google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday, November 6, 2016 Kevin Donovan

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Nov 6, 2016

Sunday, November 6, 2016 Kevin Donovan

Theme: "Following Up"- Up is added to the start of each familiar phrase.

23A. Profession for the principled? : UPRIGHT FIELD. Right field.

29A. Dr. Seuss, e.g.? : UPBEAT POET. Beat poet.

40A. Promising market indicators? : UPTURN SIGNALS. Turn signals. Bad streak last week.
65A. Toy trains for tycoons? : UPSCALE MODEL RAILROADS. Scale model railroads.

91A. What pillows may do, in a kids' room? : UPHOLD THE FORT. Hold the fort.

107A. Periods of distress? : UPSET TIMES. Set times.

113A. Outperform crew members in the ship play? : UPSTAGE HANDS. Stagehands.

I'm a bit surprised by the "Following Up" title. Normally the key word does not appear in the puzzle title.  

Rich and Kevin might have considered putting FOLLOWING UP as a reveal in the last Across entry. But then decided "Following Up" is better as a title.

Chunky corners in this grid. The upper left & lower right are easier to fill, as they're relatively sectioned off. The upper right/lower left are amazing work. Those 7x4 are just hard, esp when crossing two more long entries.

Across:    

1. Manchester United rival : ARSENAL. Gimme for our Steve.

8. __ En-lai : CHOU

12. Tool used in a box : BAT. Batter's box!

15. Film add-on : FEST

19. Perform again : REPRISE. Not RE-STAGE.

20. Next in line : HEIR

21. U.N. workers' agcy. : ILO

22. The snakes in Indiana Jones' "Why do they have to be snakes?" : ASPS
 
25. Exit quietly, in a Dylan Thomas poem : GO GENTLE. Helpful clue. You don't need to know the poem to obtain the answer.


27. Run ashore : BEACH

28. Bill collector : TILL. Not a person. Same with 9. Pair for date night : HEELS and 45. Grand Canal traveler : GONDOLA
 
31. Sask. neighbor : ALTA (Alberta)

32. Can't abide : DETEST

34. Small cells : AAs

35. Jockey competitor : HANES

36. __ code : BAR. Not BRO (56. Dude) code.

37. Get together on a ranch : HERDTiny "together" clue echo with Also 52. Come together : GEL

39. Catlike : FELINE

47. Weather map depiction : AIR MASS

48. It's not always easy to get into : SHAPE. Thanksgiving is coming.

49. Not a soul : NO ONE. Should not have "Not" in the clue.

50. Tries earnestly (for) : GUNS

51. Piling on, say : ADDING

53. "The Librarians" channel : TNT. Never watched it. Good?

54. More than just cooks : CHEFS. With "More than" in the clue, I can never figure out what part of speech the answer should be.

56. Challenge for Homer : BART. Homer Simpson.

60. Put down : DERIDED

63. ORD posting : ETA

64. Equipped : ARMED

71. Phobias : FEARS

72. __ de mer : MAL

73. Resonator for a jug band bass : WASHTUB. Googled afterwards. Not familiar with Washtub bass.

74. No more than : ONLY

75. Nissan Stadium player : TITAN

77. "... 'tis not to me __ speaks": Romeo : SHE

78. Big name in Bible distribution : GIDEON. Learning moment for me.

83. Delicate : FINE

84. Totally lost : AT SEA

86. Aquarium fish : TETRA

87. Only NATO member with no standing army : ICELAND. Hey, I knew this trivia.

94. Newcomer : NOVICE

95. Nursery resident : TREE

96. Sun Tzu subject : WAR.  The Art of War. You wanted TAO?


97. Where to see stars : SPACE

98. Pursue relentlessly : DOG

99. "The Piano" extras : MAORIS. Great movie.

103. Buck : CLAM

110. Blew the whistle : SANG. Ratted out.

111. What oaks may provide : SHADE

112. Put back in : RE-INSERT

116. Love god : EROS

117. In the past : AGO. This "Bad Request" glitch is not specific to our new template. It happens to other blogs with Full Page comments format, including Rex Parker's George Barany got the same "Bad Request" when he hits the Preview & Post Your Comments button  there.

118. Biblical captain : NOAH

119. Crown coatings : ENAMELS

120. Holiday song closer : SYNE  "... for auld lang syne".

121. "Man on the Moon" group : REM

122. Ring jinglers : KEYS

123. Boxing's "Manassa Mauler" : DEMPSEY. I need "Jack" in the clue. 
 
Down:
 
1. First word in the Beach Boys' "Kokomo" : ARUBA. Gimme for all you Beach Boys fans.  
2. Drive off : REPEL

3. Lean-eater Jack : SPRAT

4. "Fear of Flying" author Jong : ERICA

5. Close at hand : NIGH. Not NEAR.

6. Smoke remains : ASH

7. Mail : LETTERS

8. Easter Island's country : CHILE. Boomer's bowling/golf buddy Jorge just went back to Chili. Their Monday morning traveling league has lots of guys in their late 80s/early 90s. Very inspiring. 

10. It may be checked at the station : OIL. Great clue also.

11. Pakistani language : URDU

12. Like a storied wolf : BIG BAD

13. Medicinal plants : ALOES

14. Senate garment : TOGA

15. Tree that typically has paddle-shaped leaves : FAN PALM. Also a new term to me.



16. Baltic republic : ESTONIA

17. Organs sometimes vented? : SPLEENS

18. African menaces : TSETSES. Our old buddy is back.

24. Tailor's concern : FIT

26. Old anesthetics : ETHERS. I don't know what my periodontist used on me. Powerful stuff. She told me "Let me know when you feel nice and numb". I chuckled.

30. Numbers to shoot for : PARS

32. "Forrest Gump" lieutenant : DAN

33. Compared to : THAN

36. Pop/country singer Lee and others : BRENDAS. I presume Kevin added a cheater to where S is, but the symmetrical part did not yield better fill.

38. Juice for PCs : ELEC

39. Features of many '50s-'60s cars : FINS

40. Ryder Cup team : USA. Winner this year.

41. Advanced deg. : PHD

42. Bit : TAD

43. Reuters competitor : UPI

44. Personal : INTIMATE

46. Celebrated : NOTED

47. Knowledgeable, in Nantes : AU FAIT

50. Move up the corporate ladder : GET AHEAD. My life in the corporate world was pretty fun.

55. "The Walking Dead" veterinarian : HERSHEL. Stranger to me. 



57. Org. for physicians : AMA

58. Wine choice : RED

59. QB stats : TDs

61. Leave a note for, maybe : REMIND

62. Morning phenomenon : DEW

64. Settler? : ARBITER. Nice clue.

65. Project Blue Book subj. : UFO. Never heard of the Project Blue Book.

66. Presidential souvenir : PEN

67. Mineo of "Exodus" : SAL

68. Shout : CRY

69. It may be coiled on a saddle horn : LASSO. Oh, OK.


70. Car nut : LUG. Wheel. I thought of Argyle, who's nuts about old cars.

75. Pitchfork part : TINE

76. What a ponytail partly covers : NAPE

79. OED info : DEF (Definition)

80. Ike's WWII command : ETO

81. Friend of Yossarian in "Catch-22" : ORR. Know the answer. Never read "Catch-22".

82. __ Geo: nature channel : NAT

83. Diamond surfaces : FACETS

85. The bad guys : THEM

87. Gets coverage for : INSURES. Huge increase for my insurance next year. Sigh!

88. Penny-colored : COPPERY

89. Vague answer, say : EVASION

90. Driving need : LICENSE. Also 91. Drive : URGE. Also 104. Guides for drivers : LANES. Love these clue echoes.

92. Suddenly caught on : TWIGGED

93. Possesses : HAS

95. Hand-played drum : TOM-TOM. Oh Hi, D-Otto and TTP! You're my favorite drums.

98. Sorrowful song : DIRGE

100. Test for purity, as gold : ASSAY

101. They're often taken orally : OATHS. Not PILLS.

102. Cellular messenger : RNA

103. Titleholder : CHAMP

105. Confuse : ADDLE

106. Not at all in order : MESSY. Our baseball cards look messy but they're all in some kind of order.  Hall of Famers. Stars (Lots of worthless Bonds/Sosa). Twins. Ex-Twins. Etc.

108. Fabric flaw : TEAR

109. Finished : SUNK. Not DONE.

111. Piece of fiction : SHAM

114. "The Tell-Tale Heart" author : POE

115. Peoria-to-Gary dir. : ENE

C.C.


42 comments:

OwenKL said...

Bit of a slog, with a nap in the middle, but eventually FIR! Had (miter)SAW>BAT.
I like Librarians, but amazed how similar it is to "Warehouse 13" which ended its run just before Librarians started up.
Since we're going UP to the future, set your expectations to Science Fiction for today's poems!

{A, B+, B+, A.}

The robot updaters had ads on TV:
"Be everything you can possibly be!
You've a right to upgrade,
Don't be left in the SHADE!
Tell your doc or mechanic, 'Please RE-MIND me'!"

The creatures from SPACE weren't at WAR just for fun!
Their giant sucking vacuums had our troops on the run!
They'd rid their airless void
Of every polluting planetoid!
But at last we've a weapon, our massive AIR-MASS GUN!

ELECTRIC MODEL RAILROADS are so chugging passe!
SCALE MODEL Mars rockets are the SHAPE of the day!
COMPARE a head-on train crash
To a lift-off fireball blast --
It's that MESSY destruction that pulls kids to play!

"Let Techno Immerso make you a date!
It's Virtual Reality tuned Ultimate!
No more embarrassment
Of INTIMATE experience;
Just immerse in our WASHTUB to be IN T.I. MATE!"

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks, Kevin and CC!

A bit harder than usual, though theme entries were pretty easy.

I love The Librarians. For one thing, it has Dan Larroquette!

The following were really unknown: ARSENAL, ARUBA, AU FAIT, HERSHEL, BRENDAS, ORR. But I eventually got through it w/o cheats!

I have lots of fan palms. Can't get rid of them fast enough. (Animals plant them.)

Have a recording of Dylan Thomas reading his wonderful work! (Old LP.)

Time for beddy. Not as late as usual, according to time n computer. (I hate going off DST.)

Have a great day!



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

D-Otto et al,
The font problem continues. The Sunday post is smaller, while the previous ones are OK. The post also refuses to be edited. It resets itself to the smallest whenever I'm in the editing mode. So frustrating.

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Fun solve today. I TWIGGED onto the theme early on and it certainly helped knowing that each theme answer started with UP. Some minor mistakes help me up in spots (most notably AIR before OIL at 10D), but nothing too bad. I did have to do a little guessing in the AUFAIT/HERSHEL area, but the perps were gracious enough to help out.

Hope everybody remembered to turn their clocks back!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I managed to half fall back -- 30 minutes. That's because the cats haven't learned to read a clock. I was awakened to a rousing chorus of "Where's Our Breakfast???" emanating from the kitchen.

Enjoyed the puzzle and even managed to get the theme. I wasn't familiar with TWIGGED in that context. That was my final fill.

There are lots of FAN PALMs (actually a variety of Sabal palm) in our neighborhood. Don't know why, but they're not doing too well this year. There are about a dozen of them -- they only grow to about 3 feet in height -- in our woodlot.

When I scaled back our DirecTV package we lost the Science Channel. But as Ilsa said to Rick, "We'll always have NAT GEO."

C.C., the font looked fine to me. Perfectly legible at 100%.

Big Easy said...


After UPRIGHT, BEAT, and TURN the UP start was obvious so I fill UP in the first two cells of all the long crosses. But not being 'knowledgeable in Nantes' or about soccer both ARSENAL and AU FAIT were unknowns filled by perps. But I also didn't read 'Catch-22', know what the 'Project Blue Book' was bout, watch 'Forest Gump' or 'The Walking Dead', so ORR, UFO, DAN, and HERSHEL were unknowns also filled by perps.

The puzzle was easy with my only changes being NEAR to NIGH and CHARS to CHEFS.
TWIGGED is a term that I have never heard before. Glad the crosses were solid fills.
ICELAND- no army- why should they? When they ( and the rest of NATO) can get the USA to foot the bill for them.
GIDEON Bible-C.C. must not spend much time in hotels not knowing that one. But I didn't know who the 'Manassa Mauler' was but I would never say that she doesn't 'know Jack'. It's plain to see that she does.

Fermatprime- no BRENDA Lee- I'M SORRY but I guess you will not be 'ROCKIN' AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE' next month. So BREAK IT TO ME GENTLY, what type of music do you listen to?

Yellowrocks said...

I was on Kevin's wave length. Very fast for a Sunday. Theme was really helpful. All the unknowns were solved with perps and wags. Only CLAM was all perps. Huh? Oh, I get it. V-8 can, please. CC, thanks for the pretty fan palm picture.
I knew twigged.
Wash tub band, hillbilly music. They also use scrub boards, saws and blow on whiskey jugs.
<a href="https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=washtub+band&&view=detail&mid=4C8DD70F897B149F048E4C8DD70F897B149F048E&rvsmid=6EE9BED2096357710CC46EE9BED2096357710CC4&fsscr=0&FORM=VDFSRV> wash tub band</a>
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?

In most motel or hotel rooms you open a drawer and there is a Bible stamped GIDEONS.

There are often a few references here I feel I miss. For instance, I see the BAD REQUEST in preview mode, but I surely do not see the size problem although my eyesight is not that great. Why can't Cornerites just enlarge it themselves? I guess this is a DUH! question.

Yellowrocks said...

Without the preview mode, how do add links? Sorry for the one above.

maripro said...

Thanks Kevin and C.C.
Fun puzzle.
I enjoy your comments when you notice something questionable, C.C.
Perhaps "Brendas" could have been clued as "Lee and Starr" or perhaps "Lee and Vaccaro." Would that be an improvement?
Have a lovely day, everyone.

MJ said...

Good day to all!

Guess I could say I TWIGGED (never heard of the term) the theme early, which really helped in the solving process. Unfamiliar with "The Walking Dead", so HERSHEL was 100% perpped. Also did not see "The Piano", but MAORIS was easily wagged with only the "AO" in place. Favorite clue/answer was "Not always easy to get into" for SHAPE. Thanks for the fine expo and links, C.C. I have no trouble with the font size.

Enjoy the day!

MJ said...

Oh, and my avatar is my younger grandson GIDEON at about 18 months old. He's nearly four and a half years old now. Time for a new avatar, methinks.

Argyle said...

YR, you should be able to check your links in Preview mode. You won't be able to publish from there but you can copy it and then repost it after refreshing the page and skipping the preview. I had to take out the quote mark in the address to get your link to work, by the way.

Argyle said...

I see you had only one quote mark. You need two or none at all.

wash tub band

Sam Lapitas said...

The Los Angeles Times moved the Sunday Puzzle page to the comics section starting today. Not being a comics fan, I had a difficult time finding the puzzle.

Big Easy said...

Sam Lapitas- if you want to get the puzzle fast go directly to this blog and click on "LA Times Crossword Online' on the right side.

Just cover the left side with a sheet of paper so you won't be tempted to cheat. I get two Sunday newspapers and do them the old-fashioned way.

C6D6 Peg said...

Very nice puzzle by Kevin. Got the theme quickly after the first pass. Thanks for a morning eye-opener.

Nice write-up, C.C. I have no problem with reading the blog. Thanks for your insight, as always, into the construction.

TTP said...

Good morning all !

Top left center was tough for me today. I was solidly anchored with CHOU, but floundering around in that area.

Pair for date night (HEELS), Next in line (HEIR), and It may be checked at the station (OIL) caught me off guard.

Combine those with the fact that I was AT SEA in the wrong hemisphere thinking west coast of Africa for "Easter Island's country." DOH !

Finally replaced cut with FIT and ended RIGHT with FIELD based on the title. CHILE next and then TILL was easy at that point. It all came together.

Tool used in a box (BAT) and Get together on a ranch (HERD) also threw me for a LASSO, er, um, loop. Good clues.

"The Walking Dead" veterinarian ? Not a chance. It's going to take a lot of crosswords before I'll readily know answers to certain genres of film and television. Thank you perps.

And thank you Kevin Donovan and CC.

Jinx in Norfolk said...

Shot myself in the foot today. Had GIDEON, but erased it to make ORR into aRa. (OK, I can't read my own writing. I'm blaming the change to standard time.) That was my only wrong square once I had finished. Also I was thinking the movie The Piano Player instead of The Piano and was thinking Poles, Nazis, etc. before giving up and hitting Google for the only time. I loved both movies, BTW.

Favorite clue today was "car nut" for LUG. Least favorite was "suddenly caught on" for TWIGGED, only because I had never heard of the term.

Thanks Kevin and CC for a fun Sunday puzzle and expo.

Anonymous T said...

Sunday Lurk say...

YR - TTP & I posted how you can link by typing "< a href= " link " > blue link text < / a >" Without the spaces except in blue-link-text. I'll find it in C.C.'s olio later if time permits.

Kevin - Step-mom loved your puzzle and was flummoxed by a) mention of Peoria and b) your full name. She want's to know if you lived on the corner of Randolph and Columbia in Peoria? Does Neil ring a bell? If it does, email me or C.C.. Inquiring minds....

Cheers, -T

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I, too, was surprised that Up was in the title; I thought this was strictly verboten but, apparently, not. I had more trouble than usual, even knowing the theme. I found some of the clues strange but that could be just me and my clock-change confusion. (It takes me a few days to adjust.)

Thanks, Kevin, for an "Uplifting" Sunday solve and thanks, CC, for the neat narrative.

Bluehen, your namesakes trounced UAlbany yesterday or, maybe, with 5 turnovers, they trounced themselves! 🙃

Have a great day.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-My first step after filling every cell was to Google TWIGGED, which was fine, but THEY/YARORIS didn’t cut it and I’ll take my standard one bad Sunday cell. UP in the title surprised me as well
-We all know this fort – “Governor Smith and the General Council ordered Neill, Bowie, and Travis to HOLD THE FORT until support arrived.”
-If you teach, your life is full of SET TIMES
-The back lines of those boxes usually get wiped out early
-“Tradition” is an uplifting song in Fiddler but the REPRISE after his daughter decides to marry outside the faith is more like a DIRGE
-That Dylan Thomas poem reminds me of The Lion In Winter
-When this giant AIR MASS heads here, it is sometimes called an ALBERTA Clipper
-Titan stadium after the Cumberland River visited in 2010
-Ah ICELAND, I thought Finland didn’t have an army
-Above our atmosphere, in space, stars don’t twinkle
-We’re paying the price for all that SHADE this time of year
-Where I find my REMINDERS
-EVASION is the stock trick when a politician is AT SEA

Lucina said...

For most of the grid I was on Mr. Donovan's wave length and didn't have to jump around much. Words fell in place though with some pauses at AUFAIT and TWIGGED. And I didn't know BART was Homer's challenge. DIW
CLAMS baffled me at first until I realized buck meant money.

Other than that it was a fairly easy Sunday puzzle. Thank you, Kevin Donovan.

And thank you, C.C. for an upbeat narrative.

Have a beautiful Sunday, everyone! No clocks were changed here; only up north in the Navajo Reservation, I believe, if they still do that.

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody. I don't like the change between Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time either way. I don't handle change as well as I used to.

I thought this puzzle had more tricky clues than I'm used to in the LAT. I liked it though. I didn't think of BRENDA for a singer because I was fixated on "Lee" being a first name for some reason. I enjoyed the Dylan Thomas quote.

Thanks Kevin and CC.

inanehiker said...

Started off with CHELSEA, but ARUBA helped me correct to ARSENAL. "Kokomo" will now be my earworm for the day.

Overall a fairly quick solve using perps for unknowns, like WEES about TWIGGED. The UP made the theme answers come more quickly to mind.

Beautiful Sunday, which finally has a little coolness to remind us that it's November not September!

Thanks CC and Kevin!

TTP said...


Anon - T, you must have confused me with someone else in your comment about posting links...

Chairman Moe, the Bears have a bye week, so the Steelers game is showing on the local CBS affiliate. Don't have to go to the local sports bar. Every single time I've gone to watch a game there, they've lost. Anyway, should be a another close game against the Ravens. What a rivalry it's turned out to be...

Jayce said...

Solving this puzzle gave me a lot of pleasure, as did reading the exegesis (as Keith likes to call it) by C.C. I didn't see LUG, but reading the clue later made me chuckle. Feeling numb has never made me chuckle, but when the dental hygienist does the final polishing it tickles and makes me chuckle. I did smile very broadly at the clue for SHAPE. For that Biblical captain, I had AHAB, then MOAB, and finally that NOAH guy.

I wanted to fit aspen into the space for FAN PALM.

Man oh man I dislike having to change all the clocks twice a year! I always forget to change the clock in the thermostat, so the heat comes on at the wrong time, which then REMINDs me.

I also like Dan Larroquette.

maripro, I like your suggested clues for BRENDAS.

Best wishes to you all.

Paul in Montebello said...

Sorry if someone already said this...but...this puzzle was right UP my alley!

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts":

TTP ---> I am at a sports bar watching the game; if you can call it a game. More penalty yards than yards gained in the first half. Pretty pathetic - doesn't look like Tomlin and the coaching staff had the team ready for the game. Of course there's a second half coming.

As for the xword, I struggled a bit and eventually googled two or three clues. TWIGGED was a new one for me; HOLD THE FORT also came reluctantly. I had NOOSE before LASSO, and tried squeezing LOCOMOTIVES in before I realized only RAILROADS would fit.

I'm on a bit of a sports fan's losing streak right now, with my Indians dropping Games 5-7, my alma mater getting killed, and my other favorite college team falling. Steelers are down by 10 at the half.

Lucina said...

C.C.:
Lest I forget, the fonts are nice clear for me and easier to read.

I really enjoyed this puzzle.

Misty said...

Well, I looked forward to having an extra hour to spend on a Sunday puzzle this morning, but sadly woke up at 9:10 am until I realized that meant it was 8:10--no extra hour, then, but no lost hour either. So it was slow getting through the puzzle, though I enjoyed it a lot--many thanks, Keith. And in the end I did cheat a little because it was getting late and I have to give Dusty his morning walk. And I loved your pics, C.C., and all your great info. All in all, a great Sunday morning.

Have a wonderful Sunday, everybody!

Unknown said...

force "bongos" into 95 down and I had no chance to finish.


And misspelling "arbiter" with an e took me off track. I guess its an alternate spelling but never seen it used

oh well...;(

BTW I too had trouble finding the puzzle. The LA Sunday Times is getting thinner and thinner and I fear not long for this world.

Yellowrocks said...

Thanks Argyle and Anon-T.

Hungry Mother said...

Nice one. The theme provided some gimmes. I was tired from my slog through the NYT puzzle, which I do second (actually third) on the other days of the week, but first on Sundays. However, I had a long run this morning and was very satisfied to lie on the couch with my Naples Dailey News and work through it. AUFAIT was an intelligent guess. In 1993, my wife and I did a total immersion French course at LaVal University for six weeks in Quebec City. We were almost fluent by week four, but I've forgotten too much to be any good in French.

Anonymous T said...

TTP - you're right. It wasn't re: linking. We were helping Robert going blue.

Let's see if I get all the escape characters right:

Imaging you want to link http://www.ou.edu with blue-text BOOMER!
Eg. BOOMER!

Then, type this:

<a href="http://www.ou.edu"> BOOMER! </a>

Cheers, -T

Anonymous said...

So Chairman, which is your Alma mater?
Texas A&M, Lsu or Nebraska.
If so then sorry, ouch or double ouch.

CrossEyedDave said...

upright field?

upbeat poet.

upturn signal?

upscale model railroad

up hold the fort!

upset times?

upstage hands?

Chairman Moe said...

Pitt is my alma mater; LSU is my other favorite college team. Pitt has no defense; LSU hung around with Alabama for 3 Qtrs but had no offense. Of course 'Bama may have the best defense in all of college football. And today my Steelers lost. As I said, as a fan, I am not having my best week ...

Anonymous said...

No more daylight saving time! Yay!

Abejo said...

Good evening, folks. Thank you, Kevin Donovan, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, C.C., for a fine review.

Went through this in average time, I would say. I did not have a lot of time to dedicate, so it took me all day, off and on.

Spent the time after church at a chili cook off at church. I did not win (again). However, like the Cubs used to be, there is always next year. It was fun and the chili that won was pretty good. However, I thought mine was better. Oh well.

Then went to present a 50-year membership award to a member of our Lodge in St. Charles, IL. It was a great time for an old friend who is dealing with cancer. I wish him the best!

Got home and our daughter and her boyfriend came over for supper. My wife spent all day making pasta from scratch and running it through a pasta maker, slicing it to size, and then cooking it. She also made the sauce from scratch. Dinner was great.

Then, I finished the puzzle. Phew!

Liked the theme. The UP gave me a lot of good starts throughout the puzzle.

Of course I wrote in HORSE for 35A. Then HANES became the correct answer after I struggled for a while in that area. You have to keep an open mind.

My good friend from Erie, PA, is a member of the GIDEONS. They do a lot of Bible distribution. Good for them.

Interesting about ICELAND.

BRENDA Lee is one of my all time favorites.

Of course, I misspelled DIRGE as DERGE. Fixed that.

Good to see TSE TSES again. It has been a while.

And now I am hitting the hay. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

( )

Michael said...

Chuck wrote:

"The LA Sunday Times is getting thinner and thinner and I fear not long for this world."

'Fraid so ... print media are dying. The local rag is up to $80 for 12 weeks, delivered, but they axed the LAT xword and the good comics. So my son said to me today, "Dad, it's time."

Yes, it is, but I hate to let go -- I threw the Herald-Examiner, then the LA Times, often read the Pasadena Independent and Star-News -- it's the end of an era coming, and maybe of literacy as well?

Anonymous said...

Abejo: Sounds like a delightful dinner.

Picard said...

Mostly easy since I got the theme right away and that gave UP as the first letters of each of the big fills.

TWIGGED was the last fill and it seemed very unlikely. How does that mean "Suddenly caught on"? ARSENAL a total unknown that seemed unlikely, too.

Hand up, Big Easy, for CHARS before CHEFS. Great mis-direction.

Is ALTA really the abbreviation for Alberta?

I heard that when "Kokomo" was a hit on the radio, travel agents (remember them?) were deluged with requests to go there!

Be sure to listen to the Beatles song "Rocky Raccoon" for multiple mentions of GIDEON's bibles. It is a hilarious takeoff on country/western style music.

And to anyone who never read Catch-22... You should. It is a brilliant classic. Never saw the movie, but I heard it is quite graphically violent.