17. Magazine for masseuses?: ROLF DIGEST. GOLF DIGEST
21. Magazine for nurses?: IV GUIDE. TV GUIDE
26. Magazine for golfers?: PAR AND DRIVER. CAR AND DRIVER
44. Magazine for crossword constructors?: PUNNERS WORLD. RUNNER'S WORLD
38. Magazine for beekeepers?: HONEY. MONEY
51. Magazine for pharmacists?: MEDBOOK. REDBOOK
60. Magazine for farmers?: HEN'S HEALTH. MEN'S HEALTH
We have another debut at the LA Times and Crossword Corner. Welcome, Stu Agler !
Rolf Digest was the first themer to fill, but I had never heard of Rolfing. Wikipedia tells me "Rolfing is a form of alternative medicine originally developed by Ida Rolf as Structural Integration. It is typically delivered as a series of ten hands-on physical manipulation sessions sometimes called "the recipe" Who knew ?
Consistency in changing only the first letter of the existing magazines may have made this puzzle a bit easier to solve, but it's still funny and punny. Excepting IV / TV, they all also rhyme.
Stu probably had more choices and could probably have created a Sunday sized grid with this theme. How about "Magazine for helicopter designers? Rotor Trend. Or, "Magazine for practitioners of animal husbandry ?" Sired. Maybe, "Magazine for Lumberyard professionals ? Wood Housekeeping.
I'll stop now and leave it to the professionals. Great job, Stu. We're now going to explore that which remains. And pardon me while I wander and reminisce.
Across:
1. Cook Islands language: MAORI. The Cook Islands are in the South Pacific ocean with 15 islands having a combined total land area of about 93 square miles. For perspective, the city of Chicago covers about 234 sq. miles. Los Angeles 469, and Houston 600 sq. miles. The land area of the Cook Islands is about the size of Milwaukee (96), Sacramento (98), Lincoln, NE (89) or Tallahassee (100 sq. mi.).
Spanish explorers visited the islands in the late 1500s and named one of the islands St. Bernard. British Navigator James Cook came to the islands in the 1770s, and named one of the islands Hervey Island. The name "Cook Islands" first appeared on a Russian naval chart in the 1820s.
78 % of the people on the island nation are Māori and another 7.8 % are part Māori. The official languages are English and Cook Islands Māori. The capital (and largest city) is Avarua, which might be a good answer in a crossword puzzle.
6. Place for mascara: LASH.
10. Rims: LIPs.
14. Ray __, NBAer with the most regular season 3-point field goals: ALLEN. Retired HOF'er with 18 years in the NBA making 40 % of his attempts from beyond the line for 2973 buckets. Active player Stephen Curry has hit 43.5 % of his 3-pointers during his 11 year NBA career, and is about 500 makes behind. Note the consistency in the non-shooting hand.
15. Northern Oklahoma city: ENID. Known as the "Wheat Capital" of Oklahoma for its immense grain storage capacity. It has the third-largest grain storage capacity in the world. Yes, that is a line of rail cars in the foreground. The place is huge.
There were some great shots on The Smithsonian Channel's Aerial America - Oklahoma the other day. If you don't get that channel, watch for it to be shown on The Smithsonian's Aerial America YouTube channel.
16. Legal memo phrase: INRE.
19. Campus area: QUAD.
20. Place with shells: SEASIDE.
23. Informal negative: AIN'T. Isn't wrong.
25. Chopper topper: ROTOR. One of my part time military jobs (ODAA - other duties as assigned)) was working as part of the team at the "Can Point" when I was assigned to Coleman Army Airfield, Coleman Barracks, 70th AVIM (aviation intermediate maintenance) Battalion, 1st Support Brigade (later, 21st Support Command), USAEUR (US Army Europe) at Sandhofen (Mannheim), Germany.
My real job was in the computer vans, 3rd shift, feeding stack after stack of 80 column cards into a card reader, and then inserting magnetic ledger stock into the platen feed of an NCR 500 computer system.
It was all part of the inventory control system used to keep track of orders and disbursements and stock on hand. Occasionally keypunching new cards to replace mangled cards, and running the 088 card sorter from time to time after dropping a tray full of cards. Tray after tray, night after night, week after week. So monotonous. I digress.
Any rotor wing aircraft that went down in USAEUR were transported to the cannibalization point for selected salvage. Rotor wings could not be salvaged for re-use, but were in demand by Air Cavalry battalions and companies around the country. They would be used as art on the hangars or as gate toppers at entrances to Kasernes that housed rotor wing companies.
Most impressive and awe inspiring was when the heavy lift helicopters came in for inspection and maintenance. The roar of the engines and sound of the rotors pounding the air was thunderous as the beasts approached and landed on the tarmac.
CH-47 "Chinook" on the left and CH-54 "Tarhe" (Skycrane) on the right. The Skycranes were being phased out of military service in Europe in the late '70s when I was there, and many passed through our airfield on their way back to the U.S.
32. Salchow relatives: AXELs. Figure skating.
33. __-deucey: ACEY. A card game or a backgammon game.
34. Hook partner: JAB. Boxing.
37. Gobble (down): WOLF.
40. Coke __: ZERO. Zero calorie, sugar free version of Coca-Cola. Artificially sweetened. I've never had one.
41. __-Caps: SNO. Semi-sweet chocolates topped with nonpareils. White ones, of course.
42. "Be there in __": A SEC. What my wife says 10 minutes before she gets to the door as we are preparing to leave.
54. Pal of Barbarino in "Welcome Back, Kotter": EPSTEIN.
59. Afterthoughts: ANDs. Oh, and the guy in the lower left is Barbarino and the guy in the top right is Epstein.
62. Leave in: STET. Don't dele. Obelisms. A proofreader knows these symbols.
63. Half of Mork's sign-off: NANU. Mork was the ET from the planet Ork on the sitcom Mork and Mindy.
64. Brew hue: AMBER.
65. __ d'oeuvres: HORS.
66. First column to add, usually: ONEs. Units. The first column of whole numbers to be added in a place-value numbering system. Typically in base-10 (decimal) for most people, and the second column would be tens, the third hundreds and so on. I know you knew that, but I'm building here.
Programmers and others in technology use other place-value numbering systems, such as in base-8 (octal) where the columns would be units, eights, sixty-fours and so on, and in base-16 (hexadecimal) they would be units, sixteens, and the third column two hundred fifty-sixes.
Quick, what's the first numbering system that comes to mind that is not place-value ?
67. Funny Anne: MEARA. So many roles, but perhaps best known as one half of the Stiller and Meara comedy team.
Down:
1. Second-smallest of eight: MARS. Our solar system's planets. The "Red Planet", fourth from the sun. Mercury is the smallest.
4. Works the game: REFs. Referees the game or bout.
5. Team with the longest World Series drought (71 years): INDIANS. Should be championship drought. They were in the 2016 World Series, and they were leading it 3 games to 1 in the best of 7 series over the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs won the next two games, evening the series at 3 each.
In the seventh and deciding game that many pundits have called one of the greatest game 7s (and series) in MLB history, the teams were tied at 6 runs each after 9 innings. Then the skies opened up with a sudden downpour. After the rain delay play resumed, and the Cubs scored two to take an 8-6 lead in the top of the tenth inning. In the bottom of the tenth, the home field Indians plated one run with two out before the Tribe's loyal fans had their hopes squashed on a weak grounder to third baseman Kris Bryant.
It was only the fifth time in World Series history that a Game 7 went to extra innings, and it was the first time the extra inning Game 7 was won by a road team. The series and Game 7 were both dubbed "instant classics".
The Cubs won and ended a 108 year championship drought of their own; the longest in professional sports history.
6. Folklore tale: LEGEND. An example of early American literature was Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleep Hollow, but what inspired the work ?
7. Suffix with hex-: ANE.
8. "Absolutely!" in Madrid: SI SI.
9. Best Buy purchase: HDTV.
10. __ license: LIQUOR.
11. Greenland language: INUIT.
12. Madrid museum: PRADO.
13. Where the same questions are asked annually: SEDER.
18. "__ it my way": I DID.
22. Ethically uncertain, in Sussex: GREY. I loved Dash-T's explanation a few weeks ago that, "Gray is a color, while grey is a colour".
24. Spells: TRANCEs.
26. Treat holders: PAWs.
27. Nerve impulse carrier: AXON.
28. HR dept. concern: RELO. United Van Lines packed up my belongings and car when I was relocated from Houston to Chicago in late '87. The company footed the bill for my relocation moving and living expenses. Actually lived for almost two months in a new Holiday Inn that was still in the process of being constructed.
Then January came, and I learned fast that my southeast Texas blood and wardrobe was ill-equipped to deal with Chicago's biting cold and gusting winds that would shiver your bones. I ran to the mall and bought thermal underwear and the heaviest lined Burberry style trench coat I could find. I didn't bother to ask HR to foot the bill on those items. I know'd the answer was NO !
29. Alien from Melmac: ALF. Another extraterrestrial from TV land. Anne Meara played the grandmother in occasional appearances on the sitcom.
30. __ dancing: ICE. Like figure skating, but more freeform and interpretive.
31. "Oy __!": VEY. Oy vey ! This crossword puzzle review has gone on too long. But wait, there's more !
34. Boo: JEER. Please. Bear with me, it'll be over soon.
35. Seed covering: ARIL.
36. M's favorite agent: BOND. James Bond's boss and head of MI6, portrayed by Dame Judy Dench in eight of the movies.
38. 24 hrs.-per-day retail channel: HSN. Home Shopping Network
39. Wine: Pref.: OEN. From the ancient Greek word oinos. "The translators of the KJV, by uniformly rendering the Greek word oinos as wine, replicated the Greek word’s reference to both fermented and unfermented juice with an English word that, in their day, was similarly general in reference."
40. Wild place: ZOO. The nickname for Gerszewski Barracks in Knielingen (Karlsruhe) Germany, my second station while serving there. The Zoo had an entirely different atmosphere than Coleman. Still the military, but significantly fewer officers and Warrant Officers (mostly helicopter pilots at Coleman) and MPs than Coleman. Definitely more relaxed.
Coleman was the home to the USAEUR Confinement Facility, where soldiers in serious trouble awaited trial, were serving sentences up to a year, or for the most serious offenses, were awaiting orders for transportation back to the U.S. to serve extended time at Ft Leavenworth, KA.
42. Jam component: AUTO. Seriously, was I the only one that first thought of pectin ?
43. Type of fastball grip: TWO SEAM. Baseball. Even ardent fans may not be aware of the arsenal that Yu Darvish brings to the mound.
44. Blue Ribbons, e.g.: PABSTs. PBRs, for short. Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Not my cuppa, but it'll do in a pinch.
45. Monkey used in research: RHESUS.
46. Future junior: SOPH.
47. Big hit: SMASH. As in an exceptionally popular TV, movie or stage show, or for tennis fans such as Sandyanon, the return shot answer to a poorly placed near-net lob shot.
48. :50, another way: TEN TO. Me: "It's ten to five. Are you ready yet ? Are you coming ?" Her: "I'll be there in a sec."
49. Stranger: ODDER.
52. "That's awful!": OH NO.
53. New Jersey university: KEAN. Not familiar. About Yellowrocks, is that near you ?
55. Domesticate: TAME.
56. People Magazine's 2018 Sexiest Man Alive: ELBA. Idris. Hi, Lucina !
57. Old Roman road: ITER.
58. Dragster's org.: NHRA. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) are the two largest sanctioning bodies for drag racing. The Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, Wisconsin is still going strong. The "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday" radio commercials for drag racing events can still be heard on radio stations across the country. Well, maybe not right now, but they'll be back.
61. Austin-to-Dallas dir.: NNE. For some, I-35 is known as Main Street, Texas. Almost half of the Texas population (and most of my siblings and extended family) lives along this central artery that starts in Laredo, Texas near the Rio Grande, and exits the state just north of Gainseville at the Red River. From there I-35 travels generally NNE all the way to Duluth, Minnesota, comparatively just shy of the border with Canada.
The reconstruction and widening of I-35 that started in 2012 is the second largest infrastructure project in the history of the state for TxDOT, the state's Department of Transportation. The first ? Building I-35 in the first place, which started in the '50s as part of Eisenhower's Interstate System. It will be nice, and much safer when it it finally done.
Use the Zoom In, Zoom Out buttons on the map to view greater detail or a wider view, and use your mouse to move around. "Ain't Isn't wrong" technology grand ?
21. With 27-Across, 50-Across classic: THE CATCHER.
27. See 21-Across: IN THE RYE.
45. 50-Across work featuring the two youngest Glass siblings: FRANNY AND ZOOEY.
50. Author born 1/1/1919: JD SALINGER.
68. Title heroine in one of 50-Across' "Nine Stories": ESME.
Great start to the New Year ! It is also the 100th anniversary of the JD Salinger's birth.
I must admit that I've never read The Catcher In The Rye, nor any other of JD Salinger's work. I knew of Catcher, and have learned that the main character was Holden Caulfield, but that was about it. I learned of Esme as a crossword staple, but never heard of Franny and Zooey.
See where The Catcher In The Rye ranks on various Ranker listings. You can add your vote on the various lists.
10. Gas station machines: PUMPS. Fuel dispensers. Tokheim was a leading manufacturer of fuel dispensing systems and point of sale (pay at the pump) that began in Cedar Rapids, grew to dominance while based in Ft Wayne, and fell to bankruptcy in the early 2000s.
17. Undersea WWII threat: U-BOAT. English for the German U-boot. Undersea boat. On June 4, 1944, the first enemy warship captured by the U.S. Navy since the War of 1812 was the German U-boat 505. She was captured off the coast of West Africa and towed to Bermuda. The U-505 is on display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. There are also some neat videos on YouTube such as showing her being moved into her final resting place, as well as a video tour taken by someone that visited the museum and the U-505 exhibit. Spitzboov might have read about this before, given his background and interests.
18. Pre-euro coin: FRANC. As in France, Belgium, Luxembourg. The Swiss franc, not the Euro, is still the official monetary unit of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Fair warning: Euros will be accepted, but your change will be given in francs, and you probably won't get a favorable exchange rate.
19. Historical times: ERAs.
20. Email back: REPLY.
24. "Star Trek" captain Jean-__ Picard: LUC, looking exasperated here. Maybe Data just told him he did a Reply All, rather than a Reply. Crossword shout out to Santa Barbara Picard.
28. Dean's list no.: GPA. I'd wager there were some pretty high ones by the regulars here.
31. Number that's a square of itself: ONE. Squaring a number means multiplying that number by itself. The result of squaring is a square. For example, squaring 2 (2x2) is 4. 4 is the square of 2. Squaring 1 would be (1x1) which results in a square of 1. One is the loneliest number.
Let's do a little more algebra. Cubing a number means to multiply a number by its square or to multiply a number by itself twice. So, 2x2x2=8. Let's try it with a larger number, say 26. 26x26x26=17,576. Not coincidentally, that result represents the finite number of all possible letter combinations in an English language non-Rebus crossword puzzle three-letter answer. All you have to do is remember all 17,576 three letter abbreviations and words from AAA to ZZZ, and you'll be on your way to crossword solving stardom. Or maybe not.
(Fermatprime and Bill G subconsciously checked my math on that one.)
32. "Neither snow __ rain ... ": NOR will keep C.C.s blogging team from blogging the daily puzzle. An occasional mental lapse or technical difficulty might, but not snow nor rain nor holiday.
33. Tags on bags: IDs. We know that Steve's luggage tags are current.
34. Fishy bagel topper: LOX.
35. Play sections: ACTS. Hahtoolah is a patron of the arts, enjoying the opera and the theater.
37. Words repeated after "Whatever" in a Doris Day song: WILL BE. The lovely Doris Day sings Que Sera Sera
40. Halloween garb: CAPE. Supeman and Batman weren't as big this year, and there were a few other caped characters that sadly I did not recognize, yet still so cute !
41. Because of: DUE TO. I guess it was due to not having any big Batman or Superman blockbusters in the last few years.
43. With 59-Across, liver delicacy: FOIE.
59. See 43-Across: GRAS.
44. Tear up: SHRED. Dash T would have wanted me to embed a video of Alex Lifeson of Rush shredding his guitar playing Working Man, but I'd already channeled CrossEyedDave.
That cat is keeping time with Alex's guitar and Neal Peart's beat. Must have an unseen IPOD Air in the far ear.
48. "La Cage aux Folles," for one: FARCE. A musical play and movie. Never heard of it. Just learned that it was the basis of the American remake, The Birdcage, starring Robin Williams.
49. Come up: ARISE.
55. "Assuming that's true ... ": IF SO.
58. John Roberts' group: Abbr.: SCOTUS. Supreme Court Of The United States.
63. Having regrets about: RUING.
65. Corn cover: HUSK. Once dried, the traditional wrapping for Mexican style tamales. I believe Lucina and family use these. On Saturday, my friend that hails from Honduras brought us some of his mother's Honduran style tamales wrapped in banana leaves. Chicken and rice and an olive encased in the masa. So good !
72. And/or divider: SLASH. Guns N' Roses guitarist: SLASH.
Down:
1. Bud 4 life: BFF. Buddy for life / Best Friend Forever.
2. Broadcast: AIR. Not sure what genre of music aired at KHAK in Cedar Rapids when Desper-otto worked there, but it is now "#1 In Country". JzB wouldn't be a fan. He doesn't care for Country music.
3. Cavs' org.: NBA. The Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. Not getting as much national broadcast air time now that LeBron has packed his bags and moved to L.A. PK is an NBA fan.
4. Camp shelter: TENT. Yellowrocks said she is now past her tent pitching days. Me too. A cabin with a fireplace and a comfortable bed appeals to my older bones.
5. Sea __: spiny critter: URCHIN. Seems that puffer fish can be spiny as well. See 56D.
6. Really amaze: ELECTRIFY.
7. "CBS This Morning" co-anchor O'Donnell: NORAH
8. Infuriated: IRATE. I know of a certain thespian who has been infuriated with the recent delivery performances of the Los Angeles Times.
9. Gave details of: DESCRIBED. Remember when Dudley described one of his contractors as "Ed the Enthusiastic Blaster" ?
10. Baby food options: PUREES. Oas traveled last week to see his newest grandchild.
11. Ride-sharing app: UBER. Husker Gary is a satisfied user of this app, based on his comments upon returning from his trip to Washington D.C.
22. Plenty, in old poems: ENOW. This means ASAP in the internet era, along w/ email, e-tail, eCommerce...
23. Jekyll's bad side: HYDE.
24. "Get a __ of this!": LOAD.
25. Release from shackles: UNCUFF.
26. Part of etc.: CETERA. Et's brother Peter was a singer, songwriter and bassist for the rock band Chicago, before launching his solo career. Here's Peter singing a song he wrote when he was still with Chicago:
28. If-looks-could-kill looks: GLARES. I'd probably be a goner from all the glares of the Peter Cetera fans.
29. Olive Oyl's guy: POPEYE. They were played by Shelly Duvall and Robin Williams in the 1980 musical comedy.
30. Used a hatchet on: AXED.
36. Original co-host of "The View": STAR JONES.
38. Hawaii's Mauna __: LOA. Michael Sherline can probably see it from his lanai.
39. "Mary Poppins Returns" actor __-Manuel Miranda: LIN. inanehiker will have have nailed this one. She wrote on Sunday that she saw it last week ! BTW, Miranda is also the name of one of Uranus' 27 moons. Miranda means "worthy of admiration."
40. Miss singing on Sunday?: CHOIR GIRL. Boomer sang in the church choir, but as a choir boy.
42. Like some audiobooks: ON CD.
44. Irritated: SORE. I think Irish Miss was irritated when she discovered her Discover Card had a fraudulent charge for a airline flight. An unneeded hassle, for sure.
46. Bitter end?: NESS. Canadian end ?: Eh. She's never shown any bitterness.
47. Turns abruptly: ZAGS. Some of OKL's lines take abrupt zags that I didn't see coming !
51. Throbbed: ACHED. Long suffering Red Sox fans like Wilbur Charles ached for a World Series Championship ring, and were finally rewarded in 2004.
52. Crummy: LOUSY. Wally, Beaver and Eddie Haskell used the word crummy quite often.
53. "I'm here": IT'S ME. Pretty song. Love the piano and horns.
54. Microwaved: NUKED.
55. Baghdad's country: IRAQ. Abejo worked next door in Iran.
56. Japanese pufferfish: FUGU. Almost looks unreal. Jinx, what say you ?
57. Colt's father: SIRE.
60. Country's McEntire: REBA. If you look at that graphic of Oklahoma above, she was born and raised southwest of Lake Eufala and northeast of Lake Texoma. The city of McAlester and town of Kiowa respectively.
61. Rental car choice: AVIS. Their catchphrase was, "We try harder." I had a Hertz gold card. It was really nice when flying into Minneapolis or New York in the winter months. The car was always warmed up and running. Their motto was "Hertz puts you in the driver's seat." After Hertz failed me, I started renting from Enterprise. "We'll pick you up" is their slogan.
62. Actor Rogen: SETH.
64. Understand: GET.
66. Distress letters: SOS. Save Our Souls (or Ship). If you didn't care for Reba above, perhaps Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid are more to your liking ?
