12.02.2009

WEDNESDAY, December 2, 2009—Ed Sessa



THEME: "Multi-level Clue Action"—Three theme clues lead to solid 15-letter entries, which in turn clue a fourth entry in a three-way literal play

That definition of the theme is as clear as much, isn't it? In this case, it's easier to show than to tell.

Theme answers:
  • 17A: *Nightly news show segment (WEATHER FORECAST). In Seattle, the forecast often includes rain.
  • 27A: *Big Apple show (BROADWAY MUSICAL). One musical I've never seen is Cats.
  • 49A: *1955 Disney animated film featuring Darling Dear (LADY AND THE TRAMP). Lady and Tramp are both dogs, cocker spaniels. (Edited to add: No, wait. Lady's a cocker spaniel and Tramp is something else altogether.)
  • 65A: Come down in buckets; also, when applied in sequence to the answers to starred clues, this puzzle's theme (RAIN CATS AND DOGS). RAIN in the forecast, CATS on Broadway, AND DOGS in the cartoon.
Isn't that a cute theme? I like it because it's an unexpected way for the theme to end. Phrases in crossword grids lose their punctuation, so 65A could also be parsed as the listing RAIN, CATS, AND DOGS.

Don't think I'm giving you a clip of Cats—not when there's Ella Fitzgerald and Ol' Blue Eyes on order.





What else? Here are my favorite answers and clues:
  • 1A: Square after Connecticut Avenue on a Monopoly board is JAIL.
  • 14A: Jessica of "Sin City" (ALBA).
  • 57A: Pisa place kinda sounds like "pizza place." ITALY is where Pisa is, and where pizza's from.
  • 71A: Ginger cookie (SNAP). Christmas is coming, and every year, my aunt and cousin bake a slew of festive cookies. I'm partial to their ginger snaps, teeny little crunchy nuggets less than an inch across.
  • 1D: ___ of Life (JAWS. Isn't "Jaws of Life" one of the best brand names ever?
  • 5D: One who'll be comin' round the mountain, in song (SHE). I almost made you watch this laughably bad "cartoon" of the song (if you click the link for the horrid cartoon, be prepared for bleeding ears and eyes), but then I considered 13D: Folk icon Seeger (PETE) and this video. (You're welcome.)



  • 31D: Hall of Famer Robin of the Milwaukee Brewers (YOUNT). My husband grew up near Milwaukee, so I like this one on his behalf.
  • 64D: "This just ___ my day" (ISN'T). Aw, I wanted it to be "this just MADE my day."
Crosswordese 101: There are two four-letter Gillette disposable razor brand names that show up in crosswords. The more common of the two is ATRA, with its 50% vowel content. The clue today is simply 58D: Razor brand but sometimes the clue's a little wordier. Doesn't matter. If you need a four-letter razor brand, try ATRA first. If that doesn't work with the crossings, go for TRAC instead. Because of ATRA's added vowelosity, it's about six times as common as TRAC.

Everything Else — 5A: "Take a hike!" ("SCRAM!"); 10A: Wax remover (Q-TIP); 15A: Israeli seaport (HAIFA); 16A: Choice in a booth (VOTE); 20A: Match starter (SERVE); 21A: Danger (PERIL); 22A: Add color to (DYE); 23A: Veiled consent? (I DO); 25A: "__ Abner" (LI'L); 36A: Houston Aeros' org. (AHL); 37A: Brass or pewter (ALLOY); 38A: Overplay a part (EMOTE); 39A: Breakfast corner (NOOK); 41A: Long Island __ (SOUND); 43A: Poker Flat chronicler Harte (BRET); 44A: To the point, in law (AD REM); 46A: Author Nin (ANAÏS); 48A: Evian, par exemple (EAU); 52A: __-cone (SNO); 53A: Show about Capote (TRU); 54A: Candy in 12-piece dispensers (PEZ); 61A: Two-time opponent of Ike (ADLAI); 68A: Witty Bombeck (ERMA); 69A: Light refrain (TRALA); 70A: Equally divided (EVEN); 72A: Gobbled up (EATEN); 73A: Doctor's advice (REST); 2D: Not windward (ALEE); 3D: Construction beam (I-BAR); 4D: Baltic country (LATVIA); 6D: Bellyache (CARP); 7D: Teeming (with) (RIFE); 8D: Get an __ effort (A FOR); 9D: Henner of "Taxi" (MARILU); 10D: Home shopping channel (QVC); 11D: Small hopper (TOAD); 12D: __-bitsy (ITSY); 18D: Ibsen's "__ Gabler" (HEDDA); 19D: Beethoven's "Für __" (ELISE); 24D: Mice catchers (OWLS); 26D: Arm, e.g. (LIMB); 27D: ClichÈd (BANAL); 28D: Neighbor of Mary (RHODA); 29D: Prayer starter (O LORD); 30D: Tons (A LOAD); 32D: Mimicking bird (MYNAH); 33D: Chick of jazz (COREA); 34D: First-stringers (A TEAM); 35D: Ease off (LET UP); 40D: Piano's 88 (KEYS); 42D: Reduction plan (DIET); 45D: Frenzied (MANIC); 47D: Valuable violin, for short (STRAD); 50D: Write, as music (NOTATE); 51D: Steering device (RUDDER); 54D: Co. VIP (PRES.); 55D: Merit (EARN); 56D: Coors malt beverage (ZIMA); 59D: Exam for an aspiring D.A. (LSAT); 60D: It's a lock (YALE); 62D: Tennis score (LOVE); 63D: Important periods (AGES); 66D: Afternoon break (NAP); 67D: One of the Bobbsey twins (NAN).

57 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Jessica Fletcher's catch phrase, "Has there been a murder?" Craig Ferguson sometimes does a skit on his show where he dresses up like Jessica.

mac said...

Just this morning I heard some talk of a new BROADWAY MUSICAL with Angela Landsbury. You have ESP, Orange?

Nice puzzle, not too easy, I needed crosses more than I usually do. That's a good thing.

I had to look up a picture of the jaws of life> That is quite a gadget. Great name indeed.

How about q-tip and the breakfast test? Or does that count for answers only?

Good start of the puzzle day, Ed Sessa, if that is really who you are.

Grandpappy Steve said...

I breezed through this one. Even the theme answers and the theme itself fell easily. I liked the QTIP/QVC cross. A Q with no U in either direction is pretty cool. Way too much crosswordese for my liking, though.

mac said...

P.S.
@Sfingi: I did respond to your question on Monday, at 4.12.

Rex Parker said...

Angela Lansbury is a pro and deserves to be remembered for more than her "Murder" show (which I remember watching in the 80s in that idle way I would watch shit that was on after "60 Minutes," when NOTHING good was generally on).

This puzzle was kind of delightful.
rp

Rex Parker said...

Too much crosswordese, you say? If that's how you feel, then I warn you, do not, under any circumstances, do today's NYT puzzle.

Orange said...

And look, nobody's talking about Jessica Alba. Angela Lansbury for the win!

JOHNSNEVERHOME said...

Ok, Ok, I'll support the Jessica Alba fan club!
Wow, I finally got a puzzle that I could solve in less than 5 minutes... and then to top that off, I got a cutely themed one also. Then I come to the blog and get an Orange-flavored treat. Frank and Ella!!!! MY WEDNESDAY MORNING IS COMPLETE! Have to say though that the theme wasn't apparent to me till I read Orange's great writeup.

There was ALOAD of good stuff today.
Some faves:
PEZ (loved those cute little dispensers).
ALBA (of course).
LIL Abner (my fave toon).
BRET Harte, ANAIS Nin, and Ibsen's HEDDA Gabler (great literary clues).
ITSY-bitsy (kept thinking of that bikini song).

Unfave: That worn out razor (ATRA).

Well, back to my NOOK to finish my hazelnut coffee, Nutella-coated bananas, and cardamom coffee cake... am I in heaven?

Crockett1947 said...

vowelosity? That's an interesting coinage.

It rains a bit here in Portland as well, although we are currently in a bit of respite.

@jnh Nutella on banana? For breakfast? Yipes! Oh well, to each his own.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

Unknown said...

I too got the theme rather quickly and it led to the theme clues. A rare backwards solve.
My only "Grrrr" is ATRA; ATRA is not a brand, it's a model, Gillette is the brand. Think of a car maker and the many models they produce.

ddbmc said...

Got the theme answers with crosses BUT jello wrestled with the "sequence." Once @Orange explained, got into the shower and rinsed the jello off. Phew!

Angela Landsbury-classy and classic, in so MANY great movies! Gaslight, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Mancurian Candidate.@RedStateDem, Craig Ferguson usually shows a picture of Angela Landsbury as being Paul McCartney-he apparently thinks they were switched at birth!

New words:Bret Harte (sadly, knew of the wrestler); AdRem, Robin Yount- another ADE clue! He's developed a lemonade drink-Robinade-where a portion of the proceeds go to charity. (Reminder to remember your local foodbanks this season)

Wax remover? (Q-tip)Goes with yesterday's "ick" theme! "
ATRA-"Gillette, the best a man can get."
By the way, one of the characters on NCIS used "Chilllax" in his dialogue last night, not "Unlax."
Liked 6D-Bellyache (Carp)nothing fishy there.
Flash to past: One of the Bobbsey Twins (Nan)=smile!

Thanks, @Orange, for Pete Seeger, Ella and Frank. You are forgiven for cartoon version of "She'll be comin' 'round the mountain."
@Orange,on a serious note,can you direct me to info on neurosarcoidosis? Have a family member suffering from this insidious disease. Has been to UMDNJ, RW Johnson, Johns Hopkins....she's in excrutiating pain.(sorry, everyone, for asking here)

Orange said...

@ddmbc: I'm sorry I have no expertise in neurosarcoidosis. Are you looking for general info (like a Wikipedia article or other resources you can easily find via Google) or specific info on treatment and where the experts are? Your relative can ask the specialists she's seen to point her to the experts in the condition, if she's willing to travel to see them.

Scott said...

Best LAT in a long while, novel theme idea and the theme entries are all in-language. Only big fill complaints for me are ATRA and STRAD. More than made up for by lots of really nice, fresh fill elsewhere. Puzzle wasn't super hard, but it wasn't easy either and I definitely needed crosses in many places. I for one was very happy with this puzzle.

*David* said...

Great difficulty for a Wednesday, had a bunch of crosswordese standard peeps and things. COREA, BRET, ELISE, HEDDA, ANAIS, AHL, RHODA (she gets around), NAN, and ERMA. I did like the theme and needed more crosses then usual, but this puzzle felt a bit dated.

shrub5 said...

I liked this twist on a theme -- very clever.

@Orange: Laughably bad is a perfect description for that cartoon video. Fortunately my ears came through unscathed. Looks like a couple hundred thousand viewers gave it a high rating! Unbelievable.

I always remember that cute scene from "Lady and the Tramp" where they are chewing on the same strand of spaghetti and end up kissing (aw-shucks..). Jim and Darling Dear (from the clue) are Lady's owners.

Parsan said...

I'm happy to be back with all of you after a long trip due to a family tragedy. But life goes on.

The theme was original and although the puzzle was easy, it was fun to do down to the last letter. I liked YALE, CARP, JAIL, DIET and TOAD.

Chick COREA negotiated a dispute over musical instruments with Aer Lingus Airline at the Cork Jazz Festival that allowed musician husband and I to leave Ireland. A really great guy! No problem getting in but difficulty leaving; and the airline sponsored the festival! Unbelievable!

Regarding yesterdays discussion about "It's a small world" at Disney. My husband, 3 children and I got stuck for 25 minutes (we timed it) when the mechanics on the ride failed, but the song kept playing. I thought my husband would have a nervous breakdown.

@crazycat--While on-line shopping, I came across many mugs saying "crazy cat lady". Do you own one? Just curious.

Enjoyed the write-up and thanks for Ella and Frank, Orange.

Jerome said...

A thing of beauty, Mr. Sessa. One of my favorites this year. The cleverness is striking.

CrazyCat said...

I really enjoyed this puzzle,but really had to think hard to get the theme. Thanks Orange for the nice explanation. I saw Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd years ago on Broadway. She was terrific. The Johnny Depp movie version not so much. ALBA meh. Chick COREA is pretty great as well. Also agree with the late night comments about Small World. It was my daughter's fav ride @ Disneyland when she was little and I can't tell you how many times I had to suffer through it. Earplugs anyone? She has moved on to Space Mountain.
@Parsan - no I don't have a CCL mug, but I'm glad there's enough of us CCLs out there to warrant one. LOL. Welcome back.
@JNH Nutella on bananas? I like it on a warm just baked French baguette. Discovered that in Switzerland back in the the 70s. Yum.

Anonymous said...

The theme was delightfully easy, especially for a cat lover! Nice to see easy fills since earlier this morning it was more like a Monday, but now the sun is out! Thanks for all the info on Angela Lansbury. Have never been to any Disney theme park, maybe in the future with grandchildren.............

ddbmc said...

@Orange, thanks. I've seen the Wiki articles. I'm afraid there's no answer.She's been just about everywhere.

Sfingi said...

@Orange - Yes, cute. Also, ITSY and TRALA. Having two sports questions is fair and balanced. Of course I got them only from crosses. Kept going through the list of things needed to start a fire (match).

@Mac -thanx. Aren't we all related to the Great Khan? Yes, I knew what Oscar Drees was, but why would one town use a K and the other a C? I was told once that there are only certain names you can be baptized in legally in der Heimat.
Anyway, doctors, and the company itself, tell us never to use Q-Tips to clean our ears. That use must be half their income.

Check out Lansbury in her 1st credited movie, Gaslight. Wow!

Chick Corea's mother is Sicilian.

@ddbmc - National Jewish Health is a hospital I've heard of for sarcoidosis. Bernie Mac had it and died of pneumonia (they have lung problems). After he died, I realized his bulgy eyes were a symptom.

shrub5 said...

@Parsan: Glad to have you back and my condolences for your recent sad event.
Your description of the Disney ride breakdown sounds like a nightmare! I think I would have tried to climb out....and @CCL: Happy to hear your child has outgrown the Small World ride, too. Once the next generation of grandchildren come along, I'm going to volunteer to stay out and mind the strollers.

mac said...

@Sfingi: I have no idea why there would be a different spelling, unless there really were two men with similar names.

It may very well be true that some names are not allowed in Germany. It was that way in Holland, and may still be. You prevent parents going crazy with made-up names, which can be just cruel to the poor kids.

Moon Unit Zappa said...

What you talkin bout Mac?

Orange said...

@ddmbc: National Jewish is where Talmadge King used to be—he's the top guy in pulmonary sarcoidosis. I Googled up an e-mail address for him in CA and took a shot at asking him if he can recommend doctors/institutions that are good on neurosarcoidosis. Kind of a crapshoot, but we'll see if he responds. (I may well have copyedited him before.)

JOHNSNEVERHOME said...

@Parsan...Good having you back.

I too went to that NYC World's Fair in the 60's and had to endure "It's a Small Small World" I've never heard one person say they enjoyed it... I just don't understand why Disney kept that attraction going for so long.

Gaslight, a masterpiece, as well as starring the brilliant 17 year old Angela Lansbury, had an amazing cast: Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman (the best actress ever), Joseph Cotten. Although it wasn't a Hitchcock movie (huge Hitch fan here), it still ranks in my top psycho-mysteries.

To all of you who said "Nutella/bananas for breakfast???", have you tried it?
IHOP popularized it a while back and I got hooked... except I leave out the pancakes (my diet y'know).

Regarding yesterday's UNLAX: I'd rather use EXLAX before I'd use UNLAX in a sentence. Who the heck would I have the temerity to say that to? Seems sort of rude to me.

Time for this old man's NAP.

AV said...

Don't usually solve the LATimes puzzle, but I have to chime in with compliments! What a nice theme - a perfect puzzle for early week.

Kudos to Sessa!

Al said...

@ddbmc, having had (pulmonary) sarcoidosis, I do know a little about it, enough to know that the conventional medical community isn't likely to offer any cures, only symptomatic treatment with steroids, and tons of tests that will only serve to cure you or your insurance of having a swollen wallet. Steroids further suppress your immune system, along with other problems they cause, don't really cure the problem and only make you feel worse. Even among the "other" practitioners, there is not any agreement as to what works, or even what actually causes it. There are some avenues to explore though. You can visit sarcinfo.com, and perhaps buy into the Marshall protocol, or go the nutritional way with a greenmedinfo.com search. Look for deficient vitamins and minerals and look into heavy metal, pesticide, and herbicide buildup poisoning that over time builds up into chronic disease.

I'm not a doctor, and don't even play one on TV (so I need to disclaim everything in this post as being merely my opinion), but my own personal battle with sarc is what has "disenchanted" me from the conventional for-profit medical system (big drug, FDA conflict of interest, Insurance HMOs, etc). What finally worked for me was time and the correct nutrition and diet: eliminate sugar, and all grains completely. Under no circumstances use any artificial sweeteners of any kind, especially Nutrasweet (aspartame) or Splenda (sucralose). Eat mostly vegetables, raw, juiced, or steamed. Limit protein to 4-6 oz. per day, but don't stop eating meat altogether. Take probiotics, fish or krill oil. Eliminate all cooking oils except olive, almond, avacado, and virgin coconut. Drink only water that has the clorine and flouride removed (or never added). There are some beneficial teas that are OK though, but not commercial juices. Pretty much stay out of the center of the supermarket. A good nutrition website is the Weston Price Foundation. When presented with "scientific" studies on how commercial products are "safe" or "good for you", you always need to ask: "Who funded this, and who stands to gain from the information?". Then think about what chemicals we put in and on our bodies today, and compare that to our ancestors' way of life, even as little as 100 years ago, and how healthy animals live in the wild when they can avoid our meddling.

Again, none of this is considered medical fact, so as I'm not an authority; don't quit your doctor and eliminate all medicine, but all I can say is that it worked for me. I haven't even had so much as a cold for several years now...

P.S., to all the others suffering through my diatribe here, I would have emailed this instead of posting to save you all, but there was no clickable identity to find an email address...

Carol said...

One of my favorite movies of all time (I haven't been able to find it on DVD, just on tape) is The Pirates of Penzance - a Gilbert Sullivan musical comedy starring Angela Lansbury, Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, George Rose & Rex Smith. Most of you have probably never seen it, a real sleeper!

Angela Lansbury plays the nursemaid and Kevin Kline the Pirate King. It is one of the most hilarious versions of this operetta you'll ever see. Who knew Angela could sing? (Although she also sang in Disney's Beauty and the Beast cartoon.)

Kudos to such a well-rounded actress who seems to truly enjoy her work.

P.S. Also enjoyed today's puzzle & write-up.

CrazyCat said...

@Carol - I saw it ages ago. It was very funny!

split infinitive said...

This was one of my favorite midweek puzzles in recent memory: catchy clever theme and low on tired fill. Great to see ITSY, PEZ (yucky as they were) and QTIP. Any day after Tues. and I don't assume a trailing U after Q anymore. You can buy 'vintage' pez dispensers on Ebay now, along with early 80s lunchboxes. I am SO bidding on a Hulk box sometime.

We sang "It's a Small World" in a third grade concert and both parents looked ready to retch. Now I know why. They were also not fond of Kumbayah (sp?) or any of the psudo-Hawaiian tunes. Geez, the words to "Comin' Round the Mountain" are SO durn hard to remember but are glued into my brain forever now. Still better than "Muskrat Love" though!

Drank one ZIMA once in college. Colorless and sort of sweet. Low alcohol content. Cool bottle, though. (I can't imagine Angela Lansbury sipping on one of those.) Mom used to warn me not to date (or, if you like, "to NOT date) girls who drink straight from the bottle,
which seems old school counsel now, but I didn't break the rule anyway.

split infinitive said...

This was one of my favorite midweek puzzles in recent memory: catchy clever theme and low on tired fill. Great to see ITSY, PEZ (yucky as they were) and QTIP. Any day after Tues. and I don't assume a trailing U after Q anymore. You can buy 'vintage' pez dispensers on Ebay now, along with early 80s lunchboxes. I am SO bidding on a Hulk box sometime.

We sang "It's a Small World" in a third grade concert and both parents looked ready to retch. Now I know why. They were also not fond of Kumbayah (sp?) or any of the psudo-Hawaiian tunes. Geez, the words to "Comin' Round the Mountain" are SO durn hard to remember but are glued into my brain forever now. Still better than "Muskrat Love" though!

Drank one ZIMA once in college. Colorless and sort of sweet. Low alcohol content. Cool bottle, though. (I can't imagine Angela Lansbury sipping on one of those.) Mom used to warn me not to date (or, if you like, "to NOT date) girls who drink straight from the bottle,
which seems old school counsel now, but I didn't break the rule anyway.

Orange said...

@split inf, I would counsel people not to have mothers who disdain women who drink straight from the bottle, as women who drink straight from the bottle are splendid human beings. (Drinking from the bottle is green! No need to waste water and energy washing a glass.)

split infinitive said...

Sorry for the double post -- not sure what happened. Delete, if you like.
Just googled 'vowelocity' and got ONLY two hits, so I think our wonderful blog host is going to ramp up the velocity on that puppy! May not be too late to trademark it!
double split & co.

hazel said...

All I remember about ZIMA is our slogan for it: ZIMA ZUCKS.

Glowe said...

Had to work today, plus send a scathing letter to the editor of the local rag ... never even got a chance to read the sports section, let alone get to the awesome, dual, LAT/NYT syndicated puzzle page that I helped bitch into creation here. Missed a good one apparently.

Always like it when the blog starts 'this post removed by author'. How TF does one do that? (Oh yah - register. Membership has its privileges).

Themes. Good themes. Themes that are solid and still push the boundries. You're mocking me, Sessa, I can't let you get away with it ....

Sfingi said...

Glad I didn't 1. Go to the Small World exhibit when I was at the 64 World's Fair in Flushing. 2. Try Zima. Try Pez.

@John - bananas with Nutella sounds terrific. I don't buy Nutella any more because I'll eat the whole jar at once. Do you remember when Kobe Bryant was the face on the jar? He lived from 6 to 13 in Italy.
Had a late, long nap today - 5:30 - 7.

The Coming around the Mountain "cartoon" is what many of us lovers of Bugs hated about so many early tv cartoons - lacked "full animation." Even a kid knows when they're being cheated.

Orange said...

The blogging team sees the comments before they're deleted—almost always it's a matter of catching a typo after the fact and resubmitting a corrected comment.

I can't help wondering if GLowe is in his cups this evening.

ddbmc said...

@Orange, Shrub and Al, thanks so much for all the info you've provided. You can send any other info to: Icedriver44@aol.com, so as to not bother everyone on the blog. I knew about Bernie Mac and Karen Duffy, actress and former Revlon model, also suffers.

@Split, Orange is right about Green! Eco Girls drink from bottles! Never tried Zima, but Corona with Lime isn't bad. Has to be icy cold. Was drinking pints in Ireland, many moons ago, and was informed "ladies drink glasses of lager, not pints!" Harrumph! Needless to say, my reputation is tainted in Dublin.

GLowe said...

@ Orange;
I've been scrod by the blog input screen several times in the last week, and even mentioned it to one of your partners recently. It drives me nuts to hit 'post' or 'preview', only to go 404 and have the form reset. I've resolved to remember to highlight and copy, before 'preview' or 'post', which I think I do about half the time. This time I remembered, and sho 'nuff it was a good idea.

Thought it was important, and maybe funny, to exhalt my victory over the cyber-sabot. Maybe others would benefit to do the same? Dunno - it might be a local machine/connectivity issue, and not relevant at all.

split infinitive said...

Agreed x2 on drinking from the bottle! Mom was living in the 1920s, I suspect. I live in a neighborhood where there's NO recycling program, and no one else seems to really care. Closest place is over mile. Although Chicago gets written up as being a 'green city' the recycling era appears to have bypassed us. Some neighborhoods have pilot programs, some large buildings do as well, but not here. I proudly carry my 'manly totebag' when shopping, though.

Orange, hey, you might considering inserting 'vowelocity' to one of the language/lingiustic blogs! The folks at languagelog.ldc.upenn.org might spread the word.

Orange said...

I fear my vowelosity (-osity like verbosity, monstrosity) is a word of low utility. Outside of word games, does anyone care if a word is particularly rich in vowels?

I once attended the Dictionary Society of North America's New Word Open Mic. Lexicographer Erin McKean explained that a new coinage must fill a communication need.

Orange said...

@GLowe, I've been in the Blogger world for five or six years, and I've never heard of anyone getting 404 messages from the commenting box. Hmm. Not sure what's going on inside your machine.

Burner10 said...

Entertaining puzzle and equally entertaining bog - so many themes!

ddbmc said...

@Glowe was definitely channeling his inner "Craig Ferguson" there. 404 is an error message, correct? I would clean your cache from your browser. Download and run some Malware Bytes, etc. I just downloaded a new version of IE and it's been acting funky.

GLowe said...

@O:

As an example, it took 8 tries to get my last response posted. Normally I give up, otherwise you'd have to live with more nonsense from me.

I have zero internet issues outside of blogpsot [OK, I'm a liar. Youtube cranks one time out of 8 or 10. Crap now I'm a liar and a drunk.]

No worries, but just as an aside: where do you think the double-posts come from?

Pete P'tui said...

Thetooth fairy?

GLowe said...

What am I doing checking this blog at this ungodly hour, Pete? [Checking] Oh yah, finishing this sweet Kentucky.

Only a gallon or so more to go.

Redundant posts are the result of latency between the browser and the service - after waiting for a suitable period of time, the user expects that he/she didn't 'hit' the button properly, and tries again.

[Popping another bottle] or so it would seem. Its all a bit foggy to me right now.

Ptui

Charles Bogle said...

I liked both the puzzle and the write-up a lot. Certainly beats today's dog of a puzzle in nyt...Had no idea what kind of team Houston Aeros are, and thought neighbor of Mary was a Biblical reference (they seem to be flying around, and OHLORD was in that pasrt of the grid..so...learned some new words, eg ADREM...a pet peeve...I thought good actors were supposed to EMOTE, not that to EMOTE signals over-acting

JOHNSNEVERHOME said...

@split infinitive
Where I live we recycle or reuse almost everything in our trash... glass, plastic, metals, cardboard and paper. Ours is a Waste Management curbside pickup program. The balance of the trash goes either into the compost heap or down the garbage disposal. We only have to pay for stickers on everything else, but I usually have very little of that and I save it up for several weeks.... nothing seems to smell bad. Trashed appliances are picked up by the gleaners who apparently repair them and put them in reasle stores. Gosh, this program is about as "Green" as you can get. I wish all communities across the U.S. practiced this kind of stewardship. Talk it up with your local city or village councils... it can be done!

Pete P'tui said...

@Glowe, share some of what you're quaffing, buddy! After you post, wait a minute. Certain ISP's take longer than others. Or after you post, close the blog and hit REFRESH! You got some Wild Turkey or Jack there?

JOHNSNEVERHOME said...

I always thought of puzzlers as sane, sagacious, and sober people. I can't believe how many dipsomaniacs are in this blog. You're kidding now, aren't you?

Pete P'tui said...

@JohnsNH-absolutely! Sober as a church mouse. Keep smilin'!;)

Pete P'tui said...

Shoulda said: Dipso, facto.

split infinitive said...

@JNH (& GLowe): FYI, there is an application for some cell/smartphones that you can install to help prevent what the 20ish people call 'drunk dialing' or 'texting-while-crunk.' [Crunk is a combo of 'crazy' and 'drunk' and it would't surprise me if BEQ or Tausig, et al, put it in a puzzle one day]. It apparently reconfigures the number keys after the preset designated hour so that you can't type them in the regular old way and harass your exes or unfavorite family members. My assistant sound guy at work installed it. ---On his phone, not mine---.

Not implying anyone here needs such a helpful tool but it's fine trivia, I hope, and may boost your reputation among any crunk friends.

@Orange: well, then, let's let VOWELOCITY be your NATICK, a la Mr Parker's coinage.

Now is naptime....

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