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Good afternoon, Rusty!
I hope you enjoyed your outing with the granddaughters?
I have more or less done all my cleaning and tidying ready for the family arrivals!
Although my efforts most probably will all go completely unnoticed by the time the boys have surged in with armfuls of games and "dumped" them down in the middle of the lounge!
We have a lot of toys and board games already here...so you can picture the ensuing disorder!
All good fun, though!
I have done the Times Cryptic and the Jumbo General Knowledge puzzles - those will do me for today!
Just two to parse in the 15 x 15....but I have not given up yet!
As usual, I found Saturday's crossword much quicker to do than the weekday ones!

Hello, Elle!
We had a fine time, thank you.
I found the puzzle fairly straightforward, but took a while to nail the parse for 8a to my satisfaction!
All done now.
It is a fine day here, now, but a tad cooler, than of late!

Hi, Rusty!
It is good to hear you all had a good time!
Now there isn't an 8 across ?
Did you mean 8 down?
The ones I cannot parse are :
4d: I have "natural gas" = "fuel"
but cannot parse the rest of the clue?
and 11a: I have "under wraps" = "hidden"
but cannot see why?
I learned today that GOP means Grand Old Party (Republicans)
I never knew that!
My favourites were 3d and 16a.

Hello, Elle!
Good golly! I meant 16a!
I have just texted photos to the wrong person, so am having a field of senior moments!
4d, The astronomer I am fairly sure is Sagan (Carl?)
Definitely not Peter Sagan!
Anyway it is "Sagan", around "LA "(Los Angeles) and "rut"/routine, reversed.
11a, To be heard/sounds like, "under raps"/not knocking loudly enough.
Hidden can mean "under wraps".
I knew the GOP.
And GOM is the grand old man, Gladstone!

Hi, Rusty!
Welcome to my world!
I think it's only time to worry, though, when "senior" moments become "senile" ones!
4d is a good clue - I can see that, now you have explained it to me!
Now 11a, yes, I got that "under wraps" meant "hidden", but entirely missed the homophone of "raps".
I understand it now, thank you!
16a melange = mixed collection (def)
anagram of "male " round "elan" (style) and eg (reversed)
I liked that one!
( I didn't know GOM either ?)
I am just going out with the dog whilst the sun is shining.......

Hello, Elle!
16.
I had "male" as an anagram giving me "mela" but got stuck.
Then back to the drawing board and eventually got it.
Carl Sagan among many other things was involved with Project Blue Book, and CETI (Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence.)
A very clever lad!
I came across GOM a long time ago, but had no idea who the Grand Old Man was!
This is the beauty of crossword puzzles, Elle, you learn stuff as you go on.

Good evening, Rusty!
Home again!
We now have the most beautiful evening for the Athletics.
It has become much warmer, too, as the day has developed.
I am looking forward to my evening's viewing, and to the last day tomorrow......it has been a great week, hasn't it?
BB attends an Athletics class on Saturday mornings, so he has become very interested in the World Championships!
He was further inspired by our visit "in the flesh" to the London Stadium!
It is good to see youngsters taking an active interest in sport.

Hello, Elle!
I have EuroSport on, listening to Jonathan Edwards.
His world record still stands.
He has done very well since he teamed up with EuroSport.
No Tina Maze with him, though!
That's skiing, cycling, and athletics, he covers now!
I have written down the times of the events I am interested in.
Not watching it all.
That's good BB is getting into athletics.
A very good idea getting him involved.
I had Madeira cake and custard for tea.

Hi, Rusty!
I have been doing something similar.......reading my book, and watching the events I am especially interested in....just to give my eyes a rest from constantly watching the television!
I am rather sad that Mo did not take the Gold....but that is life!
Edris is a worthy winner.
And I am glad that Sally Pearson won the 100m hurdles!
So good to see her do so well after her bad wrist injury, and other problems.
Surprisingly Kenny Harrison was out of the medals.
I hope we do well in the relays.......fingers crossed.....

Hello, Elle!
Poor Mo, just was not to be.
The relay girls did well.
And Sally Pearson was super!
I have been watching on my Chromebook.
I find it best choosing my events I am interested in only.
Just have two events to look at tomorrow.
Now it is Bolt time!