Thursday, September 24, 2020, Debbie Ellerin

Good morning, once again, cruciverbalists.  Apparently,  this mephitic marine mammal did not stink things up too badly on the first go around.  As a result, he has been invited back.  As it is physically impossible for a Manatee to "phone it in" and as the Little Ben clock says a quarter to eight, he had best go now and take his shift at the mine.  A little background music, please, Jerry.

THEME:  RAPID FISSION / SLOW FUSION

First, synonyms for FAST (as in swift) are split apart by the constructor.  Then, the two sequential answers on the same row are smashed into each other by the solvers.  Where they fuse can be found the reconstituted synonym for FAST that was "BREAK-ed" before being put together.

17 Across  Ado:  KERFUFFLE and 19 Across:  Hunt in "Mission: Impossible" films:  ETHAN form FLEET.

KERFUFFLEETHAN

25 Across  Unit in an improvisational parlor game:  MAD LIB and 27 Across:  Word in a con man's pitch:  RISK FREE form BRISK.

MADLIBRISKFREE

37 Across:  Former Postal Service mascot: MR ZIP and 38 Across:  Ones drawn to flames, briefly: PYROS form ZIPPY.

MRZIPPYROS

Zippy is the snide nickname that Conchata Ferrell's character uses for Jon Cryer's character in Two and a Half Men.  See also Zippy the Pinhead.

48.  Across Dryer component: LINT TRAP and  50 Across:  Brainstorm: IDEATE form RAPID.

LINTTRAPIDEATE

58 Across.  The Reveal.  Basketball tactic ... and a hint to four puzzle rows: FAST BREAK.  In a FAST BREAK a team attempts to quickly move the ball up the court before the defensive team has a chance to get into position. In this puzzle, I did not figure out the theme prior to the reveal.  Even after that, I had to first hunt for the proper rows and then spend some time looking for what it was that I was supposed to be seeing.  For this solver, it was something of a slow process. 

And now, it's either time for BREAKFAST or it's time to take a look at the rest of the puzzle.

 Across:

1.  Espionage name: MATA.  MATA Hari was the stage name of Margaretha MacLeod.  She was a Dutch-born exotic dancer and, some would say, courtesan who was convicted of spying for the Germans during World War One.  On October 15, 1917 she was executed by a French Army firing squad.  The 1931 movie, Mata Hari starring Greta Garbo, made her even more (in)famous.

5.  Not at all rainy: ARID.  Sometimes the answer to clues similar to this one is SERE.

9.  Old Faithful output: STEAM.  Words would be superfluous.

14.  Got down: ALIT.

15.  Virologist Yvonne who worked with Epstein: BARR.  The eponymic Epstein BARR virus causes mononucleosis.

16.  Serving tool: LADLE.  Does it end in E L or L E?  I forget.

20.  H, to Hercules: ETA.  In the Greek alphabet the letter ETA is drawn in the same manner as we would write our letter H.

21.  NE player, to fans:  PAT   The New England Patriots.  From 1959 through 1970 the team was known as the Boston Patriots.

Larry Eisenhauer played for the Boston Patriots from 1961 - 1969.  Once, in Kansas City, he took to a snow-covered football field wearing only his helmet and a jockstrap.

22.  Very start?: VEE.  There must be a name for this type of extremely literal         clue.  If there is, I am unaware of it.  Often, a "gotcha" moment after wasting time on what should have been a quick response.

24.  Trial fig.: ATT.  Oh, an attorney.  Not the phone company.

29.  Foil alternative: EPEE.  In this instance FOIL refers to a fencing weapon and fencing refers to the dueling sport and not to what you might install on your property line.  Besides, Waxed Paper would not fit.  EPEE is definitely in the Crosswordese dictionary. 

30.  Goofy images?: CELS.   In the days before CGI, animation had to be hand drawn a single frame at a time.  The drawings were done on transparent         celluloid and came to be referred to as CELS.  Each cel would show a slight bit of movement and it took roughly 500 cels for each minute of animation.  This topic leads us to the deep philosophical inquiry:  If Pluto is a dog then what is Goofy?

31.  Fig or olive: TREE.  Fortunately, FRUIT has five letters so no time was lost heading down that particular dead end.

32.  Subtle vibes: AURAS.  Sometimes the plural turns out to be AURAS and sometimes it's AURAE.  I prefer the original Latin as in alga and algae.

35.  Cookbook instruction: ADDIN.  ADD IN  As opposed, I suppose, to STIR IN, MIX IN, FOLD IN, CUT IN, etc.  

39.  Indira's son: RAJIV.   RAJIV Gandhi took over the office of Prime Minister of India after the assassination of his mother Indira.

40.  Thought about it: MUSED.  In this case, the clue is the definition.

41.  British general at the Battle of Bunker Hill: GAGE.  General Gage, along with General Meade, General Omar Bradley and Field Marshall Ney make frequent visits to our puzzles.

42.  Obi-Wan portrayer: EWAN.  EWAN McGregor.  A Stars Wars reference.   

44.  "Get a __!": GRIP.   "Get a GRIP" is a phrase most often used idiomatically rather than literally.  Alternatively, you could actually get a (new) grip.

52.  "Double Fantasy" artist: ONO.  Another frequent visitor to crossword puzzles, Yoko ONO's controversial relationship with John Lenon, and with The Beatles, has been well chronicled.

53.  Klutz: OAF.

54.  California's Santa __ River: ANA.  Humans have lived along the Santa ANA River for at least 9,000 years.  ANA is more often clued in reference to the Santa Ana winds.   

55.  PreCheck org.: TSA.  Transportation Security Administration

        Why was the vulture stopped by TSA?

        Because carrion wasn't allowed on the plane.

56.  More adept: ABLER.

61.  Works hard: TOILS.

62.  Dieter's buzzword: LITE.  What started out as a marketing gimmick has, apparently, (d)evolved into being the modern, phonetic way to spell LIGHT when referring to foods that are low in fat and/or sugar and/or alcohol.

63.  Beat by a nose: EDGE.  

64.  Hindu sage: SWAMI.  A male Hindu religious teacher.  If Wikipedia is correct, a woman would be called a Swamini.

65.  First Best Actor Jannings: EMIL   In 1929, Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, stage name EMIL Jannings, was awarded the very first Best Actor Oscar.  I know of EMIL only from solving crossword puzzles.

66.  More than coax: PROD.

Down:

1.  "You and what army?!": MAKEME.  "MAKE ME" is, apparently, also the title of a Britney Spears song.  I would not recognize it.  Or her.

2.  Bartender's device: ALETAP.  I have never heard the words ALE TAP employed as used here.  Perhaps I need to drink more.

3.  Rant: TIRADE.

4.  DOJ branch: ATF.  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco. Firearms and Explosives.  The ATF traces its roots back to when Congress established a tax on imported spirits to help pay for the Revolutionary War.

5.  BBC sitcom: ABFAB.  Short for Absolutely Fabulous, ABFAB was a British sitcom that also aired on American television.  It was very popular.

6.  River transport: RAFT.    

7.  Offline, briefly: IRL.  In Real Life.   It is a shorthand term used when people want to distinguish reality from something that happens, for example, on TV,  online in social media, or in games.  I do realize that the lines of demarcation are blurring but having to point out this distinction seems a bit odd to me.  Or, maybe not.

8.  Austin Powers' nemesis: DREVIL.  DR EVIL is a parody of the villains found in the James Bond novels and motion pictures.

9.  Aerodynamic: SLEEK.  In 2019, Jessi Combs was killed while trying to set a new land speed record in her SLEEK, jet-powered car.

10.  Skin pic: TAT.  TAT, short for tattoo, is a staple not only of Crosswordese but IRL as well.

11.  "Pollock" star: EDHARRIS.  ED HARRIS  Although I do know who Jackson Pollock was I was barely aware of, and never saw, the movie.  I would not recognize Mr. Harris if I bumped into him on the street.  Perps to the rescue.

12.  Adolescent support group: ALATEEN.  A sub group within the Al-Anon (Alcoholics Anonymous) family that focuses on teenagers. 

13.  Protégé: MENTEE.  A MENTEE is a person who is advised, not by a Manatee but, rather, by a Mentor.

18.  News initials: UPI.  United Press International is an international news agency formed in 1907 by combining three other then-existing news agencies.

23.  Bacon products: ESSAYS.  This bit of cluing was similar to last Thursday's "More Work" clue.  This time the misdirection is designed to lead us away from Francis Bacon (credited with popularizing the scientific method) who is the actual gist of the clue.  Once again, I was briefly fooled and at first thought about something cured, smoked and pan fried.

26.  VIP travel option: LEARJET.   LEAR JET 

27.  Legal thing: RES.  In law, RES is a thing, as opposed to a person, that is the object of rights.

28.  IA city on U.S. 20: FTDODGE.  FORT DODGE, Iowa.  Situated on the Des Moines River, Fort Dodge is the county seat of Webster County.

30.  Limit: CAP.  

33.  Action film weapon: UZI.  The first UZI was designed by Uziel Gal in the late 1940s.  He gave the production rights to the Israli Ministry of Defense.  It is now manufactured by IWI (Israeli Weapons Industries).  In another context, UZI can mean Upheaval-Zombie Infestation.  Quick, grab the Uzi!

34.  Only unanimous Baseball Hall of Fame electee: RIVERA.  George Will, the political pundit and student of baseball, was once asked what his reaction would be if, during an extra-inning Allstar Game where all other available pitchers had already been used, Mariano RIVERA of the New York Yankees were to be injured due to his having to pitch four or five innings.  Without missing a beat, Will replied, "I would say, Go O's !"

36.  Dr. of rap: DRE.

37.  Official flower of two Southern states: MAGNOLIA.

38.  "Cherry Garcia" is one: PUN.  The PUN, here, is on Jerry Garcia the lead guitarist for The Grateful Dead.  Oddly, I had put the "Cumberland Blues" music link, above, in the initial draft of this post before I'd even had a look at the puzzle.  Serendipity.

39.  Path to the gold, so they say: RAINBOW.  An old saying has it that there is a pot of gold at the end of the RAINBOW.

40.  Waze feature: MAP.  After years of using GPS devices made by Garmin and TomTom it took a while to get used to WAZE.   WAZE turns out to be very good for navigating within cities. . . . if you do not mind occasionally being directed to cross eight lanes of rush hour traffic at an uncontrolled intersection. 

41.  Wins in an ugly way?: GLOATS.

43.  Equivocate: WAFFLE.  In the Doonesbury comic strip, Gary Trudeau  used a WAFFLE to portray then-president Clinton.

45.  Not for kids: RATEDR.  RATED R  We never know, do we, if it going to turn out to be RATED R or R RATED?

46.  "Let's do this": ITSAGO.  IT'S A GO  When a constructor uses quotation marks in the clue, to indicate that the answer is something that someone might say,  then the answer can be almost anything.

47.  Reached a max: PEAKED.

49.  Upper bodies: TORSI.  A correct plural of TORSO.  Has anyone actually used the word?

50.  Recon mission goal: INTEL.  Short for INTELligence.  Also,  the name of a major producer of computer chips.  Is there anyone who has not seen their logo?

51.  Put gently (on): DAB.

54.  Vino venue: ASTI.  Ah, another wine-related clue and answer.  ASTI is a commune (township) in the Piedmont region of Italy.  Most Americans know the name only from Asti-Spumante which is a sparkling white wine.

57.  Street in a horror series: ELM.  There have been several Nightmare on Elm Street movies.  They have, so far, grossed over $750 million.

59.  Archer's skill: AIM.  AIM was also an answer in my last (first) write-up so I had to  find a different graphic.

60.  Gym unit: REP.  REP is short for repetition.  Your trainer might tell you to do three sets of ten REPs each of a given exercise.

___________________________________

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In parting today, a story:

A team of archaeologists were working in Jerusalem a few years ago when they unearthed a slab of rock into which five images had been carved.

                                    

It was taken back to the university where a team of archaeologists intensely studied the petroglyph and interpreted it.  Eventually, the leader of the team took the stone and went on a lecture tour. In his lecture, the archaeologist  explained that the carvings were several thousands of years old and that they revealed a lot about the people of that time.  The woman, having been placed first in the line of figures, he said, indicated that women were held in very high esteem.  The society that produced the petroglyph was most likely a matriarchy.  The donkey, he further explained, indicated they used domesticated animals.  The shovel revealed that they were highly intelligent and knew how to make tools.  The fish indicated that they knew enough to augment the crops they raised by also reaping sustenance from the sea.  The Star of David, of course, showed they were a very religious group of people.

After trying to interrupt the presentation for quite a few minutes, a little old Jewish man in the front row finally got the attention of the speaker.   When acknowledged, he rose and said "Idiot.  You were reading it left to right.  In Hebrew we read from right to left.  That way, it reads 'Holy Mackerel Dig The Ass On That Chick!' "

I promise to atone for that one in just a few days.  For now, a belated Happy New Year One and All !  That's a wrap for today.  Thank you all for your kind comments after the maiden voyage. 

Thursday, September 17, 2020, Mike Peluso

Good morning, cruciverbalists one and all. Joseph, aka Malodorous Manatee, here. When C.C. approached me about joining the blogging team I was pleasantly surprised. When I learned that my first assignment would be on a Thursday I was a bit intimidated. Steve blogged on Thursdays. I have only been here for five months and do not know how many of his 354 posts were on Thursdays but he did choose to bid adieu on that day of the week and that is surely significant.

I started solving crossword puzzles thirty years ago. Far more recently, while searching online for an answer (or two), I stumbled across the L.A. Times Crossword Corner. Some time later I returned, scrolled down below the write-up, read through the comments and realized that I had descended into a warren of crossword nerds. Fellow crossword nerds. I am very pleased to have made the discovery.

In short, thank you CC for creating this space and thank you all for allowing me to play in your sandbox.

It is an honor to have been asked to be part of this team. Now, on to the puzzle.

I am less familiar with the work of Mike Peluso than I am with that of some other constructors. However, I greatly enjoyed this puzzle and his by-line is certainly now solidly on the radar. The theme was clever and well executed. The grid, itself, is interesting and a bit out of the ordinary in a refreshing way.

Theme: Parlez-you Franglais? Four, ou Quatre, Homophones

Four pairings of the French name for a city or region with an English word.  The words in each pairing sound alike and, when read together, form a plausible proper adjective/noun combination.

17 A.   Excursion in a Loire Valley town?: TOURS TOUR.  Tours is a city in France located approximately 200 km southwest of Paris.  It is considered to be a gateway to use for exploring the chateaux of the Loire Valley.  Of course, one can also take a tour of Tours.

25 A.   Horse of southeastern France?: RHONE ROAN   The Rhone Valley is a region of France very famous for its wines.  A Rhone appellation with which some of us may be familiar is Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  These days, there are very good wines being made from Rhone varietal grapes that are grown in California, particularly in the Paso Robles area.  Two producers, among many, that you might wish to check out are Saxum and Herman Story.  There are several stables near Paso Robles where you can rent a horse be it a Roan, a Pinto or a Palomino.  Of these, the Roan is the horse most commonly seen in crossword puzzles.

36 A.   Relative in a Cote d'Azur family?: NICE NIECE.   Nice is another French city.  Located less than an hour's drive from Cannes, it is a pleasant place to visit.  If your sister's friendly daughter lived there you could have a pleasant visit with your nice Nice niece.

51 A.   Swindle at a French festival?: CANNES CON.   Home to a major film festival since 1946, Cannes is quite famous.  In 1954, actress Simone Silva showed up topless at a festival photo shoot.  Bones were broken in the ensuing scruffle.  If dancing was employed to create a diversion as part of the swindle at the festival would it be a Cannes Can Can Con?  

62 A.   Hybrid linguistic term that hints at the answers to 17-, 25-, 36- and 51-Across: FRANGLAIS.  The reveal, of course.  I took four years of High School French and am able to kinda sorta fake my way in Franglais.  Although I took only a single year of Italian (in college), I prefer to converse in Itanglese.

Across:

1.  Big bash: FETE.  A conundrum right out of the box.  Four letters.  Is it going to turn out to be Gala or Ball, or FETE.

5.  Lestrade's rank, in Sherlock Holmes stories: Abbr.: INSP.  Do you know who this guy is?  Of course you do.

Inspector Gadget

9.  Music rights org.: ASCAP.  The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

14.  Hose color: ECRU.  Four letters.  Two of them vowels.  A crossword staple.

15.  Ward of TV's "FBI": SELA.  I have a love/hate relationship with proper nouns when they're used in crossword puzzles.  If I know 'em then they are a big help.  If not, let's just say that crossing two of them in a puzzle should be a felony.

16.  Rattle: DAUNT.

19.  Others, to Pablo: OTRAS.  A slight pause to determine if it might be Otros.

20.  Former trucking watchdog agcy.: ICC.  The Interstate Commerce Commission.  Be careful 'cause they're a checkin' on down the line.

21.  Newscast attention-getter: TOP STORY.  Not to be confused with:

23.  National capital on the Cape Verde Peninsula: DAKAR.  With a population of roughly one million people, DAKAR is the capital of Senegal.  The metropolitan area has two or three times that many residents.  Coincidentally, this is the second time in three days that we have seen DAKAR in the daily puzzle. 

29.  Improve, as a highway: REPAVE.

31.  Composer Rorem: NED.  Hi Diddly Ho, Ned.  Oops, wrong Ned.

32.  Rome's __ Veneto: VIA.  When I was seventeen we took a family trip to Italy.  On the Via Veneto I looked for, but, alas, could not find, Sophia Loren.

33.  Going down: SETTING.  I first thought that Sinking might work out but SETTING it was.  Perhaps, at some point in time, a sinking ship video will be appropriate.

35.  Way off the highway: RAMP.  THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE could not be made to fit in the allotted space.   

40.  Minute Maid Park player, to fans: STRO.   My mother hailed from Brooklyn and I from Los Angeles.  It is probably best, therefore, that we not dive too deeply into this topic lest an animated discussion ensue.

43.  Rickety, say: UNSOUND.  Of mind, body or structural integrity?

46.  "Queen Sugar" creator DuVernay: AVA.  We have all been seeing quite a lot of her in crossword puzzles in recent months.  A cluing update to Ava Gardner.

47.  Clear dishes from: BUS.  A word with several meanings.  One can be found at 48 Down.

50.  More work: UTOPIA.  Okay, Mike, you slowed me up with this one for a few moments because there is always More Work To Be Done To Be Done.

54.  "Because __ so!!": I SAID.  The concept came up here recently in a discussion here about dietary laws.

56.  Relieve: UNBURDEN.  This is what would have happened had The Animals decided to sever ties with their lead singer.  Sorry Ray, and yes, everyone else, too.

58.  Day-__: GLO.

59.  "Dust-colored," in Hindustani: KHAKI.  I always have trouble with the spelling of KHAKI.  This morning was no exception but it got worked out.

64.  Aspect of a problem: FACET  See NUKED, below.

65.  Accommodates: FITS.

66.  "Desperate Housewives" character: BREE.  I almost went with Brie within the context of this puzzle.

67.  Set of beliefs: CREDO.  Could have been Ethos.  Thank you, perps, once again.

68.  Old-time dagger: SNEE.  I always have trouble remembering if SNEE is the knife and SMEE is the pirate, or vice versa.

69.  Lip: SASS.  Alternatively, and in what would have required a much lengthier clue, SASS is, and I quote, "...the most mature, stable, and powerful professional grade CSS extension language in the world."   I think they're talking about something to do with computers.  

Down:

1.  Reeking: FETID.  I can think of a possible synonym.  Ten letters.

2.  Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius: ECO CARS.

3.  River through Reno: TRUCKEE.

Truckin' On The Truckee

4.  Scand. locale: EUR.   I suspect that this was one of the clue/answer parings with which the constructor was least happy. 

5.  Ratio phrase: IS TO.  ISTO   INTO   UNTO   UNDO   UNDI  Voila, une word ladder.  UNDI is a village in the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh.  Okay, that's obscure but I couldn't conjure up a better last rung.

6.  Synthetic rubber used in waders: NEOPRENE.  There is a tradition at Crested Butte Mountain Resort, where I often ski, of stripping down and skiing in the buff on the last day of the ski season.  I once told my daughter that I might give that a try.  She looked and me and said, "Dad, you have to ski with so much Neoprene on that it won't matter."  (Knee braces, back brace, elbow sleeve, etc.)

7.  Winter weather aftermath: SLUSH.  What one often skis on on that last day of the ski season.

8.  "Islands in the Stream" duettist: PARTON.  Dolly is justifiably famous for at least a couple of reasons.

9.  Loved: ADORED.

10.  Man-goat of myth: SATYR.  Goat-man, ergo, goat-woman.  Are they satyr-ists?

11.  Tough mutt: CUR.

12.  Japanese carrier that sponsors a major LPGA event: ANA.   A timely entry.  The ANA Inspiration Tournament, one of the five major champiobnships of women's professional golf, was played just this past weekend.  Mirim Lee won the event in a three-way playoff.

13.  Box score abbr.: PTS.

18.  Low clouds: STRATI.  Would a selection of violins, violas, guitars, harps  and cellos from the master be Stradi varius?  Amati pleased with that pun.

22.  "__ of Us": Joan Osborne hit: ONE.   I was not familiar with this one.

24.  City addr. info: APT NO.  Apt.

26.  Eggs: OVA.  Alternative clue:  plural of a single cell often found in crossword puzzles.

27.  Point: AIM.

28.  Velvet feature: NAP.  Another one of those playful, pesky, and potentially perplexing homonyms.

30.  London's Old __: VIC.  An over-200-year-old, 1,000-seat theatre in London.  Was it called The Vic when it first opened?

34.  Serengeti bovine: GNU.  Tourist:  "Can you tell me how to get to the zoo?"   Wildebeest:  "Sorry, I'm gnu in town."

35.  Enlists again: RE UPS.  Another one of those where, when you look at the completed puzzle the next day, you ask yourself something along the lines of "what the heck is a reups?"

37.  Flood: INUNDATE.

38.  Richmond winter hrs.: EST.  Did anyone here attend Erhard Seminar Training?  EST, as it was known, had a significant number of enthusiastic,  proselytizing adherents in the 1970's and 1980's.

39.  Sounding like a dove: COOING.

40.  Cul-de-__: SAC.  Cul-de-sac comes from the French, n'est ce pas, originally meaning bottom of the sack.

41.  FDR power program: TVA.  Many people were displaced when the TVA dams were built.  The subject was touched on in the film O' Brother Where Art Thou ?   The soundtrack album sparked renewed interest in traditional American music.  In 2010, I got to see Ralph Stanley perform at a music festival high up in the Rocky Mountains.  The Seldom Scene performed, too.  Quite a wonderful afternoon.

42.  Was a candidate: RAN.   Often clued with a reference to the Akira Kurosawa motion picture.

44.  Falls for lovers?: NIAGARA.  It is somewhat surprising that this particular tourist attraction has not sold the naming rights.

45.  Newsstand buys: DAILIES.

47.  1800s Mexican leader Juárez: BENITO.   Perhaps, it is a good thing that the theme wasn't Itanglese.

48.  Flash drive port: USB.

49.  Shoeshine targets: SCUFFS.

52.  Microwaved: NUKED.  In my desk drawer is a copy of Life magazine published the week I was born.  The magazine was received as a gift decades later.  In the Letters to the Editor section of the magazine is a somewhat lengthy discussion about the correct F-Stops and Shutter Speeds to use when photographing nuclear tests in the desert near St. George, UT.  These were above-ground tests.  Can you say fallout?  Talk about placing one's focus on a less important FACET of an issue!

53.  Longtime Utah senator Hatch: ORRIN.

55.  They're just what the doctor ordered: DOSES.  Or, Faline's female sibling?

Doe's Sis?

57.  Massachusetts motto starter: ENSE.  Having avoided taking Latin as a language in school, I need to look up these state motto clues if the perps do not suffice.

59.  Louisville-based fast-food company: KFC.  It might be based in Kentucky but KFC is very, very big in China.  Yum China owns/franchises KFC as well as Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.  Thomas Friedman is correct, The World Is Flat.

60.  Laugh syllable: HAR.    Over the decades, The Simpsons has provided many chuckles.  This was a gag appreciated by budding and veteran mathematicians alike:

61.  Nolan Ryan, notably: ACE.  I was lucky enough to see The Ryan Express (a riff on the title of David Westheimer's novel Von Ryan's Express) pitch at the Big A.

63.  Dumbbell abbr.: LBS.  Oh, this type of dumbbell.  Now I get it.

Well, that's it for the maiden voyage...with not a single reference to Tom Lehrer, Weird Al, or Mel Brooks to be found.  Have to keep some powder dry.  Big thanks to C.C., Tom, Chris and the others who are helping me learn how to navigate the blog.  Because of their generous assistance, things (hopefully) went better than they did for RMS Titanic.

MM Out

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