Doughnut shapes / MON 6-25-12 / Cowboys of Big 12 Conf / Aid for night photos once / 1978 Rolling Stones hit / French city where Van Gogh painted

Monday, June 25, 2012

Constructor: Nancy Kavanaugh

Relative difficulty: Easy


THEME: Quickly — first words of theme answers mean "a short amount of time"

  • TWINKLING EYES (20A: Santa Claus facial feature)
  • FLASH BULB (35A: Aid for night photos, once)
  • JIFFY LUBE (41A: Oil change chain)
  • INSTANT COFFEE (58A: Drink made with crystals)

Word of the Day: MITER saw (15A: Kind of saw in a workshop) —

miter saw (also spelled mitre) is a saw used to make accurate crosscuts and miters in a workpiece. [...] A power miter saw, also known as a chop saw or drop saw, is a power tool used to make a quick, accuratecrosscut in a workpiece. Common uses include framingoperations and the cutting of molding. Most miter saws are relatively small and portable, with common blade sizes ranging from eight to 12 inches.

The miter saw makes cuts by pulling a spinning circular saw blade down onto a workpiece in a short, controlled motion. The workpiece is typically held against a fence, which provides a precise cutting angle between the blade and the longest workpiece edge. In standard position, this angle is fixed at 90°.
A primary distinguishing feature of the miter saw is the miter index that allows the angle of the blade to be changed relative to the fence. While most miter saws enable precise one-degree incremental changes to the miter index, many also provide "stops" that allow the miter index to be quickly set to common angles (such as 15°, 22.5°, 30°, and 45°). (wikipedia)
• • •

Fine work. Only mildly shaky theme answer is TWINKLING EYES. I assume this idea comes from the Clement Clark Moore poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (i.e. "Twas the Night Before Christmas..."). If so, then clue should say so. It's a very specific word to use for his eyes (considering He Is Fictional), so attribution is only fair. What's interesting is that the Moore poem contains *both* senses of the word "twinkling." First this:


29
And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

30
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.


And then this:

37
His eyes - how they twinkled! his dimples how merry,

38
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;

39
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

40
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

41
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

42
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.

43
He had a broad face, and a little round belly

44
That shook when he laugh'd, like a bowl full of jelly:



This was one of the first poems I ever heard as a child—I had whole passages memorized simply from having my mother read it to me over and over again. It's weird to look at it now and have it be so terribly familiar.


Seems like there might've been more sparkly things one could do with both FLASH and INSTANT, but the puzzle is what it is, i.e. totally adequate.

I feel like it's only recently that TORI (50A: Doughnut shapes) has become acceptable Monday fare (as clued). Much better than [Actress Spelling], imho, though I like [Singer Amos] well enough. I had some hiccups during the solve, like when I started to write in REEF (!?) for 8D: Titanic's undoing (BERG), and when I had EAR- at 46D: One of two on a winter cap (EARFLAP) but refused to write more for fear I'd get something like EARHOLE. In retrospect, unlikely. But mostly I cruised through this one. Just finished watching Ken Burns' "National Parks," where John MUIR is one of the main stars. Just went to see "Rock of Ages" featuring Catherine ZETA-Jones (40A: Actress Catherine ___-Jones), though I can't recommend you do same. Love the Stones song "MISS YOU" (11D: 1978 Rolling Stones hit) and am finding FATIGUE (43D: Tiredness) a rather attractive word this evening, lord knows why. I need to wrap up now, 'cause wife will soon be home. With pie.

See you tomorrow

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

67 comments:

jae 12:05 AM  

Medium for me, but woeS for ILLS, error for BOTCH, and sofar for ASYET, using the acrosses only approach, took their toll.

My granddaughter successfully completed last week's McCartney tribute.  We were babysitting midweek and she and I spent a lot of time talking about strategies (e.g. running the alphabet) and how to creatively look stuff up (e.g. if you have a partial sometimes google will fill it in for you).

Nice Mon.!  Pretty smooth grid and a solid early week theme.

Tobias Duncan 12:09 AM  

This is the first puzzle in forever that I have been able to really do quickly.Just about record time for me. I have been in a real slump, hope this brings me out.
Smooth and breezy.
INSTANTCOFFEE reminded me to start a cold brew for tomorrow.God I love that stuff, the cold brew is almost as good as the Aeropress.

Anonymous 12:19 AM  

So, the NYTimes, the paper of record, finally came out that Yetis and Nessie are MYTHS but are still straddling the fence on Santa? TSK.

The puzzle left me with only one question -- What kind of pie?

Anonymous 12:39 AM  

June 25 is the 62nd anniversary of the start of the Korean War. It started less than five years after WWII was over and America had demobilized 16,000,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen. The USSR left the Security Council meeting that authorized the UN to defend South Korea. Of course, President Truman sent American forces as a police action, which never required a vote by Congress to declare war. That conflict has never officially ended. Rex is reminded of The Night Before Christmas. I am reminded of that day.

Anonymous 12:40 AM  

PS.


JFC

pk 12:56 AM  

Glad to see Miter (saw) make WOTD, as it was my only issue (not a big one). Threw in Table there, but immediately took it out when none of the downs worked.

Weird that I stopped after EAR, too. Exactly the same concern as Rex that "holes" could be the second part. Then wanted Earlap, which of course did not fit. Think I mixed up Dewlap(whatever that is) and Earflap.

Nice easy Monday. And a little Christmas with it! (It was 102 degrees here today, so Christmas was nice to think about.)

Dr J 1:02 AM  

JFC. Ive enjoyed reading the posts on this blog, including yours, for the past few years. I've never felt compelled to client until now. Clearly, Rex mentioned The Night Before Christmas because the puzzle referred to it; the puzzle contained no reference to the Korean War. I have relatives who died in the Korean War who would be horrified at your clumsy and juvenile attempt to honor their sacrifices. Please resist your urge to simultaneously denigrate Rex and advertise your moral superiority by hijacking this blog.

Anno Civil Malteds 1:04 AM  

Ironically my only "muff" was EARmuff for FLAP.

Liked the energy of JAB/BOTCH...

The JIFFY of JIFFYLUBE seems to be the JIFFY of in a JIFFY, but it's a fun enough entry that it might not matter that it's the same...whereas the others are used in a different context.
Hmmm, i guess INSTANT is used as INSTANT, so forget that!

MISYOU fave Rolling Stone song, and immediately transports me back to Mykonos 1979 where it blared out of every disco...doo doo doo do doo doo doo...

Since it's perhaps a slightly different crowd of commenters here today than on Saturday, I would like to mention that Dan Feyer is throwing a puzzle tourney
In Napa Valley next Saturday, June 30th, with puzzles from the NY Times
(and one original one from me and my pal Gregory Cameron, whom I met at one of these one day fundraisers!)
Come on out!
Info at: www.napavalleypuzzlechallenge.eventbrite.com

For you West Coasts who can't get to the ACPT, they are showing "Wordplay" for free and Tyler Hinman himself will be there!
Between him and Dan Feyer, we're talking BIGNAMEs...the last EIGHT years of ACPT champs in one place...with wine!

Then you can drive down to MUIR Woods in a TWINKLING!

Anonymous 1:07 AM  

A very easy puzzle - I, too was done quickly. I quibbled with TORI, as I thought the traditional plural for Latin-derived words ending in -us was -ii.

r.alphbunker 1:32 AM  

The theme words are usually used with "in a[n]".

The theme feels self-referral because its describes the solving experience on a Monday.

@jae My first recollection of crossword puzzles is seeing my grandmother do them. I am not sure if she asked me to help but it would have been like her to do so. She always made me feel like I was a friend rather than a child.

John V 6:22 AM  

From the tarmac Nice, easy. One of those where you have to go back to see all the down clues you never saw.

Fun Thanks, Nancy.

Z 7:19 AM  

AMNESia gave me NAiL and SPaS, which I like better than NATL and SPYS. That's just a misreading of the clue on my part. It is always dangerous to go too fast and then not check the crosses.

@JFC - It is odd how a reference to a poem in the piece of work being reviewed would elicit a memory of the poem instead of causing the author to recall an historical event from 15 years before the author's birth. Yes, odd.

Milford 7:31 AM  

Fun, easy puzzle. Only write over, I think, was from hastily putting in m.a.s.h. for SPYS. Did not know TORI or TORT were real words, as used here. Even a Monday can teach me new things.
@anon 1:07 - I think Latin masculine nouns generally end in -us with -ī as the nom. plural, but if they end in -ius then the nom. plural would be -ii.

dk 7:49 AM  

Came to Berkley in the summer of 1969 in part for photo work and in part to volunteer to restore city parks. At one point in time worked with a group known as the Farallones Institute building playgrounds out of old cargo nets, etc. Anyway, they took me out to Muir Woods and I remember being spellbound by the trees and the large ferns that grew at the base of the giant Redwoods. We continued on to Muir beach where I was amazed to see people nude engaging in normal beach activity (e.g., picnics). As a sheltered WASP this was quite a sight.

The puzzle. Like my pal Tobias I sailed through this one. A pause at TORI as well… this is Monday.

☕☕☕ (3 COFFEE cups) Fine Monday fare.

orangeblossomspecial 8:06 AM  

Here is the Stones' "MISS YOU".

Here is a more romantic song with the same title. Eddy Howard's "MISS YOU".

27D is an opportunity for "Singing in the Bath TUB". Not as cute as "Singing in the rain", but along the same vein.

joho 8:08 AM  

This was a perfect Monday level puzzle ... @jae I'll bet your granddaugter will do well with this one. It's so great that you're taking the time to introduce her to crosswords.

@r.alphbunker, I too, noticed that all theme answers followed "in a(n)" which made it tighter.

@dk, I used to live on Mt. Tam near MUIR woods and absolutely loved hiking through there ... those redwoods ... totally magical.

This puzzle brought back some wonderful memories, thank you, Nancy Kavanaugh!

John V 8:15 AM  

Still on the tarmac! Thunderstorms closing LGA. Doing Sunday puzzle now. About a million planes waiting to take off.

Sue McC 8:17 AM  

Fine Monday puzzle...no complaints, finished it in two shakes of a lamb's tail. Hope it bodes well for the rest of the week. Now to sit and watch the massive storms blowing through CT this morning. No need to water the garden this week.

JenCT 8:27 AM  

Same writeover: EARMUFF to EARFLAP; otherwise smooth & easy.

I've long wanted a compound MITER saw, but can't justify the expense or the room it would take up, based on the few times I might use it. They're pretty cool, though.

chefbea 9:05 AM  

Easy fun Monday. And Xmas is 6 months from today!!

jackj 9:21 AM  

Nancy Kavanaugh implores us to do her puzzle ASAP but slows us down a tad by having us deal with some wonderful theme entries that point to more elegant means of moving apace.

The best of them is TWINKLINGEYES that of course, plays out to “in a TWINKLING”, a quaint word meaning in the “wink” of an eye and makes one wonder why “wink” had to be all gussied up to become “twinkling”?

The fill had a little bit of “push” to it when asking us to enter things like INVITEE and AMNESTY and then there was SMELLY which we saw a mere two weeks ago from Acme and her puzzle partner Michael Blake, then clued as “Like gym socks”, but today they’ve become more odiferous and they’re “Reeking”.

Regionalisms raise their heads in two of today’s answers. In my youth (and continuing to this day, at least in my part of Massachusetts), there were no such things as MALTEDS. We indulge ourselves courtesy of FRAPPES, MILKSHAKES and ICE CREAM SODAS.

And EARFLAPS? While we wore them to cope with New England winters we didn’t call them EARFLAP(s). If we called them anything it was usually EARMUFFS.

All things considered, a DREAMY, CIVIL effort from Ms. Kavanaugh.

oren muse 9:47 AM  

This past week I have been having trouble with my lower back and the puzzle selections didn’t provide much relief…..some words of advice to you who are in your 80’s or those in your 70’s….when working you your garden or doing other manual labor, your mind will tell you that you can do things you did when you were younger, but your body won’t always agree. So be careful!

Enough about my personal problem. This morning, due to my back, I got up at 4:45, ran off a copy of the puzzle,, and had completed it by 5:56...so to me it was easy.

However on checking my answers, I had two errors: 31D MAZE and 40A ZETA. Careless errors because I had 22D YACHT and 35A FLASHBULB right. So the crosses would have given me MAZE and ZETA.

Thanks, Nancy, for providing me a good start to a day which I was dreading.

hazel 10:18 AM  

Great monday puzzle. I had all the acrosses on the first pass until i got to GEES. The fact that I pretty much hated their music in the 70s seems to have carried forth in my subconscious 40 years later!! very pleasant solve, regardless!

@acme - when i Was in Mykonos 4 years later, the big song was Vamos a la Playa oh oh oh oh oh. I would be hard pressed to come up with an all-time favorite Rolling Stones song. The Keith Richards bio is definitely worth reading, if you're of a mind.

Two Ponies 10:27 AM  

This seemed like a perfect Monday grid. My only hesitation was whether the tribe would be Osage (my first thought) or Ohaha.
I thought Malteds would get more of a reaction.
Earflaps are part of a hat, as clued, but earmuffs are much different in my part of the world.

@ JFC, Thanks for the history lesson again but is it necessary to criticize Rex for not including it in his write-up? It's not like he skipped over a reference to Korea in the puzzle.

Anonymous 10:51 AM  

Just got an email from NYT saying that as of July 9th I have to pay extra for online crossword access even though I am a seven-day subscriber. They are shooting themselves in the foot.

Lewis 10:55 AM  

Very pleased to have Acme and ED back in the regular rotation, meant to say this yesterday.

Quick solve for me. The theme gave it some sparkle and the puzzle felt fresh.

Sfingi 10:57 AM  

What'ya mean Yeti and Nessy are myths?

chefbea 11:10 AM  

@anonymous 10:51..I just got that e-mail as well. I figured 19.97 a year comes to 5 cents a day. Well worth it

Sue McC 11:12 AM  

@Anon 10:51 Me, too...though I'm just a Sunday subscriber. With their deal I can get 2 years of access to crosswords for $20. Times for The Times are tough.

Mark 11:20 AM  

Anyone notice that two of the answers in todays NYT crossword were also in today's LAT crossword. Coincidence or strange forces at work??

Unknown 11:24 AM  

Easy puzzle. I had never heard MALTEDS used as a plural. I have always ordered malted milkshakes, not MALTEDS.

afrogran 11:27 AM  

A typical easy Monday. My write-overs were 6D - I thought COUTH was the obvious answer, but the crosses made me re-think. I till think it's a great word.
And I also wrote EARMUFFS instead of EARFLAPS for 46D.
Living in California I have no need of either.
Looking forward to tomorrow.

JC66 11:37 AM  

EARMUFFS

JC66 11:40 AM  

EARFLAPS

JC66 11:45 AM  

EARHOLE

Carola 12:22 PM  

The "quickly" theme made me smile. I also liked how MALTEDS crossed with DREAMY (I envision a 60s teen day-dreaming of her idol at the soda fountain) and how AMOR crossed ROMAN.

I came close to BOTCHing things at the MISS YOU/OSU cross. I had MISSY_U, and not knowing the song, read it as a name: MISSY LU? MISSY SU? I knew that LSU didn't fit with "Cowboys" and hadn't heard of an SSU, but I was not at all quick in figuring this one out.

There is also a MUIR Woods - and a MUIR Knoll- on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where John Muir first studied botany as a student in the 1860s.

syndy 12:35 PM  

Ditto here since I hadn't read the down clue.I was putting in TSU when I realized maybe reading down was a good idea.I'm pretty sure that a TWINKLING MAY involve a wink it need not do so-just a smile with one's eyes!Thanks JC66 for laying the EARFLAP controversy to rest.Happy birthday to me today!my father was in korea when I was born.

Bird 12:43 PM  

Nice, easy flow to today's puzzle. With a few options (AIL/ILL/WOE and EARFLAPS/EARMUFFS) I quickly checked the crosses to confirm which answer to fill in.

Cheers!

Anonymous 12:49 PM  

@JC66 - I think Google confused EARHOLE with A**HOLE because there is an image of Karl Rove in the results.

Wink. Wink.

Puzzlmensch 1:03 PM  

Got ear flaps right away since I had already written in instant coffee.

Texas Momma 1:17 PM  

@Carola

That's my daughter's name - after her great grandmother who was so please that we were giving her a namesake but warned that it would often be mispronounced. There aren't very many of you in the US so I hardly see the name. Makes me smile when ever you blog here.

Tita 1:25 PM  

Nice and easy...
Liked DREAMY and SMELLY crossing at the Y.

In our house, 23A is the answer for what animals do...Mom would say "Let's have lunch" - never ever "Let's eat".

Related tangent - on Fannie Farmer's Last Supper (PBS), Christopher Kimball posits that the Victorian's ate even fruit with knife and fork because leaving bite marks in food is how animals eat...
While not the rule in our house, I remembered staring wide-eyed at an 8 year old friend using a knife and fork to eat a banana!!

We haven't seen Ulrich here for a while, but he might shed light on the German adage "Mann isst, Tier frisst".

Tita 1:26 PM  

Oops...*Victorians*

Anonymous 1:29 PM  

The NYT should not be charging for online access to the puzzle - criminal to try to monetize that!

mac 1:31 PM  

Happy birthday, Syndy.

Easy, quality, nice Monday puzzle. Amnesty, fatigue, utensil and secant are pretty words.

Haven't had the email yet. What a bad decision.

Anonymous 1:44 PM  

I may cancel my hard copy subscription altogether and just sign up for the online crossword. The hardcopy subscribers are the last of a dying breed...

Carola 2:17 PM  

@Texas Momma :) How nice of you to tell me!


@pk - "dewlap" - one of those words I thought I knew but then couldn't actually define (um, sort of like jowls?). Here's from the OED:

dewlap, n.
1.a. The fold of loose skin which hangs from the throat of cattle. [First citation from 1368.]
1.b. Transferred to similar parts in other animals, as the loose skin under the throat of dogs, etc., the pendulous fleshy lobe or wattle of the turkey or other fowls, and humourously to pendulous folds of flesh about the human throat. [Yeah, right, "humourously," until you start getting them yourself. Made me think of Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck.]

First citation from 1600, Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene 1.
Puck:
...
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab,
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob
And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.

Anonymous 2:45 PM  

Where is Foodie? Haven't read her posts in a coupla days? hope all is well15

BigSteve46 3:02 PM  

I am one of the old, crusty, pain-in-the butt ( Hey, you kids get off my lawn! )- type geezers who from time-to-time waxes poetic about doing the puzzle in the actual print newspaper with an actual writing instrument (my choice still a Paper-Mate felt-tip black marker.) Still, the new policy of the NYT really pisses me off. Its so petty and makes the bean-counters at the NYT look so small.

I still hate doing the puzzle on line - it just doesn't feel right and it, somehow, makes the puzzle easier. Worse than that, it just doesn't "feel" like a NYT crossword if you don't have the actual paper in your hand. And yet - every now and then you fall behind a day and the better half has already recycled, or the kids are off to the beach and want something to read under the umbrella, or someone needs something to read on the subway - and there you are, forced to go on-line for your NYTCWP Jones.

Oh well, when my children were young and they heard heard the word "surprise!!" they always anticipated something good. The older you get, the "surprises" of life get increasingly negative - and are usually delivered by your doctor!

E cosi, la vita!

John V 3:11 PM  

Well, only took 9 hours door to door to get from CT to Charlotte. Where are the Friday and Saturday puzzles when you need them?

Anonymous 3:42 PM  

@JFC - What are you talking about? What in the world would make you think of the Korean War because of a crossword clue about twinkling?!

Z 3:49 PM  

@BigSteve46 - EXACTLY! I was away for the weekend. Got home at 5 last night and the NYT Magazine was still handy, but my unfinished Friday and never seen Saturday puzzles were already in the recycling. I'll have to do them today in AcrossLite.

@Syndi solvers five weeks hence - interesting discussion five weeks ago my time about the validity of your existence and the nature of sound. Now I'm curious as to how many of you will do what I sometimes must do, travel back in time to refresh my memory.

Anonymous 3:52 PM  

Anon @ 3:42, Z et al - Believe it or not sometimes I support Rex and I do not criticize Rex every chance I get. Today's earlier comment was made not to suggest Rex should say anything about the Korean War. The connection was merely one of memory. Rex's was jogged by TWINKLING and mine was jogged by the date. Nothing more than that....

JFC

Anonymous 3:54 PM  

@BigSteve46. My sentiments exactly. I do the hard copy puzzles on the bus most of the time with a rolling writer. Take my time and enjoy them. There are times I have to resort to AcrossLite, not as satisfying but still enjoyable. Now I have to pay for that? My library makes a stack of copies of the puzzle available each day. I have half a mind to cancel or at least put on hold and just swing by the library.

John V 3:57 PM  

Re: Korea, um, 102D was clued, "Seoul soul." Do we have days of the week mixed up?

OT, but: Did the Sunday puzzle while on the interminable flight this morning. I solved the puzzle just fine, but could not for the life of me see the theme. I mean, I stared at that sucker for probably a half hour. Just would not come.

Anonymous 4:27 PM  

My, isn't everyone (more or less) being polite today. Andrea's "muff" has been lying there exposed, waiting for comment, for about 15 hours now and we've all let it be. Sad somehow.

John MUIR has always intrigued me. The singular focus he showed to the wilderness came at the expense of anyone who rightly might have depended upon his attention, love or support. 100 years later we all benefit from his monomania, but in his day he was a shit husband and father. Oh well.

Craig 6:13 PM  

It appears that Clement C. Moore did not in fact write "A Visit from St. Nicholas" according to research by Don Foster in his book "Author Unknown". It was instead written by a man named Livingstone. The NY Times has written about this. Including: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/26/books/whose-jolly-old-elf-that-anyway-literary-sleuth-casts-doubt-authorship-iconic.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

dk 7:26 PM  

@bigsteve and others, I raise my cane. Puzzles on paper rule. Have yet to get the NYT email although I get the paper and as a result the on-line version is free.

I have been longing for a road trip and as function of one of the posts above I may be off to Madison for a Muir experience… even if he was a poop as one of the ANON-O-MICE states. I could stop at the cheese museum in Kiel.

Anonymous 8:11 PM  

I said where is Foodie Dammit

jberg 9:03 PM  

I'm in there at 8d, and was in Muir Woods last week, so I have to like it - but I would have liked it more with a snazzy revealer.

Today is my return to the puzzle after 5 days in San Jose, where I couldn't find the paper. I can't get interested in online solving somehow. I'm on the Tarmac too, so so long until tomorrow.

Sparky 9:22 PM  

Hand up for EARmuff. Crosses fixed it. On some caps the ear warmer is one piece of fabric that wraps around in back. Warms the neck too I suppose. Had John Lund before ILSA. Handsome actor could have been in the cast. Easy Breezy, finished in a JIFFY.

Spent a couple of hours at DMV getting picture ID card. Bureaucratic but well set up and the people working there very helpful.

Happy birthday @syndy.

Z 10:56 PM  

@JFC - "Rex is reminded of The Night Before Christmas." This sentence has nothing to do with the rest of your 12:39 a.m. post. What is a reader to make of such a sentence? Clearly, many of us took the intent as a criticism of Rex. You had alternatives, for instance wondering why the Titanic gets two puzzles but the onset of the Korean "police action" gets none. Or you could have just omitted the Rex sentence altogether. Your post would have been off-topic but we've seen more off-topic posts.

You chose to include this sentence, implicitly criticizing Rex for no apparent reason. My impression of your posts is that you go out of your way to try to criticize Rex. I am sure you can find counter examples, but the impression you leave behind is that you spend more time commenting on Rex than on the puzzles. I find your 3:52pm post disingenuous.

Anonymous 11:27 PM  

@Anon 4:27 - LOL

Spacecraft 12:55 PM  

Let's get this INSTANTCOFFEE thing cleared up once and for all.
For the guys
Instant coffee:coffee::electric shaver:razor.
For the gals
Instant coffee:coffee::cubic zirconia:diamond.

Got the picture? The best of one is not as good as the worst of the other.

To the puzzle: Mostly fresh stuff; just saw a piece on Van Gogh on 60 Minutes last night, so ARLES was a gimme. That next to MISSYOU, one of my favroites from one of my favorite bands (I'm still looking for those Puerto-Rican girls). Plus: any puzzle that contains any part of Catherine ZETA-Jones' name (or body!) is OK by me!

Ginger 3:15 PM  

@Z 3:49 PM So you sometimes travel back in time to visit the 'Twilight Zone' of Syndiland, strange, I've been wont on occasion to visit 'Real Time' posts! Let us know when you 'pop in' ;-).

MITER (mitre) saws are handy when cutting framing for pictures, doors or other moldings. It is also easy to mis-figure and cut your (very expensive) moldings the wrong direction. I have the evidence of these mistakes in my garage. GRR

Fun, quick, solve this morning, so quick I missed the theme until I came here.

@Spacecraft - Thanks for the ersatz fun.

Dirigonzo 3:29 PM  

I shared my only writeover with @ACM and that somehow makes me strangely happy. As someone noted earlier, nice to see TORI back so soon, and on a Monday.

One of my favorite memories of my sons' childhood is reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas..." (by whatever title and whatever author) to them every Christmas. I must find the book, wherever it is stored, and give it to them so the tradition can carry on.

I miss FLASHBULBs.

DMGrandma 5:35 PM  

Aced this puzzle, which was a good way to start the week after my feeble attempts at the Satturday and Sunday stumpers.!

@Diri. Do look up your Night Before Christmas. We still put out the one from my childhood every year, and I always read it. There's something about memory and continuity.

@Owen: As a member of your age group, I sympathize about the gardening. Gardening was always a joy to me. Now, I am restricted to pottering in pots that are tall enough to reach sitting down! You get your kicks where you can!

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