. "Hunan Report" author: MAO. I was thinking along the lines of a cooking book. Perps.

    Lemonade-GAYDAR insensitive? I never call people names but there are way too many easily offended people in the USA. But it's okay to call people YOKELS, HICKS, RUBES, NERDS, DWEEBS, DORKS, CRACKERS,...etc? Double standards and hypocrisy abound in our self-important Fourth Estate.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Another creatively themed puzzle by Joe Deeney. I had a slow start because I had PULL for tug and then down answers Piker and Loa instead of YANK, YOKEL, and KEA! Once that sorted itself out it was smooth sailing except DREADS was originally detest - not paying attention to the verb tense.

    Thanks MM and Joe!

    ReplyDelete
  9. George I didn't say I agreed with all this politically correct mania, just that it exists.

    ReplyDelete
  10. DOH, a careless FIW today breaking my weeklong streak of FIRs. Like OwenKL, I missed the MAV and MCA crossing, in spite of puzzling what rAV would stand for. Ravens? That didn't sound right. (And inanehiker, I was also thinking "pull" at the beginning.) But I did enjoy the puzzle, Joe, and appreciated the new clue for OBOE. I needed the reveal to see what was happening with the themers. Well done, Joe. Thanks.

    Thanks, MalMan, for your review full of illustrations, done during your holiday. As you return home, I hope you and Valerie are also feeling well again after the flu.

    FLN: PK, I'm glad your birthday was so well celebrated and know that hearing from your granddaughter was the best present!

    AnonT, you all had a close call! Glad you found out what was happening in time.

    Hope everyone stays safe today!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Didn't know any of the names on today's puzzle. Never heard of gandar.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sherry, if you haven't seen "Married With Children", I suggest you give it a try. KATIE delivers a fabulous Peggy Bundy, a self-absorbed antagonist for her hapless shoe salesman husband, Al (played by Ed O'Neill). Hilarity ensues.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Apologies, as I have not done today's puzzle yet and I am posting this PSA with one eye closed so as to not spoil my solving experience...
    To make a short story long,
    my scooter has been in a hundred pieces in the garage as it started acting dangerous to ride.
    (Stalling, bad running etc...)
    For about three days now I have been practicing the mechanics mantra,
    "Blood, sweat, and tears...)
    And so far have only managed to strip every nut and bolt on this dang thing!
    (Anon-T, do u know where to get that bottle of smoke you need to fix British sports cars?)

    Anywho, I work on it early in the morning before it gets unbearably hot.
    This caused me to forget to read my emails for days.

    On Sunday, yuman said:

    Some of you know that 6 months ago our sweet yellow lab therapy dog, Sugar crossed the rainbow bridge. My husband and I agreed that when we were ready for another dog, we would get a senior not a puppy! All our shelters are full and put out a call for volunteer foster parents. We received Daisy, a sweet 6 month old yellow lab/mix. By the end of the first day we became “foster failures” and decided to adopt Daisy. She is smart, knows basic commands, potty trained, and made friends with our 4 cats.
    I think Sugar helped her find her forever home. I not sure how to post a picture from my iPad.

    March 20, 2022 at 12:59 PM

    My email said this:
    Daisy, I didn't have much luck putting this on the Blog, thanks Yuman.

    From last night:
    Anon-T: YIKES! Co2 poisoning! Been there!
    For anyone with a forced air heating system, there is only a very thin metal sheet that seperates combustion flame from air circulated throughout the house. The heating flame will degrade this thin sheet metal over time and eventually this metal wall will either crack, or get a hole in it.

    YOU WILL NOT KNOW! As co2 is a silent killer...
    And any disturbance can excelerate this deterioration.
    It is not a matter of "if" this is going to happen,
    it is a matter of "when" this is going to happen!

    Get your forced air system inspected yearly!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Musings
    -I had never heard of RADIO EDIT but my grandson once told me when I commented on the great beat of a song: “That’s the clean version of that song, Papa.”
    -Our 65-yr-old twin carpet layers are AT IT upstairs while Joann, Lily and I are downstairs
    -AM radio gave us music in my misspent youth. Now talk radio dominates that side of the dial.
    -Many LADED boats are unable to get to port these days
    -YOKEL and GAYDAR– Don’t judge a book by its cover or better yet, don’t judge at all
    -TED LASSO? displaced Ted Danza eventually
    -Don’t we all WEAR sweats more these days?
    -Lemon, I just wrote to Joe and we’ll see if he gets back to me

    ReplyDelete
  15. It's always a question of whether the Hawaiian volcano is "Mauna Kea" or "Mauna Loa" but once that was settled, most of the rest came fairly easily. I did think the "sub" was a "temp" before a "hero" and I originally had "safety net" before "safety pin" (Hello, D-O!) but both of those were easily fixed. FIR, so I'm satisfied.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Some puzzles that I deem difficult seem easy for others and vice versa, everyone seems to have a different body of knowledge, especially when it comes to proper names and esoteric subjects. I had a bit of a struggle to FIR in 27:07 which is slow for me on a Thursday. Nice challenge today Joe D, very clever the jumbled RADIO combos! DKN TED LASSO or that OREIDA made bagel bites (but I do know there has been a shortage of Tater Tots lately, an answer to a CW clue earlier in the week). Perps helped the fill for sure, last one being the O in the MAO/NGO cross, still not sure what NGO stands for cuz I haven’t looked it up yet.

    MM ~~ thank you for your very illustrative and informative expo today and safe travels as you come down the slope to sea level!

    C.C. has the byline today in USA Today’s puzzle

    ReplyDelete
  17. Cross Eyed Dave, thanks for posting the pic of Daisy. Now that she is officially ours we decided to change her name to Cady. During the big “shut down”I started reading the Longmire novel series by Craig Johnson. One of the characters (Walt Longmire’s daughter) is named Cady. I am a member of the Longmire Book Club on FB, and after posting her picture Cady is now trending with over 500 comments. Much to my surprise, the first comment was from Craig Johnson, “Walt would approve.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I loved the Longmire series. Gonna join the fb group.

      Delete


  18. Good morning. Thank you, Joe and M.M.

    There weren't too many RADIO EDITs of long songs on WDVE in Pittsburgh in the 70s. Songs 10, 20 and 30 minutes long by bands like Rare Earth, Traffic, Led Zeppelin, Grand Funk Railroad, Iron Butterfly, EL&P, The Doors, Pink Floyd and more played in their entirety. Many of those songs were longer than today's solve of just over 15. The station also played album deep cuts that you simply didn't hear on any other radio stations.

    Catherine O'HARA played the mom on Home Alone, and also starred as the wife opposite Eugene Levy in Schitt's Creek. She's so funny.

    Owen, that is so sad, and is terrible that she put you both in that position.

    Yooper, OREIDA TaterTots are seldom on the shelf here too. They always have the OREIDA Crispy Crowns though, so maybe the TaterTot extruder is broken. :>) I started buying the Grown In Idaho brand of tater tots.

    Also, you beat me to the C.C. Thursday crossword at USA Today. She's normally there on Wednesdays and Sundays. Here's the link:

    C.C.'s "TBT" crossword at the USA Today



    ReplyDelete
  19. Well, Thursday puzzles begin to be toughies for me, but this one was still fun--many thanks, Joe. And always enjoy your commentary, MalMan, thanks for that too.

    Yep, a TEST is often a student's hurdle.

    That 12/31 was a clever clue for EVE.

    On the other hand, "comes down hard' was a bit of a crazy clue for HAILS--as was 'hound' for NAG.

    Always fun to have EVEL turn up in puzzles.

    Owen, so sorry to hear about all your problems today. My heart goes out to you--take good care of yourself.

    Have a good day, everybody.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Here's what Joe shared with us today:

    Hi Gary,

    Good to hear from you, hope you are doing well. I thought it was a fun puzzle, hope folks felt the same. I was happy to include TED LASSO, often not easy to get fresh bonus fill in a theme puzzle. On this puzzle's theme, it was important to me to have the RADIO letters span multiple words. Other examples that ended up on the cutting room floor:

    FLORIDA ROOM
    STANDARD OIL
    VICTORIA DAY
    INDO-IRANIAN
    ROSARIO DAWSON
    SENIOR ADVISOR
    KOH-I-NOOR DIAMOND
    AFRAID OF THE DARK
    AFRAID OF HEIGHTS

    -Joe

    ReplyDelete
  21. Well,
    Gave up on working on the scooter as I could not puzzle how to get the spark plug back in.
    No, seriously, it is a tiny little plug and the hole is hidden behind a plastic shroud
    that sends cooling air over the engine. Strip those threads and the engine is toast!
    (I'll take a break and try again later)


    Luckily the puzzle was easier as I have put radios back together before...

    OwenKL, I don't know what to say, except that is terrible!
    Does anyone here on the Blog know how to set up a "go fund me" page?

    Re: puzzle
    Learning moment: Gaydar?
    (My daughters won't even let me say "oriental"...)
    Oh well, I am still trying to make sense of the world today...

    Regarding broken radios,
    let me leave you with this radio communication...

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hola!

    My mother was so AFRAID OF THE DARK. She said that often her punishment was being put in a closet and I guess that's where it stemmed from. She was such a lively person I can just see her being over-active as a child. My grandmother, her mother, was not a patient person.

    Hand up for PULL/LOA before YANK and then the NW fell into place.

    When driving to California it is necessary to cross the COLORADO RIVER.

    I like both PEPSI and MTNDEW but don't drink soda these days.

    The word GAYDAR appears in articles I've read.

    ELS/LADE beat me.

    Have heard of TED LASSO but never watched it.

    A teacher's mantra: EYES ON ME.

    Inevitably I OVERPACK when traveling. Worst case was a 17 day trip to Europe (including western Russia) when I thought I needed a different outfit each day. Lesson learned! Jeans can be worn several days and tops at least two days.

    The FAERIE QUEEN was on the reading list in English Lit class. Thank goodness for Cliff Notes!

    Owen, I am so sorry about that problem and please take care of yourself.

    Have a terrific Thursday, everyone!






    ReplyDelete
  23. CEDave:
    Oh, my goodness, how word meanings change!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Malodorous Manatee Hand up never heard the term RADIO EDIT. But you inspired me to look up "Light My Fire". I did not realize there was a RADIO EDIT vs album version.

    Here is what is even more interesting: The song "Who Are You" by "The Who" uses a word not allowed on the air. I think there is a RADIO EDIT version. But I am amazed how often the taboo version plays on the RADIO. Is anyone else aware of this?

    Enjoyed seeing LUCID and FAIRIE together. One of my favorite festivals is our LUCIDity festival. And one of my circus performer friends considers herself to be a FAIRIE and calls herself FAIRYN (NEE Erin).

    Here FAIRYN is flying high at the LUCIDity Festival Parade.

    From Yesterday:
    LEO III Thank you for accommodating our situation!

    TTP Thanks for the details of your success with Tracfone.

    Wilbur Charles Thanks for the learning moment about Tara Browne and "A Day in the Life".

    ReplyDelete
  25. Owen That is horrible about being scammed. Have you contacted law enforcement? Is there any way for the bank to track where the money went?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Owen, sorry about your problems, especially that Bren fell for some smooth-talker and you both got ripped off. They say, “It’s only money,” but we NEED that money to pay bills! There is another saying, “Money doesn’t buy happiness,” which is very true, but being broke doesn’t buy happiness either. And if I had a choice, I’d take being unhappy WITH money over being unhappy WITHOUT it. Anyway, I hope u get back on your feet both physically and fiscally soon. This CW won me, once again, the Booby Prize, I’m sure, for longest time to FIR at 32 minutes. DNK IAN, RADIOEDIT, KATEY, or OHARA. W/Os CANTDO:WONTDO, DOG:NAG, OPOS:ONEG, EYESOPEN:EYESONME. No wonder it took so long. MalMan, 12/31 is New Years Eve, not Christmas Eve. Other than that a great write-up, thanx MalMan. And thanx too for a nice CW, JD, it’s not your fault that I had such a struggle, it’s my own level of ignorance, combined with an aging brain. It looks like FINALLY I will get my roof worked on Monday of next week. Been waiting since August ‘21. I really, REALLY like my contractors, and think they are doing the best they can to amass the materials needed under the circumstances. AND I learned today that the owner of the company, a young man of 49, had to have coronary bypass surgery last October. BUT at this point, the roof needs to get done now, sooner, rather than later.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Easy as a Monday. some tricks, some old favorites. (DEKEs, I knew from previous puzzles), Inkover: detest/DREADS (CSO Inaneh).. theme? that was sumpthn else. 😏RADIOEDIT..with AMFM in the middle of the puzzle but oddly not part of the of the theme answers. Just saw the comments...woulda never figured that one out, wasn't sure if it was RADIO EDIT (never heard of a "shortened version of a pop song" called that) or RADIOED IT.. in college I remember the local radio DJ getting irate calls when he "edited" "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" and had to replay the whole song....

    At first I thought it said "Human report" Initial thought for "spacecraft" was MIR (too short, and a space "station").

    So we should call it Mumbywood now correct? Vlad the Impaler looks like someone currently very evil. Catheine O'HARA Emmy winner for her role as Moira Rose lead actress comedy series (Schitt's Creek) also starred with the same ensemble cast in "a Mighty Wind", "Best in Show" and "Waiting for Guffman" All great comedies.

    I don't say it's hailing rain, snow, or sleet, even if it's coming "down hard " and I don't say it's hailing unless it's actually hailing. Ergo one of my last fills. I remember Katey Sagal as Peg Bundy from the old hilarious "Married with Children" series as Jinx mentioned.

    A new clue for our old OBOE friend. "English horn": I guess was not an uncoiled, shrunken tuba my first thought. I always think of a horn as a brass instrument with a "cupped" mouthpiece not a reed.

    The majority of judges in NYS are town amd village judges, most are not lawyers. Though they do need to take a course but not the LSATs.

    Child tenders: Baby ____ ... SITARS
    Hill folk affair...MTNDEW
    Afraid of the barber..NYCTOPHOBIC
    Oft fate of a Henry VIII wife....HEADOFF
    Single thousand....ONEG

    A week of Island sunshine and seashore now replaced with 40degree overcast days and maybe snow this weekend.

    Anon Tony just went back and read about the CO poisoning...wow..


    ReplyDelete
  28. Oops, I failed to mention how sorry I was to hear of your recent problems, OwenKL. I hope things get much better for you soon and I appreciate your desire to bring us smiles with your limericks in spite of it all.

    ReplyDelete
  29. A fine Thursday PZL from Mr. Deeney, well explicated by MM!

    The SE corner was the trickiest, as it offered a variety of acceptable fills. Otherwise, this was fairly smooth sailing for almost Friday.
    ~ OMK
    ____________
    DR:
    One diagonal today, far side.
    Today's sole diag yields a fine anagram (14 of 15 letters), one that in variant form refers to a familiar crossword fill.
    I have in mind the ubiquitous AMP or AMPS.
    We have all seen these slang or abbreviated forms for "band amplifiers"; they have occurred multiple times in modern cruciverbal history. They certainly belong to...

    "TOUR DESIDERATA"!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Picard, no way to get the money back. The scammer had her go to a store, buy a gift card, and read the numbers to him. She can't drive, so she had to take a LYFT to the store and back, more $ down the hole.

    I've refused to sell the car, as it was my motivation to improve my walking. But now my eyesight is going, so we're going to sell the car to get back in the black.

    CED, A Go Fund Me isn't called for, and probably wouldn't get anything anyway. I've spent most of my life paycheck to paycheck, ever in front of NSF charges. It's just been a few years since we got far enough ahead to stop worrying and put some extra aside for saving. With proceeds from the car, that'll give us some breathing room to start saving again.

    Thanks to everyone else for words of sympathy and comfort. Sorry for TMI, but I have nowhere else to vent.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Musings 3
    -Owen, I was ready to pull the trigger on the same scam and a 19-yr-old clerk at Wal~Mart asked me if I really wanted to do that. I was offended at first but then extremely grateful for what he did. I sought out his manager and singled the kid out for praise. No (potential) good deed goes unpunished. Now I’m getting messages from “PayPal” asking me to approve purchases I know I have never made. DO NOT REPLY!

    ReplyDelete
  32. I enjoyed "On the Beach"(Neville Shute). As the cloud inevitable drifted south it was eat, drink and be merry for the Aussies. Like waiting to go to Vietnam

    This started very easy but stiffened up. One set of clues in SE stumpted me. It was
    GAYDAR/EDIT. I had GAYbAR. Also KAsEY

    Gary, today's youth is tuned in to internet everything , fortunately. Beware of Messenger requests using identities of people you used to know.

    WC

    ReplyDelete
  33. Husker, sounds like you're vying for a chance to perform in one of those Progressive "don't become your parent" ads.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hi Y'all! Thanks for the challenge, Joe Deeney, altho I'm never quite on your (RADIO) wave-length.

    MalMan, thanks for the great expo. Maybe you had elevation sickness rather than flu. I always was sick for several days with it when I went to Gunnison & Crested Butte many long years ago.

    When I did the puzzle, for some reason I thought AFRAID Of THE DARK was the reveal and was looking for DARK in all the theme entries. I finally got tuned in to the RADIO.

    Uncle Fred, this puzzle took me 32:57 so you beat me by about a minute.

    DNK: IAN, TED LASSO, OHARA, SOYUZ, REN.

    Owen, so horrible of Bren! Has she been tested for dementia? She's certainly done some strange things. Wish you luck in dealing with all this.

    ReplyDelete

  35. Thank you Joe Deeney ( rhymes with Houdini ?) for a very nice and little tricky CW puzzle for Thursday, which I really enjoyed. When HG put out all the all other choices you had gone thru for the radio-edit ... I marvelled at your perseverance and your word wizardry !!!

    Thank you MalMan for a very nice and comprhenesive review. I wanted to mention the typo of 12/31 as being New Years Eve, but UncleFred beat me to it.
    MalMan you should maybe travel a lil less, drastic changes in ambient temperatures can tax physically and emotionally even the hardiest of bodies....

    I did not know many many names... especially Gaydar ... and heeding Lemonade's comment I dont think I will be using it soon. One has always to be very tactful and polite in the company of strangers. !@!
    Always better safe than sorry .... As Harry Truman, famously said ," I never had to apologize for something that I didn't say...".... Very Famous Words.

    At first, I thought, ... Nyc -to-phobic was someone who hated or was afraid of New York City ... :-) where one of my daughters resides ;-) ( makes sense ...)

    Picard, Thank you for your exotic pictures .... sometimes it feels like you are living in a foreign country ... But, in the waning days of my life, I am glad there are people who are going around and having fun ... better to do that before you get old and sick.

    C E D thank you for all your pictures and links ... really enjoy them. Really liked your naval communications joke ... laughed out loud !!@!@ But I'm sure their i.e. the US ships' radars would have detected the lighthouse and coast anomaly, miles ahead of the journey.

    Sorry to hear of your problems OwenKL and that the solution is elusive. We've lost money in similar situations, by loved ones, usually bad decisions rather than scams ... but we've never been so desperate as you appear. My prayers and hopes go out to you.

    I have O Neg blood, and I gave copiously in the earlier decades, but 1. My trips abroad. 2. Now my age and 3. my lowered Hematocrit and transplanted Kidney, with its attendant problems, and immuno-compromised. ..... means ....I wont be donating anymore, .... or Should Not be donating anymore.

    Onto Friday tomorrow !!! Have a great rest of the day, you all.

    ReplyDelete
  36. OwenKL -- It's not 'venting' when you're among friends.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Official grouse: there have ben two or three recent cases of cluing, in which the clue requires a (plural/singular) answer, but the actual answer is (singular/plural) instead.

    Case in point: today's puzzle clue 28D, "Gps. like Partners in Health," with 'Gps.' expanding to 'GroupS'. Yet the answer is "NGO", a singular for 'Non-Governmental Organization.'

    ReplyDelete
  38. Received one of those requests for funds to rescue family members having an emergency. They were traveling in Sweden so I send an email asking what they preferred. Turns out it was a scam but seemed very urgent at the time.

    ReplyDelete
  39. OKL, so sorry for your predicament. I can empathize. Scammers are everywhere. Some hackers have a list of our former church members and often pretend to be members or former members asking the rest of us to buy gift certificates for them because they are too busy to buy them themselves. It takes no longer for them to buy the certificates than it does to email us. Some of our members bit one time, but the practice continues with no takers. One ask came from a former member who has been dead more than two years.

    ReplyDelete

For custom-made birthday, anniversary or special occasion puzzles from C.C., please email crosswordc@gmail.com

Her book "Sip & Solve Easy Mini Crosswords" is available on Amazon.

Please click on Comments Section Abbrs for some blog-specific terms.

Please limit your posts to 5 per day and cap each post length at about 20 lines in Preview mode.

No politics, no religion and no personal attacks.