Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

I cannot believe it’s already Thanksgiving.  In less than 5 hours Pickles and I will be flying down to Memphis to enjoy the holiday with family.  Speaking of Thanksgiving and family, Patrick Berry’s puzzle had nothing to do with either but was still very enjoyable.  What a cool theme.  Words and phrases where the first half of the letters are the same as the second half except in the second half the letters are rearranged (or recycled).

3D. Digestive system parts with recycling? (INTESTINES).

5D. Most promising options with recycling? (BEST BETS).

7D. Took a risk with recycling (STUCK ONES NECK OUT).

10D. Come back with recycling? (REAPPEAR).

41D. Imposition on drinking with recycling? (LEGAL AGE).

43D. Sporting colleague with recycling? (TEAMMATE).

33D. Livery blacksmith with recycling (HORSESHOER).

Very well done.  I can understand how you would think of theme like this but I have no idea how you’d go about finding the answers that fit the theme.  Is there a name for this kind of thing?  Like palinlainp or something?

I had a lot of trouble with the middle left.

24A. La. neighbor (TEX).  I guess I have Tennessee on the brain because I put TEN.  Turns out the Volunteer State doesn’t actually border Louisiana.  It seems like it should though, doesn’t it?

29A. Between (TWIXT).  Even though none of the letters worked and the word didn’t actually fit I couldn’t get AMIDST out of my brain.  I did an image search for “twix betwixt” and didn’t find any image of a candy bar between two non-twix items but I did find this:

And I enjoy that picture a great deal.  I’m not sure why.

30D. Like Stilton cheese (WAXY).  WAXY is a terrible adjective for any food product.  Very unappetizing.  Why not call something foot-y or backhair-y while you’re at it.

I eventually figured that section out but it took way too long.

Something I learned from listening to our podcast:

1D. Symbol seen on viola music (C CLEF).  I still don’t know what the hell this is but I distinctly remember Brian saying something about C CLEFs and violi.  Interesting fact: Did you know that when a musician puts something on the C Clef he/she says, “Hey man, I’m putting this one in Charlie.” and when he/she puts it on the F Clef you are most likely to hear, “What’s up, my dog, I’m putting this one in Frank.”

Something to be careful of:

58A. Actor Shore (PAULY).  PAULY Shore will be in a movie next year called Opposite Day.  His costar will be French Stewart.  Obviously, I don’t need to explain to you that a movie starring both Pauly Shore and French Stewart is clearly the first step in a devious plan devised by a fringe group of highly evolved caribou to take over the world.  Do not fall for it.  Unless you want to spend the rest of your days under the domination of those antlered bastards do not see this movie.

Here is how Thanksgiving shouldn’t go:

68A. Dr. ___, 1990s TV therapist (KATZ).

Alright, Brian will be taking over the blog this weekend as I will be computerless until Sunday night.  Yes, I still don’t have a laptop.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Next stop, later.