Sunday September 12, 2021 Mark Feldman

Theme:  "Sounds Familiar" - Each theme entry consists of three rhyming words.

22A. Place for reading recipes?: COOKBOOK NOOK.

28A. Ink on a billionaire?: FAT CAT TAT.

34A. City center street performer?: DOWNTOWN CLOWN.

62A. Bit of carelessness at cocktail hour?: CHIP DIP DRIP.

85A. Postal mishap?: SNAIL MAIL FAIL.

97A. Starter for a noncompetitive race?: FUN RUN GUN.

104A. Reality TV believer?: BOOB TUBE RUBE.

42D. Hanks sobriquet for films like "You've Got Mail"?: ROMCOM TOM.

44D. Fashionista dog?: JET SET PET.

 

This theme looks simple, but it has layers. The first two-part is also a common phrase.

 

Good to see Mark Feldman back. We have not seen his byline for two years. Hope to see more of your grids in the future, Mark!

 

Across:

 

1. Only astronaut to fly in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs: SCHIRRA (Wally)

 

8. Sushi order: AHI.

11. Short blue person?: DEM. Democrat. Short = Abbr.

14. Exile of 1979: SHAH.

18. Small bits of color: SPLASHES.

19. Easter lead-in: NOR. Nor'easter.

20. "Xanadu" rock gp.: ELO.

21. Aqua __: U.K. mineral water brand: PURA. Unfamiliar to me.

24. Fragrant tea-flavoring shrubs: JASMINES. Jasmine tea! My favorite.

26. Quakers in forests?: ASPENS. Can't fool our regulars.

27. Emailed: SENT.

29. Extreme disorder: MESS.

30. Through: VIA.

31. Madrid mama bear: OSA.

33. "The Bald Soprano" playwright: IONESCO (Eugène). Romanian-born. Wikipedia says "Ionesco contributed to the beginnings of what is known as the Theatre of the Absurd".

38. Flash __: MOB.

39. Third-party accounts: ESCROWS.

43. Provide with the latest: CLUE IN.

44. Green stone: JADE. You often see girls in Guangzhou wear a jade pendant.

45. Where one trying to score may be out: AT HOME.

46. U.S. Army medal: DSC. Distinguished Service Cross.

48. Classic Pontiac: GTO.

49. __ pool: GENE.

50. Like some stockings: SEAMED.

51. Congers: EELS.

53. React to a sprint: PANT.

55. A montage of them was presented at the 2006 Oscars: EPICS. That's the year "Crash" won best picture.

56. Native Alaskans: ALEUTS.

58. Fencing moves: THRUSTS.

61. Nothing special: SO SO.

64. Long stretches: EONS.

66. They're usually unbeatable: NEMESES. Plural of nemesis.

68. Accustoms (to): ENURES.

69. Storied building material: STRAW. For the first little pig.

70. Fit: TRIM.

71. Feds under Ness: T-MEN. T for Treasury.

72. Current amount: AMPERE.

73. Mail ctrs.: GPOS. Government Publishing Office. I just found out that they print passports.

75. Stadium cheer: RAH.

78. Offbeat: ODD.

79. Eyed impolitely, with "at": LEERED.

80. Bath buggy: PRAM.

81. Not at all light: SOLEMN.

83. Corn syrup component: MALTOSE.

84. Joplin's "Maple Leaf __": RAG.

89. Legislative group, e.g.: ENACTOR. Spell check does not like this word.

91. Backing-up key: ESC.

92. Bit in a horse's mouth: OAT.

93. Cleaning tools, for short: VACS.

99. Deli stock: RYES.

101. Formed with the tip of the tongue, like the letter L: APICAL. Learning moment for me.

103. Property receivers, at law: ALIENEES.

106. Axes: CANS.

107. KC-to-NYC dir.: ENE.

108. "The Ice Storm" director Lee: ANG. Same character as the An in Xi'an.

109. Acted like: EMULATED.

110. Most massive known dwarf planet: ERIS.

111. Rehab hurdle: DTS. Delirium Tremens.

112. Screening org.: TSA.

113. Western movie threat: RATTLER.

Down:

1. Imagine, colloquially: S'POSE.

2. Horse-and-buggy ride sounds: CLOPS.

3. Cod relatives: HAKES. I sure don't want eat them.

4. Library vol. ID: ISBN.

5. Letters after pis: RHOS.

6. 1906 Runabout, e.g.: REO.

 

 

7. Shows hospitality toward, as a visitor: ASKS IN.

8. Before long, to Shakespeare: ANON.

9. Bird named for its cry: HOOT OWL. Don't all owls hoot?

10. Annoy: IRK.

11. "This seems familiar" word: DEJA. vu.

12. Jubilance: ELATION.

13. University of Idaho city: MOSCOW. I only know Idaho State.

14. Malice: SPITE.

15. Spider that stalks its prey: HUNTSMAN. Also new to me. Odd to call it *man.

16. Opening number?: AREA CODE. No musical number.

17. Surely is: HAS TO BE. No sororities in our university, D-Otto. Girls and guys lived in separate buildings. Just the school rules.

18. Con job: SCAM.

23. Bar specification: NEAT.

25. "Death in Venice" author: MANN (Thomas)

28. Aspect: FACET.

30. Bugs with brakes: VWS.

32. Wrapped in a blanket, say: SNUG.

34. Mosque toppers: DOMES. No dome for the Great Mosque of Xi'an.  It's within Xi'an Muslim Quarters. Hahtoolah was there once. Xi'an has a large Muslim population. They're called Uyghur. Xi'an also has lots of Koreans, called Chaoxianzu in China. Both Uyghur & Koreans are major minority ethnic groups in China. Read more here. I'm a Han, like 91% all Chinese.

35. Due: OWED.

36. Block off: OCCLUDE. Not EXCLUDE.

37. Award-winning Mark Tatulli comic strip: LIO. Another learning moment.

39. Relaxes: EASES.

40. Apply, as a brake: STEP ON.

41. Lawn chair: CHAISE.

46. Knish sellers: DELIS. I had them at the Vegas buffets. Tasty.

47. Ooze: SEEP.

49. Oxlike antelope: GNU.

52. Stretch: STINT.

53. Letters before chi: PHIS.

54. Duchamp contemporary: ARP (Jean)

56. "What about me?!": AHEM.

57. Layered Italian dessert: SPUMONI. Have some!

58. General direction: TREND.

59. Bullfight figure: TORERO.

60. Traps: SNARES.

62. Long-running forensic series: CSI.

63. First name in an 1857 case: DRED. Dred Scott v. Sandford.

65. Activist Greta Thunberg, e.g.: SWEDE.

67. Hosp. units: ERS.

69. Suspect: SMELL.

72. End of a ball game?: ALAI. Jai alai.

73. Like table salt: GRANULAR.

74. Composer of solo violin études: PAGANINI (Niccolo). Namesake of the Paganini Competition.

75. "Vive le __!": ROI.

76. Karen of "Starman": ALLEN.

77. Fashion lines: HEMS.

80. Introduction: PREFACE.

81. Portraitist John Singer __: SARGENT. Here's his "Portrait of Madame X".

82. Long-vowel symbols: MACRONS. I did not know the term.

83. Tatami, e.g.: MAT.

85. Leave speechless: STUN.

86. "Thanks, it's already done": NO NEED.

87. "Stay" singer Lisa seen in GEICO ads: LOEB.

88. "Get a move on!": FASTER.

90. Salad green: CRESS.

93. Like some popular videos: VIRAL. China just banned the biggest BTS fan site. Enormous culture changes there. You guys might be shocked reading this article.

94. Perceptive: ACUTE.

95. Pole tossed by a Scot: CABER.

96. Downhill traveler: SLED.

98. Applications: USES.

100. Discipline with stretches: YOGA.

101. Lie next to: ABUT.

102. Hide: PELT.

104. Cricket club: BAT.

105. Thurman of "Pulp Fiction": UMA.

Happy 62nd  birthday to Steve, who faithfully guided us on Thursday for many years. We miss your humor and sharp observation, Steve!

 

Steve and Jill, June 12, 2016

Tea at The Queen Mary

Saturday, September 11, 2021, David Liben-Nowell

 Saturday Themeless by David Liben-Nowell

This is my first blog of one of David's puzzles. His last LA Times Saturday themeless was back in August 6, 2016, which was just before I became the Saturday blogger.

Here are David's thoughts on this puzzle: 

Hi Gary,

This is a puzzle with a long journey, and maybe a few mildly interesting stories to share from its trip.

The first origin point was the phrase DAD JOKES, which cropped up in a kind of amusing (if not exactly complimentary) way a few years ago.  In February 2018, at the midpoint of the winter term at Carleton College, where I teach, I'd distributed my standard midterm evaluation for students to let me know what they thought of the course, and what could be improved in the second half.  One of the questions ("what do you like least about the course") elicited one student response of "the dad jokes" (maybe the student wasn't being serious?!  I can only hope so!).  And then DAD JOKES and its symmetric twin MOM JEANS came onto my radar, and the puzzle idea was off and running with that pair as the seeds.

Well, "running" is probably an exaggeration.  It took me about 18 months of poking and prodding at it to fill the grid in a way that satisfied me.  That's still two versions of the puzzle prior to the one that you're looking at:  the first one had a different entry at 18-Across (which Rich found to be too racy) [original submitted clue, if you want to puzzle it out:  It was banned from Facebook in 2019 for its suggestive usage], and then the second version had a partial duplication between ALL DONE (33-Across) and ALL PRO (25-Down) that had to be excised.  Rich's find of MRS JONES (to replace DOW JONES at 42-Across) is what saved that portion of the grid.  So this version resulted from me ripping out both the NW quadrant of the grid (and thus the N section), and the W section (and thus the SW), and replacing them.

Some of my favorite clues survived, but I was sad to lose some of the others -- partially a consequence of my natural tendency to write fairly verbose clues, so often a good number of them get cut for length (and maybe for other reasons).  And I have to confess to not knowing the answers to some of the clues in their final form.  I hadn't heard of Charles COLSON maybe because I'm too young for it (the clue that I submitted was about the novelist COLSON Whitehead of "The Underground Railroad", among other books).  But I'm also pretty naive to most proper names in popular culture, so I suffer equally from an ignorance of Questlove, IRENE Cara, IRENE Ryan, Billy Paul, and probably others that show up in this puzzle.  And I haven't seen "Get Smart" even once, though I have heard a good number of invocations of the CONE OF SILENCE metaphor in my real life.  Once I saw that including that entry in the grid was a possibility, I found some old clips on YouTube.  Turns out the cone of silence thing was pretty funny all along.  I hadn't even realized that it was a joke before working on this puzzle!

David

Across:

1. "Miracle on the Hudson" investigation gp.: NTSB - The National Transportation and Safety Board investigated Sully's miracle landing on the Hudson river

5. Venom holder: SAC - Not an ASP it turns out

8. Grads of Cornell's Johnson Sch.: MBAS - Cornell renamed its business school for S.C. Johnson after the company he founded endowed them with $20M

12. Kerfuffle: HOOHA - Haven't you also heard of a brouhaha?

13. Quartet quarter?: SOLO - Let's see, 1/4 of a quartet is one and if that performer sings alone...

14. Six-ton predator: ORCA - Sea World is phasing them out

15. Pride seekers' lids: SAFARI HATS - Anyone think of pith helmets?

17. LeBlanc who played Joey on "Friends": MATT - If you're a fan, you know who's who in this first to last episode montage.

18. Texter's approval: THUMBS UP EMOJI - or my Bitmoji!

20. Cutesy answer to "How do you say that in Spanish?": ESO - ESO is Spanish for the word "that" so the answer is ESO

21. Uncoupled?: BROKEN UP.

24. Zebras on a field: REFS - NFL REFS have broken racial and gender barriers

27. Classic muscle cars: GTOS.

29. Senator Ben who wrote "The Vanishing American Adult": SASSE - Joann and I have known 47. D.C. VIP: SEN Ben SASSE since he was ten years old. I taught with his dad and went to high school with his mother.

30. N.L. West team: ARI - Diamondbacks

31. Type of cable, briefly: COAX - COAXial cable. We're replacing a lot of ours with ROKU units

32. Shade for a lifeguard: SUNTAN - Oh, a SUNTAN is a shade of color

33. Defensive lines: CORDONS - The Swiss Guard form a colorful CORDON for the Pope

35. Dries, in a way: AIRS OUT.

36. Sometimes unattainable maxima: IDEALS - Don't let IDEAL get in the way of doable. 

37. Sticky situation: MIRE.

38. 2010 World Cup host: Abbr.: RSA.

39. Origins: SEEDS.

40. Bass part: GILL.

41. It gives you the big picture: IMAX - Watching a shuttle launch on a giant IMAX screen with seat-rattling DTS Sound is breath taking. 

42. Title partner of "me" in a 1972 Billy Paul #1 hit: MRS. JONES.

44. Blade in a shell: OAR.

46. Metaphor for confidentiality popularized in a 1960s sitcom: CONE OF SILENCE - Would you believe Maxwell Smart?

51. Type of jacket: FLAK - Originally to protect against bullets and flak, QB's now also use them to protect their ribs

53. Shallot relative: GREEN ONION - Time for my favorite Rock 'N Roll instrumental 

54. Card in Clue: ROPE.

56. Command posts: HELMS.

57. Is behind, maybe: OWES.

58. Kid-__: tots' TV fare: VID.

59. Sailing: ASEA.

Down:

1. Legendary wildlife conservationist: NOAH - Two at a time and 55. Ancient site of an iconic tree: EDEN - Another Biblical reference

2. Block in the kitchen: TOFU - No thanks.

3. Humbles: SHAMES.

4. Fodder for unfriendly trades: BARBS - As I've blogged before, Don Rickles would not be able to use his act today

5. Speaker's spot: SOAP BOX.

6. Takes up, perhaps: ALTERS - or for me, unfortunately, "let out"

7. Short bar order: COSMO.

8. High-waisted garb, stereotypically: MOM JEANS and 34. Some corny humor: DAD JOKES - Here's a bunch of 'em. David told us these were his seed entries. 

9. Play with ideas: BRAIN STORM.

10. Do one's part?: ACT.

11. Couldn't stand?: SAT - Not true on all roller coasters any more 

12. Prez who had no VP in his first term: HST - Alben Barkely was HST's VP from 1948 - 1953

13. Chinese pork dish word: SHU - All you need to know

16. Squares, e.g.: ISOGONS - ISO (equal) GONS (sides)

19. [Shrug]: OK SURE.

22. Olympics chant: USA! USA!...

23. Ricoh camera brand: PENTAX.

24. "To Kill a Mockingbird" theme: RACISM.

25. Heavy surf, e.g.: ERODER - Yeah, I suppose...

26. Obsolescent emergency exit: FIRE ESCAPE - Our school only had stairs

28. Coll. exam graders, at times: TAS.

31. Charles of Watergate infamy: COLSON - Would anyone else have been stumped if David has chosen "31. Whitehead of the Underground Railroad"?

32. Skirt alternative: SIRLOIN - Ah, now I see why it is called a Skirt

35. Have something: AIL.

37. Common jam ingredient?: MISFEED - Not an edible jam or traffic jam.

40. Scotty's "Star Trek: TNG" counterpart: GEORDI - La Forge played by LeVar Burton. Those glasses look like they were made out of my old lawn mower air filter.

41. Cara and Ryan: IRENES.

43. Much of Israel: NEGEV.

45. Island reception: ALOHA - Last Saturday ALOHA was a parting word

48. Ancient Memphis setting: NILE - The importance of Memphis decreased when Alexandria became a major port on the Mediterranean. 

49. Food __: after-eating drowsiness: COMA 

50. 3/8 of nineteen?: ENS - Meta clue: The word "Nineteen" has eight letters and three of them are "ENS".

51. Questlove's do: FRO - His IMDB

52. Dirty: LOW - Garth Brooks has friends in those places.

 Notes from C.C.:

1) Great to see you back, David. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

2) Happy birthday to dear Husker Gary, our incomparable Saturday sherpa, who spends enormous time every week to perfect his posts, finding the right words, finding the right visuals and reaching out to constructors for comments. We're so grateful for your time and effort, Gary! You make Saturdays special!

Gary, C.C., Boomer & Joann 8/22/2014

Friday, September 10, 2021, Gary Larson

 TITLE: Ruh Roh? Oh no! SCOOBY vs. ASTRO

Gary in his unstoppable move to take over the cyber crossword world is back with a sounds like puzzle based on a beloved cartoon dog. But which one? But first, lets examine the puzzle. It has a bunch of seven letter fill ANARCHY, AT LARGE, ATTESTS, BRIDGET, IT'S HERE, LAUGH IN, LOANERS, NEUTERS, PONTOON, RECASTS, TROLLEY and TSETSES which are a great basis to solve. The number of 3/4/5 fill are high - 57 and similar grids have appeared on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Those are the bland statistics, but for this effort the question is - was it fun to solve? It was for me and I will explain and provide more comments at the end.

18A. Deception at a dog show?: ROVER RUSE (9). This filled very quickly as ROVER is a common dog name and a RUSE is a deception, making the clue/fill very simple. OVER and USE are both complete words that have the R added. So when I went to the next themer...

23A. Top-shelf whiskey?: REGAL RYE (8). This is obviously a reference to EAGLE EYE, but it does not follow the 18A pattern. EGAL YE are nothing. But the fill sounds good; hmm, look for more info.

34A. Food staple storage areas?: RICE RACKS (9). The perps gave me this pair, another Rxxx Rxxxx answer, but ICE ACKS (ICE AX?) does not make sense and despite my immersion in Thai culture, I do not know of RICE RACKS, as they dry their rice on mats, But I now have learned the Japanese method.

51A. Unexpected lopsided victory?: RARE ROUT (8). ARE OUT is another pair of real phrases but by this time I am convinced the puzzle is built aroud sound (not surround sound) and I am quickly provided a reveal.

56A. Cartoon canine whose speech patterns inspired four puzzle answers: SCOOBY DOO (9). Yes, Scooby Does start his words with the R sound, and now we are ready to move on to the rest of the story.

Across:

1. Musical collectible: ALBUM. My problem has been that they do not travel well or easily. I have ruined too many very valuable records from the heat.

6. Wit: CARD. Boring M-W: Synonyms for card; comedian, comic, droll, farceur, funnyman, gagger, gagman, gagster, humorist, jester, joker, jokester, wag, wit.

10. Cut: SLIT. A throat? More pirates hanging around...

14. Trunk with a chest: TORSO. This is a doubly cute clue/fill as it is tricky and combines TRUNK and CHEST which can be synonyms.

15. Mind: OBEY. Mind has so many permutations, mind your baby sitter, mind your manners, mind your ps and qs etc. but I find no etymology for mind to mean obey.

16. Is gentle with: PATS. This year they will be relying on Mac Jones the QB from Alabama's most recent national championship team. Bye bye Cam.

17. Denny who founded the Moody Blues and Wings: LAINE.
Biography

20. With 21-Across, odds follower: AND. 21A. See 20-Across: ENDS. Odds and ends.
22. Highest unstriped pool ball: EIGHT.  ❽

26. Washes up: BATHES.

27. Samsa of Kafka's "The Metamorphosis": GREGOR. If you have not read the story, it is interesting. I enjoyed the message. The name of the central character appears to derive partly from literary works Kafka had read. A character in The Story of Young Renate Fuchs, is named Gregor Samassa. The Viennese author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, whose sexual imagination gave rise to the idea of masochism, Venus in Furs (1870), a novel whose hero assumes the name Gregor at one point.  Gregor Samsa has hung a picture of a woman in furs on his bedroom wall that he is very sad to see taken away.

28. Roll in the grass: SOD. Wonderful clue/fill introduced to us HERE

29. Steamed state: IRE. I would say someone is irate but I get the idea.

30. Perfume compound: ESTER. Not ESTEE, a chemical answer.

31. Tees, say: TOPS. Yes, many kinds.


33. Video game letters: NES.  Nintendo Entertainment System.

38. Blame: RAP. This has so MANY origins.

41. Wranglers rival: LEES. Jeans, Gene.

42. Big name in health care: AETNA.

46. Ambient music pioneer Brian: ENO. His letters keep him popular.

47. It might be sticky: BUN.
It does not go well with...

48. Bordeaux wine: CLARET. Moe should have had this last week, but Claret is a British term used, unofficially, in reference to red Bordeaux wine. The red wines of Bordeaux are blends, mostly based on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The term “claret” is sometimes used—unofficially, of course—to refer to Bordeaux-style red wines produced elsewhere, such as the United States.

49. Classic light provider: CANDLE. In the wind?

53. "Star Wars" name: ARTOO. R2D2.

54. Fishing boat: DORY. Also a lost blue tang.

55. Wireless standard initials: LTE.  Long Term Evolution.

58. Youngest French Open champ: SELES. To this day Monica, aged 16 and 6 months, is the youngest winner when she won the French Open, to become the youngext in the Open Era. She was surpassed by Martina Hingis seven years later who won the 1997 Australian Open aged 16 years, 3 months. Her career was cut short by a crazed fan.

60. Superhero with a hammer: THOR. He has has too much press lately.

61. Has something: EATS.

62. "At the Movies" co-host: EBERT. Siskel and...

63. Dict. entries: SYNS. The bloggers have discovered so many cute syonym sites.

64. Where Cisco has no "i," briefly: NYSE. I hate to be the one who complains but this company trades on NASDAQ: as CSCO. Be more careful Rich. 

65. Vast chasm: ABYSS.

Down:

1. Loose: AT LARGE. Sounds like aan escapee.

2. Auto repair perks: LOANERS. It certainly helps to have a car in our society. I have not been allowed to drive for 3 years plus and it sucks.

3. One of the Fondas: BRIDGET. 

4. "Top Gun" org.: USN. Navy, not Air Force; the sequel flies into theaters November 19, 2021. Isn't that pirate day not maverick day?

5. Homer's bartender: MOE. Another reference coming a week late.

6. Clichéd: CORNY.  Rustic, unsophisticated; ridiculously or tiresomely old-fashioned or sentimental; trite. colloquial. 

7. Quarters: ABODE. So quadraplex would be Dollars?

8. Guns: REVS. Engines, especially motorcycles and airplanes. See 4D.

9. Salon supply: DYE. A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color

10. Diagonal sail extender: SPRIT. sprit

11. '60s-'70s show with a Joke Wall, familiarly: LAUGH IN. A feature many loved.
                                               

12. "The parcel has arrived": IT'S HERE. 

13. African pests: TSETSES. More cutting remarks.

19. __ lips: READ.This comes in very handy.

21. Blunder: ERR. Is blundering divine also?

24. New __: AGER. An OPINION that may not reflect your ideas, but those of uswere efected by this concep

25. Loughlin of "Full House": LORI. More famous for her children and husband now. 

26. Pear variety: BOSC. 

28. Getaway spots: SPAS. 

31. Many a "Buffy" character: TEEN.

32. Vein contents: ORE. Fooled you, no blood.

35. Solving aid: CLUE.

36. Trendy kind of chips: KALE. Do you do these awful creations?

37. Lightly burn: SEAR.

38. Replaces actors for: RECASTS. Darren Stevens comes to mind, both actors Dicks- York to Sargent.

39. Lawlessness: ANARCHY.

40. What may float your boat: PONTOON. A cute literal answer.

43. Transport on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood": TROLLEY.

44. Fixes, in a way: NEUTERS. Ouch.

45. Certifies: ATTESTS. Hardly the same thing.

47. Oozy horror film menace, with "the": BLOB. Two versions; the CLASSIC and the REMAKE.

48. Shout: CRY. Cry out maybe, but not just cry.

50. Metaphorical opportunities: DOORS. If you call the Mayor she can open some doors for you.

51. Underground network: ROOTS. Hence the name of the mini-series.

52. Turned up: AROSE. Our dreaded A-word of the day.

54. WWII turning point: D-DAY. A LESSON for the children.

57. Strong desire: YEN. This etymology might surprise you but NOT C.C.

58. Watery expanse: SEA. Also one of my many great grand nephews by marriage. 

59. Point of decline: EBB. Go with the flow man as I am ebbing my way out of here.

I could not blog a puzzle near September 11, without acknowedging the horror of the event and its aftermath. While I was safe is South Florida listening to the unfolding of the attacks, I had worked in one of the towers, and had friends there. My high school roommate lived nearby with his wife who had her lungs destroyed by poisoned air and died young. He will never be the same. Each year we pray for all the families of the direct victims, the first responders and the callously called collateral damage. This year is particularly poignant with 9/11 coming during the 10 holiest days for Jews. If only the world would understand if each of us loved G-d (in whatever form you believe) and our fellow humans, there would be no silly wars, no arms race, no gun controversies. I will pray. I also ask for forgiveness from any I am have hurt or offended this year, and I forgive all who have acted against me.

Thank you Gary I enjoyed the puzzle and the challenge, Lemonade out.