Monday December 17, 2018 Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke

Theme: Let's Get Going - Sequential order in each answer.

20. Well-to-do: SITTING PRETTY.

25. Instruction to a bank to make periodic payments: STANDING ORDER.

 

45. Pink slip: WALKING PAPERS.

51. Ship's required nighttime illuminators: RUNNING LIGHTS.

Boomer here.

Hello everyone. I saw the doctor last Wednesday. I have been through many treatments but it seems that everything did what was expected. I just need a few blood draws over the next three months and then return to see the doctor in March. Best news - I am cleared to resume bowling! I assume I am also cleared for golf,  but it's tough to find a course open when it's twenty degrees.  I'm happy to settle for bowling now.  I'll check in and let you know how I did.  Hard to predict after 8-10 weeks on the bench.

Across:

1. Hindu royals: RAJAS.

6. Tool with jaws: VISE. Is this considered a tool?  I thought it was a clamp to hold something you want to whack at.

10. Mixer with Scotch: SODA. Mud in your eye, baby do I feel high oh me oh my!

14. Lightweight vacuum first sold to hotels: ORECK.

15. Pianist Gilels: EMIL. Mr. Skoda in "Law and Order" played by J.K. Simmons

16. Eve's second son: ABEL.  Adam and Eve were ABLE to raise CAIN!

17. Peppy-sounding cracker brand: ZESTA. - I prefer RITZ - Everything tastes better when it sits on a Ritz. Thank you, Agnes, for your delicious seed crackers, mixed nuts and other tasty goodies.

18. El __: ocean current: NINO. A phenomenon occurring in the 90s and beyond.  The Storm company named a bowling ball after it.  I had one but I donated it to my pro shop dealer. 

19. Completely occupy, as an arena: FILL.  Something I do to my gas tank weekly.  I saw $2.19 per gallon today.  What's going on at your part of the country??

23. Above, to poets: O'ER. The land of the free, and the home of the brave!!

24. Drinks with crumpets: TEAS.  There is a tea expert in our home.  It's not me, I am the coffee expert.

31. Loving squeezes: HUGS.

32. Beer whose logo suggests a prize winner, initially: PBR.  I have been to MILLER park in Milwaukee.  I wonder if they sell PBR there.

33. Chopping down: AXING.

36. Ocean east of N.C.: ATL.  I've seen the Atlantic and the Pacific but the Pacific isn't terrific and the Atlantic isn't what it's cracked up to be. Sorry, that's a Navy Ballad, I was in the Army.

37. Central Illinois city: DECATUR.

40. Funny Tina: FEY.  She did a great Sarah Palin on SNL.

41. Rep's sales target: QUOTA.

43. + or - particle: ION.

44. Criticize sternly: SLAM.  If this is grand, it's a four-run home run.  Here's an oddity.  I have been to the only two Twins games where a player hit three triples. (Lyman Bostock and Denard Span).

However, I have only witnessed one major league grand slam (Dan Gladden) in person.

49. Picnicker's worry: RAIN.  James Taylor saw this and Fire.

50. Spanish "that": ESA.

57. __ B'rith: BNAI. I coach the bowling team of the Catholic high school from which I graduated.  (More years ago than I want to admit).  There is a synagogue now, next to the school and they sometimes have combined religious services held by a priest and a rabbi in the HS gym.  I tell this story because I am proud to be associated with this merge of religions.

58. "Paula's Home Cooking" host: DEEN.

59. Extremist sects: CULTS.  This word always reminds me of Jonestown in Guyana. Ugly times.

62. Puts frosting on: ICES.  I know this is about cake, but you ought to see my driveway in January.

63. Tall and skinny: LANK.

64. Audibly: ALOUD. What ?

65. Pageant body band: SASH.

66. Greek Cupid: EROS.  No runs, no hits, no EROS, and nobody left on base.

67. Body areas that may be irritated by shirt tags: NAPES. I agree, I hate shirt tags.

Down:

1. "Frasier" role: ROZ.

2. "All bets __ off": ARE. Please ! a few more bucks on the pass line.  I need to get even.

3. Zooey's "New Girl" role: JESS.

4. They "speak louder than words": ACTIONS. This is an odd clue for a crossword puzzle.  Makes me think I should tear it up and stomp out of the room. 

5. Did figure eights, say: SKATED.  Great winter fun in Minnesota.  We have a huge rink less than a mile away, but I am too old.

6. Start of Caesar's boast: VENI. He came, he saw, he conquered.  They named a salad after him, (And a Las Vegas hotel).  

7. "Sign me up!": I'M IN.

8. Woo with a tune: SING TO. "Don't worry if it's not good enough, for anyone else to hear."

9. One who gets hitched in a hurry: ELOPER. This could be a shortened title of an elevator operator.

10. Sensitive high school health lesson: SAFE SEX.

11. Last bio: OBIT.

12. Shoulder muscle, briefly: DELT. I have had a deltoid muscle pulled in my right shoulder.  It really wrecked my bowling for awhile. 

13. Partner in war: ALLY.

21. Poppycock: TRIPE. Edible stomachs from cows and sheep.  No thank you, I'll stick to brats.

22. Storm-tracking device: RADAR.  Better known as a speed tracking device. 

25. Former NBA big man, familiarly: SHAQ.  Still a big man. I see him four times a week on commercials.  (I watch too much TV.)

26. Ballet skirt: TUTU.

27. Beaming: AGLOW.

28. "SNL" network: NBC. Some of the "too much TV" is MSNBC,  Their spinoff news channel.  Chris Mathews hollers way too much.

29. Not enough salt to taste, perhaps: GRAIN. What does this clue mean? I don't get it.

30. Hunter's weapon: RIFLE.  I agree although I am not a hunter.  However, why is it still legal to own an AR-15 in the U.S.?

34. Within shouting distance: NEAR.

35. Places with elliptical trainers: GYMS.  We have many fitness centers in Minneapolis and suburbs.  I don't go - have no reason to pay for pain.

37. __ Lama: DALAI.

38. Get dolled (up): TOG.

39. Remove a fastener from: UNPEG.  15 two, 15 four, a pair is six and nobs is 7.  Count it.

42. Become discolored, as silverware: TARNISH.  Careful by the table.  Don't tarnish the varnish.

44. Diner flipper: SPATULA.  I worked for a Perkins long ago, and the head cook called it a spat.  Sounded funny to me.

46. Amazon e-reader: KINDLE.

47. Out of neutral: INGEAR.  Do NOT rev the engine while taking it out of neutral.

48. Trash holder: ASHCAN.  This is kind of an old word for garbage can.  When I was age 1-4, I lived in a home heated by coal.  We had an ashcan out back.

51. Sluggers' stats: RBIS.  Sometimes known as Ribbies.

52. Donald Duck, to his nephews: UNCA.

53. Glasgow denials: NAES.

54. Jay with a TV "Garage": LENO. Always enjoyed his "Tonight Show" opening stand up routine. 

55. Tattoo artist's supplies: INKS. Also enjoyed Jimmy Durante's "Inka Dinka Do".

56. Sty fare: SLOP.  This is also when you barely hit the head pin, get a strike and leave four or five pins on the lane.

60. Election Day day: Abbr.: TUE.  Not every Tuesday, just once every two years.  Except in North Carolina.

61. Militant '60s campus org.: SDS.  Students for a Democratic Society.  Protested the war in the 60s.  I was not in favor of the war, but I don't like these militant complainers.

Boomer

Note from C.C.:

Here is a picture of Boomer and me at the Annual Graybar Retiree Christmas Luncheon last Thursday.  Do you like his tie?

Boomer and C.C., December 13, 2018