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Good evening, Elle!
Been lovely weather here!
Did your friend get home OK?
I have had a fine day.
My son was here and has just gone home.
Had a nice chat, with the golf from St Louis on in the background.

Hi, Rusty!
That's good you had a great time with your son.....chatting in person is good.
Yes, my friend arrived home okay...she did get caught up in some traffic, but texted me eventually to say she was back safely.
And the dog's owners arrived to collect her about 6.15 pm......so didn't too badly.
The cat has come off duty now, and is relaxing on the sofa!
BB had a mishap at school and ended up in A & E, with slight damage to his eye.
Fortunately, just a slight scratch on the eyeball, which prompt treatment of antibiotics will assuage.
There will luckily be no lasting effects, which is a great relief to us all, as you can imagine.
Are you still watching golf?

Good morning, Elle!
Fine morning, here.
Poor BB!
But seems he has had prompt medical attention and that's the main thing!
They are a worry at that age...and older!
I was not so keen on the golf.
Unusual format. Seems to be teams of two players.
Saw one of my favourite players, Jim Furyk, though, who I have not seen for a while.
He is going along nicely.
And there was a large crocodile/alligator in the water, at the edge of the lake!
Not quite like St Andrews!
I'm going to have an easy day today. No plans.

A Very Good morning to you, Rusty!
Fell dreich here...and set to be like this all day.
A muddy walk..... and a dirty dog!!
I have a few phone calls to make (one to my daughter to enquire after BB) and a couple of letters to write......but otherwise the day is my own.
I shan't be going out again till this afternoon.
Maybe today I shall get to finish the crossword!

Hi, Rusty!
Well, it's been an eventful day...
I have actually accomplished far more than I set out to do!
I had a text from my daughter early this morning, just after I'd spoken to you.
She is at the office, and BB at school.
He says his eye hurts still - but then I guess it will for a time - but she has been assured it will be fine.
YB is under threat of chickenpox........it is going around nursery and his best friend has just gone down with it!
Rain is pelting down here.....I think we shall forgo the walk.......
How are things with you?
Have you done your puzzle?

Hello, Elle!
Boys will be boys, and they recover from their escapades!
Been a fine day here!
Laura Muir has tweeted she has finished her course and her finals are in two weeks!
Yes, I have completed my puzzle.
15d, I have not heard of!
And I can't parse 16d with regards to Tennyson.
Maybe to do with a poem or something.
Quite a good puzzle though.

Hi, Rusty!
I have completed today's puzzle but cannot say that I was comfortable with it.
There are two I cannot parse.....
5d: for which I have "sea level" and 7d: energised
I cannot see the entire parsing for either clue?
I had difficulty at first with 15d: "Mao jacket", as I wanted "Mao" to be "revolutionary"......
I eventually settled on "team" (reversed) - company
o - old
jack - sailor
Is this what you have?
Now 16d: "crossbar"..........Yes, Tennyson wrote a poem called "Crossing the Bar"
My daughter has just phoned on her way home from work...... all seems to be well at her end.

Hello, Elle!
5d, the banks are "levees", raised = reversed, around "a l(ake)".
Yes, I have the same as you for "Mao jacket", which I have not heard of!
I do not know any poems, but I know that Tennyson was a poet.
I never could see the point of poetry!
"Crossbar" was the only word I could fit in!
Good you have heard from your daughter and all is well!

Hi, Rusty!
Ah, thank you for that!
I had "sea level" as the answer, but could not see how this came about.....
I never thought of "levees"!
A clever clue...thank you for explaining it to me.
I do not know the poem that was mentioned in the clue...only its title and that Tennyson wrote it.
The only Lord Tennyson poem that I can recall - not word for word, but the story - is "The Lady of Shalott".
It is still wet here....and the forecast says we shall have cold and rain until Thursday next week!
I hope you are not in for the same miserable outlook?

Good evening, Elle!
"Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry."
"American Pie" by Don McLean, that's how I knew "levee"!
You know one more Tennyson poem than me!
I wonder why he was called Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and not Lord Alfred Tennyson?
There will be a reason, perhaps?
My weather outlook for the next few days is not too bad.
Katie Walsh rode a winner for Willie Mullins at Punchestown this evening, then announced her retirement.
Ah, well! Katie was a favourite of mine.
Willie praised her to the heavens!