Nancy

Sad to say, I did not even notice the shape of the martini glass when I started out. Instead, I was convinced that the puzzle was somehow going to be about Charlotte's Web, or maybe Stuart Little. Didn't E. B. White right that one too? Anyway, I figured out olive pretty early although I couldn't for the life of me figure out what that or any of the other italic clues had to do with Charlotte's Web. I finally noticed the picture in the puzzle and then put it together pretty quickly. I still don't understand the clue for MER. I only figured that out because I had the other clues that intersected with it. Overall though, despite my cluelessness at the beginning, it was a fun puzzle!

Phileas? I thought it was Phineas. (Fogg)

I really liked the puzzle, but one clue that I just didn't get was the Spanish greeting. I mean, I figured it out that they wanted alo, but I'm only familiar with hola. Not even ola, which I think is Italian.

Wow! This one took me a full hour to get, and that wasn't in one sitting either. I didn't actually solve it until Saturday afternoon around 2:30. I am proud to say though that I did not want to look up anything, which if I do, I don't credit myself with finishing the puzzle. But this was really tough! And I was somewhat confused by the answer to the clue caballeros, because as far as I knew that was the word for cowboys, but señores would really just refer to a number of men. Maybe somebody can explain it to me. But I loved this puzzle, which is of course easier to say after you've managed to solve it.