Today's accomplished authors have teamed up on a clever theme, with a handful of impressive clues & answers somewhat lost among other, crummier ones. The three, even-length four-letter words of the reveal required an oversized, 15 x 16 grid, with only two fills that are unique (°). We have circles that, IMO, might not have been necessary in this instance, as the "ends meet" hint seems to be enough - and it's Friday; so let us solvers work through the challenge~! A mere ten 3LWs, a handful of names, a couple that did not need to be clued as such, no Natick crossings as far as I can see, but a little too much dreck - and I can't fault the constructors, since some of the clues may have been "editorialized". The themers and reveal;
17. *Get one over on: PULL A PRANK ° - "PU-NK" - I am not a fan of shows that belittle people for the sake of a gag; while Candid Camera was light and funny, the current "in that vein" kind of shows such as Punk'd or Jackass, just seem cruel and immature - another commentary here
23. *Action blockbuster with several sequels: THE TERMINATOR - "TH-OR" - I have seen most of the Aaaahnald series movies, none of the MCU ones - I find the excessive use of CGI waaay too much
46. *Antioxidant-rich treat: DARK CHOCOLATE - "DA-TE" - the fruit, but the 'going out' meaning of "date" could be interpreted as "a treat" - not sure about the antioxidant part though . . .
56. *Chin-wag: CHEW THE FAT - "CH-AT" - I almost went with this as my title last week, on the "speak up" crossword theme, but "chew" doesn't quite have a homonym I could effectively use
35. With 36- and 37-Across, get by, or how to find a second answer to each starred clue: MAKE
36. See 35-Across: ENDS
37. See 35-Across: MEET - as the two-letter 'ends' of the themers 'meet' to create a second word with the same meaning - I did enjoy this as a theme concept
Bure Mot Theit Ware's
ACROSS:
1. Android, for one: ROBOT - I do the Downs first, ONUS was in place; "PHONE" was not gonna work
My two favorite androids - C-3PO and Marvin, from The Hitchhiker's Guide...
6. Cat's eye, often: SLIT - At first I thought "meh.", but it turns out that the species at 25D. has round pupils; so does the Pallas Cat of Asia
10. Genesis name: ADAM - AND - 33D. Genesis name: SEGA - clecho, but not the same Genesis; the second one is the gaming console - names #1 & #2
14. Dazzled: IN AWE - Twurd - and our weekly dupe, this time from Wednesday.
15. Goals for some Olympians: TENS - Score. Golds, Silvers, Medals, etc., did not fit
16. Frozen Four game: SEMI - vague; Friday - a round in college hockey finals. Thanks for the SO Moe~!
19. Mountain abode: CABIN - another negative temperature day here in Tolland, CT - which is giving me CABIN fever - I can't get certain projects done when it's this cold, even down in the garage . . .
20. Bilingual subj.: ESL - English (as a) Second Language
21. Touch off: CAUSE
22. Handle: MANAGE - this filled entirely via perps for me
25. Going-out outfits?: PAJAMAS - as in putting "out" the light and sleeping
28. World-weary: BLASÉ - Frawnche
29. Annual Queens sporting event: US OPEN - Ah. I read this as "Queen's", as in the royal persona, thinking maybe POLO . . . but no~! It's the borough of NYC, where the tennis tournament is played
30. "Let's see if you're bluffing": "I CALL." - poker
32. Wanders around ORD?: TSA - Good one - the Wand-ers of the Transportation Security Admin., working at Chicago's O'Hare airport, code abbr (ORD)
38. Big primate: APE
39. Enclosures in a 19-Down: LOCKS - AND - 39D. Highlands waters: LOCHS - I am ambivalent on words spelled this closely in crosswords
41. Nutty Alpine cheese: ASIAGO - filled via perps
43. Rushing sound: WOOSH - my spelling is WHOOSH, Wich is WHrong
45. Women's liberal arts college in Atlanta: SPELMAN - name #3, spelled wrong (😜); author Geoffrey works in Atlanta - here's his last LA Times contribution and the write-up from HuskerG
50. Actress Cuthbert: ELISHA - name #4
51. Lingering scents: ODORS
52. Penny prez: ABE - abbr in the clue, abbr in the ans - name(ish)
55. Ultrasound subject: FETUS - First Extra-Terrestrial of the United States~?
24. Chicago Booth degs.: MBAs - I had no idea what "Booth" meant; the university website; name(ish)
25. Big mountain cat: PUMA - A.K.A. "cougar" - two others 'cats' that fit: Lion and ???? - see below
26. "Right this second!" letters: A.S.A.P. - again, the blasé, cliché, mis-representation of STAT
27. Part of a crack team?: JOKEWRITER - OK, kinda funny
30. Doodle medium: INK - meh
31. LP successors: CDs - or,did cassette tapes, and even eight-tracks, 'succeed', as in "follow"~?
34. Oodles: ATON - one of the two the most over-used crossword Twurds - ALOT being the other
36. Fun word to shout into a canyon: ECHO
37. Unit with Roman and "country" varieties: MILE - I know about a "country mile", as in 'longer than a typical distance', but was curious about the Roman one - the Wiki
40. Gp. concerned with NSFW material?: OSHA - I took the OSHA 30 hour course, and while it does have a harassment section, the government 'group' is more about safety; hence the "S" in the acronym Occupational Safety and Health Administration, so 'meh'
41. In pieces: APART - in keeping consistent, this should be: one piece = A PART
42. Free throw, e.g.: SET SHOT - Basketball, which I don't care for
44. "Fine, whatever": "OKSURE." - Twurd
45. At a snail's pace: SLOWLY
46. Clear up, as a windshield: DEFOG - I had DE-ICE
47. Naproxen brand: ALEVE - it was a toss-up between this WAG and ADVIL; name(ish)
49. Scott who wrote "Island of the Blue Dolphins": O'DELL - I had no clue; more here - name #8
52. Way off: AFAR - "The sheriff is A NEAR~!" - Blazing Saddles
"No, dagnubbit, the sheriff is . . . " Now that's NSFW~!
53. Like Mr. Johnson on "Abbott Elementary": BALD - oof. Friday cluing, his IMDb - name(ish)
54. Site with a Home Favorites section: ETSY - good WAG on my part
Highlighted in red
56. Fiscal exec: CFO - Chief Financial Officer
57. Flop __: period of setbacks, in slang: ERA - no clue, but I shoulda guessed; at least it's a new clue for this tired answer. Below is what came up first in a Google search - commentary on our Social Media obsession; it's a bit annoying, but spot on . . .
Flop Era - Akita Neru
Splynter
Grid Flow 33.4
From 25D. - "Lynx"
Notes from C.C.:
The ORCAS season is
here. I'm so happy that our own Sumdaze (Renee) has been nominated for
Best Crossword Commentary. This year, all of the ORCAs-nominated puzzles
will be available together in one special pack. The voting is open there through midnight Thursday, February 19.
Rich Katz is relatively new to the crossword game, but has been
coming on strong and has built a reputation of being inventive and
humorous. Today, he has something shady going on.
Rich Katz (maybe)
Here
are the themers. Don't scratch your head too hard trying to figure out
how the answers are related, because they're not. It's clues that are BLUE.
18. "Aquaman" star: JASON MOMOA. Aqua blue.
23. Cocktail that may be made with Bombay Sapphire: GIN AND TONIC. Sapphire blue.
36. Band with the hit "In the Navy": VILLAGE PEOPLE. Navy blue.
52. Microsoft Azure competitor: GOOGLE CLOUD. Azure blue.
57. Children's show whose title character leaves paw-print hints, and what 18-, 23-, 36-, and 52-Across have in common: BLUE'S CLUES. BLUE is an animated puppy who leaves a trail of paw print CLUES that her human co-host (and viewers) must follow to solve riddles.
So, the theme refers to the CLUES and not the answers on the grid. This
seems tangent to what a crossword is supposed to be and falls in the
gray are between themed and themeless. Shades of blue in the clues can
be fun, but their associated answers are obvious, except for knowing
Microsoft Azure is akin to GOOGLE CLOUD if you're not a techie. All in
all, a pretty easy Thursday. In fact, I blew right through it!
Double your pleasure, double your fun! Note all the doubled letters!
Across:
1. Title said with a hat tip, perhaps: MA'AM.
5. Daddy: PAPA. Who's your PAPA?
9. "__ out!": PEACE.
14. Photographer Geddes: ANNE. The "Queen of Baby Photography."
15. Wasn't colorfast: BLED.
16. Complete: UTTER.
17. Sign gas: NEON. Gas sign: NEON.
18. [theme]
20. Out of order: AMISS.
22. "Hey, Soul Sister" rock band: TRAIN. This smash hit has sold over 10 million units in the U.S. Released in 2009, it was the top-selling single of 2010, reached the
top 10 in multiple countries, and has surpassed 1 billion streams...which means I probably should've heard of it.
23. [theme]
26. PC pioneer: IBM. The usual M.O. (modus operandi)
of us contributors is to spell out abbreviations in case someone
doesn't understand the clue or answer. Informal poll - should I spell
out ultra-common abbreviations like these? Personal Computers and
International Business Machines?
29. Chow down: EAT. Chew up: EAT.
30. Small battery, or an org. that may help with a car battery: AAA. American Automobile Association.
31. Iditarod racer: SLED DOG.
33. Suomi speakers: FINNS. Suomi means Finland in Finnish, but can also mean the language.
35. Ages and ages: EONS. Many, many, ERAS.
36. [theme]
41. Gyro bread: PITA.
42. Give a bit more: TOP UP. Brit-speak for adding more to an existing level of something. We usually TOP off here in the States.
43. Accounts with round numbers?: BAR TABS. As in a round of drinks that may need TOPPING UP.
47. Spy-fi novelist Deighton: LEN.
48. Visitor in a knock-knock joke that ends, "It's nothing to cry about!": BOO. Knock, knock. Who's there? BOO. BOO who? And hilarity ensues...
51. Tricky: SLY.
52. [theme]
55. Herb in caprese salad: BASIL. I love caprese salads with the bright colors of the Italian flag. So simple to make yet so fancy on the table.
56. Upper crust: ELITE.
57. [theme]
62. "Sad to say ... ": ALAS.
63. Goodyear products: TIRES. One of the three Goodyear blimp bases is right here in nearby Pompano Beach, FL.
64. Legendary rebuke: ET TU.
65. Memory units, for short: MEGS. MEGAbyteS.
66. Branch of Islam: SUNNI.
67. Leader whose address ends with .edu: DEAN.
68. Bailiwick: AREA. A bailiwick is one's sphere of operations or particular AREA of interest.
Down:
1. Run: MANAGE.
2. Condition often treated with iron supplements: ANEMIA.
3. Tap, as one's successor: ANOINT.
4. High-IQ society: MENSA. I had to drop out when my brain got rusty.
5. Many a school sammie: PBJ. The classic Peanut Butter and Jelly
sandwich. I looked up "sammie" and found most people hate the term,
unless they are in grade school. Here's the gourmet version. It's cut on
a diagonal. Ooh la la.
6. In the style of: ALA. Borrowed from French, à la, means “according to” or “in the manner of.” As in a PBJ ALA Cordon Bleu.
7. 55-Across sauce: PESTO.
8. Decorates: ADORNS.
9. Pedicure stone: PUMICE.
10. Harry and William's alma mater: ETON.
11. Convenience in a cash-only venue: ATM. Automated Teller Machine.
12. Corp. leader: CEO. A Chief Executive Officer is the highest-ranking executive in a corporation.
13. Shaded section of a timeline: ERA. Here's the famous ERAs Tour:
24. Comedian Carvey: DANA. Meet Garth, one of DANA's most famous characters from Wayne's World, originally an SNL skit.
25. Punchy flavor: TANG.
26. Pop sensation: IDOL.
27. Barbecue discard: BONE.
28. Booker T.'s band: M.G.'S. Sadly, Steve Cropper, songwriter and their original guitarist, died this past December (thanks for reminding me, MalMan!). I dabble on the keyboards, and one of my favorite
songs to play is Green Onions, written by Cropper, with its distinctive Hammond B3 organ
sound.
32. "Nosferatu" actress Lily-Rose: DEPP. You guessed it, Lily-Rose is Johnny DEPP's daughter.
33. No longer fizzy: FLAT.
34. Game, __, match: SET. Tennis’s notoriously bizarre scoring system (using love, 15, 30, 40, and “deuce” instead of 0-1-2-3-4) likely stems from medieval clock-based scoring, where quarters (15, 30, 45) marked points.
36. Lab container: VIAL.
37. "It was nothing": I TRY.
38. Exit __: POLL.
39. Fencing blade: EPEE. Whee! It's EPEE...again.
40. Light weight: OUNCE. Actually, light has no weight. It consists of photons, which are massless particles.However,
because light possesses energy and momentum, it behaves as if it has a
relativistic mass and is affected by gravity. I watch NOVA!41. "Nova" network: PBS. For over 50 years, NOVA has the most popular prime-time science series on American television.
44. Tennis star Andre: AGASSI.
Tennis players often place a small silicone dampener in their strings to
reduce vibration. RightBrain has a bunch that look like anything from
ladybugs to smiley faces, but I use a simple rubber band because AGASSI
does.
45. Anjou alternative: BOSC. Members of your pear group:
46. Dirtied: SOILED.
48. Tank in a basement: BOILER. Tanks in a basement: AQUARIUMS.
49. Service interruption: OUTAGE. I hope none of you had a power OUTAGE during the winter storms last week.
50. Black Sea port: ODESSA.
53. Posterior muscle, informally: GLUTE. Know your GLUTEs:
54. Many a denizen of Machu Picchu: LLAMA.
55. "It's __ a minute!": BEEN.
57. "Mic Drop" K-pop septet: BTS. This South Korean sensation is known to me only by xwords.
58. Actor Simu: LIU. He's kicked Lucy LIU out of the xword rotation, but it seems like they're still friends!
59. Samovar: URN. Universal Remains Niche. (This might not be an abbreviation!)
60. Due-in hr.: ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.
61. Phoenix NBAer: SUN. National Basketball Association is abbreviated, but the team is still just the SUNs.
I hope this chased some of your BLUES away! Be Good. RB
I will admit that Hatoolah's Rat tat cartoon from yesterday made me chuckle when I knew this was my opening cartoon today! 😉
Puzzling thoughts:
Did anyone else feel tingly whilst filling in this puzzle? Not I. Nothing prickly about it, either. Just a few jabs, here and there, and I really didn't feel the stick when the needle was finally administered ...
OK, enough of the cheap barbs. Today's puzzle is a family collaboration between mom (Zhou) and son (Nate). The dad, Kevin Curry, and son Nate had a collaborative puzzle earlier this year on Friday January 2. And when I poked a bit further, [according to some notes I found while searching the internet] I learned that Zhou and Kevin are a Seattle-based couple with three sub-teenaged children. Nate is the oldest of the three. Four of the five family members have had puzzles published by the NY Times - all as collaborations. And the "legacy" that's building for this family (as crossword puzzle constructors) is quite recent - all post pandemic
The reveal for today's puzzle is: 51-across. Make a measurable difference, or what the answers to the starred clues do: MOVE THE NEEDLE.
39-across. *Intelligence agent's tool: POLYGRAPH. A brief outline of the history of a polygraph is not as interesting as the previous two entries, but certainly, it was a learning moment for me
All three of the devices above have a movable needle as a part of its design. Pretty straightforward
Good job by mom and son - the fill was tight and clean
Here is the grid and then on to the rest:
The Grid - see how "clean" it is? No mistakes, today!
Across: 1. Excerpt from a film: CLIP. Often times Chairman Moe will use a film clip - also known as a "trailer" - to support, visually, a clue/entry. Today is no different, though I had to revise my search a bit as the only movie called "Clip" was NSFW. So, I found something that is related to "clip" in this trailer:
5. Like back legs: HIND.
9. Wanders: ROAMS. Do you recall when the word roams just meant "wanders", and not something related to placing/receiving a cellular phone call? And for the record, does anyone pay a roaming fee anymore, with these all-inclusive cell phone plans?
14. Highway division: LANE.
15. Purple berry in healthy smoothies: ACAI. One of a few crosswordese entries, but I am OK with this one
16. Illuminated from below: UP LIT. This might be the lone use of green paintin today's puzzle. Backlit is a more recognized term; if you try to google uplit (one word or two) it takes you to uplift instead
17. Food thickener made from seaweed: AGAR. Another stale crossword entry but sometimes a constructor has to resort to these to keep other words in place
18. Takes a snooze: NAPS. Something that this retiree looks forward to
19. __-gritty: NITTY. Did anyone else think, immediately, of this band? Spill the dirt!
[theme entry]
23. Get ready: PREPARE. Now that all of my tax stuff is here, it's time to prepare for filing
24. Word before bar or drink: ENERGY. As one who's been known to imbibe, the word energy did not immediately come to mind with "bar" and "drink" 😉
27. Contents of a barn stack: HAY.
28. Nursing spot: TEAT. A more "fun" clue could have been: "Nursing spot for a kid" (as in a baby goat)
30. WNW's opposite: ESE. Ese has also been clued as a language suffix (as in Japanese)
31. Very pale: ASHEN.
[theme entry]
36. The sun, for one: STAR. And also, an image used in rating things. As in, my rating for today's puzzle is a solid, ⭐⭐⭐ and 1/2⭐
Imagine my surprise when I got to 58-across: Gives stars to: RATES. Aren't we constructors supposed to avoid using an entry word in a clue?
37. Common living room piece: COUCH. Did anyone else use the word DIVAN in this spot? I did
38. Big name in volleyballs: VOIT. My 5-1/2 year-old grandson has taken a liking to volleyball (mainly due to his having a crush on one of the star players on his grandpa's alma mater's team). If you've never watched a match (NCAA Women) in person you're missing out on what (to me) is the most entertaining form of college athletics (the colors of the image below will be a hint to Moe's alma mater)
And here is an example of my grandson's girlfriend making an emphatic kill and setting a school record; which she then broke a few matches later when she scored 43 kills in a 5-setter
[theme entry]
41. Jai alai basket: CESTA. I remember when both the sport (Jai Alai) as well as the crosswords (jai and alai) were popular. I lived in Connecticut for several years and during that time period there was a jai alai fronton (the venue where the game is played and a former, oft-used crossword entry) in Hartford. I would occasionally go there to watch and wager ... below is a clip about the rules of jai alai but if you'd prefer to open a hyperlink instead ... take your pick of which one to click
42. Shorthand in a coffee order: CAF. As in caffeine
43. Went as a passenger: RODE. TRAVELED was too big to fit
44. Only Canadian MLB city, for short: TOR. A CSO to our regular poster, CanadianEh! And yes, C Eh!,I know you've been waiting since 1967 for another Stanley Cup - your Blue Jays should've won a World Series last year, but the LA Dodgers were the best team $ could buy ... FWIW, I remember attending a Blue Jays game in TOR in the summer of 1992. I think at the time, TOR was tied for first place but their win that evening gave them sole possession; they never relinquished their hold on first place, and they went on to win the World Series that year. You've got very rabid fans there!
45. Consumed uncooked: ATE RAW. I know there are those who'd frown at this, but one of my favorite raw consumables is an oyster on the half shell - maybe a dozen or two
47. Look of the recently woken: BED HEAD. I couldn't decide whether bed head was one word or two until I found this:
I guess it's two
[reveal]
54. Honeycrisp, e.g.: APPLE. One of the sweeter apple varieties, I've been told
56. Shoe bottom: SOLE. Moe-ku:
Korean monks walked
Barefoot when leaving country.
Forfeited their SOLE
57. Hubbubs: ADOS.
[see above with 36-across]
59. Work with yarn: KNIT. Are any of our regular posters or anonymous visitors into knitting?
60. NHL venue: RINK. CSO to our Friday blogger, Splynter
61. Romantic meeting: TRYST. Moe-ku #2:
Famous love romance
Should've been called: "Tristan
TRYST and Isolde"
62. Goes out with: SEES. DATES was too long to fit
63. Disappointing report card grades: DEES. I'm pretty sure that I had a couple of these during my college years; don't recall having one in HS
Down: 1. Jewelry fastener: CLASP. Question for all of the guys out there: is it just me or do you also have trouble unfastening one of these when your wife asks you to unclasp her necklace? Maybe I should have watched this video first:
2. Golden beer: LAGER. The word Lager in German is actually Lagerbier. We shortened the name when the brew was introduced to the US by German immigrants. The most famous American Lager is Budweiser; but when I choose to drink a lager these are my two favorites:
3. Amazed: IN AWE. I am in awe that an 11-yr old boy (Nate) could be a such a talented crossword puzzle constructor; this is seriously a very good puzzle
4. Outer edge: PERIPHERY. Not an oft used crossword entry - nice!
5. Grumpy due to lack of food: HANGRY. A portmanteau of Hungry and Angry
6. Start of Caesar's boast: I CAME. Moe-l'ick (and not his best "boast"!) A bit lewd, but hey, it's a limerick!
Julius Caesar (we all know his name)
Was also a lover, part of his fame.
He was boastful in bed
Must have been his swelled head
His go-to exclaim? "I (already) CAME"
7. California wine valley: NAPA. Despite its well-known image, I find other California wine valleys (and regions) more enjoyable to visit - this past summer we went to the Sierra Foothills, Anderson Valley, Mendocino, and Paso Robles wine regions. Loved each of them. "Old-time" Paso Robles is still enjoyable but other parts of that area are quickly becoming the southern sister of Napa (which means, too crowded and too expensive)
8. Many a drink coaster: DISC. An unusual clue for this word. When I checked the Crossword Tracker website to see the frequency of its use, today's marks the first!
9. Encounter: RUN INTO. I'm sure we all have stories about a time and place where we have run into a friend and/or famous person during our travels. For me, probably the most unusual one was when I ran into an old friend - whom I hadn't seen in well over 6 years - in the A Terminal at the Atlanta airport. We were both heading towards the escalator that descends to the inter-terminal train to make a connection; his incoming flight and mine obviously arrived simultaneously, but think of the odds of both of us disembarking in a manner that would allow us to sync our movements through the busiest airport in the world? And then recognize each other and say "Hi!" ...
10. State one's view: OPINE.
11. Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl, e.g.: ALTER EGOS. Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, et al are all alter egos of Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, and Peter Parker ... but as I looked up both of the characters in the clue (Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl) and read their biography it dawned on me that Zhou (and/or Nate) was describing their own family, in a way 😉
12. Cambridge univ.: MIT. One of the things I liked most about today's puzzle was the limited use of abbreviations
13. Total dump: STY. I wonder if Nate's bedroom has the sty look of this famous cartoon son:
21. Flat bread served with curry: NAAN.
22. Toffee bar brand: HEATH. The dark chocolate variety's the one I prefer:
Are you a dark chocolate fan, too?
25. "Top Gun" outfit: G SUIT. Image below is from Luke AFB, here in Arizona. I dunno what happened to their torsos and heads ... maybe it's the result of pulling 9 G's
26. Gossipy sort: YENTA. Do we have any yentas among our regular posters and/or anonymous viewers? And for the record, does a yenta have to be Jewish?
28. Brownish gray: TAUPE. This was one of two "starting" words that I use(d) when I solve the daily Wordle puzzle - unfortunately, the day that this one "hit" I tried the other starting word (which has none of the same letters as taupe). Imagine my surprise when I used taupe as my second guess and saw all green ...
29. Engrave: ETCH.
31. Pet adoption org.: ASPCA. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (I can see why they choose to use the acronym!)
32. Weasel with a short, black-tipped tail: STOAT. Moe-ku #3:
Weasel entered an
Anagram contest and lost.
"Told you he was TOAST!"
33. Pessimist's description of a glass, perhaps: HALF EMPTY.
34. Super Mario character who looks like a mushroom: TOAD. I wonder if this was Nate's clue?
35. Picked up, in a way: OVERHEARD. Moe-ku #4: (using the intransitive verb form and two extra syllables)
44. Religious beliefs: TENETS. Stealing a page from Ray-O-Sunshine's playbook:
Beliefs found at the International UFO Museum in Roswell, NM? TenETs
46. Parts: ROLES.
47. Contradict: BELIE.
48. Pearl Jam vocalist Vedder: EDDIE. As a band that formed in Seattle, WA (Zhou Zhang's current city) it would not surprise me that this is her (and maybe the whole family's) favorite group. Here is one of their songs featuring the vocals of Eddie Vedder
49. Without company: ALONE. Company, as in companionship. If read differently, could the answer be "Sole Proprietorship"?
50. Classroom workspaces: DESKS. The traditional way of organizing desks in a classroom is in a grid pattern (rows), with the teacher's desk at the very front of the room. One of my early memories of a non-traditional way to organize was when I was in the third grade - our teacher, Mrs. Neimann, decided to arrange the desks in a U-shaped pattern. There was no escaping being able to see her or each other. She remains perhaps my most favorite elementary school teacher ...
One example of a U-shaped desk arrangement
52. Sounds of disapproval: TSKS. Moe-ku #5:
Certain Egyptian
Boy king never said "TSK, TSK",
Quite obviously ...
53. Sharpen, as a knife: HONE. I wonder if this applied to young Nate, many years ago! 😉
54. Gallery display: ART. A sophomoric joke just came to mind ...
55. Golf course standard: PAR. Once upon a time, this blogger was skilled enough to have completed an 18-hole round of golf with a score below par - did it a few times, actually. My golfing skills have long since atrophied. I can count on one hand the number of times I've played over the past three years and have a couple of fingers remaining ... maybe in 2026 I will attempt to play more often
Well, it's off to the supermarket today (first Wednesday in the month = 10% senior discount). See y'uns (that was for TTP) in March
ps: to Anonymous PVX - regarding the age survey a week ago ... you and I may share the same exact birthday (month/year, for sure) or be very close. Drop me an email if you can ... Moe
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