google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, October 22, 2012 David Steinberg

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Oct 22, 2012

Monday, October 22, 2012 David Steinberg

Theme: Melt in your Mouth - Perennial Halloween favorites are the unifier and four long theme entries plus a spanner follow the M and M lead.

17A. Versatile, as clothes outfits : MIX AND MATCH

24A. Auto title data : MAKE AND MODEL

38A. Toon mouse couple : MICKEY AND MINNIE

49A. All one's strength : MIGHT AND MAIN

60A. Gentle : MEEK AND MILD

69A. Colorful candy purchase, or what 17-, 24-, 38-, 49- and 60-Across all are : M AND M's

Argyle here. Trick or Treat! I think we got a treat for our Monday puzzle. We have had a similar one before, Link but this might be a tad harder.

Across:

1. Capt. Kirk's Asian lieutenant : MR. SULU. Star Trek.

7. Big name in elevators : OTIS

11. Eng. majors' degrees : BAS. (Bachelor of Arts and Science)(assuming it's English and not Engineering.) No wait, I messed up. I should have parsed that as BA's, Bachelor of Arts, plural.

14. Aid from a road travel org. : AAA MAP

15. Calamine mineral : ZINC

16. Make a decision : OPT

19. N.Y. engineering sch. : RPI. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute(over by Irish Miss in Troy), where BAS can mean Bachelor of Applied Science)

20. Stein filler : ALE

21. Hawkeye State : IOWA

22. Tom of "The Seven Year Itch" : EWELL. IMDb.

27. Represent as identical : EQUATE

30. Wine: Pref. : OENO

31. Actress Rene : RUSSO

32. Way in or out : DOOR

35. Iraq War concern: Abbr. : WMD. (weapons of mass destruction)

42. __ dye: chemical colorant : AZO. A little tough for a Monday.

43. High-pitched woodwind : OBOE

44. Breakfast corners : NOOKS. Read your Nooks in your nooks?

45. Old OTC watchdog : NASD. (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) Over-the-counter (OTC), in this case, off-exchange trading is to trade financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, commodities or derivatives directly between two parties and not drugs.

48. Borneo sultanate : BRUNEI. Perps and a WAG.

54. Skylit rooms : ATRIA

55. Wedding cake layer : TIER

56. Dean's list no. : GPA. (Grade Point Average)

59. Highland refusal : NAE

64. Chicago transports : ELs. (elevated trains)

65. End of a threat : ELSE

66. Like many rumors : UNTRUE

67. Baseball's Cobb et al. : TYs

68. Small complaints that are "picked" : NITS

Down:

1. Papa's mate : MAMA. Clip.(3:19)

2. Skateboard park fixture : RAIL

3. __-Coburg: former German duchy : SAXE. Map. The city.

4. Actress Thurman : UMA

5. PC-to-PC system : LAN. (local area network)

6. "Rabbit at Rest" author : UPDIKE. John Updike

7. Conductor Seiji : OZAWA. Seiji Ozawa - Short Biography.

8. Giant : TITAN

9. Business name abbr. : INC.

10. Connive : SCHEME. 29D. Amer. lawmaking group : U.S. CONGRESS. (Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

11. Approached rapidly : BORE DOWN ON

12. iLife producer : APPLE

13. Not moving a muscle : STILL

18. "The Simpsons" bartender : MOE

23. Came out ahead : WON

24. Face hider : MASK

25. Stub __ : A TOE

26. College housing : DORM

27. Humorist Bombeck : ERMA

28. Quick classroom test : QUIZ

32. Gently applied amount : DAB

33. Yoko from Tokyo : ONO

34. Dedicatory poem : ODE

36. Voice amplifier : MIKE

37. Arnaz who played Ricky : DESI

39. Luke Skywalker's mentor : YODA

40. Cross inscription : INRI. translation, "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews".

41. Subject of a sentence, typically : NOUN

46. Yellowfin tuna : AHI. Not a sushi clue today.

47. Pollen-producing flower part : STAMEN

48. Showman who teamed with Bailey : BARNUM

49. Painter Édouard : MANET. For Tinbeni. Cheers!

50. Peninsular Mediterranean country : ITALY

51. H-bomb trial, e.g. : N-TEST

52. Flood stoppers : DIKES

53. __ culpa : MEA. Just a thought; I haven't seen or heard, "my bad", lately, and that's a good thing.

56. Encircle : GIRD

57. Prune, before drying : PLUM

58. Fruity beverages : ADEs. Time to put the ades away and bring on the toddies and nogs.

61. New Haven Ivy Leaguer : ELI. Yale.

62. Genetic material : DNA

63. Rainier, e.g.: Abbr. : MTN. Southeast of Seattle in the state of Washington.




Argyle

Notes from C.C.:

Here is a fruit-laden lemon tree from Dennis' new home. He's been enjoying fresh lemonade. Click here for more pictures. I've never seen those tropical trees in person (probably never will) and thought the last one was mango tree.

84 comments:

Dennis said...

Good morning, Argyle, C.C. and gang - probably just me, but I found this puzzle to be fairly difficult in parts for a Monday. For me, it was like a tale of two puzzles with some unknowns at the top, then a breeze the rest of the way.

Didn't know Tom Ewell, didn't know (or remember, probably) Saxe-Coburg, didn't know John Updike wrote 'Rabbit at Rest'. Should have remembered Azo dye by now and for some reason I thought engineering degrees were something different than a BA. And when I saw AAA map, I wondered why we haven't seen that answer a lot more; it has to be a constructor's dream fill.

Overall, a nicely done puzzle with an easy theme. And did anyone else think of our anons when they filled in 68A?

Our moving vans (yes, plural - one full-size, one smaller) have come and gone and left us with a two-car garage packed to a height of about six feet with cartons, etc., so it's been a fun weekend trying to make some order of it. On top of that, I gave myself a nice hamstring strain doing something stupid, so I'm hobbling around a bit, even after doing the R.I.C.E. thing. But it's Florida, so it's all good.

I still find myself thinking about eddyB and ClearAyes a lot; they'll be missed here for a long time.

Let's knock this dying crap off, ok? And carpe diem every day.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Yah, definitely a bit crunchier than your typical Monday fare today. SAXE, AZO, EWELL, OENO, NASD, MANET (as clued)... I was able to get them all fairly quickly (sometimes relying heavily on the perps, as with NASD), but it's still really heavy on the crosswordese.

The theme itself was fine, except that I've never seen or heard MIGHT AND MAIN before in my life. Easy enough to infer (especially after getting the theme reveal), but still unexpected. Is this expression familiar to everybody else?

Argyle said...

Link for "might and main"

windhover said...

Dennis:
I'm with you, both in terms of thinking of our departed friends and our future. I think I've said it here before, but I subscribe to the Woody Allen theory. Woody said (maybe not an exact quote):
"Some people want to be immortal by being known for their work; I want to be immortal by not dying."
Hey, it's working so far. :-)

thehondohurricane said...

Howdy everyone,

I agree with Dennis and Barry ... this was a bit testy for a Monday. My issues began early on when I entered ACT for 16A. Took some time before I decided on OPT.

MIGHT AND MAIN was in question until I read Argyle fine blog. New expression for me.

The SE was another problem section. MTS for 63D & PLU? for 57D were the bid causes for my issues.

Finally, and thankfully, it all came together.

Anony-Mouse said...

Wow! No. 4 on a Monday ... getting up early has its benefits. I am in Chicago today, for the day .... Hello Abejo, ... Hello Mari ... will symbolically wave at all the Bank buildings while I drive thru, in your honor.

Traveled first class ! paid for by client. Has its benefits ... I swear the TSA lady nearly smiled at me ( or was it a yawn ? ) ... also Stewardess not only smiled but winked at me (!) three times ( or was it an eye problem ? ) ... also got an extra packet of peanuts. Woo hoo.

Thank you David Steinberg for a nice and easy puzzle ... enjoyed it very much. Thank you Argyle, for your commentary, which I shall be reading as soon as I finish this.

I bumped my toe, thinking 'Pistil' instead of 'Stamen' .. but soon corrected.

Our newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer (huh ?) has discontinued QOD's, and sold more ads instead. So no more QOD's.So, a final one-

One can endure sorrow alone, but it takes two to be glad. ~ Elbert Hubbard.

Kevin Ajax On said...

I've never heard of Might And Main but then it was an easy fill with perps. I also found this puzzle a tad tougher than the usual Monday fare, although not so tough that it was undoable. This was a fun theme that just required a little more thinking before throwing in the answers as fast as you can read the clues which was nice on a Monday for a change. I wonder if this is an omen of things to come this week. Time will tell. Take care and have a good day everyone.

Anony-Mouse said...

Still in Chicago, no client in sight ... oh well.

Argyle, your commentary was wonderful - I see you're still here ... do you sleep at all ? Thanks for deleting my duplicate post.

Dennis, nice to see your trees and seeing you're settling down. If I had to relocate anywhere, I'd rather die - my stuff couldn't fit into 10 large moving vans.

Hi, Windhover - you're up early too ... still lambing ? .... or wrapping up for the onset of winter ?

Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, was prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha - which is how I remembered.

I thought 'main' in Might and Main had something to do with the warships at sea - on the bounding 'main' - the open sea ?

I thought of dear HeartRx/Marti at 'nits'.

Talking of nits, I better start brushing up on why I am here in this windy city, in the first place.

Have a nice week, you all, and best wishes.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, David Steinberg, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for the swell review.

I agree, there were a couple of togh ones for a Monday, but it all worked.

Had RAMP for 2D, but fixed that to RAIL.

ALE was easy. SAXE came with MIX AND MATCH. Had all the themes before I got to M AND MS. MIGHT AND MAION was a wagged perp.

The NE corner was my tough spot.

Another Simpsons answer, MOE. I feel like thye are my buddies.

Anony-Mouse: Welcome to Chicago. It's a great area except for the taxes and those that spend them.

Off to my eye doctor today, for a prep for my cataract surgery. I amazed him last week when I gave him the code for cataract surgery, 66984. Some things you do not forget.

See you tomorrow. Abejo

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

After entering MIGHT I immediately penned in AND MAIN, so I guess I must have heard that expression. I've never used it myself, though.

Argyle, that was clever tying SCHEME to US CONGRESS. They are downright DF in the original sense of the word.

I did enjoy the unusual (for a Monday) fill in today's offering. It was a nice start to the week.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

I'm glad I'm not the only one who read the "Eng." clue as Engineering. A BA in English makes more sense, thanks Argyle.

Mixed up INRE and INRI again, I keep doing that.

Let's go face Monday now...cheers!

Sfingi said...

Had "ten" before GPA, for top ten.

The reason Lucy could move over for Desi was because there were no seat belts.

My son got married Saturday on a covered bridge in Conway, NH. After a huge downpour Friday, the sun came out in force. We wondered who put the rosaries on the clothesline.

Yellowrocks said...

This was more interesting than the usual Monday fare. I proceeded as fast as I could write except for pondering a little bit in the NE corner. APPLE was iffy, but EPPLE was impossible. I had to change ramp to RAIL. I had MAIN and knew it had to pair with MIGHT.

After the first 2 theme answers MandM candies occurred to me.

I liked Tom EWELL in the Seven Year Itch.

Someday if a constructor needs a fresh clue for OTIS, she might try "the Mayberry town drunk."

Middletown Bomber said...

thank you Argile and Dave for the writeup and puzze you Dennis I hope you enjoy florida, your trees look wonderful. Are you sure that is a mango tree from the picture the leaves looked a little to large (fat) and the fruit was not growing in bunches the way mangos normally do, and they seem to be the wrong color green. I think that tree may be a Choquette Avacado (beware when they fall they tend to be very heavy and hard) which are now native to florida. Well whatever the tree may be I hope you enjoy the fruits weather it be mango sorbet or Guacamole.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning all. Thanks for the write-up and explanations, Argyle. LOL'ed at your SCHEME placement.

Basically a romp, today. Sussed the theme early on and was writing in the 'm's' before reading the clues. Nice shoutout to my alma mater, RPI. Got SAXE from Saxe-Coburg Gotha, the royal British dynasty name starting with Q. Victoria. (I think it was changed to Windsor during WWI because of anti-German sensitivities.) ITALY and BRUNEI were gimmes. Only hiccup was NASD where I had to wait for all the perps.

Nice pictures, Dennis.

Have a great day.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks for somewhat chewy puzzle, David! Great work, Argyle, and thanks for your early post (was baffled by what turned out).

I haven't written in a while. Haven't been able to sleep and several things are driving me nuts. Friends have flown away for a while. (I get nightly reports from swimming partner, Chris, who is in Pittsburgh slaving away for nutty 94 year old aunt. Said aunt has forgotten important things--from distant past to present.)

Workmen are finally coming back today (knocking on my head)--after 3 week stressful absense.

Dennis: nice pictures of your trees! Wow--a mango tree!

Must try to sleep some more (having had only 1.5 hours).

Cheers

PK said...

Enjoyable Monday puzzle! Great commentary, Argyle! Only problem with linking the Mama's & Papa's is I get sidetracked and want to hear all their other songs. The car link was priceless.

Having never watched Star Trek, I was dismayed to start out with something I thought I didn't know, but soon pulled it together.

Went for AAAtow first, but UMA cleared that.

WON: did anyone see Tommy Gainey shoot the lowest round this year at a 60 (par 70) on the PGA Tour? I had it on earlier then turned it off and missed seeing his performance. 8 birdies & an eagle. HG: practice, practice!

Mt. Rainier: Have y'all been in Seattle when the mountain was "out"? Twice obscured by clouds when I was there. But I have seen it in all its majesty.

Dennis, glad you are home!

Another good friend died here. A blessing for a
brilliant mind trapped 8 yrs. in a Parkinson's body.

fermatprime said...

Yellowrocks: if a word starts with a lower case i followed by a capital, there is a very good chance that someone is talking about Apple (iMac, iPad, iPod, iPhone, iWorks, iChat, etc.)

Anonymous said...

Very good Monday puzzle. Thank you.

Mari said...

It looks like you guys just about covered it, so: WEES. I also went with RAMP for RAIL. Didn't know OZAWA, SAXE, EWELL, etc.

The very first clue threw me off becuase I was thinking of SULU (not MR. SULU).

Anony-Mouse: Welcome to our fine city. Steer clear of the crooked politicians and you'll be just fine. I'll be waving back from the finance district. Try one of the ELS while you're here.

Abejo: Best of luck with the cataracs.

Mari said...

I thought a degree in engineering would have been a MA. I guess I'm just so use to Howard defending his Masters in Engineering to Sheldon all the time on TBBT.

CrossEyedDave said...

I fell into the ramp/rail, inre/inri traps also.

Desperotto, i like your windchime!

Anyway, i found a perfect M&M pic to link today, but it is just so outrageous that i am afraid people might complain. So i am linking cat video's instead...

Cat Special Forces

My cat can ride a bike better than you!

If you want to complain about the cat videos, contact the "keep dirty M&M jokes out of the Blog committee!"

Husker Gary said...

It says Monday on page 5D of my paper but this wonderful puzzle was the toughest, crunchy Monday I’ve ever solved. Theme was fun too. I used to use peanut M&M’s as rewards for kids in class but had to switch to Skittles with all the peanut allergies kids have.

Musings
-MICKEY AND MINNIE have had more success as corporate symbols than as toon stars.
-IOWA corn yield and football team are both way down this year
-Smart, beautiful Rene fell for loser Kevin Costner in Tin Cup. Does that happen in real life?
-The ATRIA in our school let in sun AND rain.
-Husker fans rode the red and purple ELS in Chicago to get out to Evanston last Saturday where they outnumbered the Northwestern fans.
-Skateboarders often fall straddling a RAIL and really hurt their, uh, pride
-Some softball girls this year wore MASKS so as not to get hurt by balls that BORED DOWN ON them
-As I write this, I’m listening Mike and Mike talk into a MIKE
-DESI loved Lucy and…
-In a corn plant the tassel has many STAMENS that shed pollen
-Yeah, right PK :-)!
-Love the trees, Dennis! They’ll make some good ADE and piña coladas.
-What’s “gonna take an ocean of calamine lotion?”

Dennis said...

Windhover, on the money.

Thanks for the comments on the pictures -- still hard to believe we're here.

Middletown Bomber, you could well be right. Hell, I still can't get used to walking out back and pulling fruit off a tree. It could be a pumpkin tree for all I know -- I just thought they looked like mangos. And of course, I like anything that looks like mangos...

klilly said...

Thanks for the information on might and main. Did not know that one..I hate when I don't read the clues carefully and then it messes up one whole section.

Oh well

Have a great day. Headed to western NY and then Princeton, NJ.. Hope there are still some leaves left on the trees.. I love the fall in the northeast..

K

HeartRx said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al.

Five themers for a Monday, one of them a grid spanner, makes for a super constructing challenge. I thought David did a great job, and I didn't have any of the problems that the others have mentioned. MR SULU, OZAWA and Tom EWELL were all gimmies, so it seemed just right for a Monday.

Dudley, I used to mix up inre and inri as well. But INRI means "Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum", which is Latin for "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." I now remember that the two i's in the quote both stand for the English J. And for IN RE, I just finish it off with "gards" to plant it in my memory.

YR, love you suggestion for the OTIS clue!

Dennis, @8:58 LOL. (But I suspect you'd be happier with a cantaloupe tree?)

Anony-Mouse said...

Still in Chicago, pleasant weather - solved nit - sternly lectured client on wasting my time, billable hours and his money. Client is contrite, still in awe of me, and gladly wrote out my check. Tact is the ability to advise your client to go to hell, and having him actually look forward to the journey, and happily paying for your advice.

Mari, I wanted to ride the ELS, especially after todays puzzle, but client insists I ride his limo to the Millennium Park Bubble and a quick trip to the Bahai Temple on the north side, then off to the airport.

Did I mention I'm travelling first class ? The 'air' isn't much better, the fellow passengers are a little bit more snooty - but the captain flying the plane, coming in, ..... assured me that I 'takeoff' and 'land' - one second before the rest of the riff-raff. ;-) lol....

I would probably crash a little earlier too .... if that happens to happen.

Have a great week, you all ... with or without me.

Anonymous said...

Even though I'm an Eng. (Engineer) for some reason I read Eng as English so I got it by mistake. I guess I need to clear out the early morning brain fog.

Argyle said...

Mother Goose and Grimm.

Steven J. St. John said...

Really enjoyed this one today.

Avg Joe said...

Non Sequiter

Argyle said...

Anon, you can't get it wrong; it works either way. Engineers and English majors both can get a BAS. Bachelor of Applied Science or Bachelor of Arts and Science.

No wait, I messed up. I should have parsed that as BA's, Bachelor of Arts, plural.

Sure is a heavy fog today!

PK said...

CED: Did you see the "hedge kittens" link on the side of your first cat video? Interesting.

Yellowrocks said...

klily, yesterday we took a leaf peeping ride through western NJ from Morris County to the NJ/PA state line. The route passes through mostly forest with open viatas of wooded hill upon hill. Just beautiful. My son and his family live near Princeton. Their peak foliage season is usually behind ours.

Every fall there is a beautiful flaming red tree that I can see as I sit at my computer. This year it has no leaves at all.It must have died. I was so looking forweard to enjoying it.

MamasitaM said...

Great puzzle, but one question for Argyle: What is the Irish
Miss in Troy, NY? I tried looking at a map, tried Googling. I live in Charleston, SC, and just got curious.

Spitzboov said...

Argyle @ 0933. I was going to link MG&G but didn't want to over do it. Glad you did. You got it right.

Mari said...

MamasitaM @ 9:52 am: Irish Miss is a (great) member of this blog who hails from Troy, NY.

Anonymous said...

Totally an east coast puzzle. Atria, nits, equate, oeno, RPI and N test totally words for a Monday. Saxe-Coberg- Gotha would have been the last name of the English royals if George V had not have changed it.

Montana said...

Good Monday to everyone. WEES about this puzzle. I waited for perps for OENO and nasD, but otherwise it fell together nicely. I even figured out the theme before reading Argyle’s expo.
Nice pictures, Dennis. Wish I lived where it is warm.

I did get to see beautiful leaves in N CT and E NY, before I came back to MT. It is a good thing I spent yesterday digging up my flower bulbs and covering my roses. Winter is on its way to MT tonight. I live on the eastern prairie, so I will most likely only get cold rain for now, but they are forecasting snow by the feet in our mountains. Positive side of that is NO water problems or restrictions next year when it melts. Hopefully we won’t get so much snow that we flood out the people downstream on the Missouri River like a couple years ago.

Sfingi, my DIL hung rosaries in a tree out from my son’s patio for a few days before their wedding in DC. (We used a broom to reach!) It worked, nice weather for the ceremony.

Have a great day,
Montana

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

What a fun puzzle! Never heard of might and main, either, but it filled in smoothly. RPI was a quick gimme; as Argyle pointed out, it is a stone's throw from my house. (When we were kids, we used to ice skate at the Field House every Sunday afternoon.)

Thanks David S. For a nice Monday offering and thanks, Argyle, for your usual great expo. And thanks to Mari for the nice comment on "Irish Miss.". BTW, azo dye was in yesterday's " other" puzzle.

Nice, sunny day but a little chilly. Not bad for late October. Waiting for serviceman to check out the furnace before winter sets in.

Happy Monday.

Irish Miss said...

Forgot to mention that "Sheldore" would like this puzzle as it referenced both Star Wars and Star Trek.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

I'll ignore my NITs and accentuate the positive. Theme is not only colorful, but tasty and sweet. Some excellent down fill.

Yes a bit hard for a Monday.

Dennis - if life hands you lemons, you can probably find a use for some gin. If life hands you cantaloupes -- well, you'll know what to do.

Sunny here this morning. Warm rain forecast for later this afternoon.

Cheers!
JzB

Anonymous said...

Husker G @8:53... POISON IVY
from the song

desper-otto said...

Husker, the answer to your question is poison ivy.

I do have a minor NIT with today's puzzle. A mike is not a "voice amplifier", it's a voice capturer. A mike converts sound waves to a miniscule electrical signal. It takes an audio amplifier to increase the mike's puny output enough to drive even a headphone.

desper-otto said...

That'll teach me to go for a cup of coffee while writing a post. I let an Anon sneak in ahead of me.

Lucina said...

I'm late to the party as I've been waiting for a two truck to take my carrito axolotl (you thought I was kidding), to the shop. She refused to start!

Mostly easy puzzle from David today though of course I don't know iLife and certainly not that it's an APPLE product so had to search for that.

Otherwise very straightforward. No NITS.

Have a terrific Monday, everyone!

Tinbeni said...

Argyle: Excellent write-up & links (as always).

Dennis: Nice pictures ... have you had your first indoor palmetto bug visit yet? (They're fun!)

David: Thank you for a FUN Monday offering. Just wondering, have you reached 16 yet?

Enjoyed the theme and some M-AND-M'S when I finished.

My NIT would be having UPDIKE & DIKES in the same grid.

Jazz: Any preference in tonights game (St.Louis-v-San.Fran.) to meet your Tigers in the World Series?

Cheers to all at Sunset.

Tinbeni said...

oops! forgot to mention ...

Argyle, thanks for the MANET "An Étude for “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère”.

Cheers (and a half!)

JJM said...

I've loved Crossword puzzles my whole life, but sometimes I think you just need to be old(er) to fill the grid.

14A With GPS who uses a AAA roadmap? The last time I even saw one was probably 10 years ago. We must've had 5 different ones in my Dad's car. And wow! Could he swear when he got lost.
15 A- Unless you're over 45 or so, you never had that awful lotion pasted all over your body when you got poison ivy, poison sumac... poison anything.
22A-The first time I saw the "Seven-Year Itch" was 1967 when I was 10 & I thought Tom Ewell was the luckiest man in the world. NEVER forgot his name after that. I remember he even co-starred in "Baretta"
51 D My guess is that most people don't know what the "H-Bomb" was
53 D-Mea Culpa.... : It's a simple Latin phrase meaning "Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault". Nobody takes Latin anymore. I took 5 years of it and 2 of Classical Greek. Kids today take Russian & Chinese, which in the long run is better.
40 D And although it's in CP's what seems like every other day, INRI is the Latin inscription for "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews" . Again, my Latin to the rescue.
31 A Most people probably think of Rene Zwelleger. In 1975 Rene Russo was one of the top models in the world. I know, I had sisters who couldn't buy enough Fashion mags with her on the cover.

So am I smart or just older?

JD said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C., et al,

Felt like I was back at square one today after deserting the blog for a bit of travel.Italy was so much more than I had dreamed; every city and village unique...oeno-delizioso!

Fun theme, and I relied on the perps more than usual for a Monday. The "downs" were easier, as Mr. Sulu, otis, Ewell, azo, and Brunei were unknowns.

Dennis, I too, am feeling the loss of eddyb and Clear Ayes. For over 3 years we "talked" to each other daily here at our corner.Both were special people, and I felt lucky to meet with them both. Enough of that! GREAT trees Dennis...so nice to have a yard.My limes are yellow, and so juicy compared to the hard little things in our markets.

Argyle, thanks for all of the explanations. I know it takes time. Loved Mother Goose too.

CED, howled over those kittens!

Montana said...

I remember some of you talking about ads in the blog. Today, I read the blog on my desktop computer and I have blue words in some of your comments that, if I click on them, are advertisements. I think they are all underlined in blue, so if I only click on blue words or phrases that aren’t underlined, I may avoid them.
I checked on my iPad, and those same words are not in blue or underlined.
When I link to any uTube videos, I get Montana ads for senate race. Only a couple more weeks!
(I did not get those ads while I was in CT, or any others, either.)

Montana

PK said...

JJM @12.27: You said that kids don't take Latin anymore. I think there is a resurgence in some schools. My 13-yr-old granddaughter is taking Latin at a private school. She thinks it will help her in pre-vet med.

Lucina said...

I'm thankful that the car problem was only the battery. AAA man charged it for me and off I went to get a replacement at one/tenth what I was estimating the cost to be if it had been the engine.

Fermat:
That's a great clue! So an APPLE product is named as "i" something. Thank you.

Bill G. said...

Fun puzzle. Count me among the folks who interpreted Eng. major's degrees as engineering. I guess engineering would have been abbreviated as Engr.

CED, I loved your first cat video. It's not often that you can find me sitting at my computer laughing with tears in my eyes. In fact, I just talked myself into watching it again.

Lucina, here the Auto Club comes with a pickup truck full of car batteries. He will either start your car so you can get a new battery yourself or he will sell and install one at the same price you could get one yourself. It's a great service I think.

Pookie said...

Thank you Argyle, you clear up lots for people like me.
Thank you C.C. for this forum, it is SO much fun.
WEES, INRI not INRE.
MTS... what the heck?
Candy.........MASDMS????
CrossEyedDave- sending the
Cat Special Forces video immediately to cat-lover friend.
You MUST see this one, it's short.

Cats with Thumbs

Well, here's an anonymous quote I found, when a person I had done a lot for, treated me unkindly, to say the least.
"Never make someone a priority in your life who makes you an option in theirs.

CrossEyedDave said...

Top 8 inappropriate M & M moments.

(& no, this is not the one i was afraid to show!)

Yellowrocks, sorry about your tree.
I take lots of camping pics to keep me happy thru the winter. This is my current desktop. You can copy it on to your desktop if you want. I have more if you want to see them.


Hmm, it should be full screen, i need to do some tinkering...

downtonabbey said...

Hello all,
thank you for the great write up today and to the creator of it Mr. Steinberg. I, like Dennis felt this was harder than a normal Monday and had a few learning moments. But that is one of the joys of xwords is learning new things!

I have a grapefruit, orange and key lime tree down here in Texas.
The key lime is the newest addition, just planted last month.

I will appreciate any good pie recipes as I recall we have someone here who loves key lime pie.

Lucina said...

BillG:
The AAA truck here also carries batteries but I originally bought one at Sears and it is still partially under warranty.

Batteries don't last long here because of the intense heat so next time I need a completely new one, I think I'll just buy it from AAA. Good suggestion. Thank you.

Dennis:
I forgot to mention how much I like your pictures. It's amazing how many trees with voluptuous looking fruit is on your property! Coincidence?

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, A few unknowns today, such as N.Y. Engineering School, Tom of the "Seven Year itch", Skateboard park fixture, and iLife producer. All appeared with the perps, but it took a while. I had to skip around before I really had a toe hold. At first I thought this was going to be a HARD Monday puzzle, but everything worked out in the end.

I see others also had some of the same problems, so I didn't feel so bad.

Once I had the M's in Mix and Match and Make and Model, I knew what to look for in the theme entries and that made it a whole lot easier at the bottom half of the puzzle.

I spoke on the phone to Dodo and had to break the news to her about eddyB. and ClearAyes. Her computer has been down and she didn't get any of the e-mails we sent. Lois was one of the CA Coven who came to Dodo's lovely luncheons. Dennis, it's not a bad thing to have the two Corner friends in your thoughts. That's how memories are kept alive.

Anony-Mouse, your QOD was interestiang today. I disagree totally with the first part. I've always thought that sorrow is halved when shared!

Off to the gym. Have a great day, everyone.

CrossEyedDave said...

Pas de Chat, Cats with thumbs! that was excellent! Did you know that i once had a cat with thumbs! it could pick up marble sized balls with ease!

Your link made me surf, & i found more Thumbcats, unfortunately this one is very long...

Dang it, i cannot get the pics to show in their full size!

I'll keep working on it.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I enjoyed the puzzle today, and enjoyed all your comments, too.

Lucina, is Axolotl the name you have given to your car? I like it. We named all our cars with names containing the letter X (such as Rex, Max, and Alex) but ran out of names that we could think of. That's why I like Axolotl. Very cool. (Our current car is unimaginatively named Buddy.) It reminds me of an Ogden Nash rhyme called Ketchup:
Shake and shake and shake the bottle;
None'll come and then a lot'll.

lois said...

Good evening Argyle, CC, et al., If it weren't for the perps, this would not have been as enjoyable as it was. Loved the write up, Argyle, always.

Anony-mous?- I too thought 49A should be associated w/open sea or warships.

Dennis: so glad you are getting settled. It's taken quite a while it seems to me. You already taught me something today. First of all, I'm sorry about your injury. Secondly, I learned what makes a man go limp....a pulled hamstring. And after all these years! note to self: do not pull a man's hamstring! What's the treatment? oinkment? or rubbing/massaging?
I hope you heal quickly. Your trees are beautiful. I'm so glad you can have something akin to melons around you.

My deepest sympathies to the blog friends and the family of eddyB.



Yellowrocks said...

Fermatprime, thanks for the tip, i before a capital letter indicates an Apple product.

CED, thanks for the wallpaper. It's pretty.

Jayce, I think I've found another Ogden Nash fan in you. I like his silly verses.

We haven't heard whether Ariadne's dog had a negative test. I hope that is not why she hasn't posted.

carol said...

Hi all:

Had to check in and see what was going on. I'll get to the puzzle a bit later.

Lois, my dear friend, you make me howl!! Also, thanks much for alerting us to what makes a man limp. I never knew that either!! Wow, the things one learns here :) :)

Dennis, take care of that 'limp'...you might have need of it's use. You still have boxes that need attention. Perhaps some lemon or lime rubbed on will help, if not, mix them in a strong drink.

Marge said...

Hi all,
This was a little hard for a Monday but I did get most of it and found it a lot of fun. My DH usually sees it first as he reads the paper first. He told me the answer to 24A first and then I could see the rest of the long answers.

Tom Ewell I remembered but forgot the spelling.

I am so sorry to hear about ClearEyes and EddyB.

We were told the trees here in Wisconsin wouldn't have much color this fall because of no rain this summer. But they were wrong. The bluffs were covered with red and yellow,etc and we only had to look out the windows to see them.

Have a good evening.
Marge

Gunghy said...

MAs gave me MOVE IN ON, so the Tada was slow in coming. RPI, VMI, VPI: it's all right (Coast) to me.

I think I posted this recently: I had a BA in the science of physiology and a MS in computer arts. The A(rts) represents a degree heavy in theoretical ideas. The S(cience) indicates the degree is practical. Thus an engineer often ends up with a BA in his field and an English major planning a career in teaching could finish with a BS.

Gunghy said...

Ugh, that last post was written about 11:00 blog time. I came back from a funeral and discovering that I need a root canal to find that the satellite hadn't cooperated again. Avoid satellite internet if you can.

While I was "gone" this spring, there were two inventions that are used here often: Natick and WEES. I had hoped to puzzle them out, and although I've got a vague idea of what they mean and how to use them, I'm not happy with my grasp of them. Could someone show me where to find or explain the meaning and origin, please? And thank you.

Lucina said...

Yea! The ads are now gone. Thank you to whoever is responsible for their disappearance.

Jayce:
Yes, AXOLOTL is my car's name. I love it. Having seen it at least twice in puzzles, I feared it wouldn't stay in my memory so what better way to etch it in the brain? AXOLOTL is today installed with a new battery. (Memory nudge: it is a Mexican reptile.)

Gunghy said...

Lucina, It's a Mexican salamander, and therefore is an amphibian. That makes it closer to a frog than a lizard. Slimy skin, no scales, larval water "breathing" stage.

I'm talking about the Axolotl, not your car.

carol said...

Hi again,

Most has all been said by now but I did enjoy the puzzle. Cute M&M theme. Darn good candy too.

Did not know 7 and 12D

Would someone kindly explain 30A? What is OENO ???

Avg Joe said...

There's too much emphasis these days on medical solutions. Live better through chemistry, if you will.

Lost in that are two age old methods of birth control. The first is simply putting a sharp rock in your shoe........it'll make you limp.

The second has a pharmaceutical sounding name that's misleading, but it's simpler than that. It's called Noassatol.

Chickie said...

Carol OENO is the prefix for Oenology, the study and science of wine making.

Dennis, I think you're going to have to get acquainted really fast with your neighbors. All those lemons and limes will have to be shared. Oh, wait. You're in Florida. All of your neighbors probably have the same trees!

Fermatprime, Thanks for the i(Apple) explanation. I didn't know that.

We have a real conflict tonight. Our Giants play game 7 in San Francisco at the same time as the Presidential debates. Which one to record? Or do we just toggle back and forth?

David Steinberg said...

Thanks for the great writeup, Argyle, and to everyone else for all the fun comments!

@Tinbeni I'm still 15, though not for much longer!

@JJM I've taken six years of Latin myself, and it has certainly come in handy, both in crosswords and in school.

Argyle said...

David, you trapped me this morning. I got engrossed in one of the entries and found out I was running late by the time I got done reading. Ah, it's all good.

Glad to do one of your puzzles anytime.

Bill G. said...

Gunghy, WEES stands for 'What Everybody Else Said." Natick is a little tougher. It's the intersection of two words, where it is unlikely that the average CW puzzler will know either one.

Chickie, Debates and Baseball. What to do? I will watch one and record the other. It's funny. I'm guessing there is nothing that will be said by either party in the debate that will change even one person's mind here on the Corner. Meanwhile, I'll go see what Ellen's up to.

Anonymous said...

Tom Ewell most well known to co star with Marilyn Monroe in Seven Year Itch, the movie where she wears the iconic white dress which gets blown when she walks over the grate. Ewell comes up often in these puzzles.

ARBAON said...

In honor of Dennis`
Lemon Tree

In the state where I live part time...they had bacon-flavored lemonade and fried butter on a stick @ the State Fair! As they say there, "If ahm lyin`, ahm dyin`!"

Gunghy said...

Bill G., Thank you for your help. I probably should have searched the archives, but am feeling just a bit out of sorts right now.

By the way, Dennis, that is definitely an avocado tree, you lucky man! So, no mangoes, but as much as I like mangoes, avocados are one of the basic food groups. Right up there with coffee, ice cream and chocolate. Just a word of warning: Avocados are pretty much a bi-annual tree. They bear very heavily every other year with almost no fruit the tween years.

fermatprime said...

Lucina: An Apple product does not necessarily begin with an "i."

I had a horse named Axolotl once. A nice buckskin.

Natick (a town near Boston) was in Merl's offering yesterday.

carol said...

Chickie, thanks much for the OENO explanation. Learn so much here :)

Dennis said...

Just back from a 10-hour day of unpacking boxes. Barely a dent.

Marti - yes, certainly cantaloupes would be welcome.

Tin, yes, we've seen a couple palmetto bugs, and they're huge! I think one had US Air markings.

JD, Carol, good to see you here. Just like old times.

Lucina, no coincidence -- I seem to be attracted to those types of things. Any suggestions?

Lois, you've been missed too - and the treatment is rubbing, of course, and occasionally in the hamstring area as well.

Chickie, I actually gave a bunch of the limes and lemons to the moving crew. And I'm ODing on lemonade.

It was quite an ordeal getting home tonight. The two 'this is the best we can do?' candidates had their final debate nearby at Lynn University and the cops had everything blocked. Three mile drive took forty-five minutes.

Bill G. said...

I time-shared between the debate and the Giants/Cardinals game. It was fun to see the last few outs in pouring rain. Maybe the Dodgers will be back in contention next year.

Lois, it was fun to see you 'back in action'. How are your classes this year?

Lucina said...

Gunghy:
Thanks. I think that I originally knew the Axolotl is a salamander, but it disappeared somewhere.

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

Maybe the discussions here got too juicy? This post attracts lots of spams. I'm disallowing further comments.