google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday September 9, 2008 Josiah Breward

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Sep 9, 2008

Tuesday September 9, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Against the Clock

17A: Just before deadline: LAST MINUTE

49A: No time for photos: BAD HAIR DAY

11D: Blink: SPLIT SECOND

25D: Open mic night: AMATEUR HOUR

I disliked the clue for GIVES (43D: Hands over) because of the answer IN HAND (46A: Under control). A simple "Donates" should work perfectly. I also think "Var." should be added to the clue of SCEPTRES (9D: Sovereign's staffs).

Felt rather dumb this morning. Spent an awfully long time trying to figure out why LCS (3D) are "Letters before the W.S." I kept thinking of yesterday's Wall Street huge rally rather than the World Series. This is not the first time that I was stumped by LCS (League Championship Series).

Nice puzzle though. I like the theme, and the grid looks so pretty. But hang on a SECOND, if I drink MINUTE maid orange juice every morning, will I have an HOURglass figure? Or am I just a DAYdreamer?

Across:

1A: Future tulips: BULBS. Lovely pink tulip flowers.

14A: Computer data format: ASCII. I just have so much difficulty remembering this acronym.

19A: Hammer end: CLAW. What's the difference between CLAW and PEEN?

20A: Snappy one: BITER. Snakes are all BITERS, aren't they?

27A: Sawmill output: LUMBER. I've never been to a sawmill or LUMBER yard.

28A: Small spars: SPRITS. Not familiar with this sailing term. Here is a SPRITSAIL rigged boats.

34A: Suffragist Carrie: CATT. New to me. Carrie Chapman CATT. So many C's. She looks like Curt Schilling, doesn't she? This pair of Persian Blue dangling earrings will add some feminine touch to her face.

35A: Fraternity letters: BETAS. IT geeks probably want the clue to be bug related.

36A: 1405: MCDV

43A: Sergio and Andy: GARCIAS. It's never boring to watch Sergio play golf. I adore Andy GARCIAS in "The Untouchables" & "When a Man Loves a Woman". I like Michael Bolton, don't you?

46A: Under control: IN HAND. "Can I Touch You... There?"

47A: Legend automaker: ACURA

48A: Stringed instrument: VIOL. Which is harder to play, VIOLA or violin?

55A: "Dies ___": IRAE. So powerful and dynamic! Lots, lots of vodka!

56A: Day's march: ETAPE. Is it a commonly used word? I've never heard of it before.

58A: Ancient ointment: NARD. I forgot. It was clued as "Fragrant ointment" on an earlier puzzle. Also called spikenard, it's "a flowering plant that growns in Himalayas of China, India and Nepal". Melissa probably knows something about the NARD oil.

59A: Force units: DYNES

Down:

1D: Dance in France: BAL. Costume party is "BAL masqué".

2D: John Dos Passos trilogy: USA. I've never heard of this trilogy or the author. Very guessable though.

4D: Gradually: BIT BY BIT

5D: Literary comparisons: SIMILES. I did wake up feeling fresh as a daisy this morning. How about you? Got any inspirations from your dream last night?

10D: Reciprocal of a cosine: SECANT. Would not have got this word without the across clues.

28D: Girls of Sp: SRTAS (Señorita). French equivalent is MLLES.

32D: Infamous '50s flop: EDSEL. This has become a collectible car, right?

35D: Loaf location: BREAD BIN. Not BREAD BASKET? Who would want to put their bread in a BIN?

36D: Archrival of Sherlock Holmes: MORIARTY. Foreign to me also. I've never read any Arthur Conan Doyle novel.

38D: Vandyke site: CHIN. Strung the answer together from surrounds. I did not know the meaning of "Vandyke".

41D: Justice of the Supreme Court since 1986: SCALIA (Antonin). Probably the most consistently conservative justice.

42D: S. Amer. nation: ECUA. Its capital is Quito.

47D: Hebrew month: ADAR. The Purim month.

50D: Southern constellation: ARA. Or "Notre Dame's Parseghian".

C.C.

95 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, c.c. and fellow dfs -- I'll bet most people will be happy with this one - lots of 'crossword words' and a fairly simple theme.

Did not know Carrie Catt. The 'Edsel' answer reminded me of a friend who purchased one from a collector last year for quite a bit of money; as always, one man's junk is another's treasure. The car was an absolute disaster when it came out. It was said that the grill looked like a Buick sucking a lemon.

c.c., loved your minute maid line. The claw on a claw hammer is just that, while a ball peen hammer has a rounded back end. Hmmmm, rounded back end. Oh, back to the puzzle - no, etape is not commonly used; never heard it the whole time I was in the service. As far as waking up 'fresh as a daisy', yeah, I'm one of those disgusting people that wakes up happy every morning - probably 'cause I'm just happy to be around another day.

Hope it's an outstanding day where you are - gonna be wet here today.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Dennis,
Is CLAW hammer structured to drive in nail or break down a hard object?

Dr. Dad said...

Good morning!
Pretty easy one today. Perps gave me ara and nard that I didn't know.

A peen on a hammer is the head that is made of soft (albeit tough) metal that is used to do metal working. The claw on a claw-hammer is the end that is used to pull out nails.

As a kid we stored our bread in a bread bin or a bread box. Breadbasket referred to our stomachs. It also refers to the region of a country that produces their agricultural products.

Today is Wonderful Weirdos Day. Show your appreciation to all the “weirdos” in your life. You know, those oddballs who have taught you to think outside the box and dare to be different. Give them - or yourself, if you’re the weirdo - a hug today. That would seem to be a fitting holiday for us DF's as I think we all help each other to think outside the box and learn new things.

Have a great Tuesday.

Dick said...

Good morning cc and DFs. Nice puzzle today and I managed to solve without any trips to Mr. G. I had Breadbox for 35D and this caused some minor problems in the south center area for awhile.

Cc the claw of a hammer is used to remove nails that have previously driven into wood or other structural material.

Hope you all have a great day.

Dr. Dad said...

BTW - the peen on a ball peen hammer should not be used to drive in nails as it will cause marring of the surface and make it unsuitable for metalworking. The head of a claw hammer is much sturdier and is used for that purpose. And, the ball on a ball peen hammer is used for metalforming as well (e.g., making concave surfaces on the metal).

Dick said...

drdad this may seem WEIRD but here is a hug for all the DFs on our blog.

KittyB said...

Morning, c.c. and all.

I certainly am not "fresh as a daisy" this morning. I'd like to stay snuggled in bed, but I have an audit today and need to finish pulling up data.

This puzzle did not brighten my day. First, let me say that I completed all but two letters without help. I needed a boost to get the middle of NARD. That sounds really good, but I got the following though the fills: CATT, GARCIAS, ACURA, ETAPE, SECANT, ADAR, ARA and 1, 2 & 3 down!

I've never heard of Carrie Catt. I would NEVER have gotten LCS. I wanted 'peen' where CLAW fit.

So, I finished the puzzle, but I don't feel very smart this morning.

It's 48 in our neck of the woods, and is only supposed to get to the mid-sixties today. I've turned the heat on for the first time this season. Our rain seems to have passed, but it's on its way to Dennis.

Enjoy the liquid sunshine, Dennis!

And, c.c., thanks for the beautiful tulips.

Argyle said...

claw hammer

ball peen hammer

Dennis said...

kittyb, yeah, we're supposed to be in the low 50s tomorrow night; a little taste of fall.

drdad, today is also National Teddy Bear day, for those of you with stuffed pals. I much prefer the inflatable ones.

Argyle said...

"If I had a Hammer"

Dr. Dad said...

Yeah, Dennis. I didn't put Teddy Bear Day in because that was also listed as a holiday some time ago and I didn't want to repeat it (I can't remember when it was). I think these crazy holidays often repeat themselves. I did find that in November there is a National American Teddy Bear Day (the 14th) as opposed to just Teddy Bear Day. Anyway, we can all hug our teddy bears but more importantly, hug our fellow DF's here (and elsewhere).

melissa bee said...

good morning c.c. and all,

enjoyed this one. didn't know catt, lcs, or irae, and wanted breadbOX. i love andy garcia in anything, thanks for the clip.. nicely positioned just above 'inhand.' i know of nard oil as it is used in both massage and esthetics .. but i have never used it. tulips are my favorite FLOWER. good to get hammered so early in the week.

still quite warm in the bay area, in the low 90's all week.

wonderful weirdos day .. seems appropriate.

Argyle said...

Good Morning Everyone,

I had a bad time in the NW. Even after it came to me that the WS was the World Series, LCS wouldn't make an appearance in my head, but I was sure it wasn't LDS.

Etape is one of those words you don't see outside crossword land.

Barry G. said...

Morning, folks!

Bit of a slog today, but not too bad. I agree 100% that the clue for SCEPTRES should have been marked with a "var." since that really messed me up in the center section for quite awhile. Maybe the constructor is British or Canadian and didn't know any better, but the editor should have caught it.

Things I didn't know today included:

CATT
LCS (thanks for the explanation, C. C.!)
BAL

Things I did know, but only from doing crosswords for many years, include:

ETAPE
NARD
ETUI
ANAIS
ARA
ITER
ADAR

I think I've read just about every Sherlock Holmes story every written (including many pastiches by other authors), so MORIARTY was a welcome gimme for me.

You're probably right that all snakes are BITERS, C. C., since even constrictors have small teeth to hold onto their prey while they ingest it. I can't say for sure, since I'm not a herpetologist. I did own a corn snake many years ago, though.

And I'd like to nominate ECUA as the worst abbreviation of the month (if not the entire year). I do not like it, Sam I Am!

flyingears said...

"Honesty is not so much a credit as an absolute prerequisite to efficient service to the public. Unless a man is honest, we have no right to keep him in public life; it matters not how brilliant his capacity".
=Theodore Roosevelt
Could we unseat most of Congress? Most don't fit Teddy's quote.

Today's puzzle was a breeze.

flyingears said...

C.C.,
Check the photo of a hammerhead...

flyingears said...

Trigonometry (Trig for short), is the math taught to those interested in Math Science (Computers, Engineering, etc.)
Sine
Cosine (CS)
Tangent (TAN)
Cotangent (COT)
Secant (SEC)
Cosecant (CSC)

These terms come in puzzles once in a while and are usually abbreviated except for SINE. COT, SEC and CSC are the reciprocals of the first three.

kazie said...

I had an easy time today, except with 3D--no clue, and the 14A clue was no help either. Carrie Catt fell in with perps.

Got to run off for the day. Will check in later. Tschüß!

lois said...

Good morning CC & DF's: Cute and fun puzzle. Agree w/Melissa, it's nice to get hammered so early in the week ...and morning. Today certainly brings "If I only had a hammer" to a new height. Thanks for all the links, pictures, and explanations, DF's. Always wondered what the ball peen was used for. Also agree w/Melissa about Garcia above Inhand and intersecting Gives. Oh, yeah! Loved how the very last word is my favorite one...Yes!

CC: the 'tulips' are beautiful and are thrilling in a 'flower bed'.

Hugs all around!

Ken said...

Good morning C.C. et al.

@C.C. In the days when most bread in the homes was home made, there would be a metal or wood box about 12" by 12" by 12" inches or so, with a shelf in it. The doors were horizontal, ie one would lift and one would fold down. The family bread, rolls etc were kept in there to keep them fresh. I haven't seen one in years, but they did work to keep bread as fresh as possible. This was before plastic everything. In many homes, including mine, daily baking was routine. It is pretty difficult not to gorge yourself on homemade bread.

@flyingears. Long ago I learned the following to remember the relationships of sine, cosine and tangent on a circle. Sally could tell (sine, cos, tan) Oscar had a hat on always (Opp/hyp, adj/hyp, opp/adj. I did hear tell that another "h" word was used for hat.
Not many worries on the puzzle today. 3D came from fills, but 50D and 58A were googles for me.

Dr. Dad said...

Damn, Ken! Wouldn't it have been easier to just remember what sine, cosine, and tangent were than to memorize that phrase and everything the letters stood for!?

Carol in CA said...

What does "DF" stand for?

Dennis said...

carol in ca, 'df' stands for 'dysfunctional', and if you stay here long enough, it'll become apparent why it's appropriate. Welcome to our group.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Dennis,
On a SECOND thought, I don't think I am satisfied with your 5:43am comment. I've found so many sexy pictures for you in the last 6 months, and I gave you my own MINUTE maid, HOURglass and DAYdream theme this morning to please you. Yet you are waking up "fresh and daisy" simply 'cause I'm just happy to be around another day"?

Dr.Dad & Dick,
I was not aware that CLAW is for pulling out/removing nails. Is it the only tool to use when you have mis-nailed something?

Argyle,
Thank you for the new Persian Blue earrings. Very beautiful. The hammer links are very visual too. They kind of brought back Chinese "Hammer & Sickle" symbol to me.

Dennis said...

c.c., you're right, of course. How stupid of me. I was just making fun of my age, but of course the real reason I wake up happy is because I know I'll soon join you and your fellow DFs on the blog.

And melissab/lois, regarding your flower comments, know what's better than roses on a piano?

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Melissa,
I decided that IN HAND goes well with "Can I Touch You... There?". So I've relocated the link. What makes you love TULIP? I saw your capitalized flower, yet again!

Barry,
Our editor's family originally came from Britain. I agree with you on ECUA. In fact, there is no need to abbreviate both S and Amer.

Ken,
Thank you for the BREAD BIN.

Lois,
Yes, those tulip flowers are indeed thrilling in "flower bed". Don't you think they need some morning DEW to be thrilled themselves?

Ken said...

DrDad. Of course it would have been, but that was in a Navy classroom where many of my classmates hadn't had trig before. By the time I'd gone through physics, calculus, differential equations, partial differential equations and classes in creating computer solutions for those problems, I felt I had the trig functions pretty well mastered. Chuckle
Later in my career when I was working for the Navy as a civilian, I helped many a sailor with their night school math classes and that expression proved helpful. You just can't keep a good mnemonic down. Chuckle

Anonymous said...

Since we had Sara Teasdale again, and since C.C. asked for one of her poems, here it is:

After Parting

Oh I have sown my love so wide
That he will find it everywhere;
It will awake him in the night,
It will enfold him in the air.

I set my shadow in his sight
And I have winged it with desire,
That it may be a cloud by day
And in the night a shaft of fire.

Sara Teasdale

Dr. Dad said...

C.C. - crowbars have notches in them for helping to pull out nails as well. So do some pry bars.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Dennis,
You are BAD!

Dr.Dad,
You are GOOD!

Cokato,
No, I did not see the "Body World". I was not interested.

JD,
Very nice photo. So it was taken when were in Alaska? When was it? I have the same question as Dennis did: who was "your little friend"?

Barb B,
I am glad you loved the Mozart link yesterday. I always thought B was your surname. Great photo.

Barry G. said...

The only thing I remember from High School trigonometry is the acronym SOCATOA. It has something to do with what Sine, Cosine and Tangent represent, or how to find them, or something. Sadly, math was never my strong point, and I'm lucky that I can still do basic algebra at this point.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Sallie,
Oh, what a lovely poem! I am so touched. But what does "in the night a shaft of fire" mean?

Crockett,
You were so lucky! Not many people can claim that they met both Mantle and Maris.

Clear Ayes,
You look gorgeous in every photo you've shown us so far. I like the tricyle one. What were you biting?

Dennis said...

c.c., your question to sallie - I know the answer.

melissa bee said...

@dennis: tulips on your organ.

flyingears said...

The ONLY pneumonic my wife taught me was KISS. I have NEVER forgot it!!! My response to her was KMAD!!! (Kiss my a--, dahlin'). Those two pneumonics have been well forgotten to be used at home. Phewww!!! Now, we play golf. lois and C.C. should know by now that THAT'S my very favorite "entertainment"... LOVL (LO very L).

C.C.,
Have you seen the hammer I place in my previous picture? This new one is from a friend of mine in Holland. She is 9 ft 6 in "short"... She also likes to play "golf"... He, he

Dennis said...

melissab, BINGO!! You win! (That's the prize, by the way)

flyingears, I wanna dance with her!

flyingears said...

dennis,
You'll enjoy the forward and backward steps for sure...

Dennis said...

Steps?? We'd have to move?

Anonymous said...

My only major beef today: Is "etape" actually used as a military term in English, or is it just a French term (I saw it used to indicate a leg of the Tour de France)? If so, shouldn't that be indicated in the clue, such as "Day's march in Marseilles"?
argyle: thanks for the link to PP&M. Always enjoy them.

xchefwalt said...

Good morning c.c., DF’s and all! We’re getting a little wind-whipped by the outer bands of Ike today, little storms and lots of blowin’ going on!

A very nice puzzle, no gimmie by any stretch. I had to think hard on this one, as the clueing was abstract and the answers not your usual x/w fare. 10d and 45a were new to me, and the theme clues came in after getting 25d ( a lot of band auditions are like that).

As we’re all getting HAMMERED, will any of get NAILED??

Who invented FLOURless cake anyway?? It’s not good to eat, in my opinion.

@dennis- I love you sense of humor! Your past references to the war of 1812, the Magna Charta (food for a history geek like me) and today’s joke just kill me!

For those who think that Michael Bolton is a little too wimpy- here's my way of asking Do You Want To Touch Me?

JOJO said...

Good morning everyone. Nice to see oldfriends,ssts,epee,anais,etui, irae and any Roman numeral. Secant and etape not so familiar. This was a nice mix of clues and I enjoyed it. Have I mentioned that I am not crazy about quips? Oops, lets see how happy I am on Thursday.

melissa bee said...

@dennis: since i win the grand prize, i guess that leaves you with the booby prize.

carol said...

Good morning C.C. and everyone: I am with Kitty b on this puzzle...it was really a "bear" in some places...especially 1,2,3D. I still do not understand 3D. What is it??
I never heard of Carrie Catt either, only know of Carrie Nation.

Clear Ayes, very cute picture on your tricycle..I have one almost like it and will try to put it on here too.

Barb b, nice new picture of you too.
JD, Very sweet pic of you and who?

I had a different understanding of "nard"...something you would NOT want to use a hammer on. (Unless you were REALLY mad at him)

melissa bee said...

@c.c.: FLOWERS .. xchefwalt started it. i can't stop.

Dennis said...

xchewalt, thanks, and also thanks for the Jett video; I took drum lessons years ago, and her songs were great to practice on.

You really didn't think there were a lot of crossword words today? I thought there were at least half a dozen, including the classics 'etui', 'irae', 'dynes', 'anais', 'epee', etc.

flyingears said...

dennis,
I meant a step-up "ladder" to reach... Motion is optional. I hate staying "still"...

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Bea,
ETAPE is indeed "stage" in French, so you are right about Tour de France part. However, I checked on line dictionary, # 2 definition says
"A day's march". So technically the clue is correct.

Flyingears.
Yes, I did see the picture.

Xchefwalt,
"Who invented FLOURless cake anyway?? It’s not good to eat, in my opinion.". Why did you suddenly mention FLOURles cake? I don't get it. Which clue were you talking about?

Jojo,
Good to see you again. But today is Tuesday.

Melissa,
You and Xchefwalt confused me with your FLOWER capitalization.

Dr. Dad said...

flyingears - that woman is not that tall. Check out snopes.com and you will get some insight into some trick photography that makes it seem like she is that tall.

xchefwalt said...

@dennis- I’m still fairly new at the x/w thing, and as prior life experience has resulted in severe short term memory loss, a lot of words that come up still seem new to me.

Joan Jett is an old favorite of mine. I was a big fan of her original band “The Runaways” and have followed her solo career. I have met her several times, as she used to live in Long Beach on Long Island (she may still) and we went to the same clubs.

@melissa- c’est moi?

flyingears said...

dennis,
Check the new photo! If you don't like step-ups, take your choice and I'll be pleased with the "left-over" dame, I mean Dane...

steve said...

CC

A claw hammer is used by all carpenters. The claw is used primarily to pull nails, but I've seen it used to dig. The peen is the part you would use to drive in a nail.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I think I'll save time in the morning and have Kittyb solve the puzzle for me. She often seems to have the same solving problems that I do.

Here's what she wrote at 6:08 (much too early for me).

"I needed a boost to get the middle of NARD. That sounds really good, but I got the following though the fills: CATT, GARCIAS, ACURA, ETAPE, SECANT, ADAR, ARA and 1, 2 & 3 down! I've never heard of Carrie Catt. I would NEVER have gotten LCS. I wanted 'peen' where CLAW fit."

Thanks Kittyb. You just saved me a lot of typing!

I also wanted BREADBOX, but eventually came around to BREADBIN. We always had a counter-top BREADBOX when I was very young. Ken described it perfectly. It sounds like a BIN would hold a lotta bread.

I liked the spelling of SCEPTRES. since the first country I thought of with a sovereign is England.

Sallie, What a lovely poem. I'll have to read more SARA Teasdale. Interpretations should keep the Sirens busy today.

C.C. My best guess is that I had a Tootsie Pop in my mouth in the latest photo.

Happy Wonderful Weirdos Day. Consider yourselves hugged.

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning everyone! Didn't know CATT was Carrie's last name, and for the longest time read the clue for 5D as "Literary compositions." Once I read it correctly, all was good. This was a goofy puzzle. West first, SE second, fill from NE to SW, then from S to N. 9D definitely needs a "var."

The PEEN is a flat end and the CLAW has a curved nail-puller on it. I think 47A would have been better without the "auto" part. ETAPE is a word I learned from XW. It's been around. Sherlock Holmes is good reading, IMHO.

@kazie How do you do the Umlaut and the double S?

@melissb at 9:59 ROFLMAO If dennis gets the booby prize can I get the booty prize?

@carol LCS=League Championship Series

flyingears said...

By now C.C. should know FOR SURE what a claw end of a hammer is...

ken,
My photo shows the trig functions in a circle.

Barb B said...

I liked the puzzle, and finished it without help, but I honestly don’t know how. Sometimes I fill in the letters without any idea how I know that word. Must be auto pilot; I do not wake up fresh like a daisy. Crosswords help me jump-start my brain,and gorgeous tulips put a smile on my face. More Mozart too, although a little strong for morning listening.

I'm reading a book by Maria de los Santos, and love this part. ' (he) imagined her strings making tense, layered, glittering music, like those Bach fugues she always listened to all the time. Music so complicated you could hear the math in it.'

Couldn’t figure out secant and sprits, without the crosses, also (LCS Letters before the W.S.) was a mystery. I was sure Carrie would be Nation; wrong cause, of course. I never heard of Carrie Catt. Look at the gorgeous detailed needlework on her blouse and jacket.

Here in the Northwest, we have portable sawmills. Lumber is made on the logging site – or the building site. Is that a common thing in other parts of the country?

C.C.
B is for my first name, my nick name, AND my surname, which is not the same as Melissa Bee’s. Having surnames with the same first letter is, as my husband used to say, a co-inky-dink. (His way of saying coincidence.)

Still using the air conditioner here in central Oregon.

bobbi said...

our local paper had a misprint with 36 140537 on one line and afore on the next.
sh. be
36 1405
37 Afore
Actually, through me off at first.

xchefwalt said...

@c.c.- I seen to cross reference FLOWER/FLOUR in my head as they are both the same to me- beautiful, delicious and a necessity.

carol said...

Clear Ayes, Here is my tricycle picture. Our "vehicles" look quite a bit alike. My picture is "rare" because it is in color, almost unheard of back then. I wonder how much money that film cost my Dad?

Here is a big hug to all you weirdo's out there, and even the ones who are not.

As Crockett so aptly described, the bread box we had when I was younger (even through high-school) was a common thing in kitchens. He was right, it was before plastic packaging and things did not stay fresh very long. Mold was a problem with bread.

DoesItinInk said...

Today’s puzzle was boringly easy. I had to guess only the final “a” in ARA, everything else I knew. Did you notice the cross of ITER and BITER? Personally, I have never understood why the Edsel was such a failure while the Thunderbird was so popular!

flyingears@10:04 – I believe the word you meant to sue is mnemonic, not pneumonic.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Clear Ayes,
I need your help, since I am not sure Sallie will get back to me regarding "in the night a shaft of fire". I think I know what's in Dennis' DF brain. But do you think this is really what the poet has in her mind? Also, regarding Xchefwalt's "Flour/Flower comment. How can flour be beautiful? I understand its "necessity" & perhaps "delicious". What am I missing here?

Barb B,
I like the second paragraph in your comment, so elegantly put. I felt that it applied to Barry Silk's puzzle last Saturday. It was so complicated that I could hear math in it.

Bobbie,
I am so sorry to hear that. Did you call your local editor to complain?

Carol,
Nice tricycle picture. Very unique color.

DoesItinInk said...

And the word I intended is "use" not "sue"!

Bill said...

Good Morning????? Oh, sorry, It's afternoon now! Where have I been?
Have you ever lost periods of time??
(A question that some people ask when they suspect you are an abuser of stuff!!)
So, it really is afternoon!! WOW!!
Finished rather slowly today and needed a litle help with BADHAIRDAY.
Didn't know ETAPE and I, also, didn't like ECUA. Did not remember SECANT (It's been a really long time since high school).

Some of the others I didn't remember came together as the fills slowley added up.
It was a chore but not as bad as yesterdays!!!

Dr. Dad said...

crockett-you can do the umlaut u by holding down the "Alt" key and typing 129 on the numeric keyboard of your computer. That uses the ASCII code to produce the letter - ü. The double S I'm not sure about. I often use the Beta symbol for that which is Alt+225 - ß. Otherwise,you can use the character map and copy and paste.

Barb B said...

Sara Teasdale’s poem brings to mind a passage in the Old Testament --


Exodus 13:21-22 (New International Version)
21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

Jeannie said...

C.C. how I interpret that line is that her love can be followed and found by a guiding light.

Dr. Dad said...

Time to put the Urban Legend to rest: Heather Green. Though she is quite tall, you can see that you wouldn't necessarily need steps to get to her height.

melissa bee said...

@c.c.: i don't believe for one minute that you are confused about FLOWERS.

@xchefwalt: yeah you.

@crockett: consider yourself booted.

Mr. Ed said...

Good morning C.C. & all

Another tough puzzle for me to get into this morning. I just can't seem to get my head locked into multi-word answers. After about two cups of coffee though, the "duh" light comes on and it works out.

I'm somewhat surprised at the "snake" attachment to 20A. My thought was Chihuahua! I knew etape but only from prior exposure to it somewhere... probably an xword. The south stopped me cold... didn't know nard or adar and had to guess. All the northeast horizontals filled in secang so I didn't have to tax my brain to remember that long forgotten detail. 42A Ecua - I'm seeing that abreviation more and more lately. The name is a derivation from equator.

Breadbins - In French Polynesia, they have breadboxes(slightly larger than our mailboxes) roadside for bread trucks to come by and deliver fresh bread on a daily basis.

One final on pulling nails... the claws are not always bent. Most carpenters prefer them straight and will utilize a pry block under the head when prying a nail to give them leverage. Also, not mentioned so far are actual devices called "nail puller" and "claw bar" (or cat's paw by some). Their usage is very specific to construction (or demolition) trades.

Y'all have a nice day. I'm outta here!

Clear Ayes said...

Carol, WOW! When I read your post the long forgotten smell of moldy bread came back to me so clearly.

My grandmother had a "baking day" and made enough bread, rolls, cakes and pie to last the week. I loved to sit in the kitchen and watch her. She smelled like yeast, cinnamon and sugar, with just a touch of fresh perspiration (no air conditioning and she was working hard). She also had a laundry day and an ironing day. The other days were just to do any other chores in any order necessary.

The only time there was moldy bread in our breadbox was when we ran out of Grandma's homemade and we bought a loaf of mushy white Wonder Bread. I loved Wonder Bread (foolish little girl!), but few others in our family did. The moldy smell came when the Wonder Bread "went south" after a couple of days.

Yesterday JD asked if we believed in ghosts. I don't usually, but I must believe in the ghost of moldy bread.

C.C. I think Xchefwalt loves the beautiful "idea of flour" and the multitude of delicious things you can do with it, not necessarily just what it looks like. However, a pile of sifted flour on a marble slab, waiting for the creator to shape it into a thing of delectable deliciousness is beautiful to look at. Walt, am I close?

About Sara Teasdale's poem: I looked up a little about her to help with figuring out this poem. She was born in 1884 and committed suicide in 1933. She was in frail health throughout her life and although she married, it wasn’t a good marriage and she had no children. She was in love with someone else and I think “After Parting” is a reflection of her longing for her true love.

The passion she wasn’t able to express, because of her health (and the inconvenience of being married to somebody else), is expressed here. She wants him to know that even though they are separated, she will always be with him. She wants her love to haunt him. He can’t escape it. Even the air he breathes will remind him of her.

In the daytime, her presence will be seen in the shape of a cloud. At night, when clouds aren’t seen, he will waken, and must think of her. Perhaps, the “shaft of fire” is a phallic symbolism, but I don't think it fits, since she is talking about her passion. I think it may be that she wants him to think of her and their love as a blazing light he can’t erase from his mind.

I just read Barbb's reference to the biblical verses. That certainly could have been Teasdale's original inspiration.

Anonymous said...

In regard to 19 across, The claw is not technically an end of a hammer. It is an end of the hammer poll. A hammer has two parts - the handle and the poll. The poll is commonly called the hammer head. The poll has two ends - the face and the peen. The face obviously is the flat end for pounding things. The peen can take on various shapes depending on the hammer's intended use. The most common shapes are ball and claw. A ball peen hammer is used for forging materials and a claw peen hammer can be used for prying things like extracting nails.

(Yes I am an engineer)

Barb B said...

Dr. Dad,
I held down the ‘alt’ key and typed 129 and got this -

¡™ª Alt 225 is ™™∞

Oh well. Macs are different from pc’s


Clear Ayes
You brought back such memories of how homemaking for Mom was so different from today. Mom had a wash day too, and an Ironing day. On wash day, after the clothes were dry, she had a glass bottle with a sprinkler that fit into the bottle neck with a cork, and she sprinkled the clothes, rolled them up and put them in the refrigerator. Next day she ironed them, and they looked like they came from the professional cleaners. She ironed pillow cases too, but she didn’t bake bread.

KittyB said...

In my twenties and thirties I used to do the Dell expert crosswords. I realized early on that if the maker of the puzzle was Eugene T. Maleska, I'd be likely to finish it with few errors. (I didn't know until recently that Mr. Maleska was an editor of the New York Times puzzles.) There was something about his choice of clues that was comfortable to me. I could tell if he was going for a noun or a verb, and I had a feeling for his humorous misdirections.

I think that either through life experiences, or through common study of languages, or both, some of us perceive puzzles the same way, and would design puzzle clues in a similar way.

I've noticed, Carol, and Clear Ayes, that we frequently have the same problems and successes with the puzzles here. I think Dennis and Barry approach the puzzles from a different point of view.

I don't think this is just a male vs female thing. I really think use of language at home as you're growing up, education, and life experiences are really more important in developing a solving strategy.

Clear ayes, I'm happy to have saved your fingers!

Barb b, I love the de los Santos quote. And...in my part of the Midwest, we don't have enough trees to have portable saw mills, unless you get up into the Iron Mountain range of Wisconsin....too far out of my area of experience.

C.C. in my home FLOUR and FLOWERS are equally important. Perhaps Walt loves flour for the incredible things he can create with it, or for the satisfaction that his efforts give when his family or friends eat something he has baked or cooked. The smell of bread baking soothes the soul.

Flowers are eye candy, and add a layer of scent to a home. During the winter they remind us of the growing season, and are a promise that life will return to our gardens in the spring. Flowers celebrate the season. We'll have chrysanthemums in and around the house for the next few months and that will change over to evergreens and carnations, stargazer lilies, and all sorts of forced bulbs, including the TULIP!

I know...that was stuffy, but you've hit on two things I really love.

I need more sleep. I'm waiting for that second wind to come in so I can get some more office work done before it's time to fix dinner. Reading the comments has been a great break!

Hoist one on my behalf, DFs!

KittyB said...

(hooting with laughter)

Barb B...MY mother would put sprinkled clothes into the freezer....and then forget them! We'd find clothes we thought we'd "lost" months later.

That glass bottle was a recycled soda pop bottle.

My mother wasn't much at baking, but I taught myself how in my twenties, and I can recall the sounds and scents. The home baked bread never lasted long enough to mold! There's a rolled loaf of cheese breads at one of our upscale groceries that has almost tempted me to return to baking, so that I could try different cheese and herb mixtures.

xchefwalt said...

@Melissa- If I started it (and I admit nothing) and you can’t stop, does that make you and accomplice? An accessory after the fact? A willing co-conspirator?

@clear ayes and kittyb- You both have expressed this much better than I ever could. Thank you.

Crockett1947 said...

@bobbi That was quite a misprint. I can imagine that would cause one to pause and scratch their head a bit.

@carol The bread box wasn't I -- 'twas someone else -- drdad, maybe? No, it was ken at 8:30.

Dennis said...

barb b, damn, I remember that cork/sprinkler thingy, and putting clothes rolled up in the refrigerator.

kittyb, I agree that it's not a male/female thing regarding solving puzzles - I, for instance, was raised in a very strict environment where the emphasis was on vocabulary and speaking correctly, while most of my buddies were in a much more lax household.

Dr. Dad said...

Maybe Macs don't like ASCII code. I never used one.

Barb B said...

KittyB
ROTFL - Now I'm ready to go to work in a happy mood.


Dennis
Funny how you never think of a thing, and then when someone mentions it, there it is - just waiting in the memory files. Jill Bolte Taylor writes an interesting take on that in her book "My Stroke of Insight. Absolutely fascinating.

Dr. Dad
I've found that people are either PC people or MAC people, and not completely comfortable when they have to switch.IMHO, I think it's right brain, left brain, but you could probably prove me wrong. Being Right brain oriented, I'm relying on instinct.

Clear Ayes said...

Barb b and Kittyb, when I got to the age when my mother said, "You're old enough to do your own washing and ironing, Kid.", I was about 12 years old.

I quickly learned the trick of freezing sprinkled clothes, when I didn't have the time to iron. That really was important to a style worshipping teen in the late 50's, when our summer skirts were 4 or 5 yards of fabric and the crinolines (remember them, ladies?) that went underneath had to be soaked in starch, dried, sprinkled and then ironed. Ironing just a few skirts, along with a crinoline or two, could take a couple of hours. BTW, our sprinkle bottle was an empty Dr. Pepper.

I do love to bake, but don't do it very often. My hips and homemade bread are no longer friends.

carol said...

Crockett, thanks for setting me straight on the breadbox description...sorry Ken!

Barb b, Kitty b, Clear Ayes, I remember the sprinkling "pop" bottle!! I made my Mom one when I was in the 1st grade..I still have it! I painted the top of the bottle blue, and the bottom yellow and there are still traces of that paint clinging to it. It has a cork tipped sprinkler head and Mom used it all the time. She also then rolled up the clothes and if she could not get them ironed right away, they went in the frig so they would not mildew. In my high school years, my folks bought an "ironer" called of all things a "Mangle"!!! It was a huge round cloth covered roller and you sat in front of it and operated it with your knees. It was very handy for ironing the bed sheets and pillow cases.(The ones taken off the clothes line, not out of the dryer that we did not have yet). Memories, aren't they great???
Remember trying to heat up left-overs before micro-waves?

As Kitty b said, we tend to be able to solve similar puzzles and have trouble the same way...it could be an "age" thing too.

carol said...

Oh, Clear Ayes, you brought back another one... those cotton skirts!! I used to dip my crinolins in sugar water and starch and hang them "hem side up" spread out on the clothes lines..took up all the clothes line space. I think we looked so cute in those skirts even tho' they were hard to "tend to". Sure different now! The girls don't seem to care what they look like..at least the ones I see going to the high school that is about 6 blocks from my house.

KittyB said...

YES!! We had a mangle, too. It was great for anything flat, but some women could even do shirts on them. Did you know that the mangle has made a comeback?! If I had a place to store it, I'd get one!

Carol, the thought crossed my mind that age might be one of the considerations, but I shook my head and said, "Naahhhhh!" Of course, you're right. There are times when the pony picture crowd gets clues that the kids miss, like "Kitty Foyle." Let's call it experience and life lessons.

embien said...

7:27 today. My only unknowns were gotten via the crosses (CATT and ARA). Funny that we see NARD again so soon--perhaps it was just in the NY Times? ETAPE is a gimme for me. And 47d: Hebrew month (ADAR) could just as well have been "Write in the only Jewish month you can think of" for me.

I have my grandmother's mangle sitting in my garage. We used it for quite a while, but hardly do any ironing anymore. It says "Ironrite" on the front, but I'm not sure if that is a model or brand name.

Anonymous said...

Barb B: To get the umlaut over a u on a Mac press option u then u alone. Try the option with other vowels to see what you can do. My daughter- law's name is Renée.
Since I'm doing this on a Mac, it may not come out on the Blog, but try it anyway. It works. The other interesting site it called "show character palette.
And I too worked a mangle when I was little. It was awful when the sheet began to wrinkle and kept going through. It made the sheet truly unusable.
C.C.: I'm glad others answered your question about "shaft of fire". Better than I could have.

melissa bee said...

@xchefwalt: i don't know nuthin' 'bout no accomplices.. but i do know if i were a cake, i would not be FLOURless.

carol said...

Kittyb, I was one of those whose learned to do shirts on the Mangle...I did all my Dad's workshirts

Embien, Ours said Ironrite on it too, thanks for remembering that! I don't know if that was a brand name either.

Bill said...

For those who really don't know what a MANGLE is!!

MANGLE

Clear Ayes said...

Ah yes, the Mangle...my grandmother had one of those too. Can you imagine, washing and rinsing sheets in an agitator washer, running them through the wringer, drying them on the line, sprinkling them and then having to iron them? AND my grandmother was happy that she didn't have to scrub them in a washtub anymore!

About those big skirts. This is a photo of me right before my 8th grade graduation. Don't ask about the bangs. I have no idea why I might have thought that was attractive. This was the first (official) time I got to wear lipstick, so I put on the darkest, reddest I could borrow from my girlfriend.

carol said...

Clear Ayes, have you ever used a wringer washer? I did when I was on my own and rented an apartment in an old home..the landlady had one in the basement that she let the tenants use free of charge..since I had very little money, I used that instead of going to a "laundro-mat". Those things can be intimidating!! The wringer made me nervous even though I knew it had a "handle/button" to make it stop. Glad those days are over! There are also some jokes about well endowed women getting their "endowments" caught in the ringer.

Clear Ayes said...

Carol, those wringers were dangerous. I have a year older cousin, who has a big scar on her elbow from a wringer (same Grandma, same washing machine). She was about 4 years old and managed to run her arm through the rollers. It was like a burn, I guess from the friction on her skin.

Come to think of it, that same cousin has a burn scar on her butt that looks like three side by side bars. She got that from leaning up against a radiator after her bath.

Luckily she survived her childhood and is a retired high school Spanish teacher.

kazie said...

Crockett,
This doesn't work on a laptop with no number pad to the right. But if you use a desktp computer, have the num lock on, and hold the ALT key down while pushing the following numbers on the number pad. When you let them all up, the correct symbol appears:

alt129 = ü
alt148 = ö
alt132 = ä
alt225 = ß
alt0128 = € (Euro)
alt142 = Ä
alt154 = Ü
alt153 = Ö

There are others that work for French accents too if anyone wants them.

If you refer to the character map on your PC in the start menu, you can see the alt codes as you pass over the desired letters.
It's fun to try them!

xchefwalt said...

@Melissa- what kind of flour then? All Purpose? High Gluten? Not self-rising, I’m sure. All Natural and Unbleached?

melissa bee said...

@xchefwalt: it's a new kind of flour, made from FLOWERS.

Crockett1947 said...

@kaxie Thank you. I'll have to give them a try.

@melissa bee Nice to see your "old" picture back again.

Clear Ayes said...

Getting ready to turn in. I just reread Sara Teasdale's poem. It finally hit me that "After Parting" is "stalking by poetry". No matter what, this guy isn't going to escape the writer. Even though they aren't together, she will always be there, watching him, overpowering him with her desire. Maybe it's a little more scary than on the first read through.