Beth

@Jeb Jones it took me a moment too. The "metric" is as in meters in poetry. A foot is one kind (as contrasted with...something else). That's most of what I remember from 12th grade English anyway...

@David Connell when I lived in San Diego as a child in the 1980s, there was one TV station that occasionally had a parrot do the weather forecast. "Squak. 68 degrees and sunny. Squak."

@Marcus a how about "for a mere $100, I can give you an example that works" = "for only $100..."

Ah, that's what it was. I went through the puzzle over and over trying to find my last error. Thanks for helping me save streak!

@Andrzej as an explanation of the revealer, all the theme clues are common phrases (or common-ish in the case of the last one -- new to me) that have a person's name at the end. Maybe they are all film quotes too, but the inclusion of a name (the "me") seems more relevant.

@BC in the UK, the name Rene is usually pronounced "Ree-ny". Very confusing to Americans.

@Andrzej is absolutely correct here. The issue I had with the clue is that no one in Britain would say "*the* Blenheim" in the way that no one would refer to "The Disney World" or "The Times Square". The definite article is unnecessary. Fun fact: Blenheim Palace was the birthplace of Winston Churchill.

@Andrzej when I was younger and broke, I decided not to educate my palate for wine because I wouldn't be able to afford it. I was right. Now as a middle aged wine snob, I take wine from the students I sometimes host for dinner and put it straight in the "cooking wine" category: fine to use in a sauce but I can't drink it. I don't like beer at all, though, so I am sure my palate could do with further refinement in that direction.

@Andrzej I'm an American living in London. I sometimes host the students studying here from the (American) college I attended as an undergraduate. I don't work in higher education myself, but when I was a graduate student and teaching undergrads, I made a point *not* to socialise with them. My husband was more relaxed about such things and some of his then students even attended our wedding!