The Stumper today was a tough one thanks to a bunch of fake-outs, obvious ones with BART for MATT (who knew that Matt Groenig's real parents were Marge and Homer?) and SHREK for FIONA, then I also wanted AEONS for "Long divisions" instead of FEUDS, and then the biggest hold-up was POCKETPARK for "Small space in big cities". We have a bunch of pocket parks in our neighborhood, of which our favorite is Greenacre Park with its artificial waterfall (though it's closed for the season at the moment). And obviously we do not care for the rich bastards with PIEDATERREs driving up rental prices...

Edward got to help with the LAT again, confirming the YALU River. Apparently it was an important battle site, so he had to memorize that one in school. I also enjoyed the LOCALCOLOR.

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Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
Stole a pig, and away did run;
The pig was eat
And Tom was beat,
And Tom went crying
Down the street.

The Saturday Stumper returns from vacation with a tough one, starting with remembering the "porcine plunderer's pop" from an old nursery rhyme. Then there was OTHER clued as "recently past," a sense it only has in phrases like "the other day." And TAE hiding Thomas Alva Edison, who unexpectedly is an inductee into the NJ Music Hall of Fame. And it's a bit weird to think of an NES as a VCR add-on. I was glad I knew that WNYC is an NPRSTATION. I did love "Ground force" for ONEG.

The LAT was fun, with HORSIES and a SILLYGOOSE.

#crossword #NewsdayXword #SaturdayStumper #LATxword