google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, June 14 2016, Agnes Davidson & C.C. Burnikel

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Jun 14, 2016

Tuesday, June 14 2016, Agnes Davidson & C.C. Burnikel

Theme: SIX FLAGS 

16. *Where hockey transgressors cool their heels : PENALTY BOX. Penalty Flag.


21. *Future attorney's hurdle : STATE BAR. State Flag.


47. *Polite applause on the tee : GOLF CLAP. Golf Flag.


54. *Vessel for Captain Jack Sparrow : PIRATE SHIP. Pirate Flag.


10. *Colorful sushi creation : RAINBOW ROLL. Rainbow Flag.


23. *"Drove my Chevy to the levee" Don McLean hit : AMERICAN PIE. American Flag.


37. June 14th observance ... and a hint to the first word in the answers to starred clues : FLAG DAY

Melissa here, Happy Flag Day, and congratulations to Agnes, our own Irish Miss, on her impressive, theme-heavy, and timely debut puzzle with C.C. Very impressive to see the FLAG DAY theme, on Flag Day, perfectly centered. A fun solve, that took a few turns around the grid. Ran into a little trouble when I entered TDS instead of YDS for 63A NFL gains.

Across

1. Drink-cooling shapes : CUBES

6. Family girl : SIS

9. Neighborhood : AREA

13. Seize : USURP

14. So very uncool : LAME

15. Mascara target : LASH

18. Issue a ticket to : CITE

19. Shout of discovery : EUREKA

20. Draft classification : ONE-A

25. Where sleeping dogs lie : PET BED

27. "Give me a break!" : OH MAN

28. Decide one will : OPT TO

29. Sound confirming a locked car door : BEEP


30. Oil-bearing rocks : SHALES

33. Jimmy Fallon asset : WIT. Fallon's (long but worth it) story about Prince and ping-pong.

36. Go wrong : ERR

38. Sudoku section : ROW

39. Camping gear brand : REI. Recreational Equipment, Inc. Love this store.

40. Winner's wreath : LAUREL

41. Voice quality : TONE

42. Film snippets : CLIPS. Saw this the other day, so bizarre.



 44. TV's "Kate & __" : ALLIE

45. "The ability to fully experience life," per Thoreau : WEALTH

50. "Money __ object" : IS NO

51. Sandy or Roberto of baseball : ALOMAR

53. Catch sight of : ESPY

59. Fired, with "off" : LAID

60. Look carefully : PEER

61. Gravel unit : STONE

62. Colors, as hair : DYES

63. NFL gains : YDS. Who else tried TDS first?

64. Cackling scavenger : HYENA

Down:

1. Many a sports trophy : CUP

2. Function : USE

3. Hot dog holder : BUN

4. Notable time : ERA

5. Organ associated with ill temper : SPLEEN. Vent your spleen.

6. "Light" sci-fi weapon : SABER

7. "Don't worry about me" : I'M OK

8. Physical attractiveness : SEX APPEAL

9. "Little Women" novelist : ALCOTT


11. Perfumer Lauder : ESTEE

12. Down the road : AHEAD

14. Harp constellation : LYRA

17. Shower stall alternative, if it fits : TUB

21. Unloaded? : SOBER. Nice clue.


22. "At last!" : THERE!

24. Water source : TAP

26. Online crafts shop : ETSY

28. Shoppe adjective : OLDE

30. Silly to the extreme : SLAP HAPPY.  Fun phrase.


31. Fräulein's abode : HAUS. German.


32. Farm sci. : AGR. Agriculture - the science and practice of farming.

34. Ancient Greek region : IONIA

35. Follower on Twitter, informally : TWEEP. Not a big twitter user - did not know this term.

37. Fly like a moth : FLIT


 41. Affectionate attention, briefly : TLC. Tender Loving Care.

43. London insurance giant : LLOYD'S

44. From scratch : AFRESH

45. Exercise, as power : WIELD

46. Thoreau work : ESSAY

47. Second family of the 1990s : GORES. Al and Tipper, now separated.

48. "Rubáiyát" poet : OMAR

49. Zero deg. at the equator, say : LAT. Equator = Latitude; Prime Meridian = Longitude.

52. Told tall tales : LIED

 55. Oinker's pen : STY

56. Clod chopper : HOE

57. Ramada __ : INN

58. Green soup base : PEA



 


Note from C.C.:

As Melissa mentioned earlier, this is Irish Miss's LAT debut. Congratulations, Agnes! She's such an observant and fast learner, a caring friend on and off the blog for many of our regulars. Thanks for being here for us, esp for me, Agnes. You're an angel! Thanks for inspiring me with your creative ideas & thoughtful observations.


Eileen (sister of Agnes) & Agnes, Nov 22, 2013

42 comments:

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Congratulations on your debut, Irish Miss! You and C.C. have certainly arranged a theme-rich puzzle. Managed the solve with just one hiccup: Tweep. I've never used Twitter so this one was unfamiliar. Everything else was smooth sailing.

Morning, MBee, it's nice to have you back on the Corner so regularly!

Hungry Mother said...

One write over today: SLAPSTICK. Otherwise, smooth sailing.

George Barany said...

Congratulations to @Agnes Davidson and @C.C. for this perfectly timed puzzle with a beautifully executed theme.

Allow us to offer one more, called Oh Say, Can You Sing?. It is a debut by @Nancy Herther, and was originally conceived for a bicentennial nearly two years ago.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all (and congrats to Irish Miss on her puzzle debut)!

Hand up for SLAPSTICK before SLAP HAPPY. Also, no idea about TWEEP. Considered TWERP and even TWEET, but the perps forced me to accept TWEEP as a thing. ALOMAR was also thanks to the perps, although the name is at least familiar. Oh -- and not being a sushi eater, I've never heard of RAINBOW ROLL before, although it wasn't hard to get.

Other than that, smooth sailing today. Learning moment of the day was discovering that today is, in fact, FLAG DAY. Go figure...

OwenKL said...

FLAG DAY, so I'll be out helping my Lions Club. Since I'm home/car-bound, I can't put out flags any more, but my SUV is big enough to carry a load of flagpoles, and I can still drive a more able-bodied partner around at six am to put out about 25 flags, and again for another hour in the evening to pick them up.

{B, B, A, A.}

It's FLAG DAY and Lions across the nation
Are putting AMERICAN flags in their stations!
Mundane, not exotic,
The task's patriotic,
While funding each club's good deed donations!

The Star Wars fan was venting his SPLEEN,
He threatened to WIELD his LIGHT SABER (PEA green)!
The BAR patrons just laughed,
They assumed he was daft --
Till he returned with his laser-beam wrecking machine!

The FLAGSHIP was in peril from the storm's windy blast!
Hero's danger was gravest, he was LASHED to a mast!
But the PIRATE fleet's fate
Would just have to wait
While the 5-year-old admiral left the TUB from his bath!

A new day in court came up for Lucille;
The CITE for prostitution was real.
But she tried to resort
To a higher court
For a better decision with her SEX APPEAL!

Lemonade714 said...

How cool to see another of C.C.'s readers joining the world of published constructors. Congratulations Agnes and such a perfect Flag Day puzzle. It filled quickly, I did not know REI or TWEEP which remarkably is not autucorrected.

The CLUING was fresh with the Unloaded: SOBER being the best. Working SLAP HAPPY and SEX APPEAL into the grid was fun and I like seeing LAT in a LAT puzzle.

Growing up in New England Flag Day parades were common along with the Bunker Hill Day celebration on the 17th.

I leave with some FUN

Lemonade714 said...

BTW Agnes, that was Peppermint Patty kicking the football not Lucy. The sandals are the biggest give away.

OwenKL said...

PENALTY BOX (hockey) generating an entry for PENALTY FLAG (football or futball).

Liked the graphic on BEEP -- will have to try those!

Never read anything by Alcott, but I did play Father in a collage stage play of Little Women.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Congrats, IM! Nicely done, you two. Or three, with MelissaBee.

Hand up for SLAPSTICK. That and OPT IN and a tweeP were my stumbling blocks this morning.

Unfamiliar with REI, but I see there are two in the greater Houston area -- neither close to me. ALOMAR? Don't remember them. GOLF CLAP was also unfamiliar. How do you catch it?

Avg Joe said...

Congratulations on your debut, Agnes. Another great corner collaboration, so thank you C.C. And thanks for the roundup MB.

Didn't know Rainbow Roll, but it was guessable with the 2 Ls perped. Needed ESP for Tweep, but they were solid. Only erasure was O C'mon! in lieu of Oh Man.

Don't quit your day job, D-O :-)

unclefred said...

I thought this was a bit easier than yesterday, although I never heard of REI and did not know TWEEP. Thought of SLAPSTICK first but never wrote it in because as I looked at the perps could see no fit. Overall, a fun Tuesday, thanx, A.D. and C.C.!! Great write-up,too, thanx, MBee!! Owen, B,B,A,C. Thanx as always for your wit.

Husker Gary said...

Yet another of us working with C.C. Congrats Irish and C.C. on a just-right Tuesday exercise

Musings
-The red GOLF FLAG in Melissa’s lovely write-up means the cup is in the front of the green. White = middle and Blue means back.
-I freeze bottles of Gatorade to take out to the hot golf course
-Have you ever been CITED when you are less than 5mph over the limit?
-A reproduction of where Thoreau found his WEALTH and wrote ESSAYS on Walden Pond
-Union Pacific has LAID OFF 100’s of engineers due to shrinking coal tonnage being carried
- Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me (3:30)
-AGR. is very expensive and high tech these days
-Twitter participant send Tweets and they are called TWEEPS, right? Who knew?
-In the 40’s 20th Century Fox insured Betty Grable’s legs with LLOYDS for $1,000,000 each

TTP said...


Exactly what Melissa said after "Melissa here." Well said.

Nothing LAME about this puzzle. Good cluing, and fresh fill too. Really slowed me down in a couple of places. Notably in the AREA of "Unloaded" leading to SOBER.

Never have been a fan of SLAPstick humor or incessantly SLAP HAPPY people. A little goes a long way.

Congratulations Irish Miss. Thank you Ms B.

Anonymous said...

There is something LAME about this puzzle: If the constructors think SEX APPEAL is all physical, they haven't had the pleasure.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Irish Miss and C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Melissa Bee, for a fine review.

Congratulations on your puzzle, Irish Miss, my Birthday Friend. Great job!

Got through this fairly easily. Theme showed up. I did remember that it is Flag Day. When I am home in Illinois, I always fly my flag on days like this. I guess I will have to get one for Pennsylvania.

SOBER was tough to get. Then it hit me. I did have a couple letters as perps.

I confidently entered LASER for 6D. That did not work, so I thought about it for a while. SABER made it with a couple perps.

Did not know REI. I will have to find one and visit.

Never heard of a RAINBOW ROLL. I really do not eat sushi.

Off to my day. My plumbing job developed a leak, so I am back on that today. Off to Illinois tonight.

Abejo

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Congratulations to Mesdames IM and C.C. for an interesting puzzle with a timely theme.

What Dudley said. I had tweet before TWEEP. I don't do Twitter. I didn't know HYENAs cackled, but the perps were clear. Puzzle had a nice cadence and proceeded to a solve without look-ups or erasures. Favorite clue was for SOBER.
BZ for a fine job.

Madame Defarge said...

Congrats to Irish Miss!! What fun!

Thanks Agnes and C. C. for starting my day. Loved the Thoreau crossing.

Thanks, Melissa. I loved the LIAR cartoon!

Have a sunny day.

Anonymous said...

Btw, it is no wonder that lemony receives the comments that he does. Geez dude.

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts":

Irish Miss - aka Agnes - I should've known back when we were playing Words With Friends, that you were going to be a contributor to a puzzle construction! You always seemed to be able to form such good words, as opposed to just slotting in a vowel here or there to score a few points. IIRC, you always seemed to get the "X" tile, and find a triple letter square on which to place it!! ;^) At any rate, great job and thanks for starting my day off with a smile.

BTW, I wonder if Tin was able to start/complete your puzzle, what with the obvious deviation from the I_ _ word in 1 across!! ;^)

My limerick du jour - which has a punned version of a word in today's puzzle:

When I hard-boil eggs, there's this feeling
Which reminds me that I don't like dealing
With removing the shell;
Things just all go to hell.
The whole process is quite un-A-PEELING

Have a nice day, all . . . Owen, I'm grading mine an A-/B+

Nice Cuppa said...

Desporotto@6:39am

You asked "How do you catch GOLF CLAP?" Presumably by playing the WRONG HOLE .... OFTEN. ....

Indeed, that Eastern Equatorial region was a bit of a mess - ROW = SUDOKU SECTION? ALLIE? - some TV tie-in, I guess. TWEEP? - a crying TWEET? Together with the above-mentioned non-phrase, they tarnished an otherwise fine Tuesday offering.

kazie said...

Only unknowns for me today were TWEEP and ALOMAR, but perps rescued me in both places.

Congrats to Agnes and C.C. on a fine collaboration, as well timed as it was executed! It was easier for me than yesterday's which I thought tricky for a Monday.

oc4beach said...


Nice debut IM. I'm waving a flag for your success. MB's write-up was enjoyable, but two of the inserts didn't show. I really liked the courtroom cartoon though.

Like others I had no clue about TWEEP since I don't tweet. There are so many social media venues that you'd end up staring at a computer, tablet, phone or some other input device all day. Doing the LAT CW and blog are enough for me.

Have a great day!

Yellowrocks said...

Great Flag Day puzzle. Congrats, Agnes and CC. Another fine mentorship. The P in TWEEP and REI needed perps. Although I been camping for more than 40 years, I haven't heard of REI, but I see there is a store nearby here.
Knew ALLIE right off. We have watched many reruns on TV. Alan buys all the DVDs of old time sit-coms and so he has several seasons of it, as well.
ROW was easy because the SUDOKU directions mention columns and rows.
GOLF CLAP did seem odd to me. Is it common among you golfers?
I agree that SEX APPEAL is more than physical.
Moe, I loved your A-PEELING rhyme. Owen,loved yours, too, especially the 4th one. It reminds me of my grandson's bath time years ago. What fun those days were!
RAINBOW SUSHI is very colorful and delicious.
Scroll down to see

CanadianEh! said...

What a fun puzzle. Thanks Agnes and C.C., and Melissa B. How many more constructors can C.C. mentor!?

Happy Flag Day American friends. Canadian Flag Day is Feb. 15 but we don't make too big a deal of it. (We tend not to make a big deal of much LOL!)

I had Grasp before USURP and had to consciously spell Sabre as SABER. I was misdirected initially with 59A "fired, with "off" clue, thinking of sending a message not being fired.

I don't think we have any REI stores in Canada.

Not knowing my US Veeps, I entered Doles before GORES which held up that area. Not being a Twitter user, I did not know TWEEP.

I did know Roberto ALOMAR from his time as a Toronto Blue Jay with the powerhouse teams that won back to back championships in 1992-93.

Like Chairman Moe, I saw the non-CSO to Tin at 1A.

Enjoy the day.

CrossEyedDave said...

Congratulations Irish Miss & CC!

Started off easy, but I was worried about Tinbeni at 1 across...

Loved 21D Unloaded?=sober (Tin? you still with us?..)

Never heard of Tweep, & that whole area around "Alomar" gave me a hard time,

but I finished without errors in the end after some heavy sussing!

Gratuitous cat pic.

Equal time pic.

A little history?

Really?

There's nothing like firing up some shrimp on the Barbie
to celebrate Flag day, but how am I going to wear this apron?

Lucina said...

Congratulations, a wave of the FLAG and a LAUREL crown to you, Irish Miss!! And kudos to C.C. for her continual and generous mentorship. This provided a double pleasure to solve knowing that you both were the authors.

Yes, I immediately thought of Tinbeni at CUBES though it was considerate to omit the offending adjective. LOL.

WEES about TWEEP since I don't use twitter and I have been to a REI store. ALOMAR filled with six perps and YDS with three.

What flag waving fun today. Thank you, MB, for providing the trim on the flag!

Have a delightful day, everyone!

Nice Cuppa said...

My sincere apologies to Irish Miss for making a risqué-to-crude joke on her debut.

I have since checked the phrase "Golf Clap" and see that it is legitimate – although a keen golfer, I had never heard the phrase before. I guess my tee shots don't even warrant that much attention. "My bad", I guess (a phrase I once promised never to utter).

I see TWEEPS as a plural noun in my dictionary, so the singular TWEEP must be very modern. This blog is the only social media I participate in – just as well I hear you say, or "one too many".

A ROW might be a section of a theater, but SUDOKU is a large square divided into smaller squares. Admittedly, since every ROW must comply with the 1-9 rule, it is a virtual section.

C6D6 Peg said...

Congrats, Irish Miss. Great puzzle and collaboration with C.C.

Got the theme right away, and threw in BLACKPEARL, as that was the name of Jack Sparrow's ship. BLACK FLAG? When the downs came around nothing was working with it.... only holdup today.

Thanks, MB, for a nice write-up! Loved the pics of the flags of the states!

Nice Cuppa said...

Having written my apology to Irish Miss, I now see that today's moderator has deleted my original post concerning "GOLF CLAP".

Probably just as well.

FORE!

Nice Cuppa said...

Oh, now I found it again. I must need some coffee. It wasn't meant to be terrible, just poorly timed (like most of my golf shots).

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Congrats Agnes & C.C.! You're on a ROLL. CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! Thanks, melissa b.

But I was surprised you had nothing alcoholic for friend Tinbeni. Did you want him SOBER and not in his CUPS so he'd ESPY your SEX APPEAL and be HAPPY? (Sorry, those bad boys D-O & N.Cuppa led me astray.)

WEES about TWEEP, ALOMAR & REI.

Irish Miss said...

Hi Everyone:

Late to the dance due to a busy morning that included a Shoprite delivery and the attendant task of unpacking and putting everything away.

Thank you all for your kind words and appreciation of the puzzle. As many of you know, CC is a mentor extraordinaire! I can't begin to tell you how much I have learned from her and how much I have enjoyed the process. I have often expressed my admiration for her creativity and craftsmanship and that has certainly increased over the last several months of our "brain storming!" Thanks, CC, for being who you are. And thanks, Melissa B, for your lovely comments and commentary.

For the record, I believe the Unloaded=sober was CC's clue and the clue for Sex Appeal is definitely Rich's. This puzzle was especially meaningful to me as Troy has the honor of holding the largest Flag Day Parade in the country. (The theme was CC's idea.)

Have a great day.

Jayce said...

Peanut Butter! At first, having filled PENALTY BOX and PET BED, and with -----BAR in place, I thought for sure we were dealing with words beginning with P and B. That assumption led me far astray for quite a while, and actually it wasn't until I got FLAG DAY that I had that forehead SLAP moment. Nice job, Agnes and CC! Fun puzzle! I especially liked the Not loaded? clue. Melissa, I had YDS right away, but I can't remember why, because at first I had SLAPSTICK instead of SLAP HAPPY (which I agree is a fun expression), which would have made it KDS, which doesn't make sense... Hand up for never having heard of TWEEP. Which rhymes with BEEP which I tried and it did cheer me up.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Can't wait to see THE LOBSTER. Thanks for the link, M Bee. The film's premise is bizarre, but the advance reviews make it seem the most brilliant romcom-cum-satire in donkey's ears.

I too learned about RAINBOW ROLL today. Happy to welcome Irish M as a creator!

Glad to see FLAG DAY being celebrated, as we too often let important days slip w/o a mention. I wouldn't have known about World Gin Day from that day's pzl (June 11), but thanks to GarlicGal, who pointed it out in this blog, I managed to celebrate before sunset. Let us give proper respect.

Tinbeni said...

Melissa: Outstanding write-up and links. Good Job!!!

Irish Miss & C.C. Thank You for a FUN FLAG-DAY theme puzzle.

BTW ... 1-a, Drink-cooling shapes, CUBES was a nice way to start your debut.
I was expecting to find Dewar's or Pinch or Scotch in the grid ... Oh well ...

My "First-toast-at-Sunset" are to Irish Miss & C.C.
Cheers!

OwenKL said...

CED: {C, C-(I'm more a cat person, tho dogs still love me), B+(fascinating), B(although non-PC), A+(!)}

Argent said...

Thanks, Irish Miss and C.C. for a fun puzzle! Hand up for SLAPSTICK before SLAP HAPPY.

I actually work in social media, so I was able to guess TWEEP. But as Nice Cuppa observed, I've never encountered it in the singular. I would call my Twitter followers "my tweeps" and I would refer to those who use Twitter as tweeple. But I would say "my follower" not "my tweep." Then again, those very words demonstrate how language evolves!

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed Agnes's puzzle very much. Thanks Agnes, CC and Melissa.

It's been harder than usual getting up the enthusiasm to post. Barbara's ongoing health issues remain in the back of my mind.

My older Camry needed a smog check before it could be registered. It's always passed with flying colors but I was still apprehensive. Sure enough, it's emission readings were OK but the timing setting was way off. My mechanic reset the timing but warned that might upset the other readings. No worries now as I just got back and the car passed the retest.

Yesterday, I got in a yelling argument with a woman crossing the street. That's not like me at all. She stepped off the curb and was halfway across the street with her head still buried in her smartphone. She looked up and saw my disapproving look and got angry at me since she was in a crosswalk. I suggested that looking both ways instead of at her phone might be smarter. She got pissed... I feel alienated from the mass of people who think a text on the phone takes precedence over live people and the rest of their environment. What a cell phone luddite I have become...

Debbie said...

what a downer !

Anonymous said...

What a delightful debut offering! Thanks, Irish Miss and C.C.! Easier than yesterday. Wonderful expo, MB!

All my nits have been picked by everyone else so no reason to go over them again.

Happy Flag Day!

Pat

Anonymous T said...

Congrats IM! A very APPEALing debut from you and C.C.. SEXy, er, Sparkly c/a's and lots of fun. Thanks.

Thanks Melissa B. for unfurling all the lovely flags (and CED for the funny ones).

WO: sITE b/f CITE. D'oh, homonyms!

ESPs: 51a and 48d with a WAG where they meet.

Fav: c/a for 21d. I read the clue and thought "SOBER?" and was right! Love the c/a.

Runner up: 23d. AMERICAN PIE for good patriotic measure. (Full song on BBC) [And, with that, fixed the international incident CED's flag caused :-)]

{A+; Salute, B, A, A}

Agent 'splained TWEEP so I won't. Just note there are a lot of TWEEBs. I stopped Twitter when the ads got intrusive and some comedians felt the need to Tweet 10x a day or every 8 seconds during a debate. And no, I never Tweeted.*

Let's make Tin happy w/ one minor puzzle tweak: 24d = TAr thus 29a = BEEr. Bonus for xing SOBER :-)

Cheers, -T
*I thought, "I Tweet therefore I am." would have been a good 1st tweet... LAME, right?

Wilbur Charles said...

Anonymous has become entertaining. Sort of like a little neighborhood dog show where some mutt shows up and sniffs around, barks and looks for someone to throw him a bone. Aggravatinggly entertaining.