Joseph Knecht

  Root, Root for the Home Team! Today's constructor is veteran Zhouqin Burnikel, alias C.C. , baseball aficionado and blog maestra extraordinaire .  She invites us to do some ROOTING , not just for the home team but also to burrow through the DOWN clues looking for some delicious, healthy ROOT vegetables , and see what turns UP .  Here's her reveal ... 25D. Digs out, or what can be found in four long Down answers?: ROOTS UP .  If you didn't spot them while solving ( CSO to D-O ), here they are ... 3D. Spiritual path of action: KAR MA Y OGA .  YAM .  Well I've always thought that a YAM was just another name for a SWEET POTATO -- but they are not the same vegetable . 10D. Event for minor leaguers?: TEE B ALL GAME .  BEET . These are not particularly difficult to grow, but we like the tender greens in salads and tend to side pick them stealing t...

 Farmers' Market Each Spring we can't wait for the Misty Valley truck farm to open, and we usually stop there on Sundays after church.  Their Eastern Shore Silver Queen corn is to die for and their cantaloupes are the sweetest! And it looks like today's veteran constructors Hoang-Kim Vu and Jessica Zetzman do their shopping for themers at a local farmer's market, ever on the look out for fresh, tasty local puns. And depending on the venue you might hear  these quips [followed unpunned explanations] ... 17. At the market, farmers often __: SWAP MEATS .  "I'll trade you a pound of this HAM for that T-BONE steak".   [Merriam-Websters ]. 28. At the orchard, farmers are often __: WORKING IN PEARS .  " BOSC me no questions ANJOU 'll get no lies".  [How small farmers can work together to improve their situation] . 48. In the field, farmers often specialize i...

  ALMOST HEAVEN   After he retired my father built a small home on a mountain top in West Virginia .  We made many visits to it, then my mother had to sell it.  But one of sister's children bought it recently so it's back in the family.  And it was, and still is "Almost Heaven", a space where we can go and be at peace in a world with a starlit sky in the night, forests as far as the eye could see, meadows in the valleys, and a bucolic town with a yearly Apple Butter festival in the town below. Today's constructor Rebecca Goldstein challenges us with 3 theme clues that re-imagine our world as a safe space where all people are free from bias, discrimination, and hatred -- a noble ideal ... 20. Mindset that may hinder growth: COMFORT ZONE .  A COMFORT ZONE is a familiar psychological state where people are at ease and (perceive they are) in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress . But the clue hints that there is buil...