google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, January 28, 2023, Jamey Smith

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Jan 28, 2023

Saturday, January 28, 2023, Jamey Smith

 Saturday Themeless by Jamey Smith

Jamey is our constructor who worked at the University of Texas for 25 years as a 
writer/editor in the university’s development communications office. This is my seventh Saturday themeless from our former Longhorn friend and it was a real test for me. I was struck by a blizzard of names that I muddled through but I saved my error for the very last cell that you see marked in red. I thought the wonderful and very familiar actress Diane WIEST had the same last name as my friend Jason Wiese and I had no idea on SLOT canyons which I was very happy to research. So I accepted the bad "E" and moved on.

 



Across:

1. Loads: GOBS - Tons and Lots only slowed the process.

5. Fully get: GRASP.

10. Lab order?: HEEL - My wife has tried do train me as well for when we shop together with mixed results


14. "Black Dog" singer Parks: ARLO - A crossword staple clad in new clothes


15. Motley crew: RAG TAG ARMY - A RAG TAG ARMY is given credit for saving Kyiv from the invading Russian army


17. Ground corn: MEAL.

18. Attraction in Singapore's Marine Life Park: OCEANARIUM - Our crossword friend Julian Lim teaches at The National University of Singapore. I wonder if he's ever gone here


19. One-named Oscar winner for "Precious": MONIQUE.


21. Insalata whose key ingredients happen to be the colors of the Italian flag: CAPRESE - Insalata means salad in Italian and CAPRESE means "in the style of Capri".


22. Invites from a balcony, say: ASKS UP - Mae West is on a stair not a balcony but does issue a famous invitation to a very young Cary Grant.


23. Japanese-American: NISEI - Japanese Americans who were born in America 


24. Lake that feeds the Mississippi: ITASCA - This sign is on the banks of Lake ITASCA in north central Minnesota.


26. Things to work on, maybe: ISSUES.

30. Choreographer de Mille: AGNES - Two minutes of Cecil B. de Mille's niece's famous Dream Ballet from Oklahoma with her narration. 


32. Mountain near Olympus: OSSA - It's a little over a 3 hour drive between them


34. Barclays Center hoopster: NET - NBA

35. Stretch from the Loop to the Gold Coast: MAGNIFICENT MILE - A famous Chicago stretch


39. __ ideal: EGO In Freudian psychoanalysis, the ego ideal (German: Ichideal) is the inner image of oneself as one wants to become

40. Donor type, briefly: O-NEG - O-NEG blood types are about 7% of the population

41. Feather bed?: ROOST 😁 

42. Courted with love notes?: SANG TO - Notes of music 

45. Whim: NOTION.

47. Signal silently to: NOD AT.

49. Dwindled: RAN LOW  - Lake Mead over last 21 years


52. Fraidy-cats: COWARDS.

55. Italian luxury brand founded by a Greek silversmith: BULGARI.
56. Soft-drink choice: CHERRY COLA - Cherry Coke is one of ten choices from this machine


58. Cor anglais kin: OBOE.


59. Sticky roll that originated in Britain: CHELSEA BUN.


60. Burrows: DENS.


61. Spots in a casino: PIPS.

62. Wear: SPORT.

63. __ canyon: SLOT - This one is in Utah



Down:

1. __ ray: GAMMA.


2. Snacks that turned 110 last year: OREOS and 11. Northern terminus of I-79: ERIE - Newer cluing for some old standards

3. Unable to come up with: BLANKING ON - I know STONEHENGE very well but BLANKED ON it for a few minutes on the 1/18/23 puzzle. 

4. "Now, here's the thing": SO LISTEN!

5. Classifies: GROUPS.

6. Ijeoma Oluo's "So You Want to Talk About __": RACE.


7. Period: AGE.

8. Keanan of 1990s TV: STACI.


9. Like some fusion menus: PANASIAN Pan-Asian cuisine has a fusion of flavors and ingredients from throughout Asia


10. 49th vice president: HARRIS - Our current one

12. Outback runners: EMUS.

13. Old __, Connecticut: LYME - About 3 hrs up I-95 from Manhattan 


16. Goggles: GAPES - The verb not the eyewear


20. Seemingly: QUASI - As a substitute, I guess I am a QUASI-educator

23. Fledgling: NASCENT - Rookie teachers came to my mind.

25. Element of change?: COIN - This was what I used when I had to go door-to-door to collect for the Omaha World Herald in 1958. (45
¢/week for daily + Sunday)

27. Local information source?: UNION LABEL.


28. Unagi roll fish: EELS - I saw this so often in crosswords, I had to look up the pronunciation - oo NAH gee

29. Editor's "As you were": STET.

30. College town north of Des Moines: AMES - Iowa State's record setting QB will be playing in a big game tomorrow. 


31. Infatuated: GAGA - My granddaughter is GAGA over Taylor Swift

33. Lily variety: SEGO.


36. Byproduct of some plant pigments: FOOD DYES - Here's some...


37. Experiment: TRIAL.

38. Chandra and Thoth: MOON GODS - I know CHANDRA is the name of a NASA satellite and so there was probably a connection to space. I enjoyed reading about these two names.

43. "Crazy" duo __ Barkley: GNARLS - GNARLS Barkley is the nonsense name of a duo whose first album was named Crazy. Google if you must.


44. Pressure units named for the inventor of the barometer: TORRS - Finally, a name this physics teacher knew. Evangelista TORRICELLI is a student of Galileo who is credited with inventing this instrument.


46. Skipper?: TRUANT.

48. Music rights gp.: ASCAP.


50. Home of Maine's Black Bears: ORONO - Every serious crossworder knows of the home of Maine University

51. "Hannah and Her Sisters" Oscar winner: WIEST 

Mia    Barbara     Dianne

52. Soviet letters: CCCP - The dejected Soviet goalie is in shock while the Americans celebrate "The Miracle On Ice" in 1980.


53. "Didn't see you there": OH HI.

54. Fail to hold it together: WEEP.

55. Obfuscate: BLUR.

57. "Price negotiable" letters: OBO - This home goods store in Shellbyville, Indiana has a great name!


36 comments:

  1. As usual, quite a Saturday slog. I didn’t know the moon gods, Connecticut town, or Italian “salad” right off the bat, but through perps and a few WAGs, I got ‘em. And through P&P, I got the rest. FIR, so I’m happy.

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  2. HG ~ I know a couple times lately you have quoted a constructor as saying about a puzzle “remember it’s a game and not a test”. Well I guess my consolation for today is that I didn’t fail a test, just had a very bad day playing the game, ending a streak of FIRs. After 45 minutes I was still BLANKING ON 10 squares, 2 in SE, and 8 clumped together in the north. Somehow managed to WAG correctly on the BULGARI/WIEST/SLOT crossing, but had no GRASP on the other blanks. Had too many mistakes already filled, ROGUES for RAG TAG, SPECS instead of GAPES. As always on Saturday’s I did enjoy reading your blog Gary, thank you for that. And Thank you Jamey for the challenge, nice work even if it was a little over my head.

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  3. Nope, DNF with the SE corner totally blank/wrong. No clue about the LABEL part of UNION LABEL, or WIEST. I thought OSAGE/DIGS looked fine so no way I was going to see OBOE. Turns out that OSAGE County is in a completely different state. BULGARI ORONO WIEST + SLOT as clued is pretty mean anyway.

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  4. Good morning!

    This one was above my pay grade. Started off with TONS. Nope. LOTS. Nope. Oh, GOBS. (Have I ever mentioned...?) I never give up on a puzzle, but today I did. Before throwing in the towel, I noticed the SO to IM (Agnes) and the CSO to CC (Itasca). The LHF were few and far between -- too far in my case. Good challenge, Jamey; d-o just wasn't up to it. Excellent explanation of my inkblot, Husker.

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  5. DNF. I filled 31 answers, 29 correctly, missing dot-->AGE and echo-->SLOT. 'Bout average for Saturday.

    On to Sunday!

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  6. DNF. Laid down magnificent mile and thought I had this puzzle knocked, but Staci, Caprese, and gapes wouldn't come to me. Also the SE corner had blanks I couldn't fill; Bulgari, slot canyon? Tough Saturday puzzle.

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  7. I had the same FIW square as you Gary. I thought WIESs* seemed familiar. Never thought of a SLOT Canyon. I remember Steve from 50s comics
    TG for OSSA as Greek mountain fill

    Had to inkover tampa/GAMMA, ussr/CCCP and HEaL/HEEL. TG ORONO was rock solid since LABEL was slow coming

    BRISTOL yesterday LYME today. Tough on Cali folk

    EEL of course is plural but I suppose if there were two them flopping on the boat… TunaS?

    Of the two I recognized Thoth(Assyrian?)

    I thought of chARLES Barkley

    TORRS: One of a dozen UNKs

    I started late Friday night and fell asleep with PRECIOUS few squares filled. Awoke at 3am and nipped the end off a CBD gummy. OH HI said Mr S*, "CBD VON Helsing?"
    But ever so slowly, box by box, smudge by smudge I FIR minus one

    WC

    ** How about "Author Leah" crossing "Road signs"
    **Senor Blankenship sounds better

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  8. Took 20:09.

    I look forward to Saturday (themeless) puzzles. This was certainly a challenge, but the plethora of proper names (even for a Saturday) seemed over the top, so I'm a little less happy than Subg.

    I don't know how D-O feels about this, but I had entered 1-Down as Manta rays instead of gamma rays.

    Good/tricky clues for union label and truant, but Ms. Varol, please let proper names.

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  9. Good Morning:

    I finished w/o help in just shy of 45 minutes as a result of more P and P than I knew I had. Saturday puzzles are supposed to be difficult and I, personally, welcome the challenge. But, IMO, there should be a balance of fair cluing and fill vs the more esoteric and obscure references. For example, misdirection clues such as Local Information Source?=Union Label are not only clever but also give the solver a certain pleasure upon seeing the cleverness. However, cluing simple words obliquely is not only unnecessary but increases the overall difficulty which, IMO, is overkill. Examples today, for me, are ___ Deal, ___ Canyon, the lengthy pop culture clues for Race and Gnarls, etc. These on top of Arlo, Oceanarium, Monique, Itasca, Staci, Torrs, Moon Gods, made a difficult solve one of drudgery, giving a sense of relief rather than satisfaction.

    I struggled mightily in the NW corner due to being certain that Tons and Tetra were correct. Once I finally changed those errors to Gobs and Gamma, the logjam broke and I got the Tada finish.I also went astray for a while in the SE with Ferrari instead of Bulgari.
    And I always go wrong with Sago/Sego. I thought the overall fill was fresh and lively, especially Caprese which is my favorite salad, and the grid-spanning Magnificent Mile. Extra props for the very few (4) three letter words.

    Thanks, Jamey, for a Saturday Stumper and thanks, HG, for your always informative, light-hearted commentary and eye-catching visuals. Seeing my beloved Cary Grant was icing on the cake, as was that yummy looking Caprese salad!

    I was at my sister Peggy’s last night and her daughter, Laura, mentioned that she was planning a Sprinkle for her pregnant daughter-in-law. I questioned Sprinkle and was told it refers to a baby shower for a second (or more) child, usually less elaborate with fewer invitees than for the first child. So, I asked, why not say I’m having a little or small shower? Well, Aunt Agnes, a Sprinkle IS a little or small shower. I didn’t say, but thought, I suppose this logic means that this child will be a Bae rather than a Baby. 🤣

    Have a great day. Watch out for any Sprinkles that may come your way. 😈

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  10. Good Morning.

    First of all, let me thank you for Birthday wishes last weekend. It was my 75th diamond jubilee--sans the gems. However, my family did treat me like a queen--without Trooping the Color or a red, white and blue flypast--a wonderful celebration, nonetheless.

    TTP: Yes our gathering with WikWak and Abejo was a fine day. I also miss Abejo and haven't heard from WikWak either.

    Enough lurking, eh? I will try to spend more time here because I love this place and the wonderful and witty folks who hang out here. Lately, Crosswords and Jeopardy make me feel like my brain is fried. AND I do agree that some of these names and musical references are killing me.

    Thanks, Jamey, for saving this puzzle from incompletion with the central long fill OF THE MAGNIFICENT MILE. That gave me lots to work with up the ups and downs. I loved CHERRY COLA because I do--even if I seldom drink soda anymore. Dr. Pepper is a good substitute. I had Manta ray also, but those OREOS led me to GAMMA. And so on; it went so very slowly.

    Thank you, Gary, for your usual, excellent Saturday tour.

    Have a fine weekend. It's due to be a snowy one here on the edge of Lake Michigan. Be well.


    Thanks, Gary, for another excellent Saturday walk about.

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  11. You would think I could finish a puzzle that features my first name, but I was BLANKING ON too many clues. I decided first to go through all the clues, and all the ones with a proper name, I would look up. With that done, I still DNF.

    Too much obfuscation for my Saturday morning mind.

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  12. TITT. What Irish said. This one was so far out of my wheelhouse I couldn't reach it with a ten foot pole. Some really clever clues, though. Oh, well. It is Saturday.

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  13. What can be fun about Saturdays is going thru the puzzle initially with a sea of white then slowly filling in as the synapses begin to fire leading to satisfying FIR. ...

    And then there's Jamey with that self satisfied smug smile, taunting us.....😃

    anyhoo...

    Thought it said googles. GAPES? (isn't that ogles?) Mötley misspelt (umlaut missing 😉). State Street used to be that "great street" in Chicago now overshadowed by Michigan Avenue. EGO "ideal"? SLOT "canyons"? GNARLS? (Did anyone know this?)

    "Cor anglais", first thought was Fr. for English Heart (Nope that's coeur)... ah, "horn" and up pops our musical friend OBOE. A CSO to our wordsmith (dance-smith?) AGNES

    Inkovers: lots/GOBS, manta/GAMMA, CHERRYCOke/COLA, Diane Weiss/WEIST, agog/GAGA (ain't there a Lady by that name?), era/AGE, STACy/STACI, seaquarium/OCEANARIUM

    BULGARI (BOOL'- gah-ri) ≈ Bulgarians. Never heard of a CHELSEABUN, sounds like a stylish hairdo.

    Playwright Noël came from a long line of _____ COWARDS
    They tend cattle rather than sheep....COWARDS
    An Amish vote to keep a member in the community.... NOTION.
    It's either "yes" _____ ORONO

    So Aunt Agnes, a shower for the first kid, a sprinkle for the second...a leak for the third, after that just a drip 😁

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  14. Thanks Jamie for a challenging Saturday slog, which I missed by one square. This puzzle required a lot of circling around, climbing up a lot of low hanging fruit and ESPs, to finally GRASP my way to the top. But in the end, I made a stupid mistake ...

    And thanks Husker for helping us make sense of it all and for all the great bling. There was a lot to learn from this puzzle and your teaching skills were evident in abundance.

    Some favorites:

    18A OCEANARIUM. There's is one a little closer to home in the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

    21A CAPRESE. AKA BRUSCETTA, consisting of just tomatoes, basil leaves, and slices of mozzarella cheese, seasoned with olive oil, vinegar, and ground pepper.

    24A ITASCA. Never 'eard of it.

    30A AGNES. A CSO to our Irish Miss.

    59A CHELSEA BUN. This is the one I could kick myself for. I had CHEESE BUN, which of course had NOTHING to do with Britain. 😥

    60A DENS. Great illustration Gary. Clever little varmints.

    1D GAMMA. Another great illustration.

    8D STACI. She apparently threw away a career in acting to become a law professor and a Deputy DA for Los Angeles County. Go figure.

    11D ERIE and 46D TRUANT were great clues for old fill.

    28D UNION LABEL. Here the fill is a pun on the clue. "Local" is shorthand for the local union office, and a "UNION LABEL" was often used to identified union made products.

    Cheers,
    Bill

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  15. Gary,we are still chuckling over the fact that you started your write up by focusing on the one thing that we couldn't suss out (WIEST / SLOT). The canyon was not, ultimately, named after the gin fizz.

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  16. Greetings! Ah, a Saturday open book learning experience today completed by me, Kindle and a U.S. roadmap. Not ashamed to say - how do you grow if you're not learning something new? So worth the trip and the challenge! Thanks, Jamey.
    Husker Gary, thanks for your review, photos & links. Wowed by that photo of the canyon in Utah!! Not to worry about your Stonehenge lapse - they happen often enough to many of us they've been LABELed "senior moments"!! (LOL!!)
    Congrats to all who finished or tried.

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  17. Fun Saturday toughie, many thanks, Jamey. And thanks for your always helpful commentary, Gary.

    SO LISTEN, this probably had many of us BLANKING ON ways to come up with ideas, making us feel like COWARDS struggling with some of the TRIALS of all the ISSUES raised until possibilities RAN LOW. But you have to GRASP that once again we're getting terrific FOOD here, even without the DYES. There's a whole MEAL here, starting out with that terrific tray of PAN-ASIAN treats, followed by a delicious CAPRESE salad along with some CHELSEA BUNs, and with some CHERRY COLA to drink. And there are even OREOS for dessert, and nice music with an OBOE playing in the background. All enough to have us go GAGA over a lovely feast.

    So have a great day, everybody.

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  18. This Saturday puzzle was way too much for me. I finally quit when only half of the squares had letters written in by my blue pen. I resorted to my last resort (also used by Anon-T, I think): looking at Husker Gary's competent review at just one word. Then I fill it in and see if I can continue solving. If not, I look at another. In this fashion I finished the puzzle, which had black ink for the words I looked up and red ink for my continued fills. Thanks Jamey for today's challenge. My DNF was colorful.

    Husker Gary, thanks for your help. I also kept "tons" in place way too long, but I did consider "manta" briefly for the perp, Anon. As I live in Atlanta, I first wrote in CHERRY COke, naturally. I couldn't come up with MAGNIFICENT to go before MILE even though it was recently on Jeopardy. I got AGNES (Hi, IM) and SLOT canyon OK, but I misread 36D as "paint" pigments! CAPRESE salads are yummy and I got that fill.

    Cor anglais looked vaguely familiar but I didn't know "cor" and was thinking of "heart" and ethnic groups. A learning moment, thanks Gary! My first DNF in a while...
    It's sunny but cool here and I need to get busy. See you all tomorrow!

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  19. A super tough (for me) puzzle to eventually FIR today. It took perps, WAGS, and P&P to finish, considering the gaggle (not goggle) of unknowns. I'm glad that MAGNIFICIENT MILE was a gimme and it opened up the puzzle. Had to change many entries and the paper looks ugly because I solve in ink.

    MANTA to MAMMA to GAMMA ray.
    TONS to MOBS to GOBS.
    EURASIAN to PANASIAN
    ECHO to SLOT canyon
    RAN OUT to RAN LOW
    NOD TO to NOD AT
    ERA to AGE
    LOVE to RACE

    cor anglais is an English horn, big brother of the OBOE, little brother of the bassoon. All double-reed woodwinds. As Splynter would say, 'Frawnch".

    WIEST, RACE, STACI, MONIQUE, GAPES ( Goggles)- all unknowns. I've never heard or seen GAPE used except in a Xword- only GAPING. Maybe it's just regional.

    TORRS- in my physical chemistry class we had a total of four students. The professor gave open book tests, said we could discuss the problems among ourselves, and he left the room. On the FINAL exam he put a problem that listed the pressure as 550 "torr". Not one of us had ever heard the term. Only PSI, bar, isobar, Pascal, kiloPascal mm Hg, inches of HG, atm, but not TORR. Torr wasn't even listed in our book. I was the only student with the guts to go to his office and ask Dr. Politzer what a torr referred to.

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  20. As D-O says - you know it's a challenge when !D and 1A hang you up - I confidently had MANTA ray so thought 1A had to be MOBS - before changing to the GAMMA. GOBS fill.
    Since it was a Saturday I thought 31D might be gone before switching to GAGA. WEES said about switching the CHERRY Coke to the more generic COLA. I think we had CHELSEA BUN as a part of a bakery theme awhile back- just looks like a cinnamon roll to me.

    I lived in Chicago for a time so MAGNIFICENT MILE was a gimme, keeping my fill in line in the middle.
    Cute clue for UNION LABEL - it made me recall the jingle that was on TV: Look for the UNION LABEL
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIbCAxyOoF4

    Thanks HG for the fun blog and Jamey for the puzzle!

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  21. Really didn’t enjoy this puzzle. Too much trivia and not enough word play.

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  22. There was a cartoon in Mad or National Lampoon (I can't remember which reference work it came from) that declared:
    (in little letters) the goons at the
    (in BIG letters) UNION MADE
    (in little letters) us put this label on

    I missed ITASCA. Spent several weeks there (city in Il) going to one telco class or another.

    I must have misunderstood Billy Joel. I could have sworn he sang:
    "Should I get a set of white wall tires?
    Are you gonna cruise the Miracle Mile?
    (That one's in NYC. LA also has a Miracle Mile. IIRC, that's near the La Brea Tar Pits.)

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  23. I hate to be, you know, accurate…but there is no OCEANARIUM in Singapore.

    There is a “S.E.A. Aquarium” there in Marine Life Park. (South East Asia Aquarium).

    It will be renamed to “Singapore Oceanarium”….in 2024.

    So this clue is just dead wrong. Until 2024.

    This new editor needs a new job….now.

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  24. As with most colleagues, I found this Smith challenge well beyond my patience.
    Much respect to Husker G for taking it on!

    Happy to see AMES illustrated by the photo of young Brock Purdy, a famous grad.
    I dunno why I wrote "young" above. The guy's STILL young,(23), and a rookie, even though he's about to play a leading role in the major NFC championship game tomorrow.
    He was the very LAST draft pick last year, and he's the second back-up QB for the Forty-Niners, and yet he has not lost in seven straight games!

    Will his streak hold tomorrow? And will it take him and my 'Niners to the Super Bowl?!
    ~ OMK
    _____________
    DR:
    One per side, for a total of...TWO!
    The nearside diagonal gives us an anagram (14 of 15) that may be interpreted several ways.
    I choose to see it as an editor's request to a comedy writer, to ease up on the number of farcical bits per minute.
    Somebody else, with a melodramatic frame of mind, might read it as a demand to reduce the restraints on a kidnap victim!
    In either case, it is still a...

    "GAG SUBTRACTION"!

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  25. I'm so impressed with those of you who FIR! I was not even close. After a while I decided to partner with Google but that was still a slog. I thought the Gold Coast referred to Australia so I wasn't even on the right continent. Hopefully I learned a few things for next time. Thanks to H-Gary for the explanations!
    FAVs: Skipper? and Courted with love notes.

    I saw the CSO to IM!
    Tante Nique, you wrote, "You would think I could finish a puzzle that features my first name". Are you a Staci??? Anyway, CSO to you, too!

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  26. Sumdaze: @4:08 no, not Staci, Monique.

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  27. Oh, of course! The "nique" makes sense!
    That puzzle wore out some of by brain cells.
    = )

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  28. I was totally unable to come close to solving this puzzle without much resorting to looking things up. Even looking things up sometimes didn't help, as in S.E.A. Aquarium, which AnonymousPVX has commented on. I was also thrown by OBOE (an English language word) being clued by the French term Cor anglais; I suppose HAUTBOIS would be a closer kin to Cor anglais, or OBOE could be clued as English horn kin. Oh well. Tomorrow is une autre journée.

    Good wishes a voi tutti.

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  29. Tante Nique, forgive me, but every time I see your name I can't help but sing to myself

    Dominique -nique -nique
    S'en allait tout simplement
    Routier, pauvre et chantant ...

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  30. Hi Y'all! It finally happened. I filled 47% of this puzzle early this morning and quit. I didn't even think it was worth trying red-letter runs. Cruel & unusual punishment, methinks.

    I thought my lack of patience was because I woke up coughing at 4 a.m. with one of my gusher nose bleeds. Got it stopped after an hour of nose-pinching discomfort. Felt like my brain drained too.

    Late this afternoon I tried the puzzle again. Still cruel punishment. GOBS of stuff I don't need to know. Thanks to Jeopardy the other day, I did know MAGNIFICENT MILE. Thanks to red-letters, I did manage to fill the puzzle, but it wasn't much more fun than my nosebleed. Thanks to sleeping a lot, the day wasn't a complete downer.

    Thank you, Gary, for your steadfast optimism and quest to inform.

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  31. Hi All!

    Oy! Way above my paygrade and the A&E was beyond me. I quit after 3 or 4 Googles (ARLO, MO'NIQUE, AGNES (Hi, IM!)) and just started straight-up cheating from HG's grid for some extra-play (you too ATLGranny? -for shame :-)). Thanks, Jamey, for smearing my OU face with egg - you Longhorn HEEL ;-)

    Hey, at least I got GAMMA and, w/o WO, GOBS. And, knowing TORR helped (a bit).

    WOs: era -> AGE, dumb me filled TUNA thinking EEL is already plural (and I just ordered Unagi last night!)
    ESPs: DNF
    Fav: CAPRESE salad. One of the best I ever had was at Carmine's near Times Square - the basil popped and the tomatoes were so fresh you could taste the field.
    TRUANT was cute.

    HG - Fantastic expo. I think I learned more than eight things - maybe 1/2 will stick.

    So, is LYME, CT where deer-Lyme-tick-disease takes it's name?

    Lake Shore Drive was a letter short and didn't agree with perps. The MAGNIFICANT MILE, it had to be. //sumdaze - don't feel bad, I started in South Africa before I thought of the Windy City.

    LOL Sprinkle story, IM. Wait for my story inre: Youngest tomorrow. Kids these days... smh [Shaking My Head].

    OMK - after I finish my chores, my must-see is the 49's game. That kid (QB) is pretty amazing.

    PK - when I get uncontrollable nose-bleeds [mostly in dry-as-heck Oklahoma], I take a matchbook cover, roll it up, and put it under my upper-lip. I've no idea why this works but Grams had me do it once and it was magic.

    See y'all on the flip-side. I hope yous enjoy tomorrow's expo.

    Cheers, -T

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  32. Jayce @ 5:22. I had not thought of that song in a long time. Now I have an ear worm.

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  33. A lurker chimes in: A real slog, but I WAG several clues and then confirmed on google. AGNES (Hi, IM), BULGARI, PIPS, CCCP, HEEL, NISEI, AMES, MEAL, ASKSUP, and COWARDS were instant fills, which helped immensely with perps. Never heard of MAGNIFICENT MILE or TORRS but, again, the perps helped. CHELSEA BUN?? It's a cinnamon roll!

    Anon-T - you betcha my must-see for tomorrow afternoon. Brock Purdy (kid QB - 23 years old) in last year's draft "earned" the moniker Mr. Irrelevant (262nd pick), awarded to the very last pick in the NFL draft. Calm, can scramble, and pretty accurate for a third-string QB after the two Niners' starting QBs were sidelined with season-ending injuries. Unfortunately, they play the Eagles, top-rated team in the NFC. Fingers crossed.

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  34. Tony, thanks for the tip but I don't have matchbooks in the house, so can't test your trick. Hope I don't need to for some time to come, but I've had five gusher nosebleeds in the last three months which is unusual. I've been running a humidifier & greasing my nose as doctor prescribed.

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  35. I had to meditate on this one for a while but I did complete it. Yay.

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