Good afternoon, Rusty!
I have just checked on Lassie...
Still no picture, but at least now there is an explanation and an apology.
A half measure!
I thought the crossword reasonably straightforward today?
I think I have parsed all the clues correctly.
I came cross a new phrase ......."hop the twig"....... meaning to peg out or die.
The answer was easy enough to get from the parsing, but the expression was a "foreign" one to me!
I suppose this is just an equivalent of "fall off his perch"?
I had to think what Longfellow had written.......of course it was about Hiawatha, wasn't it?
And "Paul Revere's Ride".
Our rain didn't stay away for long ...it is all wet again here!
Never mind....... wellies and raincoat to the fore...........
I shall marsh the troops..... and we shall all go for a walk!