Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here. Jinx will probably get to this; but, I just wanted to mention that today is National Grammar Day. Perhaps you are asking, "Why is March 4th National Grammar Day?" Well, not only is March Fourth a date but it is also an imperative sentence. How fun is that?! Now, let us march forth with today's puzzle.
Theme: 
Constructor Susan Gelfand had me at "shoes". Let's begin with her reveal:
Constructor Susan Gelfand had me at "shoes". Let's begin with her reveal:
36. Step in for another, and what the answers to the starred clues literally do: FILL ONE'S SHOES.
Next, let's see how the four starred clues provide "fill" for shoes. My red letters represent the circled letters. Notice how they are on the outsides of the phrases. The black letters "fill in" the gap to create something altogether different.
18 Across. *Online journals for DIYers: CRAFT BLOGS.
 |
| CLOGS are shoes with thick, wooden soles. |
23 Across. *Warm alcoholic beverages with sugar and spices: MULLED WINES.
 |
| MULES have no backs or constraints on the foot's heel. |
52 Across. *Horse-drawn excursions: SLEIGH RIDES.
 |
| SLIDES are a comfortable sandal with a wide strap across the front part of the foot. You can slide your foot in without adjusting buckles or laces. |
58 Across. *Low-effort posts of vacation pics, say: PHOTO DUMPS.
 |
| There are many variations of PUMPS but the classic style is a slip-on shoe with a closed toe, one-piece design, and an appropriately chic heal. |
Hmmm... I am just now noticing an additional layer to Susan's theme set. All four of the shoe styles are slip-ons. Perhaps that relates to the "step in" part of the reveal???
In case you were wondering... a PHOTO DUMP is a collection of photos and videos gathered together in one post on apps like Instagram. Rather than perfectly edited photos or videos, a PHOTO DUMP is a low-effort collection that conveys a story or a mood. I found this example on-line: 
Now might be a good time to try the grid on for size: 
Let's keep walking....
Across:
1. Graceful long-necked bird: SWAN.
5. Hoover Dam lake: MEAD. If you're in the area, I recommend the Hoover Dam tour.
9. Colorful quartz: AGATE.
14. Roof spot for holiday lights: EAVE.
15. Moreno who owns the MLB's Angels: ARTE. I suppose SoCal solvers who actually read the LA Times are more familiar with this name.
16. Like some pools: TIDAL. This link takes you to some tips for exploring tide pools and a quick video of some of the curious-looking creatures you might see.
17. Cabbage side often served in tiny cups: SLAW.
20. "The Little Mermaid" role for Halle Bailey: ARIEL. Halle Bailey is not to be confused with Halle Berry just as the mermaid ARIEL is not to be confused with the font arial.
1. Graceful long-necked bird: SWAN.
5. Hoover Dam lake: MEAD. If you're in the area, I recommend the Hoover Dam tour.
9. Colorful quartz: AGATE.
 |
| Wow! They certainly are colorful! |
14. Roof spot for holiday lights: EAVE.
15. Moreno who owns the MLB's Angels: ARTE. I suppose SoCal solvers who actually read the LA Times are more familiar with this name.
16. Like some pools: TIDAL. This link takes you to some tips for exploring tide pools and a quick video of some of the curious-looking creatures you might see.
17. Cabbage side often served in tiny cups: SLAW.
20. "The Little Mermaid" role for Halle Bailey: ARIEL. Halle Bailey is not to be confused with Halle Berry just as the mermaid ARIEL is not to be confused with the font arial.
Halle Bailey performing at Disneyland
22. Take up again, as a case: REHEAR. court of law reference
26. Back in time: AGO.
29. Twisty letter: ESS. and 30 Across. Neckline shape: VEE.
31. "j" topper: DOT. Remember to DOT your J's and cross your X's.
32. Cereal container: BOX.
33. Update to reflect new districts, say: REMAP.
35. Nondairy spread: OLEO. Not to be confused with OLiO which is a miscellaneous collection of things. My memory trick is you can eat OLEO.
41. Printer stoppages: JAMS.
42. The "C" of CEO: CHIEF. CHIEF Executive Officer
43. Signs off on: OKs.
44. "C'__ la vie!": EST. It's French for "Such is life!"
26. Back in time: AGO.
29. Twisty letter: ESS. and 30 Across. Neckline shape: VEE.
31. "j" topper: DOT. Remember to DOT your J's and cross your X's.
32. Cereal container: BOX.
33. Update to reflect new districts, say: REMAP.
35. Nondairy spread: OLEO. Not to be confused with OLiO which is a miscellaneous collection of things. My memory trick is you can eat OLEO.
 |
| What is Oleo -- And Why Is It In So Many of My Grandma's Recipes? |
41. Printer stoppages: JAMS.
42. The "C" of CEO: CHIEF. CHIEF Executive Officer
43. Signs off on: OKs.
44. "C'__ la vie!": EST. It's French for "Such is life!"
As it turns out, this is the title of the book currently at the top of my tsundoku. 
47. Turkish title: AGA.
48. Gibbon or gorilla: APE.
51. Former GM division with a globe in its logo: GEO.
55. Respectable: DECENT. 
57. Divination deck: TAROT. cards
62. Brood: MOPE.
63. Charitable sort: DONOR.
64. Uncommon: RARE.
65. Peevishness: BILE. This is a good example of how a one-word clue can be much more difficult than a constructor might have intended.
66. Expert dealmaker: AGENT.
67. Storm centers: EYES. Think "centers of storms" as opposed to "Weather Channel base camps".
68. Much of a sunflower: STEM.
Down:
1. __ seed bun: SESAME. A surprisingly interesting 2 min. read on the history of hamburger buns
2. Arctic mammal with tusks: WALRUS. Time for an (obvious) musical interlude.
47. Turkish title: AGA.
48. Gibbon or gorilla: APE.
51. Former GM division with a globe in its logo: GEO.
57. Divination deck: TAROT. cards
62. Brood: MOPE.
 |
| Lily is the broody teen character in Duolingo. |
63. Charitable sort: DONOR.
64. Uncommon: RARE.
65. Peevishness: BILE. This is a good example of how a one-word clue can be much more difficult than a constructor might have intended.
66. Expert dealmaker: AGENT.
67. Storm centers: EYES. Think "centers of storms" as opposed to "Weather Channel base camps".
68. Much of a sunflower: STEM.
 |
| This is a pic of a "volunteer" sunflower in my yard when I lived in Colorado. Yeah, mostly STEM. Also, that's my dog, Meadow. She is mesmerized by the floating, blue circle. |
Down:
1. __ seed bun: SESAME. A surprisingly interesting 2 min. read on the history of hamburger buns
2. Arctic mammal with tusks: WALRUS. Time for an (obvious) musical interlude.
I Am The Walrus was part of The Beatle's Magical Mystery Tour in 1967.
It was released as the B-Side to Hello, Goodbye.
Lennon said part of his inspiration for the song was Lewis Carroll's poem
3. Makes use (of): AVAILS.
4. Banister post: NEWEL. Even though it is a Monday, we can build our vocabularies.
5. Apple desktop: MAC. 
6. Make a mistake: ERR.
7. Pong producer: ATARI.
4. Banister post: NEWEL. Even though it is a Monday, we can build our vocabularies.
6. Make a mistake: ERR.
7. Pong producer: ATARI.
 |
| How can something so groundbreaking in 1972 seem so lame today? |
8. Stick up for: DEFEND.
9. Optimally: AT BEST.
10. Arizona river: GILA.
11. Cute as can be: ADORABLE.
12. Identify, as on Facebook: TAG.
13. Above-the-street trains: ELS.
19. James of "The White Lotus": THEO. IMDb page
21. Be honest (with): LEVEL.
9. Optimally: AT BEST.
10. Arizona river: GILA.
11. Cute as can be: ADORABLE.
 |
| The chick on the right is saying, "I don't remember you from the nest." |
12. Identify, as on Facebook: TAG.
13. Above-the-street trains: ELS.
19. James of "The White Lotus": THEO. IMDb page
21. Be honest (with): LEVEL.
 |
| Can I LEVEL with you? This comic feels forced. |
24. First stage in many an HGTV renovation show, informally: DEMO. Here is a 1:13 min. video montage of DEMO scenes from The Property Brothers.
25. Gradually stop nursing: WEAN.
27. __ for it: takes a chance: GOES.
28. Kitchen gadget brand: OXO.
33. "Treasure Island" writer's monogram: RLS. Treasure Island was Robert Louis Stevenson's (1850-1894) first novel. Here's a short bio. He lived here in Monterey for a few months while waiting for his future wife's (Fanny's) divorce to finalize.
34. Bench press muscle, for short: PEC.
35. Gut punch reaction: OOF.
36. Art world fraud: FAKE. This was my FAV clue today.
25. Gradually stop nursing: WEAN.
27. __ for it: takes a chance: GOES.
28. Kitchen gadget brand: OXO.
33. "Treasure Island" writer's monogram: RLS. Treasure Island was Robert Louis Stevenson's (1850-1894) first novel. Here's a short bio. He lived here in Monterey for a few months while waiting for his future wife's (Fanny's) divorce to finalize.
34. Bench press muscle, for short: PEC.
35. Gut punch reaction: OOF.
36. Art world fraud: FAKE. This was my FAV clue today.
37. "This is it for me!": I'M SO DONE. Actually, there are still 17 clues left....
38. Hair or carpet style: SHAG.
39. Express relief: SIGH.
40. Artichoke core: HEART. Many of us save them for the "last bite". If you've only eaten artichokes from a jar or freezer, you do not know what you are missing!
41. Get some exercise on the track: JOG. "JOG", like pong, is a 1972 reference.
44. Compact Ford succeeded by the Focus: ESCORT. I changed ESCape to ESCORT.
38. Hair or carpet style: SHAG.
 |
| (L to R) SHAG carpet, SHAG haircut, Disney's The SHAGgy DA movie (1976) |
39. Express relief: SIGH.
40. Artichoke core: HEART. Many of us save them for the "last bite". If you've only eaten artichokes from a jar or freezer, you do not know what you are missing!
 |
| Castroville, CA is the "Artichoke Capital of the World". Go there to see the World's Largest Artichoke... or just enjoy this pic! |
41. Get some exercise on the track: JOG. "JOG", like pong, is a 1972 reference.
44. Compact Ford succeeded by the Focus: ESCORT. I changed ESCape to ESCORT.
The North American version of the Ford ESCORT entered the market in 1981 and lasted all the way until 2003. Hot Cars article
45. Snow coaster: SLED.
46. Time in office: TENURE.
48. Skillful: ADROIT.
49. Human beings: PEOPLE.
50. Regard highly: ESTEEM.
53. "That could happen": IT MAY.
54. Poetic feet in Shakespeare: IAMBS. Def. (noun) a metrical foot consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable. For example, the words amuse (a-MUSE), portray (por-TRAY), delight (de-LIGHT), and return (re-TURN) are all IAMBS.
45. Snow coaster: SLED.
46. Time in office: TENURE.
48. Skillful: ADROIT.
49. Human beings: PEOPLE.
50. Regard highly: ESTEEM.
53. "That could happen": IT MAY.
54. Poetic feet in Shakespeare: IAMBS. Def. (noun) a metrical foot consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable. For example, the words amuse (a-MUSE), portray (por-TRAY), delight (de-LIGHT), and return (re-TURN) are all IAMBS.
The opening line to Romeo and Juliet has five IAMBS, making an iambic pentameter.
(2 syllables X 5 = 10 syllables)
Two households both alike in dignity
56. Venerable British school: ETON. When Prince William enrolled at Eton College in 1995, he became the first senior royal to enroll there. His father (King Charles) and his grandfather (Prince Philip) both went to a boarding school in Scotland (Gordonstoun), but Princess Diana's father and brother had both attended Eton.
58. Kissing in the park, briefly: PDA. "Briefly" does not refer to the duration of the kiss. It alerts us to an abbreviated answer. Public Display of Affection
60. Post- opposite: PRE-. ICU is a post-op place but Susan is referring to prefixes here.
61. French "his": SES.
That's the last one. Have a great day, everyone and feel free to march forth in whichever shoes you prefer!
45 comments:
With the first themed entry, I knew what the gimmick was, and that helped me solve the rest of this puzzle. Not that I needed much help; this puzzle was the usual Monday “walk in the park.” So I don’t have much more to say about it. FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
UMPS and SLIDE clued me in to the baseball theme. D'oh. Totally missed the reveal, along with a couple circled letters. But, d-o got 'er done, so this one is going into the win column. Hand up for ESCAPE before ESCORT. Thanx, Susan and sumdaze. (Learning moment: TSUNDOKU. Never heard of it, but d-o's got a big one.)
FIR, but erased reopen for REHEAR, and mulled cider for MULLED WINES.
Today is:
NATIONAL HUG A G.I. DAY (no, no, no. Not your gastroenterologist, this day honors members of the US military)
NATIONAL SONS DAY (this one should get someone canceled)
NATIONAL GRAMMAR DAY (what an outdated concept. Unfortunately.)
MARCHING MUSIC DAY (includes military tattoos, which would be a fresh clue for a crossword favorite)
I thought that FILL ONES SHOES was what small peevish pets do.
Actually, the first stage of a renovation is plan. TV doesn't show the planning, but they often show the results in a "to be" shot. As when the Property Brothers say "we'll knock out all the interior walls for an open feel." Or something like that.
Thank you, thank you, thank you Susan and Patti for using ADORABLE rather than the ugly "adorbs." Also thanks to sumdaze for the fun review, and for knowing that I would list National Grammar Day, but with a different slant.
Took 4:40 today for me to thunDER BY this one.
Tough Monday for me. I was unfamiliar with 3/4 theme answers: Photo dump, mulled wines, & craft blog, though craft blog was readily inferable. I also didn't know: Arte, est, & ses.
Oh joy, circles!
Well played, YooperPhil.
OMG! It’s an OJC grid today, much to the chagrin of one of my newest BFF, SS DNLC. RFLMAO. No need to TITT today as my WAGs were good and I FIR in under 10.
To all Cornerites ~ ILYSM! Happy Monday!
PS. YooperPhil. Thank you for the shout-out and for making me seem prescient today.
FIR. I groaned as soon as I saw circles. They just don't belong in crosswords. Kindergarten art, maybe, but not crosswords! OK, I'm done with my rant.
I got the theme, lame as it was, and was able to navigate the Arte answer with perps. Other than that this was just another Monday romp, plain and simple.
Nice start to the week - I haven't been to work for a week and a half - so who knows what await me!
WEES about Escape before ESCORT- lots of Ford cars begin with E. I had a GEO Prizm - basically a Toyota Corolla made by Chevrolet. Very reliable car, I drove that well over 200K miles and then gave it to an international grad student we knew from church and then after he graduated he gave it to another grad student, never found out how many hand me downs it went from there!
We just drove through Castroville last week on our way to Monterey/Carmel- our friends served us each the whole artichoke for dinner- Yummers as Hatoolah would say.
Thanks SD for the fun blog and Susan for the puzzle!
Seems we’ve had a circled shoe theme not too long AGO. Think I mighta been too dense 🤨 to pick up the footware without the circles. Momentarily held up in the NE initially PRE filled c…rOCS not CLOGS and was thinking a gemstone for “quartz”
Inkover: ITcan/ITMAY,
Saw both seasons of “The White Lotus” and looking forward to the next, (rumored at a resort in Thailand). Don’t remember “James” or, as is my wont, any of the other recurrent stars except Jennifer Coolidge. Who can forget her
Separate French possessives “his” or “her(s)” don’t exist. It depends on the gender and plurality of the item owned not the owner: both “His” (or her) books is SES livres. (masc. plural). “His” (or her) “house”: Sa maison (fem. singular). His (or her) “houses”: SES maisons (fem plural). Quiz tomorrow, “Say la VEE”
District REMAP : can you spell “gerrymander” ? 🦎
TV antenna….. ARIAL
Considered complaints….MULLEDWINES
Jelly spilled on the printer may cause a ___…..JAM
Robot….ADROIT
Main ingredient on a Soylent Green label….PEOPLE
At a CME conference in the Florida Keys. Did the puzzle during the breaks. Have a great week I hoping I will 🌴😁
Up North...
Down Under...
DO, the Escape is a small SUV, the Escort is a compact car like the Focus.
A perfect Monday offering from Susan.
It would be doable for noobs and fun enough for veteran solvers.
I liked being introduced to the new terms mulled wines and photo dumps. Always learning new things here at the corner.
Thanks sumdaze for the thorough and educational recap. I didn’t know about Eton and the royal family.
… kkflorida
Good Morning:
This was a typical easy-peasy Monday solve, although I didn't know Arte, Theo, or Geo. I saw the shoes before the reveal clue which was quite "fitting." The circles were necessary to emphasize the theme visually, so no complaints. This would be a perfect introductory puzzle for newbies.
Thanks, Susan, for a nice start to the week and thanks, sumdaze, for the usual wit and wisdom and the great visuals and links. Loved the bunny and chicks and Adam, Eve, and the Mac, but that Level cartoon has me scratching my head.
SS @ 7:55 ~ I don't get your DERBY reference. 🤔 What am I missing?
Have a great day.
A feminine grid today since mostly women think about shoes. FIR.
Circles have never bothered me. Since the main objective of many puzzles is to include a theme, it is just one more way of emphasizing the theme answers just like asterisks do when some theme answers are shorter than the rest.
Since I never do social media, I never heard of a PHOTODUMP. BLEH!
Rushing around takes more effort than doing it efficiently.
Appointment.
Ms. Irish Miss, a derby is a type of shoe, although less famous than the hat. I guess I'm guilty of using too obscure of a reference.
Good Morning! An easy romp through today’s puzzle. Thanks, Susan.
I picked up on the theme right away. Shoes without backs are great for PEOPLE (like me) whose feet are two different lengths (1/2 size different).
Easily perped: ARTE, THEO
WO: Reopen -> REHEAR.
Artichoke HEARTS and celery HEARTS, Yum!!
DECENT: In the show Highway Thru Hell on the Weather Channel, there was a driver whose favorite expression after rescuing a crashed rig would say to his boss, “DECENT, Jimmy, DECENT.” This word always brings these scenes to mind.
Thanks, sumdaze, for another fun summing it up.
STEM, schlem, my focus was on your sweet Meadow. 🥰!
Hola!
Great subject and one of my favorites, SHOES! I still love them though I'm now limited on what I can wear. I gave many of my beautiful high heels to my nieces.
SLEIGH RIDES brings to mind Leroy Anderson's wonderful Christmas tune.
The GILA River is dry for most of the year but becomes a roaring water monster during our rainy season.
I, too, am happy to see ADORABLE in its fully spelled mode.
What a good start to the week! Thank you, Susan Gelfand and sumdaze. Have a happy day, everyone!
Pretty straightforward CW, Monday worthy. I liked the theme and discovered it quickly, so stepping high.
My only unknowns, like PDA, THEO, PHOTO DUMPS, were quickly taken care of.
We had SLED crossing SLEIGH. The shorter noun designating the smaller vehicle helps me remember the difference between them. I’ve never ridden In either.
Thank you Sumdaze for a neat review. Spell check refuses to spell your name without a capital S. I notice that’s how you spell it and that leads me to ask its significance.
Musings
-What a hoot to do a puzzle that is themed about my substituting stints.
-Long-necked, graceful birds: Hundreds of thousands of Sandhill Cranes are now spending time along an 80-mile stretch of the Platte River in central Nebraska.
-After I reached three score and ten, my lovely bride nixed my putting lights on the EAVES
-AGENT Scott Boras has negotiated contracts worth $3.83B for his baseball players
-AT BEST seems to fall short of optimally to me. “AT BEST, he is a bogey golfer”
-Our Splynter advertises he is a “Remolisher” not a demolisher
-Photo dumps are common on FaceBook
-The ESCORT we bought our daughter was a money pit!
-TENURE has saved some great teachers and protected bad ones
-High school hallways are PDA display places
-Nice job, Renee!
Breezy Monday outing. Cute puzzle, no issues. I spent more time on sumdazes review, learned interesting things about oleo and hamburger buns, and remembered how much I like Lewis Carroll. What a nice start to the week!
Ray O @ 9:00 ~ Enjoy the weather in the Keys. Watch out for these guys! 🐊
SS @ 9:42 ~ Thanks for my learning moment of the day. 😉
I think it was in GILA Bend, AZ where my scuba group (in a small bus) got pulled over in the wee hours. We were returning to Phoenix from a dive trip to San Clemente Island. I don't remember why they stopped us, but I do remember that I couldn't get back to sleep until the bus started moving again. We were there for a while, but we weren't ticketed.
I've been doing crosswords for a bit now, but this one was a REAL challenge for me. Basically an impossible solve.
SS ~ YP here, well I had to look up prescient, but yeah you knew what I was going to say before I said it 🤣
As always, I am enjoying reading your comments.
CED@9:07. Shoey...ewwwww!
IM@9:21. The Garfield comic is one long palindrome -- as is the word LEVEL.
Monkey@9:59. When I first decided to go from being a lurker to a commentor on The Corner, I went through the steps to "go blue". Suddenly I was asked to enter my handle but I had not yet given that any thought. It was a spur-of-the-moment pick to reflect my love of math and a play on the phrase, "Somedays are like that" which must have fit my mood at the time. I use the lower-case "s" for style points. I wonder what I would have chosen if I had given it some serious thought....
FYI, I deleted the comment @ 11:29 because the poster simply copied Charlie Echo's comment. That made me suspicious that the commenter was trying to lure curious people into clicking on his name. I deleted the comment to protect others. If this comment was legit, please feel free to post again. We all need to be super careful when we're on-line.
(TTP always has the authority to delete comments. Bloggers only have the authority on their own days.)
CWGuy @ 12:04. Stick with it! They'll get easier. This website is a great place to learn more about how to interpret clues.
sumdaze @ 12:09 ~ Thank you for my second learning moment of the day. 😉 Good decision on deleting that post. Besides being an unfamiliar name, the red flag for me was a reposting of someone else's post without any giving any reason or reference for doing so.
Thank you Susan for starting off the week on a properly SHOD right foot.
And thank you sumdaze for explaining the nuances of women's shoedom. I recognized all shoe types but SLIDES. IIRC we had SLEIGH RIDE in a recent puzzle: LeRoy Anderson's ditty starts with a whinny -- from a MULE perhaps?
Some favs:
9A AGATE. I think this is where we get the name for the colorful marbles known as "AGGIES". AGATES are a "cryptocrystalline" form of quartz formed from a colloidal watery solution of silica, as opposed to the classic QUARTZ CRYSTAL, an intrusive igneus mineral formed underground and cooled very slowly.
20A ARIEL. I knew the mermaid's name but did confuse Halle Bailey with Halle Berry. This particular story of a water nymph goes back to Hans Christian Anderson's "The Litle Mermaid". There are numerous similar stories in folklore. My favorite is is based on the slavic legend of the Rusalka. This legend served as the basis for Antonin Dvorak's opera of the same name. Here is the devine Renée Fleming singing the haunting Song to the Moon.
65A BILE. The clue for this did exhibit a certain, "Je ne sais quoi" -- BILE?
2D WALRUS. Coo coo ca chou! -- thanks for the poem Renée!
4D NEWELL. This carpenter's son didn't know that and I still wouldn't have known hadn't I read your review. The crosses in the NW were so kind I didn't even know I'd filled that one in.
7D ATARI. You had to be there. I first saw PONG when visiting a buddy at UM College Park in the early 70s. IIRC I lost the first game I ever played -- yeah, and I'm still pretty lame when it comes to video games.
11D ADORABLE. So yesterday. The proper crosswordese is TOTES ADORBS!
38D SHAG. You left out the British slang and perhaps I should too!
Cheers,
Bill
Giving up on a Monday! Usually early week puzzles are easy, but I see that has changed since Rich retired. Sometimes new procedures are hard to get used to.
Ray - O @9:00 AM A CME conference in the Florida Keys? Couldn't you have gone to one closer -- like in Poughkeepsie? 😎
IM @9:21 AM I DNK either -- it's a shoe -- and presumably pronounced "DARBY".
Yay circles! I always love when there’s a theme, even though I only knew 2 of the 4 shoe-types in this one.
FIR thanks to a wild guess—went with a ‘B’ for the IAM_S & _ILE cross.
A lot of us have expressed our dismay over text-speak in CWs recently… I would like to add that the spelling-out of letters should be outlawed as well (like ESS and VEE). It’s just lame and it looks dumb. I mean honestly, in your lifetime of writings, have you ever spelled out a letter?? At least text abbreviations are commonly used.
Knowledge of various shoe styles is not my forte but the puzzle solved nicely without having to identify all of the varieties.
Loved the palindrome cartoon (and, yes, most of them are a bit forced). My favorite example possibly being: Go hang a salami I'm a lasagna hog.
My wife insisted ☺️
Sumdaze: Thank you so much for explaining your name.
As you can see spell check does not understand style points.
And thank you for keeping us safe.
I M ☘️ @ 11:40
Have not seen a gator (or a giant python) yet but iguanas, one was the size of small dog.
Marvellous Monday. Thanks for the fun, Susan and sumdaze.
I FIRed and saw the SHOES.
One inkblot to change Son to SES. (Thanks Ray-o re the p,ural?!)
I smiled at AGO/AGA, ARTE above CRAFT, ESS/VEE and the DOT on j.
No SLED or SLEIGH here today. It’s nearly 80 degrees f and I am soaking up the sun on my patio while it lasts.
Wishing you all a great day.
Bill @ 2:30 ~ Yes, I, too, researched after SS's explanation. US pronunciation is Derby, UK is Darby. Who knew the different intricacies of men's shoe designs? Certainly, not Moi! 🙄
Enjoyed this puzzle, sumdaze's write-up, and all your comments.
Hi All!
A fun Monday from Susan and a great expo from sumdaze. Thanks both of yous.
WO: seed -> STEM
ESPs: ARTE, THEO
Fav: SLED xing SLEIGH
I've been very busy but enjoyed reading everyone when I have a few seconds; so thank all yous for keeping me entertained.
Cheers, -T
sumdaze @12:09 PM I chose my "handle" because it had a reasonable chance of being unique -- something I'd discovered after long years in IT creating accounts on lots of different systems for programming stuff. The irony is that many people think it actually stands for something other than what it is -- the first two initials of my name + my last name. I've always felt inferior [sniff 😥] to all the "cool handles" around here. What I really wanted was "JoeKnecht" from Hermann Hesse's "The Glass Beadgame", but that was already taken on Blogger. I was able to use it for creating book/product review on Amazon (they're not as highbrow as bloggers 🙄) and to name my development blog on this system.
-T @ 4:01 PM Has your tush recovered from the cactus wound? Some of us were worried you might be laid up or something.
wasseley - yes, I've fully recovered. I was down for about a day and a half in a Benadryl induced coma while my body ejected (most) the needles.
I found a few more needles over the next few days that had taken their time coming to the surface but nothing too bad.
Not as bad as the cactus got it - one piece (that's at least 30 years old) broke off of grandpa's cactus. That cactus is > 60 years old - I took pictures of it's blooms when I was a teen and I know Gramps had it for >20 years by then.
Cheers, -T
Waseeley @ 4:56-- I always thought your screen name was for Vassily [Basil, in English], but a tad Polonized.
Thank You Susan Gelfand for an interesting Monday puzzle.
I see I'm a day too late ... I'm into late Tuesday already, and entering Wednesday soon.
Anyway, Sumdaze, ... I really. really enjoyed your blog ...!!
Thank You very much.
Also nice to read all of your blog posts the other peeps on the blog.
I dont know what date this thing is going to get posted ...
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