Dental Hijinks

Oy! I'm sitting here at my desk and a huge piece of my tooth just fell out after eating some sucking candy. There is now a huge gap in my tooth. I've been putting off going to the dentist for the longest time, but I definitely will have to go now. I had stopped going to my childhood dentist because it was getting too expensive between the train and the cab rides. My husband's co-worker recommended somebody in Rockefeller Center, so I'm going to try him.

Speaking of the dentist, that is the theme of today's puzzle by Robert A. Doll. Here are the theme answers:

17A: Engineering Boondoggle (BRIDGE TO NOWHERE). During the 1960s at my alma matter, Stony Brook University (www.stonybrook.edu), the "Bridge to Nowhere" was supposed to connect the library with the Student Union. Time passed, and the project was never completed and the walkway came to an abrupt end. Supposedly, the contractor inverted the blueprint and built the structure the wrong way. It was demolished in 2003.

25A: Affinity for desserts (SWEET TOOTH). I'm not big on those buttercream cakes, but I love candy, cookies, and ice cream! See here to learn why many children have a sweet tooth: http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/sweet-tooth.htm.

49A: Mince, mud, or meat (PIE FILLING). What about apple, blueberry, or cherry?!?

64A: Mankind, to some (CROWN OF CREATION). The album Crown of Creation was released in 1968 by Jefferson Airplane. It was the band's fourth. Here's a video clip of them performing the title song from the "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour."

Now on to the cryptoquote: "We are each of us angels with only one wing and we can only fly by embracing one another."--Lucretius (99 BC to 55 BC).

A Roman poet and philosopher, his only known work is a poem called De Rarum Natura (The Nature of Things). The poem is divided into six books and presents the principles of atomism, the development of the world, explanations of natural phenomena, the changes of the seasons, among many other concepts.

I watched the season premiere of "Hell's Kitchen" on Monday night and didn't realize there was a new episode last night. Anyway, Monday's season premiere got off to a scary start. One of the chefs had a heart attack just before the dinner service. Last night, I heard there was hanky-panky between two other chefs. Ramsay is back and more demanding than ever.

More Zumba tonight, followed by Yogatone. Yeah!

Till tomorrow. . . .

Signing off,
The Puzzlechick