google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, July 24, 2012 Ed Sessa

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Jul 24, 2012

Tuesday, July 24, 2012 Ed Sessa

Theme: Be Fruitful - Multiply by six the number of theme entries that start with a fruit.

17A. Casual dining chain : APPLEBEE'S

21A. Annual Florida football game : ORANGE BOWL

26A. Nice work if you can get it : PLUM POSITION

48A. Truck with a bucket : CHERRY PICKER. Image.

54A. Elongated bike saddle : BANANA SEAT. Image.

63A. Celeb's domain : LIMELIGHT

Argyle here. The theme seems pretty straightforward but if you look hard enough, I'll bet you can find some things that will amuse you.

Across:

1. Nittany Lions' sch. : PSU. Pennsylvania State University, or Penn State.

4. Tara family name : O'HARA

9. Plant-sucking pest : APHID

14. Heavy weight : TON

15. Scots' fishing spots : LOCHS

16. Witchy woman : CRONE

19. Having melody and harmony : TONAL

20. "Get outta here!" : "SHOO!"

23. Bldgs. for mailers : PO's. (post office)

25. Be wild about : ADORE

32. Mark Twain portrayer Holbrook : HAL


33. Health insurance giant : AETNA

34. "In your dreams!" : "NO WAY!"

38. Physicians' gp. : AMA

39. Joe's pal in "Midnight Cowboy" : RATSO Rizzo

41. Prefix with friendly : ECO

42. Contract stipulations : TERMS

45. Pave again : RETOP. I put in RETAR automatically until the perps changed my mind.

47. Outback runner : EMU

51. Half a '60s pop quartet : MAMAS

53. Tom Collins liquor : GIN

59. Small songbirds : TITS

62. D-Day beach : OMAHA

65. 1950s vice president : NIXON

66. Bakery lure : AROMA

67. "Psst!" : "HEY"

68. Actress Davis : GEENA

69. Guys in cuffs, hopefully : PERPS

70. __-Mex cuisine : TEX

Down:

1. Sch. book fair organizers : PTAS

2. Former frosh : SOPH

3. Out of favor : UNPOPULAR

4. Bullfight "Bravo!" : "¡OLÉ!"

5. Freight train stowaway : HOBO

6. Strong server on the court : ACER

7. Perlman of "Cheers" : RHEA. Carla.

8. Part of NBA: Abbr. : ASSN.

9. Followed, as advice : ACTED ON

10. Like some legal services : PRO BONO

11. See 37-Down : HONOR 37D. With 11-Down, court address : YOUR

12. Blown away : IN AWE

13. Computer giant : DELL

18. Weaver's contraption : LOOM

22. Merry, in Metz : GAI. Metz is a city in the northeast of France.

24. Mud wrap venue : SPA

26. Cool, in slang : PHAT

27. Weak, as excuses go : LAME

28. "__ the ramparts ..." : O'ER

29. Comics reporter Brenda : STARR. Frankly, I was amazed Brenda is still around.

30. Put in a sepulcher : INTER

31. "Delish!" : "TASTY!"

35. Working-late time, usually : WEEK NIGHT

36. Wile E. Coyote's supplier : ACME

40. "Alley __" : OOP. As sung by the Hollywood Argyles. Video(2:46)

43. "Heeeere's Johnny!" announcer : McMAHON


44. Doo-woppers in "Grease" : SHANANA

46. Oinker : PIG

49. Mexican "that" : ESA. (feminine) And 64D. Spanish article : LAS. English "the" in Spanish, plural feminine.

50. __ Field: Mets' ballpark : CITI

51. 1950s first lady : MAMIE. I wonder if she and Tricky Dick ever crossed in real life?

52. Have __ to grind : AN AXE

54. Big Ben sound : [BONG!]

55. Offended smack : SLAP

56. Land of leprechauns : EIRE. Ireland.

57. Latin love : AMOR

58. Summer sub : TEMP. (substitute/temporary)

60. Old-fashioned pronoun : THEE

61. River of Hades : STYX. Come Sail Away.(5:50)


Argyle

A song for Amelia Earhart on her 115th birthday today. Clip.(3:07)

75 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Yep, pretty straightforward today. I stumbled a bit right out of the gate wondering how to fit UPENN into the three letters of 1A, but that didn't hold me up for long.

Then, at the very end, I had a little trouble in the SW corner when I couldn't remember how to spell MCMAHON and couldn't remember SHANANA at all. Again, though, the perps came to the rescue and I didn't remain perplexed for very long.

The rest of the puzzle was, well, there. Nothing particularly memorable or scintillating, I'm afraid.

Argyle said...

There are some little things I liked. HEY TEX in the SE corner, Remember (Shallow) Hal and phat?

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, Argyle and friends. I enjoyed this Fruity puzzle. The theme was easily revealed.

How ironic to start off with the PSU, since the statue was removed just this weekend. If not for the scandal, I wouldn't have recognized the Nittany Lions.

The best place to get a Mud Wrap is at the Dead Sea.

Hand up for trying ReTar instead of RETOP. I wondered how a Rig could be an Oinker.

My favorite clue was Guys in Cuffs, Hopefully = PERPS.

As Argyle noted, today is Amelia Earhart's Birthday, so in her honor, here is today's QOD: Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done. ~ Amelia Earhart

HeartRx said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C. et al.

Hand up for wanting REtar instead of RETOP, but a quick check of the perps disavowed that notion. I loved your link to the Hollywood Argyles – I had forgotten all about that song! And who doesn’t like Styx? That one is playing in the background right now – thanks!

Like BarryG, I was trying to fit UPENN into 1A. (Aw heck, that black square got in the way!!) At 54A, I would love to have seen “Sound from Elizabeth tower” for BONG. I’ll bet than clue will be coming soon to a crossword near you…

It was really nice to see six theme entries squeezed into a Tuesday-level puzzle. With four overlapping entries, it was quite a feat to get such nice clean fill.

Have a lovely day, everyone!

desper-otto said...

Holy speed run, Batman!

I didn't ADORE this one, buy HEY, it had TITS in it! I didn't fall into the RETAR trap, because OOP was already in place. Having NIXON near PERPS seemed appropriate.

PSU really took it in the chops yesterday! (Not saying it wasn't deserved.)

Marti, is that BONG clue already in the pipeline?

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Ed Sessa, for a swell puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for the good write-up.

Got 1A easily, PSU. Being a native of that commonwealth I knew it like the back of my hand. Joe P. was one of my heroes.

36D ACME was amazing. It was amazing that I remembered that name from those old cartoons.

The theme came easily. Helped with the entire puzzle.

They could have switched Monday's and today's puzzles in my opinion. This one seemed easier than yesterday.

MAMIE and NIXON crossing was clever. Same political vintage.

Getting a little rain this morning. Good.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Anonymous said...

STP'er here. (Seventh Tim Poster)

20 min, 46 sec.
3, 2, 1, Liftoff, with no failure to launch again today, whether at 60 or 45 degrees. :>)

Saw a theme today !

I'm beginning to realize that if I don't think too much about the answers on Mondays and Tuesdays, my first thought is usually correct. So hand up on RETAR.

Last fill was the T crossing at 39A joe's pal and 30D put in a sepulcher.

Just had T-storms roll through the western burbs of Chicago. We needed the rain. It was 100 degrees again yesterday. Thinking about moving back to Houston where it's cooler.

Thanks Argyle !

Yellowrocks said...

Thanks for the links, Argyle. It was great to see Ed McMahon and Johnny again. They are an irreplaceable treasure.

I remember banana bicycle seats from when my sons were young. They were good for "popping wheelies." You could slide far back on them, placing your center of gravity as far to the rear as possible. Then the front wheel lifted and you would ride on the back wheel. The boys also built ramps and rode their bikes off them.

UPENN, the University of Pennsylvania, is in Philadelphia. Their mascot is a Quaker.
PSU, Pennsylvania State University, or more popularly Penn State, has its main campus, University Park, located at State College, PA, near Mount Nittany. Their mascot is the Nittany Lion.

HeartRx said...

desper-otto, no. I just added it to my clue database when I heard the news. I'm itching to use it, though!!

Hahtoolah, what an apt QOD on Amelia's b-day!

Avg Joe said...

I agree that the last two days could have been switched. But both were fun. Seriously bad timing for 1A, but it no doubt made it easier for many solvers.

Here's one for Sally Ride: So Far Away

This Alan Parsons album got no airplay, but it's one of his best. Christopher Cross is heavily featured.

Lemonade714 said...

A really nice tight Tuesday with 6 theme answers; for some reason all I could think of was the IHOP rooty tooty fresh and fruity breakfast, which reminded me of this 50's TV SHOW . And the Hip Hop crowd thinks they started wearing caps to the side.

With all the press on Penn State and their problems, I am surprised 1A was not a gimme to all.

Loved the Styx link and a moment to remember Sally Ride.

Off to work and a different GAI old time. Adieu.

Mari said...

Easy peasy LEMON squeezy. My only nit is that it was over so fast.

Hands up for RETAR. I also went with BETTE instead of GEENA for 68A.

Until later...

Irish Miss said...

Good morning:

What a " peach" of a puzzle! Thanks, Ed, for a fun Tuesday offering and thanks, Argyle, for your expert expo.

Hand up for retar but, other than that, all fell into place. I saw Hal Holbrook in his portrayal of Mark Twain, many years ago at the Naples Philharmonic. (Flordia). He gave his usual stellar performance.

I am off to an appointment with my opthomologist. Blurry vision will be the order of the day after the dilation drops.

Happy Tuesday to all.

kazie said...

I too fell for RETAR, but thought TAR isn't paving. Anyway, PIG fixed that. I thought the theme must be fruit salad, but in any case, it was less smart that Marti's Monday offering. Many of the perp clues weren't even needed in the SW corner. I stumbled a bit in the NW thinking that "Nittany Lions" sounded as if it might be from Hoggwarts and Harry Potter, not being familiar either with that or Penn State other than the recent fiasco.

No nits, no other slips.

We finally have some rain--an inch and a quarter last week, and almost an inch so far today. Our golden retriever was up and panting around the house at 3 am. We thought she was scared of the thunder, which perhaps had awoken her, but she wanted to go out. This is a first for her, at 12 years old I wonder if it's the start of a new problem in her old age. Canine incontinence?

PK said...

Fun puzzle! No real slowdowns for me. I backed in and had PIG before the paving job came up.

Great commentary & links, Argyle! Loved the HAL Holbrook/Mark Twain clip--my exact sentiments on exercise at this stage of life.

My brother taught at PSU Med School in the '80's, so I knew the mascot name, but I didn't understand the Nittany part until today. Thanks, YR. Worth getting out of bed to have that solved.

Joe Paterno is one of the countless people who will believe only what they want to believe so they don't have to act. What will they do with the statue?

My friend lives in Atchison, KS where they have an Amelia Earheart festival this week, an annual event. this was Amelia's hometown. Strange that Sally Ride would die so close to AE's birthday--both being female flight pioneers.

Blue Iris said...

I haven't slept all night. Usually when arthritis keeps me awake it means rain, but it appears to be sunny & hot day.

Seemed easier than Monday's puzzle. Maybe my brain works best with no sleep. Had most across clues filled before checking down perps. Also put RETAR in first.

Hasn't PSU been banned from the crossword world yet?

Remember when BANANASEAT bicycles were cool and not PHAT. I thought "cool" was slang.

Atchison, KS has Amelia Earhart Festival every July. It just occurred this past wkend. Hope to attend a few local festival when husband retires. Official retirement date now Feb. 1st !

Lucina said...

Good day, Argyle and all puzzlers.

Fruit salad for breakfast! Like Kazie I thought that was the theme. It started well with PSU only because of the recent publicity. Otherwise an unknown to me.

It was an easy romp although the grid in my newspaper was distorted and the numbers blurred. Had to rewrite them before proceeding.

My hand is up for RETAR until OOP and PIG came along which gave me GIN which reminded me I haven't had one in a very long time and I love a good Tom Collins.

A fun time, thank you, Ed Sessa.

Have a terrific Tuesday, everyone!

Spitzboov said...

Good morning Argyle and all.

I was thinking FRUIT loops, but will go with Argyle's titling. WEES. Easy but fun. No lookups. TITS are one of your many Passerines. ACER is a computer maker, and is also the Maple Genus. Interesting that the puzzle included both EMU and RHEA, two of the ratites.
Good job, Ed.

Have a great day

Anony-Mouse said...

Thank you, thank you Ed Sessa for a wonderful, wonderful puzzle. I know and realize that most folks here are such 'expert' solvers that to pan such easy-peasy puzzles are the order of the day - but there are others, ( like moi' ) who enjoy a solvable puzzle .... and most of us don't even bother to post .... anyway.

I wonder if 'soluble' , in a non-technical sense, could be considered a synonym to 'solvable'.

Thank you Argyle for your charming commentary... especially the Ed McMahon clip.

There is a nice Google doodle, today, in honor of Amelia Earhart's 115 th birthday. On a related note, regarding Hah's QOD: Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done. - should be 'X' rated, or at least 'A' rated. I have some relatives who have seen horrendous injuries on adults and kids ( especially kids - ) because their onlookers believed in exactly such a premise. Well, I know where you are coming from; who'd have taken up skate boarding or skiing 'Moguls' as a sport, ..... unless there was this kid who could and did accomplish exactly that .....

Anony-Mouse said...

Ooops, ALT QOD:- I had a big scare flying into San Juan. We lost cabin pressure and instead of the oxygen masks, rosary beads came down. ~ Bill Santiago.

Have a good week, you all.

Anonymous said...

I must be in the minority, as I like my legal services PRE-PAID, rather than PRO BONO. But then again, I am an attorney.

Yellowrocks said...

Lucina,
Thanks for finding the Final Jeopardy question for mw last night. I must not have been paying close enough attention.

Blue Iris, to answer your question about my disabled son's implants- We finished 9 years ago when he was 40. It was very difficult but it solved the pain of life long almost monthly denistry. Thanks for caring.

Zcarguy said...

Morning all,
Can someone explain SEPULCHER / INTER
I don't get either of the 2

Anony-Mouse said...

Sepulcher (also sepulchre) - (noun), 1. Burial Place, 2. Container for relics.

( verb ) :- Put a corpse in a burial place.

So, the verb equivalent would be (to) 'inter'.

(Thanks, to the others for letting me post an explanation.... )

Anonymous said...

Sepulcher - burial place: a vault in which a corpse is buried
Inter - to bury the remains of a corpse in a grave or tomb

Online dictionaries are very useful.

Montana said...

Good Tuesday morning!

What Anony-Mouse said.

Montana

CrossEyedDave said...

funny fruit (There are too many to pick just one!)

What! no Watermelon?
(4:54 after a 5 sec skip ad, gets really good around 2:50 with the recaps.)

Joni Mitchell's Amelia, live, in Australia 1983

desper-otto said...

When we were kids we thought it was cool to call each other by our backwards names (ie: Sam Rulseh became Mas Heslur -- sounds like a mafia don, doesn't it?) I'm guessing Ed Sessa didn't play that game as a kid.

Misty said...

Argyle, your listing all the fruits in their respective colors made my day! Brilliant! I just loved this puzzle, Ed. After APPLE and PLUM I had the theme, and after that all was just peachy keen. A great way to start a Tuesday morning--thanks, everybody!

Blue Iris 8:59, I hope you get a lovely nap today.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. WEES. Also filled in retar at first. Filled in eso but banana feminized it. Easy but mucho fun puzzle.

Desper-otto, very funny about Ed Sessa's name backwards!

Nixon and Mamie, eh?

Dell and Acer. Hmmm, choices, choices.

Mari, I almost entered Bette for actress Davis, but held off for some perps first, after being too hasty with retar.

Best wishes to you all.

Dudley said...

D-Otto - that's funny!

11:15 for those who missed it.

Anonymous said...

I found 26-down to be a particularly weak clue. "Cool, in slang." Technically cool is already slang. I wracked my head trying to think of a slang term for cold, or cool, before I eventually filled in the others around.

Bill G. said...

Here's my favorite Amelia Earhart song. Amelia Earhart's Last Flight

Tinbeni said...

Enjoyed the "Fruit-of-the-LOOM" theme.

BONG, @54-D, Big Ben Sound, I was thinkin' about something else and the days of my youth.

Anon @12:10: I agree about the "Cool" clue.
How appropriate that PHAT was next to LAME. lol.

A 'toast' to all at SUNSET.
Cheers!

Spitzboov said...

CED @ 1112 - re: watermelon. This should serve as a reminder to everyone to not cinch up their girdles too tightly.

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-What Marti said (as usual for me) about Ed’s nice puzzle
-APPLEBEE’S passes for haute cuisine in our small town
-Huskers have known elation and heartbreak in ORANGE BOWL
-Good teachers see administration as PLUMJOBS so they don’t have to deal with kids 7 hr/day and get big $$$. Talk about backwards.
-The unconscionable actions of four men at PSU will stain the school for years. The NCAA penalties will hurt lots of innocent kids because football revenue pays for all other the non-profit sports.
-PO’s are going the way of blacksmith shops
-If I get a mixed drink, I get a Tom Collins. Not up for Pinch, Tinman!
-Granddaughter will be a SOPH at Lincoln High School, four blocks from state capital
-HOBO’s used to jump off the train in our small town and come begging at homes and were seldom turned away. Now? Ain’t openin’ the door.
-RHEA and EMU in puzzle today in different contexts
-PRO BONO? My lawyer would charge me $400 to tell me the time ;-). We are redoing MIL’s finances without a barrister.
-No Mud wrap, but I’m springing for a pedi in few weeks.
-I will not be INTERred, I will be INURNed (real word). A Folgers can works for me.
-Some of us are TEMP/SUBS after summer
-The Paterno statue has been taken down and infamy does not eliminate anyone or anything from crosswords.

Bill G. said...

Desper-otto, Good one!

Gary, I agree. I think the NCAA went overboard, punishing the innocent along with a few guilty administrators. Seems like overkill.

Locker problems:
At a local high school, there are 1000 lockers. One dark night a group of mathematical-minded miscreants broke in with a strange plan to vandalize the lockers. The first vandal opened all the lockers with the master key. The second vandal started with locker # 2 and closed every other locker. The third vandal started with locker # 3 and changed the position of the door of every third locker all the way to # 1000. That is, if the door were open, he would close it, or if it were closed, he’d open it. The fourth vandal started with locker # 4 and changed the position of the door of every fourth locker through # 1000. The vandals followed this pattern again and again until they finally worked their way to locker # 1000. When the students came to school the next day, what did they find? Were all the lockers open? Closed? Was there chaos? Was there any pattern to the open and closed lockers?

Lemonade714 said...

Actually, HG barristers only appear in court, it is the solicitor who would be assisting in your MIL's estate planning. In the US we have the distinction between transactional attorneys and litigating attorneys, but it is not widely advertised.

I believe solicitors are now also going to court in the UK, but barristers still do not sit still to draft contracts.

Lucina said...

Bill G:
I am sorry to disagree with you and I'm also sorry about the collateral damage caused by the punishment to Penn State, but nothing can make up for a life or lives ruined by molestation. I believe the punishment is just and necessary. Too bad the RC church didn't punish as justly.

Argyle said...

Irish Miss asked me to post this video of a group saving a young humpback whale entangled in fishing net in the Sea of Cortez.

Clip(8:21)

Very moving.

Hahtoolah said...

Husker Gary: remember, you get what you pay for. A good attorney is worth the cost. You may think you are saving by a DO it Yourself, but there are subtleties in the law you don't k now about. I have been practicing law for many years but Estate Planning is not my expertise. We hired an attorney who works in this area on a daily basis and it was money well spent.

Marge said...

Hi all,
This was a fun puzzle, easier than yesterdays. I only got the top half on that one and gave up. But it was a nice puzzle.

I did know Nittany Lions' since they have been in the Big Ten for several years. There needed to be severe punishment but I thought too,that it doesn't seem fair the young athletes have to loose out on so much.

On 68A,I looked at 54D first and put dong so knew it was Geena. Of course when I got banana seat it became bong.

My DH has been hobbling around with a painful backache for several days so I am now a waitress or a nurse. I'm not sure whether it is better to be a waitress or a rusty RN. The pay is the same.

Have a good evening all,
Marge

Marge said...

Argyle and Irish Miss

What a wonderful whale story-very inspiring!

Marge

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Fun puzzle, Ed! Nice expo, Argyle!

Easier than yesterday. No problems. Hand up for RETAR, at first. I knew someone who went to PSU. The Nittany clue was a gimme.

Bill G: An old saw. The number of divisors of a number n is odd if and only if n is a perfect square. Hence precisely the doors which have perfect square numbers are open.

Still struggling with infection in lower jaw. Have no back teeth there also. Really could use some "real" food.

Cheers!

Jayce said...

Thank you for linking to that video of the whale being untangled from the net.

Bill G. said...

Great whale video. Thanks Irish Miss and Argyle.

Lucina, I see your point and I agree with you. Anybody at Penn State who knew ANYTHING about the child molestation deserves to be punished with jail time. But what has happened now is that lots of people, including students, who were totally innocent of any wrongdoing or any knowledge of wrongdoing are being punished too. It would be like if the mayor of Manhattan Beach was guilty of embezzling and the City Council fined all of the councilmen and citizens too.

HeartRx said...

BILL G., I think I disagree with Fermatprime (??). The only closed locker doors were multiples of 4 (#8,16,20,28, etc).

HeartRx said...

...but I still don't understand Fermatprime's explanation. Maybe I read the instructions wrong, but on my spreadsheet, doors # 1-7 were all open at the end. 2,3,5,6 and 7 aren't perfect squares. Anyway, it was a nice brain teaser and kept me occupied while I wait for dinner to bake...I'll wait for the final answer later tonight!

Argyle and Irish Miss, thank you for the whale video. It was very moving, and I watched every minute of it. He looked positively exuberant when he was finally freed!!

Chickie said...

Hola Everyone, A quick solve today. I didn't even see some of the answers, because they filled in with the perps and I didn't need read the clues.

I enjoyed the different fruit answers. I'm up to my elbows in Apples right now, and also plums. My husband just bought two new fruit trees for our back yard orchard. Next year I'll have pears and peaches, too.

Hands up for Retar.

I thought the colored fruit words were a special treat today, Argyle. Good job blogging.

I thought it was interesting that my teenaged granddaughter didn't know Phat as slang for Cool. I thought teenagers knew all the slang.

Bush tits have been visiting our bird feeders lately. They prefer the caged feeder where they can slip in, grab a seed and fly up into the nearby cherry tree. They compete with the chickadees that fly into the cage and just sit there and eat away. The squirrels can't rob the seeds from the caged feeder, though they have tried just about everything they can to reach the seeds in the middle.

Have a great evening, everyone.

Blue Iris said...

HG, I was trying to be ironic when I made the comment about banning PSU from crossword puzzle. Hope no one took me seriously.

Marge, I also felt sorry for the Penn State student athletes. My husband explained the wins had to be taken away to remove Paterno from the top ten coaches.

In our small town, football seems to rank above academic pursuits. Our oldest graduated from local high school. We drove our twins into Topeka High so they could take advanced placement and honors courses. It was the hardest and best decision we ever made in hindsight. It will be very hard for Penn State current students. What a horrible mess!

Anonymous said...

Marti,
What about doors 2& 3

Yellowrocks said...

I believe the collateral damage to innocents caused by the punishment at Penn State is akin to this:
Sometimes when the president of a company is jailed, his company founders, taking down employees and stockholders with it. His jailing also damages his family who loses its bread winner and his support. Innocents do suffer.

The problem at Penn State is that unless the punishment is severe, it will allow the same transgressions to reappear in the future by those who believe the punishment, if they are caught, will be worth the risk.

Chickie said...

Lucina, Good point. The punishment needs to send a very strong message.

Molestation ruins lives and to cover something like that up is a serious crime in my mind.

Anonymous said...

I read it it as starting at
door 2,3 and 4 was the first
door that they changed.

HeartRx said...

Anons at 5:49 (& 6:01?), OK, I may have read it wrong. I started at the door specified, but didn't change that one. I changed every indicated door after that one...

Hahtoolah said...

I have to weigh in with Lucina on the Penn State matter. It's a shame that there will be collateral damage, but the gravity of the offense was too aggrievious not to take severe action.

Anonymous said...

Marti,
Did not mean to imply that you read
it wrong. Just that I may have and it
got me looking in a different direction.
Sorry.

Argyle said...

Has there been a trial on what Penn State officials knew or are there just allegations by the FBI?

Bill G. said...

Fermatprime is correct. The doors are all opened initially. Door 2 is closed during the next cycle. All of the other prime numbers (3, 5, 7, 11, 13, etc.) will also be closed once when their number comes up. But a number like 6 will be initially open, then closed during the 2 cycle, then opened again during the 3 cycle and finally closed at the 6 cycle. So, prime numbers like 7 and 13 for example, have only two factors (1 and 7; 1 and 13) and will be opened, then closed. Most composite numbers have even pairs of factors. Twelve will be opened and closed an even number of times at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12. Only perfect squares have an odd number of factors, i.e., 9 will be opened at first, then closed at 3, then reopened at 9. 16 is a perfect square (4 x 4). It also has an odd number of factors. It will be initially opened at 1, closed at 2, opened at 4, closed at 8 and reopened for the last time at 16. So only the lockers with perfect square numbers will be left open (1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, etc.)

I hope that's clear. I hope you enjoyed the solving process.

Pedant The Brit said...

Here's my favorite Fruit song

HeartRx said...

...I'd better stick to crossword puzzles!! Thanks for the explanation, BillG!

Avg Joe said...

Ah, Pedant the Brit, I see how it's going to be.

Challenge accepted.

Well then, here's my favourite Fruit Song

Pendantphile said...

the one-upper has struck again!

there was no challenge issued.

just sharing a video...

Anonymous said...

Marti,
I agree and will stick to cw puzzles.
Don't know what was worse. trying to
find the answer or trying to make sense of Bill's solution.

Lemonade714 said...

I think the punishment at PSU is indicative of a message to all people that caring for the defenseless is more important than excelling at football. The question to ask oneself, if you had a suspicion of these heinous acts, would you be content to let someone else deal with the problem or would you act to help the innocent. Passing the blame upstairs led to the extermination of lots of people in this world. IMO. I finally think the lesson the young men and women of PSU will learn is more valuable than a Big Ten title.

My question is, why would anyone be messing with lockers anyway?

Manac said...

Lemon
Maybe the locker thing is a close
cousin of the "panty raid" during
my college days.

Anonymous said...

test

Argyle said...

Wow, we used to have a member that looks just like you!

Hahtoolah said...

Jeannie; good to see you! I hope you are back for good. Email me.

windhover said...

She lives! Hi, J.

Bill G. said...

Hi Jeannie!

It's so good to see your blue name back again. How have you been?

Of course, the reason that they were messing with lockers is for my amusement. Seriously, as one anon. seemed to think, if my explanation was confusing, I'm sorry. Ask me a question.

As for the fruity theme, here's one. What did the banana say to his doctor?

I'm not peeling very well.

Lemonade714 said...

Slipped in a banana peel joke, Bill G., Orange you clever. Did you cherry pick your joke book, looking for a plum?

Miss Jeannie, how nice.

Bill G. said...

I just finished watching 'The Help' that I had recorded from cable. Really good. Just as good as the book I thought.

Since several of you mentioned it, I also came across 'My Cousin Vinnie' and recorded it. I'll start it next. I saw it years ago when it first came out and enjoyed it then so I'm looking forward to it all over again.

The Dodgers are playing better lately. They are in St. Louis where the temperature at game time was 103.

Chickie said...

I know it is late, but I saw Jeannie's test today and just wanted to say, "Hi".

I was going over some of your recipes just this afternoon. We are going to have a tremendous tomato crop this year and I want to make the tomato/basil pie with the vodka crust. It is the best.

HOpe you are doing well.

Lucina said...

Hi, Jeannie! I've missed you and I hope your "test" means you will be returning.