March Madness

Who ever said March goes out like a lamb was wrong. It was a very rainy and wet weekend, and the lousy weather continues this morning with more SNOW!!!

Speaking of the "End of March," that's the name of today's puzzle by Sally R. Stein. The theme answers are below. Notice the consistent use of the digraph "ch."

16A: Gravy thickener (CORN STARCH). There are many uses for corn starch, including removing stains, making shampoo, polishing your silver, unsqueaking your floor, soothing irritating skin, and removing unpleasant odors.
24A: Roosting, as a rooster (ON A PERCH)
39A: 63 Across Used for Canoes (BIRCH), as in the tree.
48A: Room getting lots of light (SUN PORCH)
61A:  Attend Mass, for example (GO TO CHURCH)

Animal Farm:

4A: Sheep's babies (LAMBS). How ironic that this answer is in the puzzle, considering today's weather.
26A: Very fast African feline (CHEETAH)
21D: Gorillas, for instance (APES)

Made to measure:

1D: Ankle's locale (FOOT)
46A: Measures of current (AMPERES)
40D: Popular candy-box size (ONE POUND)

Alphabet soup:

20A: Cpl. or sgt.: NCO
8D: Coll. or acad.: SCH
13D: Liquid measure amts.: CCS
34D: West Coast coll.: UCLA

Also, March Madness in the NCAA is almost over, and the Final Four will be the Florida Gators vs. the UCONN Huskies and the Wisconsin Badgers vs. the Kentucky Wildcats

Today's cryptoquote is by Cassius Clay, who is better known as Muhammad Ali ("The Greatest"). He says:

Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.

Sometimes Ali's theatrics were almost as entertaining as his boxing skills. Here is the video that coined his self-proclaimed nickname:

All those blows to his head, have unfortunately contributed to his Parkinson's Syndrome. It's so sad to see him these days. :-(

The picture for the JUMBLE takes place at a comedy club (yay!). The waitress is screwing up the patrons' order big time. The caption reads: "The service at the comedy club was so bad that it was ______."

Word list:

THABC = BATCH
ZALEG = GLAZE
DEOLDO = DOODLE
SACCUT = CACTUS

Scrambled solution: BHGLALEAU
Solution: LAUGHABLE (ha, ha)

That's all for today, my friends. When I went out for lunch, the snow was finally gone and the sun was shining. It's off to the gym tonight.

Till tomorrow. . . .

Signing off,
The Puzzlechick

A Taxing Matter

Today is Tuesday, April 17th. Have you filed your taxes yet? We were lucky this year and got two extra days because 1) April 15th was a Sunday, and 2) yesterday was Patriots' Day in Massachusetts. Today's puzzle, "After Taxes", by Sally R. Stein reflects the theme:

20A: Device that attracts iron (HORSESHOE MAGNET). I loved playing with this toy as a child. I remember the fascination that the magnet attracted everything from paper clips to coins. Common uses of magnets include recording data, encoding information for credit and debit cards, speakers and microphones, pickups in electric guitars, MRIs in medicine, and many more. They are popular in construction toys as well. If you're interested in how they're made, check out the Made How Web site.

57A: Where bandages may be kept (MEDICINE CABINET). Medicine cabinets and junk drawers can often give us information about the way a person lives. Some cabinets are neater and others are quite cluttered. One of the glass doors is broken on mine and I'm unable to open it. The basic items one should keep in a medicine cabinet include g alcohol, band-aids, cotton balls, tweezers, scissors, iodine, thermometer, hot and cold packs, sterile gauze, surgical tape, eye drops, and over-the-counter medicines. Other items may include antacids, painkillers, nail polish, cough and cold medicines, and antihistamines. I keep my contact lenses and solution in one of my two medicine cabinets. Of course, all items should be kept away from children (common sense)! An artist named Damien Hirst did an installation of medicine cabinets for an exhibition in 2010. 

49A: Chronic preoccupation (BEE IN ONE'S BONNET). Time for a cute cartoon. This one's by Bill Benzon.

That's all for today. It's another glorious day in the city and I'm enjoying it before the weather gets cooler.

Till tomorrow. . . .

Signing off,

The Puzzlechick

Take Five!

Retro Packaging

Happy 100th Anniversary to my favorite cookie, the Oreo! I still like to twist it apart and eat the cream inside.

And now on to today's puzzle, by Sally R. Stein (one of Stan's pseudonyms). This one's called "Take It From Me", and they are all common idioms.

19A: Take a LOAD OFF YOUR MIND (stop worrying). I just found another meaning to this phrase, one that I can't put in print. Oy!

38A: Take a LOOK IN THE MIRROR (examine yourself critically). Sometimes that's all you have to do to discover the problem that's in front of you! This is also the name of a studio album by the band Korn.

51A: Take a FIVE-MINUTE BREAK (rest for a bit). We all work too hard these days. If you can spare just 5 minutes of your time, just click on the link for 25 fun things you can do.

Today is also Super Tuesday. I never saw a campaign with such undesirable candidates.

Sorry to be so short, but I have a busy day ahead of me.

Till tomorrow. . . .

Signing off,
The Puzzlechick

Mmm Mmm Good!

It's another rainy afternoon here in NYC.

Today's puzzle, by Sally R. Stein, is called "Pair of Fives." It's a tribute to one of my favorite candies, M&Ms! 

20A: Bigwig in publishing (MEDIA MOGUL). My hubby is waiting for one Mr. Rupert Murdoch to get his comeuppance. Mr. Murdoch has been involved in a major phone-hacking scandal in England, and it keeps getting worse. The scandal put an 168-year-old newspaper (News of the World) out of business, and thousands lost their jobs. Now Rupert and his son James may be going to the big house. 

58A: Nonstop talker (MOTOR MOUTH). We used to call my mom's friends "The Motor Mouth Crew." This was especially true when they got together for their monthly mah-jongg game. That's how I heard all the neighborhood gossip! 

10D: Parking-ticket writers (METER MAIDS). In the entire time I've been living in Forest Hills, I have yet to see one meter maid. We have nasty cops who write tickets to meet their monthly quota. However, they do exist, and the politically-correct name is parking enforcement officer.

29D: Celebrates noisily (MAKES MERRY). My new-found friendships with a group of girls from high school has resulted in several parties! From a hats to Halloween, we always seem to have a good time!

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) is the author of today's cryptoquote:

"When a dog runs at you, whistle for him."

This is the dream of every dog owner. However, dogs, like humans, can be sneaky. All it takes is patience and lots of rewards to get your pup to cooperate. Yelling doesn't help.

Thoureau was best known for his essay Civil Disobedience, which is about the right and obligation to follow your conscience, and not what the majority dictates. It criticized social institutions and policies, mainly slavery and the Mexican-American War.

That's all for today. Zumba followed by abs class tonight. It's supposed to be warmer tomorrow. We'll see.

Till tomorrow. . . .

Signing off,
The Puzzlechick