Crossword Nation Week Week 381 ODE TO AUTUMN

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Time: 9:46

I'm also enjoying the beginning of Autumn in Indiana so I immediately appreciated Liz Gorski's missive today. Have I mentioned that you should join me by making a Tuesday Tradition of Crossword Nation?

When I see "Paradise" singer, I go straight for John Prine, but I'm almost equally happy to see the slightly more crossword-friendly SADE. I'll save my eating ice cream with John Prine story for when he makes an actual appearance in a crossword.

I keep seeing SELA at the bottom of the grid and thinking Islamic Central Asia scholar Ron Sela? Oh, I've never seen TV's "FBI," so Sela Ward is more obscure in my mind.

The Falling LEAVES theme today took me a moment to parse, but now I'm seeing that the last word of the long downs are types of leaves, falling because they're Down answers, of course: SECOND BANANA, THE DOCK OF THE BAY, GILBERT GRAPE, and AFTER DINNER MINT. Another nice clean theme for your Tuesday. Before I started writing this blog, I probably wouldn't have taken the moment to figure out the theme, which is another reason I'm doing this blog in the first place.

I had not heard of KATARINA Witt, East German figuring skating gold medalist. She's just ever so slightly before my time, winning her medals in the 1984 and 1988 Winter Olympics.

"Sees what folks are saying?" for LIP READS is my favorite clue of the puzzle. 

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