Sore Losers

Today's puzzle, by Sally R. Stein, is called "Why So Sore?" Each of the theme answers rhymes with the word "sore":

20A: Huge retail establishment (SUPER STORE). I used to love shopping at Target, otherwise known as Tar-jhay. They carried some nice home goods, a decent crafts section, and at one point, I was buying almost all of my clothes from there. They carried Isaac Mizrahi, whose clothes fit me well. There were also a few nice designer collaborations (Proenza-Schouler, Patrick Robinson, Calypso-St. Barth, etc.). Then they decided to pull a WalMart and concentrate on groceries. Isaac left and the clothes selection became shabby. Now I hardly go in there anymore.

63A: Old word for 140 (SEVEN SCORE). What to know what happened during the Civil War seven score and 10 years ago? Check out this site: http://www.7score10years.com/.

9D: Second-year student (SOPHOMORE). Sophomores are, of course, second year students in both high school and college. There's some responsibility (preparing college applications or declaring your major), but it's not as stressful as junior year. Then there's the "sophomore slump", where one's second effort fails to stand up to that of the first. For instance, take a look at some second albums by rock groups that definitely didn't live up to their debut albums. For many groups, those albums killed their careers.

35D: Asian city that's a country (SINGAPORE). English is the main language of this city-state. It looks like a very nice place to be. Singapore is one of the five busiest ports in the world and it is also a financial leader. However, the gap between rich and poor is just as great as it is here.

The cryptoquote for today is by the late, great comedian Flip Wilson (1933-1998):

Flip Wilson as Geraldine

The cost of living is going up and the chance of living is going down. 

Right on the money, Flip! 

Flip Wilson grew up in an impoverished environment and was in and out of several foster homes. After his discharge from the Air Force, he became a bellhop at the Manor Plaza Hotel in San Francisco but soon started performing comedy.  During the early '70s, I had the pleasure of watching "The Flip Wilson Show." on NBC. He played lots of great characters, especially Geraldine Jones (pictured right). Geraldine's catch phrase was "The Devil Made Me Do It!" "She" also said "What You See Is What You Get", hence the acronym WYSIWYG.

Happy 200th Birthday to Charles Dickens! He wrote many classics (A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, etc.) and he incorporated autobiographical elements in his writings. . Mark Twain had a lot to say about Mr. Dickens during the one time he heard him read.

Giants' ticker-tape parade down Wall Street, ho-hum.

Latest Facebook Hoax: A woman in India supposedly had 11 babies at once. I fell for it, but it turned out to be false. The picture is of 11 babies who were born on 11/11/11, and they were all from different mothers.

Can you imagine if that really happened?!?

Till tomorrow. . . .

Signing off,
The Puzzlechick