google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Friday, November 16, 2012, Gareth Bain

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Nov 16, 2012

Friday, November 16, 2012, Gareth Bain

Theme: Animal groups; what kinds can you recall?

I never knew how many TYPES there are.

A very appropriate theme for our now graduated veterinarian friend from South Africa, and along with our own marti, a Friday regular. This one is tricky, as it is both an add on to change the meaning; and a sound alike for two of the answers, where a two word base phrase is used to create a new and witty two word phrase involving a type of animal. There may even be more layers here, but it is late and I am tired. Gareth blogs the LA Times, with his efforts at the Crossword Fiend . This young man really gave me a work out today, and it is much later than I expected, but I adored the simplicity of the theme, once I got going, though it took a while to parse WINE and UINE.  I loved all of the long fill and the 53 theme spaces, and the symmetry of 6/5 for the four outside theme answers. Of course long fill leads to lots of initialisms and other minor flaws, but the result is a real Friday joy.

17A. What makes a cat a cat? : FELINE DRIVE (11). For all you cat people and nothing to do with the symbol for Iron. Baseball perhaps for C.C. with a line drive.

25A. Bearish directors? : URSINE BOARD (11). All these names are from their Latin stems. The change from sign (board) to sine board slowed me down.

34A. Sea dog who's actually a wolf? : LUPINE TAR (9). So Ida Lupino was an Italian wolf? More baseball with  pine tar.

52A. Dogs who inspire artists? : CANINE MUSES (11). My favorite visual, maybe these guys...

59A. Deliverers of certain farm news? : EQUINE PRESS (11). Like I said the wine to uine was tricky. Another cute picture of horses with press passes in their hats.

Across:

1. Restraint at a rodeo : RIATA. I had trouble lassoing this answer.

6. Magnum ___ : OPUS. I really wanted PI, but the perps saved me.
10. Telegraph "T" : DAH.  The code from Mr. MORSE.

13. Respond to : ACT ON. The first of the two word teaser answers.

14. Receive with relish : LAP UP. The second. Very nice visual clue, especially meaningful for all of our furry friends.

16. Headline-making NYSE event : IPO. Initial Public Offering.

19. Pro at balancing: Abbr. : CPA. Ceritified Public Accountant. Not C Threepio.

20. Second-smallest st. : DELaware. Delathere? We love Rhode Island.

21. To date : YET.

22. Elevated church area : ALTAR. The place where many alter their lives.

24. Greek vowel : ETA. Big breakfast today.

28. State from which the Utah Territory was formed : DESERET. This may be a learning moment for many including me; interesting that this piece of HISTORY comes from our South African constructor.

30. Tarzan, for one : ADOPTEE. Also one I need lots of help to get, not thinking of the jungle family which took him in.

31. No longer in : DATED. Unmod?

32. Prefix with culture : AVI. Did everyone want to cram in AGRI? But when you are learning from a veterinarian, you get THIS.

33. Former word for former days : ELD. This is the price you pay for three nice 7 letter downs. Do not nit, it is real.

39. Calendar pg. : JANuary.

42. Texter's "Zounds!" : OMG. Oh My G-d.

43. Many a Johann Strauss work : POLKA.  Maybe you recall this tune from the old CARTOONS (2:44).

47. Muscle Shoals site : ALABAMA. The birthplace of much music including Sam Phillips, who started the careers of Elvis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. The recording studios there still produce hits. HISTORY (9:07).

50. Countless : UMPTEEN. What a great word.

54. Marshal at Waterloo : NEY. We have had this many times, and I finally remember his name.

55. "___ Schoolchildren": Tracy Kidder book : AMONG. Never heard of this BOOK.

56. Nancy Drew's beau : NED. Never read the books, but this was an easy guess. Julia's niece Emma.

57. Econ. measure : GDP. Gross Domestic Product.

58. San Francisco's ___ Hill : NOB.

64. Shakespeare title word : ADO. About nothing.

65. French income : RENTE. Guess what English word we get from this?

66. iComfort mattress maker : SERTA. iComfort? Really.

67. Shooting locale : SET. Film shooting, though there often is shooting during shootings if you like NCIS.

68. 1967 #1 hit "Somethin' Stupid," e.g. : DUET. A very odd SONG (2:39) for a man and his daughter, but her career needed a hit..

69. Former "NOVA scienceNOW" host Neil deGrasse ___ : TYSON. I learned all about him HERE (1:51). Don't be sorry if you forgot.

Wow, all beat up and we are just getting to the downs!

Down:

1. Churchill's "so few": Abbr. : RAF. Royal Air Force.  LINK.

2. Summer quencher : ICED TEA.  Is everyone happy? Three.

3. In any event : AT LEAST. Four.

4. Slave : TOIL.

5. Wilson of Heart : ANN. My favorite SONG (5:28) of theirs.

6. Least fresh : OLDEST. I even struggled with this for a while.

7. Story opener : PART I.

8. Org. managed by Scripps until 1982 : UPI. United Press International.

9. Soccer mom's ride : SUV. Sports Utility Vehicle.

10. Work with a steno : DICTATE. The first of a great seven letter stack. I guess I was a dictator at one point in my life.

11. Worn things : APPAREL. Worn, not worn out.

12. Accumulated to a fault : HOARDED. Your realize their is a TV show about hoarders, I opted for this less frightening ONE (3:36). They love 48D. Storage unit : BIN.

15. R&B singer Bryson : PEABO. COOL man.

18. Lake ___, Australia's lowest point : EYRE. This strange lake is often a desert (not to be confused with DESERTE) LINK.  Kazie, I will leave it to you to tell us the rest of the story.

23. Sever, with "off" : LOP.

24. Announcer Hall : EDD. The announcer fired by Jay Leno when he hired Stuttering John away from Howard Stern.

25. Language spoken in New Delhi : URDU. I am sure they speak it there, but it is the official language of Pakistan, while only recognized in 5 states in India. Or least that is what my Pakistani liquor store man told me..

26. Church section : NAVE. Not related to Naive.

27. Change, in a way : EDIT.

29. Unadon fillets : EEL. A Japanese portmanteau. It is UNAGI in a bowl DONBURI with rice.

32. Taiwanese-born Lee : ANG. The director.

35. Apple or pear : POME. From the Latin Pomum, which also gave us POMME en francaise.

36. Mosque leader : IMAM.

37. PDA add-ons : APPS. Applications.

38. Foolish talk : ROT.

39. Tropical birds that run on lily pads : JACANAS.  A bit of homegrown knowledge from our constructor who obviously loves ANIMALS.

40. Fashionable : A LA MODE. This is not just for ice cream. Five.

41. Hypothetical high-tech predator in Crichton's "Prey" : NANOBOT. A truly prolific writer but who often provides  frightening looks at the world. LINK.

44. Banks, e.g. : LENDERS. Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

45. Abides by : KEEPS TO. Six.

46. "___ objections?" : ANY.

49. Steamed state : ANGER.

50. Online discussion venue : USENET. Your free GUIDE.

51. Assyrian's foe : MEDE. They joined up with the Babylonians to dooms the Assyrians.

53. Link : UNITE.

57. Like rainy London skies : GREY.

60. Logical abbr. : QED. Quod Erat Demonstrandum.

61. Onetime Burmese statesman : U NU. Who knew U Nu, did you? I knew U Thant and fortunately this was all filed by the time I saw the clue, because I did not have a CLUE.
(From C.C.: Wiki said the Burmese U is like our "Mr.". Must be very common in their statesmen names.)

62. L.A. setting : PST. Pacific Standard Time.

63. ___ Mateo, California : SAN. If it is California it will be SAN.

Well this is what a Friday should be, lots of stuff and well worth the ride. See you after the holiday and my visit to my baby.

Peace out, Lemonade.



92 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Well, this one beat me around the head a bit again, but unlike yesterday I managed to emerge victorious at the end with my head unbowed.

Like Lemonade, I thought understood the theme early on, then got messed up with the SIGN->SINE and WINE->UINE switches. Fortunately, I'm up on all my animal type prefixes, so it wasn't that much of a struggle.

I also lucked out having recently read "Prey" (started before his death, finished afterwards by another writer, and not particularly good in my opinion), so NANOBOT was a flat-out gimme. Ditto for having spent some time in UTAH and knowing DESERET as a result. I'm also a huge fan of Neil DeGrasse Tyson, so that helped as well.

But then we had POLKA instead of WALTZ for 43, which totally threw me. And JACANAS, which I had idea about whatsoever. And AVI. And MEDE. And EYRE. And EEL (well, I know what EEL is, but "Unadon"?) Ouch!

Al well, as I said, I managed to make it through unassisted in the end. Besides, it was nice to see ICED TEA for a change instead of ICE TEA... ^_^

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

For once I caught on to the theme early, with Ursine Board, and it helped with the whole grid. Lots of unknowns today. Aviculture is new to me as well as to my spellchecker, but it makes sense. Unu and Peabo were all perps.

Morning, Lemon, I always wondered what happened to Edd Hall - I liked his style! I wonder what an announcer earns. Seems like an easy job...

Al Cyone said...

More outright guesses than I'm usually comfortable with (including the final UNU/RENTE combo) but a good Friday-level puzzle for Friday. [13:53]

Dudley said...

Oh, and WBS about Iced Tea. I'm firmly in that camp.

thehondohurricane said...

Good morning everyone,

Lemon, thank you for confirming what a dumb ass I am/was today. After reading your very informative blog, I still don't think I could start anew and finish this "baby" off.

I'm not going into great detail about my failings, but even though I had an idea about the theme, I could only get 59A correct and it made no sense to me. The SE corner was my only success.

My favorite part of this puzzle was finally saying "screw it". I was a beaten puppy and knew it.

At least I will be doing card shows both days this weekend, so I have some time to recharge my batteries for next weeks venture back into the world of "puzzledumb."

I hope everyone has a real fun weekend.





Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Lemonade and friends. Man, oh Man, was this a toughie. I enjoyed the Animal Farm and could figure out the theme clues, but it was the other clues that killed me!

Worn Things = APPAREL was my favorite clue.

The Smallest State of the Union also has the longest name.

Hand up for liking the ICED TEA.

Happy Holidays, Lemonade. Give the baby a big kiss from us all!

QOD: Thank Heaven, the sun has gone in, and I don’t have to go out and enjoy it. ~ Logan P. Smith

desper-otto said...

Good morning.

This was a quick romp compared to yesterday's slog. RIATA, POLKA and UMPTEEN were my first guesses for those clues. Unfortunately, TWO was my first guess for ADO and that made California the last area to fall.

Another hand up for ICED TEA over ICE TEA. Looks like we are one happy bunch today.

Get your facts straight said...

Barry G.
Michael Crichton's book, Prey, was published in 2002, six years before his death (11/4/08).

It was the book, Micro, that was found 1/3 finished after his death, and completed by Richard Preston

HeartRx said...

Good morning Lemonade, C.C. et al.

Fun puzzle today from Gareth. He is a veterinarian, so I thought this was a really clever way to combine two of his loves - animals and crosswords! I really was looking for RSPCA in there someplace, but maybe next time...

Great write-up Lemony. I love Heart (of course!), and often sang "The Magic Man" to my late husband. So thanks for linking it today.

I also immediately thought of the poker-playing dogs when I saw the clue for CANINE MUSES. Fun stuff!

TGIF...

Barry G. said...

Get your facts straight said...
Michael Crichton's book, Prey, was published in 2002, six years before his death (11/4/08).

It was the book, Micro, that was found 1/3 finished after his death, and completed by Richard Preston


You are absolutely 100% correct! I actually have both books and got them confused. I didn't really like "Micro," but "Prey" was actually an enjoyable read.

Apologies, and thank you for setting the record straight.

Tinbeni said...

Lemon: Excellent write-up and great, informative, links.

Gareth: Thank you for a FUN Friday offering.

HeartRx: I also had that image of those poker-playing dogs when solving. GMTA.

I'd jump on the ICED-TEA-v-ice tea debate (it is such an erudite subject) but y'all know my Summer quencher would be scotch (didn't fit).

Cheers !!!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Nice informative write-up, Lemonade.

Got the theme rhythm right away. 59a, farm …… wanted bovine before EQUINE loomed with QED and U NU. Remember when U NU was SG of the United Nations. Learning for today was JACANAS. Wonder if this might have been Gareth's seed word. Another multi 'a' word like banana, Manama and balaclava. I thought this was a lot easier than yesterday's meat grinder. No searches needed. Ample perps.

Lemon, thanks for pointing out Gareth's profession as a veterinary. Always liked the "Creatures Great and Small" series on PBS 25 yrs ago.

Per Lemon's question: Porcine and Ovine come to mind.

DEL has 3 counties; RI has 5

Have a great day

Mari said...

Happy Friday everybody!

What a brain buster today! I finished it, but didn't understand the theme.

PEABO, JACANAS, and ALAMODE were complete unknowns. And what is USENET? Does anybody use USENET? I'm on Facebook - are they similar?

I knew DESERET from my Mormon friends.

Nancy Drew and her cohorts NED, George, etc. started me on my path to reading. When I was a kid my goal was to collect the whole set of books. (I didn't get very far.)

Speaking of, DH is off to a movie convention this weekend leaving me with a stack of books and a pile of cats to enjoy.

Have a great weekend!

Avg Joe said...

Well, the difficult week continues, but this was at least easier than yesterday. Must have been on the right wavelength, cuz most of my wags (and there were a bunch) turned out correct. Jacanas, in particular, was all perps, but the rest felt solid enough to go on. Lots to like, little pick at. Great puzzle.

Enjoyed the link about Muscle Shoals, Lemon. Glad they featured Duane Allman. One of the lesser known tunes that came of his time there was Loan Me a Dime off Boz Scaggs' debut. Long tune (12:45).

PK, from yesterday. I went back and read the Wiki article on the B-2 a little deeper, and from what I could tell, the one you saw almost had to have been based at Whiteman. But for a long range craft, central KS is right next door.

And Manac. Wow! 2" in 3'. The threshold had to be the height of a low hurdle...or at least a serious speed bump. "They don't build them like they used to" is more often than not a good thing.

Lucina said...

Hello. Thanks, Lemonade, for your always erudite expo.

A fun sashay today from Gareth. It's clear he has animals on his mind and used them effectively. In an unusual flash of inspiration, I caught the theme.

AVI and JACANAS gave me some pause but I trusted the perps and realizing that Gareth is from RSA thought he would know of some unusual names.

Liked seeing APPAREL and A LA MODE in opposite corners.

Ditto on the ICED TEA commentary.

I knew DESERET from reading The 19th Wife.

you all have a wonderful Friday!

TTP said...

Started swiftly in the NW and it was done in a few minutes and had FELINE something. Jumped to the other long answers and filled in URSINE. Not so clear on the others. Went back to the top.. OPUS, DICTATE and HOARDED were easy. APPAREL for Worn things took a bit. Liked the balancing pro CPA. Hard a hard time solving 45D Abides by to KEEPSTO,not because it was wrong by any means, but simply that I didn't see it. It was the key to solving the SW.

Tarzan wasn't primate, but ADOPTEE. Again. What is 28A ? Have to read Lemonade's explanation.

Fun to see 31A clue "no longer in" for answer DATED. Rich apparently wants to reinforce that "in" was a valid clue for yesterday's answer MOD. Is 50A UMPTEEN a technical term ? 39D JACANAS would have been a complete failure except that the acrosses filled every square.

Spent over an hour on South Central. Wanted Moab for Assyrian foe, but felt that couldn't be correct, and wanted TED for Nancy Drew's beau. Removed both of those. Finally thought of QED. Was thinking about Natty's argument about mayo and Subway yesterday, presented in a "case-closed, self-evident, thus it is proven" manner and that gave me QED. Then USENET and MUSES above, then UNITE. That's it, NED not TED. That gave me the EQUINE part to go with the previous PRESS. MEDE not Moab. Then DUET.

All done ? No, no idea at the crossing of 61D and 65A. Guessed at B. Then S, then T. Who knew the Burmese statesmen ? You Knew ? Forgot a crossword staple, and that after reading the article on UNU the last time he was pressed into service.

So, disappointed that not 100%, and time to go read Lemonade.

Hahtoolah said...

Barry G: you are very gracious.

Lucina: I read and enjoyed The 19th Wife, but i didn't remember Deseret.

Husker Gary said...

SINE and UINE (swine somewhere?) were “huhs?” but “had to be’s” but hanging on to BIT as a storage unit and not BIN hurt more. What a Bain workout today!

Musings
-NW fell quickly and then it was “gird your loins” on this big boy puzzle
-DOT, DIT, DAH, GRAY/GREY and ICE(D) TEA choices
-I learned DESERET from this History Channel show
-Biblical uses for ALTARs seem grotesque now
-Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan always seemed to be clean-shaven, with a nice haircut and a pressed loin cloth out in the jungle. Jane was equally well coiffed and made up. Cheetah?
-C’mon, you wanted WALTZ for Strauss work first, didn’t you?
-90 yr old MIL still drives 30 miles to Wahoo, NE to POLKA on Sundays
-I agree with Lemon on the Frank/Nancy duet and same could be said of Elvis/Lisa Marie effort. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s (or daddy’s) ear.
-Neil deGrasse Tyson is fabulous to listen to (to which to listen?)
-Hahtoolah, QOD sounds like an anthem for George Costanza
-Tin, I know iced scotch is a sacrilege ;-)
-Ever the contrarian, I thought yesterday’s puzzle was easier.

Dudley said...

Just went back to the links in Lemon's post. I listened to the entire Churchill "so many to so few" speech; I don't recall hearing the whole text before. Thanks for linking it! I admire the man's ability to apply complex grammar so smoothly, and wish that American politicians were equal-caliber orators.

Dudley said...

Hey Puzzlers,

I'm keen to learn who among us is fond of a capella singing.

I can't get enough of beautiful harmony - barbershop, Beach Boys, Beatles, college groups, Wailin' Jennies, Sweet Honey in the Rock, you name it. When performed live and a capella, harmony to me represents a pure example of musicianship.

A modern-day form of performance has emerged via the internet. Here's an example of a collaboration done by young men who have never met in person, compiled by their leader Julien in Paris. Song

Where do you stand?

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for today's puzzle.

Now I don't need to go to the store to buy toilet paper.

TTP said...

Thank you Gareth Bain and thank you Lemonade. Yes 28A was a learning moment. Took the link, read that, and then linked to the Mexican Cession article. Could go all day linking and reading if I didn't have to get to work. Yes, aviculture.

Went to one of the aviculture websites awhile ago to read about the angry birds everyone keeps talking about, but couldn't find anything on them.

Hatoolah, that was a fun fact about Rhode Island's name. I will use that.

I think I should try drinking a cup of coffee while solving (or attempting to solve) the Thursday Friday and Saturday offerings.

Well, I better get to work and start contributing to the GDP.

See all y'all later.

Dennis said...

anon@9:46, use something soft so you don't get a lip rash.

*David* said...

A quick puzzle as far as theme and most of the fill. I got stuck in both lower corners. The SE fell when I got POLKA. The SW was more difficult but came together once I corrected PONE to POME and got ALABAMA. That corner had the most unknowns with JACANAS and NANOBOT (which was more inferable).

Lemonade714 said...

Hello everyone:

Dudley you inspired two questions, the first to you. How did you discover these computer created harmonies? (I do not care for Danny's voice).

The second is to great mass out there in cyberspace. As I type this we have had over 2500 views of today's blog, and I guess I have always assumed most were people looking for an answer or an explanation of answer, as this is how I found the Corner. While have many who read the write up before commenting, we also have many who write and then read. Where do you fall? Thanks, it is fun to know more about the audience.

I thought the two last TBBT were better but it does appear the dynamic of Leonard and Penny is played out and we will have to see what the injection of "love" into the equation generates.

Dudley said...

Lemon - first, I tend to search YouTube using "a capella" or its variations as a search phrase, and see where the current takes me. There is some great content, and some crap.

Second, I understand that Danny's voice could irritate. It's common among male high tenors whose pitches run high enough that they don't need to break into falsetto, in my experience. Since those video files were created at home with humble equipment, I presume the compiler had limited opportunity to tweak.

Last: I tend to read the writeup without doing all the links, then comment, then return at leisure with a faster PC to look at all the bonus material.

Anony-Mouse said...

Thank you Lemonade for your well thought and witty commentary. I just looked at the puzzle for a half hour - to see if I could make any headway - then I came to the blog.(Thank God ... ) Very interesting about Deseret - wow !

Spitzboov, U Thant was Secr. Genl. of the UN, not U Nu. I know - they all look alike, and sound alike. (lol, ;-), really). U Thant was a private secretary to U Nu, then Burmese UN ambassador, then UN Secy. Genl. in 1961.

U Nu was, and probably is THE most important pol. fig. in Burmese history, other than Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner. Like others who were the 1st PM's of their countries, after independence from the imperial powers, (and had long political lives, afterwards ... ) - Ben-Gurion, Nasser, Nehru, Lee Kuan Yew ( Singapore ), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) and Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya) ... U Nu is indelibly identified with Burma ( Myanmar). He ruled, off and on, for about 15 yrs. from 1947 ~ 1962.

Lemon, the most common language in Delhi is ... English ( surprised ?). Hindi and Punjabi follow close behind. Like most other Indian languages, Urdu and Hindi are both 'Sanskrit - based' ( ~ Hindu ) languages and about 60% of the 'common' vocabulary is common among them. However, especially in Pakistan, there is a compulsion and a strong tendency to use pseudo-Arabic nouns and verbs which are difficult for a non-native speaker to comprehend. In India, Urdu is spoken in cities where there is a big moslem minority - cities of Lucknow, Aligarh and Hyderabad (the one in India.). Ironically, in Bollywood movies, Urdu scriptwriters are very popular, because Urdu is considered more 'flowery' and chic - (like the French ?).

My DFAC - Darn Feral Attack Cat - is steadily gaining weight - and doesn't snarl at me, anymore. I am seriously considering starting an I.R.A. for her/him/it.

Have a nice weekend you all, and best wishes.

Husker Gary said...

Musings 2
-I love a capella singing and did that and barbershop in high school
-The music options available on this site are fabulous!
-Here is my daily puzzle ritual
1. Do the puzzle with coffee and #2 Ticonderoga in my sunroom (not a Florida room, Marti!)
2. Read write-up from our stable of fine blog masters while keeping a Word document open and toggling back and forth between reading blog and typing musings.
3. Read what others have said in the Comment section to amend my thoughts or simply to learn and enjoy other points of view.
4. Copy and paste Word document into Leave Your Comment
5. Preview/Publish
6. Add comments during the day if I am available, somebody addresses me or I find a thread to which I think I can make a contribution.
7. Occasionally, write personal emails to some wonderful friends I have made here
-Our local newspaper runs a second, very elementary crossword puzzle opposite the funnies everyday and perhaps those not ready for late week LA puzzles could find refuge in such places instead of pointless carping. I would never complain about marathon races because I know upfront I could never do one.

Avg Joe said...

Dudley, that is an interesting take on the song, but it's not pure a capella. There's light percussion in the background, and even some bass...probably accoustic. Still, it works well.

My puzzle routine is to get the solve complete unaided, pencil on paper, when possible. If that fails, I'll do some googling to finish the job. If that fails, I'll come here to get unstuck. Most days, I finish unaided. Then, I'll read the write up for today, read the end of days posts from the prior day, then read todays posts before commenting.

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

This was one of the most difficult puzzles I have done in a long time. I needed help to finish, particularly in the SW. Kudos, Gareth, for a super-clever theme and a mind -boggling (for me, anyway) challenge. Thanks, Lemony, for your informative write-up.

I DVR'd TBBT last night and haven't watched it yet. Person Of Interest was over the top again, IMO. Elementary was pretty good.

Bill G- I was looking through my book shelves and spotted a book that I read about 25 years ago and wondered if you have ever read it. It is Lonesome Dave by Larry McMurtry and is one of the best books I have ever read. If you haven't read it, please do as I think you would enjoy it. It was also made into a mini-series starring Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, which was excellent.

Have a great Friday.

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Was really surprised when I got the "ta-da" as this was very challenging. Loved the animal theme, but it took awhile to catch on. Thanks to Gareth and Lemonade!

URSINEBOARD had me really scratching my head for a while. Wanted Sign.

Can't seem sleep more than a few hours at a time as my right knee is killing me. Any non-surgical suggestions?

I thought Prey was excellent. Have read it two or three times.

We finally had an honest rain here! After months of drought. (Previous two drizzles in the last two months did nothing useful.) Maybe my trees will survive after all!

Ryan Cartwright's character is going to cause trouble for Penny and Leonard! (Really disliked his character on Alphas. Come to think of it, really disliked the whole show!)

Cheers!

Zcarguy said...

Today's effort by Gareth Bain
Was very clever , but a pain
Some clues I couldn't explain
So I humbly admit to a DNF
And tomorrow I'll try again .!

JJM said...

Lemonade:
I finish the puzzle. I then come here and read the comments to see if readers got stuck on the same clues as I. I comment when I think I can either add or question something. If I criticize it's usually because I think a clue is bad, like today...Fashionable---> ALA MODE?? If it weren't for the perps... Anyway much easier than yesterday. My favorite poster is Barry G.

fermatprime said...

Er, that's "can't seem to sleep..."

Bill: you mean Lonesome Dove?

Mari said...

Dennis @ 9:55 am: Too funny!

Spitzboov: Have you watched Last Resort (a new show on TV). As it's about the Navy I wonder what your thoughts are.

Dudly @ 9:42 am: I do like some a capella. Your link is blocked by my employer, so I'll have to watch it from home later.

Lemony @ 9:58 am: I liked the part of TBBT where Sheldon peeks through the worm hole and gets an alien stuck to his face! Did you notice that they didn't show Amy or Bernadette at all? It was almost like the old TBBT.

Irish Miss said...

To Bill G-As Fermatprime pointed out, the correct title is Lonesome Dove. I did proof before sending but still missed that error. Sorry.

Anonymous said...

I read the blog first. Then I read the comments. I have my wife copy a free version of the puzzle at her workplace. I then solve the puzzle the following day.

Barry G. said...

Hands up for being a fan of a capella singing. I enjoy listening to all types, including doo-wop and barber shop, but when it comes to actually doing it myself I prefer Renaissance choral music. I think I've posted it before, but here is the group that I currently perform with: Vox Lucens.

As for my habits on this blog, I'm usually pressed for time in the morning and barely have enough time to do the puzzle and make my initial comments before I have to go wake up my son and get him ready for school. Which, of course, is my justification for any typos or inaccurate recollections... If I had a particular problem or complaint, I will search the commentary to see if anybody else had the same issue, but that's about it.

If I have time later in the day (like now, for example), I do like to come back and check out the rest of the posts. Sadly, I don't always have time to do so.

PK said...

Hi Y'all, I was on Gareth's wavelength today and enjoyed the puzzle. I pretty much WAGd & perped my way through a lot. But fun. Great write-up, Lemonade!

I got FELINE and wrote in "genes" which then had to be erased. Had "dit" which became DAH.

The only area not finished correctly was that S center block. I, who owned and read multiple times all Nancy Drew books, wrote in "Ken". Oh, the shame of it! From there down all I had right was EQUINE. Looked up "income" in my French dict. and wrote in "revnu". Forgot the song was a duet.

Loved to POLKA at one time, but that link was more like a gallop.

I love a cappella. They do the percussion and bass by mouth, AvgJoe, so it is pure a cappella.

I do the puzzle, read the esteemed commentator du jour, read the bloggers so I can try to prevent repetition, then post.

Lucina said...

Lemonade, to answer your question: since the puzzle is fresh in my mind, I read the commentary which I enjoy as much as the puzzle. All you bloggers are so good!

Then, unless I'm very late, I read all the posts so that I won't repeat what has already been said although sometimes it's worth repeating.

Then I write my own post. As i have mentioned before I solve with paper and pencil.

Dudley:
I love any kind of good music. I do not consider rap or hip hop good music, though. The one you linked was beautiful for being cobbled as it was.

PK said...

AvgJoe: About the B2, only know what I was told at the time. We weren't told Whiteman, I'm sure of that. We had relatives at Whiteman. They swooped in from the north. We saw them off and on for months. Top secret planes like that one was, may not have had media coverage. They don't tell us.

For all I know they only did touch & goes at Offutt. You know, some of those planes get moved around by the AF. A case in point, some planes in the recent hurricane's were brought here for safety and are still here. Before another pending hurricane, my son and several other pilots hopped a flight to Biloxi and flew planes to Oklahoma.

One summer we heard and saw many nights of helicopter maneuvers around our country area. Lots of helicopters. Drove my husband nuts because he couldn't find out what they were doing or where they came from.

Misty said...

This was so much easier than yesterday's monster, that even though I didn't quite finish it, I totally enjoyed it. Also, I'm an animal lover, so I got the front of all the theme answers pretty quickly, although I had trouble with the second words. As a result I had CANINE MODEL and never questioned it, which made that bottom middle square hard to get. But I don't care, I had fun this morning, so many thanks, Gareth, and you too, Lemonade, for your always enjoyable write-up.

I loved seeing the pic of OPUS again, and getting a reminder of "All Creatures Great and Small," a favorite series of mine many years ago.

For some reason, I thought "Among School Children" was a W. B. Yeats poem.

And speaking of poets, great work, SLZalameh!

Have a terrific Friday, everybody!

PK said...

Barry, enjoyed your Vox Lucens clip. A great stress reliever to sing these ancient songs, I'm sure.

Sfingi said...

Had waLtz before POLKA, eatUP before LAPUP. Is that LAP UP or La Pup - in keeping with animal theme.
Googled 11 times.

Caught all the animal types, and then wondered what Bain (of my existence) was getting at. I felt the SINE for sign was lame, though EQUINE for wine didn't bother me.

Learned some animal stuff - Jacana - interesting bird; and, MEDE horses, now extinct; and UNADON, a name for eel.

@Dudley - Re: EDD - just remember, most people have a phobia of public speaking to the point that they'd rather be in the coffin than giving the eulogy.

@Spitzboov - Seed word?

To all who DNF - Do you also Google before flying the white flag?

Love TBBT and PEABO.

Anonymous said...

Good morning fellow writers. I am Susan Ito. I am from Osaka, Japan. I have been in USA for 6 years. I am a fellow pediatric oncology surgeon at a UCLA hospital. About 17 months ago my boyfriend broke up with me and I started to try the Los Angeles Times crossword riddle and I came across this website to get the correct answers. I have been reluctant to write anything because I feel this is a close coterie of friends and some not so friendly types and I did not wish to intrude. I would like to wish all the best of happiness.

May I show my appreciation to the kind and beautiful girl, Yellow Rocks-san who has apparently been to my home country, Japan, before, and writes very nice things about my country. You are very young,very pretty and somewhat shy. Doumo arigato gazaimasu - thank you very much.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. I thought the puzzle today was easier than the one yesterday, but of course easiness is subjective. After filling in FELINE I got the theme but got stuck on 59A. Al the other clues had the name of the animal in them (cat, bear, wolf, dog) except the clue at 59A, which did not contain the word horse. It just said "farm" so I thought it was some sort of unifier entry for the aforementioned animals, not another specific animal.

Waited for perps to determine RIATA vs LASSO, DAH vs DIT, JAN vs the other months, SERTA vs SEALY, ANGER vs ANGST, and POLKA vs WALTZ. For some reason U NU was a gimme, as were NOB and SAN.

Very astute observation about the name Rhode Island, Hahtoolah. I like reading your insights and opinions.

May favorite fill was UMPTEEN. I like that word. Didn't like ELD or RENTE so much, but fully understand their necessity.

Jayce said...

I also found this blog when I was googling around to try to find an answer to a puzzle. My method is to read last night's late comments first, then work the puzzle in the newspaper with pencil, then read the writeup, and finally read the comments. Sometimes I'll post a comment before reading yours, but usually I read all or most of your comments before posting mine.

Penny on TBBT has become crabby and complaining, and Sheldon just keeps getting more and more selfish and domineering. Not attractive, as my grandson likes to say. Johnny Galecki, who plays Leonard, has fortunately been getting more and better opportunities to flex his acting chops. He's actually pretty good. Raj and Howard are as one-dimensional as ever, and unfortunately have been pretty much limited to one-liner ethnic jokes.

Lucina said...

Hahtulah@9:04
i might be confused about Desert and the 19th wife because I saw the same program as HG on the history channel.

However, Deseret was mentioned as a town in the book.

Anonymous said...

I love most of Tracy Kidder's books. He spends a lot of time with his subjects so you feel a part of whoever's world he is exploring. Special favorite: Mountains beyond Mountains: the Quest of Paul Farmer; Strength in What Remains; and Among Schoolchildren.
Enjoyed this puzzle, challenges but doable. Only ?? was Urdu for language spoken in New Delhi-- that is like saying "Language spoken in London or New York" - also could be answer: urdu. I was expecting it to be one of the official languages.

thehondohurricane said...

Barry G,

Vox Lucens TERRIFIC

Abejo said...

Well, thank you, Gareth Bain, for one tough puzzle. That's two days in a row. Thank you, Lemonade, for the review.

I could not finish this one. At least in the time I had. Too tough for me.

Putting EUROS for 65 instead of RENTE messed up that portion.

There were other french words, ALA MODE I did not get.

Not sure why I would not know a word like Unadon. What's the matter with me.

I was proud to figure out ADOPTEE for 30A.

Anyhow, enough said. I have a lot to do today. See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Anonymous said...

Jayce I agree with all your comments on TBBT. I say we should add a Polish guy, a Chinese guy and a Pakistani for the one dimensional ethnic jokes. Our embassy in Islamabad has been much too quiet lately. Let the protests begin anew. And lets not forget our black bretheren. A coupla of black chicks could certainly liven up the action, and give some pointers to Penny to boot.

Jayce said...

Sfingi, yes. I google before raising the white flag.

Barry G, lovely!

Bill G. said...

Welcome Susan Ito. It's good to hear from you.

Dudley, I enjoyed your music link. Musical harmony is great stuff, both with voices and with instruments.

Irish Miss, thank you for the book recommendation. I will add it to my Nook library and am looking forward to reading it.

Yeah for ICED TEA. It doesn't take much to make us happy.

Jayce said...

Susan Ito, welcome. Thank you for posting your comments. I would love to read more of what you have to say. Please feel free to post your opinions, describe your solving experiences, and join in the conversations.

Spitzboov said...

AM @ 1025: You are right, of course, about U Thant. Who knew? Sorry for the incorrect comment. Should have checked Wiki first.

Mari @ 1106, no I haven't. Will have to check it out. NCIS is somewhat aberrated, but I really like the series.

Yellowrocks said...

The theme answers came easily because they all started with animal groups ending in -ine. I was almost finished before I realized that removing the first two letters of these answers left another common phrase. I found this a walk in the park with the exception of deciding between JAN or MAR.

I read the late night posts just before I go to bed. I usually solve on paper, Googling on those rare times I must. Then I can't wait to read the blog. Our bloggers are all so clever and informative. Actually the reward of reading the blog spurs me along more quickly. Then I read all the posts before I post myself. I don't want to duplicate and I like to look for a thread I can join. When I am in a hurry I save the links to go over later.

ALA MODE as fashionable is frequently used in writing."He had been an exhibitionist youth, predictably enough, always dressed à la mode." Clive Barker THE HELLBOUND HEART (2001)

As far as I can tell, Massachusetts has the longest state name and Pennsylvania has the second longest.

Yellowrocks said...

Susan Ito san, hajime mashite. Youkoso!

I spent 3 weeks visiting your lovely country on a fellowship for educators. Several years later I returned for 2 weeks as a tourist. These were two entirely different, but wonderful experiences. I have a Japanese daughter inlaw.

Sorry about my misleading avatar. That photo was taken when i was 15 years old. Now i am a retired school teacher and a grandma.

Spitzboov said...

There is no dishonor in googling. I would not have found this terrific blog 3½ years ago were it not for google trying to help someone out there in the wilderness.

Sfingi @ 1213. Sorry, I meant seed entry. See Interview

Hahtoolah said...

Susan Ito: welcome. Please stop by often. We always welcome a fresh voice.

Lucina: I bet Lonesome Dave would make for an interesting novel.

Yellowrocks: check the link in my first post.

Argyle said...

My favorite a capella group. Link.

Pookie said...

Good afternoon all: Tough puzzle. Thanks, Lemon, for the clarification. Got stuck with only half completed and would NEVER have gotten it if I stared at it all day. Know when I'm beat.
Nice to meet you, Susan.
Everyone here is great! and Smart!
(except moi) and Funny!
Anons just THINK they are.
Email went cuckoo yesterday, had to change password.

Lemonade714 said...

Susan Ito, please join us;yes there is always a fluid group who comment here at the corner. Most of the regular contributors have changed from when I began, and while we do get drive bys there is no limit on how many may post, and despite some inconsiderate anons, while we mostly get along there is always room for more.

Anony-mouse, I was hoping you would chime in on the URDU fill, becuase I too do not associate that as the answer for New Dehli, Karachi perhaps.

FP: Ryan Cartwright was very entertaining as Dr. Nigel-Murray, the inappropriate trivia quoting intern on BONES.

UNADON is not a type of eel, but a dish made with eel fillets.

AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN is indeed a Poem by Yeats.

Interesting bit of trivia, you cannot copyright a title. You can write Gone With the Wind and no one can stop you you as long as the contents are new.

Jerome said...

Since many posts relate to music, I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with the Minnesota rock band Husk Urdu?

desper-otto said...

Lemonade, I do my solving with pen, paper and coffee. Then I come here to find out if my WAGs were correct. I read the blog and today's comments before posting. Then I usually go back to read the late posts from the day before.

Susan Ito, welcome. Most members of this "close coterie of friends" have never met each other...except here. We welcome fresh opinions. I'm always impressed when someone whose native language is something other than English gets interested in English language crosswords.

Yellowrocks said...

Hahtoolah, I checked your link which I should have done before. I now remember have heard that name a long time ago. It's interesting that they have never changed it.

Yellowrocks said...

My Japanese cookbooks say unadon refers to an entree, not just plain filet of eel. "It's a rice bowl topped with unagi-no-kabayaki (filleted and deboned, glaze-grilled freshwater eel)." I love glazed grilled eel.

Lucina said...

Hahtoolah@2:17
Yes, I agree that Lonesome Dove would be a good book to read. It has to get in line, though, with all the others on the list.

Currently our Book Club is reading The Walking Drum so again I must thank whoever posted the information about it. I'm sorry I don't recall who it was.

Java Mama said...

Good afternoon, everyone! Thanks for a very challenging puzzle, Gareth. As always, I enjoyed your witty write-up, Lemonade. It was sweet to see old Opus from Bloom County again -- that strip is a classic. Also, your link to Heart’s “Magic Man” inspired me to try my first attempt at linking. Here (I hope!) is my personal Heart favorite <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQDJ45qJHBQ”>Dreamboat Annie (2.43)</a>

Welcome to Susan Ito! As a new poster myself, I can assure you the folks here are a friendly bunch and will be glad to have you join in the fun.

This was quite a workout today, with JACANAS a complete unknown that I only got through the perps. I liked the animal theme, but had to come to the blog to appreciate the multi-layers of meaning. PORCINE instead of EQUINE held me up for a little while, but QED sorted that out. Easily got Nancy Drew’s beau NED, since I read nearly every book in the series as a young girl. Still wound up with a DNF because my Soccer Mom was driving a VAN instead of an SUV, so that whole section was a mess.

During the week I usually take the puzzle along on my bus ride into work, and most days can finish before we arrive downtown. On really tough clues, I will “research” using Google before coming here for the answer. Then I’ll read the write-up and other posters’ comments on my phone if there’s time. I normally have to wait until getting home in the evening to enjoy the links and post my own comments.

Happy Friday, all!

HeartRx said...

Dudley, I do love a capella, and really enjoyed your link. It is amazing that they did it thousands of miles away from each other! And Barry G., I remember that you told us before about your group, but forgot the name. So thank you for that beautiful link!

Lemony, my daily ritual is the same as HG’s, except I usually do the puzzle on my iPad in my solarium…unless I am blogging. In that case, I do the puzzle in pen on paper, so that I can see immediately where I had write-overs, and I can also make notes in the margin as I solve.

Sfingi @ 12:32, “Bain (of my existence)” LOL!!

Susan Ito, please feel free to join in the conversation any time. We certainly don’t bite, and you're sure to find a lot of new friends here at The Corner!

Argyle @ 2:26, I spent waaaaaaayyy too much time playing with those stupid horses!!!

Java Mama said...

OOPS - Failed at linking. Looks like I need to re-read the instructions. Here's what I copied from YouTube if anybody's interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQDJ45qJHBQ.

Dennis said...

Welcome, Susan Ito, and doumo arigato for stopping by. Do stick around and chime in anytime; we're always happy to see new people join in (plus we get tired of looking at each other). As you already know, C.C.'s created a wonderful environment here.

I was fortunate enough to have spent several months in Japan, mostly in southern Honshu, back in the 60's when I was in the Marines. Absolutely loved it, and the number 2 item on my bucket list is a return trip (even though the prices are just a tad different now.

My daily routine: I usually solve the next day's puzzle sometime after 10pm, then in the morning, I read the previous night's posts (see, Bill?), then the always-exemplary write-up for the current day, then either leave a post if I feel like I have anything to offer, or just check back later after the posts have started.

Fun puzzle, fun write-up today; a bit of a bear to solve, but that's the fun part.

Have a great weekend; do something fun.

Tinbeni said...

Argyle @ 2:26
Just shows how different our musical tastes are ...

I thought your a capella horses was the best link today !!!


But, and it's a heavy but ... thought I'd help Java Mama out.

Dreamboat Annie

Cheers !!!

Java Mama said...

Thanks, Tinbeni! I promise to do my homework and give it another go another day. Seems like linking is a huge part of the fun here. Argyle, those singing horses are a hoot!! Going to go play some more.

2poodles said...

I found this blog when I first started solving crosswords a couple of years ago. It's been tremendously helpful and I've learned a lot from it. Thursday and Friday puzzles still stump me, although I did pretty well with todays. I solve as much as I can and then come here to learn what I didn't know. I love all the writeups and enjoy reading the comments. You're all very clever!

fermatprime said...

Lemonade: Was not particularly fond of Nigel-Murray character either!

Susan: Sorry about your boyfriend! You should join our group!

Marge said...

Hi all,

This was a hard puzzle and I have to say I cheated on most of it. We are in Actworth,Ga.to spend Thanksgiving with our kids.I did the puzzle in the Atlanta paper. It certainly was interesting.

We always take about 2 days to get here. Son had supper and we got to see GGS Logan the same evening.

Wed. was an interesting puzzle,I did it while we were traveling and we both worked on it. DH did all the driving.

On todays, I never knew about Deseret and found it very interesting.

Have a good evening all!
Marge

CrossEyedDave said...

Hmm, Theme,, animal groups, conversation thread,,, a capella...

Maybe this might work

Busy day, I am off to opening night of my daughters H.S. play, A Christmas Carol.

TTP said...

Checking back in after the workday.

I don't get the paper except on Sundays. For each day, I open the puzzle, choose master, and then open note pad to jot down any notes along the way.

I generally do Mon, Tues and most Wednesdays, then read the write ups and blogs, and then post some of the notes I've recorded.

I find the puzzles more challenging on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Still record my notes, but tend to post before reading the write up and the blogs. I then like to see if the contributor or any of the bloggers had conveyed similar thoughts or fell into similar traps.

I don't google or look anything up in any bookmarks or reference materials. Not saying it's wrong for those that do it that way; I just don't. I just stay with it, trying to work out possibilities, and back out any answers I am not certain about that may be holding me up in an area. If it takes me a couple hours that's ok. I rise pretty early, and it's my way of waking up without disturbing up my wife.

If I get so stuck I can't get anywhere, I'll change the setting to Regular, and any mistakes will be shown. I'll back those off and turn it back to Master and try again.

I enjoy the contributors write ups immensely, and the blog updates are most often fun and informative. Don't like the snarks. I don't understand what they are trying to accomplish other than to irritate people.

Lemonade714 said...

CED you are clearly a link machine; the doggies are great.

JM, we all failed at linking at one point, but once it works it works forever (see CED above).

FP;

The Nigel-Murray character was supposed to be irritating, that was the fun.

No one else was blown away by the existence of so many ___ine words?

Dudley said...

Well, it's good to know there is an audience for a capella here!

Avg. Joe 10:42 - What PK said 11:35. There is a strong trend in a capella groups nowadays to have performers called "beat boxes" or just "beats". They do remarkably imitative percussion and other sound effects; rarely do they sing. The ensemble I linked used only voice, but the effects were not videotaped.

Mari 11:06 - I'd like to hear your opinion when you get to see the clip.

Lucina 11:38 - I agree. I honestly don't understand why all that stuff is so popular.

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, A tough puzzle for me today. But then, I'm fighting a cold and didn't get much sleep last night--that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I had to Google Mede, Tyson, Deseret, and Jacanas. Other unknowns such as Peabo were filled in with the perps.

I did finish, but with a lot of help today.

It is cold and grey outside today with a drizzly rain. Much like London weather according to the CW.

I did get the theme and that certainly helped with a lot of the puzzle today, but it still gave me a run-around. Hands up for Deseret being a real learning moment. Our English friends knew sooo much American History that they put us to shame when we talked to them about their own history.

Have a great weekend everyone. I'm off to take a quick nap before I have to think of something for dinner.

Manac said...

Dang!!
A Thursday and Friday DNF for me.
The last one to deal me a DNF was
that Carpenter person, Marti, I think the name was...
Anyways I do the puzzle first thing in the AM then I'm out the door. Read the blog when I get home to see I'm not the only one to get hung up on something. When I first started doing xword puzzles the only references I had was a dictionary and thesaurus so for me if I have to google for anything else I consider it a DNF for myself. But these constructors are getting tricky so I may have to alter my thinking a bit.

Bill G. said...

Dennis and others, OK, OK, I am convinced that many folks do go back and read late-night posts. But I (and others I'm sure) enjoy when people respond to a post or a link or ??? Understandably, late-night posts get very few responses. So if I have something earthshaking to contribute, I will try to get it in earlier in the day.

When I was a kid, the only kind of apples you could find at the market were Red Delicious and Golden Delicious. Now there are many more and better choices. My favorite is Gala though Fuji and Pink Lady are very good too.

Chickie, I agree. Today's puzzle was hard for me too.

Java Mama, if you want some help with linking, I volunteer. Send me an e-mail.

Manac said...

Oh, and Joe@8:49
That was no exaggeration. The house is built on an old New England style granite and stone foundation. Drainage
problems from long ago caused the entire house to tilt to the rear, almost like the Tower of Pisa. So the walls were out of plumb as bad as the floor. The trick wasn't to install the door plumb and level, the trick was to install is square (ha) to the house that looked level and be operational. Six hours later in 40 degree temps, success!!

PK said...

Manac, I got a big chuckle out of your square problem. In my 125 year old house, the ceiling joists in the living room sagged in the middle. My carpentars were getting ready to hang sheet rock on them and were going nuts. Each corner was a different distance from the floor which wasn't level either.

That room had cottonwood joists for some reason. But it was built in a day before the railroads were built when good lumber was not available or had to be trucked in by wagon.

We had 9 1/2 foot ceilings so I told them to pick the lowest point and run new joists level and marry them to the old joists where possible. I also used studding in the walls next to the all stone wallswith new vapor barrier and insulation. Essentially, we built a new house inside the old one. The rooms were a little smaller, but it was worth it. The exterior walls no longer sweated in winter. Looked great.

Manac said...

Pk
That is so funny! I did a kitchen in a house that we were able to date back as early 1890's and did the same thing. the ceiling was out by at least 3" ( in fact the whole house ) was out of level and I used 2x6.'s to level it it out. The owner was impressed caused he was thinking the worst.

downtonabbey said...

Lemonade:
Like you I really liked this puzzle. Thanks for an interesting writeup on the puzzle. Thanks also to Gareth for a nice animal work. I haven't read the blog yet but thought I better post before midnight! To a good weekend for everyone.

Argyle said...

The real fun in old houses is that what sticks in one season won't stay shut in another.

Manac said...

WOW!
My spell check said all was good.

I gotta pay more attention!

Anonymous said...

Same with some body functions Argyle !

downtonabbey said...

Argyle, I laughed at your post. I bought a house in 89 that had been blown off of the foundation in Hurricane Alicia. It would have been cheaper to tear it down and build a new house instead of the inside and outside repairs I have made. I have decided the remodeling won't ever be finished! However, it will be paid for in two more years so there is that.

Ferme, I have successfully used lidocaine patches for joint pain in my hip. The brand name is Lidoderm. The patch releases the lidocaine under the skin over a 24 hour period.

Finally, I found the blog a few years ago. I am an evening solver. I work the puzzle in bed as part of my nighttime routine. I too found the blog when I was googling. Ironically, it was a Saturday Silkie! I now read the blog after I do the puzzle except on rare occasions. I have learned so much here from all of you. I enjoy it very much. It is a form of socializing similar to working.
Goodnight!