Fasten Your Seatbelts!

Good evening! I hope everyone had a relaxing and peaceful Memorial Day weekend as we remembered our veterans. This is also a sad day for my family since it's my mother-in-law's birthday (RIP). She would have been 77.

Last night, we had the pleasure of seeing Aztec Two-Step perform the Simon & Garfunkel songbook at the City Winery. It was all part of a tribute to the late, great DJ Pete Fornatale. Friends who joined him included Willie Nile, Tom Chapin, David Bustin, and Julie Gold (her claim to fame was writing "From a Distance").

Nail clippers

Now on to today's Newsday puzzle by Gail Grabowski, which is called "Fasten-ating." 

20A: Manicurist's tool (NAIL CLIPPER). The first time I cut my son Alex's nails, I accidentally cut into his skin and he was bleeding. We panicked and called a neighbor who was an EMT. The bleeding stopped eventually, but we were so embarrassed. At 17, he cuts his own nails now (I should hope so, lol).

38A: Electricity in a storm (BOLT OF LIGHTNING). I'll never forget a classic episode of "The Flintstones" called "The Time Machine." At the World's Fair, Fred, Wilma, and the gang travel in time thanks to a professor's time machine. One of the stops was in Philadelphia, where they met the man responsible for discovering electricity, Benjamin Franklin. Go to this link to watch the complete episode: http://www.trilulilu.ro/video-animatie/the-flintstones-5x18-time-machine.

 53A: Vodka and orange juice cocktail (SCREWDRIVER). Aaaaah. This is probably the easiest cocktail to mix, but I've had too many of these in my time. On the other hand, how many of you remember that Tommy Pickles always carried a screwdriver  in his diaper on "The Rugrats?" He used it for many purposes, such as escaping the playpen.

 

But I'm sure most of you spent the weekend with this:

 

On a final note, run, don't walk, to see "Moonrise Kingdom." It is a very poignant and touching love story. The cast includes Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Frances McDermand, Tilda Swindon, Edward Norton, and the funniest scout troop I've ever seen! 

Till tomorrow. . . .

Signing off,

The Puzzlechick