google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday December 5, 2022 Amie Walker

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Dec 5, 2022

Monday December 5, 2022 Amie Walker

  

Hello Cornerites!

sumdaze here. With heavy hearts and inquisitive minds, we do our best to carry on....

From what I can tell, this is Amie Walker's 7th LAT puzzle byline in 2022. She has been published on every day except Saturday. Are you contemplating a Saturday puzzle for us down the road, Amie?

Today's theme is        All in the Fam.

Sister Sledge (1979)
Are you ready to get moving?

The reveal is located in the middle of the puzzle:
36 Across.  Instantly recognizable brand, and what can literally be found in this puzzle's circles?: HOUSEHOLD NAME.  a person or thing that is well known by the public.

The 'names' of people living in the household are found in the circles:  SIS, MOM, BRO, DAD. Everyone's here so let's get started!

Across:
1. Insults, with "down": PUTS.  At first I thought it should be "put downs" but then I realized that "insults" is being used as a verb. (He insults his co-worker. / He PUTS down his co-worker.)

5. Swaps: TRADES.  Helpful travel hint:  Wait for the cabin doors to be closed before agreeing to swap seats with someone on an airplane.

11. Shiverer's sound: BRR.  

14. Volcano's output: LAVA.  The world's largest, active volcano (and a frequent CW puzzle entry), Mauna Loa on Hawaii's Big Island, is erupting for the first time since 1984.

15. Do another voter survey, e.g.: REPOLL.  no hyphen. I checked.

16. Regret: RUE.
Stewie, a BRO on Family Guy

17. "Sounds reasonable to me": YES I SUPPOSE.

19. French fashion brand monogram: YSL.  Yves Saint Laurent (1936-2008)

20. Barely passing grade: DEE.  "D minus" did not fit.

21. Unprocessed information: RAW DATA.  I like that this crosses with 10D SLEW.

23. Dress with a flared skirt: A-LINE.  Christian Dior (1905-1957) is credited for first coining this term in 1955. more info on A-Line dresses You might also be interested in the 
difference between YSL and Dior.

26. Cyberchats, briefly: IMS.  Instant MessageS

28. "I'm __ human": ONLY.  Aren't we all?

29. Setting for floor-model electronics: DEMO MODE.  Short for "demonstration mode".


31. Waterslides: CHUTES.  and ladders?


33. "Lah-di-__!": DAH. Did you get this one? Well good for you!

34. Commuter's ride-sharing option: VANPOOL.

41. Award recipient: HONOREE.

42. Copy: APE.

44. Six-point completion, informally: TD PASS.  TouchDown PASS (football) NFL TD PASS leaders

47. Core-working fitness device with a wheel: AB ROLLER.

How to Properly Use the AB ROLLER (in case you were wondering...)

50. Light brown shade: ECRU.

51. __-Hulk: superhero played by Tatiana Maslany: SHE.

SHE-Hulk (2022) Official Trailer (1:48 minutes)

52. Sees regularly: DATES.  verb. As opposed to binging on these:
53. Manicurist's design: NAIL ART.


56. Transgression: SIN.

57. Rainbow shape: ARC.  why a rainbow is shaped like an arc

58. Personalized promos: TARGETED ADS.  "A form of online advertising that focuses on the specific traits, interests, and preferences of a consumer."

TARGETED AD for pet adoption
Hi Pat!
64. Surname separator: NEE.

65. Take too far: OVERDO.

Get it? He's starting to look like a pumpkin! Haha!
66. Revise: EDIT.

67. Small bit: TAD.

68. Chime in: PIPE UP.  to say something suddenly.
Lurkers are welcome to PIPE UP in the Comments section below.

69. Refuse to admit: DENY.

Down:
1. Tissue layer: PLY.  I never before connected 2-PLY toilet paper with PLYwood until reading this.


2. Federation in OPEC: UAE.  United Arab Emirates

3. Sports bar screens: TVS.  TeleVisionS

4. Refused: SAID NO.

5. Not false: TRUE.


6. Sales agt.: REP.  "Agt." is abbreviated, so is REPresentative.

7. iPad download: APP.

8. Ways in or out: DOORS.  Also, the name of an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965.

The Doors, Light My Fire, Live in Europe 1968

9. Anna's "Frozen" sister: ELSA.

Elsa (left) and Anna

10. Whole bunch: SLEW.

11. Lane __: plus-size clothing chain: BRYANT.  According to Wiki, the company began in 1904 with maternity designs and has grown to 448 stores in 46 states. I remember seeing these stores in malls in the '80s and '90s but I have not seen one in a long time.

12. Whip (up), as some snacks: RUSTLE.


13. Pass-the-baton events: RELAYS.  Track & Field

18. "I __ to recall ... ": SEEM.

22. Childbirth attendant: DOULA.
noun
  1. a woman, typically without formal obstetric training, who is employed to provide guidance and support to a pregnant woman during labor.

23. Tally: ADD.  another verb

24. Remini of "Kevin Can Wait": LEAH.  I do not watch this show so I LIU. It turns out "Kevin" is Kevin James. He and Leah also acted together in King of Queens (1998 - 2007).

Leah Remini & Kevin James in King of Queens

25. Texter's modest "I think ... ": IMHO.  IMHumble Opinion, we see this one a lot.

26. State known for potatoes: IDAHO.  Ever wonder if the other IDAHO crops get a little tired of potatoes getting all the attention?

27. Hanukkah candleholder: MENORAH.  In 2022, Hanukkah is Dec. 18 - 26.

30. Bakery appliances: OVENS.

31. Programmer: CODER.  We have a few Cornerites who know a lot about this.

32. Sweetie: HON.  HONey.  Somewhat preferable to that loathsome "bae".

35. Academy trainee: PLEBE.  a newly entered cadet or freshman, especially at a military academy

37. Company for DIY movers: U-HAUL.

38. Scouring pad brand: SOS.  8 Uses for SOS Pads


39. Ice cream drink: MALT. Those little wooden spoons that come with frozen MALTS at ballparks give me the heebee-jeebees if they touch my teeth, sort of like nails on a chalkboard. Anyone else?


40. Fencing sword: ÉPÉE .  We see ÉPÉE a lot in CWs but there are 3 fencing blades used in Olympic fencing -- the foil, sabre, and ÉPÉE.  Olympic Fencing

43. Hosp. areas: ERS.  "Hospital" is abbreviated, so is Emergency RoomS.

44. One paying rent to a landlord: TENANT.

Count the ants.

45. Beltway region, briefly: DC AREA.  Traffic is notorious within the DC beltway but it was worse before they replaced the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. They actually held a contest where the winner with the worst commuter story won the privilege of detonating the explosives in 2006.  NPR transcript

DC Area Beltway and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project location

46. Valued (at): PRICED.

48. Dimwitted cartoon dog: ODIE.  Last Monday we had 40D Garfield.
49. Text sent while one's plane is taxiing to the terminal: LANDED.


51. __ throat: STREP.  Foods to Eat & Avoid with Strep Throat

54. Perched on: ATOP.

55. Sitarist Shankar: RAVI.  Are there more well-known clue options for the name RAVI? Not according to this site.

Ravi Shankar at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967

56. Put an end to: STOP.  Not yet -- 5 more to go.

59. Test for M.A. hopefuls: GRE.  Master of Arts is abbreviated, so is Graduate Record Examinations

60. College URL ending: EDU.

61. Fruit drink suffix: ADE.

62. Loud noise: DIN.

63. Pigpen: STY.

Here's the grid:

That's all for today. I look forward to reading your thoughts!


49 comments:

unclefred said...

Ah, marvelous Monday, my CW fave! FIR in 13. I got the theme immediately upon reading 36A, which I read as soon as I had the SIScin the first set of circles. This was a help knowing MOM, DAD, and BRO would follow somewhere in the CW. Only 5 proper names, of which I knew 3, so that helped too. No W/Os. A fun start to the week, thanx AW!

unclefred said...

Rats. I forgot to say thanx to Sumdaze for the wonderfully entertaining write-up. So….thanx, Sumdaze!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Overslept this morning, dreaming about CODing a project. Didn't notice the circles -- yup, there they are. Didn't read the full reveal -- yup, there was more to it. Still, d-o enjoyed this themeless Monday. CHUTES immediately evoked Chutes and Ladders for me, too. Thanx for a Monday romp, Amie. Enjoyed your expo, Sumdaze. (Thanx for 'splainin' that Pumpkin Spice cartoon.)

YSL/DIOR: As every crossword afficionado knows, one has three letters and the other has four. Plus they share no letters in common.

RAVI: Perhaps it could be clued as "OLA" preceder. Not on a Monday, though.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased the for SHE. Don't know much about superheros; never got into that genre (except for Superman). DNK DOULA.

Took me a minute to find peace with "unprocessed information" for RAW DATA. OK, "unsmelted steel" is "iron ore", I guess.

If you have a big commuter group, you may VAN POOL in a Van Hool. Although they are used primarily for intercity bus routes, very high-end RVs are built from them. For folks who want more status than even Prevost-based RVs bring. In either case, expect multi-million price tags.

I love my Toyota Rav IV. Guess I missed the RAV I, Rav II and Rav III.

AB ROLLER? I'll stick with the classics like Thigh Master.

We don't have ERs in our area. They are EDs, emergency departments.

Thanks to Amie for the fun, Monday-easy puzzle, and to Sumdaze for the summary. (See what I did there? At least I avoided the obvious pun with ADD and Sum-daze.)

ATLGranny said...

Nice job, sumdaze, guiding us through this enjoyable Monday puzzle by Amie. Thanks to you both!

I had an easy FIR but with one WO due to thinking of "soda" for my ice cream drink, MALT. Ironic since I would prefer a MALT with its MALTy flavor! Yum!

Plenty of smiles from sumdaze's cartoons to cheer me up this rainy day. It'll be a good time to get some Christmas shopping done instead of cutting greenery for decorating. Keep dry today everyone!

CrossEyedDave said...

FLN,

Anon-T, I knew there had to be a reverse view of your post...

To the breakfast club,
no booze was harmed in the posting of this image...

KS said...

FIR, well it is Monday. Had a brief halt at doula, which I didn't know, but the perps kept me going.

Anonymous said...

Circles (as you may have figured out by now) are a PET peeve of mine, but I managed to finish this in 3:23 today. That may be a personal record.

Read the "childbirth attendant," and thought immediately of "doula," then the next thought was, "oh, how do you spell that?".

Oh joy, circles.

Great job, Sumdaze, especially appreciated your "heavy hearts and inquisitive minds" line. Nice way to verbalize what we're likely all feeling/thinking.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Well, this was a nice, easy-peasy Monday romp with only one w/o, Fail/Seem and one unknown, Ab Roller. The theme was Monday level as were the circles. (Sorry, SS) The low count of pop culture references balanced out the high number of three letter words. I call my sisters Sis when I’m referring to them in conversation with others, but I never call my brother Bro. I think that’s a male to male expression, sort of like Dude.

Thanks, Amie, for getting us off to a nice start to the week and thanks, sumdaze, for a breezy, fun review. Loved the Ten Ant cartoon! You’re a born Blogger!

I can’t believe the mild temps (40’s) we’re having in early December. We have had some nasty rainy and windy days, but every day without snow is a good day, IMO. (Sorry, MalMan!)

Have a great day.

Subgenius said...

As a matter of fact, I often call my brothers “bros” humorously when texting them, but I tend to agree with Ms. Irish Miss that this is not standard vernacular. And I also had trouble remembering “doula” as some others have mentioned. Other than that, it was the usual Monday walk in the park. FIR, so I’m happy.

Wilbur Charles said...

Welcome sumdaze, we will miss Boomer but you will surely be a great addition

I needed all five perps for DOULA and rechecked everyone. I'll have to try it on wordle

Latest crop in this neck of Fla is cotton

IM, we're having a balmy December in Central Fla

Although Admittedly Monday easy I bogged down in a couple of places especially on themes(across). I ignored circles else A BRO LLERS would have been clearer.

Note to self: Use a black pen, I couldn't read my writing

WC

inanehiker said...

This was a fun and fast Monday as usual - Boomer has, like 13D passed the baton, to Sumdaze. We will miss all his puns and wit - and Sumdaze has done a great job taking it up!

My daughter had a DOULA - basically doing the job the husband did in my day after the Lamaze classes- but really fulfilling what the moms and grannies did way back in the day as a labor support person.

PLEBE is the name for first years at USMA and USNA. At USAFA they are called DOOLIES -after Lt. Col Doolittle - the first to lead a bombing raid over Japan in WWII which was previously thought to be impossible given the distance from air bases. On I day (in-processing day) the first years come through Doolittle Hall to begin their journey. Some think it comes from the Greek word doulos for "slave" which is of course not PC so they don't officially use it any more- but of course is still unofficially used. (info from my son the USAFA grad and now instructor there)

Thanks Sumdaze and Amie!

Wilbur Charles said...

My wife, Betsy is a great nephew of the Colonel(later General)

desper-otto said...

Wilbur, your wife is a nephew?

CrossEyedDave said...

Learning moment: doula

Household names?

I dunno,

what would you call the dang thingie?

Money pit?

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-41 HOUSEHOLD NAMES that are now generic terms
-Name the Beachboys song with this lyric, “Well since she PUT me down I've been out doin' in my head”
-I like it when people reply to my IM fairly quickly
-TARGETED ADS – Why is it I seem to see ads for elderly people on the programs I watch?
-REPS for athletes and coaches talk to other teams so the athlete can deny contacting anyone else
-DOULA – “Wait a minute, I need to put in an obscure fill.”
-In October my granddaughter asked me to pick her up at 10:45 am. Since I am a maniac about time I was set to arrive around 10:15. At 10:05, I was still ten minutes away when Emma sent me an IM saying the plane had already LANDED.
-Fun job, sumdaze!

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Sorry...I'm a bad author 🙄

After last week a welcomed simpler than usual Monday. No weird proper names. Str8forward theme, (sorry IM all 4 theme answers are 3 letters)

No inkovers

Another cartoon ODIE from "King Leonardo's Short Subject's" show

"Water slides" flumes? Perpwaited for CHUTES.

🎼"Hey Mr. TALLYman TALLY me banana."🎵

Carpool, yes...but VAN POOL a new term for me but makes sense, (next comes a bus POOL?)

Smote....SLEW
Smites with a gun....CHUTES
Steal cattle...RUSTLE
Recent presidential hair design....OVERDO
Light the bong....PIPEUP. 🥴

SumD...nice write up

HG: everybody knows that's "HELP Me Rhonda" (except IM 😉 )

Have a nice week all

Lucina said...

Hola!

I have to make this quick and go watch my gr-grandson. His mom is napping.

It's a family affair, I see, and I'm surprised that isn't the theme.

MENORAH is appropriate for this time of year.

The Lane BRYANT store at our local Marketplace closed as did its companion store where I could buy pants that fit me and I didn't have to hem them. Luckily I have enough to last me a long time if I don't gain or lose weight. Now there's a challenge!

At the salon I see NAIL ART but am never tempted to try it on myself. Some of the nail techs are talented artists.

I'll be back later. Now I have to go check on the child.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!



Chairman Moe said...

Puzzling thoughts:

FIR in a reasonable time

The theme was pretty straightforward and probably didn't need circles; the reveal gave it away

I agree that BRO is the least common of the four household nicknames to use

sumdaze, I enjoy your recaps. Well done! My favorite comic was the carpool

Enjoy the week ahead

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Ray, I think VAN POOL (and bus pool for that matter) are found in big, congested cities. When I worked in Santa Monica, a group of folks formed a bus pool. One of their group had a CDL, but I'm not sure it was required. They had a meet-up spot in Pomona, and dropped everyone off at the GTE California HQ building where Wilshire Blvd meets the Pacific Ocean. IIRC, the fees for riding adjusted for fuel prices, and had a fixed amount for lease and maintenance reserves. IIRC, the driver rode free but also had to handle the adminstrivia.

My BIL VAN POOLed from suburban Maryland into the capital, first while working for the Smithsonian and later for the EPA, for about 30 years. He grew to like it. I think that group leased their vehicle as well.

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Thanks Amie for a quick Monday puzzle - all my family and me...

Fun expo, sumdaze. I see you have the same song on your mind.
I'll echo SpeedySolver re: perfect opening of 'heavy hearts and...'
I enjoyed the NPR Washington bridge story - thx.

WOs: TRADEd, cArPOOL, lease->TENANT, MiNorah->MiRnorah (car pool)->MENORAH
ESPs: LEAH
Fav: PIPE UP. A fun idiom.

DOULA - I was confused it with Dolma (stuffed grape leaves) for a second.

RAW DATA is nothing a CODER can't deal with in short order; at least in DEMO MODE.

VAN POOL - did that for 9 weeks going from Sugar Land to an office in the Woodlands. Getting on a METRO-vehicle with folks at 5:30am is not my cup of tea. //there really are cheerful people at that ungodly hour.

I love a MALT. I even have a can of Carnation malt in the pantry for sprinkling over vanilla-bean ice cream.

HG - I'm sure she 'just LANDED' but we both know that's wheels-down / phone-on isn't the same as getting to baggage-claim. You probably had a good 20 minute buffer.

Ray-O: I've never heard of that ODIE. Thank you.

NAIL ART - Lucina, Youngest is into HOLO TACO polish. She did "Starry Night" on her nails one evening while studying(?)

C.Moe - Bro, do you read me calling out my (CEO) and (Army) Bros? :-)

Cheers, -T

Monkey said...

Fun, easy, puzzle, great recap. Nice way to start the week.

Many years ago the dean of my college showed up with black eyes one morning. He told us he had an accident using an AB ROLLER. We bought his story.

Lucina said...

AnonT
That's very pretty for the young but I prefer plain red or clear. For many years I had mine painted red but recently I changed to clear on my hands and red on my toe nails. For the holidays I might have them red.

C.C., my heart is breaking for you and especially for Boomer. I remember by late DH's last days. It was devastating.

waseeley said...

Thank you Amie for a fun puzzle and the reminder that we all come from a family of some sort. Mine was in descending order by age: DAD, MOM, MOI, SIS1, SIS2, SIS3, & SIS4 (alas no BRO).

And thank you sumdaze for another stellar review. You have certainly hit the ground running.

Some favorites:

34A VAN POOL. Best cartoon.

47A AB ROLLER. Never 'eard a one. My "ABS" would probably ROLL the ROLLER.

56A SIN. Today's trigonometry lesson: "The wages of SINE are ... equal to the ratio of the side opposite a given angle (in a right triangle) to the hypotenuse." Oops, that's probably not going to fly with the guy upstairs!

57A ARC. NEATO explanation of the physics of rainbows.

65A OVERDO. A DAD cartoon?

8D DOORS. The band's name was a riff Aldous Huxley's Doors of Perception (ways in and out of the soul). The book recounted his experiences with psychedelic drugs, which he used on and off up until the hour of his death.

22D DOULA. While DOULA's don't deliver babies (e.g.a would a mid-wife), they are certified professionals.

26D IDAHO. Who knew?

31D CODER. This term implies a division of labor that one rarely sees in the IT field, e.g. a SYSTEMS ANALYST develops a rigorous definition of the problem to be solved and provides SPECS to a CODER who translates it into a computer PROGRAM. The roles of ANALYST and CODER are more often combined as a PROGRAMMER ANALYST. Hand geeks if you've ever seen an ad for a CODER?

45D DC AREA. I used to work for the GUMMINT in the DC AREA and commuted from my home west of BALTIMORE. In order to beat the traffic of the double ring roads I had to leave at 5 AM each day. Somewhere along the path, something always went wrong.

55D RAVI. I used to work with a young janitor named RAVI at the Census Bureau and will never forget him. He was wise beyond his years.

Cheers,
Bill

-T @11:48 AM I think the cartoon character was from King Leonardo and His Short Subjects - ODIE COLOGNE was a riff on "Eau de Cologne"

sumdaze said...

Anon@7:52. I see what you did there with PET. Good one! Also, I had the same thoughts with DOULA.

CED. Nice twist on HOUSEHOLD NAMEs. In one of David Sedaris' books (I cannot remember which one), he tells the story of how he came to name his beach house "The Sea Section".

I also like H-G's @9:20 HOUSEHOLD NAME link. I would have thought Kleenex would have made the top 5. Bubble Wrap at #2. The Good Job Brain podcast #242 on 11/1/22 has a really interesting piece on BW. Great story about invented for one thing (cooky wallpaper) but found a better use as another thing (shipping the IBM 1401).

AnnonT@11:48. You were writing about commuting last week so you were on my mind with that bridge link. Glad you liked it.

inanehiker @8:51. Thanks for sharing about PLEBEs & Doolies. I used to live in Colo Springs. The ASAFA chapel is gorgeous! I visited it one last time before they closed it for restorations but haven't seen it since. Have you?

FLN: Lucina, that's a lot of tamales!! Your family & friends are so lucky to share those with you! My step-mom used to send me home with some plus directions on how to steam them to warm them up. I never told her I was too impatient and zapped them in the microwave as soon as I got home!

inanehiker said...

Actually Bill it isn't required to be certified to be a DOULA in most states - and if they are, it usually entails some kind of on-line course and then attending a certain number of births (like 5-10) - so pretty easy to get "certified". Similar to people saying they are "certified" life coaches, lifestyle coaches, health coaches, ___fill in the blank___ coaches A person should look into how they are certified to decide how much weight to give to it.
It drives friends of mine who are certified nutritionists (requires a bachelor's and a master's degrees) when some of these lifestyle coaches act like they are nutritionists.
Vent over :)

inanehiker said...

Sumdaze - it's still under renovations and will be for a few years - makes it hard for those grads who want to get married in the chapel- better find an alternative unless they want to get married in 2025or 26.

Husker Gary said...

Tony – I got to the airport and picked up Emma standing on the sidewalk in front of the Delta sign at 10;30. The plane was not scheduled to land until 10:45. I don’t know what happened as I expected sit in the cell phone parking lot until at least from 10:20 to 10:45 when I expected a call. Oh well, life is what happens while you are making other plans.

desper-otto said...

Sumdaze, our little town has a street named Caesars Circle. We refer to it as the Caesarian section. What is that first A in ASAFA? Or was that a typo? I thought it was the U.S. Air Force Academy.

sumdaze said...

D-Otto @ 1:27. Oops, yes, typo. Should be USAFA. You're correct. Thx.

TTP said...


Not feeling too spiffy today, but thank you Amie and sumdaze.

Lucina, if they are the traditional sized tamales made with corn husks, I could easily eat 6 or 8. I love authentic homemade tamales. I'm sure yours are the best. Please send me a couple dozen and I will confirm.

By the way, were you able to find a better source for quality corn husks for this year's batch ? I know you have been saying that the quality has fallen, with too many tears and too many smaller pieces.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

AnonT ..."King Leonardo and his Short Subjects" and his advisor Odie .afore yer time.

Car/van/bus pools. We have traffic here but it only takes me 12 min. from home garage to hospital parking garage. Will be faster when the new hospital is finished Oct 2023.

USAFA? A character in "the Lion King"? 🦁

Malodorous Manatee said...

Thanks for the great write-up, Sumdaze. It is always nice to see Calvin, even sans Hobbes.

Anonymous said...

Sumdaze, I'm glad you picked-up what I was putting down with "pet." Also, I, too, remember enjoying reading the "Sea Section" story in whichever David Sedaris book it is.

Big Easy said...

With SIS, MOM, BRO, AND DAD(S) in circles the HOUSEHOLD NAME(S) were obvious. But for a Monday puzzle I found some easily guessable words that were new to me. SHE-Hulk, NAIL ART, and AB ROLLER. I had one of those rollers over 50 years ago but just called it a "wheel". It works your core but the toughest part is holding onto the thin handles. My current gym has one with four wheels that you can rest your entire forearm using it. Easier for us old guys.

DOULA and LEAH were unknowns filled by perps.

Gary's list- I'm surprised SHEETROCK didn't make the list. Never heard of 'Fluffernutter'.Scotch Tape was originally TM and patented as Cellophane Tape, which fell into generic use. 3M (Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing) lost a suit on that and renamed it Scotch Brand Cellophane Tape.

WHAM-O's Frisbee, Slip'N Slide, and Hula-Hoop. A friend's father was the Wham-O representative when Hula-Hoop came out. They got rich but there were so many fakes out there that Wham-o couldn't get around to suing all of them before the fad ended.

Anonymous T said...

HG - and God/The Universe laughs at our plans. //good tail-wind?

waseeley - Jim Morrison seemed like a tortured soul... he had to Break on Through to the other side... //I've never tried psychedelics but I'm curious
re: CODERS - I'm more of a hack than a SYSTEMS guy. See a problem, known input and wanted output? I'll put it together in a few hours
and then TTP (or my buddy DJ) would say - 'no one will understand how to use that CLI tool. Make it human compatible.' Three more days will pass ;-)

Inanehiker - yes, there are some 'titles' that people spend less than two months to 'earn.' We get a lot of that in CyberSecurity too :-(

sumdaze - another David Sedaris fan? I'm starting to like you even more!

BigE - same thing with 'flying disks.' WHAM-O made some great toys but now every disk is a Frisbee. //I have a bunch for Frisbee golf :-)

TTP - you ain't wrong on Lucina's tamales. Maybe we could split a dozen verde ones. Hope you get back to 100% soon. //you had the spammers on the run the other night!

MManatee - I've told this story before...
I left the CS lab late to catch-up with DW & her ENG PhD candidate friends at The Library (a bar just off campus). DW & pals were discussing their 'guilty pleasure' [romance novels mostly] readings.

When it got around to DW, she confessed she was reading Calvin & Hobbes.
Her mates thought "Deep BRO, deep" and never caught on that DW was reading my comic books :-)

Cheers, -T

Jayce said...

I liked this smooth puzzle and all your comments.

oc4beach said...


Really nice puzzle and I loved SumDaze's write-up.

Sometimes I call my only sibling SIS, but there are no BRO's.

I used to have to negotiate NYC traffic and then I moved to the DC area, thinking traffic would be better. HA! No way! And it got worse each year. For a while I carpooled 50+ miles one way with a friend from near Annapolis, around or through DC to near Dulles airport. Two hours on a good day, one way. The good thing about the carpool was getting to sleep every other day. I'm retired now and don't live in the DC area, so I don't have to deal with it anymore.

I hope everybody had a great day.

Malodorous Manatee said...

Good for DW (and you,too), -T. The Bill Waterson story is one exhibiting substance and principle.

Wilbur Charles said...

D-Otto, duh, I asked her later. She's a first cousin thrice removed. Her grandfather Doolittle was a cousin.

"Help me Rhonda" circa 1965 but I know I'm way late

Aldous even got Bill Wilson* to experiment with LSD for that "Spritual Experience"

There's also the Business Analyst. Programmers often wear all three hats

"she was reading Calvin & Hobbes." Took me a second then a loud chuckle. Then again, who would read Calvin wiki I never knew anything about Calvin.

WC

* Co-founder of AA

CanadianEh! said...

Marvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Amie and sumdaze.
I FIRed and saw ALL IN THE FAMILY.
One inkblot in the middle to change Cadet to PLEBE.
Any unknown names perped.

I noted TD PASS crossing DC AREA , IMHO and IDAHO.

I am familiar with the term DOULA. There are Death DOULAS also.

Wishing you all a good evening.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thanks, Amie, for a fun & fast puzzle. Thanks, Sumdaze, for taking up the torch & lighting our way with humor.

Never heard of an AB ROLLER and think it is probably too late for my ABs.

Strange experience today. I ordered my groceries to be delivered. Store usually texts me when the shopper starts picking up my requests. Takes about 45 minutes from start to delivery to my door. Today no one showed up by two hours after I was notified she was shopping. I managed to get someone to answer my texts & they said they had a "customer care issue" which had delayed the order -- whatever that meant. I expressed concern over my frozen foods melting & they said they'd put the ice cream back in the freezer. Another hour went by and I got a telephone call from a shopper who has been to my house a number of times and we visit while she is here. She was starting to do my shopping. I told her someone had already been doing it & asked her to make sure I didn't get billed twice. She looked into things. Apparently the 1st shopper filled part of my order, left the cart at the checkout stand, and disappeared. No one knows why. I didn't get double billed and now can eat for another couple of weeks. Unnerved me. I hate being dependent.

Lucina said...

What a birthday gift today! My granddaughter drove my car to the local Circle K store and was involved in an accident. She is in the hospital and my car is out of commission! Apparently she hit her head and split her lips and tongue enough to require surgery. I haven't seen her but her mother and step-dad went to be with her. Aye! Aye! Aye! Karma will have its revenge but for what reason I don't know.

Monkey said...

Lucina: I’m so sorry about your grand daughter and your car. That’s not karma, just an unfortunate accident. Hope she’s not in too much pain.

What’s with Calvin and Hobbs? My 8year old grandnephew is crazy about those books. He and his mother read them together?

I know nothing about them.

sumdaze said...

PK @ 7:35pm. Your last sentence says it all. I hear you. Perhaps all's well that ends well. Stay strong!

Lucina @ 7:59pm. I'm so sorry to hear your unfortunate news. I hope everyone & everything heals quickly. Hope it's not too late to say Happy Birthday!

Tante Nique @ 8:20pm. Calvin and Hobbs is the cartoon strip I used for 5D. It ran from 1985 to 1995. I do not think I can put into words how much this strip touched its readers' hearts. Last May I read "Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip" by Nevin Martell. That book would help you start to understand C&H but you would probably understand more from just reading some of the books your grandnephew and his mother enjoy.

Anonymous T said...

Lucina - Please tell me your birthday is tomorrow (12/6) otherwise I missed MOM's!
That’s awful about your car. Hopefully Grand isn't too badly banged up (or afraid to drive - after I got hit I was shaky for a week behind the wheel)

PK - why do I feel you'd do just fine for three weeks out there without any help. Scrappy, as hell, you are.

Tante - You've missed out. Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes is philosophically human through the eyes of a (good-hearted bratty) child and his pet tiger (a stuffed animal only animated to him).

Sumdaze - I was not aware of the C & H book. I just added it to the Amazon cart - hopefully DW clicks "Buy" w/o checking ;-)

If y'll see to much spam tonight a) don't click b) give healing thoughts to TTP.

Cheers, -T

Monkey said...

Sumdaze@9:28. and A-T@10:41: Thank you for the response on C&H. I’ll check that out.

PK said...

Lucina, how awful about your granddaughter and the car. Where was her little boy? Not with her I hope. Is he with you? Hope you can have a happy birthday with the blessing that she is still alive.

Thank you for your kind words, Tony & Sumdaze.

Tante Nique, it is hard to believe that you lived in the USA and never met Calvin & Hobbes during their hey-day and thereafter. But I was watching a game show the other day and the answer was Calvin & Hobbes and the contestant didn't know them. One of my Facebook friends has a C&H cartoon on his page feed every day lately, so I've been re-enjoying them.

TTP: Hang in there and hope you get to feeling better. Thank you for all you do for us and for your interesting posts.

Lucina said...

PK
Thank you. She is in the hospital and will likely stay a day or two. There was concern about her ribs but the x-rays will resolve that question.

Her son was here with me and his dad picked him up earlier today. I had never seen them together and it was obvious from his reaction how much he adores his dad.

I reported the accident to the insurance and will likely have a rental car tomorrow. They are reliable about that.

AnonT: my birthday is tomorrow so you are not late. Eighty-five is arriving with a bang!