Pine Needler By Mart Dickerson

December Pine Needler

(There are four in this puzzle)

ACROSS

1. Fathers 5. Drain stopper 9. Builderʼs info 13. Fencing weapon 14. Money overseas 15. Value 16. Enviable 18. Hi in HI 19. The past 20. Poetic before 21. Sedimentary rock layers 23. Like a system of serfs and vassals 25. Understandable 27. “Buona ” (Italian good evening) 28. The best 29. Tarry gunk 30. Dermatologistʼs concerns 33. Hard as iron 36. The “Bard of Avon” 38. Capital of Canada 40. Malicious burning 41. Court 42. Bell 44. Concrete section 48. Paper department furniture 51. Creatures named for the number of arms they have 53. Mischievous pranks 54. It takes to tango 55. Spring mo. 56. American symbol 57. Stretched out 60. Asparagus unit 61. Radial, e.g. 62. Asian tongue 63. “Hey, over here!” 64. Fortune teller 65. mortals

DOWN

1. After-dinner coffee choices, often 2. High point 3. Gobble up 4. “Comprende?” 5. Necklace item 6. Garage job 7. www.yahoo.com, e.g. 8. Continues (2 wds.) 9. Kind of battery 10. Mentorʼs mentee 11. C2H5OH 12. When doubled, a dance 15. Ending with hard or soft 17. Oolong, for one 22. Requirements for some degrees 24. Russian country house 25. Czarist cavalryman 26. Cracker Jack bonus 28. Dined 31. Deviation 32. Figure-eight maker, perhaps 34. Chinese “way” 35. Artist Max 36. Places for your bags 37. Ace 38. Have 39. Boot reinforcements 43. Holdings 45. Detest 46. Enter the picture 47. One under on

Pinehurst No. 2 49. Comics sound 50. Big game 51. Dog tag datum 52. Gear wheel 54. Bolted 56. Clairvoyance, for short 58. Fib 59. Store convenience, for short

Puzzle answers on page 117

Mart Dickerson lives in Southern Pines and welcomes suggestions from her fellow puzzle masters. She can be reached at martaroonie@gmail.com.

Sudoku:

Fill in the grid so every row, every column and every 3x3 box contain the numbers 1-9.