google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, March 22 2018 Robert & Marlea Ellis

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Mar 22, 2018

Thursday, March 22 2018 Robert & Marlea Ellis

Theme: Odorless Wine - or "no nose". Actually, the reveal explains the theme nicely:

64A. Taboos, and a hint to the four longest puzzle answers : NO-NOS. Phrases which lose the opening "no"; and so we have

17A. Soda fountain come-on? :  [NO] GREAT SHAKES. Make three at once with this handy device on your countertop:




26A. Earthquake coverage? : [NO-]FAULT INSURANCE. You'd thing you'd need fault insurance in my home state. California isn't one of the no-fault insurance states.

43A. List in a quiz program recap? : [NO] QUESTIONS ASKED. Nice clue.

56A. Lower hulls fortified? : [NO] HOLDS BARRED. I think I'd have looked for a more elegant clue here. "Lower hull" seems a little contrived.

There was a similar theme by Jim Page in the NYT a few years ago, but he clued his theme entries as if they still had the "no" attached.

Let's see what jumps out in the fill:

Across:

1. Fall face first while skiing, say : EAT IT. I've done many a face-plant on and off piste.

6. Mighty silly : APISH. Nice word, took a while for me to see it.

11. Part of ROM: Abbr. : MEM. Read-only memory. Which leads me to the question - how do you get anything into read-only memory? We should be told.

14. Longest-serving prime minister of India : NEHRU. He of the eponymous jacket. India's first PM.


15. Austrian actress Berger : SENTA. Completely unknown to me, but the crosses filled her in.

16. Kanye West's "I __ God" : AM A. Nailed it! Thank you, crosswords past.

19. Monarch catcher : NET. Butterfly net.

20. Brooklyn Dodgers legend Campanella : ROY. Imaginatively nicknamed "Campy".

21. In questionable taste : TACKY

22. All excited : AFIRE

24. Radiant glow : AURA

25. Italian cheese : ASIAGO. Oddly, I always thought it was Spanish. Learning moment for me.

31. Aids in illegal activity : ABETS. I see "aid" as a synonym, but the crime is "aiding and abetting", so there must be a difference. We need legal help to explain this one.

32. Roberts of "That '70s Show" : TANYA. She's had some "work" done since this shot was taken, as a Google image search will confirm.


33. Comic Martha : RAYE. Thank you, crosses. Proper names are not my forte.

34. One-named singer with 15 Grammys : ADELE

36. Neeson of "Love Actually" : LIAM

40. Continue gabbing : RUN ON

42. Ship's seepage : BILGE. In the sub-lower hull.

47. Latin ballroom dances : TANGOS

48. Berlin octet : ACHT. Eight, in Essen, and elsewhere.

49. One of a Dumas trio : ATHOS. The Three Musketeers. Athos, Porthos and Aramis. D'Artagnan wasn't a musketeer when he met the three.

50. Civil rights leader Chavez : CESAR. 

52. __-tip steak : TRI. This cut of beef is unknown many places other than the West Coast. It's a triangular cut from the bottom sirloin, hence the name - it has three "tips".

55. Barnyard sound : MAA. It's a more accurate representation of the sound than "baa" although the latter is more commonly-used. "Maa maa black sheep, have you any wool?" doesn't have the same ring to it.

59. Directional suffix : ERN

60. Missouri tribe : OSAGE

61. Not-giving-up phrase : I HOPE

62. Completed : DID

63. Fishing boot : WADER

Down:

1. Career for a sci. major : ENGR. Engineer. Definitely not my favorite fill.

2. Flight-related prefix : AERO-

3. Unspecified folks : THEY. I had THEM first, but the baseball great Rom [sic] Campanella fixed that.

4. Sportswriter Berkow : IRA. Boxing, baseball, basketball among other sports. He was jointly awarded the Pulitzer Prize for journalism in 2001. Great writer.

5. Clucks of disapproval : TUT-TUTS

6. __ School: art movement featuring NYC scenes : ASHCAN. I've no idea how I knew this. Here's "McSorley's Bar" by John French Sloan.


7. Top out : PEAK

8. Very dark : INKY

9. Abbr. in some Québec addresses : STE. Ste. Jean sur Richelieu, par example.

10. Contributes : HAS A SAY

11. Oscar-nominated "Flashdance" song : MANIAC. I preferred "Flashdance .. What a Feeling" myself. In fact, let's have a Flashdance Flashback.

12. Arise : EMERGE

13. San __, California : MATEO

18. Asian dress : SARI

23. Contender for the crown : FINALIST

24. Steve Rogers, for Captain America : ALTER EGO

25. Composer of the opera "Alfred" : ARNE. Thomas Arne's score for the opera about Alfred the Great. The libretto was written by David Mallet and James Thompson. We'll have a test on this tomorrow, so pay attention.

26. At a distance : AFAR

27. Chicago-based law org. : ABA. At least this week's clue allows for no ambiguity, unlike last week's interpretation which brought all the knuckle-dragging anons out of hiding.

28: Illegal fwy. maneuver : UEY

29. Court worker : STENO

30. Co. that merged with Continental : UAL. United Airlines. My carrier of choice. It's been a good week not to be travelling, bad weather all over the place.

34. Queen's subjects : ANTS

35. "And how!" : DO I!

37. Sort : ILK

38. Sit in a cellar, maybe : AGE

39. Club __ : MED. Are they still going? Not seen these resorts advertised for quite some time.

41. Base entertainment : USO SHOW

42. Persian Gulf monarchy : BAHRAIN

43. Persian Gulf native : QATARI. I enjoyed the proximity of this clue pair.

44. Release : UNHAND

45. Egyptian leader for whom a lake is named : NASSER. Formed by the damming of the Nile at Aswan. It's the largest man-made lake in the world. The lake, was formed, that is, not the leader. The leader was formed by Mr. and Mrs. Nasser, presumably.

46. Union foe : SCAB

47. Gained control of : TAMED

50. Dressed : CLAD

51. Advantage : EDGE

52. 1982 sci-fi film : TRON. Plus the recent reboot Tron: Legacy in 2010.

53. Defaulter's risk : REPO

54. Time to beware : IDES. More ides. Shame there wasn't a month named "Tides". Then, when it was close to the middle of the month, you'd be able to say "The Ides of Tides Bides". Thank you, I'm here all week.

57. Spanish she-bear : OSA

58. Frat letter : RHO.

And - here's the grid, stick a fork in me, I'm done.

Steve

Notes from C.C.:

1) Argyle still has his phone off the hook due to the pain meds, but I'm in contact with his sister Klista. Santa is doing OK. Please continue keeping him in your thoughts and prayers.

2) Happy Birthday to dear PK, who turns 77 today. So happy that she's now on the blog regularly. PK is a Preacher's Child, but PK also stands for Passionate Kisser, and she's passionate about many subjects. She's always so attentive and observant. She was a reporter before.

3) Agnes just asked about Melissa's granddaughter Jaelyn yesterday. Here is a sweet picture of Melissa's daughter and Jaelyn. Look how she has grown.


61 comments:

OwenKL said...

DNF¡ I must be getting feeble-minded. I think this is the third day this week I haven't succeeded getting the puzzle, and the week is only 4 days old¡ The middle-top was my bete noir. __ISH, __NTA, TA__Y crossing __H_AN, __A_. A natick is bad enough, but 5 words woven together is just too much¡ ASHCAN and SENTA Berger I'd never heard of, the clues for APISH and PEAK were IMHO poorly worded (is APISH even a real word?), and the clue for TACKY didn't fit my understanding of the word at all (tho I can sorta see it in retrospect)¡

Ahmed was a well-to-do QATARI
Who wrote music that was sort of guitar-y
No GREAT SHAKES, it was TACKY --
Did I mention he was wealthy? --
He was number one on radio QATARI!

And then there was Al-NASSER from BAHRAIN
Who wrote music by using his brain!
His sound ENGINEER
Thought the tempo was queer --
The notes were a stochastic math chain!

{B+, B-.}


Lemonade714 said...

I can't say this [NO] problem. It had so many proper names and I did not know them all - unlike Steve, ASHCAN was and still is unknown.

I did know SENTA BERGER who was built in the Racquel Welsh mold and also remember ROY CAMPANELLA . He was a great baseball player who overcame his paralysis after a car accident who did much to make people realize how important the integration of sports was.

I also enjoyed the Persian Gulf clecho.

Thank you Robert and Marlea for your third Thursday thought-provoking puzzle. Thank you for the tour Steve, glad you were not forced to travel this week.

KS said...

Grrr, had Lou instead of Roy, and turfed the NW corner totally.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Robert, Marlea and Steve!

Was successfully completed. Fell asleep early so I am not blogging at my usual time! Then the rain started again
and woke me up..

Hope to see you all tomorrow!

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I was sure that Campanella guy's name was JOE, and I hung onto it way too long. Thought APISH was inane. Once I moved down to the midsection WAGs and speeds increased dramatically. Thanx, Robert, Marlea and Steve. D-o finally got the theme...probably because he actually read the reveal clue. That seems to help.

Happy birthday, PK. I always enjoy your posts, and usually learn something.

Hope that Argyle is improving and doesn't get "hooked" on those pain meds.

D4E4H said...

Excellent morning you Cornerwriters,

HBD to PK!

Thanks to Robert & Marlea Ellis for this difficult / easy CW. I breezed thru the NW, and hit a snow bank in N Central. I applied my snowshoes, with P & P, and the sled dogs and I got the serum to Nome. It was such fun that we should do it each year. I shall call it the Iditarod Race.

Thank you Steve for staying home, and taking care of business so well.

Anonymous T FLN at 11:06 PM

Introduced me to Tigger's TTFN, and then I had to watch the whole Pooh gang celebrate Eeyore's birthday. That was such simple fun.

In case you didn't know, Christopher Milne had named his toy bear after Winnie, a Canadian black bear he often saw at London Zoo, and "Pooh", a swan they had met while on holiday.

Dave

PK said...

Hi Y'all! Thank you Robert & Marlea for the workout. First pass I had only AERO & NEHRU on the whole top tier, fortunately it got somewhat easier lower down. I admit to red-lettering my way through too much of the top on about my fourth pass at it.

Thanks, Steve for an interesting expo. Your face-plant on "Off-piste" sent me to Google. Never heard the term altho I have heard someone very drunk called "pissed", so I thought you were skiing in a bad condition. Glad to be wrong and find it means you were off marked ski trails.

I, too, though ASIAGO was Spanish. I've read the different types of Italian cheeses are named for the town/region in which they are made. Never heard of a town called ASIAGO, Italy.

Got FAR/FAULT at once and added INSURANCE. I live in a NO FAULT state. Thought the lower theme fills were easy. Then went back and puzzled out the first one.

Should have known ROY but couldn't remember -- tried "Lou". Duh! Didn't know about half the proper names or TRI-tip beef -- tried "rib"-tip.

C.C.: Thank you for the birthday cake, wishes and kind words. 77 is a hard age to "swallow". As a friend recently said, "I don't mind aging. I just didn't think I'd get here so fast." Actually, I'm not a preacher's kid although I have a brother who retired as a church minister recently. P & K are my actual first & second name initials and one thing my mother called me.

BillG: I liked your bread quote yesterday. Makes perfect sense to me. I am a living testimony to its truth.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

What KS said. Lou just looked right, except that it didn’t.

Struggled quite a bit with this one. Getting the theme actually helped fix a few tricky spots.

Morning, Steve! I see what you mean about Tanya Roberts’ enhancements. The photos suggest it was a later-in-life decision.

Oas said...

Thanks Robert and Marlea for a tough workout this morning.
DNF What held me up were , I did not know SENTA, TANYA, and ARNE . Had APIAN for APISH so simply could not see 10 down. Kicked myself after l read the review . Thanks Steve .
Had l got APISH I could have WAGGED the rest .

Dudley said...

Oh, and Happy Birthday PK! Hand up for thinking you were a Preacher’s Kid, too - I sorta remember reading that in some long-ago post, but evidently I got it wrong at the time.

PK said...

Dudley, Yellowrocks is a preacher's kid and asked me if I were one too. I said NO at the time, that I was a Passionate Kisser, but I can see how the myth perpetuated. I should have confessed to the initials then.

desper-otto said...

PK, "off piste" -- I've usually heard it in reverse -- piste off.

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday, PK, and here's wishing you many more. Real tough one (for me, at least!) today. Thanks to Robert and Marlea for quite a challenge, and to Steve for the tour through the grid.

Stared at the top middle forever trying to make sense of anything up there, but I thought that STE must be correct (I see that a lot in my neck of the woods, Canadian-Eh, do you?) and then slowly it all filled in. Of course, also thought of Royal Ontario Museum first for ROM, but couldn't make that work.

Get well soon, Argyle, we need you back here where you belong. A good day, all...

Big Easy said...

I never had to EAT IT when I skied because I never tried anything harder than a 'blue' ski run. But early on, I thought I might have to EAT IT, not being able to complete the grid. SENTA, AM A, TANYA, TRI-tip steak, IRA Berkow, ASHCAN- unknowns. MOO before MAA.

ASIAGO, ARNE, and ALTER EGO were WAGS. Lots of "Sans" in CA and STEs in "Que".

"Lower hulls fortified"- I always thought the hull was the OUTSIDE, not the inside storage compartment. A better clue would have been something associated with WRESTLING.

Yellowrocks said...

This seemed Friday-like, but FIR w/o help. SENTA Berger was well known in the USA in the 60'sand 70's. Much of her later work was in German. Martha RAYE was an old time actress known for her big mouth. She later did Polident commercials. Some times it pays to be among the oldest ones here.
TRI TIP was new to me, as was the opera, Alfred, and TANYA Roberts. Perps to the rescue.
AFIRE, agog. atwitter.
I had LOU before ROY at 20A. ENGR finally resolved that and gave me EAT IT. I was thinking face plant. Too long.
When I sussed the theme, the fill progressed more quickly.
Cute picture of Jaelyn, Melissa.
Happy birthday, PK. It's a pleasure "knowing' you. Have a ghreat day.
Off to the commute on clear roads, but the snow pile beside my walk is 6 feet high.

jfromvt said...

Slow start at first, but once I got the theme it was a fairly easy solve for Thursday. Never heard of SENTA Berger, and APISH, UNHAND a bit of a stretch, but overall a good puzzle. Not sure a science major is an ENGR, aren’t engineer majors ENGRs?

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Not hard for a Thursday. Had to go down to the BILGE to get a firm footing and almost immediately got NO NOS. The theme phrases filled in quickly after that. In fact, I was considering how to spell OSA when HOLDS BARRED loomed. No white-out or searches were needed today.
ROY - Remember his name from the radio broadcasts of Brooklyn Dodgers games.
ACHT - German, L. German, and Dutch all the same. It is easy to see where the current vestigial and unpronounced 'g' in eight comes from.
BILGE - I did not like it as a clue for seepage. Such seepage is normally termed bilge water or possibly, bilge oil. Bilge is normally the turn from a ship's side to it's flatter bottom. Also refers to the lowest points of the inner hull.
If anyone finds some arcane source for the clue, I can live with it, but I still don't like it.

BH is having her 2nd hip replacement tomorrow, so my next few posts may be sporadic. She is in good spirits and is at a Tai Chi class this morning. Hospital stay of 0 - 2 days is anticipated.

Spitzboov said...

Oh, I forgot:

Happy Birthday to PK. Hope you have a great day and treat yourself to something special.

More BILGE: While at sea (Beyond the 50 nm limit off the coast) it was customary for the Engineering Dept. to dump garbage, pump bilges, and blow steam at the firesides boiler tubing to clean them, during each 4-hr watch if the tactical situation permitted. So the Engineering command center, Main Control, would dutifully call the Bridge and request permission to "dump, pump, and blow."

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

I got off to a slow start but then picked up speed and, as Lucina would say, sashayed to the tada! Unknowns were Tanya and Ira and my w/os were Inane/Apish (Hi, DO!) and Sambas/Tangos. I don't associate Apish with Silly; to me, Apish would denote a lumbering, hairy oaf. I needed the reveal to fully grasp the theme, which I thought was amusing.

Thanks, Robert and Marlea, for a Thursday treat and thanks, Steve, for a smooth and satisfying summary.

Happy Birthday, PK, and many more! 🎂🎁🍾🎉 I always enjoy reading your witty and candid comments.

CC, thanks for posting the sweet picture of Jaelyn and her Mom. Yes, she certainly is growing fast! I loved PJ's cake, also!


Thank you all for the warm wishes for my brother, Jack. He had angioplasty done yesterday as a temporary treatment until he is physically ready to undergo surgery for a valve replacement. He ate a decent meal for the first time in almost two weeks. That, in itself, is a sure sign that he's feeling better.

Have a great day.

Jay Green said...

Generally puzzle went well, but upper middle block was my downfall. Did anyone else put RUE instead of Ste for 9 down? That with the fact I have never heard of Santa killed me.

Irish Miss said...

That should be PK's cake. Sorry.

Spitz, best wishes to Betty on tomorrow's surgery.

BTW, DO, I believe there was an actor, Joe Campanella, so you may have had him in mind.

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

All is well here. Apparently, MIL is having trouble with her BP. Either that or she likes seeing the handsome paramedics. She was in the hospital overnight to RO stroke. Just some new BP meds. She's not a complainer so when she called us, I knew it was a concern for her.
She's 94-1/2. Quite a gal!

Today's puzzle was just what the doctor ordered for me. Pretty smooth. I stalled at FINAL LIST and didn't have enough crosses to cover for me. Had NO NOs on the first pass and finally sussed the fills at HOLD BARRED. Slow but steady wins the race for me today.

Thanks Robert and Marlea for some necessary fun. Steve, per usual, you intelligence and wit show through. You are most certainly a Renaissance Man.

Happy Birthday, PK. You are a vauled and faithful contributor to our fun here.

Have a Sunny Day. I hope we're done with Nor'easters! I hope for a bit of extra sun for all of you out East.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-You’re right Dorothy, there’s no place like home!
-It took the last theme fill to “get it” and then I laughed out loud. Well done, Steve.
-The next time I’m at the country fair I am going to listen carefully to see if I can distinguish a MAA from a BAA
-Do you know the organization with this TACKY catch phrase?
-Tiger Woods’ career “PEAKED” and then fell precipitously after his wife found out he was a serial cheater
-Source? - “Double bell euphoniums and big bassoons, Each bassoon HAVING his big FAT SAY.”
-The FINALISTS for the NCAA Men’s BB tournament will be decided in Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Omaha this weekend
-Martha RAYE was a mainstay in USO SHOWS
-My neighbor was a SCAB for the Dallas Cowboys when the NFL players went on strike
-Channelizing the Missouri River didn’t necessarily make it TAMED
-HBD, PK! Lovely picture, Melissa!

CanadianEh! said...

TUT TUT there were lots of NONOs today. Thanks for the fun Robert & Marlea, and Steve.
Thanks for explaining MEM, UAL, ASHCAN, and those TRI tip steaks.

Hand up for the North Central being the last to fall. Another hand up for changing Them to THEY, and waiting for perps to decide between MAA, Baa or Moo. Perps were also necessary to give me OSAGE; I learned the American area tribes here but need a few letters to jog my memory.

We were AFIRE today not Agog (or PK's twitterpated!) Happy Birthday PK!
IDES was a week late.

I was misdirected by "Contender for the crown" and debated between Charles, William, George, Charlotte, unborn baby Mountbatten-Windsor, or Harry before the beauty pageant FINALIST appeared.

CSO to all our ENGRs here. But a Science Major could go into a lot of careers including 39D MED. Yes jfromvt, Canadian ENGRs get a BSc. and thus are science majors.

Northern Boy: Now you see why I am so happy to have a fellow Canadian on the Corner. Nobody else here would think of the Royal Ontario Museum for ROM, and realize that there are lots of places with STE outside of Quebec (especially Manitoba-is that your locale?, but I thought of Sault Ste. Marie). Yes, Ray Green, I thought of RUE but it is not an abbreviation.

Dave 2 - interesting that you know about the Canadian history of Winnie the Pooh. Here is a link for more info from his home town of White River, Ontario. I have a photo somewhere in an album standing beside the statue in the park but unlike Picard, I do not have it in digital form.
HistoryOfWinnieThePooh

Best wishes for successful surgeries for IM's brother, Jack and Spitzboov's wife, Betty.
Hope your MIL is feeling better, Madame D, and that her BP meds are adjusted.
Lovely photo Melissa.

Enjoy the rest of the day.

Lucina said...

Happy birthday, PK! I do hope you can get out and enjoy a celebration. Your posts are fun and informative.

Thank you, Robert, Marlea and Steve! Today's grid was not only entertaining but a head scratcher, too.

It was a slow slog but aided and abetted by some familiar names, FAYE, CESAR, NEHRU, ADELE, and LIAM I got through it. And yes! I even knew ROY Campanella.

The top center almost DID me in at the near Natick of ASHCAN/SENTA. But once APISH EMERGEd I vaguely recalled SENTA Berger. STE made sense and occurred to me after a long while as I started thinking of all the Sans and Santas in California street names. Holy saints' names, Batman!

Thank you, Steve, for expanding the theme which I didn't take the time to do. I'm also glad for you that you didn't have to travel in this week's weather. Although the southwest is clear and sunny.

Have a sensational day, everyone! My spring cleaning continues.



Yellowrocks said...

IM, good news about Jack. I hope this trend continues and that soon he can have his valve replacement.
Spitz, best wishes to Betty. The recovery times for hip and knee replacements are much shorter than used to be. I am sure she will do well under your loving care.

I know "Unhand me you villain!" Very dramatic, so I located "unhand me" in Shakespeare's work.
"Hamlet: My fate cries out,
And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion’s nerve. [GHOST beckons.]
Still am I call’d. Unhand me, gentlemen, [Breaking from them.]
By heaven! I’ll make a ghost of him that lets me:
I say, away! Go on, I’ll follow thee. [Exeunt GHOST and HAMLET.]"

Spitz,I agree that bilge is most often used to refer to the bottom part of the ship.

The next most common usage is “nonsense.”
“There was a bitter taste in my mouth from all the lies I'd told—all the bilge.” - Graham, Roger Phillips

-I often hear bilge used in place of bilge water in novels, maybe not technical, but well used and IMHO far from arcane.

Robert and Marlee, fun puzzle. Steve, your usual witty offering. I am glad you could avoid traveling in the storm.

Lemonade714 said...

Yes, so busy trying not to lose my train of thought, once again it left the station without me. Happy birthday PK, you are a consistent joy here.

C.C., thank you for keeping us updated on Argyle and the wonderful pics of Melissa's daughter and granddaughter.

WikWak said...

A Thursday-level opus, for sure! WEES about nearly everything; it required a full 15 minutes to figure this one out. Never did enjoy one with lots of names, but there were a lot of other things I liked about it.

I have eaten my share of steak in my life (probably had your share too), but I've never heard of a TRI-TIP one. I know RIB TIPs but not the steak.

I didn't particularly care for the cluing of IDES as a "time." I've always thought of it as a date, but I guess I can see where folks might mean time in a more general sense.

The ASHCAN school of art is (was, now) an unknown.

I'm with Spitzboov in not liking an interior part of a ship called the hull.

HG, I don't know your reference to the quote about the instruments, but in school I played both the Baritone Horn and the Double-belled Euphonium. The D-B E was fun to play, but not so much fun to march with!

And isn't or wasn't that TACKY slogan Hooter's?

Nice bright, sunny day in northeastern IL but it's chilly (41 F) and very windy here. Have a great day, all!

CrossEyedDave said...

Happy birthday PK.

You can't say No to me!

Also, can't say no no no...

Misty said...

Well, I thought I had gotten this fun Robert and Marlea puzzle, but it turned out that I had MOO instead of MAA. I thought QATORI looked a bit peculiar but thought ON HOLD was correct and didn't think of ON HAND. No big deal, still enjoyed the puzzle, and always look forward to Steve's write-ups.

Being Austrian, I remembered SENTA but am embarrassed that I had a hard time with ACHT because I kept thinking that Berlin octet was some musical group.

I couldn't believe EAT IT could be right for that skiing accident, but clearly I don't know my sports. Also have a question: why is it called the ASHCAN school of art?

Have a wonderful birthday, PK. I have your brother in my thoughts, Irish Miss.

Sweet picture of Melissa's granddaughter.

Have a great day, everybody.

AnonymousPVX said...

Well, this was a crunchy affair, struggled a bit for the solve.

JOE Campanella was an actor, was Mannix’s boss the 1st season.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Afternoon, Steve and friends. Not much to add to the existing comments about today's puzzle.

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, PK. Your comments always bring a smile to my face.

QOD: Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us without words? ~ Marcel Marceau (Apr. 22, 1923 ~ Sept. 22, 2007)

Chairman Moe said...

"PT's":

Another abbr. version; maybe longer post manaña ...

Thanks Steve, Robert and Marlea!

HBTY PK!! 🎂🎆

TSK TSKS > TUT TUTS; ROMANO > ASIAGO; DOH > DO I; REFI > REPO; THEM > THEY. Perps solved all errors, so I FIR with several ink blots ...

Got a couple of limericks stored up for tomorrow ...

Today's M-K's:

Apologetic
Seamstress feigns iPhone error:
"Your [sic] SARI, Siri?"

Book about NEHRU
Is all the rage. The public
Loves its cool jacket.

inanehiker said...

A little tricky today - WEES about the ASHCAN school of art - at first I was trying to fit in BAHAUS or whatever that is that I had heard somewhere along the line - but the perps wouldn't allow it.
I am more used to a "Rule Brittania/ God Save the Queen" clue for Arne than the one today.

Eventually got this one done but enjoyed the theme - very clever!

Happy birthday PK!
and thanks Steve and the Ellises!

Steve said...

Joe and his brother Frank Campanella were regulars in one of my local bars, very friendly and unassuming people. They lived close by. Joe was the voice of the Mercedes-Benz commercials for a long while.

Off-Piste - yes, off a marked trail. Much more likely to face-plant in the powder.

Happy Birthday, PK!

Jayce said...

Interesting puzzle. Some nice stuff in it, including BAHRAIN, QATARI, NASSER, MANIAC, and ALTER EGOS. I remembered TANYA Roberts from that James Bond movie, although as clued it could just as well have been JULIA Roberts for all I knew. It's nice when the perps contribute to sussing an answer. Our good "friends" UEY and AFIRE have reappeared today. No Naticks for me today, although the crossing of APISH (a nose-wrinkler) and ASHCAN almost did me in, but only an A seemed to work there.

Very happy birthday wishes to you today, PK. Like many have already said, I enjoy and learn from your comments.

So glad Argyle is chugging along okay. I'm thinking that what he had was not simply appendicitis.

Cheers to you all.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Ta- DA! - A nice clean win!
Y'know, sometimes it's the clues that serve the most in leading to fills, and sometimes it's the perps. This one was mixed, but I found myself aware that the second half of my solving was practically all perps.
Many clues didn't register with me, and some were in fields I don't follow. When I was new to this game that's when I would have started Googling. But I've finally learned to stick with P+P and follow the perps, to trust them to finish an otherwise arcane Xwd.

I'm indebted to today's creators, Team Ellis, for reminding me of that lesson - as well as for giving us a neatly themed pzl. And thank you, Steve, for your elucidation.

HBD, PK!

May you continue your recovery in comfort, Argyle!
____________
Diagonal Report: Only one, the mirror central line (NE to SW).
Is there a hidden message?. Well, let's see. Obviously, it can't be found in a straightforward or linear reading, but if you will permit me to reach for my anagram license, I think I can make a little sense out of today's scrambled letters.
Hm.
OK, here it is:
You have to imagine you are leading a recon expedition back to your base fort in old Moose Corner, Ariz., ca. 150 years ago. About a half day out, you come across a bedraggled scout who has been riding out to warn you that there has been trouble, big trouble, an Apache attack has created much

DRAMA 'N FORT MOOSE!

No?

Ol' Man Keith said...

Yellowrocks,
Thanks for quoting one of my very favorite passages from the Bard. Not many pay attention to the "UNHAND me" speech, as it lacks subtlety and doesn't stand out for its poetic expression. But ask an actor what a relief it is to reach that moment.

Hamlet has a rep as a wavering, weak-willed and effete character, the very opposite of macho King Claudius.
I had the privilege to play the role twice, and I know that the Hamlet who fights the pirates between acts 4 and 5 and "wins" the duel in 5 couldn't be the wimp he's often made out to be.
The "UNHAND me" speech is the first time in the play when he gets to whip out his sword and hold off three other guys - in true swashbuckling fashion.

Believe me, it always felt damn good to play that beat!

Misty said...

Congratulations on your Hamlet performances, Ol'Man Keith--I would love to have seen them!

CanadianEh! said...

Learning moment for the day.
Ashcan

melissa bee said...

hi all,

thanks for yesterday's comments. try as i might, i don't get here often enough.

irish miss, thanks for asking about my little grandlove. wishing the best for your brother's operation and speedy recovery. and the same to spitz's betty.

D4E4H, thanks for answering john e's question yesterday. also,
'a bear named winnie' might still be on netflix, i watched it recently.

nice of constructor mark to drop in yesterday to shed a little more light re: his theme.

hi dudley :)

happy birthday to PK. i remember asking you as well, a long time ago, about the PK, because i am one. like your alternative explanation.

speaking of names - my married name is schmitt. i can't bring myself to hyphenate it ... brown-schmitt ...? nope.

��for argyle.

melissa bee said...

that image showed correctly in the preview - trying another method here:

🕯 argyle

Roy said...

I did notice that face-plant wouldn't fit.
Mr. Campanella gave me problems. Don't know why, since he has such a memorable first name.
Didn't want ACHT for octet, but put it in anyhow.
Wanted PQ (Province de Québec) until I saw it needed three letters.
"Aid and abet", "cease and desist", etc.: inherited from British law. Because of the Norman invasion, we see English and French synonyms in legal terminology.

Steve said...

@OMK - one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen in a theater was a performance of a play written by Tom Stoppard - "Dogg's Hamlet, Cahout's Macbeth". To cut a long story short, the first act (Hamlet) featured a 15-minute performance of an abridged Hamlet. They hit every note in the text. However, the side-splitter was a 90-second encore of the entire play. I saw it 30 years ago and I'm still laughing.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Steve,
You were lucky to see that. It isn't performed that often.
I'm convinced that Stoppard is one of the few living playwrights who will be performed a hundred years from now. He might have made it through his wits alone, but in his major plays - like The Real Thing and Arcadia - his heart shines through.

He isn't a big name with the general public, although many would recognize him as the author of Shakespeare in Love.

D4E4H said...

Husker Gary at 10:45 AM

TACKY one up for me. A wise owl like me knows his breastaurants, and the answer is not "Bikinis Sports Bar and Grill," "Bone Daddy’s House of Smoke," "Cowgirls Espresso," "Mugs 'n Jugs Sports Bar & Grill," "The Tilted Kilt," or "Twin Peaks." I believe the buns at the TACKY place should have a small extra piece of dough in the center of the top. In the movie "Back to the Beach," Lori Loughlin admonishes Annette Funicello saying "You're wasting a great pair of Hooters."

76 Trombones lead the big parade in "The Music Man."

CanadianEh! at 10:50 AM and at 3:19 PM

I was just lucky in LIU. I knew very little about Winnie the Pooh, but I can see after my brief visit to his world, why he and his friends are so popular.

I share your excitement at finding Northern Boy.

The images with paintings from The Ashcan School are beautiful, and so finely detailed.

Yellowrocks at 3:01 PM

You have set the standard for brevity in this post. May we each emulate you.

Dave

Wilbur Charles said...

Well, after a long slog and a lot of white I finished. Then I noticed that 16A was IMA which is why I didn't recognize MANIAC . I'm still taking a FIR .

I finally perped SCAB after assuming the Union foe was CSAs.

Roy Campanella and his Dodger battery mate, Don Newcombe pitched for Brooklyn affiliate in Nashua NH . Circa 1948 when integrated teams were breaking barriers.

HBD PK. I thought the science career would be ENERgy.

WC

Oh, glad to see folks are getting well

Unknown said...

CanadianEh!, Manitoba?? Nope, sorry, I'm from Ottawa and I'm here to help! 😉

Probably won't be posting for a couple of days as I'm heading up the road to catch the final weekend of the Women's World Curling Championships in North Bay, Ontario. Although I will be cheering on the Canadian team, of course, I'll also be rooting for Team USA. They seem to be a very nice group of young women, and any success they have can only help the sport in the US, especially coming right after the US Men's team's gold medals at the Winter Olympics.....

Jayce said...

Agreed, melissa: nope. melissa b is great, melissa bs not so much.

Anonymous said...

Dave 4, you might do well to emulate brevity.

PK said...

Thank you all for the birthday wishes and kind comments. You made my day very enjoyable. The forsythia bushes outside my big window decided to burst into bloom today to celebrate me in 70* weather. I always think flowers are God's smiles. My daughter will take me for lunch and shopping for a new microwave on Saturday. I had lengthy phone calls with one son & two brothers and caught up on family doings. That was a treat.

My son said Aaron continues to improve, is eating well although not in great quantities, and the back pain is much less.

melissa, I knew someone besides YR was a preacher's kid but couldn't remember who. Your Brown-Schmitt name isn't as bad as the daughter of friends named Brown whose daughter married a man surnamed Ball. The newspaper headline over the wedding write-up was Brown-Ball Wedding. She bawled about all the amused comments. Not a bit funny to her.

I'm thinking of you in the northeast as national news predicts another storm for you. YR: Six-foot piles! I hope you aren't still shoveling that, bless your heart. I remember reading stories of bad winters up there in the 18th & 19th centuries and thinking the old timers were exaggerating. Probably not, huh? We're pretty dry here now with burn bans in place and no snow to give the winter wheat a boost. Rain & mudslides in California. Wish they could devise a method to scatter the moisture more evenly. Somebody could make a fortune. Forget going to Mars & making driverless cars.

PK said...

Keith: I'm imagining you in tights, swashbuckling against three men. Bet you were a dashing figure! Too bad Picard wasn't there to film that. We'd all like to see that. When I was a teenager we liked to use the phrase, "Unhand me you varlet!" Don't know where we came up with that. We also spouted, "Out, out damned spot!" for various scenarios. Always followed by hearty giggling.

CanadianEh! said...

Northern Boy @6:06 - If you are from Ottawa, we will be sure not to discuss any politics LOL!
Enjoy Niorth Bay and the curling. I have watched on TV and will be cheering for Jennifer Jones and the Canadian team too.

Picard said...

Happy Birthday, PK!

Very late to the party and the reason may be a problem for a long time: I have hosted my Web site on Yahoo Small Business since 2004. Last night, with no warning or explanation, they shut down the entire site. Over four hours on the phone with no satisfaction.

I pay for "unlimited" service. They agreed I am all paid up. They agreed there is nothing illegal or improper on my site. They even agreed I have not exceeded any quantity of storage. Their explanation? I have "unnecessary" files on the site. No one could give me an example or a definition. I got all the way to the supervisor level. I did get one piece of information: 11% of the files on my site are "unnecessary".

I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I give good chances that will work. But... That can take weeks or more. In the meantime, my vast site that so many use is completely shut down.

The puzzle today had some challenges. Last to fall was TANYA/ARNE which is what I call an unfair Natick crossing. SENTA/ASHCAN/INKY/STE/HAS A SAY also a challenge. I did know ASHCAN, but the crosses were not solid. Thanks for the TANYA image, Steve. I feel sad about such "work". I am one guy who feels bigger is not better.

Got the theme immediately with HOLDS BARRED and enjoyed the theme idea!

Picard said...

My brother lives in SAN MATEO County.

He took us to see this amazing performance.

Here is another video of the performance

I had quite a few photos which I cannot share. But at least YouTube is still working!

From Yesterday:
AnonT: They tried to pull that CAMEL "pyramid scheme" on us, too. I had offered a very generous price to them which they accepted up front. When it was time to go they claimed a different price had been agreed on. They got what I agreed to and no more, but it left a bad feeling. I talked to some Jordanian engineers we met right after that and they laughed. They said I should not feel bad. These guys play that game and are happy for any amount they get. The engineers said I gave the CAMEL guys at least four times what they would have paid.

Bill G said...

Barbara told me her brother had recommended she watch and/or tape 'Casablanca' tonight on TCM. I told her that was one of my top five favorite movies of all time. I went to TCM and what do you know? Scheduled for just a few hours later, there was another of my top five. Also beautiful black and white, about the same era, also romantic but more of a mystery/drama. Any ideas?

Spitzboov said...

Bill G - I'm gonna go with Citizen Kane.

Bill G said...

Spitz, good guess but no. I admire it but I never got emotionally involved with the story or the characters.

It's "The Third Man."

I like the zither score and it has several really memorable scenes.

Anonymous T said...

DNF - I got about 1/2 of it, got busy and got home late from dinner with Buddies. Thanks Steve for the witty Expo and HBD PK; I always enjoy reading into you posts :-)

Play tomorrow. Cheers, -T

Michael said...

M'sieur Picard:

"Last night, with no warning or explanation, they shut down the entire site. Over four hours on the phone with no satisfaction."

I suspect that one of the things that drives a certain personage's recent electoral -- but not popular -- victory, is a deep and pervasive frustration on the part of many with arbitrary and unannounced computerized ambushes. (Not to mention 'phone trees' from hell.)

Until we return to being civil and civilized with each other, all this does is build beer consumption.

Anonymous said...

Your comment is intriguing Michael but not quite clear.

Are you saying the election of that personage is helping with this frustration? Or are you just saying frustration led to his election?