google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, October 10, 2014, Jeb Bennett

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Oct 10, 2014

Friday, October 10, 2014, Jeb Bennett

Theme: Quick I need a Quip! Get the V-8 can ready.

Well in the old days quips and quotes always appeared on Thursdays, but here we are with second such theme in the last 30 days on my watch. This appears to be another debut puzzle, so welcome Jeb. I wonder if he like all the others I know or have heard of, is really something like James Edward Bennett, hence the JEB. Anyway, the secret to a quip, which generally are not that favored, is how cute the result is and "I couldn't figure why the ball was getting bigger, and then it hit me" is a really entertaining one. We also have fewer 3 and 4 letter fill and some sparkly in between fill HERLIHY,  LITHEST, HOTSHOTS,  SON-IN-LAW, CLIENTELE,  OVERDRAWN. So let us take a ride and see where Jeb brought us.

 20A. Start of an optical illusion quip : I COULDN'T FIGURE.
 24A. Quip, part 2 : WHY THE BALL WAS.
 46A. Quip, part 3 : GETTING BIGGER.
 52A. End of the quip : AND THEN IT HIT ME.

Across:

1. Dressage gear : CROP. This was harder than it should have been, but there were so many 3 letter possibilities for 1 down...I understood the show horse reference, but....

5. Sound of warning : HISS.

9. Repel, with "off" : STAVE.

14. Member of a '60s quartet : PAPA. Luckily I had put CPO in by the time I got here.

15. Competitive blade : EPEE. Very popular in the puzzles these days.

16. Projecting window : ORIEL.

17. Like an insufficient account : OVER DRAWN. British fiction leads one to believe that Brits live on their over-drafts.(draughts?).

19. Best-dressed goal? : NINES. To the nines and the other expression using nine are all mysterious. LINK.

22. Agnus __ : DEI.

23. Film dog's first name? : RIN. A reverse CSO for the TINman?

31. "A little __ the mightiest Julius fell": Horatio : ERE. The sentinels in Hamlet preparing the audience for the excitement to come. The belief was that the dead walked just before Julius Caesar was assassinated. Zombies anyone? MMMM Shakespeare. 9D. Duke of Albany, to Lear : SON-IN-LAW. I like this and of course love me a double dose of Shakespeare. He married Goneril and paid the price.

32. Rocket retired in 2011 : YAO. I do watch some basketball so this was EASY.

33. Cry for help : MAYDAY.Along with pommes de terre frits, something else we got from the French, from 'venez m'aider', which translates to "come help me". According to wiki, it was adopted by a British officer at Croydon airport.

35. "The Scream" artist : MUNCH. Edvard. You want to read an ANALYSIS? Or just look?

38. One in a cage : RIB. Cute clue, I think coined by Brendan Emmet Quigley.

40. Drive erratically : WEAVE. Mini-theme. 12D. Avoid a suddenly stopped car, say : VEER.

41. Like the thing not to do : UNCOOL.

43. Zip : NIL. A common soccer (football) score.

45. Org. with an elephant in its logo : GOP. Grand Old Party.

50. "No more seats" letters : SRO. Standing Room Only.

51. Cross shape : TAU.

60. Small songbird : VIREO. They seem cute and are popular in the mid-west I am told. LISTEN. (0:14)

61. Customers : CLIENTELE. Pronounced differently but letter for letter from the French for a group of clients.

63. Not showing much life : INERT.

64. Masseur's selection : OILS. My masseuse prefers watercolors.

65. Project : EMIT.

66. New beginnings : DAWNS. No Eos, this time.

67. Stout grain : MALT. The creation of stouts, which are actually stout porters, stems from the use of roasted grains, which makes the liquid dark. Stout referred to the higher alcoholic content.

68. Rip violently : REND. Then you must mend.

Down:

1. USN rank : CPO. Chief Petty Officer. 47D. 1-Down, for one : NON-COM. Non-commissioned officer.

2. Sitar master Shankar : RAVI. I like listening to his DAUGHTER.



3. Gp. that includes Venezuela : OPEC. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries:Venezuela was on of the 5 original founders; can you name the other 4?

4. Ridicule : PARODY. I do not like this paring as parodies generally have some warmth.

5. Ed who was the longtime voice of Kraft Foods : HERLIHY. Not sure why we would remember this man's name. OBIT.

6. FaceTime device : I-PAD. I-Phone, I I I I

7. Needled? : SEWN. Cute clue.

8. Nissan model : SENTRA. I like the new MODEL.


10. Subj. with many functions : TRIG. Cute.

11. Indigenous Japanese : AINU. Today's history LESSON.
 
13. End of a threat : ELSE.

18. Righteous Brothers hit, e.g. : DUET.Wasted a lot of time trying to recall a four letter hit.

21. Record, in a way : FILM. Not so much anymore. Maybe 8MM.


24. Squeezed : WRUNG.

25. From now : HENCE.

26. Spot for a stud : EAR. What do you think ladies?

27. Spring sound : BOING

28. River to the Severn : WYE. It separates England and Wales; but I defer to Steve and NC for real commentary.

29. Saw : ADAGE. Oh, that old saw....

30. Relish : SAVOR. Do you relish relish?

31. Flightless zoo bird : EMU. They are flightless when not in a zoo as well.

34. "Okey-doke!" : YEP. I am an okey dokey smokey man myself.

36. "M*A*S*H" set piece : COT. Where Hawkeye, Trapper John and their roommates often interacted. At first when I had CO_, my mind went to cod piece...

37. Up-and-comers with egos : HOT SHOTS. Charlie Sheen? Tom Cruise?

39. Catcher behind a plate? : BIB. I have seen this clue/fill before, but it still rings hollow for me, as my bib are opposite the plate, protecting my shirt and tie.

42. Old Italian capital : LIRE. No Friday solver will fall for this old trick.

44. Most supple : LITHEST. A fun word, unless you lisp. Diana Rigg always looked lithe as Mrs. Peel; guys who would you nominate?

48. Profit : GAIN.

49. Water catcher : GUTTER.

52. Enthusiastic : AVID.

53. 1492 caravel : NINA. It was easy to guess because of the date, but it was a new WORD.

54. Took from the deck : DREW. Just not from the bottom,  please.

55. Gull-like bird : TERN.

56. Pelvic bones : ILIA. My favorite I[l]lya. LINK. (1:47).

57. Spot for ten-spots : TILL. Nice layered clue, with the advent of credit cards and electronic cash registers, the word is not heard much anymore.

58. Fast-spreading Internet phenomenon : MEME. It is fascinating to have lived for many years without this word, which comes from an ancient Greek CONCEPT. I was watching a rerun from the first year of Criminal Minds and the characters were being told what a "viral" video was. So much changes in 10 years, and our age group sees the before and after.

59. Nordegren who married Tiger Woods in 2004 : ELIN. She was Jasper Parnevik's nanny, and now she is fabulously wealthy as well as being...after two children.


62. Flight board abbr. : ETD. Estimated Time of Departure. Well it is my exact time of departure, as another week has gone by. This is the anniversary of the birth of my paternal grandmother, so to all the departed grandparents out there, rest well and enjoy the puzzles. Happy holidays and get ready for Columbus Day coming soon.

Lemonade out.


36 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Really enjoyed this one. Had a bit of trouble getting started though, due to the CROP/CPO crossing. It wasn't until I got the *TADA* at the end that I confirmed that it was correct, AND THEN IT HIT ME what CPO likely stood for.

The other trouble spot at the beginning was putting in SCARE instead of STAVE at 9A, which gave me CALC instead of TRIG at 10D. Math was never my forte, but I honestly don't remember hearing about functions in TRIG class. Of course, that doesn't mean much...

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

I zipped through this one pretty quickly. My only stumble was HOT STUFF before they got shot. I have one nit with 1D; in the Navy only officers have rank, enlisted personnel have a rate, and a CPO is enlisted.

Lemon, if only Brendan Quigley's middle name were Bernard (or something b-ish) then you'd have RIB brought to you by BBQ. I remember Ed Herlihy well as the voice of the movie theater newsreels; I didn't know he was the announcer for Kraft. I do remember Frank Gallop as the voice from the rafters on the old Perry Como TV show. I think Kraft was the sponsor.

desper-otto said...

Thinking of Frank Gallop reminded me of this 1966 recording: The Ballad of Irving (2:57). It was from the comedy album When You're In Love, The Whole World Is Jewish, but it was released as a single and got quite a bit of airplay that year.

Middletown Bomber said...

Not a big fan of the cluing for 38A it should be one of a cage as the rib is not in the cage but part of it.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Went through this quickly, all things considered. Stumbled with Rat before Rib, and Ainu was 100% perps and even then it looked suspicious.

Lemon, you have good taste in cars and swimwear.

Prairie Woman said...

Loved the link of David McCallum, but what TV show, pray tell was PTEDT? I do not remember ever seeing that one.
I thought the puzzle was fairly easy for a Friday. The quip was easier than some to figure out. Thanks for the puzzle and nice write up.

Husker Gary said...

I enjoy the puzzle in the puzzle puzzles! The theme became a help and not a hindrance and then a source of laughter.

Musings
-Hot Lips gave Frank Burns a riding CROP that her mother gave her father on their wedding night.
-Music from head PAPA – great. Personal life – sick.
-I’m overweight but have never been OVERDRAWN
-My two daughters have given me three SONs-IN-LAW. The last two are keepers
-WEAVE cause
-SRO for two weeks
-I wonder why we saw so much -barley MALT being grown around Munich?
-I well remember Ed’s name inserted in the Kraft Ads (:39)
-A couple great chassis (its own plural I find out) in that SENTRA picture Lemon! I also like your LITHE golfers, uh, follow through.
-Bill and Bobby with my favorite R ‘n R ballad (4:51)
-Shouting a beyond vulgar Internet MEME in a lunchroom got FSU quarterback Jameis Winston suspended this year
-At terrorist conscious Heathrow, we knew the ETD but sat in a central area to find out the gate until a few minutes before takeoff and had to hustle to make the plane

Big Easy said...

I had a lot of trouble on this puzzle before everything clicked. CROP came easily but I wanted CAP instead of Chief Petty Officer. If anybody out there actually knew 5D HERLIHY I would be surprised. What made it so hard for me was there were only a few gimmes, such as ELIN RAVI NINA EMU SRO. Along with the Kraft man, MEME VIREO WYE were solved strictly from the crosses.

Last night we went to listen to a friend's son's band from CA (they were really good) and there were many girls dressed to the NINES. My definition- stiletto heeled CFM shoes, very short shorts or skirts, and lots of cleavage.

Avg Joe said...

A bit tougher than usual for a Friday to me. I was Ravi and Opec right away, so crop came easily, but I tried CPT instead of CPO thinking it would be TV something. That quickly went away. And so the whole thing went. Some fairly easy fill, others not so much. Herlihy and Ainu were all perps. And so were the majority of the first 3 lines of the theme, but by the fourth line, it was becoming clear. Fun overall.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

A few bumps here and there but, overall, easy to suss the quip which helped the solve, and some strong perps helped, also. Liked the long, fresh fill: hotshots, overdrawn, lithest, and clientele. Thanks, Jeb, for a fun Friday frolic and thanks, Lemon, for a fun expo.

Enjoying Gracepoint, even though the lead detective is not very likable. Lots of red herrings being tossed around. Also enjoying How To Get Away With Murder, but I find the flashbacks confusing; I'm still not sure what is happening.

Have a great day

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Jeb Bennett, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Lemonade, for a fine review.

Enjoyed this puzzle. Had a tough time getting started though. Bounced around until I had a few gimmies. Such as ÉPÉE, ORIEL, DEI, GOP, SRO, etc.

Liked RIB. Very clever.

MALT is not technically correct in my opinion. Grain, such as barley, is Malted to create the malt that is used for brewing beer. The grain is moisturized and then warmed. It actually sprouts. With this process the starch in the grain is changed to sugar, which the yeast feeds on to produce the alcohol and CO2. The rest of the malted barley gives you the flavor, along with the hops. So, to say MALT is a grain, I will argue with. Nevertheless, I got the answer.

Enjoyed the quip. The center section eluded me for a while, but I took a long look and IT HIT ME.

I don't get MEME. I will ask my daughter.

On my way to Springfield. Almost there.

See you tomorrow from Springfield.

Abejo

(446)

Argyle said...

Last Friday's constructor stopped by...on last Friday's blog.
Oct 3

River Doc said...

Happy Friday everybody!

Lots and lots of write-overs in this one, but a couple of WAGs on the long quip answers resulted in the eventual TaDa!

PET and RAT for RIB, CLOSER and NEARER for BIGGER, PAUL for PAPA (wrong quartet), YEA for YEP, PEP fir NIL, LIRA for LIRE, and FILE for FILM....

Enjoyed the end of week Friday Fill, as mentioned above....

There's a new movie coming to a theater near you in 2015 - The Man From U.N.C.L.E. with Armie Hammer as Illya Kuryakin...!

Finally, who starred in the TV show CPO Sharkey (the poor man's SGT Bilko)...?

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi gang -

DNF in the east central. MAYDAY escaped me.

Otto -

I always thought that Irving song was a PARODY of this.

Lots of nice fill.

Two performances this week end.

Cool regards!
JzB

Anonymous said...

CPO Sharkey; Don Rickles

Lucina said...

Hello, weekenders.

I almost yelled MAYDAY on this but THEN, IT HIT ME! Really! I left the puzzle for a while then on my return I could "see" what was missing. However, as clever as this is, I still don't like this kind of puzzle.

I did SAVOR the fresh misdirection of saw, ADAGE, water catcher, GUTTER, new beginnings, DAWN, etc.

Sadly I didn't know HERLIHY or YAO thinking it referred to an actual rocket. Silly me! On a Friday.

I also failed to note that squeezed was past tense and was so pleased I had thought of WRING.

Still it was fun enhanced by Lemonade's always elegant expose.

Have a fine Friday, everyone!

Lucina said...

I wanted to add that the only thing I remember about TRIG is that it has functions!

And thank you for the clips of Ilya. I loved Mission Impossible back in the day and I like David now in NCIS.

Ergo said...



Took a stab at Ed MCMAHON as the voice for Kraft, and that quickly imploded. Otherwise the first three theme sections rolled out with such ease that it was scary.

The tail end of theme answer looked really quirky and took some alphabet runs. MEME was new to me (still don't really get it) It screams egotism to me rather than group frenzy in an internet kind of way.

PK said...

HI Y'all! Run-on quip themes with no other cluing always annoy me. I had to work downs to the bottom and WAG back up to get the quip. But it was more enjoyable than some Fridays. No red-letter runs somehow. Thanks, Jeb. Thanks, Lemony, enjoyed "That Lovin' Feelin'" which tamed my annoyance.

NIL: Last night my son & DIL drove an hour in light rain to watch their Jr.High son play football. After the first quarter the score was 38 to NIL in favor of my grandson's team. They play eight "men" and the home team had no more than eight boys out to play. One got injured. It was raining harder. They forfeited the game. The winners then drove for an hour in the rain home. Number of games this unenthusiastic grandma plans to attend? NIL!

desper-otto said...

PK, high school football is a bit of a sore subject with me. Our local school board saw fit to spend $21 Million on a new stadium complex. I think that money could have been better spent.

The stadium has an unusual name, because they sold the naming rights to an automobile dealership in a city 15 miles away -- no businesses up here had that kind of money to throw around.

The district also provided a Chromebook computer to every student in junior high or high school. I think this district is seriously over-funded.

PK said...

D-O: Good grief! Over spent, I guess. I lived in Texas just long enough to get a taste of the fanaticism some people down there have for football. I have never liked the game because all that banging into each other just makes me shudder. I cannot watch it. Not only is my 8th grade grandson playing, but the 2nd grader is too. The thought of these very smart little boys getting serious brain hits is horrifying. I'm told I am paranoid and unsupportive. You betcha!

Anonymous said...

I filled Ed Herlihy right off! Probably remembered him because he started every commercial with "I'm Ed Herlihy for Kraft Foods" and had a pretty distinct voice. Waxed poetic about the versatility of Velveeta and the tangy zip of Miracle Whip.

Nice Cuppa said...

Thanks Lemonade

Brits don’t have over-draughts (unless they have drunk too much beer I guess – maybe that was your pun). The spelling draught respects its origins, which are related to the modern drag and draw. It is is used for the movement of air, draught beer (e.g beer on draught), displacement of water by a ship, a checker-piece, among others.

But as early as 1714, Brits started switching to the phonetic spelling DRAFT for SOME meanings of the word, and somewhat arbitrarily; but notably, we use draft for more official senses, such as money: money draft, overdraft, “military draft” (noun and verb). And then there are some examples where both are acceptable, e.g.. draftsman/draughtsman Clearly, there is a slow movement toward the phonetic form, particularly where international trade is concerned.

Why visit Wye?. Next time you are in Britain, get out of London and head for the countryside. The Wye valley and surrounding hills are wonderful for sightseeing, walking, hiking, and of course sampling outstanding draught beer in the pubs found in all the beautiful villages found along the valley. Walk/hike from PUB/B&B to PUB/B&B for a few days, carrying just your essentials. Can’t go wrong (weather permitting).

Abejo, I disagree with you over malt. Malt is barley or other grain that has been germinated and dried, but it is still grain in the general sense of a cultivated cereal used for food. It is NOT grain in the sense of the (ungerminated) seed. That is, “grain” has two distinct meanings, which is I think where the confusion arises.

We have had MEME before, but to reiterate, the word was coined by Richard Dawkins in 1976 in his most famous book, The Selfish Gene, as a word to describe the way in which ideas and behavior spread within society by non-genetic means, long before the WEB, FACEBOOK and TWITTER arrived to transform the process.

NC

P.S. Enjoyed the crossword very much – I love that kind of (semi-clued) theme.

Tinbeni said...

Not a big fan of "Quote" themed puzzles. You either get it or you are in for a slow slog.

Only needed Every Single Perp to get HERLIHY, AINU & VIREO.
YEP my ESP was working overtime.

Fave today, of course, was MALT ... go figure. lol
Cheers!

Bill G. said...

I enjoyed this Friday challenge and the cleverness of some of the tricky clues. Who was responsible? Jeb or Rich? Anyway, thanks to both for the fun and to Lemon. I liked the quip and had heard it before. Once about half of the crossing letters had been filled it, I sussed it out and filled in a bunch of the remaining letters.

Re: TV shows. I'm still giving "How to Get Away With Murder" a try but it's a lot of effort for not much reward. First, what's with the behind-the-scenes murder at night with the students involved? Do you understand that? Can you explain it to me? Then, I think there are too many characters to try to get to know and keep track of. Third, none of the characters are very likeable so there is not much of a rooting interest for me. I really don't care how the main trial comes out. Guilty or not guilty? Throw 'em all in jail.

Speaking of likeability, I'm really enjoying "Person of Interest" this season. I'm starting to like and care about the main characters all over again. Unless that begins to happen with "Suits" also, I'm guessing I will scratch it off my list of shows to record.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I mostly enjoyed this puzzle, and especially appreciate some of the not-often-seen fill such as STAVE, UNCOOL, and LITHEST. Then there is the oft-seen stuff such as EPEE and OPEC. I liked the joke once I got it filled in.
I, too, remember that there were lots of TRIG functions, but I didn't learn about them in TRIG class; I first learned about them in Analytic Geometry and Calculus, as well as other functions in general.
Nice Cuppa, good point about MEME.
Best wishes to you all.

Nancy said...

D-O, at least your school district has no purple penguins like that warped, politically corrupt school district up there in Lincoln. What a bunch of fools.

CrossEyedDave said...

A canoe trip on the river Wye.

Barry said...

I wonder if Kripke of The Big Bang Theory ever canoed on the wiver Wye? Woe, woe, woe is my boat because she is so sad.

Bill G. said...

I can't get comfortable with 'meme.' I can't imagine using it in casual conversation.

CED, I enjoyed your video. Very scenic and peaceful.

The first time I ever heard about a math function was at Cornell in calculus. Now, middle school student are exposed to the concept.

Everybody needs a friend.
Mr. G. and Jellybean

Avg Joe said...

Careful there Nancy. You might want to actually pick up a paper and read about it.

Nancy said...

Hey there camper.

You mean like this one?

I love this line: "12 easy steps on the way to gender inclusiveness” that, among other things, advised avoiding “gendered” expressions such as “boys and girls.”

Lemonade714 said...

Argyle, thanks for picking up on Mr. McClain stopping by this morning and chatting at last Friday's write up; maybe Jeb will show up next week.

NC, I do try with my inter-curltural puns.

Lemonade714 said...

C.C. has the Chronicles of Higher Education Puzzle today LINK .

Bill G. said...

The late Andy Rooney's thoughts on smart dogs. DOGS

There's another enjoyable video about Rooney's thoughts at the Westminster Dog Show on the right side of the first video screen. "The average dog is a nicer person than the average person."

GarlicGal said...

Thanks Lemonade. That's a great puzzle site.

Nighty night