google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, September 27, 2022 Christina Iverson

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Sep 27, 2022

Tuesday, September 27, 2022 Christina Iverson

An Ice Breaker:


17-Across. *   Another thing altogether: WHOLE NEW BALLGAME.  Whole Truth

30-Across. *    William S. Burroughs novel: NAKED LUNCH.  Naked Truth

49-Across. *    Background sound that may be a sleep aid: WHITE NOISE.  White Lie

And the unifier:

65-Across. Ice-breaker activity involving three claims, or what the starts of the answers to the starred clues literally are: TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE.  Two Truths and a Lie is a simple ice-breaker game that is designed to get to know others in a group.  Each individual shares three statements about themselves:  2 of the statements are true, and one is false.  The rest of the group tries to guess which statement is the lie by asking questions.

Across:
1. "How tragic": SO SAD!

6. Cent: PENNY.
11. Gender-neutral German article: DAS.  //  And 5-Down. Feminine German article: DIE.  The masculine German article, DER is missing from today's German lesson.

14. Food safety concern: E. COLI.  The full name of this bacterium is Escherichia coli.  Most strains of E. coli are actually harmless.  It is often used in microbiology teaching labs.

15. Infer: EDUCE.

16. Foot part: ARCH.

20. Annual presidential speech, for short: SOTU.  As in State OThe Union.

21. Maker of Simply Radishing and Can't Be Beet! nail polish: OPI.  This brand is becoming a crossword staple.

22. Sunburn soother: ALOE GEL.

23. Chain reaction component: DOMINO.


26. Restroom, to a Brit: LOO.

27. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame architect: I.M. PEI.  I.M. Pei (né Ieoh Ming Pei; Apr. 26, 1917 ~ May 16, 2019) was a Chinese-American architect.  He was quite a visionary and designed many unique looking buildings.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is designed to look like a record player.[Name # 1.]


35. Pad thai strand: NOODLE.  Yummers!



37. One-line rave on movie posters: A MUST SEE!

38. __ Angeles Kings: LOS.  The professional hockey team.




39. Medium for many homemade cards: CRAYON.  If you are lucky, you have 64 color choices.


42. Chapped, maybe: DRY.

43. Remains calm: ACTS COOL.

46. Interstate through Chicago: NINETY.  Interstate-90 runs from Boston, Massachusetts to Seattle, Washington.


52. High-IQ group: MENSA.

53. "__ Lasso": TED.  Ted Lasso is a fictional character portrayed by Jason Sudeikis. [Name Adjacent.]


54. Doodads: GIZMOS.

56. Pseudonym: PEN NAME.  //  And 18-Down. __ de plume: NOM.  Theodor Seuss Geisel (Mar. 2, 1904 ~ Sept. 24, 1991) used Dr. Seuss as his pen name.



60. Org. headed by Michael S. Regan: EPA.  Michael Stanley Regan (b. Aug. 6, 1976) is the current Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.  [Name # 2.]


61. Wooden barrel: CASK.



68. Hardens: SETS.

69. Sports data: STATS.

70. "Assuming there is one": IF ANY.

71. "Black-ish" role: DRE.  Actor Anthony Anderson (b. Aug. 15, 1970) portrays Dre Johnson on the television sit-com Black-ish.  [Name adjacent]


72. Generational tales: SAGAS.  I can get lost in a good saga.  I have read several on this list.  Ken Follett also writes wonderful historical sagas.


73. Trait carriers: GENES.



Down:
1. Wraps (up): SEWS.

2. Cuatro x dos: OCHO.  Spanish math.  Hi, Lucina!

3. Flue residue: SOOT.

4. Slyly referred (to): ALLUDED.

6. Peek through shutters, say: PEEP IN.

7. Holly's "Raising Arizona" role: EDWINA.  Raising Arizona was a 1987 movie that starred Holly Hunter (b. Mar. 20, 1958) and Nicholas Cage (b. Jan. 7, 1964).  Holly hunter portrayed Edwina McDunnough.  [Name Adjacent]


8. Much-used pencil: NUB.

9. March Madness gp.: NCAA.  As in the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

10. Holler: YELL.

11. International reality show that inspired "Shark Tank": DRAGONS' DEN.  I am not familiar with Dragon's Den.

12. Pinnacle: ACME.

13. Writer Silverstein: SHEL.  Shel Silverstein (né Sheldon Allan Silverstein; Sept. 25, 1930 ~ May 11, 1999) was a poet, cartoonist and songwriter.  Did you know that he wrote A Boy Named Sue?  [Name # 3.]


16. Get too old: AGE OUT.

19. Lounges around: LOLLS.

24. Cruet contents: OIL.


25. Just so-so: OKAY.

27. Spouse's kin: IN-LAW.


28. Scrounging sort: MOOCH.

29. Sticky reminder: POST-IT NOTE.

31. Genre associated with black eyeliner: EMO.

32. Country duo Brooks & __: DUNN.  [Names # 4.]


33. "Two mints in one" mint: CERTS.


34. 2003 Outkast hit: HEY YA!



36. Business maj.: ECON.  As in Economics.

40. Milne joey: ROO.  A reference to Winnie-the-Pooh's reference.


41. Sacha Baron Cohen persona: ALI G. Ali G is a satirical character played by Sasha Baron Cohen (b. Oct. 13, 1971).  [Name # 5.]

44. Artery inserts: STENTS.

45. Fragrant wood: CEDAR.  Everything  you wanted to know about Cedar wood, but didn't know to ask.

47. "If u ask me ... ": IMO.  Textspeak for IMOpinion.

48. Brand that had instant success?: NESCAFÉ.  The brand that makes instant coffee.


50. Afternoon nap: SIESTA.


51. Toll-paying convenience: E-ZPASS.  I live in a state that doesn't use an electronic pass.  We did have to get a toll-tag for Texas, however.



55. "Wow": MAN!  Meh?

56. Survivor's struggle, briefly: PTSD.  As in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

57. Carafe kin: EWER.
58. No __, no fuss: MUSS.


59. Jazz legend James: ETTA.  Etta James (née Jamesetta Hawkins; Jan. 25, 1938 ~ Jan. 20, 2012) makes frequent guest appearances in the crossword puzzles.  [Name # 6.]



62. Actor Rickman: ALAN.  Alan Rickman (né Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman; Feb 21, 1946 ~ Jan. 14, 2016) was such a talented actor.  [Name # 7.]


63. __ wave: SINE.

64. Types (in): KEYS.

66. Folklore crone: HAG.

67. Use a trowel: DIG.
Here's the Grid:


חתולה

L'Shana Tova to all who celebrate.  This is the second day of the holiday.



44 comments:

Subgenius said...

I confess that even after I read the reveal, I didn’t get what it was talking about until I got to the review. That said, the rest of the puzzle wasn’t terribly difficult. FIR, so I’m happy.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I'm sure we must've seen OPI before, but it's the sort of answer that I can forget before lunchtime. PEEP IN? I started with PEER AT...and ended with PEER IN. ORI looked good to me. Bzzzzzzzzt! Thanx, Christina and Hahtoolah.

CRAYON -- Never had a box with more than eight, and still got called out for coloring the sky purple.

EZPASS -- I had an EZPASS during my working years, but turned it in when I retired. I've never understood why you have to pay tolls in advance. You make a deposit, and use it up with tolls. When the balance gets low you have to replenish it. Seems un-American, somehow.

CASK -- Evokes Poe's Cask of Amontillado or the Limeliters:
"Have some madeira, m'dear.
I have a small CASK of it here.
And once it's been opened,
well you know it won't keep.
Do finish it up,
it'll help you to sleep. [snicker]"
It's worth a listen.

KS said...

FIW, had peeked instead of peeped, and was unfamiliar with the nail polish brand.

Anonymous said...

Took 5:31 for me to finish it right. Ok, that's a lie - I made the same error that KS made.

This seemed tougher than a usual Tuesday, which I'm ok with.

Survivor's guilt is a symptom of PTSD, but not the same.

I have an EZ-Pass, which I think I used on I-90 in Chicago. I'm fine with pre-paying for the convenience of not having to stop, make a payment, maybe get a receipt, then merge with cars/trucks that haven't had to stop.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIW, trying to put Ora polish on my nails. Yeah, we've had it several times before, but I won't remember it if we have it 20 more times. Only with Jinx can you find ten Tuesday items he doesn't know. And that doesn't include thinking that black eyeliner was for EMO; I thought it was for Goth.

I have 2 EZ PASS and one SunPass units. I think that all or nearly all Florida toll roads now accept EZPASS, so I may turn in my SunPass this winter.

FLN - PK, glad you liked the Hiaasen book. I think I've read 'em all. Funny, I never understood Buffett's song until I read Tourist Season, then I had the "aha" (not the "oho") moment about halfway through the book.

FLN -T, better odds with minimum effort at the craps table if you play the pass line and take maximum odds. Blackjack odds are good too, but you must know basic strategy and play accordingly every single time. Exception is if you know something you aren't supposed to know, like if you see the dealer's hole card. I remember way back when I was playing a lot of blackjack someone told me that if the dealer PEEPed twice at his/her hole card with a face card up (and doesn't flip over a blackjack), the hole card is a 4. It was almost always true, but within a few months the casinos had enacted countermeasures. Now have redesigned cards and a device on the tables that eliminated PEEPing altogether.

Got a flat tire on my CRV, and now I gotta put on the donut and find a tire shop in an unfamiliar locale. Fade up the banjo music.

desper-otto said...

Jinx, take your flat tire to Discount Tire. No banjo required, and they'll fix it for free.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Crossword friends. I was at a conference a few years ago where Two Truths and a Lie was the opening ice-breaker. It was fun, but I probably only remember the lies that people shared.

I hope all of our Florida contingent, especially on the gulf coast are safe. Hurricane Ian looks to be gaining strength. Tinbini, if you can, please report in. We have missed you.

QOD: If at first you don’t succeed, blame your parents. ~ Marcelene Cox, American author

inanehiker said...

Nice speed run for a Tuesday - and an amusing theme.
I've played that game many a time- the key to fooling people is to have your lie be a slight tweak to something that IS true so it is easy to say fluently without looking like you're lying. My favorites: I attended Truman's funeral (being from Kansas City-its plausible) which I didn't , but I actually attended Eisenhower's funeral. The other - I sang the National anthem at a Royals game - not true- but I did sing it (with an ensemble) at a KC Kings basketball game (the team moved and is now the Sacramento Kings)

Thanks Hatoolah and Christina!

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This was one of the most clever executions of a simple phrase (game) that I can remember. I thoroughly enjoyed the solve itself and the reveal was the icing on the cake, maybe because the ice breaker exercise was totally foreign to me. Also unknown, to me, were Edwina, Dragon’s Den, Hey Ya, and Dunn. Musical pop culture will always trip me up, but all of today’s stumpers were easily solved with the fair perps. Loved the Roo and Loo and the EMO/IMO duos.

Well done, Christina, and ditto, Hahtoolah. Great write up and, as usual, terrific cartoons, especially Dr. Zeuss which I thought was hilarious and the Arch Rivals. I’m a big Ken Follett fan, also, and thought his Pillars of The Earth was one of the most fascinating books I’ve ever read. Welcome back.

I’ve invited my sister, Eileen, and best friend, Carole, for lunch today, so I’d better get started on all of the prep work involved. Bloody Mary, anyone? 🍹

Have a great day.

YooperPhil said...

A very nice puzzle with about an average Tuesday feel. FIR w/o help in a little over 11 minutes. A few DNK’s (TED, DRAGONS DEN, DRE) were easily sussed with the perps. I enjoyed the theme, have heard the phrase TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE, but didn’t know what it referred to till today, learning moment, along with now knowing who the head of the EPA is. Thanks Christina for a most enjoyable solve!

I never was the proud owner of the Crayola 64, but was a bit envious of those who were, I think it may have once come with a built in crayon sharpener. Also learned from a CW clue a while back that CERTS are no longer being made, guess people preferred the stronger Altoids?
Stopping at toll booths with eventually become a thing of the past, as more and more places are just installing cameras which record your plate and mail you the bill.

DW and I have a condo down in Punta Gorda FL which may be in the path of Ian. We plan on going there in two weeks and hoping that it escapes the hit and we find everything intact, but at the same time don’t wish the devastation on anyone else either.

Irish Miss ☘️ ~~ I enjoy a good Bloody Mary, cheers! 🍹 ~ 🍹

Thank you Hahtoolah for another stellar write-up, always informative, amusing and very entertaining!


CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Christina and Hahtoolah.
I FIRed and got the theme, but my grid is full of inkblots.

I needed Spitzboov’s help with the German today (RIP). Der, Dar, changed to DIE, DAS. My Spanish was lacking too, as Otto changed to OCHO.
My chain reaction involved Supply and Demand, until I remembered that DOMINO reaction.
I tried to fit MUST SEE into the movie poster, but A was needed on the front.
I had Mess before the rhyming MUSS.

I should know EZ PASS by now, but it took a few perps. We have one toll road, Hwy 407. Your licence plate is scanned on entry and exit, and you are sent a bill in the mail. Regular users have a transponder for lower rates.
I do know OPI. I love their polish at the salon.

Somehow an EWER seems more like an In-LAW than kin to a carafe IMO.
SINE was an obscure wave which required some perps.

DRAGONS’ DEN is a Canadian program which debuted in 2006. Some local entrepreneurs have gotten a boost from negotiating a deal with a dragon for financial, business support. Great for scaling up a fledgling business.
DragonsDen

Stay safe in Florida’s. Maritime Canada is cleaning up from Fiona’s wrath.

Wishing you all a great day.

Big Easy said...

Well it's Tuesday and here's the NAKED TRUTH. FIW. Never heard of TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE. There was one section that got me this morning. I've never bought nail polish, know nothing about "Raising Arizona" or Holly, and I PEERED in. Never heard of PEEP used for peek, only peepers for eyes. ORI made as much sense as OPI. At least I EDWINA by perps.

KS- 'peeked' was in the clue "Peek through shutters".

DER, DIE, DAS. Men are masculine- der Mann, women are feminine- die Dame or die Frau, but young girls are neutral- DAS Madchen or DAS Fraulein

DRAGONS DEN was the other unknown today. I only know of ALI G, TED Lasso, and DRE from previous crossword puzzles.

Brooks & DUNN- are a couple of LA boys from my hometown and with that I'll "Boot Scoot Boogie" outta here.

CrossEyedDave said...

2 truths and a lie?

1) I loved the Zuess/podiatrist/trowel comics!
2) I loved Hahtoolahs write up!
3) I loved this puzzle...

Actually, it gave me PTPD. ( Post Traumatic Puzzle Disorder...)
(This is Tuesday?)
I can't remember being so off a constructors wavelength on a Tuesday. So much so I had to read the write up because my write up would have been would have been one word. (thumper...)

( I got bruised by multiple crossing Naticks...)

Ouch!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Nice that the CW included at least a few English clues and answers. Have heard of "Truth or Dare" but never "Two Truths & a Lie" so forget the theme. Otherwise it was an EZPASS

Just arrived in Newark Airport. Stopover on our way to Raleigh. We were moved from the last row 17 A & B because of weight issues to balance the plane (Yikes) on our flight from Syracuse. They put us in first class which on a plane that small means a "choice of 3 snacks" and your soda (pop) in a real glass..😄 WOW.

The part of US 90 from Albany to Buffalo (not 15 years on the Erie Canal) is the East-West section of the NY State Thruway. From Albany to Boston, the Massachusetts Turnpike, both take EZPass which has even expanded to Florida.

What a MOOCHer does is MOOCH. Brooks & DUNN? "Outkast hit" HEY YA?

Told this SAGA before...when he was in HS I asked my son what he thought of his English assigned reading "The CASK of Amontillado" he said "I liked it but....what's a CASK?" 🙄. Mom had a CEDAR chest where she kept her 1949 wedding gown ("Why Mom? Planning to use it again?" 😃)

The original title of Ted LASSO, Ted Lariat was a bit too long. So was Ted Riata

Phlegm: ____ residue...Flue
As well.... SOTU
Which architect are you?...I M PEI
Scrounging cow...MOOCH

For those of you who enjoy Carl Hiassen's funny Florida mockery I recommend Tim Dorsey's series of novels that send up the Sunny State as well. I've read all the works of both and want more. Guys, here's a story line. Florida flies a plane to Texas to pick up migrants and flies them to oblivious Provincetown Mass. No wait, even better Martha's Vineyard!!..Hilarious but yeah I know way too improbable.

Lucina said...

Hola!

I'll have to read you all later, I'm still babysitting and trying to potty train.

For the most part this puzzle was typical for Tuesday except for TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE of which I've never heard. Obviously I don't get out much!

Thank you, Christina and Boomer. I'll have to read your commentary later as well.

Sigh. I misread "cuatro x dos" (watching the child, you know), had seis and could not understand why that corner didn't work out. Finally the light dawned.

All the rest worked out fine. That's my SAGA, anyway.

Have a beautiful day, everyone!

AnonymousPVX said...


Steely Dan fans will recognize “Naked Lunch” as the novel in which they took their name from the…um…”device”….mentioned in that story.

Monkey said...

I had to kook at the calendar when I finished this CW. But sure enough it’s Tuesday. I had to work at this and took a long time to find TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE. I had played that game only once on a long bus ride with a bunch of tourists. I was more familiar with truth or dare but I couldn’t fit it in.

I rewatched “Raising Arizona” not too long ago and still loved it. I believe that was Nicholas Cage’s debut. He’s had a checkered career.

Hatoolah entertains again revealing this fun but tiny bit difficult CW.

Wilbur Charles said...

It wasn't names but nouns that made Tuesday look like Friday. Mostly it was me who had oast/CASK thinking taps for KEYS.

Was it ELO or EMO? CERTS was my first thought but it didn't work with red or raw. Oh, DRY. DUNN was the unk name.
MUST SEE and DEN were my last fills

The plethora of LHF makes it a Tuesday but proper nouns made it like Friday. I was looking for Burroughs novel to be about apes. We're people familiar with NAKED LUNCH or was it perp friendly?

Did I mention CBD recently? I mistakenly found that over the counter you can get the equivalent of THC. Lingering brain fog hurt me on this one

WC

There are two Burroughs I'm remembering: One Tarzan and the more modern and salacious one

sumdaze said...

Thanks for the fun, Christina and Hahtoolah. As it turns out, I watched a rom-com last week that played with a TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE theme. Good timing!
FAVs: instant success, CRAYON, DOMINO
Loved the Dr. Zeuss cartoon!

waseeley said...

Thanks for a fun puzzle Christina, but I was SO SAD to come here and find that my FIR was a FIW (see below).

And thank you Susan for the usual Tuesday Hahtoolahian hilarity.

Some favs:

14A ECOLI. Pretty common stuff. Our digestive tract is full of it (the good version).

16A ARCH. INCH fit and held me up for quite a while.

21A OPI. My undoing. We've seen this before and all I remember is that it begins with an O. But I think I've got a perfect mnemonic: "OPI of Mayberry", the perfect colour (Hi CanadianEh!) for a Fall nail polish or lipstick.

30A NAKED LUNCH. I read this many years ago. I don't think any further discussion of it would pass the Margaret Farrar test. See AnonymousPVX above for a hint!

56A PEN NAME. Favorite cartoon. Where do you get this stuff?!

61A CASK. In celebration of EAP who is buried in Baltimore, one WBJC's DJs does a dramatic reading of The Cask of Amontillado every All Hallows Eve.

65A TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE. Here are mine in no particular order: "(1) I made my first trip to England at age 2; (2) I'm an Eagle Scout; (3) I was once pretty proficient in a programming language playfully known as 'Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister'".

24D OIL. Favorite picture. I don't think the "Cruet contents" of the clue implied by the fill are OIL and VINEGAR, but rather WATER and WINE, the stuff that I hand to our Mass celebrant at least one or two times each week.

40D ROO. Here's another picture of ROO, with his Mom KANGA.

Cheers,
Bill

Jinx in Norfolk said...

D-Auto, it's a little far to a national chain tire store, so I took it to nearby Daniels Tire Service. They took it in immediately, patched it on the inside, and put it back on the car for me at no extra charge. The place did look like it might host Bluegrass shows on the weekend. The few folks who came in while he was working on my flat had farm implement wheels that needed new inner tubes. By the time I left I was humming those classic Kenny Rogers lyrics "you picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel."

Phil - Do you have to turn down Burnt Store Road to get to your condo? A pal's parents have a condo and a boat down that way. Hope your place gets no more than a glancing blow.

Two truths and a lie:
I won first place in a regional science fair
I have ridden in a steam locomotive and a diesel-electric locomotive
I liked today's puzzle

desper-otto said...

Waseeley, I'd guess #2 is the lie. Jinx, I think it's #3.

Misty said...

Delightful Tuesday puzzle, many thanks, Christina. And always enjoy your commentary and pictures, thanks for those too, Hahtoolah.

Yes, it was really SO SAD when ALAN lost every PENNY while betting on a GAME of DOMINOS. He than had to try to MOOCH some money but wasn't very successful and ended up getting a job cleaning the LOO at the gambling casino.

The girl who had a job making LUNCH at the casino decided she would ACT COOL and try to get a new job. She had some talent doing art with a CRAYON, so she took on a new PEN NAME and started painting beautiful and polite pictures of NAKED figures which became a MUST SEE in her town and gave her life a whole new NOTE.

Well, enough WHITE NOISE this early in the day. Have a good one, everybody.

YooperPhil said...

Jinx ~ I’m usually coming from the north on I75 or US41 and exit just south of the Peace River…Burnt Store Road cuts off of 41 a little south of there and goes to Cape Coral

waseeley said...

D-O @1:32 PM Busted!

Jayce said...

I didn't dislike this puzzle; I felt it was just OKAY. I got stuck and had to look up NAKED LUNCH, which enabled me to finish the solve. I had never heard of, much less played, TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE, but it is something I learned today that I am likely to actually remember. OPI, however, as desper-otto said, is the sort of answer that I can forget before lunchtime. I thought the same thing that Jinx said about black eyeliner; I thought of Goth too. That it is a symbol of EMO is another factoid I will forget by next week. Hand up for guessing wrong on the crossing of O-I and PEE- IN; ORI and PEER IN seemed totally fine to me. Does ALOE come in a GEL? I thought it came as a cream or lotion. I really dislike how the news media somehow invented the acronym SOTU and it stuck; it is the State of the Union ADDRESS that the President delivers to Congress, purportedly to bring them up to date on the state of the Union.

Good wishes to you all.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Two hours in the dentist chair offset by three hours on the golf course and Christina’s puzzle.
-A scent that triggers a memory – A box of CRAYONS!
-That 60’s DOMINO theory in SE Asia proved to be untrue and cost many lives
-I doubt many modern teens have ever seen a record player in use
-The drive on I-90 from Rapid City to Sioux Falls is the most boring hours I’ve ever spent
-EZ-PASS makes great sense in that those that use the road pay for it
-TWO and ONE (in no particular order) – 1) Joann and I had lunch with C.C. and Boomer. 2) I have been in NASA’s KC-135 and got to be weightless. 3) I have had over 15,000 students in my career.

Ol' Man Keith said...

I would know Hahtoolah's work anywhere! Brilliant choice of illustrations.

Loved Dr. Zeuss! Among others...

Good thing that IM PEI Rock 'n Roll HoF does not look ONLY like a record player. Talk about things that change during a single lifetime...!
I guess nowadays it just needs to resemble ear buds. That could apply to just about any small section of the whole structure.

Between the NY Times XWD and this one, OPI nail polish seems to appear in every other crossword these days.

I figured it out, but I never heard of TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE. Back in my day, our popular party game was "Murder."*
Oh, we were content with such simple stuff.
~ OMK
_____________
*P.S.
To play "Murder," you needed at least a two-story house. Everybody drew lots, one drew the "M"--to be the Murderer--and one got the "D"--to be the Detective. One room downstairs was designated off limits, and the Detective had to stay there.
All the lights were turned out, and people had to roam anywhere outside the Detective's room.
In the pitch dark, the Murderer would "kill" you by placing his/her hands around your throat. If you felt that, you were to slump to the floor and stay there. You were no longer allowed to speak or move.
As the game progressed more people would be "killed." Sooner or later, a living person would stumble across a body. Unless they were killed immediately, they were to shout, "I found a body!"
The lights would be turned back on, and everyone would gather in the Detective's room. The "bodies" could move to the room too after the Detective came to the scene of their "death," inspected it, and released them. They still could not speak.

When everyone was gathered, the Detective would ask questions to ascertain who was last seen in the dark near the dead folk, and any other information he/she deemed of value. Everyone had to answer truthfully EXCEPT for the Murderer.
The Detective would be allowed 3 (or more, depending on the size of the group) accusations to ID the Murderer.
The Murder would win if (a) he killed everybody!), or (b) he escaped being ID'd by the Detective.
The Detective would win if he ID'd the Murderer.

These rules entered here for historical purposes. It is how old folks used to entertain themselves before video games.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

HG - I used to be dead-set against tolls until the wide deployment of cashless payments. I remember driving around Chicagoland, and spent more time in line (that's "on line" for our Cornerites living in the Northeast) than I spent driving. I'm all-in for the systems that don't even require you to slow down. In Virginia and Florida (and probably most others), the systems even sense when I am in just my car or motor home, or in the motor home towing my car, and charge accordingly.

When I worked in Venezuela they had tolls on some of their very rural roads. The toll was insignificant, and I asked my driver about it. He said that the tolls just about equal the toll collectors' pay, and that provides jobs for a few folks and keeps them off government support.

The SOTU doesn't have to be a made-for-TV sport. A simple memo from CIC would meet constitutional requirements. However, if you find yourself between a DC politician and a TV camera, run for your life.

Ol' Man Keith said...

I just noticed another aspect of the game "Murder," one that truly dates it.

All the game's "killings" are caused by a simulation of manual strangulation. Not a single gunshot!
And the "deaths" take place one by one.
No high capacity clips or magazines. Terribly old fashioned.

But guns would have ruined the game. Too damn noisy. Right?!
Mass shooters make a LOT of Noise. They get a lot of attention.

Our way was relatively quiet, so the "Murderer" might pull off a number of scores in the dark--before others even knew he/she had struck.
~ OMK

Irish Miss said...

YooperPhil @ 9:14 ~ Cheers to you, too! I enjoyed two Bloody Marys today.

To join in the truth/lie fun:

1) I was kicked out of the Girl Scouts.
2) My favorite long-ago movie star is Gregory Peck.
3) I won a trifecta at Saratoga.

Jayce said...

Keith, that Murder game sounds like fun.

Wilbur Charles said...

Yooper, I was down in Beverly Hills earlier today. Looks like the storm is making landfall near Naples. Tinbeni lucks out again

IM, #2 is false, I know you're a Cary Grant devotee

WC

waseeley said...

WC @5:32 You're right about the Cary Grant Crush, but now I'm conflicted. How could our dear sweet Irish Miss get kicked out of Girl Scouts?

Ol' Man Keith said...

It was, Jayce, it was.

We played it often, for a time about once a month, when we lived in Richmond VA. We had a convenient 2-storey home (with attic & basement!) on Stuart Ave. in the Fan.
Over time, we learned that the dining room worked best for the Detective's HQ, and the most dangerous places--where you were most likely to be murdered--were the upstairs bathrooms, especially the smaller one with just a shower. The Murderers learned they could hide bodies in the shower stall & gain more time that way for a real "spree."

People would hide out together, of course. It would be fun for the Murderer to gain the confidence of a friend or two, hide out with them, then suddenly turn and "kill" them.

I think the most fun was had by the victims, especially if they knew who had done them in. They could not speak during the interrogations, and had to keep mum when the Detective was on the wrong track.

Good times.
~ OMK

Ol' Man Keith said...

I just binged TED Lasso.
At the end of Season Two, I was shocked to find that Season Three hasn't been released yet!
They left us with a nasty cliffhanger.

C'mon, guys, we need to get cracking.

I have learned something about the appeal of professional soccer, er... football! I see why it does not matter so much that scoring is infrequent. All the real fun is in the fancy footwork with the ball, and psyching out your opponents.
Now I find myself wishing they would show more of the gameplay.
~ OMK

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Hand-up: FIW w/ PEEr-IN | OrI.
Thanks for the puzzle, Christina. I love the theme; Youngest bests her friends with "Grandpa missed his funeral" (his ashes were lost in the mail for a week).

Another LOL expo, Hatoolah. Thanks.

WOs: N/A
ESPs: DIE, DAS,
Fav: GIZMOS is a fun word.

Minnie the MOOCHer [2:58]

No one else think 'fuel rod' at DOMINO's clue?

Buddy and I played the SOTU drinking game; Clinton's speech was so predictable, he got us hammered.

That Murder game sounds like fun.

Jinx - LOL Kenny Rogers 'lyrics'.

HG - you stumped me. You weren't weightless(?)

I hope our FL contingent stay safe.

Cheers, -T

TTP said...


Two Truths and a Lie ?

I won 222 games of Wordle in a row.
I was a male stripper.
I taught Dash T how to code with Python.

Monkey said...

Irish Miss: #1 is the lie

TTP: #1 is the lie.

Husker Gary said...

I was in a raffle to get that KC-135 ride but never got it.

Anonymous said...

Winning is the ONLY thing that matters in sports. Nobody cares about who came in second. Fancy footwork is for the dance floor.

Lucina said...

Two truths and a lie:

!. I was a nun for 14 years.
2. I worked as a stripper.
3. I have visited almost every country in Europe.

PK said...

Lucina, I don't believe you were a stripper.

Michael said...

It's late again, but being on PDT does that to a person.

I can finally claim a CSO!! 60A, except my initial is an E, among other differences.

Two truths and a lie:
1. I was a linguist in the Army.
2. I worked 2½ years at //No Such Agency//.
3. I did the usual 1 year tour in Vietnam.