Sun., 8/16 Clive Probert

[magus]

THEME:   intrusive D (before an R) changes phrases
   
GOOD ONES:    
Saloon with a no-quipping policy?  ANTI-DROLL BAR ["anti-roll bar": the absurdity of a bar forbidding humor makes me laugh, yet we have no smoking bars, so why not bars prohibiting un-PC quips]   
Refreshment after winter recreation?   SKATING DRINK ["skating rink": I can see some enterprising marketer selling a "special" drink for hockey players]   
Way out?   PAROLE [I thought outre, and come to think of it, PAROLE itself seems odd given a judge passed sentence for a specific time (frame)]   
Jam cacophony   HORNS [as in a traffic jam, not a jazz jam (which bothers me even more)]   
Changing places   CABANAS   
Sport with pins  WRESTLING [took a long while to get bowling out of my mind before I could consider anything else]   
Like some facts and stuff   HARD [as in both "hard facts" and "hard stuff"]   
Total   RUIN [same as with WRESTLING, I was thinking "addition"]   
One in a ball game?   SEER [she uses a crystal ball --- and it is a con(fidence) game]   
   
BTW:   
Art class focused on river rapids?   WHITEWATER DRAFTING [I'd clue it "Hillary's defense"]   
   
Portrait of Donald's life?   A DRAKE'S PROGRESS [both the duck and the new pol would work]   
   
Juvenile response   I AM SO [if this is juvenile, any insistence is]   
   
Light bite   NOSH [still only used by those exposed to Yiddish; there was a franchise in Brooklyn 55 years ago called Bagel Nosh, but [whispered] "they're not  good."   
   
Start of the Common Era   ONE AD [instead of the AD ("year of the lord") we now have CE, obviating the need to refer to the loathsome deity --- even though calendars are based on the lying sham far below, say, today's vaunted Bill Clinton]   
   
OLD SCHOOL bothers me as much as "Back in the day" probably because I'm old school, and back in the day these expressions did not exist.   
   
Go like mad   DASH [a tad overstated for my liking; any quick movement or running could be defined so --- "mad dash" would be more like it]   
   
Steamed veggies, say   SIDE [irritating:  it should be "side order" or "on the side" lest with our eggs we order a "side of bacon" ]   
   
RATING:   
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun   

[Thomps2525]

I, too, do not like the phrase "back in the day." The Cambridge Dictionary says it is "used for talking about a time in the past, usually when you are remembering nice things about that time: Back in the day, we had an apartment with a swimming pool." But really now---"back in the day"? Singular? Exactly which day are we talking about?

Merl Reagle's crossword in today's Los Angeles Times is titled "Homophone Hijinks." (Is there such a thing as lojinks, I wonder?) It is obvious that "homophone hijinks" is just a synonym for "bad puns." Some of the puns are really bad.....and really old, too:

Spud? COMMONTATER
Corn price: BUCKANEAR
Things to see in a certain romantic city: PARISSIGHTS

But there are also a few puns which are not old. They are bad.....but they are not old:

Go by a burning building" PASSAFIRE
Support a candidate from outer space? BACKANALIEN
Broadway musical about a WWII battle? OHVERDUN
Nelson as a stand-up? COMICOZZIE
A distinct possibility if Doris and Patti won't sing? DINAHMIGHT
(The references are to singers Day, LaBelle and Washington)

[magus]

Dinah Shore
Patti Page
Doris Day

They're singers of the same time and ilk having come from big bands. LaBelle and Washington may best be described as "soul" or "R&B" singers with a decidedly Negro sound.

[Thomps2525]

The first "Dinah" I thought of was Dinah Washington and the first "Patti" I thought of was Patti LaBelle. In context, "Shore" and "Page" are obviously the names Reagle had in mind.

Here is another way to tell if you're old: When you hear the song title Stairway To Heaven, do you immediately think of Neil Sedaka.....or Led Zeppelin?