google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, March 10, 2014 Brom Hart

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Mar 10, 2014

Monday, March 10, 2014 Brom Hart

Theme: PP - Just two words starting with P? It seems so. Update: "In addition to two P's, each theme entry ends with some kind of animal." Thank you, HeartRx.

17A. Porky's girlfriend : PETUNIA PIG

24A. Feigns sleep, say : PLAYS POSSUM

52A. Either of two of the Inspector Clouseau films, with "The" : PINK PANTHER

61A. Yipping adoptee : POUND PUPPY

Argyle here. Debut constructor...unless it's an anagram.

Across:

1. "Famous Potatoes" state : IDAHO

6. Speak drunkenly : SLUR

10. Addition word : PLUS

14. "__ what?": "What next?" : SO NOW

15. Adhesive strip : TAPE

16. Shopper's memory aid : LIST

19. Impressionist : APER

20. Very __ yours : TRULY

21. Utter mess : SNAFU

22. Tire inflater : AIR

28. Pitt of "Troy" : BRAD

30. Three-note chord : TRIAD

31. Aboveground trains : ELS

32. Per __: for each person, as income : CAPITA

35. Got one's uniform dirty, perhaps : SLID. Baseball. The other timely entry: 4D. Semiannual time-change amount : HOUR

36. Runs away from military duty : DESERTS

38. Israeli parliament : KNESSET. (the gathering)

43. "Exodus" author Leon : URIS. Neat pairing.

45. Haughtily terse : SNIPPY

46. "From __ Zinc": vitamin slogan : A TO

49. Skimpy skirts : MINIs. Do we need to see more? (yes)

51. Cut out, as coupons : CLIP

56. Cooler cubes : ICE OH, NO!

57. World book : ATLAS

58. Like a lummox : INEPT

60. Lamb serving : CHOP

66. Pile : HEAP

67. Undersized 61-Across : RUNT. (pound puppy)

68. Sharp-crested ridge : ARÊTE

69. Novelist Ferber : EDNA

70. Twistable cookie : OREO

71. Leavening agent : YEAST

Down:

1. AOL, for one : ISP. (internet service provider)

2. Deer girl : DOE

3. Devices to stop tiny invading armies : ANT TRAPS

5. Admit (to) : OWN UP

6. Patronize, as a hotel : STAY AT

7. Spot for a cat, or drink like a cat : LAP

8. Wire service initials : UPI. (United Press International)

9. Coffee order: Abbr. : REGular

10. Thinks ahead : PLANS

11. Enzyme that breaks down fats : LIPASE. Is there a pill for that?

12. Handy : USEFUL

13. Plays the banjo, like someone "in the kitchen with Dinah" : STRUMS. Here, I'll sing it for you.


        LINK (Montana, this is embedded so I think you shouldn't need the LINK.

18. Unwell : ILL

21. Wetter than wet : SODDEN

22. "The Alphabet Song" start : ABCD

23. "Dies __": Latin hymn : IRAE

25. Mos. and mos. : YRs

26. Fancy tie fabric : SILK

27. "Growing" difficulties : PAINS

29. Craps cube : DIE

33. Spades in a four-spades bridge contract, say : TRUMPS

34. Sunlit courtyards : ATRIA

37. Ireland's __ Féin : SINN. (we ourselves)

39. [error left as is] : [SIC]

40. Soup legume : SPLIT PEA

41. Many a DeMille movie : EPIC

42. Use a keyboard : TYPE

44. Command to Rover : SIT

46. Tribe for which a helicopter is named : APACHE

47. Gave 10% to the church : TITHED

48. Borrowed, as a library book : ON LOAN

50. Japanese religion : SHINTO

53. Phi Beta __ : KAPPA

54. Put a stop to : END

55. Settle, as a debt : REPAY

59. Chaste : PURE

61. NHL player, e.g. : PRO

62. "__ Father, who art ..." : OUR

63. One in Québec : UNE

64. Qt. halves : PTs

65. Nonetheless : YET


Argyle

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to dear Avg Joe, a very observant and no-nonsense guy. Joe is another foodie on our blog and he knows all about soup (well, maybe not miso soup, Gary!).



62 comments:

OwenKL said...

Pining for the Past

Saturday morning, time for kiddie cartoons,
Porky PIG and PETUNIA in Loony Tunes.
Pogo POSSUM in the paper,
PINK PANTHER on a caper,
PLUS promos peddling POUND PUPPY platoons!

Barry G. said...

Morning All (and Happy Birthday, Joe)!

Time change has officially knocked me for a loop. It always takes me a few days to readjust my internal clock...

Fun puzzle today, although a bit on the crunch side for a Monday. KNESSET?

Got into a bit of trouble by confidently entering SOAKED instead of SODDEN at 21D. I knew something was wrong when I saw that 30A ended with AA, however.

OwenKL said...

SPLIT PEA is a yucky green to consume,
Not PINK like the PANTHER in the cartoon.
But though the color I curse
It could be much worse;
Our soup-bowls could hold a blue legume!

SPLIT PEA may be the theme unifier for this puzzle. Then I'd want ANT TRAP to be significant, too, but only one of the entries, pink pANTher, fits that description.
My only bump, like Barry's, was SOAKED, changed to SOPING, before SODDEN.

Montana said...

Happy Birthday, Average Joe!

You are correct, Argyle. I saw the video, but checked that link also worked. When I was a very young child my family used to sing that song to Dinah Shore. For some reason it annoyed her. After divorce, we never saw her in person again. I still thought it was cool to be related to a movie star, even if, only by marriage.

I could not think of a soup legume. When SPLIT PEA emerged from perps, I felt dumb.

I haven't had wi-fi for a couple days, but am now settled into a hotel in Bozeman, MT. I rode along with my daughter to a conference she is attending. She has two hour lunch breaks and ends each day @ 4:30 pm.
Nice chance to visit.

Have a good day, everybody,

Montana

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Happy Birthday, AvgJoe! Bet you'll get stuck cooking your own birthday dinner.

I, too, thought 40d must be the unifier. Noticed that MINI skirts were back for an encore performance.

Found some anagrams for Brom Hart, but they don't make much sense:
Arm Broth
Tar Rhomb
M T Harbor (no ships?)

thehondohurricane said...

Morning everyone,

Happy birthday Ave Joe. Hope you have a terrific day.

Well, it wasn't a DNF today, but I had one spelling error, so I'm on the downside to begin the week. The center section gave me all sorts of problems and the key culprit was 21D, SODDEN. I had an I instead of the E and never caught it. And I know Knisset is wrong. I wanted Soaked for v21D, but SLID corrected my thinking.

Mari said...

Good morning everybody. Happy Birthday Average Joe!

Nice puzzle today, no complaints. My learning moments were ARETE and LIPASE.

Regarding 1D: "Famous Potatoes" state: IDAHO, years ago I had an apartment across the hall from some Mormon missionaries. They would rotate in and out, but most of them were from Utah, Arizona, and Utah. One Christmas a young man there received a large package from his parents in Idaho...Yep, it was a box of large baking potatoes from the family farm. The young man was so happy, it was probably the best Christmas gift he ever received.

Have a nice week.

buckeye bob said...

Thank you for the puzzle, Brom. Thank you for the review, Argyle.

Easy-peasy Monday easy. I wasn’t sure where PLAYS POSSUM was heading, and didn’t know TRIAD or LIPASE, so I needed perp help there. I can never remember how to spell IRAE (is it ARAE or IRAE?) but the perps had it done this time before I got to it.

Happy birthday, Average Joe!

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Brom Hart, for a fine Monday puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for the fine review.

Good job on the song, Argyle, kind of looks like you.

Happy Birthday, Average Joe, and many more. Always enjoy your commentary.

Montana: Amazing being related to Dinah Shore. That is nice.

Zipped through this puzzle. Used the newspaper today since I started later.

Caught the theme after a couple theme entries.

Many years ago we saw an opossum in our back yard. The dog found it. I went out and checked it out. Looked dead as a door nail. Went inside and it was gone within an hour.

Really enjoy Leon URIS' books.

LIPASE is a new word for me.

I would have called the word TRUMP, not TRUMPS, the way the clue was written. What does everybody think?

Off to my day. Have to finish my book club book by 6:30 tonight. Reading "The Aviator's Wife" by Melanie Benjamin. Story of Anne Morrow, wife of Charles Lindbergh.

Gardening class tomorrow.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

(26836628 330)

HeartRx said...

Good morning everyone!

Now I have that #$^&%*!^$# song going round and round in my head. When we were little, we never got to hear the last verse, though:
Someone's makin' love to Dinah
Someone's making love I know.
Someone's making love to Dinah
'Cause I can't hear the old banjo…


Fun puzzle today, and not a hiccup in sight. I didn't see SODDEN until I read the comments, so it didn't give me any pause. I'm sure I also would have entered "soaked" if I had seen the clue.

In addition to two P's, each theme entry ends with some kind of animal. Very clever, and the type of theme that's just right for a Monday when our brains are foggiest.

We got a dusting of snow again this morning, but the middle of the week is looking very promising, with temps near 50 tomorrow. Yippee!

desper-otto said...

Abejo, I agree with TRUMP without the S. Maybe it's a regional thing.

Bridging yesterday and today: If a three-note chord is a TRIAD, Emmylou says a 4-note chord is a Crawdad.

unclefred said...

HURRAY!! An all-time speed-solve for me this morning!! This was a fun puzzle, I loved the solve, and the blog's write-up, too!! My love for the puzzle is, for sure, influenced by my all-time best solve speed. I just zipped through this one, in ten minutes, beating my previous 11 minutes. I am always in total awe when I read a comment in the blog that someone solved a puzzle in five minutes. Dang! I can't even read the clues and write that fast, if I know every single fill instantly. For me, 10 minutes is the best in forty years of CWs.

LaLaLinda said...

Hi Everyone ~~

I sailed along through this one, maybe a bit too confidently, as I had two write-overs: Soaked / SODDEN as others have mentioned, and also 'Usable' before USEFUL. Both were easily corrected with perps.

I also paused at 48D - Borrowed as a book... thinking first of borrowed as a verb.

Although KNESSET was an unknown, I recognized it as it began to fill in.

I'm with Abejo and others who questioned TRUMPS rather than 'Trump.'

Favorite was 7D - LAP. =^..^=

Nice puzzle for a Monday ~ cute theme. Thanks Brom Hart and thanks, Argyle, for your write-up.

Happy Birthday, (not-so) Average Joe. I always enjoy your posts ~ have a wonderful day!

Avg Joe said...

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone. DO, we ate the celebratory meal last evening. With temps in the 70's it was a grilling day. So: T-Bones. That was accompanied by steamed asparagi and fettuccine al fredo with real butter, cream and fresh grated Romano. Raspberry Cheesecake for dessert. Not for the calorie counter, or the lactose intolerant :-)

Nice easy puzzle this morning. Did not know lipase, but it perped quickly and all else was familiar. Thanks for the puzzle and the writeup.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Nice, easy start to the week. Cute how runt was under pound puppy, as Argyle pointed out. Not so cute for Tin is that dreaded three-letter word at 56A! Brr.

Good jib, Brom, and ditto to Argyle.

Happy Birthday, Joe. You may be average but you are certainly not yesterday's " so-so joe."

Have a great day

Irish Miss said...

Good job, not jib!

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-No prob Bob! I went so fast I had to go back to find the theme.
-One of these men IS Clouseau, the other decidedly not
-We are hooked on Aerial America on the Smithsonian Channel. Last week we learned that missionary Henry Spalding brought potato seeds to Idaho in 1836 in an attempt to domesticate the Nez Perce. Uh, it didn’t work but that started taters there. J.R. Simplot and Ray Kroc made a handshake deal for him to supply McDonalds with his Idaho spuds.
-Walt Disney often told his imagineers to “PLUS it” meaning make an attraction even better
-Where’s your state in per CAPTIA income. Poor Mississippi, literally.
-Baseball broadcaster Dizzy Dean said, “I say SLUD because it means sliding into a base with extra effort”
-INEPT? Let me try to make breakfast so everything comes out at the same time but at least I’m USEFUL around technology
-A severe strain was put on our marriage waiting for family to REPAY loans. Never again!
-Happy Birthday Joe. We will meet in Lincoln sooner or later.
-I’m never gonna live down my unfortunate MISO comment from yesterday! ;-)

OwenKL said...

HeartRx: Very perceptive! I'm now kicking myself for not noticing that! I was too caught up in seeing that 3 out of the 4 were cartoon characters.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Happy Birthday Avg Joe. All the best to you.

Easy one today, but had a fresh 'feel' to it; words like KNESSET, SINN, and LIPASE. (Does Lipitor come from the same root?) Nice job for a debut puzzle. Thanks, Brom.
TRUMPS - The clue is correct as written. Spades might be trump, but you might hold 5 TRUMPS in your hand. Merriam Webster agrees, and in fact, offers for 'trump': "b : the suit whose cards are TRUMPS for a particular hand —often used in plural".
We seem to use it both ways.

Have a great day.

CanadianEh! said...

Speed run today in 9 minutes! I didn't even see all the perps as they were already filled in.

HBD Avg Joe! Birthday party menu sounds delicious.

Smiled at clue for LAP. I learned ARETE years ago doing CW. I made a list of words that kept coming up and eventually remembered some of them. I knew LIPASE.

CanadianEh! said...

Spitzboov: Lipids include fatty acids and other sterol containing molecules including cholesterol. Since statins such as Lipitor (atorvastatin) are used to lower cholesterol, that is probably where the brand name originated.
"lip" or "lipo" refer to fats and "ase" is suffix referring to enzymes so there is a link somewhat.
Clear as mud!

Sallie said...

Good morning everyone.

Happy Birthday Average Joe. I look forward to your avatar.

Husker: my son applied to be a cook many years ago. He had no background other than having been a waiter. The way he was tested was to make breakfast for everyone. He faked it well because he got the job.

Great puzzle, because I could do it!

Cheers

Al Cyone said...

unclefred@8:27: "I am always in total awe when I read a comment in the blog that someone solved a puzzle in five minutes. Dang! I can't even read the clues and write that fast, if I know every single fill instantly."

If I were using pencil (or pen) and paper (the way we all used to have to) it would probably take me twice as long. And I'd probably get so frustrated with my illegible handwriting and cross-outs that I'd give up long before completion.

As someone said here a short time ago (okay, it was me), being able to do crosswords online is the best thing since sliced bread.

Yellowrocks said...

Quick romp today. No unknowns. As Canadian Eh said, I knew lipid refers to fats and- ase refers to enzymes, so LIPASE. KNESSET has been in the news a lot. Hand up for SOAKED before SODDEN.
From the beginning with Petunia Pig I was looking for animals, but cartoon animals. Pink Panther fit. I soon had a figurative animal, Playing Possum, and a real animal, Pound Puppy.
I think TRUMPS is neither arcane nor regional for contract bridge players, such as Spitz, or for readers of bridge columns. I filled it in without a second thought, even though I haven't played bridge in more than 15 years.
I love split pea soup with ham, but never make it because no one else in the family eats it. I use the ham to make navy bean soup, a family favorite. I should cook some pea soup for myself and freeze individual portions.
Happy Birthday to our much better than Average Joe.
The mechanics of online crossword solving slows me down and interrupts my train of thought and concentration.

Argyle said...

OwenKL, if the constructor could have managed POGO POSSUM, he'd had all cartoon characters. So close.

Pound Puppies, in case you missed them. I think it was on just two seasons, big marketing ploy.

The toys were created by Mike Bowling in 1984. The first puppies were sold by Irwin Toy in Toronto, Canada. After Irwin, the line was produced by Tonka which introduced them to the US market. - Wikipedia

Bill G. said...

The puzzle was mostly a typically easy Monday but I got bogged down in the upper-right quadrant. I didn't know LIPASE among other problems. Parts of the puzzle seemed trivially easy while I got stuck in other places.

Happy birthday Joe!

Regarding TRUMPS; there is a TV poker commentator that says 'spade' instead of 'spades' for some reason. He will refer to the 'King of hearts' but then say the 'King of spade' or 'seven of spade' or ... Dunno why.

I enjoy solving the puzzles online. Regarding what Al said, for an easier puzzle, I'm sure I could solve it much faster with pencil and paper instead instead of having to navigate through the grid via keyboard. Still, I never worry about my times since I do CWs for fun and I don't want the pressure of worrying about speed.

There was a big earthquake off the coast of northern California late last night. Since it was out in the ocean, it didn't cause much damage inland.

YR, I LOVE Senate bean soup! It is served everyday in the U. S. Senate cafeteria.

vidwan827 said...

Very Nice Puzzle Mr. Hart, and a very nice blog commentary Mr. Argyle.

I absolutely, love your avatar, with you and all your friends. Looks like a perfect, joyous Norman Rockwell painting ... very heart warming. May you have them for a very long time- forever,

Happy Birthday, Average Joe. i too, would rather cook my own birthday dinners ... so I have no surprises and I can't complain.

I had a little problem with Li-ase ... not familiar with the enzyme ... i wont forget it though. For those, who are interested in nonfiction .... have you read 'Napoleon's Buttons' ? .... very engrossing and full of chemistry. I loved the book.

I have a new laptop, and its only a week old .... and already its got infected with a malware virus .... Conduit.com ... please all of you be very aware ... this has ruined my life in the short term !!!

have a nice day, all.

Tinbeni said...

Argyle: Nice write-up & (ear-worm) link.

Easy puzzle ... but an "OH NO!" a DNF !!!
As noted, by Irish Miss, I like my puzzles (and Scotch) NEAT!

Avg. Joe: Happy Birthday!
You get my first "Sunset Toast" tonight.
Cheers!!!

Misty said...

I love a speed run on a Monday morning--makes me feel smart! And this one was cute, to boot. Hey, I'm an animal lover as well as a cartoon junkie, so this was great fun. Many thanks, Brom! And fun poems to go with the puzzle, Owen.

I do the puzzle in the paper because I like sitting on the sofa with my feet up and my pups cuddled up next to me, and a hot cup of coffee. No better way to start the day. Then on to spend much of the rest of the day on the computer, beginning with a visit to this blog.

Was Rich responsible for the clever timing of that 4D HOUR time change after this past weekend?

Have a wonderful birthday, Joe--and your birthday dinner sounds fabulous!

Have a great week, everybody!

Yellowrocks said...

Argyle @ 11:00. Oh, those pound puppies. I forgot all about them and thought of real puppies from the pound. I agree that this could have had all cartoon animals.

I see that many recipes for Senate Bean Soup use potatoes to thicken the soup. Paula Deen purees some of the beans and adds them back in. I use dried beans, too, but I just let the soup simmer until the beans thicken the broth. Near the end I add grated carrots. I have taken this to "soup nights" to rave reviews.

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, better-than-average Joe! Dinner sounds great!

An easy Monday start of the week puzzle. Hand up for soaked/SODDEN. My favorite answers were POUND PUPPY and RUNT.

I like SPLIT PEA soup but DH doesn't, so I haven't had it in years. Maybe I can convince BIL to make some. He loves to cook.

The first owners of the house had the natural gas line run out to the deck so DH grills year 'round. Nice not to run out of gas.

Have a great week.

Pat

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, This was a speed run for me today. Probably the fastest puzzle ever. I thought the animal theme was fun, but I didn't realize the two p's in each theme fill until I read Argyle's take on the puzzle today.

I used to read a book to the first graders where a lady made lots of split pea soup and served it to her friend. He hated split pea soup and poured the soup into his shoes. Of course, the result was a squishy walk home. So funny to six year olds.

Happy Birthday, Avg Joe and many more.

I'm off to mail our family VCR tapes to a company that converts them to DVD's. Years ago the VCR tapes were made from the reel to reel movies we made. What will be the next conversion? I hope this is the last.

Have a great day, everyone.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Happy b'day, Avg Joe!

A good many Ps today, quite appropriate for any reference to a PUPPY. A puppy-lover myself, I am familiar with the PP issue... They're adorable, until they ...aren't.
Nice to see the distaff side represented with PETUNIA PIG. That might provide a theme sometime. I wonder how many of the old-time cartoon "girlfriends" might crop up in a pzl? Offhand I remember Daisy Duck. Wasn't there a Honey Bunny? Who else?

JJM said...

Perfect for a Mon. Nice speed run

Ol' Man Keith said...

And Minnie Mouse, of course!

HeartRx said...

Arrrgh…my brain is really foggy today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, far from Avg Joe!! You are a tremendous support for this whole Corner, and it does not go unappreciated. Have a wonderful day, and I hope you get to do something special for yourself.

Hugs,
Marti

River Doc said...

Happy Monday everybody!

No problemo puzzle today. Only one write-over, ALSO for PLUS....

Regarding dirty uniforms, the Giants used to have a third baseman whose nickname was "Dirty" Al Gallagher, because he was constantly flopping around in the dirt. He was even known to do so before a game started, just to soil his uni. He was also the first native San Franciscan to play for the SF Giants....

Favorite line from the movie American Flyers is when Kevin Costner's younger brother says he's thinking of changing his college major to Far Eastern philosophy. Costner's reply is "sounds like bull SHINTO to me...."

Finally, HBD to Fairish Coffee, I mean Avg Joe...!

buckeye bob said...

@ Ol' Man Keith 1:36 and 1:50 PM --

Olive Oyl. Jessica Rabbit.

Johnr said...

Good afternoon one and all. I couldn't start the puzzle until well after three as my better half (or maybe three quarters) had the honey do lists out. I finally got a free 15 minutes and finished it.
Good Monday puzzle from Brom and comments from Argyle.
My only white out was SOAKED for SODDEN. I had the SO from the across clues so I jumped right in. OwenKL I followed you on that. With your poetic comments are you trying to be the 21st century Rod McKewen?
Three wek to opening day. I have seats at Citi Field. GO METS!!!!!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! This was the fastest puzzle run for me, too, at 9:40 min. I guess that makes me average with the other two who reported times. I don't play for speed, but do look at the computer time. Fun with the "PP", Brom.

I slowed down just slightly for SO NOW, INEPT, ARETE and let the perps go to work. I thought SNIPPY might be the unifier. NAH!

Senate Bean Soup in the cafeteria. Could that be the source of the foul hot air coming out of Congress so often? No wonder they're cranky.

We opened a can of top brand split pea soup once which was full of strange dark lumps which looked suspiciously like rat droppings. Haven't wanted pea soup since.

Happy birthday Above AveJoe! Hope you enjoy many more with us.

Argyle, was that really you on the banjo? Enjoyed the deep sexy voice!

CrossEyedDave said...

I wonder why 40D Split Pea wasn't identified as the theme reveal?

I saw this animation ages ago, but had no way to tie it in with a CW Theme until today...

HBD Avg Joe. Too bad CC says you're a no nonsense kind of guy, I had a really raunchy cake I wanted to link

7D Lap requires pussycat link.

Johnr said...

HeartRX are you trying to make me jealous? While it is in the 40's here in Upstate New York today, we are going to get up to 6 more inches of snow on Wednesday. My sainted mother used to call that poor man's fertilizer.
Happy birthday average Joe: May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind blow gentle on your back and may you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows your dead. Hopefully that last wish is many years away.
Argyle: you should have snuck in the Pink Panther theme.
Buckeye Bob I have seen DIES IRAE in more puzzles than Grandma Brown has beans - an old Upstate New York expression.
I ate Long Island potatoes growing up. That was before they started to grow suburbs there.

Ol' Man Keith said...

buckeye bob @ 2:29,

I was thinking of the anthropomorphic critters & hadn't considered humanoid toons like Olive Oyl, but why not?
It seems WB couldn't make up their mind about a mate for Bugs. In addition to Honey Bunny, they gave him Daisy Lou and also Lulu Belle Bunny and Bertha Bunny. The shared surnames makes me worry about inbreeding.
"Eh what's up, cuz?!"
Wkipedia reports that one of his lady friends-- in '42-- rec'd a credit as "Mrs. Bugs Bunny"!

Bill G. said...

I just got back from a small shopping trip to the local specialty grocery store, Bristol Farms. I got a loaf of sourdough bread. I had never had sourdough bread until my first visit to San Francisco. I loved it! Now I can find it locally but I still think the best stuff comes from San Francisco. It has something to do with the natural yeast in the air (or something like that). Or maybe it's the cable cars? Or...?

CED, SPLIT PEA as the unifier? I didn't get it until you mentioned it. I'm so dense sometimes...

Jayce said...

Happy birthday, Avg Joe!

Argyle said...

I released two Johnr posts from the spam jail. 3:03 and 3:42

buckeye bob said...

@ Johnr 3:42 PM --

I have seen DIES IRAE in many CW puzzles over the years too. But for some reason I can never remember whether it starts with A or I. I'm blaming age. :)

I lived in upstate New York (Syracuse) for 9 years but never heard that expression. I don't know why. And it looks like the brand is still going strong.

The expression I knew growing up (Cleveland) was "He/she has more ---- than Carter has Little Liver Pills".

Carter’s

Al Cyone said...

Bill G.@4:08: There is no sourdough bread like San Francisco sourdough bread.

Yellowrocks@10:59: As far as I can tell, the "mechanics" of solving crossword puzzles online involves typing. What am I missing?

Gruff said...

BillG - It's been a while since we've had one of your Math Teasers. How about throwing us Billy Goats (BillG fan club) a bone?

CrossEyedDave said...

I am not sure, but I think this photo was posed...

Gruff@6:09 Oh no, I can't ever figure out Bills math puzzles. I think it's because of Abbot & Costello...

Anonymous T said...

Hi all...

Long weekend working on a new network so no time to play. SInce today is Monday, sure I can spare 15 minutes for a puzzle...

Hiccups here and there - I thought it was KiNESSET. [SIC] helped there and I settled on KN. Other write-over was REmit before REPAY.

HG - On loans to family. When DW asked for $$ for her side, I said sure, as long as you don't think of it as a loan.

[SPLIT] PEAS porridge hot, PEAS porridge cold... I heard that at nine days old it ferments. That's why some like it that way. Anyone know from experience? Tin? :-)

Argyle - I like the voice as you STRUMS the banjo!

YR - I'm in the same boat as you with SPLIT PEA soup. I made it once and was the only one to eat it. For bean soup I do it the Paula Deen way. I call mine Ham-bone-bean soup. I start with vegie stock and a ham-bone with 24 HOUR soaked navy's. I finish it with ham cubes after it thickens (with help from an emersion blender) and top with cheese and hot-sauce! Foul air indeed!

HBD Ave. Joe. Hope you had a Wobegon "above average" birthday! [the dinner sounded wonderful]

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Oh! Bill G. yes, post another poser! DW is watching Bachelor(ette?) or some such.

Bill G. said...

Ooh, ooh, ooh! A fan! Geez, how can I not comply! Here you go.

Brothers and sisters:
A girl in a family notices that she has the same number of sisters as brothers. Her brother observes that he has twice as many sisters as brothers. How many girls and boys are in this family?

Railroad tracks:
Imagine a 20-foot-long piece of railroad track. Small gaps are left in railroad track so that the steel can expand in hot weather without distorting the track. (That’s what makes the clickity-clack sound.) Suppose there weren’t gaps in this 20-foot span, and on a very hot day it expanded exactly 1 inch in length. If the ends of this piece of track are held firmly in place and the track expands, it will bulge somewhere. If the track bulged up (in a straight line) with the highest point in the center, how far would it be above the ground?

Dudley said...

Four girls, three boys.

I haven't started workin' on the railroad yet.

Dudley said...

So if we treat the rail as forming a wide isosceles triangle, one inch of expansion will make the rail stick up 10.9" at the apex of that triangle.

If, on the other hand, the rail bulges as an arc with uniform radius, then we have the problem of relating that arc length with its corresponding chord. I can't think of a formula for that.

JD said...

Good evening all
and
Happy Birthday Avg Joe!

Perfect Puzzle for a Monday. Started out soooooo smoothly, and then chaos instead of snafu, and soaked instead of sodden, and saga for epic. Lots of write overs. Didn't know either knesset or lipase, but perps took care of them. Had to check them FER SURE with Argyle.

Marti- never knew about that 3rd verse.LOL

Never watched Pound Puppies but we still have 2 very cute little pups. I guess I thought I might have ONE grand daughter. The pups are in the same bag with several Cabbage Patch dolls, Puffalumps,etc., and I feel like it's Toy Story time for all our old friends.

Steve said...

Better late than never - Happy Birthday Joe! Dinner sounded delicious!

Nice 5-minute Monday. Thanks for the expo, Argyle and the puzzle, Brom.

WBS about the time change. I can do intercontintal jet-lag without thinking about it, but that hour in my own time zone? Zonked out.

CrossEyedDave said...

I say the answer to both Bill G puzzles is twenty eight...

Bill G. said...

Dudley, I was thinking about your first approach for the railroad track puzzle but I got some help from a 2000-year-old Greek and got a somewhat larger answer.

CED, I thought the pop culture answer to both puzzles was 42.

Dudley said...

That's about what I did. The isosceles is bisected into two equal right triangles. Either triangle has a base of one-half of 20 feet, so 10 feet, which converts neatly to 120 inches. The hypotenuse of the right triangle is 120.5 inches, because it has just half of the total expansion of one inch. Running those two numbers through the Pythagorean relation I got 10.9", assuming no button-push errors.

If wrong, then the answer is definitely 42. :-)

Bill G. said...

Oops! Right you are. I inadvertently used 121 for the hypotenuse instead of 120.5. Double oops.

Anonymous T said...

Dudley beat me to the Boy/Girl puzzle. My 1st crack had 1 boy & 1 girls, but doh! Zero isn't the right answer. I went back and brute-forced it. 3/4 B/G.

Railroad, I did it that way too (10.9"), but I kept seeing it as an elongated bell-curve. I'm "gut-feeling" about 1/3." I'd have to spend a day (and pull out the CRC) to solve that!

Or, if it went perfectly perpendicular, just 1" of metal right in the middle of the tracks :-)

Cheers, -T