Fessing up to crossword mess up
Today’s first order of business: Fess up to a mess up and make amends.
The crossword on the front cover of April’s Traveler is missing some boxes. I found this out when I walked into Holliday Landing’s office at Wappapello Lake and found that owner Rod Howard had written answers off the edges of the puzzle. After taking a good natured beating, I figured out what happened.
Charlie Slovensky created the puzzle in Microsoft Excel. When I converted the Excel file to a PDF to export it into Traveler’s cover layout, I set the print area too small, dropping off two rows of boxes down the right side and one row across the bottom. My bad.
Here’s a link to the complete puzzle, in pdf and jpeg formats. Clues are on Page 20 of the April print issue. Here’s a link to the solution.
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Other than that, it’s been a good week in the Ozarks. The redbud blooms are so thick and heavy in southeast Missouri, it’s a wonder they don’t break off some branches. Why do they call it redbud? Most that I see are a vivid shade of lavender.
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I’m beginning to notice cars park along the road shoulders and folks staring at the earth at the edge of the woods. They may be morel hunters, but I haven’t stopped to ask. That’s not a subject anybody wants to discuss, until they’ve brought in their finds.
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The U.S. Highway 60 community of Ellsinore made the national news this week when a young man landed a stolen Cessna there that he had flown from Canada. Tracey Holden, executive director of the Ripley County Chamber of Commerce, lives near Ellsinore and said the F16s corralling the Cessna woke her.
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Had a nice visit with Ray Joe Haskins while I was in Doniphan. Ray Joe wholesaled me a couple of his books, Bow & River Gigs, to have available for our office visitors, then told me about good times he had competing in team canoe racing around Missouri. He says the annual canoe race at Doniphan has dwindled, but there’s a movement afoot (afloat?) to make a bigger event of it.
The Missouri River 340 has been held in July of the last two years. That’s the only other Missouri canoe race I know about. If you know of others, please drop me an email at estyron@rhtrav.com.
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Speaking of office visitors, we’ve had several since Traveler established digs at 21B Vance Road in Valley Park. The office is generally open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays and by chance at other times. We’d love to see you, if you’d like to stop by. Call ahead to make sure we’re in. The phone number is 800-874-8423.
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There’s a great deal of optimism about this year’s float season among canoe outfitters we’ve talked to this spring. The weather’s been great, especially compared to last spring’s floods, and several report that reservations are coming in at a healthy clip. Though the economy’s down, floating, fishing and camping are affordable family activities.
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That’s all for now. Have a great Easter weekend.
