Wasting Away the Idle Hours

Today's Newsday puzzle, by Clive Probert, has another great theme. This one is called "The Idle Hours." The three clues are the same: "Something to do in idle hours." The answers, please:

17A: SING IN THE SHOWER. I don't think anyone wants to hear me sing in the shower; he/she would need ear plugs. However, they say that singing in the shower is supposed to enrich the sound of your singing voice. Barney Rubble proves this theory in the episode "The Flintstone Canaries."

33A: POP BUBBLE WRAP. All right! Bubble wrap is the stuff that protects valuables in shipping. I love popping it just to annoy people I don't like. But did you know there are 1,001 uses for bubble wrap? BTW, January 31 is Bubble Wrap Day!

55A: STAY IN PJs ALL DAY. I wish I could.

Eric Idle

However, the most famous Idle of all is Eric of Monty Python and Rutles fame. On Python, he often played a character obsessed with speech and language and his sketches dealt with more contemporary issues than the other members of the troupe. He wrote "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" for Life of Brian and also penned the play Spamalot (IMO, one of the funniest Broadway shows of all time). In the Rutles' documentary, All You Need Is Cash, Idle played the Paul McCartney-like character of Dirk McQuickly.

Today's cryptoquote is by John Buchan, and it's a great one.

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable , a perpetual series of occasions for hope."

John Buchan

John Buchan (1875-1940), also known as 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, was a prolific writer and politician most famous for his classic novel The Thirty-Nine Steps, which would go on to become a classic Hitchcock film. He also wrote lots of non-fiction on historical subjects. Buchan was Governor-General of Canada and a member of Parliament. 

That's all for today. "Project Runway" episode 4 tonight. Tonight they have to design a dress for Nina Garcia, aka Dragon Lady.

Till tomorrow.

Singing off,

The Puzzlechick