LA Times Crossword Answers 16 Feb 17, Thursday










Constructed by: C.C. Burnikel

Edited by: Rich Norris

Quicklink to a complete list of today’s clues and answers

Quicklink to comments

Theme: Ticker Symbols

Today’s themed answers come in intersecting pairs. One answer in the pair is the name of a company, and the other ends with the TICKER SYMBOL for that company:

  • 66A. Market representative? : TICKER SYMBOL
  • 49A. Bike whose company 66-Across ends 26-Down : HARLEY (ticker symbol: HOG)
  • 26D. Unreserved way to go : WHOLE HOG
  • 50A. Name on a shuttle, whose company 66-Across ends 24-Down : AVIS (ticker symbol: CAR)
  • 24D. Alternative energy vehicle : SOLAR CAR
  • 8D. Auto with a prancing horse logo, whose company 66-Across ends 18-Across : FERRARI (ticker symbol: RACE)
  • 18A. Fitness challenge : OBSTACLE RACE

Bill’s time: 8m 49s

Bill’s errors: 0




Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies

Across

12. Bygone space station : MIR

The Russian Mir Space Station was a remarkably successful project, with the station still holding the record for the longest continuous manned presence in space, at just under ten years. Towards the end of the space station’s life however, the years began to take their toll. There was a dangerous fire, multiple system failures, and a collision with a resupply ship. The Russian commitment to the International Space Station drained funds for repairs, so Mir was allowed to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up in 2001.

15. Reaction to a comeback : TOUCHE

“Touché” is a term from fencing, acknowledging a successful “touch” in a duel. The term has been extended to mean that a successful criticism or riposte has hit home in a conversation.

17. Long-necked bird : EMU

The emu has had a tough time in Australia since man settled there. There was even an “Emu War” in Western Australia in 1932 when migrating emus competed with livestock for water and food. Soldiers were sent in and used machine guns in an unsuccessful attempt to drive off the “invading force”. The emus were clever, breaking their usual formations and adopting guerrilla tactics, operating as smaller units. After 50 days of “war”, the military withdrew. Subsequent requests for military help for the farmers were ignored. The emus had emerged victorious …

20. Metz moniker : NOM

In French, one might look up a “nom” (name) in “un annuaire” (a directory).

The city of Metz is in the northeast of France, close to the German border. Given the proximity to Germany, Metz has both a strong German tradition and a strong French tradition. Metz was handed over to the French following WWI, after nearly 50 years of German rule. It quickly fell back into German hands in 1940 during WWII, with many German officers delighted to have back the city of their birth. Perhaps because of this long association with Germany, the US Army under General Patton encountered stiff resistance when liberating Metz in 1944. The cathedral in Metz is home to the largest expanse of stained glass in the world, almost 70,000 square feet in all.

21. Colo. setting : MST

Mountain Standard Time (MST)

25. Scand. land : SWE

The country of Sweden emerged during the Middle Ages, and became one of the great powers of Europe in the days of the Swedish Empire in 17th and early 18th century. Since then Sweden’s influence has waned. What was the eastern part of Sweden was lost to Russia in the early 1800s, and is now modern-day Finland. In the 20th century Sweden has adopted a very non-aggressive stance and was neutral in both World Wars. Sweden is not a member of NATO, but is a member of the European Union, although the country does not use the euro as its currency.

30. Male pal, in slang : BRAH

“Brah” is a slang term used for a male friend, equivalent to “bro, brother”.

32. Cold sore relief product : ORAJEL

Orajel is a brand name for benzocaine, a local anesthetic.

35. Cellist with multiple Grammys : YO-YO MA

Yo-Yo Ma is a marvelous American cellist, born in Paris to Chinese parents. Ma started studying the violin when he was very young, working his way up (in size) to the viola and finally to the cello. He has said that he wanted to play the double bass, but it was just too big for his relatively small frame.

49. Bike whose company 66-Across ends 26-Down : HARLEY (ticker symbol: HOG)

The Harley-Davidson motorcycle company was started up in the very early 1900s by two childhood friends, William Harley and Arthur Davidson, . Their first design was in effect an engine hooked up to a pedal bicycle, but the 116 cc cylinder capacity simply couldn’t generate enough power to get up the hills of their native city of Milwaukee. The pair came up with a redesigned model that had a cylinder capacity of 405 cc, which the partners built in a shed at the back of Davidson’s house. In 1906, the partners built their first factory, located where the company’s headquarters is to this day, on Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Famously, Harley motorcycles are nicknamed “hogs”.

50. Name on a shuttle, whose company 66-Across ends 24-Down : AVIS (ticker symbol: CAR)

Avis has been around since 1946, and is the second largest car rental agency after Hertz. Avis has the distinction of being the first car rental company to locate a branch at an airport.

51. Lamb sandwich : GYRO

A gyro is a traditional Greek dish of meat roasted on a tall vertical spit that is sliced from the spit as required. Gyros are usually served inside a lightly grilled piece of pita bread, along with tomato, onion and tzatziki (a yogurt and cucumber sauce).

54. Pamplona kudos : OLES

Pamplona, Spain is famous for its San Fermin festival held in July every year, the highlight of which is the Running of the Bulls. Every year, 200-300 people are injured in the bull run, and 15 people have been killed since 1910. If you get to Pamplona two days before the Running of the Bulls, you can see the animal-rights protest event known as the Running of the Nudes. The protesters are as naked as the bulls …

Our word “kudos” means acclaim given for an exceptional achievement. “Kudos” is not a plural, despite a common misapprehension. It is a singular noun derived from the Greek “kyddos” meaning “glory, fame”. That said, the plural of “kudos” is “kudos”.

57. Mountain predator : COUGAR

The mountain lion is found in much of the Americas from the Yukon in Canada right down to the southern Andes in South America. Because the mountain lion is found over such a vast area, it has many different names applied by local peoples, such as cougar and puma. In fact, the mountain lion holds the Guinness record for the animal with the most number of different names, with over 40 in English alone.

60. Trojan War epic : ILIAD

“The Iliad” is an epic poem by the Greek poet Homer, which tells the story of the ten-year siege of Ilium (also known as Troy) during the Trojan war. “The Odyssey”, also attributed to Homer, is sometimes described as a sequel to “The Iliad”.

62. Church based in SLC, Utah : LDS

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often abbreviated to “LDS”, is known colloquially as the Mormon Church.

66. Market representative? : TICKER SYMBOL

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) can give some quite descriptive ticker symbols to companies, for example:

  • Anheuser-Busch (BUD, for “Budweiser”)
  • Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP, as in “beer tap”)
  • Steinway Musical Instruments (LVB, for “Ludwig van Beethoven”)
  • Sotheby’s (BID, for the auction house)

69. Foofaraw : ADO

“Foofaraw” is excessive or flashy ornamentation, or a fuss over something that is unimportant.

70. “American Buffalo” playwright : MAMET

David Mamet is best known as a playwright, and indeed won a Pulitzer for his 1984 play “Glengarry Glen Ross”. Mamet is also a successful screenwriter and received Oscar nominations for the films “The Verdict” (1982) and “Wag the Dog” (1997).

71. Erie Canal city : ALBANY

New York’s state capital Albany was founded as a Dutch trading post called Fort Nassau in 1614. The English took over the settlement in 1664 and called it Albany, naming it after the future King of England James II, whose title at the time was the Duke of Albany.

The Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo in the state of New York. What the canal does is allow shipping to proceed from New York Harbor right up the Hudson River, through the canal and into the Great Lakes. When it was opened in 1825, the Erie Canal had immediate impact on the economy of New York City and locations along its route. It was the first means of “cheap” transportation from a port on the Atlantic seaboard into the interior of the United States. Arguably it was the most important factor contributing to the growth of New York City over competing ports such as Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was largely because of the Erie Canal that New York became such an economic powerhouse, earning it the nickname of “the Empire State”. Paradoxically, one of the project’s main proponents was severely criticized. New York Governor DeWitt Clinton received so much ridicule that the canal was nicknamed “Clinton’s Folly” and “Clinton’s Ditch”.

72. Passel : TON

A passel is a large group or quantity. “Passel” is a variant of the word “parcel”.

Down

1. Splitting target : ATOM

By some definitions, New Zealand-born physicist and chemist Ernest Rutherford was the first person to “split the atom”. Rutherford bombarded nitrogen with alpha particles and thereby forced neutrons out of the nucleus of the nitrogen atom. The first intentional nuclear “fission” came decades later in the 1930s, with experiments in which larger nuclei were split into smaller nuclei.

2. Short cuts : BOBS

A “bob cut” is a short hairstyle in which the hair is cut straight around the head, at about the line of the jaw. Back in the 1570s a “bob” was the name given to a horse’s tail that was cut short, and about a century later it was being used to describe short hair on humans. The style became very popular with women in the early 1900s (as worn by actress Clara Bow, for example), with the fashion dying out in the thirties. The style reemerged in the sixties around the time the Beatles introduced their “mop tops”, with Vidal Sassoon leading the way in styling women’s hair in a bob cut again. Personally, I like it …

3. Reagan-era slogan : JUST SAY NO

The slogan “Just Say No” was introduced by First Lady Nancy Reagan for the War on Drugs in the 1980s. The slogan was developed by advertising executives, but the First Lady first used the phrase in response to a schoolgirl asking in 1982 what to do if she was offered drugs.

8. Auto with a prancing horse logo, whose company 66-Across ends 18-Across : FERRARI (ticker symbol: RACE)

The Italian sports car company Ferrari was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1939. Ferrari built the most expensive car ever sold: a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that exchanged hands for over $38 million in 2012.

9. Mike Trout’s team, on scoreboards : LAA

Mike Trout plays baseball for the Los Angeles Angels. Trout’s nickname is the “Millville Meteor”, as he grew up in Millville, New Jersey.

11. “Sons of Anarchy” actor Rossi : THEO

Actor Theo Rossi is perhaps best known for playing Juice Ortiz on the TV show “Sons of Anarchy”.

“Sons of Anarchy” is a popular FX crime series about an outlaw motorcycle club in California’s Central Valley. Apparently, it is the most successful FX show ever.

12. Brainy bunch : MENSA

If you ever learned Latin, “mensa” was probably taught to you in lesson one as it’s the word commonly used as an example of a first declension noun. Mensa means “table”. The Mensa organization, for folks with high IQs, was set up in Oxford, England back in 1946. To become a member, you have to have an IQ that is in the top 2% of the population.

28. “Hulk” star Eric : BANA

Eric Bana is an Australian actor who enjoyed a successful career in his home country before breaking into Hollywood playing an American Delta Force sergeant in “Black Hawk Down”. A couple of years later he played the lead in Ang Lee’s 2003 movie “Hulk”, the role of Dr Bruce Banner. More recently he played the Romulan villain Nero, in the 2009 “Star Trek” movie.

31. Juicer’s juice? : ROID

Steroids are found commonly in nature, with familiar examples being cholesterol and testosterone. The controversial class of drugs called anabolic steroids (known informally as “roids” or simply “steroids”) are artificially produced chemicals designed to mimic the effect of the male sex hormone, testosterone. They are termed “anabolic” as they build up cellular tissue (particularly muscle) in a process called anabolism. Taking anabolic steroids can be termed “juicing”, and the aggressive behavior that can be a side-effect is known as “roid rage”.

33. Nonsense : JIVE

“Jive” is a slang term meaning “nonsensical talk”.

34. “__ Holden”: Irving Bacheller novel : EBEN

Irving Bacheller was an American journalist and writer. His novel “Eben Holden” was published in 1900.

36. Cactus League spring training city : MESA

The city of Mesa, Arizona is in effect a suburb of Phoenix. The original settlement of non-Native Americans was founded by Daniel Webster Jones who led a Mormon group from St. George, Utah. The settlement was first called Jonesville, then Fort Utah and eventually Lehi. A second group of Mormons arrived and formed a settlement on top of a nearby mesa. It was this use of a mesa that eventually gave the city its current name.

37. Neil deGrasse Tyson subj. : ASTR

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist who is noted for his ability to communicate science to the masses. Tyson is well known for his appearances on the great PBS show “Nova”.

40. Final Four matchup : SEMI

In the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship, the teams remaining at various stages of the tournament are known as:

  • The “Sweet Sixteen” (the regional semi-finalists)
  • The “Elite Eight” (the regional finalists)
  • The “Final Four” (the national semi-finalists)

42. Rural storehouse : SILO

“Silo” is a Spanish word that we absorbed into English, originally coming from the Greek word “siros” that described a pit in which one kept corn.

44. Plays usually involving the SS : DPS

In baseball, the shortstop (SS) is usually involved in double plays (DPs).

51. IM option : GCHAT

“Gchat” is a common name for the Google Talk instant messaging service. Google Talk offers both text and voice communication as well as a plugin that allows video chat. All of this works seamlessly with Gmail, my personal favorite email client. That said, much of this functionality seems to have been replaced with the Google Hangouts service.

Even though instant messaging (sending IMs) has been around since the 1960s, it was AOL who popularized the term “instant message” in the eighties and nineties. The “AOL Instant Message” service was known as AIM.

56. Pastoral piece : IDYLL

An “idyll” (also “idyl”) is a short poem with a pastoral theme, usually depicting the scene in romantic and idealized terms. The word comes from the Greek “eidyllion”, which literally translates to “little picture” but was a word describing a short, poem with a rustic theme.

59. Muscat money : RIAL

“Rial” is the name of the currency of Oman (as well as Yemen, Iran , Cambodia and Tunisia).

Muscat is the capital of Oman, and lies on the northeast coast of the state on the Gulf of Oman, a branch of the Persian Gulf.

64. Stallone and Stone : SLYS

If ever there was a movie that defines a career breakthrough for an actor, it would have to be “Rocky” for Sylvester Stallone. Stallone was a struggling actor in 1975 when a Muhammad Ali fight inspired Stallone to write a screenplay for a boxing movie, which he did in just three days. His efforts to sell the script went well but for the fact that the interested studios wanted a big name for the lead role, and Stallone was determined to be the star himself. Stallone persevered and “Rocky” was eventually made with him playing title role of Rocky Balboa. The movie won three Oscars, and “Sly” Stallone had arrived …

Sly and the Family Stone are a rock, funk and soul band from San Francisco that’s still performing today, although their heyday was from 1966 to 1983. They were one of the first rock bands to have a racially-integrated lineup, as well as representatives of both sexes.

67. Nashville awards gp. : CMA

Country Music Association (CMA)

68. Mgmt. degree : MBA

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

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Complete List of Clues and Answers

Across

1. Truly wretched : ABJECT

7. E equivalent, on scores : F-FLAT

12. Bygone space station : MIR

15. Reaction to a comeback : TOUCHE

16. Contact : REACH

17. Long-necked bird : EMU

18. Fitness challenge : OBSTACLE RACE

20. Metz moniker : NOM

21. Colo. setting : MST

22. See-through : SHEER

23. Even-odds situation : TOSS-UP

25. Scand. land : SWE

27. Not much : A DAB

29. Nosebag fill : OATS

30. Male pal, in slang : BRAH

32. Cold sore relief product : ORAJEL

35. Cellist with multiple Grammys : YO-YO MA

38. Baseball collectibles : MINIBATS

41. Pure : SINLESS

43. Stated as fact : AVERRED

45. Sits in a cell : DOES TIME

48. Set up in a glade, say : ENCAMP

49. Bike whose company 66-Across ends 26-Down : HARLEY (ticker symbol: HOG)

50. Name on a shuttle, whose company 66-Across ends 24-Down : AVIS (ticker symbol: CAR)

51. Lamb sandwich : GYRO

54. Pamplona kudos : OLES

56. Outrage : IRE

57. Mountain predator : COUGAR

60. Trojan War epic : ILIAD

62. Church based in SLC, Utah : LDS

65. Center : HUB

66. Market representative? : TICKER SYMBOL

69. Foofaraw : ADO

70. “American Buffalo” playwright : MAMET

71. Erie Canal city : ALBANY

72. Passel : TON

73. More than amuses : SLAYS

74. Greenery : PLANTS

Down

1. Splitting target : ATOM

2. Short cuts : BOBS

3. Reagan-era slogan : JUST SAY NO

4. Outer: Pref. : ECT-

5. Run after : CHASE

6. __ support : TECH

7. Liberty : FREEDOM

8. Auto with a prancing horse logo, whose company 66-Across ends 18-Across : FERRARI (ticker symbol: RACE)

9. Mike Trout’s team, on scoreboards : LAA

10. Check no. : ACCT

11. “Sons of Anarchy” actor Rossi : THEO

12. Brainy bunch : MENSA

13. Passing remark? : I’M OUT

14. Beef cuts : RUMPS

19. Field : LEA

24. Alternative energy vehicle : SOLAR CAR

26. Unreserved way to go : WHOLE HOG

28. “Hulk” star Eric : BANA

30. Fly-__: air passes : BYS

31. Juicer’s juice? : ROID

33. Nonsense : JIVE

34. “__ Holden”: Irving Bacheller novel : EBEN

36. Cactus League spring training city : MESA

37. Neil deGrasse Tyson subj. : ASTR

39. Blizzard restriction, perhaps : TRAVEL BAN

40. Final Four matchup : SEMI

42. Rural storehouse : SILO

44. Plays usually involving the SS : DPS

46. “I’m a fan!” : ME LIKEY!

47. Shoelace holders : EYELETS

51. IM option : GCHAT

52. “Seriously?” : YOU DO?

53. Apply, as sunscreen : RUB ON

55. Respectful word : SIR

56. Pastoral piece : IDYLL

58. Stop-offs before big dates, maybe : ATMS

59. Muscat money : RIAL

61. Rush job letters : ASAP

63. “Knock it off!” : DON’T!

64. Stallone and Stone : SLYS

67. Nashville awards gp. : CMA

68. Mgmt. degree : MBA

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13 thoughts on “LA Times Crossword Answers 16 Feb 17, Thursday”

  1. This puzzle felt like a bit of a wild ride for me. I was confused for most of it, but once I finally saw TICKER SYMBOL it made sense to me. BRAH? Foofaraw? That’s a lot to overcome. SINLESS also seemed odd to me, but that’s probably an entirely different conversation 🙂

    Ultimately finished with 1 error – ORAgEL which led to gIVE as meaning “Nonsense” which I didn’t understand at all but was tired of fighting it.

    I’ve recommended Sons of Anarchy to at least 2 dozen people. I am no biker, but I absolutely loved that series. My opinion is so respected that a grand total of 0 of the 2 dozen-ish people have watched the show on my recommendation……

    Vidwan – Yes – my father’s aunt worked on the development of radar in this country in the WWII era. I was born in 1963, my father was born in 1937, and his aunt would have been born in the 1910’s. She would have been around 30 at the time…That said, I looked up the word, and I guess “grand aunt” is actually the correct word for your father’s aunt. I’ve been calling her my great aunt all these years, but apparently “great aunt” is indeed one more generation removed. I’ve never even heard of the term “grand aunt” until this morning, but that’s probably what threw you. Perhaps I should just stick to “my father’s aunt”….

    Best –

  2. A very tough puzzle. Maybe, its just me …. Very punny, but the clues were sometimes beyond my ken, and the meaning was strretching it. Now, to read the blog and understand …… Imho, some of the words were a strecth and pushing it.

    Cougars, the lyin lion with 40 names … can also be found in bars, if soap operas are to be believed.
    Does anybody else think that ‘Me Likey’ is a valid answer in these sort of crosswords ?

    Bill, thank you for your blog.
    Have a nice day, all.

  3. @Joe
    That’s probably the one I’m thinking of, too.

    @Carrie
    There’s a few tricks I’ve picked up on how to handle things I don’t know out of the gate in hopes something comes to mind (a walking thesaurus I am not, so I use them a lot). In a sense, it’s kind of like what Pookie alluded to, but a bit more sophisticated. There’s one or two more things I’m aware of, but haven’t committed to memory yet.

    @Vidwan
    Actually “me likey” is a common cultural expression, along with appearing as part of a phrase in several works. So yes, actually it would work as fill in a crossword.

    @all
    Gotta love the ad next to this one: “3 Signs You Mvay Have Fatty Liver”.

    Random question: How many people actually look for the theme and then use it in the course of solving? One thing I notice in my attempts to make grids is that I’m pretty theme-agnostic – 99.99% of the time I really don’t notice one in the course of solving a grid and really don’t care – i.e. everything just might as well be themeless in terms of solving. I know I’m probably strange in that regard, but I thought it’d be a good question to throw out there.

  4. I also put “Oragel” in instead of “Orajel”,so I didn’t get “jive” or “averred”. It was only this last bit giving me trouble and I got tired of it. So I looked at Bill’s grid. Confusing theme and lots of weird clues. I’m suprised that I finished almost all of it. Never heard of “brah”, “foofaraw’ or “Gchat”.

  5. Jeff, thank you for your comment on your grand/great aunt. I just missed your post, while typing. In India, ‘lifetimes’ are, or in my youth, used to be, much shorter spans, (about 50 yrs. max) so I never met any of my grandparents or remember any grand-aunts or uncles. So, I was confused.

    As for ‘Sons of Anarchy’, as our guru Bill would say, I don’t do anarchy,…. and am so terrfied of ‘bikers’ that I would have to fortify myself suitably, before I start watching those shows.

    A meek man, turns up before St. Peter, infront of the pearly gates. He says,’ How could God do this to me ? I confronted a group of bikers, who were abusing a woman. I butted heads with them, slapped a bunch of them, gave them a piece of my mind, and saved the woman, and shamed the entire group into backing off.’
    St. Peter says,’When did this happen ?’
    The man says,’About five minutes ago.’

    Have a great day, all.

  6. 17:28, no errors. Got hung up in the middle right (roughly at the intersection of ORAJEL, MINIBATS, JIVE and EBEN), but finally muddled through. Least favorite entry: ME LIKEY? … ??? … ??????

    @Glenn … It’s all your fault! 🙂 (Which is to say: Many thanks! ) 🙂 Yesterday, once my internet connection came back up, the rest of the day was spent doing puzzles, including some from the sites you recommended.

    I found the two CHE (Chronicle of Higher Education) puzzles to be relatively easy: the one dated 02/10 took 10:20, with no errors, and the one dated 02/17 took 12:33, with no errors. The themes struck me as exceptionally … what’s the word? … elegant, I think …

    Now, the Newsday puzzles: First I did the one from Monday, 02/13, and I forgot to time myself, but it didn’t take long and I finished with no errors. Then, I did the one from Wednesday, 02/15: 6:32, no errors. At that point, it was 9PM and I wanted to go to bed, but I made the mistake of looking at half a dozen of the clues on the puzzle from Saturday, 02/11, and I got sucked in, so I took note of the time and started working on it. It took me 1:06:48 from that point on to finish (so my actual time was a bit longer) and I’m astonished to say that I had only one letter wrong – a stupid mistake that I would probably have caught if I had gone back and rechecked things. This morning, I downloaded the puzzle from Saturday, 02/04, and will try it as I get time. As you said, the Newsday Saturdays appear to be extremely tough, but fair. (And yes, our anonymous friend from the NYT blog would almost certainly become apoplectic upon encountering one of them 🙂 )

    I have bookmarked these new sites and will continue experimenting with them, but I’m afraid I’d have to give up something else in order to fit them in on a regular basis: I have miles to walk and plants to water and income tax returns to file and meals to cook and … well, you get the idea …

    BTW, I liked your observations about the ability to see multiple possibilities in each clue being a key talent in doing crosswords. One way I express it is: If you’re sure of a particular answer, then, by all means, write it in … but you could always be wrong, so keep an open mind … 🙂

  7. This seemed challenging while in the midst of solving it, but it came together without too much angst. Some nicely esoteric clues and answers, especially for a Thursday. Now on to the WSJ grid!

    Have a great day all.

  8. One letter!!
    BrAH/rOID is a violation that should be brought up with the Crossword Police.
    I remembered that ORAJEL was spelled with a “j” but….
    My first two guesses were ABREVA and CARMEX. 🙁
    Too much JUNK fill!!!!!
    MST, SWE, LDS, ECT, LAA, ACCT, ASTR, DPS, ATMS, ASAP, CMA, MBA!
    Isn’t there a limit on such things?
    As to ME LIKEY, racist. And the constructor is Chinese-born!
    Charlie Chan in Paris:
    Max Corday: [in a condescending pidgen English/Chinese accent] Me happy know you. Mebbe you likee havee little drinkee?
    Charlie Chan: Very happy to make acquaintance of charming gentleman.
    [imitating Corday]
    Charlie Chan: Me no likeee drinkee now – perhaps later.
    QUOTES FOR CHARLIE CHAN
    Certainly not one Burnikel’s best efforts.

  9. @all
    1 error on Tues (screwy clue at 45A), 2 on Wed (Sessa’s grid was harder than average, some tricky clues, 59A’s crossers got me – knew it was wrong but couldn’t think of possibilities to fix it). Times: 9, 10, 18, 19.

    @David
    One thing I notice from the CHE crossword specs is the demand that the themes be of an academic nature, and that overall there’s a demand of the clues being very “technically correct”. Very exacting for a setter compared to other places, but for a college administrator/professor environment, it makes sense. Personally I would say those were the two most well-constructed puzzles I’ve run into in a long time.

    As for Newsday, the rest of the weekly puzzles top out at about a LAT Wed/Thurs, which is why I did them for a long time when I was learning – something more at my level. Like you say, lots of other things to do, so I had to take something at my level/interesting and stick with it and Newsday eventually fell out of my rotation (like the WSJ did sorta when I started getting papers with NYT in them). Of course, the Newsday Sat was (still is?) over my level, so I kind of kept that one in mind. Since I got a more encouraging outing this time I’ll probably stay at them if I can think to grab them as they come out.

    As for my “possibilities” comment, since you have/will do the puzzles, I held onto OMAN and CYPRUS for the longest time and got bit on both of those (you’ll know which clues when you see them) – that’s kind of where that comment came from. 🙂

  10. Had to do to this one with a lot of interruptions and time gaps. Very tough, but at some point I became determined. One error at ADAd/dANA and a hope and prayer at B from MINIBATS, which I guessed right. Is that really a baseball collectible?

    Did not like BRAH or ME LIKE. Had Mustang before Ferrari.
    Yesterday was a lot easier for me but I didn’t have time to stop by.

    @Jeff geez, Now I’ll have to get the DVDs from the library.

    @To no one in particular Worst president ever!!

  11. OMG! This was HARD!!!
    To paraphrase Lloyd Bridges in “Airplane,” I guess I picked the wrong week to give up exclamation marks!!!!
    I REALLY got hung up right away, in the northwest. Could NOT get ATOM or ABJECT. After struggling for an hour with the rest of the grid, I finally cheated, but only for ATOM. Getting that one word made it possible to finish the rest. No idea WHY I couldn’t get ABJECT sooner. And the theme I found confusing; decided not to bother with it.
    One of my fave setters, but one of my most disliked puzzles today.?
    @Glenn — good question re theme use. I’d say they help me about 35% of the time. Occasionally I go right for the theme to get me going, but more often than not I dive in without paying attention to it.
    Hey Jeff, I will take your recommendation on Sons!!!
    BTW — I’ve never heard the term grand aunt either; I always referred to my mom’s aunts as “great aunt.”
    DIRK! I second that emotion. Train wreck…(no disrespect to anyone here of course…)
    Be well~~™?

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