This One's for the Birds

Q:


Find an answer for each "crossword" clue.  Drop one letter from your answer to get the name of a common bird.  Take the first letter of each bird name and you will have seven consecutive letters in the alphabet, not necessarily in order.

1.  Put it on the short grass  

2.  A chase involving no running

3.  Taking the edge off

4.  Addict's bane

5.  Bonk on the noggin

6.  Brave men seldom do it

7.  Hale's rue

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See-ming Lee

A:

1.  A golf reference, put being past tense - drove

2.  Chase being a channel, ravine or in this case - gully

3.  Not talking imbibing here - blunting

4.  Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, John Belushi, etc. - heroin

5.  As a noun, it's a noggin.  As a verb, it's the bonk - crown

6.  And sometimes they get punched in the face - flinch

7.  Hale as in Nathan.  Rue as in - regret

In order:

Bunting    Crow    Dove    Egret    Finch    Gull    Heron

                                                                                                                                                                          





      
       

Don't Touch That Dial!

Q:


"Do you see this thin wound beneath the victim's left shoulder blade?  Its symmetry and size leave little doubt as to the murder weapon.  I'll inform the captain to hold the suspects since they all had access to the kitchen."

Now that I have your attention, pick two consecutive words from this excerpt.  Rearrange the letters to name the genre of the story.

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Olivander

A:  


There are some red herrings here.  Film Noir and Suspense were close but no cigar.  Damn Mystery works, but c'mon.  Really?

The solution comes much sooner from the phrase thin wound.  

Who Dunnit

Now That's Funny

Q:


Rearrange the letters in  Balkan anise, fitful rise, lanai worker and lifetimes.  Put the new phrases in the proper order to come up with a humorous two line proverb.

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Reclamation Revolution

A:


Take the phrases in reverse order.  Rearrange the letters and you get...

Time flies like an arrow.

Fruit flies like bananas.

Stuck in the Middle

Q:


Since tomorrow is a federal (and national) holiday, I'll mix picnics and politics.  Rearrange the letters in a sourer incumbent to make two new words.  One word can be placed in front of the word sandwich to make a common phrase.  The other word can be placed after the word sandwich to make another common phrase.  What words are these?

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Symic

A:

Nothing flashy here.

Submarine Sandwich Counter

The Eyes Have It

Q:


They are many activities that can be irritating to your eyes.  Staring at a monitor all day or exposing yourself to propanethiol S-oxide (onions and tears) are two common culprits.

Take the phrases computer user and diced onions. Remove three consecutive letters from anywhere in either phrase.  Rearrange the result to name something that many eyes will be focused on today.

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buyalex

A:


Remove d-o-n from diced onions.

Supreme Court Decision

The Cochairman Lost Sight of His Aim

Q:


While President Obama's oratory may be his greatest asset, his predecessor was not so gifted.  Take the phrase Mumbler Emeritus.  Change one letter and rearrange the result to name something Obama's job approval numbers may soon provide him.

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internets_diary

A:

When you take the "aim" out of cochairman, you're left with Cochran. The image is an eddy.  Change an R to an S in Mumbler Emeritus and rearrange to name what Obama may soon be experiencing, also a 1957 hit by Eddie Cochran.

Summertime Blues

Blankety Blank Blank

Q:


In each statement, select a word to fill in the first blank.  Add a letter to the first word without changing the order to get the second blank.  Add one letter to the second word to get the third blank, again without changing the order.

For safety's sake, an Olympic diver must blank on the pool crew to take care of the blank.  And when the pool crew turned on the water, that part blank.


Olympic swimmers must blank on perfect timing in order to win the blank. Sadly, they knew there'd be no medals when they saw the blank.


When spectators blank lost in the downtown blank, they will likely need help finding the blank.


In the blank, the Olympian tried to blank everything so as not to seem blank to the crowd.

When the runner from Papua New Guinea won the blank, the commentator said, "He's wearing that blank like a proud papa."  Quite an appropriate blank I think.

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spcbrass

A:


Depend, deep end, deepened
Rely, relay, replay
Are, area, arena
Ring, bring, boring
Mile, smile, simile