google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, January 6, 2023, Geoff Brown

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Jan 6, 2023

Friday, January 6, 2023, Geoff Brown


Well, AH no, SpongeBob, not exactly.  But you are close.  It's not AH and it's not A HAT.  What's missing is simply A.  A what?  Not A what.  Not A anything.  Just A.

Good morning, Cruciverbalists.  Malodorous Manatee here with a Friday puzzle from Geoff Brown.

Let's start with the reveal:

67 Across:  Not quite right, and an apt title for this puzzle?: AMISS.

In this case A (the letter) is MISSing.  It has been removed from a "normal" description in order to create a humorous answer to the (somewhat contrived, out of necessity) situation described in the clue.

Here are the five themed clues and answers:

18 Across:  Deep dive into the statistics of a NY slugger?: META ANALYSIS.  Meta Analysis is a statistical method to combine the results of different studies.  Drop the A and we end up with a reference to a member of the New York Mets baseball team.

23 Across:  Scotch drinker who complains about a small pour?: DRAMA CRITIC.  A Drama Critic reviews stage productions.  Drop the A and we have someone who comments on a shot of whisky (a dram is technically equal to about one eighth of a fluid ounce but most people use the term to refer to a shot of whisky).


"Give The Fiddler A Dram" - Doc Watson



37 Across:  So over meaty spaghetti sauce?: PASTBOLOGNESE.  This one also works as "past a Bolognese".



50 Across:  One who stands in the way of a wager?: BETA BLOCKER.  Beta Blockers are a class of drugs used primarily to treat cardiovascular diseases.  Drop the A and you can no longer have fun on FanDuel or DraftKings.


58 Across:  Flushed condition?: FLORIDA STATE  FLORIDA STATE University is, of course, a well-known university who's main campus is in Tallahassee, FLORIDA.  Drop the A and you'll turn red.







This is how it all appears in the grid (with the A deleted in each case):





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

Across:

1. Peak in the Tour de France: ALP.  Peak as in mountain top not as in reaching the peak of one's level of performance.

4. Nickname for a Carolina team: CANES.  The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team.



9. Air fryer brand: OSTER.
14. Grief: WOE.

15. Leaves out: OMITS.  There are two types of people.  Those who can extrapolate OMITted data using existing data.

16. Fracking target: SHALE.




17. African viper: ASP.



20. Put on another coat: REPAINT.  Not layer up for the cold.

22. Word with square and cube: ROOT.


26. Briny cheese: FETA.  For those interested in the process:  How To Make Feta Cheese

29. "Patience __ virtue": IS A.  Wait a moment.  Haven't we eschewed A?



30. Final bio: OBIT.

32. Texting nicety: THX.  Thanks.

33. Civil War POTUS: ABE.  POTUS in the abbreviation for President of the United States.  ABE is the abbreviated version of Abraham Lincoln.  Often clued with reference to a five dollar bill.

35. Dismal turnout: NO ONE.  Dismal-est?

36. Afore: ERE.  Before.  Works well in palindromes.



41. British term for a vaccination: JAB.  I just realized that Boris Johnson looks a lot like Benny Hill.  It might explain quite a lot.



42. Quick and energetic: BRISK.

43. GPS display: RTERouTE



44. Frosty: ICY.  Aloof.  Distant.  ICY The Snowman?  

45. Take on: HIRE.  A bit of a stretch clue-wise, but it is Friday.

46. __-K: PRE.  Murray The would not fit the allotted space.

48. "The Book of Boba __": FETT.  A Star Wars reference.



55. Flow slowly: OOZE.

57. Jelly Roll Morton genre: RAGTIME.


Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers - 1926



62. Karate level: DAN.  BELT would not fit.  Thanks, perps.

63. Probably will, after "is": APT TO.  Not to be confused with Apt 2.

64. Puzzle: POSER.


65. Fizzle out: DIE.

66. Washed-out: ASHEN.  ASHEN-faced Joe Smith goes to see his doctor.  "Doc" he says, "I have a piece of lettuce coming out of my butt."  The doctor performs an examination and says  "Joe, I have some bad news.  Unfortunately, it's just the tip of the iceberg."

68. Copa Mundial cheer: OLE.  A Spanish lesson for today.  Copa Mundial = World Cup.  The World Cup football (soccer) tournament was recently held in Qatar.


Down:

1. Oscar or Tony: AWARD.  We often see EGOT.




2. Sore __: LOSER.



3. Cartoon piglet with a British accent: PEPPA.



4. Many open mic performers: COMICS.  Other six-letter plurals were also possibilities (e.g. ACTORS, MIMICS, CLOWNS).

5. Egyptian deity: AMEN RA.  Also, AMUN RA.   The god of creation.

6. Tucci's "Road to Perdition" role: NITTI.  Frank NITTI.  Al Capone's first cousin.

7. GPS display: ETA.  GPS is abbreviated ergo so is the answer.  Estimated Time of Arrival

8. Fig. in identity theft: SSN.



9. European capital with more than 340 lakes: OSLO.  We visit the capital city of Norway quite often in our puzzles.

10. Not quite meeting: SHY OF.




11. Market research comparison: TASTE TEST.



12. Pharmaceutical giant __ Lilly: ELI.



13. Hi-__ graphics: RES.  High Resolution.

19. Following a curve: ARCING.



21. French friends: AMIES.  Female (avec le e) friends in this case.

24. Hammer home?: TOOL SET.  Not as in to hammer something home, the idiom for stressing a point of debate.  Literally, where one might keep their hammer.  Alternatively, Stanley Burrell's crib.

25. Old Mac laptop: I BOOK.  First released in 1999.




27. Preakness horse's age: THREE.  The Preakness Stakes comprises one-third of (American) horse racing's "Triple Crown" (with the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes).  Regardless of their actual date of birth, all Thoroughbred racing horses turn 0ne year old on January 1st of the year following their birth.

28. Log chopper: AXE.

31. "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the __ Rings": TEN.




33. Rapidly: APACE.



34. Item left for a certain fairy: BABY TOOTH.  Anyone else here grow up with Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley?



35. Bête __: NOIRE.  Plus de francais although the term has become part of the English lexicon.

38. "Frankly," in texts: TBH.  TBHonest

39. Paid off: BRIBED.  I tried to offer my school's administrator a BRIBE but she was too principled.

40. Not in a slump?: ERECT.  Today's let's pass on the graphic moment.

41. Peanut butter brand: JIF.



46. Dishes: PLATES.

47. "The Gambler" singer: ROGERS.  Kenny Rogers.



49. Patisserie product: TORTE.  Made with lots of eggs and little flour.

51. Luca of "The Godfather": BRASI.




52. Affectionate nickname: KIDDO.



53. Send with a click: EMAIL.  In this case, used as a verb.

54. Soprano Fleming: RENEE.  A fairly easy proper noun to perp.

56. Williamson who was the 2019 #1 NBA draft pick: ZION.  A tougher proper noun to perp.

58. Tower authority: Abbr.: FAA.  As in aircraft control tower.




59. CD precursors: LPS.



60. Après-ski option: SPA.  I have never heard anyone say "Hey, let's hit the SPA" after a day on the slopes.  Anyone go, initially, with BAR?

61. Loki player Hiddleston: TOM.  A tough finish (except that TOM perp'd easily) if you're not into the latest Hollywood/Marvel efforts.





A belated Happy New Year, one and all!

______________________________________________


34 comments:

Subgenius said...

Well, now, that’s more like it! Unlike yesterday’s personal debacle, today’s puzzle flowed both smoothly and fairly. The gimmick was obvious from the first themed fill, and that made the puzzle easier to solve. And any obscure brand names or other references were easily perped. FIR, so I’m happy. (And it feels so good to be able to say my “catch phrase “ again!)

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Wasn't familiar with the phrase METa ANALYSIS -- d-o was looking for a specific player. D'oh. Wondered 'bout the Sugar CANES team; thanx for setting me straight, Mal-Man. That Route 66 Midpoint Cafe showed up in last week's Texas Bucket List TV show. It showed up a year earlier on Texas Country Reporter. The Social Security Card (SSN) is a weird ID. The number is dot-matrix-printed; you shouldn't carry it in your wallet, and if you laminate it, you've invalidated it. Interesting puzzle, Geoff. Very nice expo, Mal-Man.

KS said...

DNF. Taste test escaped me and I did not know Oster or Bolognese, so those squares remained blank.

Anonymous said...

I ccomplished this one in 10:58.

I had toolbox before toolset, which really hampered the midsection (abs?) of this puzzle for me.

It took a while, but I was able to recall the Soprano from other puzzles, and take an educated guess at Tucci's role and the Egyptian deity. Those weren't would I'd call sparkling fill, but overall a good puzzle, and a good Friday-level one at that.

Wilbur Charles said...

I was thinking of PEPee le per added an extra P but kept the final e. I was thinking of McCritic. My FIW line. I thought the Scotch would be a brand name like Dewars

Why did I have a brain drain on the ubiquitous JIF ?

I knew Luca, just not how to spell the last name. Guessed S
ZION can't seem to stay healthy. Tough clue for non NBA types. Very good forward when healthy

Anybody open the "horrible " movie link? I'm surprised Mary Poppins wasn't in it

Where is everybody? Exhaustively from too much rhubarb yesterday? I think people's message is exactly that "too much"(ain't such a good thing). Also…

Re. "Just look it up". No. Why? Psychology. If I allow that option I'll never complete an xword

WC

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased, then stetted HIRE. Also laid the rubber to two for TEN, til for ERE, rte for ETA, short for SHY OF, and tool box for TOOL SET. Is a TOOL SET a place (home)? I think of a SET as being a collection or an assortment, and a kit or box (or -T's peg board for that matter) as being their home.

I noted that the puzzle used an acronym (POTUS) to clue an abbreviation (ABE).

As an NHL fan, CANES came easy. They are my second-favorite team, behind the Capitols and ahead of the Lightning.

the Who would have been certain that Boba's last name was O'Riley.

I used to frequently drive by Kenny ROGERS' Lockheed 731 jet plane at the Van Nuys airport. It was very distinctive due to its four rear mounted engines. I'll bet it got him to his gigs APACE.

FLN - TTP, I'm taking your advice: don't like it, don't do it. That's why I started my "don't bother" list of constructors that I'll skip. There are plenty of fish in the sea (er, crossword puzzles in the cloud) out there.

Thanks to Geoff for the fun challenge. My favorite was "put on another coat" for REPAINT. And thanks to our MalMan for the fun review, and not linking ERECT to an image I can't unsee.

unclefred said...

Rats. FIW in so many places I’m not even gonna list the many errors. I shoulda waited until I had my coffee. Clever CW, GB, actually TOO clever for me. I have several Oster products but didn’t know they make an air fryer. AND I didn’t see the gimmick until MalMan ‘splained it. Tool…. KIT? BAG? BOX? No, SET. Oy. Thanx for the great write-up, MalMan.

unclefred said...

BTW, an interesting item: Peppa Pig, the cartoon character for toddlers, is giving them (the toddlers) British accents!! True!! Parents are finding their toddlers speaking with British accents after watching hours of Peppa Pig!

ATLGranny said...

As has often happened this week, another FIW for me. Today's problem area was my Natick at CANES and NITTI where I guessed P. I didn't know AMEN RA but got lucky there. A worthy Friday puzzle, thanks, Geoff.

Other areas tested me but only WOs resulted: rTe/ETA (RTE used later), onE up/ERECT, and Two/TEN. In general, perps were helpful. Your review cleared up any remaining puzzlements for me MalMan, thanks!

For SHY OF, I kept thinking of "short" at first but it didn't work with the perps. My favorite today is JAB which we certainly have heard a lot the past few years! And we had DAN explained not so long ago. There was nothing AMISS about the theme and I saw it early for a change.

As WC pointed out, we don't have many comments yet. Looking forward to reading them later and yes, "nonymous" @7:41AM, I caught your theme reference!

TTP said...


Good morning. Thank you, Geoff, and thank you, Malodorous Manatee

What a difference a day makes.

I totally ignored the theme when I got to the answer for "Flushed condition." At that point, I needed one letter to finish, and instead of considering the theme, I only considered 60D "Apres-ski option" with -PA. Must be IPA. Sure, I'll have an IPA apres-ski.

No bueno.

We had sketti and meatballs Tuesday evening. A quick and cheap imitation of PASTA BOLOGNESE. Having said that, when you don't have fresh tomatoes and hours of time, Aldi's Simply Nature Tomato and Basil pasta sauce is fine. Not because I think so, but because it's the one she likes.

Last night was my turn. I made shrimp scampi. It barely passed the TASTE TEST. Notes to self: Make sure the shallots aren't too old, you don't use salted butter, and also make sure you have fresh parsley.

Air fryer brand was not Ninja. Our Ninja has an annoyingly loud beep with no user control to turn it down.
It was PRE-K, not ten-k. ROGERS cleared that one up quickly.

I think MM jabbed Boris. Or Benny. But now that he's mentioned it ...

I think I forgot to mention the other day (actually, I failed to comment on the puzzle) when we had galette that she made an apple galette for Christmas desert. Except that she calls it a crostata. She said it's the same thing. Galette is French and crostata is Italian. I call it excellent !

Big Easy said...

A very good puzzle today by Geoff. I caught the missing A at DRAM CRITIC. The north gave me some trouble- had to change RTE to ETA after seeing RTE later, SHORT to SHY OF, but didn't know there was a pro hockey team in the Carolinas. CANES (Miami CANES are in FLORIDa STATE) was all perps and remember that C.C. said she had CANE"S chicken fingers last week.2

DW bought a Ninja air fryer, but OSTER was an easy guess after a few perps.
Tried BOX, then KIT, before TOOL SET
Boba FETT, Tom Hiddleston, PEPPA, DAN, TEN, TBH, and the correct spelling of BRAZI were unknowns today.

Anybody remember Kenny ROGERS Roasted Chicken restaurants? Went the way of ROY Rogers Roast Beef.

ZION Williamson plays for the New Orleans Pelicans, who were the New Orleans Hornets, who were the Carolina Hornets when they left Charlotte. He's a great player but keeps getting hurt. He hurt him hamstring this past week and will be out for a couple of weeks.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

FIR ... What a relief after yesterday's struggle.🤨. More beginning-of-the-weekish level and no Inkovers.

Liked the A Minus theme. (A good grade.)

ELI Lily pharmaceuticals was founded back in 1870's. Their original products musta been herbs and leeches..😁

BOLOGNESE sauce is not simply "meaty". traditionally thicker, creamier, milk is one of the ingredients, less tomato Also carrots and celery....When I was a student at UNIBO, getting together with university friends, someone would often throw together a Bolognese sauce with tagliatelle, Few bottles of Lambrusco...ahhh. Those were the daze.

Many/most "bios" come after the OBIT. PEPPA and her family are part of an English hybrid porcine variety with both eyes strangely on the same side of the head.

Favorite: "hammer home" for TOOL SET.

Egyptian deli sangwidge: AMEN RA
____ you're "here" in Paris....ICY
Ah's go-with.....OOZE.
Which ALP is ____ HIRE

TGIF 😮

waseeley said...

Thanks GEOFF for coming in as RELIEVER after yesterday's blowout. And thanks for the Friday FIR. I even got the PHEME for a change.

Thanks MalMan for your METiculous META ANALYSIS. Leaving the MISSING As out of the grid was a masterstroke.

FAV: TASTE TEST. Great pic MM, although our testers had a tendency to drool.

Cheers,
Bill

unclefred @8:15 AM And that's a good thing right? 🙄

FLN

As promised, here's the answer to clue 13D in the David Alfred Bywaters' "Happy New Year" puzzle that I linked yesterday: "Creators of extremely difficult puzzles: SADISTS. This may be self-referential tongue in cheek as some of DABs puzzles are not exactly walks in the park. I'm not sure if he has actually been accused of this, but as editor/constructor of his own puzzle he had the prerogative of using this jocular clue to make fun of himself.

Monkey said...

Nice theme. I got it pretty quickly. Didn’t finish however since I didn’t know CANES and NITTI. I was misled by 49 down thinking a French word was needed so I hung on to TaRTE a long time. Lots of smart clues like put on another coat and hammer home, to name a few.

A week ago i bought an air fryer, a very compact, quiet one made by Dash. So far so good.

Another lovely day.

Garner said...

FIW - Another missed by one letter day..
I had that “Patience” black light poster in my room growing up. It went up around ‘68-‘69 and I had forgotten about it until now, so thanks for the memories!

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Nope - I blew it at CorES (CANES). No excuses, I just didn't know 4a, 5d (oh, wait - I've heard that), & 6d.

Nevertheless, a very fun Friday POSER, Geoff. I almost filled A-less but AMISS is more cute.

MManatee - what an entertaining expo. Loved The Gambler (Kenny is another exception to my no-TWANG rule)

WO: RTE @7d
ESPs: Needed them everywhere!
Tiny-Cheat: I had to lookup spelling of BOLOGNESE. I knew the word (and I just call it sauce) but... //and it gave me some needed perps. ///Great story Ray-O.
Fav: I'm going to go w/ the theme - a really well executed 'drop A letter'

SHALE / Fracking - NO ONE has dis'd it yet(?). When done properly (and the company I work for strives for environmentally-friendly(ish) fracking) it's good for getting extra hydrocarbons out of the ground. The engineering (and directional drilling 2miles down) is an amazing feat and! provides energy as we move from coal. Picard had a great article on it [can't find the link] a while ago.

Unclefred - I've heard about that phenomenon of PEPPA toddlers speaking with a British accent. I wonder what my excuse is for "maths" and adding the occasional U to words? - Douglas Adams? Terry Pratchett? Monty Python?
//TTP (I almost had TEN-K too) called me out in last week's expo 'cuz I wrote programme -- told you he was Best Editor Ever! //we should create an AWARD.

I'm not sure who's smarter or more UN-PC; Benny Hill or Boris Johnson? //can we do Brit politics here? :-)

Jinx - Pegboard was my 1st thought too (no, I don't outline in Sharpie - I just know where it go). Teenage Wasteland [they're all wasted] [Baba O'Riley]

Y'all have a wonderful afternoon. I'm going to nap before Pho with Eldest for lunch.

Cheers, -T

Lucina said...

Hola!

No time to read you all. Nail appt. shortly.

I just want to say that I barely finished the puzzle with many errors starting with DRAMA CRITIC which of course ruined the whole top/center.

The only themers I had complete are BETBLOCKER and FLORIDSTATE.

I hope you all did better.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Anonymous said...

FIR (because I solve online) but had a Natick at the CANES/NITTI crossing. Still don’t get WHY anyone would clue CANES as a nickname when it’s crossing *another* name.

Anonymous said...

Touché "TLGranny".

I ppreciate you.

CrossEyedDave said...

Well, todays puzzle was a pleasure compared to yesterdays, and the comments much more measured, with the possible exception of comparing hair do's of Benny Hill and Boris Johnson. I am sure poor Benny is turning over in his grave, he was always so well coiffed..

Note:
If you don't read the late nights comments, you will miss TTP's @ 5:36am. And when I went to check the posting time at 1pm today, two more posts had been added!

I always learn a lot here, and I try to keep it light hearted, but when I compare todays fun puzzle with yesterdays slog, I cannot help but feel that the constructors and editor took shortcuts...

In response to B. andrews post yesterday @ 4:00pm I will try to me more constructive in my criticisms, or say nothing at all...

Yellowrocks said...

Unlike others, I found Friday's puzzle easier than today's POSER. I had only one bad cell then. Today I was really lost. I gave up and looked up a bunch of answers. I usually look for a missing or added letter on Fridays, but didn't catch on today.
I was kind of brain dead after spending an hour or two solving a printer connectivity problem. Internet access here is off and on in the AM. I fouls up my router and my printer. Even when the internet becomes steady it leaves problems. The usual solution didn't work and I had to scramble around. Success, in the end.
In retrospect this puzzle should not have been impossible for me.Duh!
Bête noire is in the English lexicon, and olé is "in the American lexicon, used to express approval, triumph, joy, etc., as at a bullfight or in flamenco dancing." Many words that we complain about as foreign have actually been adopted by American and/or British English. I hear lots of them in every day speech.
I believe that JAB is not especially British. We hear it here all the time.
I kept reading VACATION instead of VACCINATION. How is a jab a vacation?
One of my downsizing regrets is giving up my air fryer and most of my other appliances. My kitchen shelves and counters have much less space than I was used to.
I didn't post yesterday. In the morning I attended one of Alan's appointments with a doctor to get info from "the horse's mouth," so to speak, more accurate than the summary from his counsellors. In the PM I spent more than three hours taking a friend to therapy and waiting to take him home. The day was shot.
Today is Little Christmas, Three Kings Day. The Feast of the Epiphany. I took down the decorations from the hall tree here and a neighbor will help me box them up. Next week David will come to help me put away the ones in my apartment.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-One natick for me at C_NES/_MEN RA. I put in the correct “A” and did some learning. The senior boys I have in class today did know of that Carolina hockey team
-Recently I posted, “Suppose they gave a war and NO ONE came.”
-I wonder why Lipton advertised their tea as being BRISK
-That RTE 66 carried a lot of Okies to California during the dirty 30’s
-I also learned DAN in this venue
-Be careful when you tell someone TBH with you. They might do just that.
-I called a colleague KIDDO once and rather than tell me she wished I wouldn’t do that, she just became belligerent with me. I went in and faced her and we had a nice talk.
-YR, Sunday I spent two hours trying to figure out why I could get a picture but no sound on my TV from my fiber cable box. I called for IT help and after two minutes the guy said, “Try another HDMI cable for connection.” I did and, voila, I was good to go.

Misty said...

Fun Friday toughie but still enjoyable, many thanks, Geoff. And always enjoy your helpful commentary, MalMan, thanks for that too.

That fellow working on a tough weekend puzzle was full of WOE and felt like a LOSER. Having gone AMISS in so many places, he sent out an E-MAIL, hoping he could HIRE a DRAMA CRITIC, even if he'd have to BRIBE him on occasion. But if the guy was not SHY OF helping and APT TO give him a BRISK ANALYSIS or even a TASTE TEST to help him get the answers in a JIFfy, he would see if he could help Tony get an AWARD and a TORTE and a visit to the SPA.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Big Easy said...

Yellowrocks- I had all kinds of problems with my wireless printer due to ATT's modem, Off and on. I solve it by getting a cable.

Gary- you can also hook up the HDMI cable to other ports. I have to do that occasionally. Electronics either work or they don't. I've given up on trying to figure it out.

Easier to switch than fight it, unlike the old Viceroy cigarette commercials.

TTP said...


Gary, I had a similar "Picture No Sound" issue a while back. But only on certain channels. Some were fine.

I had to do a SAP Audio Reset on the cable box, and I guess it defaulted back to English on those channels.

oc4beach said...


Big Easy @ 8:53: Roy Rogers restaurants still exist, although to a much smaller degree than they were before they were bought out by Hardees and mostly changed to Hardees or closed down. There are about 40 Roy Rogers restaurants still in operation in Maryland, West Virginia and along some turnpikes in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states. I still think they were the best fast food place. I always stop at Roy Rogers and get a great roast beef sandwich when I travel through Maryland.

Picard said...

Glad so many found today easy. I found it almost impossible. Had CAPES because I know there are lots of CAPES in the Carolinas. Absolutely no way to get that cross with xITTI unless you know these obscure proper names.

I have never heard POSER used that way. Just to mean one who pretends to be something else. Crossed with unknowns TOM, BRASI and ROGERS seemed unfair. I did enjoy the AMISS theme and got all of those.

AnonT Thank you for the shout out regarding FRACKING. But I never wrote anything positive about it. Some have made the point that FRACKING allows access to natural gas that can replace coal. But natural gas turns out to be about as bad as coal for climate impacts, because the natural gas distribution system is so leaky.

People seem to treat the Climate Crisis as some kind of joke or game or political football. We really are running out of time to avoid unprecedented catastrophe. The catastrophe may not happen for decades. But the opportunity to avoid disaster is urgently now. Natural systems on a global scale have unimaginably huge inertia. Think of a ship headed toward an iceberg. But scaled up billions of times.

Jayce said...

Now this was a crossword puzzle that I liked quite a bit. Most of the answers were gettable through logical thinking, using the ole noodle, as opposed to answers that you either know or don't and have no way to figure them out. Even that N crossing CANES and NITTI could be deduced, based on what made the most sense as an Italian name, even though one might not know that sports team or might not have seen the movie.

In response to those of you who have been saying things to the effect of "Quit complaining. Learn from it." I hereby AVER that when I tell y'all what I don't like about a puzzle, or even no more than that I didn't like it, I am not complaining. I am not refusing to take advantage of it as a learning experience. I am simply stating what I did or didn't like. No more, no less. If I say I don't like, for example, the Honda Civic or the Kia Soul, it does not mean I am complaining or think they are bad cars or that the manufacturers need to change their ways.

Take care, all.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Picard, climate alarmists are their own worst enemies. I'm old enough to remember when the emergency de jour was global cooling. Then it changed to global warming. Climate champion Al Gore said in 2009 that there was a 75% chance that ice in the Arctic could be gone during at least some summer months within five to seven years.

In 1972, the UN’s environmental protection boss (Mostafa K. Tolba) declared “We have ten years to stop the catastrophe." Unbowed by that failure, he followed up in 1990, declaring "We shall win — or lose — the climate struggle in the first years of the 1990s.” Guess it's too late now? But the UN wasn't done. In 2007, Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN climate panel, said, “If there is no action before 2012, that’s too late”.

I don't think there is any doubt that climate change is happening. I think there is doubt about the magnitude, timing, and the impact man can have on it.

TokenCreek said...

JINX : You nailed it !!

Ol' Man Keith said...

Wishing ALL a delightful TWELFTH NIGHT!

My favorite holiday--the climax of the Christmas Season.
Each home needs to choose a "Lord (or Lady) of Misrule"! To lead the revels, burn the Yule Log, and sing the last carols....

"Trip no further, pretty sweeting.
Journeys end in lovers' meeting!"
~ OMK

Lucina said...

Someone in my neighborhood is burning a log, whether it's a YULE log or other I don't know but the aroma is drifting and smells nice.

As has been said many times, with proper names if they are not workable then either you know them or you don't. Luckily most of the time the surrounding fill helps and sometimes it's just a lucky guess for me. If it's a movie I've never seen or a book I haven't read, I try to work around it.

Tomorrow I may or may not finish the puzzle. In the morning I have to cook my corn casserole to take. The gifts are wrapped and later I have to stop at my daughter's house on the way to drop off a couple of late arrivals for them. It's going to be a busy day.

Anonymous T said...

Picard - you had a well reasoned article on energy and (maybe I recall incorrectly) was fair on fracking.
Jinx - Pop said the same thing re: '70s global cooling. I vaguely remember that (I was, after all only 7yrs) but it seems kinda like a talking point. The planet will be fine until the Sol goes white-dwarf - in the meanwhile, humans are screwed but that's our own doing.

Lucina - I can almost smell your kitchen.

Eldest & I ended up doing Thai for lunch. New joint (in a strip mall next to a used-book store [I think Eldest played me :-)]). I told the lady: "Surprise me." When she came back to ask about the food, I was honest... "Pretty dang spicy for a white-boy." It was really good.

Speaking of Eldest - she just had her 1st catch in trapeze. Yes, this is the same kid working a PhD at GM in VA. I can't be more proud.

Cheers, -T

Wilbur Charles said...

Re. Usage of POSER...(apparently I posted this awhile back)

Old WHDH "Limerick" contest circa
1974

From Id they came
Of cartoon fame
The Wizard and the Jester

Playing a riddle game
That had no name
The Wizard POSED this tester

On Charlesbank dine
With choice of fine wine
Pick of salads galore

The roast beef so tender
Good service they render
All this midst exquisite decor

Got it said the SOT*
With scarcely a thought
Rib Room, Hotel Sonesta

*I think "Sot" was a XW Word the day I posted

WC

Excuse is yesterday's late posts