google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, June 1, 2016 C. C. Burnikel

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Jun 1, 2016

Wednesday, June 1, 2016 C. C. Burnikel

Theme:  LET ME OUT OF HERE!  The final word of the three main theme entries can all precede the word ESCAPE, yielding a sensible, in-the-language phrase.

20A. Bar exhortation : DOWN THE HATCH.  Getting a drink to your interior as quickly as possible.  Probably the best way to handle Chicago right-of-passage liquor Malort.



An ESCAPE HATCH is an emergency exit on a submarine, ship or aircraft.

27A. "Defense of Fort McHenry" poet : FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.  This poem supplies the words for The Star Spangled Banner, the U. S. National Anthem.  Key wrote it while observing the British bombardment of the eponymous fort during the war of 1812.  


The melody, written by John Stafford Smith, was originally a British drinking song called Anacreon in Heaven.  It covers an octave and a fifth and is notoriously hard to sing.   I've hear anthem singers that made me shudder and wince; but Detroit's Karen Newman never disappoints.



And, of course, I would be terribly remiss if I failed to acknowledge 89-year-old holocaust survivor Hermina Hirsch, who fulfilled a life-long dream by singing the anthem before a recent Tigers game.




The ESCAPE KEY on your computer can sometimes be used to stop a runaway program, and is also used in shortcuts on Windows systems.


47 A. "Let's do it!" : SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN.  This expression offers approval for a suggested course of action.  An ESCAPE PLAN is a scheme, often sneaky or convoluted, to get out of a place or situation.

And the unifier -- 54 A. Magician suggested by the ends of 20-, 27- and 47-Across : ESCAPE ARTIST.  My first thought is of Harry Houdini [1874-1926] Who escaped from all sorts of locks, traps, boxes and cells - all without a KEY. And the word ESCAPE thus completes the theme concept.

Hi Gang - JazzBumpa here to lead you though and eventually out of today's puzzle. Is there a HATCH? Will we need a KEY? Do I have a PLAN? Well - let's find out.


Across:

1. Bid with a weak hand, often : I PASS.  One can dispute whether this is a bid or the absence of a bid, but with a weak hand it's generally the right call.


6. Nikon D5300, e.g. : Single Lens Reflex, a type of camera using a mirror and prism arrangement that allows the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what image will be captured.

9. Team up with : JOIN.  This word has a number of senses relating to bringing people or things together in a variety of ways.  Here it indicates forming or becoming a part of a group.

13. "Ya think?!" : NO DUH.  Sarcastic agreement, like with something a bit too obvious.

14. Like newly Botoxed skin : TAUT.  Pulled tight or over-inflated.

16. Clip contents : AMMO.  For fire arms.

17. Young fella : KIDDO.  Would a young gal be a kiddett?

18. When Valjean adopts Cosette : ACT I.  From Les Miz.  Two of my grandsons were in a production a couple years ago and died on the barricade.  That was wrenching.

19. Sorento and Sedona : KIAS. Sorrento [note spelling] is a village overlooking the Bay of Naples in southern Italy; Sedona is a city in Arizona.  As presented here, they are two vehicle models from the KIA, South Korea's 2nd largest auto maker. 

23. Firetruck tool : AXE.  For getting into or ESCAPING from a burning place.

25. Kerfuffle : ADO.  Much Kerfuffle About Nothing just doesn't quite sound as good.

26. It can cover a lot : TAR.  Most likely a parking lot.

33. "Total Recall" (2012) director Wiseman : LEN.  Don't know him.

34. Out-and-out : UTTER.  Modifiers that amplify some action or feeling, and generally not in a good way: UTTER contempt, out and out nonsense.

35. Designer Klein : ANNE.  [1923 - 1974] Nee Hanna Golofski, An American fashion designer, who revolutionized styles for young women in the 1940's.

36. Acting coach Hagen : UTA. [1919 - 2004]  Born in Germany, her family migrated to the U. S. in 1924.  Because of her association with Paul Robeson she was on the Hollywood Black List, so her acting career was focused on New York theater instead of movies.



37. "Don't text and drive" ad, briefly : Public Service Announcement.   Sadly, though, I see people doing it all the time.

38. Lodging provider : INN.

41. Up-in-the-air approx. : Estimated Time of Arrival, for airplane travel.

42. "This doesn't __ well ... " : BODE.  A good Anglo-Saxon word, from the Old English bodian, meaning to proclaim or foretell.  Modern usage seems to always be in anticipation of something unpleasant.  Also remotely related to "bid."

44. Wingtip strings : LACES.  I somehow got stuck on airplanes, not shoes.  [Say this with a brogue.]

46. Get someone's name wrong, e.g. : ERR.  Or muff a simple ground ball to extend the inning and allow three unearned runs to score, thus losing the game.  But I have forgiven Ian Kinsler for Sunday's ERRor.

51. Rim : LIP.  As of a cup, wine glass or volcano.

52. Wine stain color : RED.  When there is a slip between the cup and LIP.

53. Egyptian slitherer : ASP.  A snake in de Nile?

59. Sweet pea : DEAR.  Honey-snookems.

60. Seafood restaurant order : CRAB.  One of many possibilities.  FISH also fits; carp, sole, etc.

61. "In my view ... " : I'D SAY.  Offering an opinion.

65. Crew of buddies : GANG.


66. Long-drawn-out account : SAGA.   From old Norse, originally indicating a long prose narrative of heroic achievement.

67. Poppycock : TRIPE.  Nonsense, balderdash, blather; derived from 19th century Dutch dialect pappekak, from pap ‘soft’ + kak ‘dung.’   Perhaps of the kind left behind by bulls, though that is not specified.

68. Alternatively : ELSE. Either this, or ELSE that.  Those are your choices.

69. Get into the pool : BET.  And see if your bid BODES well.

70. Silver dollar topper : SYRUP.   Pancakes.  Had me buffaloed for the longest time.

Down:


1. Medium of much Chinese art : INK.   Used in calligraphy and in picture drawing, generally with the same techniques [oils are not used] typically on paper or silk.

2. Luau chow : POI.   Made from the corm of the taro plant.

3. Tack on : ADD

4. Out-of-the-blue : SUDDEN

5. "Scat!" : SHOO.   Go away!

6. Shows confidence and pride : STANDS TALL.

7. Cause of much intolerance? : LACTOSE.  My favorite clue.  LACTOSE intolerance is an inability or difficulty in digesting this sugar, which occurs naturally in milk and dairy products.

8. Babe or Baby : RUTH.  George Herman "Babe" RUTH, iconic baseball star who played from 1914 - 1935, mostly with Yankees.  Baby RUTH is a candy bar originally developed by the Curtiss Candy Company, and named suspiciously.

9. Capital of Indonesia : JAKARTA.  Located on the NorthWest coast of Java.

10. Overlook : OMIT.  Leave out.

11. All-in-one Apple : I-MAC.   Computer.

12. Quick bite : NOSH.  From Yiddish.

15. Connect with : TIE TO.

21. Bides one's time : WAITS. Like this, if you have 5 minutes.


22. Bean cover? : HAT.  Bean bein' slang for one's head.

23. Playground response : ARE TOO.  Response to a taunt.

24. Second word of Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" : XANADU.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

27. Blunders : FLUBS.  Makes an error.  I won't get into the sad events of Monday's game.

28. Flagstick holder : CUP.  On the green of a golf course.

29. It's swung by some pinch hitters : CRICKET BAT.   Well - this is a surprise.  A baseball-related misdirection. I didn't know there were pinch hitters in CRICKET.

30. Prepares to be knighted : KNEELS.  To receive a pat on either shoulder with the flat of a sword.

31. Trick : ENTRAP.  With some sort of ruse or snare.

32. Long (for) : YEARN.  A strong desire to be with some one or some thing that is absent or missing.

From the Maxims section of The Exeter Book [ca. 975]

Longað þonne þy læs      þe him con leoþa worn, 
oþþe mid hondum con      hearpan gretan; 
hafaþ him his gliwes giefe,      þe him god sealde. 

As best I can remember, Tolkien translated this more or less as:

Longing is less troublesome to one who knows many songs, 
Or can touch the harp with his hands; 
He has his gleeful gift that God gave him.

Both "ð" and "þ" represent the modern digraph "th."  There seems to be no specific correspondence to the voiced and unvoiced pronunciations. 

39. "__ say more?" : NEED I.   Probably said too much already.

40. Decryption org. : National Security Agency.

43. Make easier to read, in a way : ENLARGE.  For old men with bifocals - like me.

45. Fits in a cabin? : AIR RAGE.  Wasn't familiar with the term, but it's easy enough to suss.  Per Wikipedia, "aberrant, abnormal, or violent behavior exhibited during the air travel process."  There is also a movie with this title.

48. Hummus, e.g. : DIP.   A thick sauce for dunking food items.  I can make a meal of hummus and the blue corn chips form Trader Joe's.

49. Publisher's guidelines : SPECS.  SPECifcationS.

50. Gently towel off : PAT DRY.  Instead of wiping, which can be harsh.

54. Slight lead : EDGE.  Relates ultimately back to the sharp edge of a blade, which can be how narrow the lead is.

55. Tough navy guy : SEAL.   Tough indeed.  These guys are elite.

56. Case units, often : CANS.  Of soup, motor oil, etc.  Usually 12 or 24, sometimes 36 or 48.  Strange when our maths are mostly base 10. 

57. Many a Meccan : ARAB.  Mecca is city in Saudi Arabia located about 50 miles inland from the Red Sea.

58. Tends tots : SITS.  As in baby sitting.

62. Military address : SIR.   Not a postal drop, but a way of speaking to superior officers.

63. Manjula's husband, on "The Simpsons" : APU.  Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is the operator of the Kwik-E-Mart on that TV show that I still have never watched.

64. "You betcha!" : YEP.  Fer sure.   My dad used to say, "You bet your life;" and I'm guessing "You betcha" is that in shortened form.

Well, folks, that wraps up another entry from our gracious hostess, whose puzzles now number in the hundreds.  Good one?  You betcha!  Hope you ESCAPED it unscathed.

Cool regards!

JzB


36 comments:

Husker Gary said...

I over thought the theme of C.C.’s lovely Wednesday entry but came to a very fun conclusion.

Musings
-The one place the world’s greatest ESCAPE ARTIST, Erik Weiss, couldn’t escape
-Hiding a KEY in his bushy hair with adhesive was one of Harry’s tricks
-My weak hand bid was first a BLUFF
-Does being able to raise your socks with your eyebrows indicate a “good” BOTOX job?
-Punishment for misuse of AXE?
-I used to ERR on former student’s names, now I AXE, dang it, ASK!
-I had a putt yesterday on the LIP of the cup, 49% in the hole!
-The Seattle Seahawks won the 2014 Super Bowl 43 – 8. Can you tell who won this office pool?
-YEP, very cool LACTOSE and AIR RAGE cluing, C.C.
-I just BIDE my time when the guy ahead WAITS too long at a green light. Everyone has a gun and an attitude.
-Watching your grandson FLUB in a key part of a game is hard!
-How sorry do you feel for people ENTRAPPED in soliciting prostitution?
-By making an ENLARGEMENT in this film noir scene, Jimmy Stewart proved a man to be innocent
-Passengers are not passive about AIR RAGE anymore
-Being the home team is usually an EDGE

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Got through this one pretty quickly, despite not having any idea what 1A should be and having to get it via the perps at the very end of the solve. Totally missed that the theme involved putting ESCAPE before the last word of each theme answer. I wasn't really paying attention and thought from the theme reveal clue that the last words of each theme phrase simply had to do with ESCAPE ARTISTS in general, like Harry Houdini might use a KEY and a PLAN in his routine. HATCH didn't make too much sense there, though...

OwenKL said...

{A-, B-, A-, A+}

Her LIP was RED like wine rosé;
Her LIP intoxicated; yea,
Her LIP could UTTER
What no other
Bottle did: Sriracha Sauce, I'D SAY!

Playing cards with a wizard, careful saying "I PASS",
Unless an ESCAPE ARTIST, it could cost you your ass!
Be ye balrog or orc,
When you come to that fork,
There Gandalf STANDS TALL, saying, "You shall not pass!"

The tornado just missed him, tore his shoes to the LACES,
Left club-footed, he couldn't go in certain places.
JOIN the GANG? Not a chance,
He could no longer dance;
And barn dancers were intolerant of LACK-TOES cases!

And a special from yesterday in collusion with Avg Joe:

I've always liked BACON, the taste's a delight!
I like it at breakfast, in a sandwich at night!
I like how it sizzles,
But one way that it fizzles --
I've never smoked BACON, it's impossible to light!

unclefred said...

I thought this a bit crunchy fora Wednesday. Last by far to fall was NE, and I too put in BLUFF for 1a, and pick a nit with the clue. "I pass" is definitely a non-bid. Another nit with NODUH as a solve. Oh well, eventually got 'er done w/o red letter help, so I guess I should quit belly-aching. Also confidently entered HARRY HOUDINI for 54a; that took a long time to come out. Anyway, thanx, C.C., for the real mental workout. And thanx, JzB, for the great write-up. Owen, B, B, B, A+. Thanx, as always, for the smiles.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I liked CC's puzzle, and even got the theme. Sometimes you're the windshield... Did stumble over the CRACKED BAT until it chirped.

Used to travel to JAKARTA on an annual basis. It's much more dangerous to visit there today.

Had a former boss who AXEd questions. He was from Nawrlins and was totally Type A -- died of a heart attack at age 50.

TAUT botoxed skin soon forgets.

MECCAN as a resident of Mecca never occurred to me. Thought maybe it was a Mexican married to a Wiccan.

Don't believe I've ever heard NO DUH spoken. "D'oh!", on the other hand... JzB, you really ought to watch at least one episode of The Simpsons -- it's definitely not for kids. It's like Lays potato chips -- you can't watch just one.

Tinbeni said...

Pinch, Pinch ...
Yeah, It's Hurricane Season !!!

Good Job on the write-up Jazz. Very informative.

C.C. Thank You for a FUN Wednesday puzzle (that I finished in Friday time).

Fave today, of course, was the theme DOWN-THE-HATCH ... an expression I've used often.

Cheers!

TTP said...


I started in the SW and the first clue I read was, "54 A. Magician suggested by the ends of 20-, 27- and 47-Across." Quickly entered nose, SEAL and CANS. Took out nose and put in EDGE with GANG. DIP then led to ESCAPE ARTIST.

I had a neighbor that said "SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN" as a catchphrase all too often. It was accompanied by different tone inflections, and wasn't always a jump on the bandwagon response. Sometimes it was begrudging response that someone else had a better idea, and other times it was indication that he'd join in, but there would be griping.

Unclefred, I too thought the puzzle was a little bit crunchy. As I was solving, I kept thinking that it was harder than the last two Thursday puzzles.

"That BLT has bacon in it !!!" "NO DUH, Ya think ?" Years and years ago, I recall my certain smart mouthed preteen nephew constantly saying remarks like "No Duh" with a questioning NO and and emphatic contemptuous DUH. It didn't last much into high school.

Thank you CC and thank you JzB. You both rock ! That's no POPPYCOCK !

Avg Joe said...

A fun outing today. Like several I wanted Bluff for 1a, had to rely on perps. Like Barry it took a while to get the theme, but that dime finally dropped. Thank you C.C., and you as well JazzB.

The fill for 21d deserves a link: Waits

OKL From late last night: A :-)

Lemonade714 said...

White Rabbit, white rabbit; welcome to hurricane season.

C.C. is getting very good at deceiving a bit with her cluing and the LACTOSE clue was great and appropriate for many including myself.

I did not see the theme until the end as ESCAPE KEY, escaped my brain.

Is anyone else watching the Fox import Doyle and Houdini ? Doyle is portrayed by the actor from the Showtime series EPISODES . It is based very loosely on the actual friendship of these two very different people. While the series is set in 1901 they did not meet until 1920. Doyle's fascination and dedication to the supernatural surprises many who think of Sherlock Holmes and his pragmatic approach to life.

Thanks and a happy and healthy June to all

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I lost the puzzle four times but persisted. Thanks, C.C., always fresh and surprising. Thanks, JzB!

Fits in a cabin gave me fits. I was trying to pack things in. AIRRAGE perped in and I still didn't get it for awhile. Oh, hissy fits! Did you see that clip of the woman lying on the floor, kicking and crying that caused the plane to turn around the other day?

Didn't know LEN or his movie. Had the "N" and tried Ian & Ken first.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I enjoyed this tricky offering from our own CC., even though I had no clue about the theme until the reveal, which is my kind of puzzle. Had bluff>A pair>I pass and sod before tar. The theme was very clever as was the deceptive cluing, one of CC's trademarks. My husband was a huge fan of magic and magicians, so much so that he once hired one to entertain our dinner party guests. I must say, Mr. Magician was quite impressive.

Thanks, CC, for a great start to the month of June and thanks, JzB, for the informative and chuckle-producing commentary.

OwenKL - A+ on your bacon bit!

Have a great day.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Nice puzzle from C.C. The theme phrases came easily so that helped the cadence of the rest of the solve. Only white-out; I had epic befor SAGA. JAKARTA helped to get KIAS. Good cluing for SYRUP.
NOSH - German cognate is naschen - to nibble on sweets, a word we used at home a lot.

Lucina said...

SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN is a phrase I often use so it was fun to see that. No problems in the entire north and central but the south almost flattened me starting with TALE/YARN and finally SAGA then APO held up SIR and of course never having watched the Simpsons, had to wait for APU to show up. LEN, UTA and RUTH posed no problems and I was sure Houdini would be somewhere in 54A but ESCAPE ARTIST surprised me.

The clue for LACTOSE was fun and also for SYRUP. That one held me up, too, for a while.

But, woe is I as I failed to finish CUP/PSA. Drat! Double drat!

Thank you, C.C. and JazzB. I couldn't ESCAPE this if I tried; it lassoed me in.

Have a splendid June day, everyone! The heat is on.

oc4beach said...


Like others, I started with BLUFF, and if it wasn't for perps I never would have gotten LACTOSE, CRICKETBAT, ENTRAP, AIRRAGE and TAR. Good one C.C. and nice expo JzB.

I agree that today was closer to a Thursday than a Wednesday, but in the end it was doable. And when you step back and look at the completed puzzle you might be inclined to say it wasn't as hard as you made it.

Off to Goodwill to drop off things that don't fit anymore.

Have a great day y'all.

CrossEyedDave said...

In case you haven't see Houdini: Then...

And now...

Scuze me, I got to get out of here...

C6D6 Peg said...

Thanks, again, C.C. for the fun outing! I, too, loved the clue for LACTOSE.

JzB, great write-up. You always put so much into your answers, it's always a pleasure to read.

gmony said...

Wow. I thought the easiest puzzle in a while. The ones you all say are i easy are tough to me. But this was a breeze.

Wilbur Charles said...

SYRUP was a good one I want to test my xword aficionado with the clue "Lori the IHOP waitress would get this!". I've read that BABY RUTH was the name of Grover Cleveland's daughter and when the bambino came along they brought the candy back. Ruth was not amused. Houdini and Doyle had a falling out because Harry kept disproving the séances ACD so loved. Yep, I had NOSE before EDGE too.

CrossEyedDave said...

What's the point of having an escape hatch, if you can't take your carrot with you?

Behind the keyboard scenes...

Gotta keep up appearances...

And finally, the perfect escape, with subtitles...

Madame Defarge said...

Hello all.

I'm very late to the game today so WEES! Thanks C.C. and JazzB. Fun puzzle and a musical tour.

Misty said...

Brilliant puzzle, C.C., and brilliant write-up, JazzB! Mind you, I got nothing on my first run-through until I got AXE and realized the down clue had to be XANADU (how many long words like that start with an X?). After that, I was on my way and finished the whole thing in one session--which made me feel terrific! I got only as far with the theme as Barry G, so was especially thankful for Jazz's explanation. In fact, all of his detailed explanations were like a delightful lesson this morning--wonderful.

When I think of how many times UTA has appeared in a puzzle, I couldn't believe I'd never seen a picture of her, or knew anything about her history. So thanks, for the image, Jazz, and for telling us a bit about her.

Have a wonderful day, everybody!

Nice Cuppa said...

CC, fine Wednesday offering, as ever.

JB, thanks so much for the explication. I was astonished at how comprehensible that Old English/Anglo Saxon piece was. It inspires me to read some more.

After goofing around in the Northwest I finally found a linchpin in XANADU, and built out from there. I initially wrote in ALLERGY for 7D, but perps corrected. 45D clue sounded so much like "CABIN FEVER" that it had to be some kind of rage. Finally returned to the NW to finish:

• In bridge, "I PASS" and "NO BID" are both heard, and mean the same thing. So a "NO BID" is a "BID, often".....NO?

• I had never heard of a PINCH-HITTER in CRICKET before. Apparently, the term was borrowed from baseball, circa 1990, but has a different meaning - it is the choice of a normally low-order batsman to be used early in the innings (sic) to play gung-ho high-risk, high-scoring shots. He doesn't usually last long, but it can bump up the runs early on, and there is little to lose, since it's typically used in 1-day matches (when the low-order batsmen (e.g. the wicket-keeper) may not otherwise get to bat), rather than the full 5-day "tests matches" - you know, the ones that often end in a draw (tie).

•Hadn't heard of SPECS as PUBLISHERS' GUIDELINES, but it checks out. I associate SPECS with an OPERATING MANUAL - you know, that microprint when you needs your SPECS to read the SPECS.

Jayce said...

A delightful puzzle, a showcase of C.C.isms and devilish wit. Excellent construction, containing spanners, long acrosses and downs and no clunkers. C.C. could make a wilted carrot fresh.
Jazzb, a fine writeup, as usual.
My sister used to often say, "You betcher life" and I was in my 20's before I figured out what she was really saying. It's like when I first heard of the movie "Annie Get Your Gun" verbally from a friend, I figured "Gitcher" must have been Annie Gunn's middle name.
I see some serious 3-digit heat in the forecast for the Phoenix area. It's gonna get up over 100 here too in a few days.
Best wishes to you all.

Ol' Man Keith said...

A v. neat contribution by C.C.! Well elucidated by JzB!
I especially enjoyed C.C.'s cluing. Others have pointed out the slyness behind 7A, "Cause of much intolerance?", but I'd like to give equal attention to 45D, "Fits in a cabin?" C.C. has a great ear for picking out and using words of multiple meanings.

When you think about it, how many definitions do YOU have for "fit"? Let's see: there's "seizure, or rage," and then there's "physically or mentally healthy," plus the one I first mistakenly assumed, "conforming to measurement." Any others, anybody? (Without checking the dictionary?!)

Ol' Man Keith said...

I suppose we could go the onomatopoeia route, where "fit" can be the escape of air in a small spurt from an otherwise clamped balloon.

Or a warning sound from an angry cat?

Steve M. said...

Shouldn't "up-in-the-air approx." be ETD, instead of ETA? If anything, ETA should be the "out-of-the-air approx.," since the plane's landing marks the time of arrival.

desper-otto said...

Steve, if you're already "up in the air" the approximation would be "When are we gonna land?"

BTW, are you the infamous Thursday blogger, by chance?

CrossEyedDave said...

Steve M.@ 2:21

Technically, yes..

However the fun of crosswords is alternate meanings to throw you off...

Looked at another way, "up in the air approx." =ETA is perfectly acceptable Wednesday clueing.

(Spoken by CrossEyedDave, who is used to looking at things sideways...)

Anonymous said...

While you are up in the air the pilot can issue a new ETA.

dbud said...

29D CRICKETBAT was clued very poorly.

Yes, "pinch hitters" exist in Cricket. Batsmen are moved up the order, ad hoc, in order to score runs quicker. It is pretty rare though.

Ol' Man Keith said...

And there's the slang (or hillbilly?) sense - as the past tense of "fight."

Jayce said...

"Joshua fit the battle of Jericho"

Anonymous T said...

Hi All:

Slow start to C.C.'s wonderful offering. Hand-up for 'bluff' b/f I PASS. Will anyone JOIN me in having paIr at 1st too? That made finishing the top an UTTER INK-fest. Other WO: AREtOo @23d

Thanks JzB for the informative write-up. UTA was ESP but I may remember later.

Other ESP: LEN.

My fav was 29d as I read pinch as pitch all day. And CRICKET is played on a pitch. Brilliant. I need glasses.

I like the CRAB crossing AIR RAGE. Either having a gun wouldn't BODE well :-)

CED - I can't wait to go back and watch your videos; the KEYs CTLR & ESC was LOL.

Jayce - I hope your A/C is up to snuff. We won't hit 100 'till the rains go away.

Fav: In HS English we had to finish Coleridge's poem. I brought prior art,XANADU, to my teacher. WAIT, what? Well, NO DUH, I'd link Rush. [link is a 10min SAGA - I was at the show (R40) 2x last year!]

Thanks again C.C. - you always fill the puzzle w/ fun words to play with.

Cheers, -T

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks, CC and Jazz,

Forgot to blog today.

I am LACTOSE intolerant. That one was a gimme.

LEN was perped.

Is anyone watching 500 Questions? First they embarrassed Ken Jennings. I find their use of "genius" very annoying. The show is looong. (8 PM here.)

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

CED, can you please start grading your videos before posting them? I don't want to waste my time on a C+ vid, but I also don't want to miss an A-.

Maybe the other bloggers can post grades, as well. I'd really appreciate it.

Abejo said...

Good Thursday afternoon, folks. Thank you, C.C., for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Jazzbumpa, for a fine review.

Started this on Wednesday night, but never finished. It was a little tough, especially in the SE corner. Finished this morning.

Of course I started out very confident with writing in BLUFF for 1A. That soon became a five letter inkblot. I PASS won the day.

Got the theme after a while. Did not get ESCAPE ARTIST until near the end.

Took me forever to get SYRUP for 70A. I was thinking of a coin.

XANADU appeared after a couple letters to make me think a little.

I will wrap this up early since no one will read it anyway since I am a day late.

See you later tonight if I get today's done.

Abejo