google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday April 9, 2023 ~ Gary Larson & Amy Ensz

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Apr 9, 2023

Sunday April 9, 2023 ~ Gary Larson & Amy Ensz

Title: Back Issues

You can get it for $3K

Nothing to do with the sciatica nor reprints of old magazines to see here. Nope. Gary & Amy offer us common phrases where the last (back) word in each phrase is another word for an "issue" with whimsical cluing. Let's roll....

But first - Happy Easter!

22a. Trouble for an orthodox rabbi?: KOSHER PICKLE. The MOTIF (81d) finally broke the NW to get a FIR with 2 only two #Cheats.

27a. Trouble with the sewer line?: MAIN SQUEEZE. I thought the MAINs was the ingress not the egress(?)

65a. Trouble in a candy store?: SWEET SPOT.

100a. Trouble for a barista?: CAFFEINE FIX.

107a. Trouble with an alibi?: STORY PROBLEM.

30d. Trouble with a movie promo?: TRAILER HITCH.

40d. Trouble with a Bronx cheer?: RASPBERRY JAM.

Another? Trouble for an oyster?: Pearl Jam. //Or does that just not make me a Better Man :-)

If you still don't "get the issue," comment below and I'm sure the early-riser Cornerites will set you straight.  
And slow down, relax, take your time reading the blog today.  There might be humour that takes a second. //or, there might not :-)

Across:
1. Contemporary: AGE MATE. Really? Thumper.

8. Place to grab a pint: PUB. And usually a good sandwich or shepherd's pie.

11. Smitten Kitchen blogger Perelman: DEB. ESP. Wait, um, [see: 73a]...

14. Butterfingers: OAF.

17. Quaint desktop item: ROLODEX.
 
Remember These?

18. Not to be trusted: OILY. I was going for wILY.

19. Lyrical: ODIC.

21. AC meas.: BTU. Air Conditioners' capacity is measured in British Thermal Units which is ~1.06 Joules.
C, Eh!, friendlies to the North, do you measure ACs in Joules or BTUs?
//Story?: In EE everything is done in metric. I had to take a MechE Thermodynamics class and it was all in Imperial Units. To do the maths, I'd hafta covert everything to metric, solve the problem, and then convert back. PITA [Pain In The Arse] but I passed.

22. [See: Theme]

24. Place to clean up: WASH ROOM. Kitchen didn't fit; nor did rehab ;-)

26. Appearance: ASPECT.

27. [See: Theme]

29. Fighting: AT IT.

31. "Hallelujah" songwriter Cohen: LEONARD.

33. Unfeeling: NUMB.

I saw them in '95(?) in Dallas - Great Show 
(and contact-high from everything billowing to the mezzanine)

34. Black-footed pet: FERRET. If you FERRET-out something, did you EKE (110d) by?

36. Public relations effort: SPIN.

Popular in the '90s. Where they are now.

37. "Mm-hmm": I SEE.

39. Thermometer type: ORAL. I thought of the other insertion area first but I knew that wouldn't pass the "Breakfast Test." "Meat" also fit.

43. Rideshare predictions, briefly: ETAS. Estimated Time of Arrival(s) for your Uber or Lyft. I took the latter home at 3am after [see: 95d's story]

44. "But to no __": AVAIL. Didn't turn out as hoped.

46. Frosty coat: HOAR.

47. Bingham of "Baywatch": TRACI. "Traci A. Bingham is an American actress, model, and television personality. Beginning her professional career in the early 1990s, Bingham is best known for her role as Jordan Tate on the NBC action drama television series Baywatch." [WikiP]

48. Jewelry retailer Alex and __: ANI. ESP. Anyone actually know of/shop them? [apparently, DW (editor-in-chief) knows of them and has two of their bracelets(?!?)]

49. Makeup pencil target: BROW.

50. Perfume name: COTY. If Gary, Amy, & Patti say so. ESP.

51. Sparkly threads: TINSEL. Mostly perps - I was thinking "threads" as in groovy clothing...

52. Guinness superlative: TALLEST. Superlative -- ink "EST" and wait.

54. Lasting impression: SCAR. I had dent :-(

56. Quran scholar: IMAM.

58. Inflation fig.: PSI. Tires' Pounds/Square-Inch - nothing re: macro-economics.

59. Ragtime legend Blake: EUBIE. Lucky WAG crossing BEBE (49d).


Eubie Blake doing Charleston Rag

60. Port-of-Spain's island: TRINIDAD. Once IDAD perp'd, fill was easy!

62. Playwright's prize: OBIE.

63. Jazz singer Carmen: MCRAE. No idea. I inked RAE hoping for the best.

65. [See: Theme]

67. Sharpens: WHETS. Sharpen a knife on a whet-stone or an appetizer to whet your palette.

68. Interstate H-1 locale: OAHU. H-1, thankfully, gave it away.

69. Zoological kingdom: ANIMALIA.

70. TWA rival: US-AIR. Both defunct.

72. Slugger's stat: RBI. Runs Batted In. Who else is happy Baseball is back?

73. Write online: BLOG. A little meta for me "write" now ;-)

74. Warmhearted: KIND. Nice also fit.

75. Comebacks: RETORTS. Give 'em (109d) LIP.

78. Squeal: TATTLE. "Tell on" also fit.

80. Gathering clouds, say: OMEN.

82. Boxing champion's prize: BELT.
 
Yo, Adrian!

83. Word of support: YEA. Hand up: You filled YES, no?

84. Dried poblano: ANCHO.

85. Part of Q.E.D.: QUOD. Latin: quod erat demonstrandum - Which was to be demonstrated / proved mathematically (well, math class is the only place I've ever used QED).

86. __ parade: PRIDE.

88. Open some: AJAR. When is a door not a door? When it's a jar! //I loved joke-books in the 3rd grade.

89. Cowardly Lion portrayer: LAHR.
 
Resting Lion Face

90. Green shot: PUTT. I was thinking Absinthe.

91. "How've you __?": BEEN. "Life still good, CHUM?"

92. Djibouti language: SOMALI.

94. Calvary inscription: INRI. Written on the Cross He was crucified on before he rose again today ~33AD. //religion - I was thinking The Cavalry that rides in at the last minute. #Dyslexia

96. Tony Stark's alter ego: IRON MAN. Robert Downey Jr. was brilliant as.

Got 17:03? - Note: Stan Lee's cameo @13:44.

99. Tire holders: RIMS. I thought "lugs" first.

100. [See: Theme]

104. World's largest peninsula: ARABIA.

106. Keeps safe: PROTECTS.

107. [See: Theme]

112. Afflict: AIL.

113. "Whoa ... that's food for thought": DEEP.


Edie Brickell - Married to Paul Simon

114. Oddball: KOOK. Love it!

115. Long and slippery: EEL LIKE.

116. Melancholy: SAD.

117. Farm area: STY.

118. UV-blocker rating syst.: SPF. Ultra-Violet (sun) rays can be blocked by Sun Protection Factor lotion/spray. DW & dermatologist wants me to use sun-screen every day. Anyone remember when we all used Coppertone to look "healthy"?
 


119. Like tea leaves: STEEPED.

Down:
1. Deluge refuge: ARK. Ha! Love the alliteration.

2. Failed fudge, maybe: GOO. I thought "F" in home-ec(?)

3. Thrilling pair?: ELS. Two Ls in Thrilling. 'Nuff said.

4. Some expensive sweaters: MOHAIRS. Cashmere fit only if you spell it wrong [guilty].

5. "__ Fideles": ADESTE. SEMPER went in just fine; too bad it was wrong #inkymess in the NW

6. Maryland athlete, for short: TERP.

7. Kick out: EXPEL.

8. Dental care suffix: PIK.

9. "Tracey Takes On ... " comedian: ULLMAN. Tracy's show is funny but not fit for all.  Note: 47a is a different spelling of TRACI.

10. How some musicians play: BY EAR. B-YEAR didn't make any sense ;-)

11. Blue: DOWN. Sad, Melancholy (116a), Mopey

12. Santa portrayer in "Elf": ED ASNER. He also hates Spunk.

13. Lobster soup: BISQUE.

14. Soprano woodwind: OBOE. One tunes to the other; don't make me Google.

15. The whole shebang: A TO Z. Ever notice Amazon's logo? The "smile" points A->Z.

Logo History

16. Stew: FUME. Gets in a huff.

18. Pixar's Pearl and Hank, e.g.: OCTOPI. They can make an inky-mess too!

20. Bud: CHUM. Pal, mate, but not necessarily, a BFF.

23. Winter fishing tool: ICE-SAW.

25. Converted, in a way: REBORN. I assume this has a religious connotation. The clue made me think of things like turning a lawnmower into a go-kart.

28. "It is a tale / Told by an __": Macbeth: IDIOT. Or, an ID-10-T error code a young helpdesk consultant writes on the invoice [guilty].

29. Prudential alternative: AETNA. I inked EATNA. #UNTIE!

30. [See: Theme]

32. Zilch: NIL. Nada.

34. Achievement: FEAT.

35. Anklebones: TARSI.

38. Tie the knot: SAY I DO. Just a Sec (not 51d),.. Here's another HITCH! :-)

40. [See: Theme]

41. Crushes the final: ACES IT. I nailed the Continuous & Discrete Signals final bringing my D up to a B. Took me all semester to learn the math.

42. Monet flowers: LILIES.
 
Pond Lilies - Time to bring in a little class to the expo

45. Says nay: VOTES NO.

46. Meddles: HORNS IN. I wanted "noses IN" but it didn't fit. Nor did any of the Mystery Machine kids. [a Scooby Doo ref.]

47. "The Things They Carried" writer O'Brien: TIM. If you say so.

49. Tony winner Neuwirth: BEBE. ibid.

50. Sanchez who voiced Dora the Explorer: CAITLIN. ibid. I had to Google this but Kathleen Herles kept coming up(???). I kept Googling until CAITLIN matched the clue. #Cheat

51. Just a __: TAD. Who else ink'd "sec"?

53. Island feast: LUAU.

54. Originate (from): STEM.

55. Sounded like a loose floorboard: CREAKED. Squeaked was too long.

57. Got older and wiser, perhaps: MATURED. We may age but nobody said we had to grow up.

61. GarageBand device: IPAD. GarageBand is an app for your iThing to aid in mixing music.  My (CEO) Bro uses it for his Dad Band.

62. Oberlin's state: OHIO. Oberlin is a Uni.

63. __ Kombat: video game franchise: MORTAL. Body-blow, Body-blow! I played this but never had enough quarters to get good AT IT.  //Oh, wait that was Punch-Out!

64. Beach shelter: CABANA. Oh,... Should I tell the story of a helpdesk new-hire that confided in us that he worked as a cabana-boy to help pay for college? And, that every time a MATURE lady had a problem with her computer, we'd tell him to grab the Coppertone and don his Speed-Os?
No, I probably shouldn't embarrass him like that.

66. Lose it: WIG OUT. Really lose your cool.

67. Power measure: WATT. 1 Joule/Second. [Exercise left to the reader: Calculate in BTUs]

69. Drink in a mug: ALE. Joe [coffee] fit :-(

71. Tennis great Monica: SELES. BigE probably didn't need perps.

73. Rain-__ gum: BLO.
 


76. Freshwater ducks: TEALS.
 


77. Dress of draped silk: SARI. They are so colorful/beautiful.
 


79. "__ Shop": Macklemore & Ryan Lewis hit: THRIFT. I sussed it w/ a few perps.

81. Theme: MOTIF. The motif of this puzzle is an "issue" ;-)

82. Twofold: BINARY. There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary and those who don't.

85. The Dave Clark Five, e.g.: QUINTET. Even if you don't know who The Dave Clark Five is, the answer is(ish) in the clue.
 

Glad All Over

86. Farm area: PEN. Wait, I thought it was a STY [117a]. Nice clecho.

87. Comment: REMARK. Not quite a RETORT.

88. Friendly: AMIABLE. Ok, that's a better definition for "nice" when KIND was asked for.

90. Consumer Reports data: PRICES. Anyone still subscribe? I have the eScription but DW says everything I buy on their recommendation sucks. I'm not sure that's fair -- the DustBuster we purchased sure does. *rimshot*

91. Proof of purchase: BOX TOP. Hand-up: You collected these from Kellogg's'/Post's' boxes to get pencils or whatever for school. They also had us collect Campbell's soup can labels [which was easy-peasy to SNAG [another "issue"] from Maternal Grand's kitchen bin.]

93. Colorful songbird: ORIOLE. Did I mention Baseball is back?

95. Have to have: NEED. Oy!, I found out two weeks ago that you NEED salts.
 
//Story I promised: 
I'd gone to drinking nothing but water (except when commuting T,W,Th - a coffee FIX is NEEDed at 6am!).
To make water fun, I got a SodaStream to give it bubbles and little squirty-flavors (cucumber-lime is my Fav!) to add.
I ended up washing out my salts by drinking too much water(? what a PICKLE!) and landed in the ER thinking I was having a heart attack.  My BP has always been high (~140/99) but 168/112 scared me (a good buddy had a stroke and he's younger than I!)  and I had shortness of breath.
ER gave me a swig of potassium (nasty stuff) and a saline drip.  Within an hour I was right as rain!
Here I was trying to be healthy and... 
Pop has oft said: "All my 'healthy' friends are dead." (I should go back to beer & coffee, eh?)
//End PSA.

97. Hazards: RISKS. I didn't think water would be a Hazard outside of a golf-course.

98. Scruffs: NAPES. Cats pickup kittens by the scruff/nape of their neck.

100. IRS form experts: CPAS. Welcome to April Americans :-). Internal Revenue Service forms require a Certified Public Accountant if/when your taxes get more complicated than just income of simply working a 9-to-5. If nothing else, a CPA gives you peace of mind you didn't mess up/get in a PINCH [issue] with the IRS.
//D-O: What/who certifies you? Is the cert good across state-lines (unlike Law)?

101. Solo often sung in Italian: ARIA. I wish I had a video of Eldest singing Ava Maria to share - brought Pop to tears, she did.

102. Soufflé recipe word: FOLD. Any Cornerite ever make one of these right? I just settle for Frittata [what real-men call quiche 'cuz we don't eat that (see: Sunday 4/2) :-)]

103. Glimpse: ESPY. Not to be confused with the ESPN Award you've eyed for your physical prowess.

105. Cy Young winner Saberhagen: BRET. Pitcher from Chicago Heights who played with the Royals, Mets, Rockies and Bo. Sox.  While with the Royals, Bret won Cy Young (and World Series against St. Louis) in '85 and another Cy Young in '89 with an ERA of 2.16.
 
Bret Saberhagen

108. "That sounds painful": OOF. An onomatopoeia.

109. Guff: LIP. Usage: "Don't give me your guff." Sass, RETORT, LIP.

110. Make (out): EKE. Not smooching/snogging but just getting by.

111. Club __: MED. I was thinking about last Tuesday and, first to mind, Club Fed :-)

The Grid:
 
The Grid


Whew!  That was long winded.  The skinny:
WOs: aplenty in the NW; sec->TAD.
ESPs: names save LAHR; INRI (I really was thinking 1st Cav #Ft.Hood)
Cheats: Google for CAITLIN, dictionary for CAFFEINE's spelling.
Fav: KOOK is just such a fun word. Shakespeare's IDIOT was also a hoot.

I know -- Sunday's grids are a lot of words but I hope y'all had as much fun as I.
//end expo|brain ramble.

Cheers!, -T

39 comments:

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thank you Gary & Amy for a challenging puzzle. Took me 63 minutes which is longer than yesterday's, but it was more humorous and less frustrating than that one. I got the theme but didn't believe I had until Tony confir med it. Thank you, Tony, for your labor of luv.

I never heard of AGEMATE. Except for three words, the whole top four lines stumped me e & were last to fill. I had ____ROOM but couldn't come up with WASH. Duh! Then I had EO and tried gEOrge instead of LEONARD Cohen when I knew his name until I needed it. One of the few names here that I did know.

Kick out: I tried Evict then Eject which both turned red. So I moved on. EXPEL was last fill.

Now I'm brain-tired enough to go back to bed.

OwenKL said...

There was an OAHU miss named Ana
Who ventured forth from her CABANA.
Men saw her bikini,
(It was so teeny)
They didn't notice her nose was a banana!

The couple were really going AT IT,
Necking with the radio providing a MOTIF.
They were getting closer
To not being KOSHER.
They'd cross the line if they uncovered A TIT!

{B, B.}

Subgenius said...

I will admit that when I saw the word “contemporary “ I was thinking of “modern “ or something like that, but I eventually cleared that up. The themed answers were all appropriate and witty, although I thought “story problem” was a little weak. But the main thing is, for the first time in three days, I can say without qualification, “FIR, so I’m happy,” and that makes me ecstatic!

Anonymous said...

Definitely played harder than the usual Sunday. I guessed right at the C from CAITLIN (not a K) and the last two letters of BEBE. Good thing I’ve seen the name EUBIE in other crosswords - otherwise I might’ve filled in EUNIE because of this masterpiece of a Nintendo game.

Is PIK an American thing? I don’t think I’ve seen it before.

Also what Guinness is the TALLEST clue about? If it’s a Guinness beer reference, no way I would’ve got it, and if it’s the Guinness Book of World Records, that could’ve been pretty much any superlative.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Dent/SCAR, Evict/EJECT, Angoras/MOHAIRS -- Wite-Out, please. And so it went. "Twofold" seemed an odd clue for BINARY, but I see that "having two parts or aspects" is the primary definition, and "being twice as great or as many" is secondary. Gary and Amy: Nice Sunday challenge. Dash-T: Noticed your inimitable style immediately. Well done. (Tony, all volunteer tax preparers under VITA-TCE auspices must pass an annual IRS certification exam. They may be certified "Basic" for simple returns or "Advanced" for more complicated returns. Our sites took the uncertainty out of it by requiring Advanced certification for all volunteers.)

BEBE Neuwirth: In addition to her Tony, Bebe has an even more auspicious accomplishment: She played ex-wife Lilith on several episodes of Frazier.

CAITLIN: Tony wrote, " I kept Googling until CAITLIN matched the clue." That reminded me of one of the Beyond The Fringe skits. Scotland Yard had used an Identi-kit to create a sketch of a train robber they were seeking, and it created an amazing likeness of the Archbishop of Canterbury. However, after beating the living daylights out of His Grace down at the Yard, they had to release him -- he no longer resembled the sketch. (If you'd like to hear the entire 4+minute skit, it's here. Warning: You need a warped sense of humor to appreciate it.)

Adele said...

I love the factoids I learn doing crossword puzzles! The Amazon logo for example. Never looked it up but did wonder about the arc with the arrow at one end. Just a little thing I know but makes me happy! Anyway, thought this was a very doable puzzle today. Finished in 34 minutes. I too had “sec” before tad.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I glanced at the title before I began the solve and promptly forgot it, so even though I saw the word play at Kosher Pickle, the “Back” Issues never registered with me until reading Tony’s expo. I liked the theme but I agree with SG that Story Problem is on the weak side. My favorite was the aforementioned Kosher Pickle. Only w/o was Wily/Oily (Hi, Tony), but there were the usual pesky unknowns, the bane of crosswords, pop culture figures: Deb, Traci, Ani, Caitlin, and iPad, as clued. Age Mate is “green painty” and Coty, while known, was not known to still exist. Overall, though, I enjoyed the solve and finished in much less time than yesterday’s brain-beater!

Thanks, Gary and Amy, and thanks, Tony, for enlightening me about the extent of the theme and for the cheery, upbeat write-up. That depleted salt reaction was a scary episode that I could relate to, having once passed out in the shower due to potassium deficiency. Nibble on lots of Gibble’s and you”ll be fine! 🤣

Happy Easter and Passover to all. I’m going to my sister, Peggy’s, for brunch. Looking forward to a Blood Mary, or two! 🍹🍹

Anonymous said...

This took 21:41 for me to finish.

A good chunk of that time was spent in the middle. I didn't know the voice actress of the animated Dora, the perfume name, or the island, and "horns in" seemed as forced as "story problem." But, if SubG is ecstatic, who are we to complain?

Anonymous-T, I enjoyed your "Pearl Jam" comment, in fact, I give it a Ten.

Happy Easter and/or Passover.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

HAPPY EASTER 🐣

from

Roscoe Conkling School Easter Parade 1957, Miss Carroll's second grade class

I'm leadng the parade on the left.

🐰

Big Easy said...

BE never noticed the Back Issues and hopefully FIR and I had an "issue" from the gitgo. 1A was one of the last to fall. Never heard of AGE MATE. TRACI & TIM cross was a WAG for those two unknowns. Another WAG for the cross of BEBE & MCRAE (Y or E). A third WAG for the CAITLIN & COTY cross.

NEED salts? They sell them and call them ELECTROLYTES.

Hallelujah writer- HANDEL didn't fit; LEONARD was perps. So were Alex and ANI, OCTOPI, "THRIFT Shop" by some band.
BTU- my AC guy just says TONS. My downstairs unit is five-ton compressor with a two-speed blower unit.

IDIOT, KOOK, OAF- names that' we've all been called one time or another in our lives.

Anonymous said...

Yuk! Another proper name fest..

Anonymous T said...

@5:12 - Oral B makes the Water-PIK to clean your teeth.

Y'all have been nice about my expo. Thanks. -T

Charlie Echo said...

Enjoyable challenge today. FIR, with copious amount of WiteOut. TONY/OBIE, PANAM/USAIR, BLOTTER/ROLODEX. AGE MATE was ESP, and I still don't know how Oahu H-1 can be an IntERstate and not an intRAstate! (Must be an undersea connection I'm not seeing) -Great recap, -T

Charlie Echo said...

I kinda liked Story Problem. (That's my story, an' I'm stickin' to it!)

KS said...

FIW. One error putting animalio I stead of animalia. Ipod somehow looked right.

Took a long time finishing this CW as the phone kept ringing with Easter wishes. So blessed this day to have the interruptions!

CrossEyedDave said...

Back issues at
Nutty Hedges Health Farm & Spa?

Parsan said...

Thank you AnonT for explaining Back Issues and other clues I didn’t get, and thanks to Gary and Amy for a fun puzzle with so many performers I really admire: BEBE NEUWIRTH, Bert LAHR,, Robert DOWNEY, ED ASNER, Tracey ULLMAN and Monica SELES.

COTY, a French company, came easy and brought memories of coming home from school and smelling the perfume and face powder my mother wore. It was really popular in the 40’s and 50’s. Wiki writes that the company made over 5 billion dollars in 2022.

EUBIE Blake, one of my heroes! He had a remarkable career. Musician,composer,actor,scholar, he graduated with a music degree from NYU in two and a half yeats at the age of 59, even though he was very successful at that time, because of a new music system he wanted to learn. He wrote many songs you probably know excluding “I’m Just Wild About Harry”. President Reagan presented him with the Medal of Freedom. He died at age 96.

Another fine musician Carmen MCRAE, a wonderful singer in the era of Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holliday, Dinah Washington, and our very familiar Ella Fitzgerald. Ladies who sang the music and lyrics and didn’t scream. Other music references BY EAR and OBOE.

Money’s LILIES can be seen in Paris, but also at MOMA and the Art Institute of Chicago.

AnonT - How about scotch and coffee? Along with your story on Friday, you must have had a great Dad.

Parsan said...

Oh my, years not yeats and Monet not Money!!!

Malodorous Manatee said...

FLN,I knew that -T but thanks for thinking to confirm it.

Thanks today for the DC5 song. I had a typing teacher in Junior High who had the class type to DC5 songs (4/4 rhythm).

Happy🐇🐰

desper-otto said...

Mal-Man, I took commercial typing in H.S. after getting kicked out of biology for the year. Typing was the only other class offered at that hour -- very small H.S. The teacher liked to play music for us. It slowed down my typing, but improved my accuracy on that old Royal manual. Later, working in a radio newsroom, my typing tempo was set by the clack-clack of the nearby teletype machine -- 60 WPM. Now, 60+ years later, I still type about 60 WPM, and can still hear that clack-clack in my mind.

Anonymous T said...

D-O: I tried to take typing in HS (Girls!) but 8 minutes in I was pulled out of class and told I had to take Advanced Alg. It kinda worked out 'cuz I tutored a few girls in in higher maths :-) //not what you're thinking.
//Mavis Beacon taught me later. I gave the program to DW but she's still a 2 finger typist.

Parsan - My Pop was the best and gave me the warp'd sense of humour to love D-O's @6:58a link.

IM - I'm not the only one!? Scary, no? Enjoy your cocktails at Brunch.

Who said Ten? (@8:38) LOL.

Cheers, -T

Malodorous Manatee said...

D.O., -T and others, who knew what with those in-school typing classes and with Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing that we were prepping for what the world was to become!?

Anonymous said...

I’m always so pleased to see Gary Larson’s name on a puzzle. Clever, intelligent, challenging clues with minimum “gotchas”. As opposed to yesterday’s nightmare ( for me) today was an enjoyable, steady progression to FIR. Most of the proper names were in my wheelhouse, and I found perps helpful for the ones I didn’t know. I actually liked STORY PROBLEM - they were the bane of my math existence in school! Age mate is pretty common in my world - we have so many grandchildren, we sometimes group the “age mates” at gatherings.
Thanks Gary and Amy, and thanks, Anonymous T. For the great tour. Loved the Ironman clips!
Have a lovely Easter, everyone.

Anonymous said...

Too weird - this is Wendybird above, but somehow I have b come Any nymous - what happened??

Anonymous said...

Too weird - this is Wendybird above, but somehow I have b come Any nymous - what happened??

Misty said...

Challenging, but fun Sunday puzzle, many thanks Gary and Amy. And thank you also for your always helpful commentary, Anon T.

Well, as soon as I saw PUB, I figured we'd get a lot of drinks and snacks, and maybe even get treated to a LUAU. And we did get some KOSHER PICKLEs and some RASPBERRY JAM that needed some buns as a SWEET SPOT to serve them. And then, finally, a lobster BISQUE. Well, at least not much CAFFEINE in all that. Anyway, that was pretty much it when it came to eating, so clearly the bigger treat was going to be music. And we did get a QUARTET that included an OBOE and gave us at least one ARIA--thanks for that. Well, time to go and feed the ANIMALs.

Happy Easter, everybody!

Kelly Clark said...


Delightful puzzle, I thought. Anonymous T, thank you for your expo and for sharing your scary experience...I'm glad you're okay. Happy Easter and Passover, all. Alleluia!

Parsan said...

AnonT @2:10 and DO @6:58 —A birthday present in 1963 - tickets to “Beyond the Fringe” at the John Golden Theatre on Broadway. Great seats, a wonderful, very funny evening!

Anonymous said...

Where is CC today? I am missing her commentary! Hope she is well.

Jayce said...

I liked this crossword puzzle. Not too many names, as a proportion of total entries, but some of them did cross one another (TIM/TRACI, DEB/EDASNER, LEONARD/ULLMAN, EUBIE/BEBE/MCRAE, and TRINIDAD/CAITLIN/COTY.)

YORUBA --> SOMALI.
EVICT --> EJECT --> EXPEL.
WILY --> OILY.
BULB --> ORAL.
LASH --> BROW.
DENT --> SCAR.
LIE --> LIP.
PANAM --> USAIR.
Perps decided between ERAT and QUOD.
ARABIAN didn't fit so I searched for another peninsula. Turned out it was ARABIA.

I see Irish Miss beat me to characterizing AGE MATE as “green painty”.

Excellent write-up, -T.

Good wishes to you all.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
 Kids just left to go back to Lincoln and I was able to finish this fun puzzle and read Tony’s great review.
 It’s probably too soon to use Iowa BB star CAITLAN Clark
 Gotta see who’s gonna win this Masters.

OwenKL said...

Did EUBIE ever win an OBIE?

sumdaze said...

I loved the challenge of today's puzzle -- only wish the LA Times would pay me by the hour for my solving time!
I made all the misfires in -T's BLOG ... and then some. Nevertheless, figuring out the fixes was fun today. ROLODEX finally opened the NW for me.

CEcho@11:13. Totally agree about Hawaii having an intERstate. (They actually have the H-2 & H-3, also). I always thought it had to due with getting Fed $$$.

-T, super awesome write-up! FAV was learning about the Amazon logo. Scary about the ER. Glad you are OK. Watermelon & sweet potatoes are good sources of K.

Picard said...

AnonT Hand up thanks for the learning moment about the ATOZ in the Amazon logo. Hand up WILY before OILY and SEMPER before ADESTE.

Hand up KAITLIN/KOTY seemed as correct as with a "C". Too bad to spoil an otherwise very clever and enjoyable puzzle with crossed proper names that cannot be figured out.

OCTOPI needs to be clued as "Incorrect plural of octopus". Two grumpy people would be SOURPI.

Anonymous T said...

sumdaze - from you, that's High Praise. Thx. -T

//Didn't refresh b/f posting - LOL SOURPI, Picard.

Picard said...

AnonT Thanks!

Michael said...

-T, I still get Consumer Reports, but mostly don't use them. My market for High End SUVs is not in existence, and too often their comparisons include Mrs. Korzybski's Rot Drops, available only in the 5 eastern-most counties of Rhode Island.

That was a fun review, especially the DC5 piece!

Lucina said...

Hola!

I almost missed the party! Though I started the puzzled before going to church I didn't finish until this evening. My day was full! First, church, which was predictably full, then breakfast and starting the ribs. They have to be slow-cooked so they went into the oven.

My family arrived, well, only my daughter and her husband. The children were with their other parents. I missed them! But we had a good dinner and afterwards I picked up the puzzle while they watched TV, asked about the Cy Young winner and my s-i-l knew! Sunday's puzzle is always an all day project for me but I finally finished after everyone left and here I am.

Tomorrow is counting day so I'll be gone all morning.

I hope you all had a wonderful, memorable Easter Sunday! Very nice job on the Blog, Tony!

Lucina said...

I also get Consumer Reports but I can't say I use the recommendations much since I don't buy appliances anymore and most of what they review either I already have or have no use for but I find it interesting.