Friday, September 7, 2018

QOD:  Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.  ~  David Packard (Sept. 7, 1912 ~ Mar. 26, 1996)

Thursday, September 6, 2018

QOD:  If you run from technology, it will chase you.  ~ Robert M. Pirsig (né Robert Maynard Pirsig; Sept. 6, 1928 ~ Apr. 24, 2017)

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

QOD:  Don’t live in the past.  There’s no point.  You can’t change anything.  What a waste of time.  ~  Bob Newhart (né George Robert Newhart b. Sept. 5, 1929)

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

QOD:  Ever since I made tomorrow my favorite day, I’ve been uncomfortable looking back.  ~  Paul Harvey (né Paul Harvey Aurandt; Sept. 4, 1918 ~ Feb. 28, 2009)

Monday, September 3, 2018 / Labor Day

QOD:  If we can’t laugh at ourselves and the human condition, we’re going to be mean.  ~  Eileen Brennan (née Verla Eileen Brennan; Sept. 3, 1935 ~ July 28, 2013)

Sunday, September 2, 2018

QOD:  I can’t take a well-tanned person seriously.  ~  Cleveland Amory (Sept. 2, 1917 ~ Oct. 14, 1998)

This was my first foray into blogging on C.C. Burnikel's Crossword Corner Blog.

Division of Labor

Oh, the dreaded circle puzzle! In today's puzzle, though the circles "divide" a particular job, or type of labor.  It's actually quite clever.  So what jobs are divided here? the circles in:

22-A. Picnic side with Parmesan dressing: CAESAR COLESLAW, and 24-A. Seuss' turtle king: YERTLE.  LAWYER.  My profession.

29-A. Monopoly maker: HASBRO, and 32-A. "Bein' Green" singer: KERMIT THE FROG.  BROKER.

57-A. Post production?: RAISIN BRAN, and 59-A. Logo modeled for five-month-old Ann Turner Cook [b. Nov. 20, 1926]: GERBER BABY.   RANGER.

Ann Turner Cook - Then and now:

80-A. Actress' first film: MOVIE DEBUT, and 83-A. Jim Croce title guy: LEROY BROWN.   BUTLER.

105-A. Successor to Canada's Stephen Harper: JUSTIN TRUDEAU, and 109-A. Bike trail hazards: THORNS.   AUTHOR.

115-A. Weather map line: ISOBAR, and 117-A. Tea-flavoring citrus fruit: BERGAMOT ORANGE.    BARBER.

Across:

1. Numbers on letters: ZIP CODE.  It stands for Zoning Improvement Plan

8. Pester constantly: BADGER.  I really wanted Bother.

14. Range: SCOPE.

19. Facetious local subject in many articles in "The Onion": AREA MAN.  I have never read The Onion.

20. Classified stat: AD RATE.

21. Got misty-eyed, with "up": TEARED.

25. Place to check for prints: ART SALE.

26. Heart charts, for short: ECGS. As in the ElectroCardioGrams, sometimes called EKGs. It's a diagnostic tool for assessing the electrical and muscular function of the heart.

28. Chick magnet?: HEN.

37. Jewish Community Center component gp.: YMHA. As in the Young Men's Hebrew Association, not the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority.   Not all Jewish Community Centers, however, have a YMHA.

38. "Back in the __": USSR.   The Beatles!

40. Place for a stud: EAR.  I wasn't fooled by this clue. We've seen it in the puzzles before.

41. Lake near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: ERIE.  Hi, Abejo!

42. Symbol of simplicity: PIE. This puzzle was As Easy As Pie.

43. Canonized Mlle.: STE. Today's French lesson, abbreviation for Saint.

44. Tehran-based carrier: IRAN AIR. I took a wild guess that the airline would include the name of the country.

47. ''Finished!'': THERE!

51. Long-necked wader: EGRET. Lots of EGRETS in my neighborhood.  I live near a lake.

53. Samurai lacking a master: RONIN. No idea, but apparently RONIN is also the name of a movie starring Robert DeNiro.

55. Actress Joanne: DRU. Joanne DRU (née Joan Letitia LaCock; Jan. 31, 1922 - Sept. 10, 1996) was the older sister of Peter Marshall, the gameshow host. I had heard of him, but not her.

56. Stratford's river: AVON. Ding-Dong!

62. Thread holder: SPOOL.

63. Bus. school test: GMAT. As in the Graduate Management Admission Test.

65. Brief street sign: SLO.

66. Org. in "Traffic": DEA. As in the Drug Enforcement Administration, a federal law enforcement agency housed within the United States Department of Justice.

67. Tent entrances: FLAPS.

69. It burns in December: YULE LOG.

72. Blew away: WOWED.

74. Oktoberfest drink: ALE.

75. "Ben-Hur" novelist Wallace: LEW. Lew Wallace (Apr. 10, 1827- Feb. 15, 1905) was a Union General in the American Civil War and author.  Ben Hur follows the life of Judah Ben-Her, a Jewish prince who was enslaved by the Romans at the beginning of the first century.  He later became a charioteer and converted to Christianity.

77. Alien-seeking gp.: SETI. As in Search for ExtraTerrestial Intelligence. I learned about SETI from its frequent appearances in the crossword puzzles.

78. First president with a Twitter account: OBAMA. No politics, although Trump is the same number of letters.

88. Get ready: PREP.

89. Berne's river: AAR.

90. Sch. health course: SEX ED. Is one Sexed in Sex Ed?

91. Schoolyard comeback: AM TOO!

92. Place to make waves: SALON. A good misdirection.

94. Like many family-owned companies: NEPOTIC.

96. RNs' workplaces: ERs.  Registered Nurses might work in Emergency Rooms.

98. Med. care provider: HMO. As in a Health Maintenance Organization.

99. Mazar of "Entourage": DEBI. I never saw Entourage, but have seen DEBI Mazar (b. Aug. 13, 1964) in other shows.

101. MLB's steroid __: ERA.  According to ESPN, apparently the Steroid ERA ran from the late 1980s through the 2000s.

102. __-da: pretentious: LA-DI.   Makes me think of Annie Hall.

104. Deck furniture wood: TEAK.

111. "Swell!": FAB.

112. Full of energy: GO GO.  Meh!

113. CVS rival: RITE AID. All the RITE AID stores in my area have been either closed or converted to Walgreens.

124. Lassie, for one: COLLIE.

125. Pass, as time: ELAPSE.

126. Formal address: ORATION.

127. Composer Bruckner: ANTON. I am not familiar with ANTON Bruckner (Sept. 4, 1924 - Oct. 11, 1896). Apparently he was an Austrian composer.

128. Fluctuated wildly: YO-YO'ED.

129. Handle holder: NAME TAG. Cute clue

Down:

1. Efron of "Baywatch" (2017): ZAC.  ZAC Efron (b. Oct. 18, 1987) was also the lead in the High School Musical, which I never saw but it certainly had a lot of publicity.

2. Tax-deferred acct.: IRA. As in Individual Retirement Account.

3. __ Wee Reese: PEE. PEE Wee Reese (né Harold Peter Henry Reese, July 23, 1918 - Aug. 14, 1999), was a professional baseball player. He played shortstop for the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1940 to 1958.

4. Winter melon: CASABA. Yum.

5. Sydney of astrology: OMARR. No idea. Sydney OMARR (né Sidney Kimmelman, Aug. 5, 1926 - Jan. 2, 2003) was, apparently an astrologer to the rich and famous. Since I am neither rich nor famous, I guess that explains why I never heard of him.

6. Dash from hiding: DART OUT.

7. Env. add-ins: ENCS. As Enclosures to letters in Envelopes.

8. One really on her toes: BALLERINA.

9. "Doe, __ ... ": A DEER, a female deer ...

10. "House" figs.: DRs.  House was a television drama about doctors.  The patient always had some life-threatening disease, that only after lots of consultations, only Dr. House could properly diagnose.

11. Hoedown honey: GAL.

12. Uber approx.: ETA. As in Estimated Time of Arrival, I suppose.

13. Drop more Visine in, say: RE-WET. Visine is a brand of eye drops.

14. Deems appropriate: SEES FIT.

15. Jaguar, e.g.: CAR not to be confused with 103-D Jaguar, e.g.: AUTO.  Wait a minute! Both clues refer to motor vehicles.

16. Bug B Gon maker: ORTHO.

17. Pequod co-owner: PELEG. A reference to the book Moby Dick.

18. Home of the first family: EDEN. Cute clue.

21. "Burning bright" poem critter: TYGER. A poem by William Blake (Nov. 28, 1757 - Aug. 12, 1827), the first line of which reads as follows:

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,

In the forests of the night;

What immortal hand or eye,

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

23. State trees of six U.S. states: OAKs. I really wanted this to be Pine, but more than 6 states have their state tree as a variation of a pine tree.  The Bald Cypress is the state tree of Louisiana.  What is your state tree?

27. Rosy-cheeked angels: CHERUBS.

29. Overly energetic: HYPER.

30. Felipe's female friend: AMIGA. Today's Spanish lesson.

31. Sci-fi author __ S. Tepper: SHERI. Sci-fi is not my genre, so I am not familiar with the works of SHERI S. Tepper (née Shirley Stewart Douglas, July 16, 1929 - Oct. 22, 2016)

33. Vicious: MEAN.

34. Actor McKellen: IAN. That's Sir Ian (b. May 25, 1939) to you!

35. Exchange (a player) with: TRADE TO.

36. P.T. program: RE-HAB. As in Rehabilitation.

39. __-Croatian language: SERBO.

43. Paint with dots: STIPPLE. A learning moment.

45. Curly lock: RINGLET.

46. Discount tag abbr.: IRR. As in Irregular. No wonder this shirt is so cheap - there is only one arm hole.

48. Sidestep: EVADE. I initially tried Avoid.

49. Like trial judges: ROBED. Supreme Court Justices, too.

50. Singer from County Donegal: ENYA. Her given name is Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (b. May 17, 1961).  No wonder she goes by ENYA.

52. She, in Sicily: ESSA. Today's Italian lesson.

54. Air France hub: ORLY. The Charles DeGaulle is the primary international airport in France, but ORLY is a close second.

58. Word with hard or red: NOSED. As in Hard-Nosed or Rudolph the Red-Nosed.

59. Name on Pisa's airport: GALILEI.  Italy's airport named in honor of Galileo Galilei (Feb. 15, 1564 - Jan. 8, 1642).

60. Hall of Fame Bronco: ELWAY. As in quarterback John Albert Elway, Jr. (b. June 28, 1960).

61. Floor-cleaning robots: ROOMBAS. I was sure these things were called Zoombas, but I knew Gerbez Baby made no sense.

64. Shook hands with, perhaps: MET.

67. Regional plant life: FLORA. The regional animal life is the Fauna.

68. Be straight (with): LEVEL.

70. Power grabber: USURPER.

71. Horror film feature, often: GORE.

73. Friendly: WARM.

74. Concert array: AMPs. As in the Amplifiers.

76. Gradually withdrawing (from): WEANING.

79. Portended: BODED.

81. Devices with earbuds: iPODS. I love my iPod. I listen to all sorts of podcasts.

82. Main squeeze, slangily: BAE. I am not familiar with this term.  I have heard a main squeeze as being referred to a Boo, however.

84. Cried out: EXCLAIMED.

85. Significant person?: OTHER.

86. Many a NOW co-founder: WOMAN.

87. Secluded places: NOOKS.

90. Dutch burg: STAD. Today's Dutch lesson.

93. Margin at the bottom: NET GAIN.

95. Tulsa sch. with a Prayer Tower: ORU. As in Oral Roberts University, a Christian liberal arts school.

97. "R.I.P." singer: RITA ORA. I am not familiar with either the song or the singer.  RITA ORA (née Rita Sahatçiu Ora, b. Nov. 26, 1990).

100. Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser brand: BIORE.

104. Until now: TO DATE.

105. Alexander of "Seinfeld": JASON.  Jason Alexander (né Jay Scott Greenspan, b. Sept. 23, 1959) was great as George in Seinfeld.

106. Letter-shaped fastener: U-BOLT.

107. Actor Maguire: TOBEY.  TOBEY Maguire (né Tobias Vincent Maguire, June 27, 1975) was in The Cider House Rules.

108. Remove all traces of: ERASE.

110. Walker on a bottle: HIRAM. My first thought was Johnnie, but that is too many letters.  Hiram Walker (July 4, 1816 - Jan. 12, 1899) founded Canadian Club whisky.

111. Pay stub abbr.: FICA. As in the Federal Insurance Contributions Act.

114. Eddie Redmayne's alma mater: ETON. Eddie Redmayne (b. Jan. 6, 1982) and Prince William (b. June 21, 1982) were classmates at ETON.

116. Rain-__ bubble gum: BLO.

118. "Strange Magic" band: ELO. As in the Electric Light Orchestra.

119. Beam of light: RAY.

120. Mailing ctr.: GPO.

121. Minor gripe: NIT.

122. __ long way: GO A.

123. Coll. major: ENG. As in English. Would you like Fries with That?