Theme Wildlife Safari - as the reveal across the center tells us what to look for:
36A. Tot's plaything ... and a feature of 17-, 25-, 48- and 59-Across: STUFFED ANIMAL
We're looking for an animal "stuffed" into the theme entries, to wit:
36A. Tot's plaything ... and a feature of 17-, 25-, 48- and 59-Across: STUFFED ANIMAL
We're looking for an animal "stuffed" into the theme entries, to wit:
17A. Tackled the job: HAD A GO AT IT. Goat. Personally, I'd clue this as "Tried to tackle the job". If you have a go at something, you try it, it's moot whether the attempt was successful or not. Minor quibble.
25A. Range for a manhunt: SEARCH AREA. Hare. There was a great "hare hunt" in Britain in the late 70's. Author and artist Kit Williams created a jeweled, golden hare and buried it, and then published a picture book, "Masquerade" , which he said contained all the clues necessary to find the piece. It caused quite a stir and sparked a huge treasure hunt. which lasted quite some time before the jewelry was found. As time went on and the hare still hadn't been located, a canny West End theatre producer adapted the book into a stage play starring Roger Rees. People flocked to the performances hoping to gain extra clues or insight into the secret location. They didn't, but the producer made a lot of money (and yes, some of it was mine!).
48A. Intercepting, as at the pass: HEADING OFF. Dingo.
59A. Ready to start the day: UP AND ABOUT. I wanted "Up and at 'em" right until it didn't fit, and there was no stuffed animal. Cue rethink.
Straightforward enough theme from Bruce, I call this kind of theme a bonus - you don't need the theme to solve the puzzle, and, really, it's just a nice after-party treasure hunt to find the prizes. I do like when the circles don't make an appearance when not needed (unlike these kind of theme puzzles where the "treasure" skips up and down between rows).
And so let's continue the journey:
Across:
1. Play with strings: STRUM
6. Blubber: FLAB. Possibly the result of eating too much ....
10. __ buco: OSSO. Food! The classic recipe calls for veal shanks which are not to some people's taste. I make a version with beef shank, the all-important marrow is there.
16. Place to talk shop?: MALL. Fun clue.
19. Passionate: AVID
20. Second sequel's number: III. Unless you're a Star Wars fan, in which case I believe the second sequel was the fifth in the trilogy, of course none of that makes sense.
21. Sacred chests: ARKS
22. Thrash: WHOMP. Fun word.
23. Winter coat?: SNOW
28. Arizona landforms: MESAS
30. TourBook-issuing org.: AAA
31. Designer monogram: YSL. Yves St. Laurent. He has one of those names which you can't imagine being attached to anything other than his profession. Do you see your tax guy or your mechanic being called Yves St. Laurent?
32. "Hasta la vista": SEE YA!
33. Comic strip frames: PANELS
40. Forklift load: PALLET
41. Stuffy-sounding: NASAL
43. Many AARP mems.: SRS. Seniors. I started getting AARP membership invitations when I turned 50. There didn't seem to be a lot of upside to membership, I got the same discounts with AAA or just turning up. It was when I started getting mailers from Forest Lawn Cemeteries that I started feeling a little old. I got over that.
46. Issa of "The Hate U Give": RAE. Thank you, crosses.
47. Dire: GRAVE
53. Christmas poem opener: 'TWAS
54. "Hasta la vista": ADIOS! This is a Corner-coined "clecho" - same clue, echoed for a different entry.
55. "The Daily Show" host: NOAH. Trevor. He took over from Jon Stewart after being a writer on the show.
57. Nos. on driver's licenses: HTS. Heights. At least they aren't prone to change as much as WTS.
58. Sharp turns: ZAGS. Can you zag before you zig? Or zag and zag again? We should be told.
62. Succulent plant genus: ALOE
63. Gumption: GRIT
64. __ toast: MELBA. How do you know you've made it as an opera singer? You have toasted bread named for you. It seems a stretch, but Dame Nellie Melba should be proud. (Her real name was Helen Porter Mitchell, but "Mitchell Toast" didn't catch on in the Melbourne diners).
65. Sew a patch on, perhaps: MEND
66. Possessive pronoun: HERS
67. Roundup critter: STEER. Rawhide!
Down:
1. Deep rifts: SCHISMS. Mostly religious, I think.
2. New recruits: TRAINEES
3. Hobbyist's contraption: RADIO SET. Did anyone build their own short-wave radio set and transmit to the great beyond? The Internet has mostly replaced the thrill of hearing a Russian sea captain reply from his
4. Sch. founded by Jefferson: U.VA.
5. Prefix with bytes or bucks: MEGA. A megabyte of storage used to cost megabucks. Those days are long gone.
6. Oddball: FLAKE
7. Tons o': LOTSA'
8. "The Rookie" actress Larter: ALI. Again, crosses, I thank you.
9. Club alternative: BLT. More Food! If you've ever had a BLT with a slice of bread in the middle, you've got a crossover club/BLT - the middle slice of bread is what defines a club - which makes a Big Mac a club sandwich.
10. Home of Minor League Baseball's Storm Chasers: OMAHA. What a great name. The minor league teams in all sports have the best names. Who wouldn't root for the Alberquerque Isotopes, the Hartford Yard Goats or the
11. Cooking show adjective: SAVORY
12. Covers with goop: SLIMES
13. Bud from way back: OLD PAL. Slap on the back, old mate, old pal, old buddy. Wait, what's with the "old"?
18. "Grey's Anatomy" settings, for short: O.R'S. First instinct was E.R's, then ah! Surgery!
22. 33-Down's purview: WHALING. Cross-reference clue, but not far to look for the second part.
24. Path to the top: WAY UP
26. Charged: RAN AT
27. Normandy city: CAEN
29. Trips where big cats are spotted: SAFARIS. Here we are mid-Bruce safari. How apt.
33. Ship owner who described Ahab as "ungodly, god-like": PELEG. I remember him by "Peg Leg" and forget the "G". Has anyone actually read Moby Dick? I'm currently working my way though "The Gormenghast Trilogy" which I abandoned some many years ago. I'm not sure I'm going to get through it this time.
34. Stand buy: ADE
35. "Good thinking!": SMART
37. Custard dessert: FLAN
38. Considering everything: AS A WHOLE
39. Conduit created by volcanic activity: LAVA TUBE. Is this a thing? I guess vulcanologists would say so. Yellowstone National Park is one enormous caldera, so when that lava tube goes rogue, hello Idaho!
42. Cigarette ad claim: LESS TAR. Amazing to think that you could still post ads claiming your cigarettes were "cleaner", although we don't seemed to have learned a whole lot if the vaping ads and businesses are anything to go by.
43. Superhero acronym involving Hercules, Zeus, Achilles and three others: SHAZAM. No clue. Researching "Shazam superhero" I find a lot of names that don't add up to an acronym. So I'll thank the crosses, and move on, wondering why "Oggo" didn't make it into the mix.
44. Killian's, originally: RED ALE
45. Former Southeast Asian capital: SAIGON. Now Ho Chi Minh City. Do the residents still call it "Saigon"? I wonder. On my bucket list for the food!
49. Gave a shot, say: DOSED
50. Studio sign: ON AIR
51. Formatting menu list: FONTS
52. It's not hot long: FAD
56. Ones acting badly: HAMS
59. "So gross!": UGH!
60. Ante-: PRE- This was a little tricky, the clue seems to want you to find a word which would fit after "Ante-" - bellum, diluvian, one of those - but when you look closely you see you need to find a prefix, and lo, there is "Pre-". Great cluing for what might be brushed off as throwaway fill. I love these little gems.
61. Exacta or trifecta: BET. I famously bet a trifecta at Santa Anita on the wrong race - my friend and I arrived a little later than planned and we'd unknowingly missed the first race. I confidently consulted the daily racing form, wagered a two-dollar trifecta on the (already run) first race and my numbers 3-1-6 came up in what was actually race two. I didn't recognize the horse's names on the way round, but I was wasn't complaining when I cashed in the ticket.
And that is the secret to sports betting! Bet the wrong race!
Thanks to Bruce for an entertaining zoological journey. Here's the grid and I'm off to get some much-needed beauty sleep! (I need sleep, but beauty would be a bonus!)
Steve
When I was in Saigon two years ago, the residents called it so. Very much in my wheelhouse: I’ve been on safari and been in CAEN. Very nice theme which was helpful.
ReplyDeleteSince I was UP AND ABOUT early today, I picked up the puzzle and HAD A GO AT IT. UGH.
ReplyDeleteGood morning. Not much trouble for a Thursday, just the normal A&E unknowns solved by perps-NOAH, ALI, RAE, SHAZAM. YSL seems to always be the designer monogram. OMAHA was a WAG.
A stuffed DINGO? Since they look like dogs, I doubt any kid outside of Australia would call it that.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteI looked at RADIOSET foevuh, unable to parse it. D'oh. Fortunately, it got to stand, unlike RTD/SRS, OPERA/STRUM, UP AND AWAKE/ABOUT. Got'er done, though, and didn't Haight the experience. Thanx, Bruce. That M in WHOMPS/SLIMES was my final fill. Thanx for the tour, Steve. (You can see a much younger Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates in that Rawhide intro.)
WHALING/PELEG: Yes, I had to read Moby Dick in a Hawthorne/Melville/Twain literature course. I took the course, because the prof wrote his thesis, not to mention a couple of books, on Twain. He spent so much time talking about Melville that he never did get to Twain in the lectures. It was the second time I got "bit" by an emeriti. (Sorry, Misty.)
FIW, missing my WAg at the Natick RA_ x PEL_G. "E" or "I", and the toast fell butter-side-down. Erased cuttING OFF at the pass, ours for HERS, all in all for AS A WHOLE, and SAIGON, then put it back in.
ReplyDeleteI knew SHAZAM from Gomer Pyle, USMC, and that sacred chests are ARKS from crosswords. Liked NOAH and ARK together, as well as SEE YA and ADIOS.
Thanks for the fun, tough-for-Thursday puzzle, Bruce. And thanks to Steve for the tour. Big Mac is a club? My left leg feels a little shorter than the right, so maybe you should pull that one.
Thanks to Bruce and Steve for a fun puzzle and a nice writeup. Steve, you wondered if lava tubes were a thing. Indeed they are! I see you live in SoCal so you're actually fairly close to some nice ones that aren't too well-known. On the Mojave Desert between Victorville and the Nevada state line on I-15, you'll find some tubes east of the freeway a little north of Baker. (Near where the famed Mojave Phone Booth used to stand, if you're familiar with that old story.) There are also some south of I-40 east of Barstow near the picturesque little community of Amboy on historic Rte 66. My original major, and still my favorite subject, was geology. Living in Southern California as I did at the time made it easy for me to get out on field trips to these places. Info on lava tubes:
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_tube
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Bruce and Steve.
ReplyDeleteI FIRed but forgot to go back and look for the STUFFED ANIMALS.
Like Hungry Mother, I have been on SAFARI too.
MESAS for Lucina.
Didn't we have Issa the other day? But I had to wait for RAE to perp.
WHOMP reminds me of Wallop yesterday.
Miss SAIGON is coming to Mirvish Theatre in Toronto soon. All the oldies are returning - Phantom, Les Miz.
Must run.
Enjoy the day.
Oh lay me down in Forest Lawn in a silver casket
ReplyDeletePut golden flowers over my head in a silver basket
Let the drum and bugle corps, blow taps while cannons roar
Let sixteen liveried employees pass out souvenirs from the funeral store...
Serious La Di Da from Tom Paxton and/or John Denver
Took just over 10 minutes today.
ReplyDeleteI've been in lava tubes in Hawaii. On the Big Island, there's a tube in a small state park not far outside of Hilo. On Maui, there's a tube near a black sand beach, not far from Hana.
If my math is correct, the second Star Wars sequel (Return of the Jedi) would be the 6th in the series.
I didn't care for the ante-: pre clue/answer, but the colon made it fair game.
Good morning everyone.
ReplyDeleteFIR. Had 2 white-outs; 'cutting' (OFF) before HEADING, and 'tried' before DOSED. Totally forgot to go back to suss the theme but, no matter, the solve went well with a couple perp nudges here and there. Scratching my head about the SHAZAM thing, but perps were solid.
Clecho at SEE YA and ADIOS?
TschĂĽĂź.
This was a slow beginning but a fast finish! When I saw the theme - I thought the ANIMALs would be on the ends of the long theme answers and then would be STUFFED with the other letters - but no....
ReplyDeleteI have been to the LAVA TUBE near Bend, OR as well as the Hawaiian location - in the summer Bend is pretty hot, the LAVA TUBE is cool in more ways than one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_River_Cave
I had OCALA before OMAHA - thinking the storms were hurricanes rather than tornadoes - This is definitely in HG's wheelhouse I'm sure!
I just had the SHAZAM acronym in a Sporcle quiz I was playing - Solomon, Hercules,Atlas , Zeus, Achilles - fun to come up in 2 places in the same week!
Time to get to work!
Thanks Steve and Bruce!
Only three unknowns today, SHAZAM, ALI and RAE. Perps helped. They also helped me dig up the ones I had temporarily forgotten.
ReplyDeleteWiki says about Captain Marvel,"Captain Marvel, also known as Shazam (He is the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy who, by speaking the magic word "SHAZAM!" (acronym of six "immortal elders": Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury), can transform himself into a costumed adult with the powers of superhuman strength, speed, flight and other abilities."
I knew LAVA TUBES. I saw them on a TV show about volcanoes in Hawaii.Here are pictures from around the world.
Lava tubes
When I use the phrase "have a go at it" usually I am fairly confident that I will succeed. Otherwise I say something more tentative.
I have enjoyed the movie, MOBY DICK, several times. I may or maybe not have read the book.
I sashayed along easily until I was cut off at the pass in the SW where I had CUTTING OFF. I looked for an animal that spanned two words. It had to be DINGO, then HEADING and the rest of the corner fell into place. In the reveal stuffed animal was a toy. IMO the animals in the theme answers did not need to be literal stuffed toys. The animals were stuffed into the long fills.
YR, Moby Dick is a slog. You'd remember.
ReplyDeleteLearned what a LAVA TUBE is.
ReplyDeleteSteve, the Rumble Ponies are in Binghamton NY not Brighampton. I always liked the Albany River Rats, but the all-time name must be the Macon Whoopees. Too bad minor-league hockey didn't survive in Georgia.
TWAS fairly easy...FIR but a few "oddball" corrected mistakes. Spelled ARK with a "c" which kept me from being a FLAKE just for a while.
ReplyDeleteHad "into' before AVID which temporarily avoided me getting SLIMED. (The grandkids got slimed at the Nickelodeon theme park last year.)
So not a LOTSA mistakes to replace.
FLAB above LOLL. One the consequence of the other.
Romance language cognate comparisons can be interesting; ADIĂ“S, Adieu and Addio all translate into "to God". While the Spanish term means goodby, the French and Italian imply greater finality. Addio, in particular means farewell! (likely never to be seen again).
So instead.. "au revoir" .."arivederci"
In other words.. "SEE YAH"
Thanks Steve!
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, I also started slogging thru Moby Dick after putting PELEG in this grid - interesting book, but the language is so unusual it's hard to read big swaths at one time..........Bruce
Thanks Steve!
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, I also started slogging thru Moby Dick after putting PELEG in this grid - interesting book, but the language is so unusual it's hard to read big swaths at one time..........Bruce
Shazam,” which is an acronym for the “immortal elders” who give him his powers: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury.
ReplyDeleteLast years movie "Shazam" was kind of goofy
Musings
ReplyDelete-A stuffed DINGO? Lots of erasures and I guessed correctly at RA_/PEL_G
-WAIL/WEIRD knew the fury of my eraser
-Had to “scoop” dusting off drive today in full, warm sunlight
-My friend (now a multimillionaire) and I were thrilled to get the time beeps on his Heathkit shortwave radio in the 60’s
-Yes, inanehiker, we love going to Stormchaser games and stay just as long as a good movie would last
-Be nice to the people you meet on the WAY UP, because…
-My former colleague now runs a school in Ho Chi Minh City
-FAD – I saw LOTS A these two years ago but none now. Sidebar – girl in picture does not want to MEND her jeans (a FAD of longer duration)
I read the sequel to Moby Dick in HS..."Moby Dick, Cliff's Notes"
ReplyDeleteWell, Thursdays are always toughies for me these days, but I started out pretty well by getting the northwest and northeast corners. But things got tougher as I worked my way down. Still, enjoyed the cleverness of the puzzle, many thanks, Bruce. And seeing all those ANIMALS STUFFED into the longer words was a lot of fun. Thank you too, Steve, and hope you got a good nap.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your missed TWAIN, desper-otto.
Have a good day, everybody.
Thanks for stopping by, Bruce. It seems from the comments that "Moby Dick" doesn't have a whole lot of fans these days!
ReplyDelete@billocohoes - name corrected, thank you.
@9mileSkid - I'll check out the lava tubes next time I'm out near Mojave, thanks! The Majave Phone Booth story is certainly one for the ages.
A bit of a challenge for me in the area around FLAB/LOLL and the area around NOAH/HAMS. I only know Jon Stewart. Learning moment. Enjoyed the clever STUFFED ANIMAL theme. FIR.
ReplyDeleteIs there anyone here who did NOT have a STUFFED ANIMAL as a child? I remember when we lived in Europe we traveled a lot (mostly by train) and my father was often having to retrieve my "pet" that I left behind somewhere.
Glad that LAVA TUBE created so much interest.
Here I was in the Thurston LAVA TUBE at Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. And in the nearby LAVA area.
I was at a most interesting workshop and I enjoyed exploring the area with another attendee named Alexandra. She went by the name ALI. I never heard of the ALI in the puzzle, though.
Steve yes I did build a Shortwave RADIO SET as a teen. But just a receiver.
Learning moment about the word SHAZAM. I thought the PRE clue was a bit FLAKy. My puzzle version had no colon.
FIW,
ReplyDeleteMisspelled Pelig.
Also,
the clue for ante-: stuck in my Colon...
(but I got it out with a perp...)
And!
I have proof the Dingo is not stuffed!
Look!
From Yesterday:
ReplyDeleteWilburCharles:
Here is a screen shot of Thoroughly Modern Millie on the SAMMY CAHN Wikipedia page.
Are you able to see it now, WilburCharles?
AnonT glad that my SPACE CENTER photos gave you goosebumps. Sorry for being dense, but what did you think the photos were about that confused you?
CanadianEh thanks for the link to the Canadian long term care costs. Yes, about half what we pay in the US. I agree that your system is superior and this is validated by outcomes research. Your system would be even better if it got as much funding as we pour into our system.
Hi everybody.
ReplyDeleteYes, I had a stuffed turtle as a child. I finally wore it out I think.
I remember Shazam from Captain Marvel comic books. It worked for Billy Batson, boy reporter, but I could never get it to work for me.
The radio sets I built were crystal sets. I loved building them. Being able to get stations at night from many miles away (for free) seemed like a miracle. Great fun!
Good afternoon, folks. Thank you, Bruce Haight, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Steve, for a fine review.
ReplyDeletePuzzle took me a little while. Did half while going to the doctor's office today. Finished while coming home. Liked the theme.
I liked RED ALE, and I do like Red Ale.
The LAVA TUBE stuff was interesting. Always learn something here.
Some misdirection in some answers. Enjoyed that.
My doctor's visit today was to a pulmonologist. She determined that my lungs are fine. My next doctor is an ENT. We will see what he finds.
Have to run. See you tomorrow.
Abejo
( )
I noticed our cool date this morning: 02 20 2020
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI had to skip around to get this Thursday puzzle solved.
Reward...no write-overs.
I read Moby Dick in high school. I don’t remember it being so tough a read. I do remember feeling bad for the whales.
See you Friday.
Had to come back around with something about Shazam. I too remember it from Gomer Pyle, and just having grown up with it in my vocabulary. I never stopped to question it before, so I did some digging and found this, which contains the original PANEL (another answer today!) telling what Shazam is:
ReplyDeleteFrom "The Nerdist.com", titled "The Secret Origin of the Word SHAZAM". Scroll down to the second image on the page to see the actual panel.
Hi All!
ReplyDeleteWhew. That NE corner was a bugger; didn't help that I stuck with the TulsA Storm Chasers way too long. Once I gave up on that (and realized greses [sic] was spelt wrong), things fell into place. Thanks Bruce for the puzzle and thank you Steve for the entertaining review.
Other WOs: I missed the "at" in 49a's clue and inked PICKING OFF (intercepting the QB's pass). ER b/f OR.
ESPs: ALI, PRE- (thanks for the 'aha!' Steve)
Fav: It's not hot long == FAD was pretty damn cute.
Runner-up: ON AIR xing Trevor NOAH (++Ark - Hi Jinx!)
Picard - Your picture of mission control had lights on the screens and I assumed (not thinking of time-delta) the same room I saw with lights on the screen (ISS's mission control). When I saw Apollo mission control, there were no lights on the screen. Clear as mud? :-)
I watched SHAZAM, the cartoon when I was a kid. I saw bits of the movie when the kids had it on recently.
The first rule of Sandwich Club... [Mitch Hedberg 1:00]
Cheers, -T
Speaking of minor league baseball. The MLB gods think its a good idea to eliminate over 40 minor league teams. My Billings Mustangs are one of them. Not happy at all. The nearest pro team is over 500 miles away.
ReplyDeleteI remember Billy Batson who used to become Captain Marvel when he uttered the magic word, SHAZAM.
ReplyDeleteI did not appreciate Gomer Pyle appropriating the word, and I certainly do not take kindly to later so-called "superheroes" taking it in vain.
So saith the geezer.
~ OMK
____________
DR: A 3-way on the far side.
The main anagram describes the sound that greets a mountaineer when he or she reaches the crown of the mountain to join with others who preceded to the top: a...
"GLAD HALLOO"!
I must defend Moby Dick! One of my favorite reads . No, you can’t rush through it, but I’ve always thought the effort worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteI slogged through this Thursday effort, and thought it worthwhile also. Thanks Bruce. Loved Winter Coat for SNOW. Well, yes I guess it is.
Steve, thanks for the tour.
Ol'Man Keith, I agree 100% with you about "Shazam." Captain Marvel was and is my favorite comic book character and I read them AVIDly when I was a wee lad. This geezer also hates to see the word (mis)appropriated.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of that, how 'bout the current production of West Side Story? No Jerome Robbins choreographed dancing? Video projected onto a huge screen behind the performers? It seems at least they kept Leonard Bernstein's music.
As for the puzzle, I liked it. I liked Steve's write-up even more. WHOOP became WHOMP (yes, a fun word), TRIED became DOSED, COVET became CRAVE, RIME became HOAR which became SNOW, and LAZE became LOLL.
I, too, suffered through lectures in college that were nothing more than the professor reading from either his own book or from yellowed-with-age notes. And yes, we HAD to buy his book, as it was the official text required for the class. Fortunately the campus bookstore would buy books back and resell them as used, at discount prices, to the next crop of students who were taking that same course. I've bought books that had seen many iterations of use. Recycling in action!
Like Bill G I built some crystal radio receivers, as well as one-tube, battery-powered, super-regenerative receivers. It was fun helping my dad (or was it my dad helping me?) string a long-wire antenna high across the yard between our house and the neighbor's house. I presume dad got the neighbor's permission.
Here's wishing you all a good day.
If nobody* has mentioned it yet, SHAZAM is the word that transformed ? into Captain Marvel. I'm guessing "S"piderman, ?Ant-Man, and perhaps CM? I see YR took care of it.
ReplyDeletePicard, my bad. I was scanning the "Blue". Boy was Sammy Cahn productive. TMM is IRA* Quality lyrics.
And .. No, no stuffed animals for young Wilbur.
I moved through this one quickly but I had to slow down a TAD on FLuKE/FLAKE; Later I had tried/DOSED. Clean, fast FIR.
WC
** With all these geezers , the old CM comics were a cinch. I thought CM was a 50s creation to mimic Superman like Mighty Mouse etal.
PS, I managed to complete my weekly Birnholz XW from Sunday WaPost. Interesting theme.
When Gomer Pyle uttered "Shazam" he became a opera singer.
ReplyDeleteIs there a "Moby Dick for Dummmies?"..
"Call me Ishmael but dont call me late for dinner"
The Gormenghast Trilogy is a complete slog filled with unlikable characters with a gloomy atmosphere. After reading a few pages you can't remember birdsong or art. Sheesh. The world isn't bad enough? You have to make it worse? No thank you.
ReplyDeleteWilbur ~
ReplyDelete'Twas I above, dear sir, who named Billy Batson, the youthful pre-avatar of Capt. Marvel.
Jayce is on record, in sympathy with us!
~ OMK
What am I (12:23), chopped liver? :>) Oh well...
ReplyDeleteDo you remember Freddy Freeman?
Maybe that DINGO is stuffed with unfortunate little creatures who happened into his path.
ReplyDeleteGreat puzzle & expo, thanks!
Apologies to Bill G who was the first in this forum to recall Billy Batson, an essential part of the history of SHAZAM.
ReplyDeleteNo excuse. We don't always do as thorough a search as we should.
~ OMK
ReplyDeleteOMK @ 10:37 PM
Yellowrocks @ 8:24 AM was the first to recall Billy Batson
Probably too late for anyone to care says:
ReplyDeleteHEAD [them] OFF at the pass? I hate that cliche... -T
In 10 down you mention the Binghampton Rumble Ponies; it's Binghamton, no p. You must be thinking about NYC and the Hamptons.
ReplyDeleteYes, UFR, in my inimitable fashion, I was reading the write-up and it mentioned the Captain. I then began my post. Then I noticed YR had covered the CM subject thoroughly.
ReplyDeleteThen in my IF, I got distracted , read posts willy-nilly(Wilbur-Nilly?) and then finally posted myself.
And now I see this never got posted
Whatever
WC