Today is January 8. It is much too early for April Fools Day. Therefore I conclude that the
Los Angeles Times simply made a mistake. The crossword puzzle grid in today's paper is not the correct one. Perhaps it's the grid that belongs with
next Sunday's crossword. Fortunately I can access the puzzle online. Otherwise I would be going nuts trying to figure out how to put today's answers into a 21-by-21 diagramless grid.
The title of today's crossword by Paul Coulter is "Dine Out." That is to be read as "D in, E out." In each theme answer, a D replaces an E.
Infant dressed for rain? BABYBOOTED
Have a good day birding? FINDFEATHEREDFRIENDS
Paragraph in a lemon law? DUDPROCESSCLAUSE
Basis for evaluating an archaeology dig? EARNINGSPERSHARD
Must choose among less volatile investment options? HAVEABONDTOPICK
"When leaving the beach, hose off your feet before putting on your shoes"? SANDADVICE
Warning to Bo Peep that her sheep are really hiding nearby? HERDSLOOKINGATYOUKID
"Birding" is a shortened form of "birdwatching" and is much older than one might think. It dates from 1918. A "bootee" is a soft shoe, especially a knitted one, worn by a baby. The word dates from the 1790s and is an extension of "boot." It is now usually spelled "bootie." The "ee" ending is a pseudo-French equivalent of "-y" or "-ie."
"French king" is ROI, which is not used in English. "South Dakota, to Pierre" is ETAT, which is not used in English. "Jour's opposite" is NUIT, which is not used in English. "As to" is INRE. "In re" is a Latin phrase often used in business correspondence but never in everyday speech.
"Thug's thousands" is GEES. "G" stands for grand and began to be used as a synonym for a thousand dollars ("a grand sum of money") in the early 1900s. The puzzle answer is wrong, though -- the term is "G's" and not "Gees." Crossword creators like to use letters which are unnecessarily "spelled out." Instead of C, D, G, S and V, they give us "Cee," "Dee," "Gee," "Ess" and "Vee." Letters do not
need to be spelled out -- each letter is its own spelling. There used to be a candy bar called the $100,000 Bar. Nestlē introduced it in 1966. The name was inspired by the $100,000 grand prize offered on a 1955-57 NBC-TV game show,
The Big Surprise. In 1985 the candy was renamed the 100 Grand Bar. Here, for your amazement and amusement, is a 1978 $100,000 Bar commercial featuring Philip McKeon of
Alice and Dana Plato of
Diff'rent Strokes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2CtSHnIKWIAnd now I have a craving for chocolate.
