google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, June 1, 2024, Lance Enfinger & Bob Weisz

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Jun 1, 2024

Saturday, June 1, 2024, Lance Enfinger & Bob Weisz

 Saturday Themeless by Lance Enfinger & Bob Weisz

Lance and Bob gave me a really hard earned "got 'er done". It seemed like every corner had a fill that unlocked that section and, armed with my trusty Delete key, I was able to ENTER all the correct fill unaided. 

I was so happy/surprised to see this screen pop up πŸ‘‰

Lance
Bob
  










Across

1. Duel invitation: SLAP.


5. Advanced: LENT - I always regretted times I LENT (advanced) money to relatives

9. Donnybrook: BRAWL Etymology


14. Bring (down): TONE.


15. Farm: GROW.

16. Harris of NPR's "Pop Culture Happy Hour": AISHA and 
54. Weldon of NPR's "Pop Culture Happy Hour": GLEN. No idea...


17. Target of some orthodontic work: UNDERBITE.
19. Keypad key: ENTER.

20. Taxi driver?: DISPATCHER πŸ˜€ The most famous one.


22. Louganis who is the only man to sweep the diving events in consecutive Olympics: GREG.


23. Deux et trois: CINQ - 2 + 3 = 5 in French

24. Burning: IN A BLAZE - Have you ever "Gone out IN A BLAZE of glory?"

26. Operative: AGENT. Bond, James Bond...

28. Ones on a roll: SNAKE EYES πŸ˜€ 


29. "__ in there": HANG.

30. Part of Reno's nickname: BIGGEST.


31. Brew made with warm fermentation: ALE.

32. Authority on acts of congress: SEXPERT - This less frequent use of congress has a small c


33. Letters with a link, maybe: FYI also FAQ

36. Some banners: HEADERS - Example


37. Satyr kin: FAUN.

38. Propulsion devices: THRUSTERS - The Apollo Lunar Landers had four sets of THRUSTERS to steer their way to the lunar surface. Hey, I'm a NASA guy!


41. Prepares for a break: RACKS. πŸ˜€ I loved this, uh, eventually.


42. Tight squeezes: BEAR HUGS. πŸ˜€

43. __ sock: TUBE πŸ˜€
44. Terse confirmation: IT IS - A little less terse but a fav of mine


45. Public image: PROFILE PIC.


49. Lets: RENTS.

51. Tick off: ENUMERATE - I was starting to get ticked off until I got this clue


52. Flag: DROOP - Flag as a verb

53. Edge (into): EASE - Wanna see two big stars EASE On Down The Road? How 'bout Diana Ross and Michael Jackson?


55. Boyo: SONNY - Irish, English and Australian for boy

56. Really go downhill: SLED.

57. 2021 US Open winner Raducanu: EMMA.



Down:

1. Important element in lath and plaster construction: STUD - As seen from behind


2. "RuPaul's Drag Race" guest judge Love: LONI - Loni Anderson is on the Saturday bench


3. Finish line?: AND SCENE.


4. Leaf __: PEEPING.


5. Letters of orientation: LGBTQ.

6. NHL great Lindros: ERIC.


7. "This isn't about you": NOTHING PERSONAL.


8. Elementary school grads, typically: TWEENAGERS.


9. PDA participant, possibly: BAE. 

10. Curl: RINGLET - Name this woman and her boss. Answer at bottom *


11. Off the mark: ASTRAY.

12. Allergy sound: WHEEZE - Yeah, I put in SNEEZE first too

13. Cup sizes: LARGES.


18. Fulminate: RANT.

21. Ones using yard sticks?: RAKERS πŸ˜€

25. Top: BEST.

26. Clicking sound?: AHA πŸ˜€ What you might shout when your brain clicks and you get the answer!

27. Actress Gadot: GAL.


28. Parlor game that produces a Bacon number: SIX DEGREES It rests on the assumption that anyone involved in the Hollywood film industry can be linked through their film roles to Bacon within six steps. The game's name is a reference to "six degrees of separation", a concept that posits that any two people on Earth are six or fewer acquaintance links apart. 

Click to enlarge

30. Pummel: BEATUP.

32. Casual meeting: SESH.

33. "What were they thinking" gesture: FACE PALM.


34. Guffaw: YUK.

35. Connections: INS.

36. Harlem Renaissance figure: HURSTON.


37. Creator of Imperial Easter eggs: FABERGE.


38. Classic Fords: T-BIRDS - My neighbor's dad has this beauty.


39. Straight: HETERO as opposed to homo

40. Spoil, perhaps: RAIN ON - The ladies on the outside have tried to match the gold standard of Barbara Streisand singing Don't RAIN ON My Parade.


41. Rock, in a way: RULE.


43. On the clock: TIMED - A big phrase used during the NFL draft


46. Circuit component: FUSE.

47. Article: ITEM.

48. "Peacemaker" star John: CENA - Here he is as the Peacemaker and in his previous vocation 




50. Notice: SPY - Did you play "I SPY with my little eye" during a car trip?




*That of course is Miss Lemon and Hercule Poirot 

49 comments:

  1. Whew! Somehow I made it through this very challenging puzzle. The first word across “slap” took a little thought and so on through the puzzle. Remembering how to spell “Faberge” was also a bit of a challenge, and that wasn’t the only one. (“Wheeze” had to replace “sneeze,” for instance.) However, once I got “nothing personal” things started falling into place. Anyway, FIR, so I’m not only happy, I’m relieved!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nothing but obscure names. Directly to the trash

    ReplyDelete
  3. DNF, filling 12, 10 correctly. Just not my cuppa.

    Today is:
    NATIONAL PEN PAL DAY (oh c’mon – why not just use email and Facebook Messenger)
    NATIONAL SAY SOMETHING NICE DAY (last time I said a coworker had a nice something or other, I received an appointment with HR)
    NATIONAL TRAILS DAY (happy trails to you, until we meet again…)
    NATIONAL PRAIRIE DAY (Amy, what you wanna do? I think I could stay with you for a while, maybe longer, longer if I do)
    NATIONAL OLIVE DAY (in a martini – shaken, not stirred)
    NATIONAL BUBBLY DAY (Tiny bubbles make me warm all over, with a feeling that I'm gonna love you till the end of time)
    NATIONAL NAIL POLISH (also a good insulator if you can’t find your electrical tape)
    NATIONAL BLACK BEAR DAY (they seem to be the stars of videos from doorbell cams every day on our local TV news)
    NATIONAL GAME SHOW (I chose my apparel, I wore a beer barrel, and they rolled me to the very first row. I held a big sign that said "Kiss me I'm a baker, and Monty I sure need the dough")
    NATIONAL HAZELNUT CAKE DAY (sounds good to me – my PCP has retired, so I guess I can eat anything I want)

    I think that I am starting on my ninth year of sobriety today. Funny, I’m sure about the day but not the year. I guess that’s a good thing. Means it's just part of my history.

    Thanks to H.Gary for making the best out of today's offering.

    FLN: Jayce, in my experience, inkjet printers are inherently problematic for occasional printing. The ink at the nozzles dries. The printer can usually clear the clogs, but that uses a lot of ink. I used to keep spares on hand for the eventual unfixable clog, but found that they shelf-out fairly quickly. Brand name ink carts are expensive. I used to have good luck with third-party cartridges, but for the last few years they haven't been very good. I suggest getting a laser color all-in-one. Your initial price will be higher, but your price per copy will be much lower if you use it only occasionally. One more opinion - having owned Epson, Cannon and Brother, my three current printers are HPs. I find that they last longer than competitors. However, other brands also have their fan base. HP's M283FDW all-in-one laser is $430 from Amazon or Best Buy. I don't have one, but that's what I would get if I was buying today.

    Thanks to H.Gary for making the best out of today's offering.

    ReplyDelete
  4. By the way, H.G., thanks for that cartoon about “rock” and “rule.” I couldn’t see any connection before that!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I worked on this for about 30 minutes before I hit the proverbial brick wall. I turned on the red letters and saw that most of my fill was incorrect. Did some alphabet runs to little effect. Then I saw that 9 down was “BAE,” a “word” I despise and have never encountered outside the context of a crossword puzzle. That’s when I decided to bail. Life is too short to waste on something like this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is so true. If I want to be annoyed I’ll watch the news.

      Delete
    2. I’m with you on “bae”. My hatred for that word borders on unhealthy. I too have never seen or heard it used in real life.

      Delete
  6. Forgot to add that today begins Pride Month (celebrating the LGBTQOU812+ communities,) which explains the theme of this themeless puzzle.

    It is also the first day of meteorological summer. June, July and August are the hottest months in the Northern Hemisphere, while December, January and February are the coldest. That left March, April and May to be meteorological spring, and September, October and November to be meteorological autumn. It is also the first day of hurricane season, which ends on November 30.

    None of the above are on my list, but may be more interesting than the ones that are.

    ReplyDelete
  7. For those of us who consider David Suchet the true embodiment of Ms. Christie's Hercule Poirot, the supporting cast was also special. Ms. Felicity Lemon was an integral part of so many episodes. She is played by Pauline Moran (born 26 August 1947) an English actress, presenter, and astrologer. She trained at several schools, including the National Youth Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She has also been a professional astrologer since 1987. Wiki. The ringlets were never explained.

    41A. Prepares for a break: RACKS is the type of Saturday clue that like HG I loved once the light bulb went on, but 16A. Harris of NPR's "Pop Culture Happy Hour": AISHA and 54. Weldon of NPR's "Pop Culture Happy Hour": GLEN is just old fashioned obscurity.

    I still do not get 41D. Rock, in a way: RULE even after the cartoon.

    HG, you really have made Saturdays a pleasure

    ReplyDelete
  8. FIR? Hah! FIW? Nope. QLI (quickly lost interest)? Indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  9. A sea of white. I cried, "Uncle."

    ReplyDelete
  10. NOTHING PERSONAL, but YUK. This was much too clever for me and since I have guests coming over today, I needed to do something else.

    Thank you HG for revealing it all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Monkey, it wasn't clever. The puzzle was outright stupid.

      Delete
  11. DNF. I had all but the NPR hosts and could not even guess beyond the one, Glen. I'm not sure how one is supposed to know this unless you're a fan of NPR and thst particular show? But the NE failed me.
    I also had no idea who Ru Paul was, or Loni whoever, but perps solved that for me.
    I ordinarily enjoy Saturday challenges, even if they stump me, but today's was not one of those. Overall, YUK.

    ReplyDelete


  12. What a difference a day makes

    Gave myself 20 minutes to see if I could suss enuff to continue. So many blanks and errors I TITT early πŸ˜•

    Lots of kryptic klever klues expected for a Saturday

    I listen to NPR while driving but must miss those shows. Lots of unknown PP.

    Fatal errors : melee/BRAWL
    PandQ/LGBTQ
    slat/STUD
    ahchoo/WHEEZE
    wind/TUBE
    see/SPY
    Among others

    Some correct answers I changed to wrong

    Got UNDERBITE and BIGGEST but wasted the perps on incorrect answers.

    Ended with a puzzle that looked like a dried up ARAL sea

    Kudos to those who finished or will finish

    Have a great weekend

    ReplyDelete
  13. Once again, a vanity project by constructors who seem hell-bent on creating a puzzle that most would be unable to finish without help. Cutesy clues, obscure names, and a few dramatic reaches to link answers to clues. Unenjoyable from start to (with help) finish.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Good Morning:

    I finished w/o help in just shy of normal Saturday time but the solving experience fluctuated between annoyance and appreciation. There were several great, misleading but fair and fun clues, e.g., Taxi Driver=Dispatcher, Ones On A Roll=Snake Eyes, Tight Squeezes=Bear Hugs, Prepares For A Break=Racks, etc., but these were offset by the not-so-great, much too cutesy, trying too hard to show off types, such as the clues for Sexpert, Rakers, Aha, Sled, etc. The number of unknown proper names is always a bone of contention and today's were no exception: Hurston, as generically clued, plus Aisha, Glen, Emma, and Loni. Bae and Sesh may be here to stay but they'll never be welcome, IMO. The best C/A was "This Isn't About You"=Nothing Personal" but, overall, the solve was lacking in enjoyment and satisfaction.

    Thanks, Lance and Bob, and thanks, HG, for your usual tempered and diplomatic commentary. Your sparkling visuals are always a delight, as are your asides and personal tidbits of experiences.

    Have a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This was a challenge especially the NW but eventually pulled it together even though I had UNDERBITE early on.

    We played "I SPY" with the kids and also have some "I Spy" books that our kids loved

    Lemonade - great to see you on the corner - the "You Rock" and "You Rule" are both slang compliments when someone really nailed a task (more slang)

    We often joke among our family that there are only 2 DEGREEs of separation- our kids think we know someone in every city in America - maybe not, but we often know someone who knows someone.... ;)

    I enjoy the movie "You've got Mail" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan- one of the lines he quotes The Godfather -"Its not PERSONAL, its strictly business", where she responds that "Whatever else anything else is, it ought to be personal"

    Thanks HG for the entertaining blog and Lance & Bob for the challenging puzzle!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Well yesterday was yer basic disaster, but it was BESTED by today as yer basic catastrophe! When I opened the grid I was terrified by the lack of those comforting triple stacks in the NW and SE. I felt like I'd parachuted into the middle of Antarctica and fell through thin ice. Do have to tell you that I got a big fat TITT?

    Nevertheless, thank you to Lance, Bob, and most assuredly Patti for a remarkable puzzle, up to which I was not.

    And thank you Husker for first having solved this (loved the ATTA BOY clip!), and then explaining it to us. Good job!

    A few favs and black holes ...

    1A SLAP. Got this right away. I'm telling anyone curious about the big bandaid on my left cheek that it's covering a DUELING SCAR πŸ˜€ -- it's actually covering a tiny scar from some basal cells that my dermatologist removed 2 days ago.

    1D STUD. DUH! The only plastering I've ever done is with prefab wallboard -- but you still need STUDS for them.

    9A BRAWL 30D BEAT UP. They were a real fist fight, but I got both of them.

    16A AISHA & 54A GLEN. Had to look up the first, but perped the second.

    17A UNDER BITE. I got a BITE of this, but figured the R in 18D RANT was the end of MOLAR.

    20A DISPATCHER. Never saw this series, but I thought the clue might have related to it, but all I got was "ATCHER".

    22A GREG. Had GREG and it worked great with 12D SNEEZE, but nothing else did. ACHOOS worked, but didn't perp either. WHEEZE finally did and GREG dove back in.

    28A SNAKE EYES. Never saw this, as 21D RATERS worked for the clue too.

    30A BIGGEST. Got this, but wanted SIN CITY.

    32A SEXPERT. Very clever. I missed the "c" and didn't get the connection, but neither MASTERS nor JOHNSON wouldn't have fit anyway.

    36A HEADERS. CENSORS didn't perp.

    41A RACKS. Double DUH!

    Enough of this self-torture! See yall tomorrow.

    Cheers,
    Bill

    * Oh yeah -- Miss Lemon and Hercules Poirot. We've seen every episode (twice!)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Perhaps an explanation is need to the discontented commenters -- puzzles are intended to get harder as the week progresses (or they are easier in the first few days to encourage new solvers), with Saturday traditionally being the hardest. This puzzle was the hardest of the hardest that I've seen since I started solving here years ago. But I learned a lot from it, which I happen to think is the real use for crosswords. It was certainly NOTHING PERSONAL on the part of the constructors. πŸ˜€

    ReplyDelete
  18. Lemonade @7:17 AM Thanks for the personal details on Pauline Moran. She was one of several supporting actors who made that series so special.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I was going to take a Thumper, but the comments made me change my mind.

    The puzzle?
    I have never seen so many clues that did not give me a clue...

    Too many names? I don't think so. I hit reveal for every proper name, and still hit a brick wall...

    I just say, I just had to smile at the link to what I think was The Wiz. (I have never seen it)
    Michael Jackson made a very impressive scarecrow!

    But while there were many learning moments, (sexpert?) it had never occurred to me to use nail polish as an electrical insulator. Thank you Jinx! makes me wonder what else you can do with the stuff...

    Aside to Irish Miss, apologies at advertising my impish nature, but in reading the above links comments, I cannot help but marvel that one guy coated a bar of soap with clear nail polish, and then left it in the shower as a practical joke...

    ReplyDelete
  20. I, for one, have become more than a little bit peeved at what I perceive to be a trend toward more and more proper nouns appearing in the puzzles (and not only, e.g., on Saturdays). I know that this is at least partly a result of my not being on top of current pop culture trends. Proper nouns also allow constructors to break out of the constraints of more-common letter patterns. All that said, I still do not like it. For an alternative point of view:

    NYT Article

    ReplyDelete
  21. FIW, had it filled in 20 minutes or so but got no congratulatory message, spent another 25 minutes rearranging letters that I had correct. My mistake was I had STEP for duel invitation which gave me the incorrect TONI, and END SCENE. A very challenging puzzle for sure, I always like to broaden my horizons, but I can’t seem to keep up with the current scene, ie: pop culture, slang, personalities from various venues etc. But I always enjoy doing the CW’s even if I’m not 100% right. I take to heart what today’s esteemed blogger likes to say, “It's a game, not a test”

    Thanks Lance and Bob for the workout, and HG for another stellar expo!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'll add my YUK to this unenjoyable mess. I realize that Saturday puzzles should be difficult, but I do expect that the clues make at least a bit of sense. Even after reading HGs review, there was no aha! or d'oh! Only an unpleasant odor. Kinda' like trying to use a stick to rake leaves. An exercise in futility.

    ReplyDelete
  23. FIR on paper, no cheating (no lookups, no help, no red letters ...). When I BEST a challenge like this one, I like it! DNK Weldon, Raducanu, Love, the parlor game, or the Peacemaker star. Thought SEXPERT was brilliant.

    Also glad to see that terms of variable sexual orientation were accepted without the usual gripes from the Corner, and we even got past "cup sizes" without lascivious remarks. Way to GROW up!

    Many thanks to Lance and Bob for a doable puzzle, to Patti for editing, and to HG for explaining it all with a smile. Congrats to Jinx on a meaningful milestone.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Despite lots of good guesses, this one was a DNF for me, including failures on 1A and 1D.

    I came up with DISPATCHERS, SNAKE EYES, BIGGEST Little City, SEXPERTS/congress, FAUN (thank you. Claude Debussy), T-BIRDS, BEARHUGS, ENUMERATE, leaf PEEPERS, LGBTQ, BAE, RINGLET, WHEEZE, SESH, and FABERGE, all of which could have foiled anyone. I also figured out TWEENAGERS. I’ve heard of TWEENS, but not that extension.

    But I couldn’t (and can’t) quite see SLAP as intuitive as clued, and I didn’t know what lath is, so STUD never came to me. I also didn’t know LONI as clued, and didn’t get the first word of AND SCENE. SIX DEGREES didn’t occur me because I didn’t think of Kevin Bacon despite the capital B in the clue, and I didn’t come up with THRUSTERS, which left several holes in the SW. FACE PALM didn’t come to me, either, and neither did HEADERS, as clued.

    Unknown names, besides Judge Love, included GLEN Weldon and AISHA Harris.

    There were also a few reaches by the constructors that seemed like Scrabble contrivances, including LARGES, IN A BLAZE, and RAKERS, and there were two stinkers, YUK (yuck) as a noun, and BEST as a verb. As a copy chief I would never allow “best” as meaning “defeat.” IT IS would be impossible to come up without perps. By the way, HG, I have more than one friend who intensely dislikes “It is what it is.” And the cluing for RULE didn’t get me there, and I figured the break was a vacation for which one would pACK. As a result, I learned of the word “pule,” which is similar to “mewl.”

    I suspect Lance and Bob are the sort of constructors who see nothing wrong with solvers using Google to flesh out unknowns, but I don’t consider it OK. A DNF is a DNF, and I think most serious solvers agree with me on that.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Copy Editor, we must have traveled in very different circles. SLAP was one of the few answers that I threw down immediately...before throwning down the towel.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I have no idea where than n came from.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Took awhile, but FIR after leaving it for a couple hours and coming back for the NE and NW corners. Definitely started with sneeze too! Between that and BAE (took awhile to recall pda for some reason?) and unknown Aisha made it tough. Also wanted to start with melee but clearly wasn’t to be. I go on a color tour in da UP annually, but still never heard of leaf peeping! Loni, ‘and scene’ made that tough. While I also don’t appreciate a plethora of proper names, Greg Louganis brought back wonderful memories of his brilliance! Also feel face palm was a big stretch. And aha for clicking noise! Thanks for the wonderful explanation, but seriously!! Wrong. SW took time too, but as a relatively poor comp to the minds here, it made me proud to finish it - even if slowly!☺️

    ReplyDelete

  28. Another in a series of horribly clued, designed to not be solved but to show off, Saturday crosswords.

    Maybe next time they can make it all names you never heard of except for 2, you came so close!

    This is what I deserve for even looking at it.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Well - I feel the “odd one out” (how would I clue that? πŸ™„πŸ˜Š) here - I especially look forward to Saturdays’ challenges. I learn - well, at least, I get exposed - to lots that I didn’t know before. And I like getting exposed to alternate cultures’ (esp? the younger gen.) lingos and paragons (I am especially ignorant of all things sports). Today’s puzzle particularly tickled me because so many words were used differently than my mind clung to (like lent, tone, grow, dispatcher, snake eyes, expert, headers, profile pic, enumerate, droop, lgbtq, ringlet, rakers, rock). It humbles me, reminding me how remarkable yet imprecise, and potentially confusing language (maybe esp. English?) can be. Today - I was able to complete by lots of perps, and by looking up for answers. Thx for reading. And thanks to all who made and explained this puzzle to me❣️

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OH - also - rack and aha
      So curious to me how much English, especially in slang and idiom and jargon, a word has more than one meaning/use … 🀯

      Delete
  30. I agree with most of the comments, both bad and good. When I saw EASTER EGGS I thought of CADBURY before struggling to get FABERGE. Anyone else?

    I had CASES before RACKS, thinking of CASES a place before a BREAK in. Anyone else? Had no idea about why RACKS made sense until coming here. Thought BANNERS might be a word play about banning books or something like that. This was a very tough puzzle for me.

    I did SPY this T-BIRD in front of the Santa Barbara Mission last weekend.

    The occasion was the annual I Madonnari Chalk Painting Festival, an extraordinary artistic event. I can post my article if anyone is interested.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Puzzling thoughts:

    Doesn't anyone here ever say "rabbit, rabbit" on the first day of the month anymore??! ;^)

    Well, "rabbit, rabbit" was about the only thought I could come up with about how I felt after trying to solve today's puzzle

    HG, I am impressed that your screenshot of the solved grid showed zero red letters or squares with a black corner. My screenshot would've looked like it had the measles

    MM - your link to the article in the NYT was very helpful and explains a lot about the puzzles "du jour". Maybe I am not cut out to solve Saturday puzzles in this new day and age

    June 1 is a day that I always have in mind as it was my father's birthday. He shared the EXACT same birthday (day/month/year) with Marilyn Monroe and Andy Griffith. Had any of the three of them been alive today they would be 98 years' old. The sobering fact of that number (98) makes ME now feel "old"

    BTW, I replaced my recently totaled car with a used one. Different make/model; newer by three years; same number of miles on it as I had driven on my totaled car. Purchasing a car is not fun, regardless of how you do it (pay cash or finance)

    ReplyDelete
  32. I had to look up most of the proper names, none of which I would have been able to solve otherwise. At least I did know GREG Louganis and would have known GAL Gadot except I didn't see it because it had already been filled. Oh, and I knew FABERGE also.

    As for the puzzle as a whole, I lean on the same side as those of you who found little or no satisfaction or pleasure from solving this puzzle.

    Thanks to RosE, Malodorous Manatee, Lucina, and Jinx for your input regarding printers.

    Speaking of UNDERBITE, the British actor Nicholas Farrell sure has one!

    As for nail polish, I have used it instead of glue in electronic projects.

    Good wishes to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Jayce @ 2:32

    Not sure if anyone offered as a home printer choice a Brother DCP-L2550DW? We have one and are thrilled with it. Uses toner instead of ink. Very efficient and the print quality is perfect. Not color, but B & W (for us) works for anything except photos. And honestly, if you want to print photos it's cheaper (in the long run) to get them done at Walgreen's or CVS

    Good luck with whatever choice you make

    ReplyDelete
  34. Please explain END SCENE. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I made a feeble attempt to solve the puzzle early this morning. After two passes I TTIT. So many obscure clues to even get a toehold except the NE. I wanted to read the other comments before I added my two cents.

    I didn't finish IN A BLAZE of glory but rolled SNAKE EYES. Four clues for proper names on two shows 99+% of the populace doesn't watch or list to. I noticed the 'c' in congress but had no knowledge of it as a word for going upward around a cone on an inclined plane. SEXPERT crossing TWEENAGERS- never heard of either. I noticed the capital 'B' but didn't know if it was Roger or Kevin. I knew of the expression SIX DEGREES of separation but didn't know it was a parlor game; didn't fill it in either.

    And Lance and Bob managed to get both BAE and SESH in the same puzzle. YUK.

    CENA, HURSTON, AISHA, LONI- unknown as clued. At least I knew the diver, GREG Louganis.

    These types of puzzles kinda of ENUMERATE quite a few people, using the definition found in the clue of 51A.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Chairman, I bought my first and last inkjet printer over 30 years ago. I have a Brother MFC with a flatbed scanner. I also get the toner online for about 1/4 the price of the Brother toner cartridges. No color, only B&W, since most of what I print is thrown away after a week or two.

    ReplyDelete
  37. The worst part of this puzzle was the SE with THREE crossing names none of which I knew with the given clue. Unfair even with the eventual perps.

    Finished it but lots of lookups. Not enjoyable. Best section was NE.

    Tisket a Tasket, a green and yellow basket.

    Phooey.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Jinx, Congrats - sobriety makes all the difference.

    Waseeley @10:24, you are so right! I give the puzzle my best shot and enjoy it even if I cannot complete it perfectly. Whining isn’t allowed on Saturdays.

    Big Easy, I liked your clever use of “tick off” better than enumerate.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Picard @1:56 PM The first thing that came to my minds as an "Easter Egg" creator was MARY SUE.

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  40. Thanks for all the well-wishes on my sobriety milestone. Makes me less self-conscience of being a quitter.

    I was going to suggest satisfying any color printing at one of the retail stores that offer it. Then I read in a newsletter from computer guru Kim Komando "When you print a doc at FedEx, Staples or UPS, check the fine print. Their policies say they can use whatever you print for advertising or share it with unnamed third parties. No, thanks." She didn't mention Walgreens, so I don't know if they also do that.

    Hey everyone, the obfuscation could have been worse. Of all places, Wizard of Id required us to know what "LS Swapped" means to get our chuckles today. Mr. G told me that there are motorheads under 40 years old living among us, and they know that the term means swapping out a standard engine for a higher-performance Chevy LS engine. Hey, Wizard - I'll see your LS and raise you a Mopar 426 Hemi or a GM 427 dual quad.

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  41. Hola!

    Quite often I don't even finish Saturday puzzles so today surprized me but of course, I had help from ALEXA especially with AISHA.

    Etched forever in my brain is GREG Louganis in his pose ready to dive. For some reason and though it was so many years ago, that has stayed with me.

    I'm a big fan of Hercule Poirot and Miss Lemon as well as Captain Hastings whom I watch on Saturday nights. I believe the RINGLETS were a popular hair style in the 1920s.

    Though I'm familiar with Nora Zeale HURSTON I did not recognize the clue.

    One of the biggest thrills of visiting the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg was visiting the museum and seeing the many exquisite FABERGE eggs.

    I hope everyone has been enjoying this first day of June. Can you believe it? June!

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  42. I had a tough time with the puzzle and am soo delighted that a lot of you felt the same …..

    Misery loves company …. Or so they say ..

    And I thought it was me and my puny brain and IQ and lack of hip knowledge.

    Anyway, I learnt a lot, …. mostly useless stuff, …. But it made my time spent at my regular dialysis session ( … not sesh …) go by quickly.

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  43. This one was above my pay grade and I TITT.

    But I came here to reply FLN to YooperPhil. I have enjoyed that Tobermory area, the Chi-Cheemaun ferry and Manitoulin Island. Beautiful area. Enjoy!

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  44. waseeley Thanks for your take on EASTER EGG. Never heard of MARY SUE.

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  45. Read through this, I saw all the obscure proper names (with three of ‘em crossing in the SE corner) and decided to agree with most of y’all: Into the trash it went. I too have better ways to spend my time not having fun.

    Oh — to Anonymous at 7:25pm, 7:27pm, 7:33pm, 7:34pm, 7:35 pm and 7:36pm: We heard you the first time. Please stop going back up the replies and pasting in the same 🀬ing inane comment. Thank you.

    ====> Darren / L.A.

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