Fri., 1/16 Julian Lim

[magus]

THEME:   too vague for me
   
GOOD ONES:    
Work on a canvas?   SPAR [boxing rings have canvas flooring]   
White side?   SLAW [in restaurant lingo side = side order]   
   
BTW:   
Survey taker, at times   XER [this clue is so general as to be useless]   
   
Okay, this was tough for me despite my having filled it out in ink with no write-overs.  Part of the difficulty, I suspect, is that the theme escapes me.  I noted the CC's and that after the C's came a phrase viz. CHARDCROCK (didn't know Arp's first name).  However, how does CC, carbon copy?, fit with giving one's opinion?  The problem may be that I'm not smart enough, but I enjoyed the challenge despite the theme.   
   
   
RATING:   
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun   

[Thomps2525]

The answer to "Opine...or create four long answers in this puzzle?" was ADDONESTWOCENTS. The idea of "putting one's two cents in" (sharing an opinion) is believed to derive from the Biblical story of the poor widow who gave two coins to the temple. Those two coins were all the money that she had. Jesus was impressed with the widow but not with the wealthy people who gave more money but did not make the same sacrifice. 

So..."Add one's two cents" meant that two C's were to be added to each of four phrases to create the theme answers. The dumb answers did not justify the concept: CHANSCARP, CHARDCROCK, CONANDCON and CRAMPEDCUP? Really? And I had never seen "c" used as an abbreviation for "cents" but the Merriam-Webster Dictionary does indeed include it. "Cent" is the seventh of 24 words that "c" is an abbreviation of. The first word in the dictionary's entry is "calm." I'm baffled by that one. Who has ever abbreviated "calm" with a "c"?