So my plan is to live forever.

So far, so good.

(Stephen Wright)

As you may recall, Rex Parker (of Crossword puzzle blog fame), is quite the cat lover. He shared a holiday photo of an adorable cat that one of his readers sent in and said if anyone else wanted to submit a holiday-themed pet shot, he’d post it. Dozens of us followed suit and today he posted my entry:

It’s my Zozo with her fierce watch-cat Emily. Rex noted that he liked how Emily was staring directly into the camera as if to say: Are we done here?

Made my day.

Today’s puzzle was crisp and crackling with freshness. 14D was “One on the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land.” Answer: CALEB. I had no idea, but egs posted: ”There is a wonderful show about one of the Israelites journey to the Promised Land. Unfortunately, you can only see it if you’ve got CALEB TV.” 

With LMS in hibernation, egs has become my favorite Rex poster — good strong devotion to utter nonsense like that.

The puzzle had a minor “crabbiness” theme. 14A: ”‘Knock it off!,’ in question form,” was CAN YOU NOT? and 27D: “Don’t even think of coming back!” Ans: AND STAY OUT! 

At 28D “Nephalist” was TEETOTALER. (WTF??)

At 18A “Number in a count,” was a great clue for BALLS. Think of count in the baseball sense — balls and strikes. 

Actress Malick was WENDIE. She was very good in a very funny TV show Just Shoot Me! George Segal was in it, along with a perfect comic cast. That’s Wendie peering over the shades, below

She auditioned for the role of Diane Chambers in Cheers, but, of course, lost out to Shelley Long. 

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Ok everybody. Keeping it short tonight. Too tired from my day in the big city giving an exam. See you tomorrow!