google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, April 18 2017, Jeffrey Wechler

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Apr 18, 2017

Tuesday, April 18 2017, Jeffrey Wechler

Theme: Size Matters

17. Mom-and-pop stores : SMALL BUSINESSES
 
29. Alfalfa, Darla and friends, with "the" : LITTLE RASCALS
 
39. "God bless us, every one!" Dickens character : TINY TIM
 
47. Game with windmills, ramps and such : MINIATURE GOLF

62. Waterspout climber of song : ITSY BITSY SPIDER


Melissa here. This was probably the fastest Tuesday solve I can remember. I held back on a few guesses waiting for perps to be certain. Only one word I wasn't sure of - FILIAL, and one misspell. Theme was simple and obvious - and still a fun solve. The first two theme answers are plural and the rest are singular - but still a tight theme.

Across

1. Valuable stone : GEM
 
4. Hamilton and Burr, notably : FOES

 
8. Find incredibly funny : ROAR AT

 
14. Word for a Latin lover : AMO

 
15. Cookbook author Rombauer : IRMA
. Not ERMA.
 
16. Not certain : UNSURE



20. Vietnam's capital : HANOI

 
21. Part of MST: Abbr. : STD
. Waited for this one to fill in, since it could have been anything.
 
22. FDR's successor : HST

 
23. Serpent's tooth : FANG
. At first I misread this as Serpent's tongue - and wondered why there weren't enough letters for FORKED.
 
26. Irreverence : IMPIETY



33. Biblical verb ending : ETH
.
 
34. Quick hellos : HI'S

 
35. Curbs, with "in" : REINS
. This was my mispell, my fingers wanted to type REIGNS and the G got entered before I could stop them.
 
38. Blackjack half : ACE



42. Wedding notice word : NEE

 
43. What hares and mares do : RHYME
. Sneaky.
 
45. Long, long time : EON

 
46. La Brea __ Pits : TAR



52. Coiffures : HAIRDOS
. Those are both great words.


54. Move, in real estate lingo : RELO
. Relocate.
 
55. Part of MST : ESS
. Also sneaky (and clever), especially after 21A.
 
56. Tango maneuver : DIP

 
58. Higher than : ABOVE

 
67. California's San __: Hearst Castle locale : SIMEON

 
68. Filming locales : SETS

 
69. 401(k) kin : IRA

 
70. Six times cinq : TRENTE

 
71. VCR insert : TAPE

 
72. Gov. Cuomo's domain : NYS

 
Down
 
1. Deep cut : GASH

 
2. 2016 Best Actress Stone of "La La Land" : EMMA

 
3. Pained sound : MOAN

 
4. Like a child's love for a parent : FILIAL
. "Of or due from a son or daughter."
 
5. Heavenly sphere : ORB

 
6. Grounded bird : EMU

 
7. Fresh talk : SASS

 
8. Pioneering hip-hop trio from Queens : RUN DMC


9. Single : ONE

 
10. Beast of burden : ASS

 
11. Does without much thought : RUSHES INTO

 
12. "Give it __!" : A REST

 
13. Cantankerous : TESTY

 
18. Barn storage space : LOFT

 
19. "How sweet __!" : IT IS

 
24. Classic grape soda : NEHI

 
25. Smile that may be silly : GRIN

 
27. Eggplant __: Italian entrée, briefly : PARM

 
28. L'eau land? : ILE

 
29. Shakespearean king with three daughters : LEAR

 
30. Nagging desire : ITCH

 
31. College freshman's comment about why his parents call so often :  THEY MISS ME
. Aw.
 
32. Until now : AS YET

 
36. Patricia of "Hud" : NEAL


 
37. Medieval laborer : SERF

 
39. Take care of : TEND

 
40. Vacation option : TOUR

 
41. Memo heading : IN RE

 
44. Defunct Soviet space station : MIR

 
48. First-aid fluid : IODINE

 
49. "__ happens ... " : AS IT

 
50. Pass, as time : ELAPSE

 
51. Mongolian desert : GOBI



52. Bank holdup : HEIST

 
53. No longer sleeping : ASTIR

 
57. "Hey, get a load of this" : PSST

 
59. Chief Norse god : ODIN

 
60. Quite : VERY

 
61. Significant periods : ERAS

 
63. Kyoto cash : YEN

 
64. Droid : BOT

 
65. Positive vote : YEA

 
66. Gas additive brand : STP


49 comments:

OwenKL said...

{A, B+, B.}

"That she may feel how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" King LEAR, act 1, scene 4.

Though children, LITTLE RASCALS, may be lineal,
They SASS with IMPIETY that is hardly FILIAL!
They are FOES, it's apparent:
They ROAR AT their parents;
The GASH of a FANG, in comparison, is venial!

Said the SPIDER to the EMU, "You must MOAN at legs so few!
I walk on tightropes daily, using eight legs and web goo!"
Said the EMU, "Two will do
For RUNS and kicking, too!
If I had to manage eight of them, I'm UNSURE what I'd do!"

TINY TIM was an ape at SAN SIMEON
Said, "AS IT HAPPENS, I may be a simian.
But my HAIR-DO'S just fine.
Had I been a feline
I would probably have been an Abyssinian!"

Wilbur Charles said...

Nice 'licks Owen. I'm at the other end of the clock. Nice to see Jeff Weschler on a Tuesday and thanks Melissa for the write-up.
I spelt the castle like Owen's ape. Thought that was strange but Nippon currency straightened that out.

RUNAMC??? My McDonald's sitting is plagued by pop music. Rap can't be worse.

I'm off

WC

Btw Misty I think you spelled Dusty as Doxie yesterday.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

This was a nice, fast Tuesday romp. Good thing the A was already in place when I got to "____ happens." IMPIETY: Moi? Thanx, JW and Melissa Bee.

Down to the wire. Last day. Gotta run...

Lucina said...

I'm ASTIR and in a roil because my next door neighbors were outside having a LOUD conversation! At 3:30 A.M.! When I went outdoors to retrieve my newspaper it triggered my sensor for the carport light and possibly they realized their very loud talk might have awakened me. They soon stopped and went inside.

So I saw Jeffrey Wechsler's name and knew it would be a treat. It was. As for Melissa, it was a fast solve for me, too and no hesitation. ETH and ESS clipped my speed a bit but the perps resolved that. The SMALL theme also did not deter from the great fill. However, I could have guessed for one hundred years and never come up with RUN DMC. Every letter perped.

The Hearst Castle at San Simeon is an interesting TOUR and worth the stop. But, wait, looking at 4D I realize I had FeLIAL and ERMA! Drat! We've seen ERMA enough times that I should know it now.

Yet, this was fun. Thank you, JW, and Melissa!

OwenKL:
I forget to tell you how much I like your poetry/limericks and today's are incredibly funny.

Have a wonderful day, everyone! Maybe I can resume my sleep.

thehondohurricane said...

Melissa, must disagree with you. For me, this was no walk in the park. Too many clues/fills that were unknowns. In the end, a FIW. TRENTE was TRENdE in Hondo territory.Bunch of wags: STD, RUNDMC (what???), SIMEON. & ESS (lot of options for this fill) There were one or two others I was UNSURE of.

When I was away at school, my mom ,a retired teacher, never called because I was missed, only to raise the roof about my grades. Her words usually went in one ear and out the other.

Have to run. It's Casey's day for Doggy Day Care and to raise Hell with his many friends. Tonight, Lucy and I will have a sound, uninterrupted sleep.

billocohoes said...

TRENTE was a learning moment, as was finding that SIX is spelled the same in French as English, before I was about to complain about mixing languages in the clue.

Wilbur Charles said...

Now I get it. Mountain Standard Time. And Run DMC.
I also originally messed up the Fwanche. It's six X five = 30 (TRENTE). I came up with TREIZE (13).

OK. I'm on early shifts now: Tue- Thur. Now I'll have long weekends off and can begin my novel. Actually, I've been thinking of doing something with Ivanhoe

Thackeray btw wrote a sequel to Ivanhoe. "Rebecca and Rowena". Anybody read that?

IMO, everybody gets Ivanhoe wrong. Although the Elizabeth Taylor 1952 movie was on the right track especially the opening scene at the castle in Austria where RtLH was a prisoner.*

Have I thoroughly bored you. At my old sports blog they'd hurriedly post like heck to bury my drivel.

WC

They stole it from the French"Song of Blondell"

BunnyM said...

Good morning all!
Thanks Jeffrey for a quick Tuesday- even though it was relatively easy with only a couple of hiccups, I loved all of the cleverly clued long fills and theme.
Thanks Melissa Bee for a great TOUR - I enjoyed your links, especially that eye popping HAIRDO(S)!

I also filled IRMA as Erma even though we've seen her many times in CW's. Doh! Since FILIAL wasn't familiar, I thought it was right until I read the blog.
Only other issue was filling ASTIR as Awake but crosses soon fixed that.

Favorite clever clue/fill : "What hares and mares do"/RHYME
LITTLERASCALS - my brother and I used to watch reruns of the original "Our Gang" shows and loved them. My daughters watched the 1994 Little Rascals movie over and over on a VHS TAPE and the whole household knew it by heart. I believe we still have it - probably in a box in the garage wth all of their other movies on tape. I couldn't seem to get rid of all of their Disney films but since we no longer have a VCR, no reason to keep them I guess...

I saw the comments regarding Mimi, so went back to read her post. Mimi- welcome to the blog! And please do join us on a regular basis. I was also a "lurker" for several years and admit I too felt intimidated by the great minds here. But it's a lovely group of contributors, so I hope you become a part of this fun bunch!

Off to drop a ton of donations to One Way Farm. It is a wonderful place that helps children who have nowhere else to go. The woman that runs it is an inspiration. We have been happily helping them for years. The success stories are heartwarming.

Wishing everyone a great day!

Wilbur Charles said...

I'm back. I saw in sports that 12 years ago the Yankees scored 13 runs in one inning vs Devil Rays. I attended a game in Boston where the Sox scored a record 17.

In that game a HoFer made the first two outs before doubling off the wall.

Ok. 1. What's the minimum number of runs that have to score before one player can make all three outs

2. Who hit the double?

Husker Gary you can pose this to your class.

WC

I'll give a hint on #2 if Hondo doesn't immediately post It. Ok. They were playing the Tigers.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! A wee GEM of a puzzle from Jeffrey which was a mite unexpected since his usually tax my brain. Fun expo, melissa!

When two of my LITTLE RASCALS went off to college, I rarely called them because they lived in dorms with land lines only and I couldn't catch them. However, THEY MISSED ME apparently because we had some phone bills that were not small. My husband had a fit, but I reminded him of a neighbor girl who attempted suicide because she didn't have anyone to talk to at college. He never said another word. Her parents paid a fortune so she could talk to a shrink.

I still don't understand RUN DMC. But then I don't "get" a lot of hip hop stuff. It always amazes me that hip hop slang flows into the mainstream and then the hip hoppers have to make up something new. Who can keep up? Give it A REST!

Sweet dreams, Lucina. I'm going to have to head back to bed, too. My earlier gluttony was interrupting my sleep.

PK said...

Wilbur, your question reminded me of one of my grandson's high school baseball games recently. Grandson was pitching and the score was 11-1 in his team's favor at the bottom of the ninth with two outs. Coach decided to put in another kid who had been begging to pitch. Didn't warm him up first. Grandson's team lost 11-12. My son was still spitting mad at the coach three days later when he was telling me about it. Son is on the school board. 'Nuff said.

fermatprime@gmail.com said...

Greetings!

Thanks to Jeffrey and mb!

A nice respite from the usual JW.

Agree with Lucina on RUNDMC. No other problems.

"I Win" puzzle is available at the puzzle site. I took it up when Washington Post switched over to LAT. Need my six daily puzzles for first few days of the week!

Thanks for comments!

Had long nap, too. Late to the puzzle!

Have a great day!




Argyle said...

RUN DMC made it into mainstream musical conscious when they teamed up with Aerosmith in this VIDEO.

oc4beach said...


Jeff showed us he can create an interesting and still challenging puzzle without it being a killer. Nice Job.

The theme became evident after all of the long clues were filled in. Most of the clues were fresh and not difficult to fill in. However, we could probably use another Asian Capital.

Off to the doctor for my annual medical exam. Not looking forward to the prostate check.

I hope everyone gets their taxes sent in today. Doing taxes are about as enjoyable as a prostate exam.


Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Yesterday, we had Bruce Haight and today we have Jeffrey Wechsler, two of my favorite constructors. If we get a CC tomorrow, I'd say the Crossword Gods are Working overtime! This was a fun romp with a theme that just popped off the page, um, iPad screen, that is. I never heard of Run DMC until a few years back when I watched a cooking show on either Food Netword or The Cooking Channel hosted by the Reverend Run and his family. How he segued from rap to religion is anyone's guess. Every time I see "Iodine", it reminds me of being treated in the Infirmary on a cruise ship. I forget the doctor's nationality, but I've never forgotten being "at sea", so to speak, when she asked me if I was allergic to E-O-Dean.

Nice Tuesday treat, JW, and thanks, Melissa, for guiding the way.

One of my nieces ran in the Boston Marathon yesterday and while I know she finished, I forgot to check her time. She was coming off a bout of severe bronchitis and its attendant affect on her loss of training, so I'm just happy for her that she finished.

Have a great day.

Big Easy said...

Yesterday I had a melanoma removed from the side of my face and have to keep icing it to keep the swelling down. So after wrapping two Ace bandages around my head to keep the ice pack in place I decided to work Wechsler's puzzle AND the one in today's Wall Street Journal by somebody named Zhouquin Burnikel while cooling my head. I.M. I got your wish today.

Wechsler's 'small' puzzle was an easy fill even though my French mathematical skills are non-existent. TRENTE? I knew it wasn't dreissig. What's next- three times cuatro in Spanish?
IMPIETY- never heard of it but it was an easy guess.
RUN DMC- I'd heard of them but had no idea where they were from. Don't follow Rap music, aka "bad poetry to an electronic drum beat" rattled off by somebody who thinks they can sing but really can't. But they do make money.

As for the 'Follow instructions' WSJ puzzle, I finished it very fast with only one change, which I won't reveal for those who haven't worked it yet. Congratulations C.C. on your upward progress in crossword contruction.

https://blogs.wsj.com/puzzle/crossword/20170418/23361/crossword-20170418-23361.pdf

MJ said...

Good day to all!

Fun puzzle today from JW. Had to smile as the ITSY BITSY SPIDER crawled across the page. Never heard of RUN DMC--thank you perps. Thanks for the expo, Melissa. That's quite the HAIRDO.

Enjoy the day!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Got the theme right away. Agree with Melissa's take, although my solve wasn't as fast.
While IODINE was an obvious answer, the fluid is tincture of Iodine or some such. Elemental IODINE is a 'purple-black metallic solid at standard conditions that sublimes readily to form a violet gas.'

Have a great day.

Magilla Go-Rilla said...

43A: I immediately thought of this song:



The Pied Pipers

CrossEyedDave said...

Wees, RunDMC was a headscratcher,
but then I am always at least 10 years behind the times...

Never listened to Hip Hop, (thought it was rap.)
But it never occurred to me to listen to anything new with something
like Aerosmiths' Walk This Way in the background. Interesting!

Which brings me back to yesterday, (& Yesteryear...)
Jayce (@1:43) posted a Ragtime version of Fur Elise
that had me internet surfing for 2 hours!
One of the many clips I watched was this, which(@4:10) quotes old newspapers as stating
"it was so shocking, that Doctors were concerned it was a public health hazard!"
"that the uneven rhythms would cause heart palpitations, make you insane!"
(sound familiar?)

AnyWho,
be back later for more silliness...
CE:D

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Faster than a speeding bullet, able to overcome AWAKE for ASTIR. Look! Up in the puzzle, I’m done!
-MST switch and rhyming Hares and Mares were fun
-The federal gov’t made my SMALL BUSINESS harder to maintain every year
-HST to FDR’s widow, “Is there anything I can do for you?” Mrs. Roosevelt responded, “Is there anything we can do for you? For you are the one in trouble now.”
-La Brea smelled like our streets the day they got tarred
-Hearst : Casa del Mar :: Kane : Xanadu
-Alternate LOFT usage in Midwest
-How “The Message Bible” speaks of what to TEND
-We love TOURS even though we look like TOURISTS in so doing
-Most Science teachers have used IODINE for this - I’ oh dyne/I’ oh deen
-WC, I guess 13, K, 8 men bat and score 5 leaving bases loaded, K, 8 men bat and score 8 leaving bases loaded, K.
-See, Mimi, as Bunny pointed out, I’m exhibit A that we are not all great minds here! :-)

Anonymous T said...

Making of RUN DMC / Aerosmith to echo Argyle. Now you know. Play later. -T

CrossEyedDave said...

Small problems are easily solved...

Ah yes, I remember being little.

Beauty in miniature.

&, The Itsy Bitsy Spider updated...

AnonymousPVX said...

A nice Tuesday outing with a bit of crunch, IMHO.

Misty said...

What a great Jeff Wechsler puzzle on a Tuesday morning--many thanks! And great write-up, Melissa B.! I'm so happy that I was able to breeze through this, and get the whole thing without any problems! Yay! The LITTLE theme answers were a special delight, and, of course, not at all SMALL, MINIATURE, or ITSY BITSY--I mean, two grid-spanners, you don't get any bigger than that in a crossword puzzle. My favorite was getting RHYME after trying to figure out WHAT HARES AND MARES DO. And for some reason NEHI always reminds of Radar O'Reilley on "M.A.S.H." in the old days. Anyway, great fun!

Big Easy, sorry to hear about the melanoma--take good care of yourself.

BunnyM and CanadianEh, thanks for wishing my Dad well yesterday. He's just been transferred to a different Rehab hospital, and I'm distressed to learn he won't have a phone in his room. I'm hoping my brother will able to help him figure out how to plug in a cell phone and use that, because I still want to phone him twice a day. He needs the encouragement from family, and the company of conversations.

Wilbur, my dachshund Dusty is a Doxie, so I don't see a problem with calling him that. And he certainly doesn't seem to mind.

Have a great day, everybody!

Anonymous T said...

Jeffrey - You LITTLE RASCAL, even on a Tuesday you beat me. Hand up w/ 'e' in IRMA (Hi IM!). Thanks for the Wee-bit of morning fun with a few learning moments (FILIAL and [see: ESPs]).

Thanks mb for the expo. The HAIRDO pic was VERY, um, YEAh. :-)

HANOI 3x in the last 7 days? Rich? Looking to retire? :-)

WO: N/A
ESPs: FiLIAL, SIMEON, TRENTE, NEAL

Fav: I'm going with the whole little puzzle. Every c/a was a GEM in one way or another. E.g. 4a made me think 'duelists' (and Youngest's fascination w/ Hamilton) b/f FOES, MST clecho, fun words like IMPIETY and IODINE [I Oh Dine].

Runner up: "Get a load of this"... 'Here, hold my beer' didn't fit.

{A, B, B+}
Ma.Go-Rilla - Great-Grandma sang that song to Grandpa when she was in the home; she had Alzheimer's and she only remembered Grandpa as a SMALL boy. It was the 1st time I ever heard it. Thanks for the trip down MEMORY LANE.

WC, Looks like H.G. beat me to 13; 1st batter is X, load bases & complete batting order (5 runs), X, repeat batting order (+8 runs), X... Side retired w/ loaded bases. [OK, what Manager doesn't pull the pitcher by then?!?]

LITTLE RASCALS was used to introduce REO Speedwagon's Tough Guys [stop @0:16; the song's not that good]

Cheers, -T

thehondohurricane said...



WC..... must have been Yaz. Min # of runs should be 21?

I'm not big on HOF trivia, but wasn't Ted the guy before him?

Yellowrocks said...

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We certainly did. My sister, son, grandson, DIL and her Japanese nephew visited us. We had a delightful time.
Misty, I hope your dad is soon out of rehab. Phoning every day is reassuring to both patient and kin. My 90-something MIL called us everyday during her last 10 years to "check up on Alan" which I was doing 24-7. We both appreciated her thoughtfulness and it was the highlight of her day, and Alan's, too. It proved to be a tactful way to check up in her. When she didn't call we knew there was a problem.
Big Easy, I hope your face heals soon. I have had several friend who have found this treatment very helpful, and it was not disfiguring in the long run.
I thought the Little Rascals were funny and adorable.
Iodine can refer either to the element or to the tincture. The tincture is commonly called iodine, or by the Brits, eye uh deen. When I was a kid we used tincture of merthiolate, but called it simply merthiolate. My sister calls it "red stuff" to this day.
Mimi, most of of us were timid lurkers like you, at first. When we became blue regulars, we found ourselves gladly accepted. Everyone has a unique personality and point of you to add to the general welfare. I am eagerly awaiting getting to know you, too.

Wade said...

Stupid question, as I'm fairly new to crossword puzzles. I usually get Monday, Tuesday, and then sometimes Wednesday, working my way through the week. Would someone please explain 55 Across's answer to me. ESS? Also, thanks for posting the answers with comments, sometimes I miss the themes.

Argyle said...

MST or em, ess, tee.

Yellowrocks said...

Part of MST, Mountain Standard Time. ESS is one of the initials in MST. Wade, welcome. Please feel free to join in often. I see you have been blue for a while. When you post and when you fill in some of your profile you begin to feel like part of our family. I'd love to know more about you.

Wade said...

Thanks for the explanation. YellowRocks, I'll work on the profile! Ya'll have these crosswords done before I wake up. It takes me all day to get them.

Argyle said...

And speaking of bananas...I dined all alone.(2:30)

PK said...

Big Easy, best wishes for full recovery after your surgery. Just a LITTLE scary, I'd think.

Misty & YR: After my mother was widowed and lived alone, she called me or I called her every day. Sometimes it wasn't convenient, but I needed to know she was okay. When her dementia reached the point she could no longer operate those push button phones we had then, I sorely missed hearing her voice every day. She was in a nursing home and cared for, but still....

Ol' Man Keith said...

Sorry to check in so late today.
Our Spring weather makes my garden too tempting and keeps me outdoors both happier and longer. I'm heading back out there after saying hello.
Hello! Today's Ta-DA! is for both finishing Mr. Wechsler's fine pzl and for finishing irrigation channels for my violets.
And
Good work, Melissa!

Misty said...

Thanks, Yellowrocks and PK, for the assurance that calling Dad daily is a good thing. I appreciate that.

Wilbur Charles said...

Ok Misty, I get it now. I think I've read all the Nero Wolfe's. Doxy is an archaic word now; I see there's a TV series Whores

Hondo, the Redsox made a big trade in 1952 sending Johnny Pesky to Detroit for George Kell, who became a HoFer.

I was 8 but I went to the game with the older kids: nine year olds. MTA
So my new hero was the only out twice around and finally hit a double. I pondered the immortality of making all three outs.

13 is correct. As the lead off batter stands at the plate 18 batters had appeared, 2 were out and 3 on. 18-3-2 = 13. Rec ball uses that system when the score is in doubt and double digit innings aren't so rare.

I agree, we've had a run of good constructors and write-ups. Btw, it wasn't so long ago that I struggled with Wed and avoided Saturday like the plague.

WC in the gloaming

Wilbur Charles said...

Btw. I just edited my profile.

WC

Anonymous T said...

We have been blessed constructor-wise. I just finished C.C.'s WSJ (32d was fiendish and fav! c/a) and started another Bruce Haight pzl in the NYT. Funny, living in the Burbs I can pick up all these papers at the corner store but I'd be hard-pressed to find them in the city.

Mimi - Come out and play. Sure, I look pretentious doing 3 pzls in one day, but, Heck, they're only Tuesday-hard [and I took a mental day].

I lurked for about 6 months and then got the nerve to post (as anon but signed off w/ -T). The Cornerites urged me to Go Blue and OMK provided me w/ the moniker Anon -T.

Now, they can't make me go away...
[well, Argyle can, but he's been cool so far ;-)]

This is a place for fun and we all learn something from our diverse backgrounds. I'm sure I've informed IM on the band Rush and now everyone knows RUN DMC. [oh, and sometimes we share recipes; we wouldn't eat something an anon posted -- acerbic for sure!]
So come play and bemoan a late-week solve. You can see me fail Thursday; See my Friday Flubs; See a Viking Funeral; See Hitler on Ice.

Can you tell what movie I can haz on TAPE? :-). -T

CanadianEh! said...

When I saw this CW was a Jeffrey Wechsler, I was sure that I would not be able to solve it after a day of babysitting grandchildren. But it was a GEM. Thanks for the fun Jeff and Melissa.

Hand up for Erma but I knew FILIAL (thanks to high school Latin) and quickly changed to IRMA. Note to self, Erma is Bombeck with the humour and Irma is Rombauer with the recipes!

My FIW cross was STD and RUNDMC (not my musical cup of tea). I thought MST was some Mass. State something! But I did get the clever ESS.

Hand up for Reign going in automatically until I realized I needed room for the ESS! and corrected to REINS. I was certain of NEAL too.

Misty, I hope you can continue to connect with your father. I am sure the contact is encouraging to him.

Welcome Wade. We don't all post early. My timing depends on the day's activities.

AnonT, I noticed years ago in my early LAT CW solving experience, that the same words would come up often in a short span and then not be seen for a long time. I even made a list for myself to refer back at that later date. Almost like Rich had a favourite (note sp!) of the week.

Back tomorrow, earlier I hope.




CanadianEh! said...

Forgot to thank OwenKL for the appropriate LEAR quote.
Great poetry also.

Anonymous T said...

New word? Eldest was talking about her friend's 'promposal'. H.G. and/or other teachers hear of this or am I just way behind the curve? -T

Bill G said...

I've heard about 'promposal' from watching Ellen Degeneres. I think it's somewhat related to the Facebook era where everything you do (including meals) are orchestrated, photographed and made public. In the case of 'promposals', a boy doesn't run the risk of asking a girl to prom and being rejected. Instead, he gets assurances from mutual friends that he won't be rejected and then creates a big spectacle of a prom invitation. I guess it's innocent fun but it seems over the top to me.

Argyle said...

promposal - About 2,650,000 results ~ Google

Anonymous T said...

Bill G. & Argyle... Thanks. I didn't realize promposal was part of the Kid's hip-groove speak. I guess I'll go back to my swell cave and dig some Paul Anka :-)

Bill, you brought up Ellen D. <- Her on Carson taking Newhart's phone-bit to a new level. I really enjoyed her early standup -T

OwenKL said...

Wilbur: On your new profile, what's vv.fe.? Also you might want to follow this blog and set your profile to show follows, so that there's a link to here.

Husker Gary said...

The word "Promposal" is new to me but not the concept.

Abejo said...

Good Wednesday morning, folks. Thank you, Jeffrey Wechsler, for a fine puzzle. Thank you , Melissa Bee, for a fine review.

Was busy yesterday and finished the puzzle this morning. Liked it. Went quickly.

Only inkblot was 53D. I wrote in AWAKE. After a bit changed that to ASTIR. OK.

I always mix up IRMA and ERMA. This time I got it right. We have her cookbook.

San SIMEAN brings back memories. We visited the Hearst Castle several times while living in California. Well worth a day.

Not sure about TRENTE and BOT. Tough crossings.

Have to run. Cooking for 20 people tonight.

See you Thursday.

Abejo

( )

Picard said...

Hand up that this was the fastest solve I can remember. Some unknowns, but filled with crosses.

Got the TINY theme quickly, too!

San SIMEON is a beautiful stop on the slow route back here from San Francisco along the coast. Yes, Hearst Castle is a must-see. But also don't miss stopping there for the elephant seals! They are just enormous and most of the year you can get surprisingly close to these beasts.