Today's constructor is South African veterinarian Gareth Bain. In a very nice email from him, he has told me, " I am a shelter medicine veterinarian currently working in Gordon's Bay just outside of Cape Town and previously worked in East London". I sailed through Gareth's lovely offering in just over 20 minutes but the computer said I had a bad cell. A thorough search got me to finally change KASA/SO DUH to KANA/NO DUH
As a proud parent of a rescue animal, I am glad to blog Gareth's fun puzzle:
Across:
1. Soap-drop indicator: PLOP - NASA shows the fizz you get when you PLOP an Alka-Seltzer tablet into a water sphere in weightlessness
5. Prepared for pie, in a way: CORED - Here's what we use
14. Buddhist priest: LAMA - Tibetan for high priest or chief
15. The "A" in the Tokyo studio AIC: ANIME.
16. Stargazing subject?: IDOL - My stargazing involves astronomy
17. Rural stopovers: INNS - This plaque proudly announces that George Washington slept in this Georgia INN belonging to Stephen Calfrey Pearce in 1791
18. Retro filter choice: SEPIA - My SEPIA wife and I at a famous venue
19. Importunate solicitor: TOUT - Persistent salesman
20. Spin-off with a bluesy theme song by John Lee Hooker: NCIS NEW ORLEANS - Spinoff
23. 2000s political slogan: YES WE CAN - President Obama's catch phrase
24. Initial payments: ANTES - Otherwise you want get any cards! ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠
26. European hub: ORLY - Once your flight lands at ORLY, it's a 21 min trip to the Eiffel Tower
27. Industrious type: BUSY BEE - I married one
29. Nut: WEIRDO.
32. Ritual heap: PYRE - "Try now we can only lose, and our love become a funeral PYRE"
33. Rapper will.__: I.AM - Okay
34. Half a piano duo?: HAND - A beautiful four-minute video about playing piano with one HAND and dealing with a handicap
35. Chaparral plant: SHRUB - Here's some east of Colorado Springs
37. Longfellow's "The Bell of __": ATRI.
38. Iwo Jima flag-raiser Hayes: IRA - This first flag raised on Iwo Jimo was done by SSgt. Harold Schrier. Later the iconic Joe Rosenthal photo with Ira Hayes was staged
39. Half a classic cowboy nickname: KEMO.
40. Top of the order?: ABBESS - She's the CEO of the Abbey
42. DNA units: STRANDS - Watson and Crick won the 1962 Nobel prize for discovering this structure of DNA
44. 1990s game console release, initially: SNES.
45. Strong feeling: THROE - Many things are done in "the THROES of passion"
46. '60s-'70s singer born Ellen Cohen: MAMA CASS - John Phillips thought Mama Cass did not fit the image of the other Mamas and Papas who were string beans but he relented
50. Catcall?: HERE KITTY KITTY - What does a 500 lb canary say?
53. Circumstances, idiomatically: BOAT.
54. Hilarious: A RIOT - Not usually a teacher's favorite student
55. Look for: SEEK.
56. Certain something: AURA - Captured with Auric or Kirilian Photography
57. "Obviously!": NO DUH - Rude!
58. Put away: SAVE - The ant put away food for the winter while the grasshopper frittered away his summer
59. Highland language: ERSE - Inniu Dé Sathairn (Today is Saturday)
60. Irritations found in clouds: GNATS
61. Iowa Department of Transportation city: AMES - Straight down I-35 from C.C. in Minneapolis
Down:
1. "Naturalis Historia" author: PLINY - The largest surviving publication from the Roman Empire 79 A.D.
2. Poker for knights?: LANCE - On March 10, 1524 Henry VIII was knocked from his horse by a LANCE in a joust
3. Old Dodges: OMNIS - Along with the Plymouth Horizon, Chrysler's first front-wheel drive vehicle
4. It often looks like gibberish: PASSWORD - Programs generate these until you can put in something intelligible
5. "No more discussion": CASE CLOSED.
6. Like turnpike ramps: ONE WAY - NO DUH!
7. Wisconsin college: RIPON - Their alumni include Harrison Ford, Al Jarreau and Spencer Tracy
8. Abu Dhabi bigwig: EMIR - Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
9. Shaking event: DEAL - A recent historic one
10. Prolonged list, as of complaints: LITANY.
11. "It's safe to sit next to me": I DON'T BITE.
12. Onetime accessory for Britney Spears and Keri Russell: MOUSE EARS - Britney during and after
13. Nonkosher sandwich, usually: BLT - A 2015 Pew Poll showed 57% of Jews eat pork
21. Techie stereotype: NERD.
22. "Hakuna Matata" lifestyle: EASE - For your listening pleasure
25. Ones in it for the long haul: SEMIS - Need a job,? They're all hiring!
27. Mitt Romney's alma mater: Abbr.: BYU.
28. Modern folklore: URBAN MYTHS - Some thought this curse dogged the Red Sox until they won the World Series in 2004 against the Yankees
29. Card game played by Phileas Fogg: WHIST - An illustration done for a printing of the Jules Verne classic
30. Annual observance celebrating commitment to the planet: EARTH HOUR - A world-wide event where lights and appliances are turned off for one hour at 8:30pm local time. The next one is 3/30/19
31. Behind: IN ARREARS
32. __ tem: PRO - PRO tem(pore) presides over the U.S. Senate when the V.P. is not in the building. John Tyler is the only one who ever became president
36. Darwin's __ Beagle: HMS - His work while traveling on that boat changed the world
37. Graph point's x-coordinate: ABSCISSA - A bit of arcana for us math peeps
39. Low joint: KNEE - A joint whose injury ends may athletic careers
41. Turtle's mouth: BEAK - Having this BEAK look back at you on the 9th hole on my golf course is scary
43. Vital vessels: AORTAE - Okay, okay ERSE showed me AORTAS is wrong
44. Didn't play: SAT OUT which is usually not done by the 47. Top squad: A TEAM.
46. Crete's highest elev.: MT IDA - Here's a hiking map in the local language
48. Martin or Miller: STEVE.
49. "I'ma Be Me" stand-up comic Wanda: SYKES - Yes, female comics can be profane also
51. Kodos' alien cohort on "The Simpsons": KANG - Okay, just not interested enough to look it up
52. It can be pumped: IRON - or...
53. Honey, in slang: BAE - a meh diminutive of Baby I guess
DA GRID:
