Joseph Knecht

  Would it Saw or Wood it Knot? This will mark 43rd appearance of David Alfred Bywaters in the LA Times crosswords.  He was one of the first constructors I blogged and I always find his puzzles a delight.  David's puzzles make extensive use of wordplay, with less use of obscure people and places.  Since I have no puzzle to solve on Thursdays I always go to his website for a puzzle.  He hosts one of the most beautiful sites on the web and it's always worth a visit . Today he teases us with 4 clues for the names of SAWS , tools commonly found in a wood shop and then gets his fill by riffing on another meaning of the word SAW :  a MAXIM or PROVERB .  For those interested I've linked pictures of the tools into the clues, and then followed with annotations of David's punny fill: 20A. Band saw ?: UNITED WE STAND .  The Band of Brothers in the 2001 HBO American war drama stood united in their struggle against the tyranny of Hitler in WWII.  The s...

  Today we welcome back David Alfred Bywaters, for a tour around his KITCHEN . It's filled with simple things, nothing you wouldn't find in the Victorian Era (a love of David's): The themers in this puzzle are MATCHING bookends consisting of things you might discover there, each pair bracketing one of the four long answers.  The reveal is a thing needed by anyone with an old-fashioned GAS STOVE (unless you have one with a fancy electric starter, like Dw's grill): 55. Pilot lighter, and a hint to the four other longest puzzle answers: KITCHEN MATCH .  Shown are boxes of SAFETY MATCHES , which can only be lit by striking on the box, as opposed to PHOSPHORUS-TIPPED STRIKE ANYWHERE MATCHES .  The latter are considered a FIRE HAZARD . Here are the utensils and such: 20. "Even dialogue wouldn't have saved that show," e.g.?: PAN TOMIME PA N .  [ Ouch! ] 29. Alpo holder?: CAN INE CAN .  Well, a toy...