Thursday, January 17, 2013

January 17, 2013 Marti DuGuay-Carpenter

(We're working with Google to have our LA Times Crossword Corner restored. We hope the blog will return to norm by Friday night (Jan 18, 2012). We're sorry for the inconvenience.)

C.C.& the team

Today's write-up is by Argyle (Lemonade's write-up is trapped in the old blog).

Theme: Double Trouble - The person cited in the clue would be troubled by both parts of the theme answer.

18A. Double trouble ... for a hydrophobic teetotaler? : WATER BOTTLE. fear of water, dislike of alcohol.

29A. ... for an arachnophobic hermit? : SPIDERMAN. fear of spiders, dislike of company.

36A. ... for an acrophobic wallflower? : SUMMIT MEETING. fear of heights, dislike of , well just shy.

42A. ... for a xenophobic couch potato? : ALIEN RACE. fear of the unknown, dislike of moving.

53A. ... for an agoraphobic soldier? : PUBLIC ENEMY. fear of the marketplace, dislike of the foe.

Across:

1. Vintner's vessel : TUN. Big vat.

4. Avis rival : HERTZ

9. Amazon.com nos. : ISBNs They're in every book.

14. Bearer of bear cubs, in Madrid : OSA

15. Cheri who impersonated Judge Judy on "Saturday Night Live" : OTERI.

16. Gardener's transplant : GRAFT

17. Sales pro : REP

20. Pueblo brick : ADOBE

22. Stone unit : CARAT

23. Dance that tells a story : HULA

24. Skyline haze : SMOG

26. Id controller : EGO

32. Chest-maker's wood : CEDAR

34. Pharmaceutical oil : OLEUM

35. Arduous : TAXING

39. Make a meal of : DINE ON

40. Apportion : ALLOT

41. Clubs: Abbr. : ASSN's

46. Shtick : BIT

47. Long to be with : MISS

48. This time only : ONCE

49. Smithy's tool : ANVIL

52. Harp (on) : DWELL

58. AAA freebie : MAP

59. Rockers Van __ : HALEN

60. Not just odd : EERIE

61. Online qualifier : IMO

62. Steel plow pioneer : DEERE. Echo of yesterday.

63. Creeps up on : NEARS

64. Fitting : APT

Down:

1. Some ark contents : TORAHS

2. Depleted : USED UP

3. Port near Vesuvio : NAPOLI. Down around the Italian ankle.

4. "Battle Hymn of the Republic" lyricist : HOWE

5. SFO posting : ETA

6. On Soc. Sec. : RET.

7. 3-Down trio : TRE

8. December stone : ZIRCON

9. Yaroslavna's spouse, in a Borodin opera : IGOR. ?

10. Span. title : SRTA.

11. Driven home : BATTED IN. Baseball.

12. Gp. for Jets, but not Sharks : NFL. (National Football League)

13. __-Foy, Quebec : STE.

19. Purse : BAG

21. It's not a good sign : BAD OMEN

24. Tom Lehrer song : SMUT

25. Mice and men : MAMMALS

27. Sharks or Jets : GANG

28. Nonprofit's URL ending : .ORG

30. "__ World": "Sesame Street" feature : ELMO'S

31. Hold back : REIN

32. Williams title starter : CAT ON a Hot Tin Roof.

33. Seating offering more space : EXIT ROW

35. Graph heading? : TELE

36. Assent to a capitán : "SI, SI"

37. Shaky : UNSTABLE

38. Yale Bowl cheerers : ELIs

39. Dollop : DAB

42. Quinn of "Annie" : AILEEN. She played the title role in 1982.

43. Weak state : ANEMIA

44. Workshop device : C CLAMP. It looks like a 'C'.

45. Sniggler's tool : EELPOT

47. Stereo jack label : MIC

50. Buc or Met : NLer. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Oops. National FOOTBALL League (But wait, the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League are often referred to as the "Bucs".) and New York Mets, baseball team of the National League East.

51. Kudzu, for one : VINE

52. Sources of some highlights : DYES

53. Advanced deg. : PHD. (Doctor of Philosophy)

54. OPEC member : UAE. (United Arab Emirates)

55. Family tree word : NÉE

56. Chunk of history : ERA

57. Fallen space station : MIR




Happy 22nd wedding anniversary to Jazzbumpa (Ron) and his beautiful wife Gloria! Click here for more pictures. Gloria's mom had another setback on Tuesday, but Ron still wrote us a brilliant post with his usual wit and humor for Wednesday's blog, despite all the stress. Thanks, Ron!



56 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all! Wonder if anybody will ever see this post...

Always nice to see a puzzle by our dear friend, Marti!

Struggled with the theme on this one, to be honest. Some of the theme answers were solid gold (PUBLIC ENEMY, ALIEN RACE, SUMMIT MEETING). Unfortunately, the first two that I encountered (WATER BOTTLE and SPIDER MAN) were a bit of a stretch in my opinion and required all the perps to get. I mean, a teetotaler avoids BOTTLES of alcohol but not BOTTLES in general, right? And would a hermit really have trouble with a single MAN or just society? Yeah, yeah, it's nitpicky, but I still struggled with those two...

The rest of the puzzle was mostly smooth sailing. I say "mostly" because the intersection of OLEUM and SMUT almost proved fatal. Fortunately, I was able to WAG the intersecting "U".

Argyle said...

Have no fear, Barry. Some anon will be snarking on you before you know it. You can't get away from them.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, my crossword friends. I just Loved, Loved, Loved today's theme. I caught on with SPIDER MAN. (I actually have a colleague whom we call Spider Man because his name sounds similar.)

My favorite clue was Mice and Men = MAMMALS.

I hope the Corner can be saved. I didn't think CC would remove it without telling us first she was dismantling.

QOD: If one has no sense of humor, one is in trouble. ~ Betty White (Jan. 17, 2013)

Dennis said...

Hey gang - evidently, Google flagged our blog (and a few others) as spam; they're working to restore it, and it should be back by tomorrow night.

C.C. would never, of course, just take the blog down with no warning.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

I'm impressed at the resilience of C.C. and gang! Thank you all for finding a way to keep us hooked up.

Well, Marti, you nearly had me sunk where Smut and Oleum occupy the same space. I've heard other witty songs by Tom Lehrer but probably never knew his name, let alone Smut. Clever theme! Keep crankin' them out, please...

desper-otto said...

Wow, that was weird seeing "The blog has been removed" announcement! It was my first time trying to log in at 5 AM (couldn't sleep) and thought maybe the blog hadn't woke up yet. The email notification went to my alternate email address, so I hadn't seen it yet. I hope Humpty-Dumpty can be put back together again.

I enjoyed Marti's puzzle. Even got the theme. And she didn't fool me with "driven home", I knew it was going to be a baseball reference.

I'm a big Tom Lehrer fan, so Smut came to me immediately. 3:39. I also heartily recommend The Vatican Rag -- it should be on that same Youtube page.

HeartRx said...

Geez, someone must have really hated my puzzle to sabotage C.C.’s Corner like that! All they had to do was post a flaming comment – I can take it!

Anyway, thanks for linking “Smut", deeper-otto. That song just cracks me up!

Barry for SPIDERMAN – think “man(kind)” as a hermit’s dislike. And for teetotaler, I might say “He hit the bottle again”? Where “bottle” is a euphemism for “booze.”

Lemonade714 said...

well Marti, I thought it was my write up that was being dismantled. great job getting.things going overnight. we shall overcome

creature said...

Great puzzle! Love the cleverness and perfection as only Marti can deliver.

So sorry for your inconvenience, CC et.al.

Hope word spreads quickly this AM.

Have a nice day everyone.

HeartRx said...

Lemony @ 7:30, C.C. is the brilliant one who thought of re-directing everyone to her Ginger Roots blog. We go there all the time anyway to view pictures sent in by bloggers, so it makes a great backup.

I forgot to wish my favorite Jazz man and his wife a very happy anniversary!
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.

Tinbeni said...

DNF ... total Ink Blot, rated "XXX".

WATER BOTTLE not in my wheelhouse.
I'll stick with Pinch.

Kinda funny how, with the Blog's problem, BAD OMEN was in the grid.

Cheers !!!

PS I guess reading the later posts from yesterday is "out-of-the-question."

Anonymous said...

What a resourceful lot we are.

creature said...

Happy Anniversary to Jazz and Gloria! You all have such a super family going on. You can tell how devoted those children are to the core group you have created.

And my thoughts to you and Gloria on her Mom.

Tinbeni said...

oops, forgot to wish Happy Anniversary to Jazz & Gloria.

Argyle: I don't remember Cheri OTERI doing Sarah Palin on SNL.
But Tina Fey's impersonation of Palin were "spot-on" back in 2008.

CrossEyedDave said...

Well that was a shock! The Blog Hacked?

Re: Yest, i still have not read all yesterdays comments due to access problems, which i hope will be fixed soon.

I am glad that i tried to do yest. puzzle in ink, because i ran into every problem (spiton/spited, gotit/gotya etc.) that everyone had mentioned, but was determined not to be beaten. Unfortunately I just could not get CSPAN. ( i was thinking csnbc or ??msn ) & misread the clue for "ahint" as a singular "word". So,, DNF. But not for lack of trying.

Funny Theme Pics? Well, i had only found this one for Plow because it reminded me of how i felt clearing my driveway, when i read Spitzboovs note.

I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what i could possibly say, & finally, i have decided that there are no words that I can express to describe my sorrow at your sad news... Spitz, pls know that you are in our hearts, & minds, & we wish the best for you, & your family.

-------

Marti, I am doing yr puzzle in ink, & have it 50% done, but still do not have a complete theme answer yet. I have much work to do, but whatever free time i have, i will spend it puzzling on your puzzle, & be thankjful for a brief respite from the troubles of this world.

Anonymous said...

I blame it on BillG's math problems...that and
Dudley's annoying ooohinng and ahhhing over Downton Abbey.

Mari said...

Good morning everybody! Thanks to CC for keeping us up and running! Thanks to Husker Gary for keeping us in the loop! Happy Anniversary to JzB!

Great puzzle today. Some of the theme answers had me scratching my head (how is WATER BOTTLE related to SPIDER MAN?) but in the end it all made sense.

I liked the sports / West Side Story references.

We had big meetings all day Tuesday and Wednesday at work. Aside from completing the daily CWP (of course) I haven't been near my desk or computer. Never thought I'd say this but, "Ahhh! It feels great to be back working!"

Tin - I loved your post about WATER BOTTLE not being in your wheelhouse. You always crack me up!

Hope everybody has a great day!

Yellowrocks said...

Thanks, CC and team, for taking on the arduous (TAXING) task of restoring the blog. CC, it was clever of you to use Giner Roots as our default. And using Gary's email list was a stroke of genius.
-Very clever puzzle, Marti. Halfway through I guessed the theme. The U in OLEUM and SMUT was a wag I didn't trust, but I kept it in.
-BATTED IN took me a while. That corner was difficult because I had transposed the R and T. STRA, Duh! After changing it to SRTA it was easy.
-My dismay at the removal of this blog last night tellme how much I value the Corner and it denizens. After more than a year and a half, I would be lost without it.
-Thanks for pinch hitting, Argyle. Nice job.

Yellowrocks said...

Sorry, I accidently published the last post while I was trying to edit it.
Happy aniversary, Jazz and Gloria.

Middletown Bomber said...

What an adventure today first of all great puzzle marti, and an excellent relief write up by argyle. was working on the puzzle making great time not speed run time mind you but good time when the puzzle wigged out and i foundmyself starting over from the begining. Then going to check out the actual ccs blog only to find it gone. There might be a serious lawsuit here as per my understanding a lot of people depend on this blog for answers, and venting and the unilateral removal came without any warning and seemingly seems to be unjustified, but with out more information I am not sure of damages other than inconvienience which would be a real problem in winning a law suit.

Vidwan827 said...

Wow ! The shock of my life ! .... and I thought it was just me ..... did I post something wrong or inappropriate ? I even had my wife log in, on her own laptop - despite her aversion to log on to 'unknown' websites .... and she uses her own last name .... and when the message was repeated, I saw the handwriting on the wall. I would like to thank Hahtoolah for redirecting me. It was like yearning for your first cup of coffee or tea, in the morning - or in my case, a glass of ice cold Diet Pepsi. Now we realize what really matters in life.

Thank you Marti, for a lovely puzzle - it was tough but fun. Fortunately, I know my phobias. Wonderful puzzle ! Thank you, C.C. and your team, for the blog explanations.

I thought it was a malicious hacker - there seem to be too many of those. But if as Dennis says - Google deleted the blog by mistake, that is terrible. One of my nieces is a VP at Google - I should really call her up on her cell phone and chew her out - except that Google has 101 divisions, and she wouldn't know one crossword from another ..... Anyway, this too shall pass, and life goes on.

Have a nice week, you guys, and best wishes.

Vidwan827 said...

Best wishes to JazzB on his wedding anniversary, and sincere condolence to Spitzboov for his loss.

Dennis said...

A lawsuit?? You're kidding, right?

Middletown Bomber said...

Argyle, Not sure about your info on Cheri Oteri ever doing Palin but Oteri did grow up in Upper Darby as did reknown Palin spoofer Tina Fey allbeit about 8 years apart.

kazie said...

I really made a mess of this one, due to many unknowns, but I think at least some of it is because I have a lot on my mind today.

I totally missed the news of our demise last night, since I was buried in newsletter creation most of the day, and didn't discover we had a problem until hearing from Gary last night.

That meant I still don't know what Spitz's bad news is, but I hope he will be able to rebound from whatever loss it was. My best wishes to you, Spitzboov!

I also wish Jazz and Gloria a wonderful anniversary!

What is on my mind, you may well ask? We got word last night that our granddaughter, Lea Isabel, was born at 2:37am this morning, German time. C.C. said she needs to become famous so we can have a different clue for LEA. Photos will follow when we are back to normal.

Vidwan827 said...

Oleum - Fuming Sulfuric Acid is H2SO4.xSO3 ,( with the super-saturated, added Sulfur Trioxide - SO3 ), making it, so to say, 109 % to 114% Sulfuric Acid. (H2S2O7).

It is an extremely dangerous, high corrosive, toxic, strongly oxidising and dehydrating, harsh chemical. It is rarely used in Pharmaceuticals or related 'fine' chemicals manufacture, but finds uses where 'fuming' Nitric Acid is required - and 'cost' is not a criteria - especially in the manufacture of explosives, like Trinitro Toluene (TNT).

Its dehydrating properties are so strong that if Oleum is added to glucose or common sugar, it will 'suck out' all the water components, within the sugar molecule itself, leaving only carbon atoms - charcoal. Thus the sugar crystals will bubble and turn to a hard black solid.

Tinbeni said...

kazie:
Congratulations !!!
Is MISS Lea Isabel your 1st granddaughter?
(always like to put puzzle answers into a comment)

Hmmm, born on January 17, 2013 ... Betty White's 91st birthday.
(Hahtoolah @6:27, On your QOD you had a typo ... probably wanted Jan.17 1922).

Can't wait until "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere."
Cheers !!!

kazie said...

Yes, Tin, she's our first grandchild. We were starting to wonder if it would ever happen!

Qli said...

Glad to see all of you on Ginger Roots today. Thanks, C.C. for keeping us going any way you can! I had looked at the link to Bjork on last night's blog, and when I tried to go back, I got the nasty message. I thought it was due to the weirdness of that link. (I learned that I am not a Bjork fan.)

I had to Google IGOR and STE, and then the NE corner finally fell. Cool how CARAT and ZIRCON intersect. Also loved MAMMALS as the answer to mice and men.

I don't know what happened to Spitzboov, but am sending thoughts of comfort anyway. and Happy Anniversary, JazzB and Gloria. Always fun to see family pictures of blog members.

Jazzbumpa said...

Hi Sharks or Jets -

Thanks for all the anniversary wishes. I've been married to that lovely lady for 1/3 of my life, and it's been the best part by a long shot.

Couldn't put the TUN / TORAHS cross together, but got everything else. Not a smooth sail at all, but a fine puzzle Marti. Just right for Thus.

I somehow got the 12D clue flipped around and filled in NHL, but couldn't grock GRAHT.

Lehrer was brilliant. I'm still hoping to some day see pornographic stained glass windows. [Actually, thanks to the google I found some images, but nothing I'd care to link, alas.]

Cool regards!
JzB

Yellowrocks said...

I, too, first came upon the sulfuric acid meaning of OLEUM. I knew Marti and Rich wouldn't make that huge a mistake, so looking further, I found that OLEUM is related to linseed and is used pharmaceutically.
Cut and paste this link to read about it.
http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/bpc1911/linum_oleu.html

Montana said...

Happy anniversary, Jazz and Gloria!

When I saw this was a 'Marti' puzzle, I was really missing the blog. Thanks for finding a way to work around the problem. As Yellowrocks said earlier, we don't realize how much we value something until we lose it.

Thanks to Husker for keeping us informed.

Fun puzzle,
Montana

Husker Gary said...

Did anyone else feel a little lost when our familiar blog got kidnapped to Spamville? I know my email list is incomplete but I hoped it helped somewhat. Marti’s fun puzzle was a TAXING hoot and it’s too bad it happened today as it will invite so much wonderful commentary!

Musings
-I can’t pick a favorite theme answer and am embarrassed at how long it took to catch on. Curse you Red Baron Marti ;-).
-I thought Cheri OTERI’s SHTICKs on SNL were brilliant but that is as far as her career went. Her choice?
-I never did Graft a tree but I spent many summers budding trees (top of page two). We crawled up and down rows doing this for weeks and produced thousands of identical trees from source trees and a bad back for me for the rest of my life.
-oleUm/smUt was my only wag and I got ‘er done.
-Where is the line between Harping and multiple reminders?
-Raiders of the lost ARK remains a fav of mine. Them there greedy Nazis got theirs!
-Lyricist was at the top of the next clue column and so “Battle Hymn of the Republic” took a while.
-I lost my billfold on the way to SFO and had to fly back a day later while the bus company returned it.
-ZIRCON? Are you sure that isn’t a diamond, honey?
-I loved Williams title starter. I was thinking GRAND for Serena and Venus’s Slams and not Maggie.
-Is this a good analogy? Kudzu : Alabama = Pythons : Florida.
-Happy Anniversary to Ron and Gloria!
-Welcome to the world Lea! You’ve got a cool Grandma!!

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

Marti, what a clever theme; I marvel at your creative mind! No serious hang- ups except for smut/oleum which I wagged correctly. Thanks, Argyle, for your successful pinch-hitting!

Happy Anniversary to Jazz and Gloria. And thanks to Gary for making sure we didn't miss a beat, despite Google's grand goof.

Happy Thursday.

Avg Joe said...

Good morning all who made their way here. Strange occurrence that the regular blog went down.

WEES on the puzzle. The only oleum I'm familiar with is linoleum, and while that's by no means pharma related, it gave me the wag I needed with everything else perped out.

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Marti, for an excellent puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for the great write-up.

Well, here I am. Thank you Husker Gary for directing me here.

I went in late last night and saw what happened with a couple emails. So, I went to bed.

Puzzle this morning was not easy, but I plodded through it and finished.

Lots of misdirection. Wanted VAT for 1A, but held off (thank goodness). TUN appeared.

Really liked TORAHS for 1D. Took me a while. Thought some sorts of animals were the answer, initially.

ISBNS came easily. We seem to get that a lot.

My first theme answer was PUBLIC ENEMY. The rest appeared after a few letters to get me started.

I had to start in the SE and work my way up. That was easiest for me.

Never heard of Tom Lehrer. The "U" in SMUT and OLEUM was a wag. But I lucked out.

Wanted BAD NEWS for 21D, but BAD OMEN became the answer. Big ink blot with the write-over.

Also wanted HORA for 23A. Fixed to HULA. Speaking of that a Hawaiian friend brought me back a six pack of Longboard Island Lager yesterday. Not very good. Reminded me of Miller High Life. I like a beer with some taste. Samuel Adams, Yuengling, etc.

Congrats Mr and Mrs Jazzbumpa on your anniversary. Have many more.

Spitzboov, hope all is well or getting better. Not sure what happened due to blog problems.

See you tomorrow, somewhere.

Abejo

Hahtoolah said...

Kazie: congratulations on the birth of your first grandchild ! Now Lemonade's granddaughter will have someone to play with!,

Middletown Bomber - I think we have all suffered from emotional and mental distress on finding the corner blog down. That ought to count for something in a lawsuit.

Happy Anniversary to JazzB and Gloria! May you have many more happy years together.

Tinbini: I was so flummoxed this morning to find the crossword corner missing that I forgot how old Betty White really is.

Lemonade714 said...

Anon at 8:00 am and 8:18; you realize you have outted yourself(ves) because only those who have known emails were directed here for today.

What a night/day, added to the confusion of it being a marti thursday which meant i had to switch and do her
puzzle.

Great job C.C. and Argyle. Though you missed my VAN HALEN link.

In desperation last night since I could not blog, I watched the first half of the first episode, season one of DA. Back in England again.

Lemonade714 said...

Yes, Kazie, wonderful, welcome to the club, and Happy Anniversary Ron.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Avg Joe & Gary,
Does any of you have PK's email address? I hope she's informed. I just heard from Misty!!

Are we missing other regulars?

Marge said...

Hi all,
It is such a relief to know the blog will return. Yesterday I wondered if I had done something wrong. But later I looked at my DH's computer and the same thing happened so knew it wasn't just me.

I was able to get some of the long answers. I got spiderman and public enemy but not the other two (I did get water.) Kudzu sounded familiar, then I remembered all the Kudzu we saw between Atlanta and Tampa,Fl when we used to drive there to see our daughter.

Jazz and Gloria, congratulations on you anniversary. Those are beautiful children.

Thank you Marti for a fun puzzle and to C.C. and all those who are getting the blog back.

Have a good day all!
Marge

Lucina said...

Hello, my friends. Am I glad to see you all! It was devastating last night to see our Blog gone! I'm glad it isn't an irreparable situation and look forward to normal access. Thank you, C.C. and Gary for keeping us informed.

Congratulations, Jazz and Gloria on your anniversary. You and your family all seem so happy.

And Kazie, congratulations on your granddaughter! That is an unparalleled delight as you will discover.

Finally, thanks, Marti and Argyle for today's wonderful entertainment. The puzzle had enough misdirection to make it challenging and fun. It caused quite a lot of WAGGING, but all was filled. My last one was DAB/BIT. Though I'm familiar with the term, schtik, it's not clear enough to me that I can just spout a synonym for it.

As someone said, it's good to know ones phobias!

I do have a question about ZIRCON. As a December person I've never seen it labeled a birthstone if that is what the clue means. Both tourquiose and blue topaz are listed have been given to me as gifts.

Have a stupendous Thursday, evryone and I look forward to our Blog's restoration! Thanks for your endeavors, C.C.

Husker Gary said...

I have written to PK with the information C.C. I only have email addresses on my mass mailing list that have their addresses on their blog pages (42 as of this date). I tried to include all of those I could find for just such a need as yesterday.

Anyone who did not get an email from me/C.C. last night or this morning can write me at

gschlapfer@gmail.com

to be put on it. I assure you that your information will be safe with me.

Gary

desper-otto said...

Happy anniversary, JazzB.

Husker, speaking of Zircon: Just the other day I was watching "How It's Made" on the Science Channel, and the topic was man-made diamonds. They start with powdered zircon, most of which comes from an open-pit mine near Perth, Australia. After being subjecting to humongous pressure, the resulting diamonds are yellow-colored but gem quality. Price is less than for a natural diamond, though.

Montana said...

Kazie, I forgot to say Congrats on the grandchild. I have two under 2 years old, and expect 2 more in May and June. My sons explored the world before settling down, married late, and consequently grandchildren are piling up. I also got a new grandson from the Phillipines last year. He just had his 10th birthday and is the most considerate of all my grandkids.

Montana

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Gary,
Thanks. Thank God we have your list.

Let's meet Kazie's beautiful granddaughter Lea.

LaLaLinda said...

Hi All ~~

What a relief to be here! I panicked last night when I saw the blog had been removed. It's amazing how dependent we've become. I thought I'd be doing the puzzle with no blog to read and it really seemed to diminish the enjoyment. Thanks to C.C., Gary, Argyle and all those who helped to get us here.

Your puzzle was a challenge, Marti, and I loved it. I had no idea of the theme while I was solving, possibly because I wasn't reading the "Double trouble..." for each theme answer. Duh. After I figured that out, it all made sense - such a clever idea!

I stumbled right away with 1A - Vat/Tub/ TUN and had to guess at the crossing of OLEUM and SMUT.

Happy Anniversary, JazzB and Gloria - you look very happy in your photo!

Congratulations, Grandma Kazie ~ Lea is beautiful!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, What a shock to find our blog had been hacked. Thank you C.C. for loaning us "Ginger Roots" so we can continue our discussions. Also thank you Gary for keeping us in the loop.

I sent Garlic Gal your note from this morning.

I haven't been able to get to the puzzle yet today, but I wanted to send Anniversary greetings to JzB and Gloria. Congratulations!!

Also Kazie, welcome to the Grandparent's Club. You'll find membership very gratifying and satisfying. We have. By the way, I love the name Lea. I wonder why?

Have a great rest of the day, everyone.

desper-otto said...

That makes 47 comments before noon -- not bad for a nonexistent blog!

Anonymous said...

One problem with people today is that they are always looking to blame others for their own problems. Then the lawyers and politicians are there to take from others to make their clents/constituants feel better.

God help us is Downton Abbey doesn't air on sunday. I know I'll be suing PBS to counteract my angst!!

thehondohurricane said...

Good afternoon everyone,

Marti, you outdid yourself today. What a challenge. I must have been ready to throw in the towel at least three times. Finally came down to the same wag as many others today, the U for SMUT/OLEUM.

I sort of get the theme fills,sort of!

For 27D Sharks or Jets, I was thinking NHL teams. Bet EddieB would have been too.

For 23A, I bounced back and forth between HULA and Hora until USEDUP & NAPOLI were sussed out.

Jazz, happy anniversary.

HG, thanks for keeping me up to date on what was going on.





Irish Miss said...

Congratulations, Kazie; Lea is beautiful.

A belated but very sincere thank you to CC for finding a way to keep the " family" together today. I, like so many others, would be lost without this special Corner.

Lucina said...

Oh, Kazie, Lea is Beautiful!

Chickie, LOL! I wonder why, indeed.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Our blog is back, guys.

Lemonade714 said...

In the many oddities of life, baby Charlotte was also 6 lbs. 5 oz and 19"

Lea looks like another perfect angel; hope you get to see her in person soon KZ.

HeartRx said...

Kazie, LEA is just an adorable little peanut! I look forward to many more pictures! When will you get to meet her in person?


HUZZAH! The blog is back. C.C., thanks for keeping the discussion going and letting us "borrow" your site for today. See all you guys tomorrow, on the usual channel!