L.A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 Fred Piscop

Theme:  WURST PUZZLE EVER.  Add "WURST" to the first part of the theme answers, and you get some variety of sausage.  Vegetarians might find this the WURST PUZZLE EVER, but to an omnivore like me, it's quite tasty.

17. Lennon had one : LIVERPOOL ACCENT.  The fab four hailed from LIVERPOOL (nasty image if you think about it.) LIVERWURST, from the German Leberwurst, is liver sausage, obviously.  Love it or hate it, this staple of northern and eastern Europe is spreadable, high in fat, and contains pig's liver.  In Hungary, my ancestral home, it's used with cheese as a filling for baked pancakes.  The things you learn . . .

25. Go from pillar to post : KNOCK ABOUT.  This is not a great correspondence.  KNOCK ABOUT means travel widely or wander aimlessly.  To "go from pillar to post" is to search widely or be driven by circumstances beyond one's control.  KNOCKWURST is a soft sausage made of pork and beef spiced with garlic and other seasonings.  And, lest you BARQUE up the wrong tree, here is another KNOCKABOUT.

50. Josephine Tey title orphan : BRAT FARRAR.  "BRAT FARRAR is the story of a young man who takes part in a swindle, and suddenly finds himself the champion of the missing heir that he is impersonating against his victim's conceited twin brother." Tey was a Scottish author of mystery novels.  BRAT FARRAR might be her best and most famous.  BRATWURST is a sausage made of veal and pork.  To a purist, it is made with veal only.  I guess I'm not a purist.

And the Unifier:
66. Based on the starts of 17-, 25- and 50-Across, what this crossword might be? : WURST PUZZLE EVER.  Reminds me of this.

Hi, gang, it JzB, your Hungarian, pig-devouring, Toledo trombonist.  I have to repost Dennis's "Did you know?" from yesterday.  "The average American eats the equivalent of 28 pigs in his or her lifetime."  We could do WURST, I suppose.



ACROSS

1. Baron Cohen's Kazakh journalist : BORAT.  High achievement in low comedy

6. Dickens alias : BOZ.  As the story goes, BOZ was the nickname of his younger brother, Augustus.

9. National Guard challenges : RIOTS.   The challenge is to avoid either injuring or being injured.

14. Publicist's concern : IMAGE.  When perception trumps reality, IMAGE is all

15. Bettor's note : IOU.  Shortened from "I owe you."  Very early textese.

16. Art film, often : INDIE.  Independent - not associated with a major studio.

20. Undying : ETERNAL.  Forever, and ever.  Not an INDIE.

21. Bring to light : UNEARTH.

22. Handle clumsily : PAW.  Not to be confused with 62 D.

24. Wallet items, briefly : IDS.  Identification, like a driver's license.

31. Rodgers's partner : HART.  Lorenz HART was Richard Rodgers's lyricist, before Rodgers teamed up with Oscar Hammerstein.  Here is my favorite R&H tune.

35. Part of a TV feed : AUDIO. the sound portion.  The Vidio portion is the . . . ah - video

36. Nasty boss : OGRE.  Ever have one?  My two WURST bosses were really decent people who didn't know jack about how to be a boss.

38. Sigma preceder : RHO.  Greek letters.  All together now:  Rho, rho, rho your beta, gamma down the sigma . . .

39. Eggy bun : BRIOCHE.  I'd like one with my BRAT.

42. Vibraphone virtuoso Lionel : HAMPTON.  He lost a great deal of memorabilia and recordings when his apartment burned a few years ago.  He was a wonderful person, and a terrific musician.  He, Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa and Benny Goodman broke the color barrier in American Music. Here, they also break the land speed record.

44. CIA forerunner : OSS  The office of Strategic Services.

45. Chuck : HURL.  Throw, not a roast.  Remember, we're doing pigs today. 

47. "All in the Family" spinoff : MAUDE.  MAUDE, played by Bea Arthur, was Edith Bunker's outspoken, liberated, rather overbearing cousin. 

48. One of Alcott's women : BETH.  And one of my daughters-in-law.  She is bringing the kids to our house next week for Thanksgiving.  We'll all be giving thanks when Tom returns from Afghanistan, some time in January.

53. Old Gremlin maker : AMC.  Why anyone would want to make an old gremlin remains a mystery.  I guess they mean American Motors Corporation, which at one time made Jeeps in Toledo.  Then it was Chrysler,  which, more recently, was purchased with Fiat money

55. Fannie follower? : MAE.  The Federal National Mortgage Association, or, Freddie Mac's girl friend.  They both have debt issues.

56. Not surprisingly : AS USUAL

60. Esteem : RESPECT.  Let's all show just a little bit.

68. "South Pacific" hero : EMILE.   Here is his song.  Also, see 31 A.

69. Museum-funding org. : NEA.  National Endowment for the Arts.

70. Origami bird : CRANE.  Why not an albatross?

71. Gave a shot, say : DOSED.

You lucky people get another of my poems, based on a real life experience.   It gave me the opportunity to moon a comely lass.

FIFTH DAY DOWN

For four straight days I've been flat on my back.
Prospects for tomorrow -- not too bright.
But first I have to face another night
Of nose-runs, insomnia, and cough attack.

Day two they put a needle in my hip,
Pumped in some paste, a substance that is not
The amber liquid I would call a shot:
That lovely Malt, imported in green glass.

When morning comes I'll rise to face tomorrow,
Without a Scottish gift to ease my sorrow,
And if some comely lass of nursely station
Approaches from behind with medication

I'll demure, and if you get my drift,
If she insists, then I will plead the fifth.

-- Jan. 28, 1999, 11:00 pm

Copyright Jazzbumpa. All rights reserved

72. "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)" author Coulter : ANN.  Here, I will practice restraint.

73. Ready to snap : TESTY.  If President Coolidge had been irascible rather than taciturn, would he have been TESTY Cal?

DOWN

1. Ill temper : BILE.  The cluster of the last three answers restores my faith in a benevolent deity.

2. Jump over : OMIT.  The quick brown fox omitted the lazy dog.

8. Pilot's alphabet ender : ZULU.  Alpha, Bravo . . . or is it Able, Baker . . .  Somebody here will know this, fer sure.

9. Reduced to bits : RICED.  If you put boiled potatoes through a ricer, the little bits look like grains of rice - until you stir in the butter, etc.

10. Like bill payments? : IN CASH.  Very retro answer.  Even checks are passe, now.  Put it on plastic, pay it on line with 100% recyclable electrons.

11. Wroclaw's river : ODER.  Smell something fishy?

12. Sunroof feature : TINT.  Tinted glass or plastic, to keep your car from turning into an oven.

13. Adam's third : SETH.  The forgotten son, except in crosswords.

18. Bearded Smurf : PAPA

19. "Peer Gynt Suite" dancer : ANITRA

23. Romance : WOO.  See 31 A.

25. Barbecue fare : KABOB.  Shish kabob is lamb.  Pork -  I dunno - pig kabobs?

26. Sip : NURSE.  As in nurse a beer.  Similar to nursing a baby, I suppose.  Not to be confused with someone who does 71 A.

27. Praiseful poet : ODIST.  Like me, I suppose.  C. A. to the rescue, please.

28. Gp. in a 1955 labor merger : C.I.O.  Note Abrv.  The Congress of Industrial Organizations merged with the American Federation of Labor.  All together now:  John L. Lewis had a union, C-I, C-I-O . . .

29. "How'm I Doing?" mayor/author : KOCH.  I might ask the same question.

30. "This is awful!" : UGH.  Hope that's not the answer.

32. Pianist Rubinstein : ARTUR

33. Ida Morgenstern's daughter : RHODA.  A mid 70's spinoff from the Mary Tyler Moore show starring Valarie Harper.  Nothing Bazarre about it.

34. Office machine supply : TONER. 

37. "Bone Dance" sci-fi author Bull : EMMA.  This novel was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards.

40. One may be thrown at a pothole : HUBCAP.  Do cars have hub caps any more?

41. Drop a brick, so to speak : ERR.  To drop a brick is human.  Anybody know anything about this expression?

43. It's often two, in mini golf : PAR. the designated number of strokes for a hole.

46. Hotfoot it : LAM.  I only know this from the phrase "on the lam," meaning "at large."  So, if Sasquach is on the LAM, that's an at large Bigfoot hot foot.  Of course, LAM is also in Shish kabob, which is best served hot.

49. Give grief to : HASSLE.  I had the first letter as S for a while, and wondered what language I was using.

51. Burroughs swinger : TARZAN.  Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the Tarzan novels.  Tarzan was a swinger, but not like Edna St. Vincent Millay.

52. Have a hunch : FEEL. Hence the sympathetic expression, "I have a hunch about your pain."

54. Softened, in a way : MUTED.  A Harmon mute is common on trumpet, but rare for trombone.  I have one, and it gives a pretty nice sound.

56. Blown away : AWED.  Like a trombone in a windstorm.

57. Heavyweights' ring contest : SUMO.  Japanese SUMO wrestlers.

58. "Topaz" author : URIS.  Leon URIS also wrote Exodus and Redemption.

59. Moon goddess : LUNA.  Also, my most favoritest Harry Potter Character.

61. Shiites, e.g. : SECT.  Shia and Sunni dissected Islam in the first generation following the death of the prophet in 632.

62. French pop : PERE.  Daddy, not soda.

63. NASA "walks" : EVAS.  Extra Vehicular Activity.

64. Euro fraction : CENT.  One one-hundreth part.  Just like our penny, which is also properly called a CENT.

65. Long basket, in basketball lingo : TREY.  A shot from beyond the three point line, which is worth (AS USUAL) three points!

67. Path to enlightenment : ZEN.  Not so much a path, as a way of thinking and percieving the universe. ZEN is a Japanese word derived from the Chinese word Chán, which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which means "meditation" or "meditative state".  ZEN also originated in the 7th century.  Thank you, Wikipedia.

Time for me to HURL myself into bed.  I have to get up in five hours.

Cheers!
JzB

Cross-posted at The Corner.
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