google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Robin Stears

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May 25, 2016

Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Robin Stears

Theme:  Ate a picle, feeling sicle - now how about an icicle?  The fragment -ICLE is added as a suffix to four in-the-language phrases, yielding new, humorous constructions.  

20 A. Bond portrayer Daniel's BuzzFeed piece? : CRAIG'S LISTICLE.  The referent is James Bond actor Daniel CRAIG, who also starred in the Jon Favreau SF/Western mashup Cowboys and Aliens. A LISTICLE is an internet article presented as a numbered or bullet point list.  Since Daniel also starred in the incomprehensible Dream House, his could be a rank-ordered filmography.

26 A. Leftover bit of a physics experiment? : SPARE PARTICLE.  This is my favorite theme entry. A SPARE PART is an item kept on hand to replace a lost or damaged machine PART.  A PARTICLE in a physics experiment is generally something smaller than an atom - proton, neutron, quark, etc. SPARE PARTICLES might be used in subatomic games of bowling.

46 A. Ezine feature? : MODERN ARTICLE.  MODERN ART includes a variety of styles from the 19th century through the 1960's, including Bauhause, surrealism, impressionism, op art, etc.   A MODERN ARTICLE would be published in a modern venue like an Ezine, for sure.  But for my money, this entry is too close in surface meaning to the first one we encountered.

55 A. Beantown treat? : BOSTON POPSICLE.  Beantown is a common name for BOSTON, dating back to colonial times when local Puritans typically had a Sunday meal of previously prepared beans and brown bread, to avoid cooking on the sabbath.  With Summer drawing nigh, a POPSICLE is an inviting treat that the Puritans would probably have considered sinful.  

There's your theme, folks.  Hope you don't think its ICLE.

Hi, gang, Jazzbumpa here to provide a quicle tour.

1. Observe Ramadan, in a way : FAST.   Ramadan is the 9th month of the Islamic calendar, during which the faithful avoid [among other things] eating food between dawn and dusk.

5. __ and terminer: criminal court : OYER.  From the Anglo-French meaning "to hear and to determine."

9. Tapered fastener : SCREW.  Threaded, too.

14. Scratch the surface? : ETCH.   Engrave a surface by any one of several means.

15. Sub spot : DELI.  Big sandwiches there.

16. "Glee" club : CHOIR.  "Glee" is derived form the old English word for song.

17. "Sharknado" actress Reid : TARA.  I never saw this movie, but it's generally considered to be pretty bad.


18. Banish to Hades, say : DOOM.   The modern meaning is to be relegated to some horrible fate.  The Old English meaning is closer to "judgment."

19. Like most tarantulas : HAIRY.  These are hairy spiders to which I will not link.

23. That guy : HIM.  Some fella'.

24. Stay-at-home __ : DAD.  I went with MOM first.  Does that make me old?

25. Bonfire residue : ASH.   Any fire, really.

33. Yes, on Talk Like a Pirate Day : AYE.  Avast, matey!

34. Love god : EROS.  Greek mythology.

35. Seagoing mil. group : United States Navy.

36. "__ you!" : TOLD.  Rubbing it in.

39. Source of 20s : Automatic Teller Machine.

40. Icky buildup : CRUD.  A chunk of it is a CRUDICLE.

41. Sydney school : UNI.   Near as I can tell, this refers to the UNIversity of Sydney in Australia.  Maybe I'm missing something, but this entry seems to lack specificity.

42. Charlatan : FAKE.   An imposter - one who claims to be something he isn't, while typically on a quest for some type of personal gain.  Usage for this word peaked around 1940.

44. 18%, often : TIP.  I tip 20% minimum.  It's easier to calculate.

50. "Collages" novelist : NIN.   Unlike most of her other work, this is a dreamy, experimental novel with many characters wandering in space and time.

51. Chest-beating beast : APE.

52. Marked, as a ballot : XED.

60. Real pip : BEAUT.  A Beauty - can be intended literally or sarcastically.

61. Trompe l'__ : OEIL.  An optical illusion in France.

62. Online urban music magazine : VIBE.  Where one might read a LISTICLE or other MODERN ARTICLE.

63. Actress Woodard : ALFRE.


64. Mantel piece : VASE.  An open container, often decorative, suitable for holding flowers or uncle Henry's ashes.

65. Molecule component : ATOM.  Made up of sub-atomic PARTICLES.

66. Perp subduer : TASER.  A weapon that fires electrical probes to deliver a debilitating shock.

67. Help for the poor : ALMS.  From Old English, via late liturgical Latin, and ultimately tracing to Greek roots indicating both money and compassion.

68. What's going on : NEWS.  Indicating new information obtained via a print, video, or on-line medium.

Down

1. Sell for : FETCH.   A hot item might FETCH a pretty penny.

2. Game company formerly named Syzygy : ATARI.  I did not know that.

3. Beats it : SCRAMS.  Makes one's self scarce.

4. Asian language with 44 consonants : THAI.  ODDS ARE that's more than I can pronounce.

5. "Probably ... " : ODDS ARE.  A favorable bet.

6. Shoppe descriptor : YE OLDE.  Of course we all know that the "Ye" is really "The" with the initial consonant sound rendered by the rune "thorn(Þ, þ)  rather than the digraph "Th."  The rune was often represented with a slanted slash coming from the right rather than the closed loop, hence the similar appearance to the modern letter "Y."

7. Weena's race, in "The Time Machine" : ELOI.  Occasionally, the other race - Morlocks - would eat them.  In the 1960 movie version, Weena was played by Yvette Mimieux.



8. What swish shots don't touch : RIMS.  A basketball shot that gets nothing but net.  Still only 2 points, but more pleasing to the eye and ear.

9. Flaky metamorphic rocks : SCHISTS.  Mica, talc and graphite are examples.

10. Joanie's love : CHACHI.   Played by Scott Baio, opposite Erin Moran's Joanie Cunningham from the TV show Happy Days and later it's spin-off featuring them.

11. Bubble and churn : ROIL.  Agitate something physically, and by extension emotionally.  If one become red-faced dong this, it is known as a ROIL flush.

12. Green land : EIRE.  The Emerald Isle, notably not the location of the Emerald City.

13. Seinfeldesque : WRY.  A la the humor of the TV show about nothing.  

21. Wagga Wagga welcome : G'DAY.   This is a city in New South Wales, Australia, Mate.

22. Starchy tuber : TARO.   A perennial tropical plant cultivated for its starchy tuber.

27. Shock absorber : PAD.  A thick section of soft material.

28. Saint at a gate : PETER.   In Matthew 16: 13-19,  Jesus renames Simon son of Jonah as PETER, and gives him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.

29. Operational branch : ARM.  A subgroup dedicated to a particular purpose.

30. Mongrel : CUR.  Mutt.

31. "Geaux Tigers" SEC school : Louisiana State University.   Faux-French influenced slogan.

32. Wind down or wind up : END.   Slang terms "for bring to a close."  But a pitcher's wind up or winding up a spring-actuated mechanical device, such as the toy we will met shortly, gets things going.  One more reason to love the English language.   

36. Belly, to a tot : TUM.   Possibly derived from stomach.

37. Sean Lennon's middle name : ONO.   After his mum.

38. Jack-in-the-box flipper : LID.  Child's box-shaped toy with a crank used to start the action by winding up, and ends with a clown figure popping out through the LID.

39. Police blotter letters : Also Known As, indicating the use of an alias.

40. Lowest-ranking NCO : CPL.   Corporal is the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer.

42. Fried corn cake : FRITTER.   Any of several deep-fried, batter coated items, such as fruit, vegetables, or even meat.

43. __ Domini : ANNO.   The Year of our Lord, presumably starting with the birth of Jesus Christ, indicating a dating system that originated in the early middle ages.  But somewhere along the line, there was a mistake.  Jesus was born during the reign of King Herod, who died in 4 B. C.

44. Has a few : TIPPLES.   Indulges in alcoholic beverages, and not as in 44A..

45. Treats, as a sprain : ICES.  Tin Man - note here an acceptable use for ice; to reduce swelling of a muscle injury.

47. Make certain : ENSURE.   Why do we have this word, along with "assure" and "insure?"  They came into Old English from Norman French, so that's who I blame.

48. Lao-tzu's philosophy : TAOISM.   Meaning the way, path or principle.  Greatly simplified -- living in harmony with all that exists.

49. Whip up : EXCITE.   As a crowd, or mob.

53. Fight (through), as a crowd : ELBOW.   Not so gently nudging others out of the way.   Not very TAOIST.

54. Considers : DEEMS.    Tracing back to an Old English root meaning to judge, the same as DOOM.

55. Composer Bartók : BELA.  Hungarian composer (1881 - 1945).  The shortest clip I could find (6:20) is is setting of Romanian folk songs for violin and piano.


56. Klutzes : OAFS.   An OAF is a stupid, uncultured or clumsy person.  Strangely, the word traces back to the old Norse word for elf.   The original meaning was "elf's child" [I'm assuming changeling,] later "idiot child," later still, how we use it today.

57. Stellar phenomenon : NOVA.   A cataclysmic nuclear explosion occurring on a white dwarf star.

58. Ring out : PEAL.   Specifically, the ringing of bells.

59. Nobelist Pavlov : IVAN. (1849 - 1936)   Russian psychologist famous for his work on classical conditioning.

60. Ball club : BAT.  You might think of a sports team, but that is a clever misdirection, and doesn't fit.  In baseball, the ball is clubbed with the BAT.   The example below is from a couple years ago.  Miggy seems to have his stride back, and has done something similar a couple times in the last week.




There you have it, a wandering in space and time, including a couple excursions into the English of our past, a dystopian view of the far future, a dollop or so of French, and finally back to current reality with some down-to-earth baseball.  Despite my earlier criticle nits, a pretty nice journey.

Cool regards!
JzB


41 comments:

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks, Robin and Jazz!

Nice puzzle. Scratched head at LISTICLE.

No other problems.

Definitely bed time

Cheers!

Bluehen said...

Great puzzle, a little crunchy. Great reveal, illuminating. Thanks Robin and JazzBumpa.

Re. 48d.: Did you hear about the Zen Buddhist who asked the hot dog vendor to "Make me one with everything"?

Cya!

OwenKL said...

{A+, C+, B+.}

My Ten Best Poems, Limerickal,
Would be a valid LISTICLE.
It would..., but then
There's less than ten,
As shown by means statistical!

Wiley painted the detour as decoy.
It was done in the style TROMPE L'OEIL.
So real it seems
The Road Runner DEEMS
It's good, and SCRAMS through it with joy!

An ATOM's a minuscule PARTICLE,
To split it is almost a miracle!
But the end of the year
An old man will appear
And split time itself with POP'S SICKLE!

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Got through this one in decent enough time for a Wednesday. I got the theme early on and that certainly helped knowing I could add ICLE to the end of every theme answer. I wasn't very happy with the clue for TIP, but after coming here I realize it's because Across Light must have left off the percent sign in the clue. "18 often" just wasn't very clear, but "18% often" certainly is.

With regard to 45D, I recently read an article challenging the long-held belief that icing a sprain is actually beneficial. Apparently, there's very little scientific evidence that it helps and some new studies showing it actually makes things worse.

Lemonade714 said...

C.C. I think your post to check on the blog should have been TESTICLE...

I too was unaware of the word LISTICLE
Loved the ROIL FLUSH comment
I am having trouble learning THAI
I never heard of SCHISTS
I learned the word SYZYGY studying poetry. It reappeared studying Jung in college. Always wished for the 2 y tiles and a blank playing scrabble.

Thanks Robin, good to see your work again and JzB for your wit.

Hungry Mother said...

Some write overs, but cruised through unscathed.

OwenKL said...

I knew there were anamorphic spiders out there, but I was surprised at how many of them there were.

I think UNI is Australian slang for any university.

Trompe-l'œil (French for "deceive the eye") is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions. Except for the name, I don't think there's anything particularly French about it.

ROIL FLUSH? *groan*!

BATs are also cricket.

Bluehen: When paid, the Buddhist kept the overage as a TIP, saying "change must come from within!"

Lemon: TESTICLE!?! Inspired!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Nice mid-week romp from Robin with some interesting non-theme stuff: SCHISTS, FRITTER, TIPPLES to name a few. Wasn't familiar with the word LISTICLE and thought we were going to be looking for missing "ART." Nope.

UNI -- Somebody here said it was a common Aussie term for University -- She's off at uni. It could've been clued as "Lead in to sex." ("Noooooo!", Rich wailed.) Do you suppose Wagga Wagga is a sister city to Walla Walla?

SPARE PART -- Somehow I managed to lose my keys at the M-O-W pickup point yesterday. Had to get one of the folks to drive me home to pick up my SPARE set. I sure hope those keys show up -- I'm down to just one truck key, and I'll need a new spare. Those computer-programmed keys are pricey.

"Syzygy": That's a private joke with DW. If anyone goes into the final round of Wheel with more than $20K, we know they'll be getting the syzygy puzzle: "Thing: S_____" with RSTLNE filled in.

Further to our discussion of auto-correct, this morning JzB graced us with a "red-faced dong." You can't make this stuff up.

Lucina said...

Such witty humor so early in the morning! I'm impressed.

Impressed, too, with this lively grid by Robin Stears. LISTICLE meant nothing to me, either, and I hesitated but seeing the pattern knew it had to be right. Swish shots was also meaningless so I went with OYEZ/ZIMS. Guess I should have dwelt more thoughtfully on it. But if it's sports related I'm lost though BAT emerged clearly in spite of the misdirection. I also TIP at 20%.

I loved the clue for ETCH

JzB:
LOL at ROIL flush! Thank you, for the EXCITEment today!

Well, it appears that my new normal is waking before the crack of dawn then returning to bed after puzzling and blogging. I'm with you, Fermatprime.

Have a whimsICLE day, everyone!

Big Easy said...

Completing it was easy and the ICLE stood out from the beginning. I wasn't sure of the correct spelling of CHACHI and LISTICLE is a word I've never heard before and 'Buzz Feed', I've heard of but didn't know or care what it was. But it fit the theme so I let it go. ALFRE Woodward was a total unknown.

LSU- Mike the Tiger has brain cancer. Big news down here.

ATM- Last week I went to the ATM to get out my usual $300. It was a new one at the bank and I was expecting 15 twenties. I got 2 $100s, 4 $20s, 3 $5s, and 5 $1s. I didn't notice that I had an option for the types of bills I wanted.

Lucina said...

d-o:
Sympathies for your plight with keys. I paid $300 for a replacement when I was stuck in a parking lot without them. A locksmith with a mobile shop came to my rescue.

Wilbur Charles said...

I spelled PEAL with two Red??? Answered the phone at 1AM and completely forgot the conversation as in one of those blackoutts of YORE(yes that's from the other day). So tired I couldn't find the O for ODDSARE. Enjoyed the nice cruise and learned about LISTICLE. And YE.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Didn't have too many hiccups but, as others have said, listicle was an unknown as was schists. Before I got the theme, for Bean town treat, I quickly entered Boston Cream Pie. That didn't last long. My knowledge of Alfre Woodard is of her role in I'll Fly Away with Sam Waterson. That was a terrific series.

Thanks, Robin, for a mid-week challenge and thanks, JzB, for your usual wit and wisdom.

DO, I hope you find your keys.

Have a great day.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

Once again my poor typing and worse proof reading skill are on display, leaving me red faced.

President Calvin Coolidge was known for his taciturn demeanor, hence the nick-name Silent Cal.

I've often wondered, if instead he had been irascible, they would have called him Testy Cal?

Cool regards!
JzB

billocohoes said...

Agree on the vagueness of UNI, and didn't think of the 3-letter TUM. Also didn't know "Collages" so first tried Amy TAN, then Maya LIN before Anais NIN. That section didn't click until backing in with Modern Art.

Doesn't look like TARA eats much TARO.

unclefred said...

Got about half-way done using the Internet, then Comcast internet went down. Again. Waited a while, called and learned it would "probably be resolved by 11". It was 7:45ish. Started all over again using the newspaper. Consequently, 1 hour and 10 minutes to complete the fill. Grr. For $90/month, Comcast should do better! At least it was an honest solve, as I couldn't cheat with Google. It all honesty, this would probably have been a long slog for me anyway, but certainly not as long as it took, since I always use red-letter help online. Nice write-up, JzB. (I'm more than a little grumpy, as you might guess).

CrossEyedDave said...

Learning moment:Listicle

Schist was a gimme,
I was intrigued by a futuristic looking Egyptian artifact that some people thought was part of a machine.
It was found in a 5,000 year old tomb.

The most amazing thing is that schist is very brittle,
& this artifact was carved from a single piece that would be near impossible
by todays methods.

As far as being a futuristic machine part, not so much...
scholars believe it was a lamp.

(yes you heard me right, a lamp!)

The central hole allowed it to be mounted on a pole or stick.
The depression held oil,
The 3 lobes were to hold sheafs of reeds, one end in the oil,
the other end overhanging the disc & set alight.

desper-otto said...

CED, you are a true fount of useless knowledge!

Husker Gary said...

What a fabulous puzzle whose wonderful cluing and great theme had quicksand in every corner!

Musings
-Is my posting style a LISTICLE (a new word for me)? ARTICLE seemed to be a better coda for a while
-Would you want to look for PARTICLES in this physics bubble chamber pattern?
-My friend told me her Muslim kids struggled in school during Ramadan
-I wonder if my XM Radio has a strictly CHOIR/choral channel?
-TOLD YOU that you couldn’t get through there! (:26)
-Is G’DAY a common greeting at a UNI or just for the hoi polloi?
-He exposed many FAKES
-The biggest TIP my 17-year-old daughter ever got was from a bunch of junior high boys
-“I put my ANT’S flowers in a VAYSE” not “I put my AWNT’S flowers in a VAHZE” You?
-Ted Cruz was ridiculed for calling a RIM a ring in Indiana where basketball borders on a religion
-I also believe native Bostonians hate Beantown.
-Great wordplay in the blog today!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Whimsical offering. WBS. Filled the SE side in before tackling the center top with OYER. Wanted DOWEL before the perps dictated SCREW. Threaded, yes, but not tapered if made to receive a nut, ie. machine screws. No searches needed. Only white-out was: I had APB before AKA. Knowing the icle ENDing helped yield LISTICLE. EIRE is an anagram of Erie, ha ha.

Tinbeni said...

Jazz: WOW! What a wonderful, informative write-up. Good Job!

Robin: Thank You for a FUN Wednesday puzzle that I solved in "Friday-Time."

Geez, for me this was a "Perp-Workout" ... OYER, ONO, ALFRE were solved using ESP.

Also had a few write-overs ... Stay-at-home MOM before G'DAY appeared (YE OLmE didn't make sense either).

Fave today (of course!) was TIPPLES ... I've been known to "Have a few ..."

Also like that way through a crowd ... ELBOW. Clever cluing!

A "Toast-to-ALL" at Sunset ... when a "few" Scotch's ... NEAT! will be imbibed.
Cheers!

GrannyAnny said...

I was surprised at first that no one has mentioned the BOSTON POPS (Orchestra) in the BostonpopsICLE entry. Then I realized that the popular tunes and light classical music the Boston Pops played probably weren't the type of music the BabyBoomer Generation was interested in back in the fifties and sixties when "popular" music changed forever. Thus the reference didn't strike them as it might some of us "Depression Era Babies" (DEBS as Gail Sheehy dubbed us) who are still around.

Jerome said...

Just thought it is interesting... TAOISM/MAOIST

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Robin Stears, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa,for a fine review.

Spitzboov: Good catch on EIRE and ERIE.

Puzzle was a typical Wednesday level, to me. A little easy and a little hard.

Caught the ICLE after BOSTON POPSICLE. That helped with the rest of them, especially LISTICLE.

Got UNI after I got LID.

NIN was easy.

ALFRE was an unknown. Perps all the way.

OEIL was an unknown. Four perps and I had it.

I also had APB before AKA became the answer.

Now I go back and enter Tuesday's Blog. I just finished the puzzle this morning.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo



Anonymous said...

I see Ellie! Do you?

desper-otto said...

GrannyAnny, the Boston Pops were so familiar that the phrase didn't require any explication. I'm sure most of us here remember the Arthur Fiedler and John Williams eras with the Pops, not to mention the debut of many of those Leroy Anderson compositions: Sleigh Ride, Blue Tango, Typewriter Song, etc.

C6D6 Peg said...

Fun puzzle today. Thank you, Robin. Learning moment was LISTICLE.

Thanks, JzB for your tour!

Unknown said...

Uni is Australian slang for university. I've seen it many times in crosswords, even the LA Times crosswords.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Hmm.
Well, if LISTICLE wasn't in common usage before now, Robin Stears has added to its popularity this morning. I admit I had counted my finished Xwd a failure--and had denied myself a true Ta-DAH moment--because I couldn't improve on that awkward fill. And then I read JzB's accepting account, so like a good trooper I am falling in line.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Great puzzle, Robin! Witty expo as usual, JZB!

Took awhile to remember OYER. Hand up for wanting a "Z" at the end.

When I was working the puzzle, I thought I'd never heard of ALFRE. When I saw the picture JzB provided, I thought I'd seen her on "Who Do You Think You Are" genealogy program on PBS. Googled and sure enough, she was on one interesting segment. I don't think I was ever sure what name they were saying.

TARA & LISTICLE: I'm sure I never heard before. I couldn't believe LISTICLE didn't turn red. However, my spellcheck doesn't like it. A dotted red line appears under both uses of the word in prior sentences.

ICEs are popular with Rich lately. Is he taunting a certain someone?

ATARI: had the "A" so a correct WAG.

GrannyAnny: I have posted in the past about my experiences attending the Boston Pops concerts at age 20 when I lived in Massachusetts for a few months as a military bride. Loved them. I had met Arthur Fiedler & Leroy Anderson in Colorado while babysitting for a "UNI" music professor.

Anonymous said...

In too many fonts, a lower case "r" followed by a lower case "n" looks like a lower case "m." So I read the clue "Bubble and CHURN" as "Bubble and CHUM," and the answer I wanted was GUMS.

Misty said...

Well, I had to cheat a little on this Wednesday puzzle--like others, never heard of LISTICLE, or SCHISTS, or OYER. But I also figured out the theme early, which helped a lot, and got ALFRE, and PETER, and even ATARI. And of course, CHACHI, since I just loved "Happy Days" back then. So all in all, a fun puzzle--many thanks, Robin. And loved your funny write-up, Jazz B.

No grades today, Owen?

Have a great Wednesday, everybody!

AnonymousPVX said...

Finished with no issue, although when done I had to look up "listicle".

And that's the only problem I had with this puzzle, the -icle endings. I don't care for this type of gimmick because as soon as you get it a bunch of squares get filled in with no thought whatsoever.

Tinbeni said...

Didn't have any kind of problem entering "ICES" since it is a 4-letter word,

In fact, at this time of the year I often enjoy ICED-Water (again, a 4-letter word).

But Scotch, or my Ouzo, or Appleton Rum ... and even an occasional glass of wine ... are consumed NEAT!

And the SUN is over the Yard-Arm ... Soooooooooooo ...
Cheers!

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

I was pretty sure Listicle was going to get a good working over here at the Corner today. I never heard of it before, and I'm not familar enough with BuzzFeed to know whether a Listicle is a regular feature, but the portmanteau seems obvious enough. Otherwise, smooth sailing.

Thanks for 'splaining JzB! Enjoyed the Bartok. I've had friends from faculty, staff, and the student body at the New England Conservatory (although not so recently).

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed the puzzle as I almost always do. Thanks Robin and JzB.

Fair warning, I'm about to repeat myself (as I often do). I enjoy humorous things. Give me a funny TV show (WKRP), a good joke, etc. and I often smile or chuckle. But not with Dave Barry. I am reading another book of his titled "You Can Date Boys When You Are Forty" though I'm beginning to think I will have the same reaction to any of his books. I was out grabbing a fast-food lunch, I propped up my Nook and started where I had left off. Within 30 seconds, I was laughing out loud and the laughter-induced tears started rolling down my face. It was embarrassing. I'm back home in the recovery mode while typing this.

I'm about to leave for the hospital to take Barbara for her follow-up procedure. Geez, I hate this. When/If something like this happens to me, I will need a stiff dose of Valium.

OwenKL said...

After finishing, I looked up LISTICLE to see if it was a real word. I expected I'd have to go to Urban Dictionary, but nope, there it was on thefreedictionary.com:
listicle(LIST of artICLEs) A numbered list of short articles; for example, "The Five Things You Must Know About Security" or "The 10 Top Drones for Consumers."
And dictionary.com has
noun: an article structured in the form of a list, typically having some additional content relating to each item, eg: “The Best Cities for Singles” and other featured listicles.

So, Gary, by one dictionary you don't do listicles since they're not numbered, by the other you do!

CED: I found your clip on that lamp fascinating!

Re: Spitz: for this hearing-impaired poet, are EIRE and ERIE also homonyms?

Misty: thought I start putting the grades first, to warn readers what to expect.

Jayce said...

Cool puzzle. LISTICLE was a new word for me, too. For some reason I knew Alfre Woodard, having seen her in many TV shows and movies. I also I put my ant’s flowers in a vayce. My wife is "auntie" to many relatives, which, by golly, makes me their uncle.

Anonymous T said...

G'DAY puzzle-mates!

AYE, Robin, you SCREW'd me with a plethora of ESPs. If I wasn't so afraid to put an F next to the RE @63a, I coulda contended. CRUD!, I had to look up 63a to make sure. Thanks for a fun puzzleICLE.

JzB - It took me almost as long to read the write-up as it took to do the pzl. Very informative. Good job and thanks. Steve, you're next at BAT, let's make it back-to-back hommers.

Fill: The NW went FAST; NE and SW where last.

ESPs - OYER, ELOI, NIN, TIPPLES, SCHISTS, OEIL, and more I'm sure.

Write-over, and over: call (phone) -> toll (bell) ->PEAL!

No one wanted oySTer something ICLE? DW and I split a dozen or two at YE OLDE Union Oyster House a few years back.

Fav:Lem's ICLE re: C.C. trying to see if Tuesday's Corner was working.

Puzzle Fav: what Lucina said - c/a for ETCH.

Misty - OKL graded above the rhymes today. That EXCITED expectations. I prefer them after to compare my reaction to his self-judgement.

HG - MIL is from the SOUTH, FIL is from BOSTON; DW has ANTS and AWNTS.

And that's the NEWS.

Cheers, -T

Spitzboov said...

Owen @ 1745 - To my ear tyhey are not homonyms. But I am neither a poet nor Irish, so that is strictly the opinion of a mere laic. I think the pronunciation of Eire is closer to "era" with the a being a schwa. Erie sounds like eerie.

PK said...

AnonT: Was interested to see your link to Ye OLDE Union Oyster House. I was surprised to see it still going. I ate lobster there 55 years ago this month and had a reaction to it which manifested as my first migraine headache. We had gone with friends to see the movie "Exodus" then ate at YOUOH. On the way out of Boston, our car broke down and we ended up stranded in the median grass for over an hour before a trooper came along and got us help. I was in such pain, I don't remember how we got home. Never ate lobster again.