google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday September 24, 2024 Norman M Aaronson

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Sep 24, 2024

Tuesday September 24, 2024 Norman M Aaronson

Tiny Bubbles.  Notice that each theme answer is in the Down position and the first word of each answer is in circles.  The circles Bubble Up and the word in the circles can be a type of a Bubble.

3-Down. Melodramatic series: SOAP OPERA.  Soap Bubbles.

5-Down. Professional who helps correct communication disorders: SPEECH THERAPIST.  Speech Bubbles.


9-Down. Summer coolers: AIR CONDITIONERS.  Air Bubbles.

And the unifier:

36-Down. Rises to the top, or what can be found in this puzzle?: BUBBLES UP.  YooperPhil reminded me that there is a soda called BubbleUp.  


Across:
1. Flat-topped landform: MESA.  Everything you wanted to know about Mesas but didn't know to ask.


5. South Pacific island group: SAMOA.  The Samoa Islands look like a paradise in the pacific.


10. Wraparound dress in Hindi cinema: SARI.  I just The Henna Artist, by Alka Joshi, which delves into Indian culture in the 1950s.  The author describes in detail the wearing of Saris and the meaning of various materials and designs of the dress.


14. Nutrient in leafy greens: IRON.


15. St. __ Girl beer: PAULI.  St. Pauli Girl Beer is a German beer.  The name comes from the former St. Paul's Friary in Bremen, which was next to the original St. Pauli brewery established.  St Pauli Girl's Beers has been available in the United States since 1965.  The beers are brewed in compliance with the German Purity Laws of 1516.



16. Like most Olympic years: EVEN.

17. Super-vision?: X-RAY.
18. Enthusiastic: EAGER.

19. Mr. Peanut accessory: CANE.


20. Congressional helper: PAGE.

22. More frightening: SCARIER.

24. "No seats" B'way sign: SRO.  As in Standing Room Only.


26. Sch. near Hollywood: UCLA.  As in the University of California, Los Angeles.  The UCLA Bruins lost to the LSU Tigers last Saturday in Death Valley.


29. Eggy brunch dish: OMELET.  Yummers!


30. Store with printing services: COPY SHOP.

32. Small quibble: NIT.

33. Under the covers: ABED.


34. Coarse woolens: TWEEDS.  This has become a crossword staple that appears often in the Tuesday puzzles.

36. Chem. in some plastics: BPA.  As in BisPhenol A.  Bisphenol A is a chemical compound used in the manufacturing of various plastics. It is a colourless solid which is soluble in most common organic solvents, but has very poor solubility in water.  BPA is produced on an industrial scale by the condensation reaction of phenol and acetone.  


39. Cayenne automaker: PORSCHE.  Everything you should know about the Porsche Cayenne before finalizing the purchase.


41. Sniffler's boxful: TISSUES.


43. Approx. affected by weather: ETA.  As in Estimated Time of Arrival.  Heavy rain or a snow storm can delay travel time.

44. "Be that as it may": YES, BUT.

46. Online bidding site: E-BAY.



47. Downtime, briefly: RNR.  As in Rest anRelaxation.

48. Like content that can be revised: EDITABLE.  Not to be confused with Edible, although that, too, would "revise" the content.

50. Tater Tots brand: ORE-IDA.  Yummers!  Who doesn't like Tater Tots.


53. "Ouch!": YEOW.

54. "__ the games begin!": LET.

55. Harmonica ancestor: PANPIPE.


57. Smeller: NOSE.


59. Sitting on: ATOP.

60. "Who knew!": I'LL BE.

63. "NFL Primetime" network: ESPN.  The name of the network, which was established in 1979, originally was named Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.  The name was so long that in 1985, it was renamed to just ESPN.

66. Aggravate: RILE.

67. Makeup mishap: SMEAR.



68. Ballet skirt: TUTU.


69. Pond croaker: TOAD.


70. __ down: softens: TONES.

71. Tiff: SPAT.

Down:
1. Stir: MIX.


2. Be off the mark: ERR.

4. Taylor-Joy of "The Menu": ANYA.  Can you believe that we made it all the way to 4-Down before encountering a person?  The Menu is a comedy thriller about a couple who trek to remote island to sample a lavish $1,250/person menu.  Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy (b. Apr. 16, 1996) portrays one of the diners.  [Name # 1.]


6. Duracell size: AAA.
7. Coffee holder: MUG.

8. Fútbol cheers: OLÉs.  This has become a crossword staple.

10. Hidden: SECRET.

11. To no __: without success: AVAIL.

12. "Girls5eva" co-star __ Elise Goldsberry: RENÉE.  I am familiar with neither Girls5eva, a television musical comedy, nor Renée Elise Goldsberry (b. Jan. 2, 1971).  [Name # 2.]


13. Dormant: INERT.

21. Director Van Sant: GUS.  Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. (b. July 24, 1952) has directed many films, including the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, which launched the careers of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.  [Name # 3.]


23. Not quite correct: AMISS.

24. Garlic stalk available at springtime farmers markets: SCAPE.  What are Garlic Scapes?


25. Automaton: ROBOT.


27. Home Depot rival: LOWES.


28. Mimic: APE.

31. Fabric store meas.: YDS.  Fabric is sold by the Yard.


35. Piano practice piece: ÉTUDE.

37. Writer Norman Vincent __: PEALE.  Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 ~ Dec. 24, 1993) was a theologian, but is best known for his book The Power of Positive Thinking.  [Name # 4.]


38. Thus far: AS YET.

40. Singer Lauper: CYNDI.  Cyndi Lauper (née Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper; b. June 22, 1953) was big in 1980s.   Her 1983 debut album She's So Unusual (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achieve four top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100.  [Name # 5.]



42. Mediterranean __: SEA.


45. "Queen __": pop music nickname: BEY.  Also known as Beyoncé (née Beyoncé Giselle Knowles; b. Sept. 4, 1981).  [Name # 6.]


47. Very muscular: RIPPED.


49. Pair: TWO.

50. Visually stimulating images: OP ART.


51. Quantitative comparison: RATIO.

52. Sherlock's teen sister: ENOLA.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did not create Enola Holmes.  She was added to the family later.  [Name # 7, Fictional.]

56. Red resident of Sesame Street: ELMO.  [Name # 8, Fictional.]





58. Gels: SETS.

61. Actor Cariou: LEN.  Leonard Joseph Cariou (b. Sept. 30, 1939) is a Canadian actor.  I recognize him from his recurring role on Murder, She Wrote.  [Name # 9.]


62. Sweetie: BAE.

64. Sch. support group: PTA.  As in the Parent Teacher Association.

65. Pecan or cashew: NUT.

Here's the Grid:



חתולה



47 comments:

Subgenius said...

Once again, Tuesday’s puzzle seemed easier than Monday’s, at least to me. But at least the reveal was something of a surprise. FIR, so I’m happy.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Saw the circles. Saw the words in the circles. Wondered what they had in common. Thanx to Hahtoolah for the explication. So there was a reveal? EDITABLE was the only awkwardness encountered on my stroll through the grid. Thanx, Norman. Great cartoons this morning, Hahtoolah.

CANE: We keep Q-Tips in a Mr. Peanut-shaped jar. It was a 75th anniversary gimmick for the Planters company.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

FIR, but erased aide for PAGE, cindi for CYNDI, and duo for TWO.

Mr. Peanut was "born" in Suffolk, VA, where we will be parking our RV tomorrow.

Do they really sell SRO tickets to Broadway shows? Methinks this is a relic of the past, kinda like me.

BPA, not to be confused with Poly-B pipes which are likely to flood the house.

We teased a coworker by referring to her 914 PORSCHE as a Volkswagen. It actually did have the same 1700 CC engine as the '72 VW Microbus.

TOAD is how RVers spel their towed vehicles. No wonder I fit right in.

Thanks to Norman for the fun Tuesday exercise, and to Ha2la for another chuckle-worthy review. I really liked the beetle postscript.

YooperPhil said...

“Where there’s a perp, there’s a way” is my reasoning, and that held true today as perps gave me the unknowns of SCAPE, PAN PIPE, BPA, and of course the usual names unfamiliar to me, GUS, ANYA and the ‘girls5eva’ co-star RENEE (a CSO to a much more well known Renee here on the Corner). The only ENOLA I know is Gay. FIR in 8:52 due to aforementioned perp aid. BUBBLE UP is a lemon/lime soft drink like Sprite, not sure if it’s regional but stores here sell it. What could be so poorly written that it would be rendered INEDITABLE? Surprised AERATE didn’t find its way into this puzzle. Thank you Norman for the enjoyable solve!

Hahtoolah ~ always a pleasure to read your Tuesday blogs! I agree, Tater Tots make a good side, there was a real shortage during the pandemic.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Crossword friends. Thank you, YooperPhil, for reminding me of the Bubble Up soda. I added it to the commentary.

QOD: There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember what the second one is. ~ Mark Hanna (né Marcus Alonzo Hanna; Sept. 24, 1837 ~ Feb. 15, 1904), American politician

BobB said...

Never heard of scape but have heard of ramps. If you rode a school bus in the mountains of North Carolina, you are familiar with ramps.

YooperPhil said...

😊

CrossEyedDave said...

Haven't done the puzzle yet, but I was reading the late nite comments and saw that my silly theme link, and my birthday cake link for Teri was deleted?

Jinx in Norfolk said...

"The only ENOLA I know is Gay." Isn't that a little personal?

BTW - I think it was before you moved into the Corner that Picard and I discovered that we both knew a terrific lady named ENOLA Gay. She died far too young.

Anonymous said...

G ot this one in 5:51 today.

A ctress of today and actor of today were both unknown (Renee & Len).

S o, without further ado: Oh joy, circles!

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Dang - they were there and they worked - I saw them. That was fairly early - wonder if there's other stuff that got routed to the bit bucket?

KS said...

FIR. I groaned when I saw circles, and there were too many proper names, but the perps helped with them. I have a problem with editable and copy shop; these seemed a stretch to me. And scape? What? Never heard of it.
I had no problem throwing down the long answers, and the theme was clever. And since the solve was relatively easy, overall the puzzle was enjoyable.

Tehachapi Ken said...

This was an interesting puzzle on several levels. It was well-constructed; in particular I appreciated the two vertical grid-spanners. Well done, Norman.

On the nit-picking side, there were the usual annoying candidates like BPA, ANYA, SCAPE, and RNR. But they behaved themselves by staying in the vicinity of helpful perps.

And I noted that both soap bubbles and air bubbles are real physical entities, while speech bubbles....well, I'm not sure what they are, but probably those little balloons in comic strips that show what a character is saying. Not exactly physical entities like soap and air bubbles.

To me, though, the most interesting feature of this puzzle was the word EDITABLE. My first thought was that the word was awkward, and that Norman (Patti?) was trying to be cutely inventive.

After all, isn't everything I ever wrote in a dissertation editable? And as for inventing words, 400 years ago there were a couple chaps, Will Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe, who started a cottage industry by inventing words. And we're still using most of those words today.

But the most compelling aspect of this word stems from our computer age--wait a minute--editable by whom? For example, can/should something be edited in a text document by a user?

Thanks, Norman, for a thoughtful puzzle that jarred me alert this morning!

YooperPhil said...

Ken - now that you mentioned it, I and others here have remarked before how nice it would be for comments on the Corner to be made ‘editable’ by the poster after they are published, much like one can do with a FB post, to correct typos, errors, omissions or add something.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I ran out of blank cells in a hurry!
-Susan’s fine recap, proves you can’t have too many kitties or cartoons
-We got our flu shots yesterday and have an ample supply of Kleenex (we never say tissues)
-ORE-IDA two days in a row.
-Kids run to the lunch room a little faster when tater tots are on the menu
-Odd competition is no stranger to ESPN
-CYNDI required me to rearrange the Y and the I
-Sherlock’s sister ENOLA (alone backwards) is supplanting Col. Tibbets’ B-29 here.

TTP said...

It's there again. Someone or something (Blogger?) put it in the moderation filter in the last few hours. I know it was done recently because I cleaned out the spam and moderation filters this morning.

TTP said...

Jinx, I knew Enola Gay. Her last name started with a W.

TTP said...

Yooper, to be clear, that's a limitation of Blogger. You can't edit a published comment on any Blogger blogspot.

Monkey said...

Nothing wrong with this puzzle. I appreciated the lack of names, at least until the down section.

I had SOAP OPERA Immediately, then erased it when I thought the congressional helper would be aide. I again corrected myself,again, and got it right.

Hurray for tater tots. I’m a tatertotatarian. Ooh, spell check didn’t like that.

I love garlic but didn’t know about SCAPES. Nice to know. When we used to drive from the San Jose airport down to the Monterrey peninsula, we’d drive by Gilroy, the garlic capital and enjoyed the garlic aroma in the AIR.

So, neat puzzle and great recap from Hahtoolah. I love those cartoons, like the poor D battery one, and I laughed at that clever political quote.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

This was a pleasant Tuesday solve with a very cute reveal. Renée was the only unknown, unlike our well-known Reneé. No w/os and only one nit with the quirky Editable. Len Cariou's latest role is that of Tom Selleck's father on Blue Bloods.

Thanks, Norman, and thanks, Hahtoolah, for a fun and interesting review. Favorite visuals today were for Iron, X-Ray, Abed, Nose, AAA, and the garden Beetle. 🤣

Have a great day.

RosE said...

Good Morning! A nice change-up today with the vertical themers. I found a bit of crunch in the west, but eventually resolved with some kind perps.

WOs: I had XRAY in-out-in when aide changed to PAGE. Lew -> LEN. I should know him as my favorite character, Henry, in Blue Bloods.

BPA: a big selling point for plastic food containers is “BPA-free.”
Perps for :
SCAPE, they sound tasty. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen them but will try to remember to look for them next Spring.
PANPIPE;
RNR – Aha, I didn’t see it until the perps filled.

Thanks, Hah2lah. Cute kitty toons with the bubble catcher and shark bed.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

Easy but forgot all about the theme. Can I still claim a FIR?

For a Tuesday ANYA might have preferably been clued as the “Queen’s Gambit” actress (actor?) better known than her role in “The Menu”, (an excellent film BTW).

“Coffee holder” not urn not cup, MUG, fooled yah!! (Me 2)
IRON in leafy veggies, Popeye would agree. Saw two episodes of “Girls5eva” not my cuppa or should I say MUGga tea. CYNDI (she’s 71!) and the rest of the “Girls Just wanna Have Fun

RNR sometimes gives me 🐾 🐾 like ATOZ but not ATOP….. BAE is back 🙄.

Since they are aquatic that “pond croaker” is more likely a frog.

We work with SPEECHTHERAPISTS using fluoroscopy to evaluate swallowing capabilities/anomlies to prevent aspiration.

Yikes!! They’re still using German Purity laws from 1516 to brew St. PAULI Girl beer? (what, they limit the acceptable number of rats that can fall into the vats? Think I’ll pass 😝)

Garlic SCAPE?

What “Oliver!” asked for ….. SAMOA
To get RIPPED belly muscles he ___ Up….ABED
….________ baked a cake….OREIDA.

H2LH …My fav was “stop and smell the roses” 😃 and where can I get that MUG for DW!

Big Easy said...

A puzzle so easy an AIRhead could FIR. I realized I had a few fills done by perps after hA2la write up was read. After SOAP, SPEECH, and AIR were filled
by perps I looked at the clues and filled OPERA, THERAPIST, and CONDITIONER- too easy.

I filled UBBLES UP by perps, read the clue, and that gave me the B for BPA- lots of organic chemicals with abbrs.
Thank you PORSCHE because SCAPE was a complete unknown.
ANYA, RENEE, BEY- unknown women..

Yes, UCLA lost to LSU this past Saturday. My granddaughter, who graduated from LSU, is a SPEECH THERAPIST.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Samuel Adams was the first American beer to pass the Reinheitsgebot, aka the German Beer Purity Law or the Bavarian Purity Law, which had three goals: to protect beer drinkers from rising prices, to ban the use of wheat, so that more bread could be made, and to prevent unscrupulous brewers from using toxic ingredients as preservatives or flavorings. Must be true - I read it on the internet.

CrossEyedDave said...

Many across were finished first, so I missed a bunch of down clue/answers...

Thanks to you guys, now every time I open a puzzle and see circles, my mind automatically says "oh joy, circles," in a sarcastic tone, even though I don't mind them at all. Don't mind my mind, it's a bit weird. Like when I finished, my mind thought, "hey wait a sec, why aren't the bubble answers reversed and going from bottom to top, of the theme is bubbles up? But then i placated myself thinking, "well, circles are sort of like bubbles floating on top..."

bubbles formed by eating beans are the only ones I can do without...

Charlie Echo said...

Fast FIR despite a few obscure names. Thought POND CROAKER should have been FROG, and PAN PIPES are a FLUTE relative, not harmonica.

Anonymous said...

CED: I'm flattered your mind says that, and in that sarcastic tone.
I also thought the answers should have been read from the bottom up.
And don't worry, you still have time to get annoyed by those pesky circles.

Lucina said...

Hola!
Wow! There is nothing like a good CWD puzzle to stimulate controversy and good discussion. As for me, I found this one easy and circles do not bother me. I just wait until the end to see what is their purpose. Oh! Bubbles. Very clever, Norman M. Aaronson.
As for AIR CONDITIONERS, I bless the person who invented them; our existence here in the desert is dependent on them. That was not always the case but with the population explosion and the continuous building and further addition of pavements, A/C has become life-saving.
I have to agree that EDITABLE is awkward. But the overall construction with parallel columns is really clever. Nicely done!
I hope you are all enjoying your Tuesday! And thank you, Hahatoolah for another terrific Tuesday exposition.

Ray - O - Sunshine said...

You vill trink da beer and you vill like it !!! 😡

Picard said...

CrossEyedDave I also expected the BUBBLES to go UP. I call foul with the QUEEN. I am familiar with the band QUEEN BEE and EEOW makes as much sense as YEOW.

Jinx Thanks for the shout out.

Are you talking about this ENOLA that I photographed at the US Air and Space Museum?

I was staying with my high school friend who lived nearby and he had never been to the museum before!

We recently visited this spot where that ENOLA delivered something.

Hand up the correct answer if it is a POND is usually a FROG. However, once a year TOADs do migrate to PONDs to CROAK, mate and lay eggs. The rest of the year TOADs stay on land.

Picard said...

Lucina Looking forward to your take on Sunday's SPANGLISH puzzle.

Misty said...

Delightful Tuesday puzzle, many thanks, Norman. And your commentary and pictures were a pleasure, Hahtoolah--thanks for those too.

Well, I wondered if PAULI might IRON her SARI or her TUTU before enjoying her OMELET for breakfast. She might then take off in her PORSCHE and stop off at the COPY SHOP before arriving at the theater, where she would be playing a role in a SOAP OPERA that was being filmed there that day. She was so glad that she no longer required SPEECH THERAPY, and wondered if her new acting skills might help her to BUBBLE UP.

Have a pleasant (if cloudy) day, everybody.

CanadianEh! said...

Terrific Tuesday. Thanks for the fun, Norman and Hahtoolah.
I FIRed in good time and saw the BUBBLE UP theme.
I’ll echo what CED said at 10:38 re “oh joy” and wanting the bubble words to actually go up!

Hand up for Urn and Cup before MUG. (I even tried Pot although that is usually Tea.)

I WAGged GUy (GUS was needed) and RENEE, but knew fellow-Canadian LEN.
Hand up for reversing the Y and I in CYNDI at first, changing Aide to PAGE, and Frog to TOAD.
I also had Hon before BAE (is it EDITABLE -Dele?).

We had ATOP and ABED today. (There’s a RISQUÉ story there Misty!)

Wishing you all a great day.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Sorry TTP and Picard. I got you crossed in my so-called mind. I knew Enola Gay from the West Marine in Marina del Rey. She was very knowledgeable of sailboat gear, and was never too busy to explain stuff to me as a fledgling sailor.

Prof M said...

“…can do without…” (thinking?)

sumdaze said...

Thanks for the Tues. fun, Norman! I see you were able to give a shout out to another famous Norman.

I liked how the circles created a fun visual of air bubbles going up. We have a lot of sea lions in the bay this time of year. When I am out on my kayak and find myself crossing bubbles, I wonder if one is under me and hope it isn't about to surface.

Thanks to Hahtoolah for adding to the fun! I like what H-G@8:41 said, "Susan’s fine recap, proves you can’t have too many kitties or cartoons."

Lucina said...

Right now I would like to explain my absence on Sunday which of all days I wish I had posted a comment. Right after Mass I eat breakfast then watch my recording of "Sunday Morning with Jane Pauly" and so I never got back to the puzzle. so now I offer my comments on that puzzle.
Spanglish, strictly speaking is an actual mix-up of Spanish words and my mother was an expert speaker of Spanglish. She knew English quite well but since Spanish was her first language (and mine) she often just mixed them together. A typical saying of hers would be, "mija, tengo que lavar las hojas pa los tamales" "pa" is a shortened form of "para" meaning "for". "'Despues tengo que go al shopping por mas carne y maybe some more hojas." it sounds like an illiterate speaker but she simply used both languages together.
I congratulate C.C. on her use of Spanish in the puzzle though I see from the comments that not all the words were recognized and they posed as English words.

Lucina said...

In Spanish,"mija" is a merger of mi (my) and hija (daughter). Mijo is the male version.

Malodorous Manatee said...

Thanks, Hahtoolah for the entertainment. The cat with the bubbles, the stop and smell cartoon, and the report card cartoon were great (the others were not bad at all, either).

Jayce said...

I rather enjoyed this puzzle.

inanehiker said...

Had a crazy day and so I didn't get to the puzzle until the evening - so these comments will probably only be seen by the equally late people or those who peruse in the morning
I thought this was a fun, creative puzzle - I don't mind the circles -similar to what CED, said I just am tired of bracing for the whining of those who have to say something every. single. time .

Nice to have the link for SARI - "The Henna Artist" by Alka Joshi - she went to high school with me and had her debut novel, at age 62, go on the NYTimes best seller list It is now part of a trilogy- so "The Secret Keeper of Jaipur" and "The Perfumist of Paris" are good as well
RENEE Elise Goldsberry is best known for being the original Angelica Schuyler in Broadway's "Hamilton" which she won a Tony for.

Thanks Susan for the always entertaining blog and Norman for the puzzle.
Also delayed HBD to Teri!

NaomiZ said...

Today's puzzle and review were positively effervescent!

Anonymous said...

Per Mssr. TTP’s request the other day: My apologies for being a chronic late commenter here in The Corner; the only excuses I’ll offer are that a) unlike most of you early-birds, I’m a night owl, and b) sometimes my jobs are out-of-town gigs that keep me away from the paper for several days on end, so by the time I get back to the pile my wife kindly saves for me, I can be two or three days in arrears.

ANYway — I’ll do my best to not add late commentary from here on out; I don’t want to create any extra work for the fine volunteers that maintain the blog!

====> Darren / L.A.

TTP said...

I vent about the same from time to time. It's daily. Some can't seem to say anything positive without saying something negative. It's almost comedic.

How about the word obscure? Talk about the misuse and overuse of a single word. It has become, "I don't know of it, so therefor it is obscure." No, not really.

I sometimes wonder if I should be more proactive and just delete the comments of those that like to repetitiously complain about the same old things almost every day. Some just seem to like to cast a pall and blame the constructors and editors when they can't solve a puzzle. I wonder what happened to Thumper?

Being a full time moderator would eat up too much of my time. I view my role as more of admin than moderator, so there are probably comments that should be removed that I have let stand. I get criticized either way.

C.C. could step in and remove them, especially now that she has a faster internet connection. Maybe she does now and I don't know about it. OTOH, it's probably easier for her to say, "Oh, that's TTP's job" so she can focus on constructing.

The other thing that could be done is to change the blog so that Anonymi can't comment. Or to make comments available to blog members only.

That would be a C.C. decision. Just like adding Ektorp to the "Comments Section Abbreviations" link. Not my blog and not my call. And I kind of resent the way in which someone suggested I should add Ektorp, so I didn't even bother to direct that person to C.C., which should have been obvious anyway.

Perhaps technology can help. I've been reading about a commenting app that uses machine learning and AI to automatically screen all comments. It removes spam, toxic and divisive comments, hate speech, personal attacks and more.

It's pretty slick, but there are some negative comments about it being too sanitizing. It certainly doesn't understand ribbing among friends. I don't know if a widget is available for the blogspot. It may only be a available as a standalone and it probably costs $$$.

I guess we'll just muddle along, and hope that the civil people that enjoy this blogspot don't all leave because of the daily and repetitive negativity by some of the others.

TTP said...

Darren, I think it's just simply that most of the regular readers take a look/glance at the previous day's comments, but very few people are going back two, three, four or more days to see if any new comments have been added.

I see them, but only because they get filtered for moderation. I've been approving them, but only because you have been civil and have had some interesting and entertaining opinions in your commentary. Someone, by chance, may read them someday.

I just doubt, for example, that many here would now know (because of your comments) that you shot the closing scene of the opening credits to "the Breakfast Club"

I enjoyed your explanation of how you did that, and watched it a couple of times. Bravo! Well done! And interesting.

But other than me, and to paraphrase a long time commenter here, your comments of anything later than day minus 1 are probably just floating off into the ether.

TTP said...

Darren, maybe I should have written, "The ending of the opening scene to The Breakfast Club" rather than opening credits.

CanadianEh! said...

Yes Darren, I do read the comments from the previous day, and I enjoy reading yours. Please continue to join us. (But I don’t read back any farther than one day)