google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, July 24, 2024, Michael Schlossberg

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Jul 24, 2024

Wednesday, July 24, 2024, Michael Schlossberg

 DOGHOUSE


I am pleased to see a puzzle that is a standard 15x15 grid, with no circles, a SLEW of "quoted" clues, only a handful of proper names - but - we have a balance of thirteen 3LWs in both the Across and Down clues still.  Mr. Schlossberg has appeared before at the corner, dating as far back as 2019, as far as I can see.  The construction itself is a bit odd, I must admit, with a "*" theme answer starting us off at 1A.; enclosed in the parentheses are the necessary "parts" one would assemble to complete the "project" for your pet.  Those theme answers, with the centered reveal to start;

38. Labors of love, perhaps, and what the answers to the starred clues are?: PET PROJECTS

1. *Messy place [wire mesh, posts, fasteners]: PIGPEN - I had PIG STY to start

20. *Area with little privacy [candy jar, rocks, aerator, water]: GOLDFISH BOWL - Geez, I hope that's a BIG candy jar

https://3fc4ed44-3fbc-419a-97a1-a29742511391.selcdn.net/coub_storage/coub/simple/cw_timeline_pic/89429893dcb/4da78706f565cb36eb789/1535044750_image.jpg
Klaus of American Dad !

57. *Dull and repetitive job [cardboard, dowel, popsicle sticks, glue, scissors]: HAMSTER WHEEL - this clue/answer doesn't quite jibe for me; not quite sure how to phrase it


A trippy Monster Magnet song; lyric @ 0:54

71. *Irresistible thing [seeds, soil, water, sunlight]: CATNIP - I think you all know my "catnip"

https://us.123rf.com/450wm/denis83/denis832003/denis83200300030/142840860-beautiful-female-legs-in-high-heeled-shoes-on-the-windowsill-near-the-window.jpg?ver=6

And one more "Doghouse" reference. . . .

And Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

7. Fuss: ADO

10. Barracks bosses: Abbr.: SGTs - I saw "Barack's" at first, so I thought "huh~?" Aliens~?

https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/105/b3d/9d1add0545809d41495f1ad754e7aee58d-20-white-house-ufo.2x.h473.w710.jpg

14. Verdi opera: OTELLO - the "Italian" adaptation of the Bard; Guiseppe Verdi = "Joe Green" ( thanks, Victor Borge )

15. Pride or lust: SIN - se7en was a great movie

16. Time in office: TERM - Barack did two "terms"

17. Lose feeling: GO NUMB - my bum went numb as I had to deliver and pick-up pipes 1100 miles round-trip; the place - a renovation shop in Alliance OH, A.R. Schopp's Sons Co., making organs and pipes for over 100yrs

18. Winter sport vehicle: ICE CANOE

https://i.cbc.ca/1.3949311.1485225516!/fileImage/httpImage/travel-log-ice-canoeing.jpg

22. Cuppa, to a Brit: TEA - I occasionally go for a "spot" of tea

25. "Get it?": "SEE~?"

26. Fair-hiring letters: EEO - Equal Employment Opportunity

27. Director Brooks: MEL - Comic movie genius

28. Genesis figure: ADAM

30. Michael of "Juno": CERA

32. Depend (on): RELY

33. Group summoned to a courthouse: JURY POOL - there's something "off" about the wording of this clue/answer, too - like jurOR would be better. . . .

36. Country duo Maddie & __: TAE - no clue; their website

41. Pup's bark: YAP - not YIP today

42. Landscape alternative: PORTRAIT - photos and printing orientation

45. Pine (for): ACHE - my first fill was LONG - Bzzzt~!

48. Uncork, say: OPEN - see 54D.

50. Gumbo pod: OKRA

51. "Please explain": "WHY~?"

52. Actress de Armas: ANA - filled via perps; her IMDb - once I looked, I realized she was the hot "Bond girl" in No Time To Die - I loved her scenes~!

https://static.toiimg.com/photo/msid-77323548/77323548.jpg

53. Qty.: AMounT

56. Body part examined by an otolaryngologist: EAR - a long way to go for a 3LW; see 35D.

61. Insinuation: INNUENDO - OK, but what do you really mean~?

62. Dresser part: DRAWER

66. Shakespearean king: LEAR - more of the Bard

67. As well: TOO

68. Camden Yards ballplayer: ORIOLE - Waaay back when I was about 8yrs old, I thought this team had the coolest logo on their hats


69. French fashion magazine: ELLE

70. "Lisa From Temecula" sketch show, for short: SNL - crossword sketch show = Ektorp, and #13  for 3LW in the ACROSS


DOWN:

1. 1990s fad disc: POG - I was too old for this; essentially collectible cardboard discs

https://i0.wp.com/retropond.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Pogs-Featured.jpg?fit=1024%2C535&ssl=1

2. "How was __ know?": "I TO"

3. Lead-in to Xer, Yer, and Zer: GENeration

4. Stop (up): PLUG - I had CLOG, then STOP, duh, because of STY, and it messed up my NW

5. "__ World": "Sesame Street" feature: ELMO'S

6. Highborn: NOBLE

7. "You wish!": "AS IF~!"

8. More fraught: DICIER

9. Many a kayak: ONE-SEATER

https://atkinsontshirt.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/atkinsontshirt_Darth_Vadar_paddling_a_canoe_34dda720-ad15-4f08-9a7d-a7aedb4e51c2.png.webp 

may the "oars" be with you

10. Wild guess: STAB - or WAG, if you're doing the crossword

11. Biological map subject: GENOME

12. Mortar-spreading tool: TROWEL - and what some women use to apply makeup

13. Like some compost bins: SMELLY - I suppose it would "smell", but is it smell-Y~? The kitchen garbage, that's a different story. . . .

19. Comedian Margaret: CHO - becoming a crossword staple

21. Interior design: DÉCOR

22. __ Mahal: TAJ - I uploaded an image of my "Garage Mahal" sign a couple of months ago

23. College URL ender: EDU

24. 50+ group: AARP - technically, I qualify - but I am resisting the fact that I am "OLD"

29. "Nonsense!": "MY EYE~!"

31. Get hitched in Vegas, perhaps: ELOPE

32. Hip again: RETRO - I noticed that yoga pants are going "retro" now. . . .

Dare I say, "Bell Bottoms"~?

34. School org.: PTA

35. Foes: OPPONENTS - and a short way to get to a loooong answer

37. Play a part: ACT

39. "The Wolf of Wall Street" Oscar nominee Hill: JONAH - perps and WAGs

40. Sushi pairing: SAKE - Dah~!  I tried the NORI first

43. Golden yrs. fund: IRA - I have two; one is funded by the proceeds from my investment account to avoid taxation - works for me

44. Road goo: TAR

45. Some time: AWHILE

46. Big name in perfume: CHANEL

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/9a/ac/f3/9aacf3a1cd2a19deacf9419bb90e2de0.jpg
I am "intimidated" by these ads with ripped men;

I feel like I'm "not allowed" to wear this cologne

47. Church songbook: HYMNAL

49. "Excuse me?": "PARDON~?"

52. Noshed: ATE

54. French red wine: MEDOC - I quit drinking, ergo I don't drink wine; I was unfamiliar with this answer. . . .

https://images.vivino.com/labels/GlKorkdTTaKA9eoVB9HQwA.jpg 

. . . but 1971 was a great year to be "born". . . .

55. __ firma: TERRA

58. "Yeah, I guess so": "SURE."

59. Cold-weather fabric: WOOL

60. Milk, in French: LAIT - Frawnche, but I knew this

63. Came in first: WON

64. Yalie: ELI - Connecticut~!

65. Agt.: REP - #13 in the DOWN

Splynter




39 comments:

  1. Not sure I really understand what the stuff in parentheses is all about, but, anyway, I didn’t find this puzzle to be all that difficult. FIR, so I’m happy.

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  2. FIR in 11:58. I sussed the PROJECT part of the theme but missed the PET references, although it didn’t really help with the solve. Rare to have themers in the first and last across answers. Took perps to get the names TAE, ANA and CERA (not to be confused with that guy named Cena). Learning moment of the day ~ there is a sport called ICE CANOEing, but I bet some of our friends up north are familiar with it 🇨🇦. Sounds like participating would cause one to GO NUMB. I wonder who coined the cool word INNUENDO? I think I could build most of those PROJECTs, but that HAMSTER WHEEL had better come with some good instructions. Thank you Michael for the puzzle and Splynter for the expo!

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  3. Good morning!

    Cute "construction" on this one. I liked it. Went sideways in a couple of spots, but it quickly resolved. Thanx, Michael and Splynter. (That compost bin is full of rotting vegetation, and yes, it is smelly.)

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  4. FIR, but erased one person for ONE SEATER. It's onlt Wednesday, so I knew I wouldn't have to throw in the TROWEL.

    "Oto" gave away the game for EAR.

    Don Henley wrote and sang:
    We can do "The INNUENDO", we can dance and sing
    When it's said and done, we haven't told you a thing
    We all know that crap is king
    Give us Dirty Laundry!


    Thanks to Michael for the fun puzzle. I'm not much into themes anyway, so this weak one didn't detract from my pleasure. And thanks to Splynter for the tour, especially the nice gam.

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  5. As always an entertaining write-up both verbally and visually when Splynter is on set. He does seem a bit grumpy as it really is the JURY POOL which is summoned, not individuals jurors and SMELLY made perfect sense particularly where 6 spaces were needed.

    The Olympics are starting soon, enjoy. Maybe one day solving puzzles will be an event.

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  6. Speaking of compost heaps, BERG translates to HILL (not Jonah) and SCHLOSS to CASTLE . We went to school with a Schlossberg who magically became Castle over one summer. I wonder if our constructor is related to Caroline Kennedy's grandchildren?

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  7. Took 5:14 today for me to get out of the (wood, hammer, nails) bird house.

    Unusual theme, which I basically ignored.

    Seemed easy for a Wednesday.

    I didn't know today's French lesson (lait) and I'd never heard of "Tae". I've only seen "Cho" in crossword puzzles.

    Ice canoe is a "thing"?

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  8. FIR. I had very little trouble with this Wednesday puzzle. Seemed easier than most midweek challenges.
    I failed to get the theme till I got here, but it wasn't needed to finish.
    Only mysteries to me were the proper names, but perps made them fill.
    Overall a fun puzzle, quite enjoyable, so there's that.

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  9. Good Morning:

    Thanks, everyone, for the kind words about yesterday's collaboration with our one and only Crossword Queen, CC. In retrospect, I can understand the slight confusion about the reveal answer, relative to the themers. As far as the 22 TLWs, no, I wasn't happy about the number, but grid design dictates the fill and I have no control over grid design. Had I been critiquing this puzzle, I would have mentioned the over-abundance, just as I always do, my puzzle notwithstanding.

    Speaking of TLWs, Splynter counted 26, I counted 28. Either one is noticeably high and can be attributed to the very unusual design of the grid. Fans of these little guys must have been very happy. I, OTOH, am always happy to see a creature-centric theme and today's certainly fit the bill. I, too, had Sty before Pen and I needed perps for Medoc and Tae. The rest was smooth sailing to a quick and easy solve. I didn't fully understand the theme execution, including the parenthetical items, until Splynter's concise explanation.

    Thanks, Michael, for a fun mid-week theme and thanks, Splynter, for the review and commentary, plus the visuals.

    Have a great day.

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  10. Even though I did not know any of the proper names I was able to complete the puzzle. Once I got pet projects I was able to go back to one across and fill in PIGPEN.

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  11. Thanks Michael for a whimsical Wednesday FIR - very creative theme clues, and reveal.

    And thanks Splynter for your fun,lavishly illustrated review -- I knew it was you the minute I saw CATNIP. Not bad for an old timer. 😁

    A few favs:

    14A OTELLO. Verdi's penultimate opera and the home of the villainous IAGO, who makes frequent appearances in crosswords. Verdi's last opera was his only comedy Falstaff, loosely based on another Shakespearean play, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Both Verdi works are his masterpieces.

    33A JURY POOL. Before the JURORS are seated for a trial they have to be selected from a large JURY POOL, in a process called voir dire. I've been called up many times, but never selected.

    52A ANA. I've only seen her great performance in the 2019 film Knives Out. A bonus in that film was Daniel Craig with a Southern accent!

    66A LEAR. A CSO to Ol' Man Keith.

    68A ORIOLE. They're hot!

    11D GENOME. The mapping of human GENOME was completed in 2003.

    32D RETRO. 'Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. ' -- Oscar Wilde.

    52D MEDOC. I haven't quit drinking, and MEDOC is one of my favorite Bordeaux's. MOE will tell you about it.

    Cheers,
    Bill

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  12. Getting the PET theme was very helpful. After I finished I realized that the words in parentheses were what was needed to complete the project in the answer. Clever theme.
    Lemonade, so nice to hear from you. I am glad you can participate again. I agree about jury pool and smelly. Google switches you from juror pool to jury pool. Being a reader of many crime novels I aced this one.
    I am amazed how many dissed crossword answers are common in novels. I have been reading at least 4 novels a week since I have been living here.
    Compost heaps can be made less smelly by adding grass clippings, coffee grounds and turning the pile over frequently. A finished compost heap ready to use smells like soil. My dad was an expert at composting. Ours was not very smelly.
    Cafe au lait, coffee with (hot) milk is quite common in my experience.
    As a red wine aficionado I knew MEDOC.

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  13. Waseeley, I didn't consider Daniel Craig's southern accent a "bonus."

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  14. Musings
    -CERA, TAE and MEDOC went quietly
    -JURY POOL – I showed up on the 9th at 8am instead of on the 8th at 9am but since no jury was needed, I escaped any punishment.
    -When I finally got the time right, I was excused quickly after after my very direct answers during voir dire
    -Some baseball writers say a pitcher “UNCORKED a wild pitch”
    -I play golf with this 85-yr-old ex-ORIOLE who played with Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, et al.
    -He is a crossword solver and yesterday I told him what a natick is
    -POGS were ubiquitous in my 90’s classroom
    -A TROWEL became an extension of my hand when I was a bricklayer
    -RETRO cars of my childhood are now hot properties
    -Today marks the 55th anniversary of when Apollo 11 started their return to TERRA firma after traveling 953,904 miles to and from The Sea Of Tranquility starting with their splashdown in the Pacific and being taken aboard the USS Hornet.

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  15. Fun puzzle, good PET PROJECTS, although a PIG is an uncommon pet, and I'd have a hard time making a hamster wheel with those materials.

    I disagree with Splynter about 13 Down, Like some compost bins: SMELLY. He writes, "I suppose it would "smell", but is it smell-Y~? The kitchen garbage, that's a different story. . . ." People smell with their noses. Garbage (and some compost bins) are SMELLY.

    The INNUENDO in Splynter's comment on 10 Across, Barracks bosses, I find completely unacceptable, although perhaps I misunderstand it. We are not allowed to discuss politics in our comments, so why should we be subjected to it in the blog post?

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  16. D-O @9:31 AM "À chacun son goût"! But then I guess you're probably a better judge of Southern accents than I am.

    Husker @9:59 AM Yeah, I think defense attorneys have a "smart juror" detector, the last person they want on a jury.

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  17. I don't see the political issue with drill sergeants being barracks bosses. We are talking about the military. Google says, "The drill instructors live in the barracks in order to provide constant oversight, give orders, and ensure trainees are following the proper procedures and schedules at all times." We have seen this many times in the movies
    Mini pigs have grown in popularity and are often advertised as easy-to-care-for house pets. Some downsides are that most of them grow to be far larger than the owners expected and many municipalities do not allow them as house pets.
    We register for jury duty and are assigned a priority number. The night before, we are notified how many of the top priority numbers need to report. The rest are excused. I was chosen twice. One time the issue was settled during lunch break without beginning the trial. The other time all of us professionals were rejected during voir dire. I was exempted from jury duty during the school months and was called in the summer time. Now I am exempted due to my age.

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  18. A zippy FIR this morning with an unusual but interesting theme. The dearth of proper names was greatly appreciated, as the only one I knew was CHO. (Thank you, perps!) The rest of it was smack dab on the middle of my wavelength. (For a change) Once again, a superior and enjoyable hot wash from Splynter. Mmmm...Catnip!

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  19. Good Morning! Good puzzle and a clever theme. Thanks, Michael.
    It wasn’t until after I finished, I put together the clues and fills to create the theme. Nice!!
    Perps were kind and well placed. (TAE, MEDOC)
    I had no problem with JURY POOL.
    Fav word: INNUENDO.
    Thanks, Splynter for summing it up.

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  20. Wonderful Wednesday. Thanks for the fun, Michael and Splynter.
    I FIRed in good time and saw the PET PROJECTS. (although I thought the reveal came too soon).
    YAP was an Easter Egg, and Splynter provided the doghouse for the pup.

    One inkblot to change that kayak from ONE person to SEATER
    I thought of PIG sty but was debating between Clog or PLUG. The P led to PEN.
    I thought of Direr but DICIER fit the spot (and crossed the ICE CANOE). (Yes, YooperPhil, I think Splynter’s photo shows the CE CANOE races that are part of Carnival in Quebec City)
    CHANEL crossing ELLE was appropriate.

    The Verdi opera was not Aida but OTELLO (Italian instead of Shakespeare’s Othello - but we did have LEAR).
    Perps were fair for the unknown-to-me JONAH, ANA and TAE.
    I always am confused between EEO and EOE, and wait for perps to decide.. EEO stands for Equal Employment Opportunity and EOE stands for Equal Opportunity Employer.

    Wishing you all a great day.

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  21. YR- NaomiZ was referring to Splynter’s comment about reading Barracks as Barack’s. His comment I about his thought process after that was where the “politics intruded”. Even this Canadian caught it (although I was not as offended as some Americans would be).

    Yes, Anon@7:32, ICE CANOE is a thing, but warmer winters are decreasing its availability.
    Sign up here
    IceCanoeExperience

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  22. Yellowrocks, CanadianEh! understood. Splynter said he read the clue as Barack's bosses, and then treated us to a visual of a UFO above the White House. The INNUENDO, as I read it, is that Barack Obama was controlled by aliens, or at least seemed to be.

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  23. Thank you to Michael for his PET-friendly puzzle! FAV: Landscape alternative (xeriscape did not fit) and INNUENDO
    ICE CANOE?? Who knew??
    If your compost pile is SMELLY, you need to turn it more often. I do not put any proteins in mine. Those can stink it up, too.
    At first I thought I had no idea how to say "milk" in French then I thought of cafe au LAIT. #FTW

    Thanks to Splynter for today's recap. The thought of Darth Vader going for a meditative solo paddle will put an "inside joke" smile on my face all day.
    = )

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  24. Hola!

    PIGPEN is also a character in "Peanuts" comic strip.

    Thanks to Michael and Splynter for the Wednesday entertainment. I see that MICHAEL inserted himself in the clues.

    Among other PETS, my daughter had a HAMSTER. Others were dogs (of course), a snake and a goldfish. She desperately wanted a horse but of course we couldn't have it in our condo complex. I used to take her to visit friends with horses and she helped to exercise them.

    Although I have a WOOL blend coat I've worn it only a few times.

    I've also been summoned for JURY duty but have never actually served.

    TERRA is one letter away from Spanish, tierra.

    At our church we don't have HYMNALs; the words are flashed on two overhead screens.

    Enjoy your day, everyone!

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  25. Enjoyed the PET PROJECTS theme. My PETs have always been frogs, lizards and turtles.

    DW gives out food samples at Costco. Yesterday she had a story that is becoming ever more common: A guy comes over with no shopping basket. He has a big dog. Not even the usual fake "Service Animal" jacket on it. He alternates between feeding himself and his dog. They had to throw out the rest of the samples because he contaminated them with dog slobber.

    Not sure how widespread this is in other parts of the US. It is infuriatingly common now in Santa Barbara for people to bring their dogs into restaurants and food stores. Maybe it is the extreme sense of entitlement that prevails here.

    Here we visited a SAKE brewery near Osaka.

    We don't usually drink much, but we did enjoy sampling these local drinks in our travels.

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  26. Hi All!

    Fairly easy Wednesday though it took a bit to figure out the clue parts in the [ ]s. Thanks Michael for the diversion.

    Another wonderful expo, Splynter. Thanks for the images ;-)

    WOs: yern -> ACHE, OPPOsiti oops -> OPPONENT
    ESPs: TAE, JONAH, MEDOC, ANA
    Fav: Always fun to see MEL Brooks.

    NaomiZ - I didn't find the comic / comment political - I mean who could be the boss of the most power person in the country (world?) except mind controlling ETs? :-)
    //and I think the thought process would apply for any president if confused with a clue. Ike's bosses would illicit the same silliness.

    I vermicompost feeding the red worms only fruit & vegetable scraps and coffee. Onions & citrus are right out. A jar's lid of apple cider vinegar traps the fruit flies.

    ACHE's clue left me Pining for the Fjords [Dead Parrot Sketch] but the INNUENDO in Nudge, Nudge brought me back.
    //FLN - LOL Cat on the Telly story, sumdaze.

    Lucina - can I guess the times you wore the WOOL coat? Your trip to the NE and a few summers ago in San Francisco :-)

    //story time
    JURY Duty - one time every case was settled before dismissing all of us. Another the woman fought getting a ticket for a rolling "stop" claiming she did stop but then admitting she slowed to a California-roll, looked, and went b/f getting the ticket. 1/2 the Jury wanted to let her off and the other 1/2 wanted to reduce the fine. I was more "Are you kidding me? She wasted 1/2 our day and then admitted to not stopping. Sucks to get caught ('cuz I do it too sometimes) but thems the rules."
    //It's funny too 'cuz the defendant printed up posters depicting the intersection, pictures of the area, etc. She thought herself a regular Perry Mason.

    Cheers, -T

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  27. Puzzling thoughts:

    FIR in short order; thanks to Michael and Splynter for the entertainment

    Since you asked me ... MEDOC is an area within Bordeaux. A rather large one, at that. Wikipedia describes it on their website as: "Médoc is an AOC (appelation) for wine in the Bordeaux wine region of southwestern France, on the Left Bank of the Gironde estuary that covers the northern section of the viticultural strip along the Médoc peninsula. The zone is sometimes called Bas-Médoc (English: Low-Médoc), though this term is not permitted on any label. With few exceptions there is produced only red wine, and no white wine has the right to be called Médoc"

    Within the MEDOC are sub-regions/villages: Saint-Estephe, Saint-Julien, Margaux, and Pauillac. In the Medoc region of Bordeaux, there are only 5 red grape varietals that can be LEGALLY planted: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. Period

    If you were to (possibly) compare MEDOC to a California region, think NAPA, as all of the aforementioned grapes are grown within that appellation. Within Napa a few of the sub-regions/villages include Saint Helena, Rutherford, Oakville, and Spring Mountain, to name a few (there are 16, actually)

    If you are looking for a fairly affordable and very consistent MEDOC, check out Chateau Greysac. You're welcome!

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  28. Splynters whitehouse/ufo reference immediately reminded me of the old Simpsons episode "...and I for one, welcome our new overlords...) but I can see AnonTs take on it too! LOL!

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  29. H.Gary, pitchers seem to make the best golfers of all the positions. I've heard it's because of having more time to kill on the road whenever they've just pitched, or are scheduled to pitch the next day.

    NapmiZ - I agree that the bloggers have more free reign than commenters. I've had several comments either deleted or censored that were milder than what the day's blogger wrote. ('Course I've had some comments that I expected to be taken down, but that have survived intact, so who knows? I write primarily for my enjoyment. They can take away my words but not my joy.)

    I've been in the POOL many times and have been dismissed three times. Twice I think it was because I was an engineer at the time. The third was for having been a witness in a counterfeiting trial, and made it clear that I was pleased with the verdict that was reached. I have also opted out of jury service due to age, but I may change that after my DW no longer needs my assistance. BTW, why do some think it is the defense that rejects logical and/or intelligent people? I wasn't told which side kicked me to the curb. I'm not sure that prosecutors want the sharpest knives in the drawer either.

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  30. Thanks for the MEDOC info, C-Moe!

    -T. That's a great JURY POOL story. It reminded me of this one. My friend presided over the traffic court on a military base. (-T knows, but for those of you who do not, the MPs (Military Police) are very strict. The speed limit is 20 mph and they will ticket you at 21 mph.) A driver was accused of making an illegal U-turn. The MPs were a ways behind them and got it on video with their dash cam. The driver contested the ticket saying the U-turn was OK because "no other cars were around the area". My friend said, "Not true. The MP vehicle was there. Guilty. Next..."

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  31. Super easy CW this morning. Only a couple of unknown names, so no problem.

    However, I didn’t quite get the words in parentheses and their connections to the answers. And I still don’t. It looked like I was playing connetions.

    Thanks Splynter for the nice recap and for the eye candy for the women,

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  32. Fun Wednesday puzzle, many thanks, Michael. And always enjoy your commentary, Splynter, thanks for that too.

    Well, I love animals, so getting a PET theme was fun, starting off with that PIG in its pen, and ending up with that CAT enjoying its nip of cat food. I loved having GOLD FISH as a kid, although I can't remember if I ever had a HAMSTER. And no, I definitely never had an ORIOLE, although I'm sure that would have been a delight. But my specialty was DACHSHUNDS, although both of mine were taken out by coyotes in the end, and I just couldn't risk losing any more of them that way. Well, enough about my PET PROJECTS--time to get some lunch.

    Have a lovely day, everybody.

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  33. Picard@12:41. It’s happening here also, in the last two weeks three times I’ve seen dogs, though small ones, at my local Albertson’s. One, the woman had difficulty getting her groceries in her cart (we say buggy here) because in the main part of it was a pretty white doggy bed and in the bed was a lovely white dog.

    What I encountered is not objectionable to me but what you describe happened to your DW should not be allowed.

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  34. sumdaze - LOL the friend's MP story. I learned early on to have a smoke with those guys -- make buddies and they'd (sometimes) go easy on you.

    C.Moe - I'm going to write down that wine for DW.

    Monkey - the things in the []s are what it takes for your PROJECT to build for your PET.
    Hope that helps a bit.

    Jinx - never let on that your sharp. Neither side seems to like that.

    Always a lovely tie-in, Misty.

    Cheers, -T

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  35. Mr. Genius here decided to go to his appt with his retinal surgeon FIRST, then come home to do the CW. Pure genius, to get the eyes dilated FIRST then try to read and complete the CW. Oy. I fid manage to FIR, wearing two pair of readers, but did not read all the comments. Other than my difficulty reading the clues, I found this CW a bit easier than most Wednesdays. (I always wonder why there is a "D" in "Wednesday". Is it the day you are supposed to get married?) Anyway, thanx MS for the fun CW, and thanx too to Splynter: ALWAYS a fun and informative write-up. Oh, meant to mention: the award for coolest logo for a baseball team goes, hands down, to the Brewers.

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  36. Prof M’s law class for the day:

    [U]nder the law of defamation, there is an element called INNUENDO. It is basically any statement or imputation that appears to be prima facie innocent but has an inner meaning that is defamatory.”(medium.com)

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  37. U.Fred, dunno about that. The Wichita Wind Surge has a pretty snazzy logo too.

    Got any trial lawyers in the Corner? Would love to hear a few takes on the voir dire process. I've heard judges say it is a mystery to them, but I think they may have just been playing to the POOL. From what I gather, it's more art than science.

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  38. I liked this puzzle, though I didn't fully appreciate the theme until reading the explanation here.

    I used to enjoy a nice Haut MEDOC. This coming February I will have had no alcohol for 2 years.

    Good reading you all.

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  39. Monkey Thanks for the report. If I understand your profile, you are in Louisiana. The situation you describe means that the dogs' butts were exactly where future customers would place their food. How nice.

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