Joseph Knecht

  I reckon' that George Jasper has been ramblin' thru these parts at least since July 10, 1917 (blogged by our beloved Argyle) and today George treats us to a word scramble about Western drifters.   Tumbling Tumbleweed By The Sons of the Pioneers  We'll start with the reveal ... 58. Drifters in some Western scenes ... and a hint to what's hidden in the three other longest puzzle answers: TUMBLEWEEDS .  And here are the scrambled answers 17. Wrongly-named winner in a 1948 headline: THOMA S DEWE Y .  I remember it well - I was 17 months old at the time. And the real winner was HARRY S TRUMAN , and as we all know, the S doesn't stand for anything:   28. To the point: SHORT AN D SWEE T .  For example Scottish Shortbread 44. Teamwork-inspiring motto: UNIT ED WE STAND .  This t...

  Today we have a return engagement by Mike Peluso .  Old timers will remember that Mike has published here many times over the years.  He has visited at least 5 times in the past year, the most recent being December 27, 2020.   This is a WORKING PERSON 's puzzle, but even the retirees on the corner have to solve it.  The reveal best describes the TASK at hand: 36. Comment about routine work ... and hint to the ends of the answers to starred clues : IT'S A JOB .  That is the last word is a "type" of JOB . And here are the themers: 17. *Closest to the rail, at Churchill Downs: ON THE INSIDE . e.g. INSIDE JOB is a documentary on the 2008 financial crisis, still available for streaming from Amazon Prime.  Haven't seen it, but I think they name names. 53. *It may be used with a grunt or two: ELBOW GREASE .  e.g. I did a GREASE JOB on my tiller the other day using WD40 .  Did a spritz or two, but not much grunting (othe...

  Today's performance is by Joseph Gangi, who last entertained us on November 23, 2020 with themes played by STRING TRIOs.  Today he asks US to do the work and INTROSPECT on our mixed-up I's spread among 5 themers : 19. *Like some pages in used books: D OG E ARED .  Just for the record, I'm a bookmark person, but in the interest of fairness, here are some rants, er, testimonies, from dog earers . 33. *"Mean" Pro Football Hall of Fame lineman: J OE G REENE .  I immediately thought of his name when I saw this clue, but it turns out that this was not a very kind moniker for this likable, outstanding professional.  Per the Wikipedia: 'Although it stuck with him throughout his professional career due to his playing style, Greene himself was not fond of the nickname, insisting it did not reflect his true character. "I just want people to remember me as being a good player and not really mean," he said. "I want to ...