Captain Kidnap

It's not Choo baby, it's Smee...

My mom makes fabulous posole. My wife makes amazing pozole. Both are delicious, spicy treats. I would never correct the most important women in my life!

Two ASSHATs in one week. It's a sign of the Times.

Speaking of squaring the circle, we just completed 25,000 nautical miles at sea while sharing a 300 square foot space for eight years. Proof that all a pirate needs is a stout vessel and a trusted first mate! Arrgh! Happy Thanksgiving! 🦜🏴‍☠️🥧

Camilla is William and Harry's STEPMUM. I don't know what MUVER is, however. Off the plank for Stulberg and Shortz! Arrgh!

Didn't St. Patrick banish snakes from New York and send them to Washington DC?

I remember having an alien doll with exposed brains and a spaceman doll. Both died in a flaming UFO crash aided by plastic cement and barbecue lighter fluid. I was nine. My older brother was also a pyromaniac and offered useful conflagatory advice. (He became a firefighter, to my parents great relief.)

"With the invention of the Robo-Magic washing machine, women could finally say goodbye to their blue Mondays forever. “Off to the bridge club while my Robo-Magic does the wash! GOODBYE BLUE MONDAY!" –Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

Some candidates aren't as good. In fact they're a bit weird. Then there's these: Getting my kicks on Route 8.124 Apollo 3.6 The 2.645751 Samurai 5.2915 Days Later 10 Years of Solitude 1.732 blind mice, men in a tub, and old ladies locked in the lavatory Plan 3 From Outer Space

We Brits have a special relationship with tractors. Or at least the outgoing Conservatives do. Let's not Labour that point on Independence Day. Hi ho hi ho, it's off to the polls we go! We shall furrow our brows, then get plowed waiting for the results. We are expecting a turnover, however. Till next time...

I was nearly knocked out when my insurer gave me free roadside assistance: They threw in the tow(el)s!

The Cow, by Robert Louis Stevenson at a 'low' point: The friendly cow all red and white, I love with all my heart: She gives me cream with all her might, To eat with apple-tart. She wanders lowing here and there, And yet she cannot stray, All in the pleasant open air, The pleasant light of day; And blown by all the winds that pass And wet with all the showers, She walks among the meadow grass And eats the meadow flowers.

What a Quacker of a puzzle! It was absolutely ducky and quacked me up!

Nothing quite matches the expository theme songs of 1960s American sitcoms. Jerry Scoggins backed by bluegrass legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, sang 'The Ballad of Jed Clampett' and gave viewers all the background they needed to understand the origins of The Beverly Hillbillies. As a kid I learned about Texas Tea and the joys of banjo picking. Scruggs later played on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1972 album, 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken'. One of the finest collections of bluegrass music and musicians ever assembled.

Where's my beer? It's a COOZIE MYSTERY...

Phoebe Bridgers is smashing! An American treasure!

Steady straightforward satisfying solve. I must be getting better at this...

Arrgh! She were a rum 'un, she were! Like the waves and tides, this one has it's ups and downs. But I lashed meself to me desk and rode out the storm, barely avoiding a grounding or two. Arrgh!

A bit like peeling an onion. Layers and layers to go through shedding a few tears along the way. But cooked gently it turned out to be sweet and delicious.

I went to my doctor and said, "I feel like a deck of cards!" She said, "Shuffle over there, I'll deal with you later!"

Arrgh mateys! A fine puzzle. For indeed it were a hearty mystery in need o' solvin'! But solve it I did. Me pencil working like a cutlass through a boarding party. I ain't had that much fun since my last keel haulin'! Arrgh!

A themeless puzzle with a twist. Fun, quick fill once I got it.

HP? There was nothing about Hewlett or Packard in this puzzle...

When the radio blares Em+En I dash as far away as I can! Arrgh!

Re: 62A - Marilyn's workplace advice seems curiously dated: There may come a time When a hard-boiled employer Thinks you're awful nice, But get that ice or else no dice. He's your guy When stocks are high, But beware when they start to descend. It's then that those louses Go back to their spouses. Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

What a lot of fun! Thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle. Quick and only a little quirky. Well done!

Good grief but Greaves aggrieved me! I finally got the picture, though.

Carpentry keeps me ship fit and trim! More than I can say for me belly. It's my peg leg, I tell ye! Argh!

Started in the SW corner and headed N by NE, turned west and finally made 'own' cry pwncle for the win!

Well that was fun and about perfect for a Friday. Well done!

What goes up, must come down. - Newton If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. - Fudd Half of what goes in here must come out there. - Teslacle

Is etiquette in the line for the loo minding your Qs and Ps?

Let's not forget The (page) Count of Monte Cristo. I finally read the entire book (in translation) during the pandemic and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Merriam-Webster says bold(-/ )faced lies exist. I agree. The English language is still evolving. After all today's neologism is tomorrow's literature. It helps make up for the words we lose. Just ask Lewis Carroll.

Is there a maximal maxim for making the maximum from the minimum, Maxine, my Milanese mum? Or is my fear best allayed by an alloy of aluminum and aluminium forged by an alliance of aging alumni of my alma and pia maters, my mammalian mamma from Milan?

When I were bar hoppin' a rack was something else... Arrgh!

Couldn't make out the circles and triangles in dark mode in the dead of night. But I can imagine the California Highway Patrol's Ponch and Jon dancing a Salsa and double dipping as they do it.

Yo-ho-ho! I'd say this here puzzle will be a SMERSH hit!

Is it me or are Thursday's getting easier? Doing puzzles from the archives, they take longer with more misdirection. Or is it that thematically cluing is contemporaneous, the zeitgeist if you will, that breaks when you go back several years? 🤨🤔

Am I the only person older that 15 who never watched Friends? 🤦🏻