google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Wednesday, August 23, 2017 C. C. Burnikel

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Aug 23, 2017

Wednesday, August 23, 2017 C. C. Burnikel

Theme - We interrupt regular programming to bring you this hot news item - AKA: STORY. The word STORY is devided into bookends in the 3 theme entries, and revealed in the unifier. Them's the BREAKS, I guess.

20. Come out on top : SCORE A VICTORY.  Win an athletic contest.

34. Retail showcase : STORE DISPLAY.  Where merchandise in on view, to make you want it. Here's a famous one.


41. Particle physics concept : STRING THEORY.  This is a theoretical framework which posits dimensional objects called strings, and describes their interactions.  It is a theory of quantum gravity.

56. Reporter's delivery ... and what 20-, 34- and 41-Across are literally doing? : BREAKING STORY.   Fresh from the news room to the on-screen anchors desk.  Mostly these things are political, so no more than that I will not say.

Hi Gang - JazzBumpa here to BREAK down the STORY of this puzzle, and report on what our investigations can uncover.  Hope it's not too shocking.

Item 1 - the constructor is our own hostess, C. C.  Perhaps she will become the most prolific constructor ever.

Item 2 - STORY is broken at the first letter, the last letter, and then as close as you can get to the middle in a 5-letter word.  Nice, elegant touch.

Across

1. Sporty British cars, for short : JAGS.  Jaguars.

5. Omelet option : HAM.  I usually get the veggie omelet with feta cheese.

8. Reef material : CORAL.  Bad news.  Sadly, they are under attack from star fish and the increasing acidity of the oceans. Some day there may be none left atoll.

13. Power co. output : ELECtricity.  Zap!

14. Shaped like an avocado : OVAL.  This is mandatory.

Found somewhere on the internet.

16. Dig deeply? : ADORE.  Love, respect, worship, venerate.  Clever misdirection with the clue.  You are digging with your emotions, not a shovel, and the depth is into your soul, not the ground.

17. Fey with many Emmys : TINA.  Known for her political satire - not gonna do it.

18. Baltic port : RIGA.  The capital of Latvia, on the Baltic sea at the mouth of the river Daugava.

19. "Unbroken" director Angelina : JOLIE.  A 2014 movie about Louis Zamparini, a U.S. olympic athlete and bombardier in WW II, who survived on a raft in the ocean for 47 days, and then was in PoW camps.  In addition to her fame appearing on the silver screen, she has also directed several films.

23. Intends to hit : AIMS AT.   Use your good eye.

24. Sushi roll fish : EEL.  Any of 800 species of elongated fish lacking pelvic fins.  Many also lack pectoral fins.  It has a single fin ribbon running down the back for most of its length.  They swim by generating body waves, and can swim backwards by reversing the wave.

25. "NewsHour" channel : PBS.  Public Broadcasting System.

28. Novelist Rita __ Brown : MAE.  [b 1944] Prolific author of novels, mysteries and screen plays, including the Mrs. Murphy mystery novel series.

29. [I give up!] : SIGH.  AKA: SMH.

32. Vacation location : RESORT.  Would you resort to staying in such a place?

36. Per item : EACH.  Unit pricing.

39. Area for critical patients, briefly : Intensive Care Unit.

40. Diamond great Sandberg : RYNE.  Played 2nd base for the Phillies, briefly in 1981, and then with the Cubs from 1982 until he retired mid-season in 1994.  He came back and played for the Cubs again in 1996-7.  He won 9 gold gloves and made 10 consecutive all star appearances.  He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 2005.

46. Pub quiz fodder : TRIVIA.  Unimportant bits of information.

47. Red Muppet who refers to himself in the third person : ELMO.

48. Bit of toy "ammo" : CAP.  A paper or plastic disk containing a small amount of a shock-sensitive explosive compound.  In a toy gun this simulates the noise and smoke of a real fire arm.

51. Gentle touch : DAB.  As in blotting with a napkin.

52. Okay mark : CEE.  I never felt they were OK.

54. Knuckleheads : IDIOTS.  In slang, a generic term for stupid people - or perhaps those you don't agree with.

60. Humdinger : BEAUT.  A particularly fine example of something, or sarcastically, the opposite.

62. Kitchenware brand : EKCO.  They make all sort of kitchen gadgets: basters, peelers, knives, cutting boards, measuring spoons and cups, etc.

63. Blueprint detail : SPECification.

64. Subject of a certain management class : ANGER.  There's a movie about it that I'm pretty glad I didn't see.



65. They may be choppy : SEAS. In high winds or stormy weather.

66. Fit together nicely : MESH.  Hand in glove.

67. High-maintenance : NEEDY.  Said of a person who requires an excess of emotional or monetary investment in a relationship.

68. "That's the spot" : AAH.  You scratch my back  .  .  .

69. Art Deco luminary : ERTE.  Romain de Tirtoff [1892-1990] a Russian-born French artist known as ERTE from the French pronunciation of his initials*, was a pioneer in art deco.

* Hey, I could be ERTE, too!

Down

1. Goods thrown overboard : JETSAM.  Things that have been jettisoned from a ship at sea, frequently to lighten the ship's load.  Not to be confused with flotsam - things lost from a vessel due to shipwreck or accident.  The difference is significant in maritime law.  Flotsam may be claimed by the original ship, JETSAM is the property of whoever finds it.

2. "Girl on Fire" singer Keys : ALICIA.

3. Biological mapping subject : GENOME.  The complete set of genes present in an organism.

4. Permanent marks : SCARS.

5. Fictional captain Hornblower : HORATIO.  A fictional officer in Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars in the novels of C. S. Forester.

6. Tel __, Israel : AVIV.  Major city on the Mediterranean coast.

7. Christmas trio : MAGI.  The three wise guys --- er  .  .  . men.

8. Persuades with flattery : CAJOLES.

9. Air Wick target : ODOR.

10. Short and chubby : ROLY POLY. Obese - but we are not into fat shaming here.  Also, a terrestrial crustacean of the order isopoda, also known as a pill bug or doodle bug, with the ability to roll into a ball.


11. D-backs, on scoreboards : ARIzona.

12. Jack Reacher creator __ Child : LEE.  Pen name of British author James D. Grant [b 1954.]  Reacher is a fictional character who is a former army officer who drifts around the country getting into dangerous situations.

15. Doily fabric : LACE.  A small ornamental mat of embroidery, lace, or paper that is placed under an item.

21. __ Los Angeles : EAST.  An unincorporated area in Los Angeles County.  At 96.7% Latino, it is the least diverse community in the county.

22. Actress Polo : TERI.  Theresa Elizabeth Polo [b 1969] is an American TV and movie actress.


26. Dietary fiber : BRAN.  Edible broken seed coats from cereal grains.

27. Eye problem : STYE.  Inflammation at the eyelid caused by a bacterial infection of the gland at the base of an eyelash.

30. Determination : GRIT.  It's true.

31. Anne of "Wag the Dog" : HECHE. Anne Celeste HECHE [b 1969] is an American actress, director and screenwriter.

33. Nimble : SPRY. Usually spoken of older people - maybe it's unexpected.

34. Improvised blade : SHIV.

35. Fight that may involve drawing : DUEL.  Using drawn swords or pistols.

36. Started, as a co. : EST'D.   Established.

37. Gillette brand : ATRA.  Introduced in 1977, the first razor to feature a pivoting head.

38. Pegboard game : CRIBBAGE.  A game played with cards in which a peg board is used to keep score.  You can read about it here.

42. "So close, yet so far" : NICE TRY.  A good, but unsuccessful effort, or, ironically, an attempt that was either not good or not a good thing to do.

43. Mother Earth, in Greek mythology : GAEA.  The earth goddess who gave birth to both the Titans and the first humans.

44. "Holy cow!" : OMIGOSH.  Oh my gosh - nice try!

45. Curtain supports : RODS.  Devices used to support curtains, above windows or along showers.

48. Writer for whose father the National Baseball Hall of Fame city was named : COOPER.  Cooperstown, New York is the municipality in question.  Dad from the clue was William Cooper, who founded a village on Otsego Lake in the 1780's.  His son, James Fenimore Cooper wrote many novels, including The Deerslayer and The Last of the Mohicans.

49. Idle : AT REST.

50. Freudian analyst's concern : PSYCHE.  The soul, mind or spirit that inhabits a human body.  To Freud, the the structural model of the mind, or "psychic apparatus" comprises the id, ego, and super ego.

53. __ out: barely makes : EKES.

55. "Who's there?" answer : IT'S ME.

57. Was sorry about : RUED.

58. Furniture chain popular in dorms : IKEA.  Purveyor of furniture you can assemble, miselaneous household items, and lingonberry jam.  Our oldest granddaughter is a fan.

59. Sweet Sixteen org. : NCAA.  The National Collegiate Athletic Association sponsors and organizes a single-elimination basketball tournament each spring, involving the 32 champions of division I conferences and 36 at-large teams chosen by a selection committee.  The "Sweet Sixteen" are the teams winning early rounds that winnow the field down to 16 contenders.

60. Prohibit : BAN.

61. Suffix with ethyl : -ENE.  This chemistry suffix indicates a double bond between the 2 carbon atoms in the molecule.  Since your eyes are already glazing over, I'll leave it at that.

OK, folks - that's the end of this STORY.  Hope you found it news worthy.

Cool regards!

JzB

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Tinbeni, who joined our blog in 2009. We'll all be toasting you at sundown!

38 comments:

OwenKL said...

If you saw MAGI pass thru TEL AVIV
You might guess that the day's Christmas Eve.
But if you run into GAEA
While shopping IKEA
It's Spring, and she wants table leaves!

OMIGOSH, stop the press, a BREAKING STORY!
Sheldon COOPER has a BEAUT on STRING THEORY!
He says if you MESH
Five yo-yos AT REST
A bow CAJOLES EACH to be auditory!

The sauerkraut didn't have quite enough beige,
So TERI sent TINA to fetch another cabbage.
She came back from the STORE
With a pegboard for the SCORE,
At Teri's ANGER, SIGHED, "I thought you said CRIBBAGE!"

{A-, B+, C+.}

fermatprime said...

Hi everyone!

Thanks to C. C. and Bumpa!

Nice, friendly puzzle!

Things I didn't know: RYNE, ALICIA, EKCO and COOPER. But, all OK in the end.

Hope to see you all tomorrow!

billocohoes said...

Always thought she was spelled GAiA.

Technically and legally Cooperstown is still a village, not a city. In New York villages have more limited powers and responsibilities than cities.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Thanks for the outing, CC, and for the expo, JzB. Nope, didn't get the theme atoll, until the reveal.

The Chicago-related Sandburg I'd recognize is Carl, but he spelled it with u rather than an e. "Hog butcher for the world...."

Cribbage may be the best card game ever invented for two players. Fifteen-two, pair is four, and six makes ten.

I remember rolls of CAPs from my ute. Do they still make em?

Happy Birthday, Tinman!

BunnyM said...

Good morning all!

Thank you C.C. for a clever puzzle- I always ADORE your work!

Thanks, JzB for the BREAK down- it was a BEAUT (not in the sarcastic way) ;)

So many delightful words: JETSAM, CAJOLES, HORATIO, ROLYPOLY( I always called them pill bugs but like Roly Poly better) and CRIBBAGE (which I've never played)

No issues other than not remembering GAEA and I had My for O MI GOSH until IDIOTS fixed that.

JzB- DH and I no longer stay at a RESORT. We have before but have found that we prefer renting an apartment (at least on Isla Mujeres) and making our own breakfast. For lunch and dinner, we like exploring and enjoying all of the wonderful restaurants on the island (about 150!) I guess for some, AI resorts are an easier route but I doubt we'd ever do that again unless it was a location where that was the best choice.

Happy Birthday, Tinbeni! Cheers to you ;)

Gorgeous weather here- not at all typical for August. Cool enough to open the windows but I'm waiting for the ODOR from Rumpke dump to dissipate.

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Argyle said...

Now we have to dial 518 area code to make local calls, at least from my phone.

Anonymous said...

Enjoyable puzzle form our leader! Got the theme early on.....not always the case! So happy to see C.C. listed as the author....I know Cruciverb will be working on those days!!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Happy Birthday Tinbeni. How will you celebrate?

On the easy side today. The theme broke readily. Did not know some names: DYNE, LEE, MAE, and TERI. I wanted to spell GAEA like Billocohoes did, but perps were firm. Favorite fill was BEAUT for the vowel STRING.
Choppy SEAS - As a youngster living next to the Hudson River Champlain Canal section, I would often see down-bound river barge traffic moving against a Southerly wind crating a choppy seascape with the waves slapping against the tow's bow. Caused the mind to wander.
MESH - I'm sporting MESH at three different hernia repair sites. So far, so good.

Anonymous said...

Dig deeply. Adore?
Ridiculous as most clues for this stupid site

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-Yes, Jazz - Isaac Asimov : Sci. Fi. = C.C. Burnikel : Crosswords – Quantity and quality
-ELEC news in our town two blocks from me
-“Dig deeply”? Ya gotta love it!
-Half my robocalls are perky young women pitching a stay at a RESORT
-TRIVIA handbook?
-A hammer subbed for a CAP pistol in our house
-We saw disappointing ANGER Management because of Sandler and Nicholson.
-Fildom’s most famous JETSAM?
-Can I get a retroactive tweaking of my GENOME?
-If the MAGI were women, they would have asked directions, arrived on time and brought practical gifts
-When I was selling clothes, ROLY POLY sizes were called “Stout”
-Playing catch and CRIBBAGE were the only two things I did with my dad. BTW, I never heard of “Having a catch” until I saw Field Of Dreams
-HDB, Tinman. I hope you have a safe and sober celebration. Yeah, right!! :-)

MJ said...

Happy Birthday Tinbeni, and good day to all!

Many unknowns including RYNE Sandberg, TERI Polo, and STRING THEORY. Lots of fun fill. Thanks to C.C. for the puzzle and Jazzbumpa for the thorough expo.

Enjoy the day!

Anonymous said...

Fun, fast puzzle from CC and wonderful write-up by JzB. Small nit - an oval is a two dimensional figure. An avocado is ovoid as it is three dimensional. Wonderful weather in Chicago. Hope your day is great! JB2

Lucina said...

Happy birthday, Tinbeni! We can all guess how you'll be celebrating!

And congratulations, C.C., for yet another creative endeavor with some interesting and unusual fill such as JETSAM, CRIBBAGE, ROLY POLY, GENOME and CAJOLES.

I really liked anticipating the next surprise on this grid. So much of it was fresh.

And thank you, JazzB (erte?) for an always amusing expo.

Have a delightful day, everyone!

inanehiker said...

My first Wednesday morning off in a year and a half- I had been filling in at another clinic while they were recruiting and I am back to a leisurely Wednesday! So sipped my coffee and did the crossword - the simple pleasures in life!

Fun puzzle and creative as expected from CC
Thanks to CC and JazzB and HBD to Tinbeni!

Tinbeni said...

Thank you all for the "Birthday Wishes" ... geez, 65 sneaks up on you quickly. LOL

Getting a C.C. puzzle on this day was a nice gift.

Glad I am not driving ...
Gal-Pal and I will be hitting a few establishment that serve something stronger than coffee ...
Though that "First" Irish Coffee this morning was an eye-opener.

Cheers!

Spitzboov said...

darn spell check @0901 - Creating vs crating.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

A nice mid-week treat from our prolific puzzlemeister! As usual, CC's theme was not evident until the reveal, at least for me. My only w/o was BBs before Caps. Two learning moments: Lee Child is a pen name and Cooperstown's namesake. I really like the word "cajoles" and also roly poly, but I'm unaware of that bug. To me, roly poly is akin to pleasantly plump. Teri Polo stars in a show I watch called "The Fosters" on Freeform Channel, which used to be ABC Family, I believe.

Thanks, CC, for an entertaining "scoop" and thanks, JazB, for your detailed and delightful review.

Happy Birthday, Tin, hope it's a special day. 🎂🎉🎁🎈🍾

I now have to dial the area code for local calls. Why it took 5 days to go into effect is still unknown. OTOH, my sister had to dial 10 numbers since Saturday but last night, she called me without using the area code. As Tin would say, Go figure!

Head Goon @ 9:07 ~ As Forrest Gump would say, Stupid is as stupid does." 🙃

Have a great day.

C6D6 Peg said...

Thanks, C.C. for another fine outing. Your themes are so great and seamless, but I know they take a while to put together!

Nice write-up, JzB.... thanks for the links!

Anonymous said...

ROLY POLY

Spitzboov said...

JzB - re: Lingonberry. I remember well a smörgåsbord provided by our Finnish hosts in Helsinki, aboard the icebreaker, Urho, which featured lingonberry jam and reindeer on their buffet. Totally delicious.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle. I expected to, seeing as it was made by C.C. Some really cool entries. I learned, and will likely remember, that Cooperstown is named after James Fenimore Cooper's father. I've never played CRIBBAGE but I think it's a neat-o word. Didn't Gregory peck play HORATIO Hornblower in one or more movies? I remember the competition between J. Craig Ventor, founder of Celera Genomics, and Francis Collins, then a director of the Human Genome Project, in a race to be the first to sequence the entire human GENOME. (I remember because LW and I invested in Celera Genomics, which turned out to be a rather bad investment.)

Happy birthday, Tinbeni. I'm glad you and your gal-pal will be celebrating together today.

Thank you for your usual informative and entertaining write-up, R.T.

It's been more than a year since we here have needed to dial 1, the area code, and the telephone number for all landline calls.

Best wishes to you all.

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I liked the BREAKING STORY theme. Fast, fun & no unknowns. Thanks, C.C.! Amusing as always, JzB!

CEE wouldn't have been okay with me. I would have died of shame.

I read all LEE Child's Jack Reacher books. Pretty compelling but some things are unbelievable, such as a man of his skills and intelligence not owning a vehicle. Doesn't sound like a real man. Wearing his clothes until they are "ripe" then buying new clothes and trashing the used ones, sounds like some men. A life free from laundry even sounds attractive to me.

IM: hard to believe you never saw a ROLY POLY bug. As kids, we used to turn over rocks to see them, then poke them with sticks to make them "pill". My current house is on a slab and I often find the pills along one wall where they crawl up in the crack between the foundation and the porch slab. Annoying as a housekeeper.

Happy Birthday, Tinbeni! Is 65 the actual number of years?

PK said...

I rarely dial a phone any more. All the calls I make are programmed into my cell phone speed dial with the area code. Since we are less populated here, I haven't heard anything about having to dial ten numbers and new area codes for years.

Ol' Man Keith said...

OK- I’m ba-ack.
Sorry for the absence. Turns out I needed two different mice (hmm, wouldn’t mouses be the proper plural here?) in order to get my computer back in operation.

Happy B'Day, Tinbeni!

Ta- DA!
Today’s Xwd by C.C. is well-timed for me to sign back on. It’s a perfect example of the pattern of solving I prefer, to go in a direct diagonal from the NW to SE. The only place that slowed me for a bit was 48D, as it took several seconds (minutes?!) to dredge up COOPERstown from the ol’ walnut’s memory bank. But I got there! And the rest, as they say, was easy-peasy.
It was nice to see JAGS in the primo position. My last four cars in a row were JAGS - before I gave up rolling my own...

Mohs Report
For those colleagues interested in the outcome of the recent Mohs surgery on my right ear, here’s my report:
Saturday, two days after surgery - My new post-op ear doesn't look all that different with the skin cancer removed.
When my wife removed the bandages, there was a layer of goop and dried blood to excavate before striking flesh. She cleaned it with a wound wash called "Simply Saline" (Cute!), and I could get my first awkwardly-angled glimpse in the mirror.
It is my upper ear flap that was affected, and it looks very much UNdamaged, except that light passes through it pretty easily. My translucent ear is far thinner than it used to be. According to my wife, who can see it better than I can, the doc removed layers of flesh and slipped a chunk of cartilage out from within the ear.
Tuesday, five days after surgery – The pain is more intense now than it was in the first few days. The ear looks okay, not inflamed, and it isn’t a problem unless touched. But it is like a raw nerve if accidentally bumped, and very painful when my wife changes the bandage.
Funny, that wounded cartilage can be so painful.
Next - I am scheduled to meet a plastic surgeon Friday morning. This is to be a consultation whether to prevent my ear from flopping over.
I wonder if it will be worth the trouble?

Hungry Mother said...

Fun solve and loved how the theme answers yielded the reveal so easily. Glad to see that LEE hasn't been totally abolished.

Misty said...

Well, as you know, I love C.C. puzzles and always will--even when they're toughies like the one today. Lots of unknown names and items, but it did fill in slowly but surely and in the end it was mainly the northeast corner that drove me crazy. "Dig deeply" had to be ADORE, but what the dickens did that have to do with shoveling? Never got the "dig" until Jazz's write-up, but at least I got it even if I didn't "get" it.

The other problem came with that Sweet Sixteen org. I didn't know the Kitchenware brand, and so had to guess at the second letter in N_AA. I wanted it to be NCAA, but figured that C referred to College and Sweet 16 seemed like a high school teenager to me. So I put in NTAA--big mistake and my only one letter goof-up in the puzzle. A little disappointing for a Wednesday, but hey, I'm a big girl and can handle it. So, many thanks, as always, C.C., and you too, JazzB!

MJ, thank you for the kind response yesterday.

Happy Birthday, Tinbeni, and enjoy all the toasts.

Many thanks for the MOHs Report, Ol'Man Keith, and hope the pain goes away soon. I don't have to wear a bandage on my little surgery thing any more except when I go outdoors, so that's a relief.

Have a great day, everybody!

desper-otto said...

Misty, "Sweet Sixteen" refers to the 16 teams remaining, midway through "March Madness" -- the NCAA college basketball elimination tournament.

PK, I've gotta ask. Just how annoying can a housekeeper be? :)

Misty said...

Thank you for explaining, Desper-otto. You can tell I'm not into sports, so I appreciate the help in understanding.

PK said...

D-O: LOL! "as a housekeeper", I get it. Pretty annoying to find little dried dead pills, too, I tell you. It's also very annoying not to have a housekeeper I could pay to keep things up.

Keith: glad you don't have a gaping notch. Maybe you could use flesh-colored tape on the back of your ear to reinforce it and prevent surgery. Does seem strange that cartilage would hurt so bad, but getting whacked or laying on something hard always hurts.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

HBD Tinman. No sunset toast for me, though. I have to drive to rehearsal.

Keith - glad things are going well with the ear. Sounds like you got a good cure. I'm sure the pain is only temporary.

Cool regards, all.

Erte - Oops -- I mean JzB

Big Easy said...

Late start today but it was a fast puzzle. I noticed the Y endings but didn't really look for the 'rest of the STORY" ( apologies to Paul Harvey). I never guessed it was a C.C. puzzle.

The usual unknown proper names were perped- Rita MAE Brown, LEE Child, TERI Polo, and Anne HECHE who I'd heard of before but not the other three). COOPER was a WAG but since it's Cooperstown it was basically a gimmme.

Bunny M- when did 'the island of women' get so popular? Just today the State Dept. had a BREAKING STORY and warned Americans about going to Cancun; the day after my wife suggested that we go there in November. The first time I went to Cancun over 30 years ago there were very few resorts on the 'island'; ditto for Cozumel. Prices were dirt cheap. Now they charge as much or more than American resorts. We went to a Carlos & Charlie's and the total bill for four was under $20. Of course the air conditioning was sheets of plywood on each side pulled up by a rope and there was a wrestling pit at one end of the restaurant/bar.

Thanks C.C., JzB, and happy birthday Tinbini

AnonymousPVX said...

This is a duplicate of my response yesterday....to,wit, if you have to have a gimmick, this is the way. You don't need to see or get the theme, the clues themselves are enough to solve, as the puzzle was very nicely clued. Appreciated.

A nice Wednesday puzzle with a touch of crunch.

Lemonade714 said...

HBD to you Tinman and many more; 65 did not sneak up on me, it blew by.

I also played cribbage with my father and my grandmother. We were card playing fools, when TV was not so popular.

Keep healing Keith

Wilbur Charles said...

I second the HBD to Tin. On the Scotch at brunch from yesterday, perhaps you allow ice before noon.

I was SASHAYing along when OVAL=Avocado appeared and I looked up and of course it was CC. And JazzB completed the fun with his illustration of perfect Ovulararites

So Philly traded RYNE Sandberg. I know I can look it up but regardless, after Broglio for Brock, the worst trade ever.

Btw I missed SIGH and _ECHE. I put an L in as an abbr for Signal. IDIOT. I used to say my constant companion was Mr Stupidity.

Owen😅 I loved all three even though I liked #3 the best. Wacky scores a lot of points for me.

I was an NIT man well after March Madness * ruled

And I was a big Hornblower man in my teens. My BFF, would comment when the book reports were turned in "Another Hornblower?".

Another historical connection with baseball was the myth of Abner Doubleday inventing it.

After the trailer on A-M I have to see that movie.

That's all I got today

WC

* Misty remember that term, it'll surely make it to the xwords

Ps Agnes, I agree. Blood Mary's rule except it's virgin Mary's for me

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Stuck in traffic this morning, I started reading the clues in the NW, I got to 5a and thought, "This feels like a C.C." Sure enough. Thanks C.C.!

Great expo JzB. I think you covered everything*

WOs: EEKs and the proper 'IT IS I' b/f 'ITS ME'
ESPs: Name TRIVIA! MAE, TERI, HECHE, ERTE, LEE

Fav: *not everything: Cheech - Born in EAST LA [5m]

{A,B+,B-}

OMK - thanks for the update; radio silence had us (me anyway) a bit worried. Prognosis sounds pretty good mate.

Happy Birthday Tin! Toast to you when my work is done. For now, gotta build dinner. Play later.

Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Work is done so time to CAP my day with the funnies and raise a Toast to Tin w/ a Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Sumpin' ale. Salute.

On IDIOTS... I wish TTP were about, perhaps he'd back me up on IT Support invoices with "Fixed Error-code ID-10-T --- $120" on 'em. I recall telling my buddy, an accountant at KPMG for KO, about that little joke. Two weeks later he actually saw an invoice with such and bust out laughing; he called me that night to tell me. //No, I never did that to a client.

Cheers, -T

TX Ms said...

Thanks to C.C. for a fun and easy Wednesday pz - only ?, is it ECCO or EKCO - furniture chain
clinched it. JzB - you outdid yourself on this one! Loved all the interesting background information for the answers. How long did it take you to provide all of that ... just curious?

I do hope the hit-or-miss Houston weather people are wrong (again) - my neighborhood is filled with McMansions (easement to easement), and I worry this time. With TS Allison, I just had a bit of water along my curb that morning, so I didn't understand why I hadn't received my newspaper. Chronicle dispatcher to my complaint that morning: "Honey, have you not turned on your TV set yet?" When I did while we were talking, I profusely apologized - 18-wheelers floating sideways along I-10 freeway. They're predicting another repeat, maybe worse, this weekend.

Picard said...

I noticed the long answers began with S and ended with Y but it took a while to notice the rest of the STORY as others have said. Fun theme!

Are people aware of the origin of the word IDIOT? It comes from the Greek for "private" as opposed to "public". It refers to a person who is absorbed in his own private interests rather than being engaged in the public good.

Hand up I have only ever seen Mother Earth spelled GAIA and I have a friend who named her daughter with that spelling. But GAEA seems to be an alternate spelling.

Angelina JOLIE certainly is admirable and multi-talented.

HECHE was not only unknown but looked impossibly wrong. Other unknowns: RYNE, LEE, Sweet 16, TERI, MAE. But crosses were all fair and solid.