google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday August 30, 2022 Ella Dershowitz

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Aug 30, 2022

Tuesday August 30, 2022 Ella Dershowitz

Theme:  NOT MY CUP OF TEA (60. Dismissive response when offered chai in the ends of the answers to the starred clues?) - Last word is a not tea holder.

15. *"The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" writer: GERTRUDE STEIN.

23. *Folk instrument named for the Greek god of nature: PAN FLUTE.

37. *Buffing tool for some jewelry-makers: ROCK TUMBLER.

51. *"This American Life" host: IRA GLASS.

Boomer here again. Hahtoolah is taking care of her mother-in-law in Texas. She will be back next Tuesday. 

Two in a row.  A bowler may call it a double.  In golf it's a two putt green. Or a birdie on a par three.       

Across:

1. Stories often used for storage: ATTICS.  Our townhome has no ATTIC. We use the garage.

7. Painter or sculptor: ARTIST.  Does "Paint by Number" count ?

13. Impulse-conducting cell: NEURON.

14. Elton John's "__ in the Wind": CANDLE.  The Crests sung about 16 of them.



17. "Fool Us" judges __ & Teller: PENN.

18. Gp. for good drivers?: PGA. And two putters.

19. Fossey subjects: APES.

21. Superfun times: BLASTS.  We had enough on July 4.

27. Easy pace: JOG.  Around our lakes. Not me anymore.



28. Gun, as an engine: REV.  Al Sharpton thinks he's a newsman now.

30. Debtor's note: IOU.

31. Pro bono TV ad: PSA.  In my world it's Prostate Specific Antigens.

32. Soft leather: SUEDE.  If they are blue shoes, Elvis said stay off of them.



34. Join the club: ENROLL.  Lots of schools are open now.

40. Prius maker: TOYOTA.

41. Nourishes: FEEDS.  And the schools need a lunchroom for the kids!

44. Campaign funding org.: PAC. Lots of these going on also. Voting in November!

47. Cal. neighbor: ORE.

48. DOD intel arm: NSA.  National Security!

50. "All __ Well": Taylor Swift song: TOO.  End of the line -- Me TOO!



54. Punctuation in an email address: AT SIGN.  "Stop" at the octagonal one.  Who remembers when they used to be yellow??

56. Actress Campbell: NEVE.

57. Industrial-sized tub: VAT.  Making root beer in yours?

59. Random __ of kindness: ACTS.  Sharing the root beer ??

65. Debated: ARGUED.  Twins Rocco gets kicked out of games for this.



66. "I'm not __ it": "You've yet to convince me": BUYING.

67. Does some traditional winemaking: STOMPS.



68. Job durations: STINTS.

Down:

1. "And Still I Rise" poet Maya: ANGELOU.

2. Fake ID user, maybe: TEENAGER.  I would not know how people get these.

3. Changes direction: TURNS.  To everything TURN, TURN, TURN.

4. NYC subway line: IRT.  LBJ took the IRT through the USA, what did he see?  The youth of America on LSD.

5. __ flower: foul-smelling rare plant: CORPSE.



6. Like a bug in a rug: SNUG.

7. Best pitcher in a team's rotation: ACE. Justin Verlander for sure.



8. Peer leaders in a dorm, for short: RAS.

9. Explosive letters: TNT.  We had enough of the neighbors on July 4.

10. Perfect: IDEAL.  Maker of wire-nuts.



11. Mention the surprise party to the birthday girl, say: SLIP UP.  Or maybe it was hanging below the dress.

12. Core convictions: TENETS.

16. Big name in caulk and sealant: DAP.  This stuff has been around since Lincoln was president !

17. Kid-friendly sandwiches, for short: PBJS.  My mom made lunch for us on school days.  I had plenty of these sandwiches.

20. __ urchin: SEA.  Mariners of Washington.

22. Green Day drummer: TRE COOL.



24. Guy in the sky: AIRMAN.

25. Gaming rookie: NOOB.  Some are a BOON to a new team.

26. Whole, milkwise: FULL FAT.  We only use 1% so we are only "Half Fat"

29. Presidential rejections: VETOES.  Now college kids are getting some debt forgiven.  I guess things are different.  

33. Eye on a stick figure: DOT.  Ditto's sister.

35. Pecan pie morsel: NUT.  Pecans and cashews are my favorite,  Not too happy with Trader Joe's price though.

36. Jeans name: LEE.  Never wore blue jeans myself.

38. Actress Sedgwick: KYRA.



39. Far from forthcoming: RETICENT.

42. Soldiers' IDs: DOG TAGS.  I had these, even though I was not a dog.  I spelled it DOUG!

43. Male deliveries: SONS.  I was one of these also, years ago.

44. Brooch holder: PIN. NOPE -- Look down the lane.  There are ten of them.

45. Play grounds?: ARENAS.

46. Frolic: CAVORT.

49. Watched from the sidelines: SAT OUT.  No sidelines in high school Latin class.

52. Very beginning: GET GO.

53. "Law & Order" spinoff, familiarly: SVU.  Not as good as the original.  

55. Chemise fabric: SATIN.

58. Emer. alerts: APBS.  All Points Bulletin.

61. Ornamental flower: MUM.  First to bloom in the spring.

62. "You betcha": YEP.  Yeah right!

63. LP successors: CDS.

64. "Here's an update," briefly: FYI.  For your information.

Boomer


Notes from C.C.:

Here are a few pictures of baby Boomer and his siblings.

My big sister Barbara with her young brother Douglas.  We were both polio survivors and she needed crutches while Douglas had lung problems and recovered okay.    

Hi Ho Silver.  I seem to have lost my horse.   


 Everyone my age needed training wheels when learning to handle a bicycle.

The whole family of kids under the Christmas tree. Barbara, Constance, Amy, and Douglas.  This was about 60 years ago, and we are all still alive today.


Our Dad, Ralph with Barbara and Douglas in front of our new family car, a 1949 Ford.  I think it was a lemon.

The Fabulous Burnikel foursome: Constance, Barbara, Amy and Douglas

43 comments:

  1. I wasn’t familiar with “Tre Cool” but the perps were fair. Also, I didn’t remember “Dap”, if I ever knew it, but once again the perps came to the rescue. FIR, so I’m happy,

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  2. Good morning!

    FULL FAT sounded off to my ear, but I'm not sure what else you'd call whole milk. It's just weird -- like full fast and half fast. Puzzle was easy; d-o even saw the hidden glassware, but he didn't understand the "reveal." Some things never change. Thanx, Ella and Boomer. (Those are some great family photos. Looks like quite the age range among the Burnikel sibs.)

    DOG TAGS: Somehow in the half dozen moves since leaving the Navy, I lost my dog tags, along with my prized "lifer" belt buckle. My peacoat was the only piece of uniform clothing I kept. I donated it after moving to the southland.

    JEANS: Have never worn LEES, but still wear jeans almost every day. I sort 'em into three categories, suitable for dirty jobs, suitable for everyday, and dress (hole and stain free; ie suitable for formal occasions).

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  3. I survived the ROCK TUMBLER/TRE COOL Natick of the week. Pop-cul trend continues. Anon-T, will tell us about Green Day I'm sure. Have they Boston roots?

    One of my Cobra buddies talked me into being the rear seat dummy on a test flight. He said "Don't worry about the warning racket" as he plunged a thousand feet, restarting before crashing. I was busy trying to take pictures

    I started slow as ATTICS eluded me by Maya didn't. All in all a Tuesday easy xword.

    Enjoyed Boomer but not the Twins kicking dirt in Redsox craw. Oh how the mighty…

    WC

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  4. FIR, but erased cia for NSA. I knew better. But DNK Fool Us, but who else could it be with "Teller". Also DNK This American Life, TRE COOL, and the only Taylor Swift song I know is Shake it Off.

    I always wanted a ROCK TUMBLER, but there was always some kind of electronics gear I wanted more. The technique is widely used in industry to smooth and deburr items.

    FLN - PK, I'm betting that that helojock saw all his passengers as cargo weight, and allocated them space by how to best balance the aircraft. BTW - Helicopters don't fly, they just beat the air into submission.

    Thanks to Ella for the fun, easy puzzle, and to Boomer for the surprise appearance. I had a cousin with polio, and I remember the joy when we loaded her iron lung into my uncle's El Camino to return it to the medical devices supplier. She lived a long and productive life, but her driver's license was restricted to the use of a steering wheel knob because of one atrophied arm from the disease.

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  5. Took 5:22 to fill my cup today.

    I've had iced tea in some of those cups.

    Seemed a little tougher than the usual Tuesday-level puzzles (e.g., Angelou, Ira Glass, Tre Cool, Gertrude Stein).

    D-O, thank you for your sacrifice and service.

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  6. FIR, despite not knowing "trecool". Still don't!

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  7. Fun puzzle and theme today. I still drink chai occasionally , but the preparations at my local shop are too sweet for my CUP OF TEA! I'd rather eat my calories than drink them! Whole milk is 4% fat - so Boomer's 1% is a quarter fat and 2% is half fat

    I had pairs of LEE jeans in my teens - the company started in Kansas my home state and they were always more affordable than Levis. The whole designer label jeans era like Calvin Kleins came after that.

    I like to listen to "This American Life" with IRA GLASS on NPR usually on Saturday morning or replayed on Sunday morning in my area.

    Thanks Boomer for round 2 this week and to Ella for the puzzle

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  8. Musings
    -A fun puzzle that I solved while watching Ella’s dad, Alan, on TV
    -The PGA millionaires are in a desperate struggle with the LIV millionaires
    -I remember the “duck and cover” PSA’s in my childhood
    -Carl Perkins wrote Blue SUEDE Shoes and sold a million copies before his friend Elvis released his version.
    -Umpires never lose an argument unless there is a video replay
    -When I have to STOMP down leaves in a container to make room for more, Joann calls that a Lucy
    -It bloomed at Omaha’s Lauritsen’s Gardens and we were there for the odor/stench
    -Now I know you played this game made by The IDEAL Toy Company
    -The dictionary says BROOCH rhymes with BROACH and means the same thing
    -Fabulous pix, Boomer!

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  9. Am I the only one who never heard of a CORPSE FLOWER ? That and Frank Edwin Wright III (born December 9, 1972), better known by his stage name Tré Cool, is a German-born American musician, singer, and songwriter who replace the original drummer in GREEN DAY because John Kiffmeyer's parents wanted him to have a secure future. BZZT!

    The highlight was the boy Burnikel pictures and learning that Boomer's father was named Ralph as was my dad.

    Trés cool

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  10. I liked that the senior Boomer put a bunch of stickers on his brand new car. Did he slap on some lakes pipes too? I always wanted to install a bigger carb and a higher performance cam, but always waited until the warranty expired.

    Gary, I can't see the Ideal toy. Could you edit the link?

    DNK that Alan is Ella's dad. I love watching him being interviewed, even when I disagree with him. Brilliant, fair man.

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  11. Having just filled 49D SAT OUT, I filled 55D and parsed it as SAT IN and was surprised when I went back for the clue

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  12. Enjoyed this cool drink of a puzzle, in spite of the ROCK TUMBLER/TRE COOL natick.

    Sweet Burnikel pictures.

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  13. Trying Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Ella and Boomer.
    I introduced my 11 year-old granddaughter to the LAT CW (after she helped me solve Wordle in 3!), but today was a poor CW for that purpose. Officially a DNF because we have to LIU to get the Natick cross of TRE COOL and IRA GLASS (remember we are Canadian!).
    Theme is a little outre also with the odd vessels for our Chai.

    No Harry Potter or Frozen clues for her today.

    I had a PAN pipe but it changed to the longer FLUTE.
    This Canadian had NeA, and EAT AT did not fit the clue for 49D. Alphabet run to S solved that.
    PAC also required perps.

    Is is Tyra, Myra, ah KYRA.
    Even DH did not know DAP. It perped.

    I smiled at BLASTS and TNT.

    Read you all later.
    Wishing you all a great day.

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  14. Tks for pointing out Tyra, Myra, and Kyra. Didn't catch that. Never heard of Ira Glass or Tre Cool.

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  15. Good Morning:

    I have never heard of Full Fat Milk, Rock Tumbler, Tre Cool, or Corpse and Dap, as clued, and even though the perps were fair, I still find it annoying when simple words like Candle, Apes, Ore, and Too have to be clued using proper names. I guess I’m wasting my breath on this subject because it seems to be a trend, almost a trademark, of the new editorial staff.

    Thanks, Ella, and thanks, Boomer, for pinch hitting once again. Your family photos were the best part of today’s puzzle experience. I imagine those three older sisters doted on their kid brother. 😉

    Have a great day.

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  16. Hi Y'all! Fast & enjoyable, thanks, Ella. Boomer, you gave us double our pleasure this week. Also enjoyed seeing the young Burnikels' pics.

    I used a lot of DAP in my remodeling years.

    DNK: IRA GLASS, CORPSE, TRE COOL and didn't parse the latter as having a space when filled.

    Jinx: Haha, "helicopters don't fly they just beat the air into submission." I'm sure you are right about the helojock & weight distribution, but still... I'm betting he never had any little children.

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  17. Full fat milk is usually called whole milk, or 4% milk as opposed to 2%.

    It looks like the italics have taken over.

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  18. Amusing drink container theme. I mostly just drink tap water from a GLASS.

    I once ARGUED with PENN at a convention. He is a giant and his main tactic is to shout very loudly.

    Here I posed with the CORPSE FLOWER at the UC Santa Barbara Greenhouse in 2013.

    They bloom once every 7-9 years, so we must be due for a new bloom by now.

    Boomer Thanks for the IRT reference from the musical "Hair". That is how I know the IRT, too.

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  19. From Yesterday:
    Subgenius, Jayce, Ol Man Keith, AnonT, Husker Gary, Ray O Sunshine, Michael I am honored and humbled by your very kind and thoughtful comments on my RATIO Theory article. Thank you for taking the time to read it and for elaborating on it.

    Michael No surprise that the genius with the bad RATIO Kissinger is spreading nonsense about Ukraine. He never learns. Thanks for that update.

    ProfMeritus I hope you were able to go back and read my article so that you would know what they were talking about. Anyone who reads Free Inquiry is my kind of person. Interesting comparison to "apotheosis aspiration". You can email me at earthmanrobert (at) gmail.com

    Husker Gary Huge thanks for going even further and reading some of my other articles. Yes, the GMO article got me a lot of hate from people I know well. I found that book "Seeds of Science" by Mark Lynas at the Santa Barbara Library and was devastated to realize how many lies I had repeated about GMOs. I felt compelled to set the record straight. We need GMOs in a world of eight billion people and they can actually help the environment, too.

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  20. That picture of you on your bike….I’m betting every kid in America had that shirt.

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  21. Busy morning having to deal with a banking issue on the phone--took a long time. But finally finished the delightful puzzle--many thanks, Ella. And loved your write-up this morning, Boomer--especially followed by those sweet family pictures. Thank you for posting them.

    Did the TEENAGER ENROLL in a music class and learn how play a PAN FLUTE? Maybe eventually he'll be an ACE and play in ARENAS along with some other ARTISTS and their ACTS.

    The two guys were yelling as they ARGUED over a SLIP-UP. They were not RETICENT about calling each other names until one of them STOMPS out and takes off in his TOYOTA.

    Have a great week coming up, everybody.

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  22. For some reason, that corpse flower reminds me of the Venus flytrap in Little Shop of Horrors that instructs the guy to "Feed Me, Seymour."

    Never heard of a rock tumbler? Well, of course there is a rocktumbler.com web site.

    Aren't polio vaccines still required in the US for all grade school students? I remember that Jim Carrey and his porn star girlfriend Jenny McCarthy were big antivaxers. And Mayim Bialik, who seems pretty smart, thinks that people should make an independent decision about them rather than blindly following doctor's orders. At my age, the risks of long-term problems aren't particularly weighty. I'm too old to die young, but don't want to die from a preventable disease.

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  23. Are there still three public transportation lines in NYC? Boston imaginatively color coded several lines making things far easier, especially for NOOBS. What they didn't do was maintain them. They currently have the Orange line shut down for a rebuild.

    Also, RiP for Crickets drummer Jerry Allison

    WC

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  24. FIR, but not sure of the time, since I forgot to write down the start time. Best guess would be 15 minutes. I love a CW where I know 1A, and can get off to a good start. DNK TRECOOL, NEVE, or KYRA, but perps came to the rescue. Nice theme to the CW, also. Thanx, ED. Thanx too to Boomer for another smile inducing write-up. I especially liked the pictures. The one of you standing in front of a door reminded me of one I stumbled across recently of me, about 4yo, standing in front of a door pointing to a sign that says,”QUARANTINE: KEEP OUT scarlet fever”. Your pictures and several comments here bring to mind the IGNORANCE of the anti-vaxers. They ignore the FACT that thousands of people used to be crippled or die from diseases that are now largely eliminated by vaccines. If EVERYONE would get vaccinated against these diseases, the diseases would be COMPLETELY eliminated, like smallpox, and the next generation would not need to get vaccinated. Ironically, it is the anti-vaxers that make vaccines necessary.

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  25. FIR. I somehow knew the lesser-known answers -- sort of a Slumdog Millionaire morning for me, I guess.
    FAV: stories used for storage
    Thanks, Boomer, for your double-duty write-up and for sharing the photos. Kids today learn to ride on "balance bikes". Have you seen those? Completely skip the training wheel stage. Little tykes zipping around on bikes.
    billocohoes @ 8:38. Thanks for pointing out SATIN & SAT OUT. Observations like those are what drew me to The Corner. Well done, Ella!

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  26. WC calls it the "Natick of the week," and I agree.
    Apparently, we both survived TRE COOL/ROCK TUMBLER. I thought "Trecool" was one word (what on earth?!), and needed to fill KYRA on faith.
    Earlier experiments included "Trefoil," but I was pretty sure that IREland (rather than OREgon) is not a "Cal. neighbor," a neighbor of California--although (and here's the tricky part) it is a neighbor of old Caledonia!
    ~ OMK

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  27. Hola!

    For some reason all the comments are in Italics today.

    Fun and fairly easy puzzle from Ella today. I liked seeing Maya ANGELOU'S name as well as IRA GLASS whom I sometimes catch on NPR radio.

    I've seen a ROCK TUMBLER in action though I don't recall who had it. Mamy years ago Phoenix had a ROCK and mineral museum which was available for field trips. Children really enjoyed examining the many, many types of ROCKS on display.

    CAVORT is a fun word.

    My daughter has my late DH's DOG TAGS. She has a shelf with all his army photos, medals, etc.

    Boomer, thank you for sharing your photos and for taday's narrative.

    Have a lovely day, everyone!

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  28. Puzzling thoughts:

    FIR with the fewest of w/o's

    As other said, FULL FAT was a stretch, (L)IMO - if you Google FULL FAT it reveals a video game

    Will see if my "fix" to the italics problem works. If not, I will be as slanted as the rest of y'all

    Moving update: we have our walk-through first week of October; close and take ownership (along with the bank/mortgage provider) second week of October. Since it's a local move and we will have paid rent through the end of October, it'll be a bunch of round trips in the two SUV's that we have to move the majority of our stuff. But we are tossing out a lot of stuff now so we won't have to deal with it later

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  29. C-Moe, better you than me.

    Fred - Every single vaccine carries risk. I think we are better served to let individuals, with consultation with their medical advisors, to weigh the risk/benefit tradeoffs for themselves, and stop browbeating them into behaving as we wish they would. You and I would probably agree that the people who campaign for others to reject vaccines are harmful to society. To me, there is a huge difference between those who do that, and those who make a decision for themselves that we may not like.

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  30. Moe @ 1:50 ~ Good luck with the closing and the physical move.

    HG @ 2:43 ~ Congrats on that 81! (Never saw or heard of that Mouse Trap Board.)

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  31. I was surprised to see 'Stories' in the clue for 1A. But I guess that that is the spelling stateside. Here in the frozen north, it is 'storeys' all the way. Learn something new every day.
    Good puzzle though!

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  32. I was in several 4-H clubs as a kid, including Electricity and Rockhound (I never made it past Pebble Pup). Yes, 4-H had clubs for city kids like me. Any way, in one of those, I had to build a rock tumbler. Those things take a l o n g time! Weeks!

    Boomer, was your dad a Mason, or did he buy the car from a Mason? I'm pretty sure I recognize a Rainbow Girls logo on one of those placards.
    Your Dad was a Mason. I can't imagine a gung-ho Mason selling a car with those roundels attached.

    NOOB is not spelt noob. It is properly n00b, or better still nØØb.

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  33. I liked this puzzle but was too distracted to see the non-teacups in the theme answers. Pretty cool. Did not know TRECOOL and thought maybe it was just another uniquely spelled surname, but a WAG filled the C in ROCK TUMBLER, which was pretty much the only letter that made sense there. Then I realized I knew of rock tumblers after all. So, a half-Natick :)

    I very much enjoyed seeing the photos of you and your family when you were young, Doug. Thanks for those.

    I have never been, nor would I ever be, up in a helicopter. I used to enjoy riding in a small plane, but no longer. For some reason, I guess as my brain has aged, I simply can no longer tolerate the confined space and the accelerations over which I have no control.

    As kids growing up in the Black Hills my brother and I wore blue jeans all the time. LEES was one of the brands my mom bought; I believe they were called Lee Riders. She also bought Wranglers, but they never did fit me right. They were cut such that you had to have basically no butt and a very short distance from your waist to your hips for them to fit right. On me they either "rode" very low and risked falling down, or if I pulled them up they squished my, um, scrotum. Since age 12 I never wore any blue jeans again; I became strictly a slacks guy.

    I used a lot of DAP when I worked as an apprentice plumber.

    I think "FULL FAT" is GREEN PAINT.

    Misty, I'm glad you solved your banking issue.

    Like Ray O Sunshine, I hope my 80 year old polio antibodies are still swimming around.

    Good wishes to you all.

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  34. I am a total alien to the jargon.

    Owen @ 4:33 -- or anyone!--
    can you explain to this n00b, why it is that the spelling must be so--what is the word?--alphanumeric?
    ~ OMK

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  35. Boomr ~ Lovely family photos. Thank you for sharing.

    I don't doubt your word, but how can an American kid claim he never wore jeans?
    Aren't those jeans, with the cuffs and patches, on you astride that training bike?
    ~ OMK

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  36. Jayce - Too bad Duluth Trading's Ballroom-Jeans had yet to be invented.

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  37. At 9:37AM, Ray O Sunshine said:

    Unlike most of you it was an embarrassing Tuesday DNF: one letter, the C crossing TRECOOLER (hadn't the foggiest) with ROCKTUMBLER, wanted ring since it was for jewelry making, I suppose a diamond is a ROCK. The theme was ingenious.

    GERTRUDE and Maya; crossing literary ARTISTS. IRT and PENN stations. TNT and BLASTS. Was this done on porpoise? ��

    I was 17 my entire college freshman year. But never got carded (1967 drinking age was 18 in NYS). Another sign that summer is waning, the nurseries have switched to MUMs. The only tea I drink is a chai latte. Speaking of potables never heard the term FULLFAT for whole milk. Finding cows that produce 1 & 2٪ milk is difficult enough.�� Odd clue for DOT, coulda been connected to ATSIGN (DOT com)

    "Fossey subjects" dancers wouldn't fit (oh that Fossey). "Chemise" French for shirt "chemise bouffie"..puffy shirt ��

    Saw two CORPSE flower plants in the Chicago botanical gardens a few months ago. They are enormous and each had a name. This is the one named Alice. They don't look real up close but more like elaborate painted scuptures. After all Chicago also has an egg that's really a sculpture too/i>

    The "perfect" way to play cards is only if ___....IDEAL
    Reagan's "male delivery" was a ____ NEURON
    Not BUYING it, you haven't ___ me ...SUEDE
    Hewer..ACTS.

    Boomer: Your bike looks like my first one: a bright red Rollfast. Apropos pictures, polio is making a resurgence thanks to the antivaxers. Hope my 65 year old antibodies are still swimming around.��

    August 30, 2022 at 9:37 AM Delete

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  38. Since I got to sleep at 4 AM I just made up for it with a long nap. I don't know how I'll do tonight but hope I haven't started a vicious cycle.

    Since retiring my daily "uniform" is shorts all summer and blue jeans all winter, six months of each. Of course I dress up for church and other occasions such as funerals of which I've attended two this summer. My favorite jeans are from TJ Maxx and I have a large drawer full of assorted shorts.

    And speaking of funerals, I learned today that a friend who was 104, just died. She was a Sister of the Precious Blood, Dayton, OH. Besides being a teacher she was a gifted writer.

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  39. Nice job, Boomer.

    Ray - O - , you will have to repost your links.

    ROCK TUMBLER - My crafting neighbor had two of them. Her husband sold them. Her father was a part time jewelry maker in addition to his main vocation as a machinist. He had a large professional model that also housed the the saw that was capable of making very thin slices of stones, agates, geodes and other minerals. Prior to inheriting his, she bought a hobbyist version that was a tumbler only, for cleaning and polishing stones and agates they found along the shores of Lake Superior.

    CORPSE Flower - Interestingly enough, the same neighbor has a tie in to this. Her husband was an avid gardener and flower grower. For an extended period of time, he was president of one of the suburb's rose club, which was apparently a big thing back in the 50s and 60s.

    The corpse flower is Amorphophallus titanum. From Ancient Greek amorphos, "without form, misshapen" + phallos, "penis". Misshapen penis. A.Titan is what some of you have seen and posed with in the botanical gardens or conservatories.

    There are other plants in the Amorphophallus family that are also familiarly called "corpse" plants. They reek and stink as bad as titanum. Maybe more. Perhaps not as magnificent and showy and rare when they bloom, but they are still truly odoriferous. Or malodorous, if you prefer.

    He was always so proud of his Amorphophallus, and called me over every time it bloomed. Boy did it stink. He kept it in a very large pot on his workbench in his garage, until he planted it behind his garage some 5 or 6 years before he passed. I walked over to her house today to take a closer look at it. As best I can tell from the foliage and shape and petiole, it is Amorphophallus konjac, aka the Voodoo Lily, native to China. The tuber has now spread, and there are 5 or 6 petioles in a row. I've never seen it bloom since it has been outside, but it can still stink. Like a dead animal under the deck.

    It's hardy here in Zone 5, and will even survive the winters in some parts of Zone 4, such as in southern Wisconsin, which is where he grew up and may be where he brought the tuber from. Not sure. I should get a few pictures of it.

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  40. Jinx, those Ballroom Jeans don't look too bad. I still can't see myself wearing them, though.

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  41. Hi All!

    Thanks for the fun puzzle, Ella. A cute reveal that fixed my PAN's LUTE ;-)

    Excellent double-duty expo, Boomer. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
    Re: Polio - Before my time. But, boy do antivaxers steam MIL: "I remember Polio, these idiots act as if..." (It goes on a while).

    WOs: PAN's LUTE, REdiCNT
    ESPs: KYRA, NEVE
    Fav: I agree with Lucina, CAVORT is a fun word.

    I wanted NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) or DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) before NSA.
    I've listened to IRA GLASS's This American Life since grad-school.

    We have an Amorphophallus Titanum, aka CORPSE flower, in Houston TOO. It last FULLy bloomed in 2018. There was a smaller one earlier this year.
    Thanks for more info on stinky flowers, TTP.

    Having some time between moves is nice. Good luck, C.Moe.

    Nice shooting, HG.

    OMK - re: n00b: It's l337-speak which was originally used by 'elite' hackers to hide discussions from text-filters on BBS & IRC systems. Here's the WikiP for more info.

    Gotta run. Cheers, -T

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