Monday, July 26, 2021, Tommy Pauly

Today's three theme answers are actions taken by a trio of performers trying to promote a JAZZ SHOW. The first member said he'd TOOTHISOWNHORN. I entered this one in pretty quickly having decided to switch to a "Downs First Approach" - or DFA, as it's called in the business - after reading the first clue. Despite the early get, and maybe because of the nearby CHEWY, when I looked at the answer again after completing the puzzle, I read it as "tooth is own horn," which might be a better sell for a circus side show, non? :) The second member of the trio said he'd PULLSOMESTRINGS and the third said she'd DRUMUPBUSINESS. NICEJOB in finding these three expressions that can do double time suggesting both playing instruments and promotional activities.

 Other answers that I thought had a real swing to them were "Make one giggle, say" (AMUSE), "Attired like Batman or Superman" (CAPED), and "Risky things for a car to run on" (FUMES) - as Horace can attest, I get nervous running on anything less than a full tick on the gas gauge! Fill-wise, I liked SEALEGS, DRAB, SLEW, LIEGE, and JAUNTS. ABYSS is a cool-looking word. OHIOU just looks odd. 

I don't take to an AROMA emitted by a bouquet. And, I'd like to respectfully request that we retire the word HAG.

For any Dear Readers who are following along at home, I have a Harry Potter update. I recently embarked on the seventh and final volume of the series. It's been interesting to re-read these books after so many years. I had forgotten a lot of the lesser plot elements. As Philbo put it so succinctly a couple of weeks ago, the books get more interesting and darker as they go along. 

~Frannie.