Joseph Knecht

Four What It's Wurth Today constructor Rebecca Goldstein presents us with three straightforward theme clues and a rather cryptic reveal, one of those puzzles within a puzzle.  Here are the theme clues. 17. Patrons of the arts:  CULTURE VULTURES .  After getting this on perps, I thought it might be a rhyming theme -- but it wasn't.  There seem to be several definitions for this phrase .  Here's a poetic definition by  Christopher Lindsay   Vultures in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves 27. Fluffy blockers of the sun:  CUMULUS CLOUDS .  This one was pretty obvious.  Cumulus clouds   have flat bases and are often described as puffy, cotton-like, or fluffy in appearance. Their name derives from the Latin cumulus, meaning "heap" or "pile",  as in "to accumulate".    Cumulus clouds

  Punny Funny Papers   xkcd Before we retired, our daily newspaper was delivered to our door printed on cheap, recyclable newsprint.   After retirement we found that we were paying a premium of $50 dollars a month more for home delivery and switching to email delivery seemed like a no brainer.  What I didn't foresee was that the latter was not a very convenient way to read the comics , a habit I'd had since childhood.   While it is possible to have individual webcomics like xkcd shown above , delivered via email, all of the daily and Sunday funny papers are just not as easy to read on a screen as they are in the paper with your feet propped up on the sofa. To remind us of what we're missing, our very own Corner constructors,  Renée  Thomason (sumdaze) and Zhouqin Burnikel (C.C.) are taking us back to those days with 5 punny theme clues where the second word of the fill is a classic comic stri

Party People Today's constructor Keico Deuser is making her debut on the Corner with a simple, but clever play on two different meanings for the word PARTY .  Each of the theme clues are a type of party -- a celebration or gathering of people.  However the fill for each is a real or fictitious person that might be present at the gathering ... 17. Christmas party: SANTA CLAUS .  The party attending this party has the modern nickname for St. Nicholas of Myrna  (March 15, 270 – December 6, 343 AD), the patron saint of children and a storied gift giver, whose feast day is celebrated in Western churches on December 6th.  Legend has it that he rescued three girls from being forced into prostitution by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house each night for three nights so their father could pay a dowry for each of them.  This saint appears in many cultures. Here is the Dutch Sinterklaus and his assistant Zwarte Piet , who keeps the lists of  the "nice