google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner

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Aug 29, 2012

Wednesday August 29, 2012 Jack McInturff

Theme: Witty Words from Jack, who is 82 years old.

20A. Quip, part 1 : ONCE WRITING ON A

37A. Quip, part 2 : WALL WAS GRAFFITI

51A. End of the quip : NOW IT'S FACEBOOK

Hello Everyone,

Boomer here with another edition from puzzle land. Before we start though, a couple of riddling questions: First - How many months in the calendar have 30 days? Too easy, okay then - How many jelly beans can you fit in an empty one quart Ziploc bag?

On to the puzzle - fairly challenging due to a few questionable clues.

Across:

1. Folder projections : TABS - I took a STAB at this one

5. Come-on comeuppance : SLAP - If you didn't get it, you must do LAPS.

9. Enterprise doctor : MCCOY - He's the Law & Order DA. I thought the Enterprise doctor was Spock.

14. First name at Woodstock : ARLO - You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant. Preserve your 8 X 10 color glossy photographs. Sadly, now, all photos seem to be on a cell phone or a Facebook Wall.

15. Freezer cooler : CUBE - The cube doesn't cool the freezer, the freezer cools the cube.

16. Popped up : AROSE - by any other name still smells the same

17. Market pessimist : BEAR - I wonder if they sold Facebook short.

18. Like Death Valley : ARID - Yup, and the rest of the US this year.

19. All-night bar? : ROOST - We don't have all night bars where I live. "Parrot's perch" would be an easier clue. But we don't have parrots where I live either. We have crackers though if your name is Polly and you want one.

23. Bourbon barrel wood : OAK - This clue is A-OK!

24. Zamboni milieu : ICE - We're familiar with this monster in Minnesota. Last year we had a guy get a DUI on a Zamboni at a high school game between the second and third period. Go figure.

25. Thumbs-up : A-OK - How about that! An anagram of 23A. Now where is that Campground?

26. 2010 Olympic skiing gold medalist Miller : BODE - Interesting name. I have also heard about a young man named Bode from Seattle. He is less than one year old and his father took him to exactly two Major League baseball games this year. The first was Phil Humber's perfect game against the Mariners. Then he was at King Felix's perfecto just a few weeks ago. What are the odds?


28. Highly skilled : DEFT - I seem to remember a laundry detergent named Dreft. Where do they come up with these names?

30. Coppertone letters : SPF - I got this. Didn't like it. They call them CrossWORD puzzles.

33. Dictation whiz : STENO - short for stenographer. With all the word processing equipment available now, I think maybe all stenos are now in all night bars or driving Zambonis.

35. With precision : TO A T - Add an "S" and you have Toast, which is what you should do with this clue and so called word.

36. Missing in the mil. : AWOL - Absent without leave, as most of you know. What you don't know is that I was a company clerk and I really hated the paperwork involved when a soldier went AWOL.

40. Aesthetic to a fault : ARTY - "Way up at a Broadway party, I met a lady who was very ARTY, she took me home to see her studio. She held me close and whispered to me, she said that she wanted to do me, some of that paint will never come off I know." (Chad Mitchell Trio).

41. Milking container : PAIL - Not many are used anymore. They just hook up a tube and the milk never sees the light of day, but it stays Grade A.

42. Dadaism pioneer Max : ERNST

43. Cooking choice : GAS - Okay, but Broil, Boil, Bake, Grill, Saute, Fry, all came to my mind first.

44. Wonderland tea party attendee : HARE - Lewis Carroll's legend lives on!

45. Environmental concern : SMOG

46. Crew member : OAR - Wait a minute. I just watched rowing in the Olympics. The OAR was not a crew member. This clue is up a creek without a paddle.

47. See 45-Down : MOM - I guess we have Soccer Moms in Minnesota, but for about 11 months out of the year they are also Hockey Moms. The difference is that Hockey Moms need an SUV to carry all the skates, sticks, pads, helmets, gloves, and then they have to watch out for drunk Zamboni drivers.

48. VCR format : VHS - Movies that used to rent for five bucks a night are now available at garage sales for 50 cents or less. Sigh.

56. Yard neatener : MOWER - Austin, Minnesota, home of Spam (the canned spiced ham, not the email) is in Mower County.

57. Stoltz of "Pulp Fiction" : ERIC

58. French 101 verb : ETRE - The first letter of "French" is the grade I received in my French class.

59. Flip over : UPEND

60. Longing look : GAZE - pretty easy. Getting to the bottom of the puzzle.

61. See after : TEND - At least this clue wasn't "What comes after NINE D?"

62. Plaster painting surface : GESSO - Sorry, my painting experience only includes my garage door, deck, and "Circle me Bert" sign.

63. Violin virtuoso Leopold : AUER - Never heard of this guy. I have heard of MAUER.

64. Belligerent god : ARES

Down:

1. Major no-no : TABOO

2. Field of play : ARENA - Most Fields are outdoors, arenas are usually indoors now. But I think the Christians used to fight the Lions in an arena field. The lions usually won.

3. Aikido masters : BLACK BELTS - Even spell check has never heard of Aikido. Why not just say Judo or Karate and take it easy on us poor sap green belt puzzle solvers.

4. Mad : SORE - yeah, I'm SORE at the Aikido clue

5. Like hen's teeth : SCARCE- Who needs teeth when your lips are as hard as clam shells.

6. "Foreign Affairs" Pulitzer author Alison : LURIE

7. Slightly : A BIT - Fisherman try to get A BIT of a bite using BAIT.

8. Mani-__: spa service : PEDI- Never heard of this, but it must have something to do with feet.

9. She played Lois in "Superman" films : MARGOT (Kidder)

10. Curved piece : CROOK - Nixon was not one.

11. Masked scavenger : COON


12. Greek peak : OSSA- Never heard of the mountain.

13. Still : YET

21. Golfer's nonplaying wife, facetiously : WIDOW - I have all heard the term. I play a little golf, but I think C.C. falls into the Bowling Widow class.

22. Three-nation '90s treaty : NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement. Everything is a clever acronym these days.

27. "I'm __ human" : ONLY

28. Motherless calf : DOGIE - Get along little dogie.

29. __ of Gloucester: "King Lear" character : EARL

30. Fiscally conservative Democrat, say : SWING VOTER - Conservative Democrat ???? You made that up.

31. "Iron Chef" supplies : POTS - If you watch the food network, you have more time on your hands than I.

32. Pass (by) quickly, as time : FLIT - Hmmm - more like flies, mosquitoes, or Usain Bolt.

33. Booty : SWAG - Once a jolly Swagman, sat beside a billabong.....

34. Ancient home of Irish kings : TARA - I never knew Ireland had Kings. LA and Sacramento have them.

35. Unseen "Fiddler on the Roof" tyrant : TSAR - If I were a rich man ..........

36. Picked locks? : AFRO - I think Oscar Gamble had the most notable one. Then along came Michael Jordan and changed the world. Hats fit again.

38. Separated : APART

39. Lyons lady : FEMME

44. Bob or beehive : HAIRDO - I think from the 60s. Now rest in lore with 8 track tapes, hula hoops. and 8 X 10 color glossy photographs.

45. With 47-Across, modern-day chauffeur : SOCCER

46. "Catch This!" autobiographer Terrell : OWENS - A wide receiver. Didn't know he wrote a book.

47. Early American crop : MAIZE - What an unbelievable crop - but in trouble this year due to desert-like temps as far north as Iowa, Nebraska, and Frostbite Falls! This vegetable may be eaten right from the cob, canned or frozen, dried for corn meal, feed for livestock, alcohol added to E85 gasoline, and coating for pronto pups at the Minnesota State Fair - through Labor Day.

49. "Stormy Weather" singer : HORNE - that would be Lena, but I don't think she was the only one.

50. RR postings : SKEDS - Another slang word. Sounds like a brand of running shoes to me.

51. "Dream on!" : NOPE

52. Carries a mortgage, say : OWES

53. Video game giant : SEGA

54. Herr's better half : FRAU - We are almost done.

55. Old 48-Across rival : BETA - Not as old as 8 tracks. Store them in your garage with those cassette tapes by Nat King Cole.

56. Coffee holder : MUG

So if you stayed with me this far - the answers to the riddles: Eleven months have 30 days. (Some even have 31). And you can fit one jelly bean in the empty Ziplok bag, because once it goes in, the bag is no longer empty. But if you are smart enough to solve crossword puzzles, I am sure you figured this out. Have a great holiday weekend!!

Answer Grid.

Boomer