The Friends of the Hollow Elm Branch Library, Inc.

The Cornerstone Crossword

A modest puzzle about the corner of Maple & Verdugo
No. 17 · the may issue · two cents, gladly

From Miss Whittaker's Desk

Dear puzzlers,

This month's offering returns us to the corner of Maple & Verdugo — that crossing−place between two perfectly nice streets where, when one stops and counts up, an awful lot of our town's small history seems to have happened. I went down with my notebook three times this week. The traffic light is still the same shade of yellow it was when I was small. The crosswalk paint is curling at the edges in a way I find personally relatable.

"Slow remembering is what we are for." — from the 1971 charter, page 4.

You will notice the puzzle below provides no solution. This is on purpose. After the Frances Pomeroy Affair of February, the committee voted six−to−one to withhold answer keys, on the reasoning that an answer key spoils the slow remembering. The dissenting vote was Beatrice. Beatrice is correct, often, but not this time.

A second note. We have been encouraged, more than once, to illustrate these issues with the softly−glowing cartoon paintings that everyone's grand−nephews keep producing on their telephones. We have declined. The photograph below is real, and was taken last Wednesday at half past three with a camera, and the corner is also real, although the names on the bronze plaque have weathered to the point of being slightly imaginary.

Warmly,
L. Whittaker, puzzle compiler emerita

The corner from the southwest, last Wednesday, half past three. The pole on the right is the 1949 original; you can tell by the small dent.
Maple & Verdugo, looking northeast from the bakery awning. The dent on the lamp−pole is from the 1962 ice storm.

The Puzzle

Across

  1. 1. Color the bakery awnings were re−painted in 1962, after the Holstrom sisters bought out their uncle. (4)
  2. 5. What the streetcar conductors called the curve approaching the corner, per the 1949 reunion booklet. (4)
  3. 9. Dr. Petraco's establishment, northeast corner, opened June 1903; the apothecary's bottles are still in the basement. (9)
  4. 11. What the W.P.A. crews laid in '32, replacing the cobble; visible still under the eastern crosswalk. (9)
  5. 12. The street tree species that gave the town its name; singular. (3)
  6. 13. What Frank's Five−and−Dime kept just inside the front door, in a tilted wooden ___. (5)
  7. 14. How the pharmacist greeted Mrs. Holm each Tuesday morning, per her 1928 diary; she kept a tally. (4)
  8. 16. What was painted on the new crosswalk in 2019, in town colors. (4)
  9. 17. The 1887 trough's intended client, four−footed. (5)
  10. 19. The pleased note in our minute books when a clue lands well. (3)
  11. 20. The corner's lone traffic light, installed August 1949 — the town's only one for fourteen years. (9)
  12. 22. The 1989 establishment that took over Frank's spot, with the sleepy tabby on the windowsill. (9)
  13. 23. Tea Miss W. keeps in her tartan thermos at committee; she will share, if asked, sometimes. (4)
  14. 24. What the bell at the Lutheran chapel two blocks east does, on the hour, faithfully. (4)

Down

  1. 1. Verdugo's first mayor, served 1856–1862; surname per the (badly weathered) bronze plaque on the post office. (9)
  2. 2. The annual May procession the Friends hold past the corner; with hats; rain or shine. (9)
  3. 3. Architectural style of the drugstore's second−floor bay window; per the 1981 walking tour pamphlet, page 6. (9)
  4. 4. Sound the resident pigeon (1971, q.v., forty−one days) was known to make in the early hours, from the lamp. (3)
  5. 5. Petraco's bay window was a stained ___ in a peacock pattern; long lost; the committee mourns it still. (5)
  6. 6. Miss W.'s cardigan color, per the 1971 committee photograph in the foyer; two words run together. (9)
  7. 7. The 1989 bookstore's first proprietor, surname; my cousin, second remove, by marriage. (9)
  8. 8. The bookstore cat at present, full registry name (named for the planet with the rings). (9)
  9. 10. What the doorbell of the drugstore did each time a customer entered, per E. Tomms' apprentice poem (1934). (3)
  10. 15. The W.P.A. brick's color, per the 1991 restoration committee's notes; a warm earthen ___. (5)
  11. 18. The day of the week the streetcar once−only failed to arrive, per the 1942 incident log. (3)
  12. 21. The knit pattern in Miss W.'s gloves; you may ask, she will explain at length, this is fine. (3)

The Jar on the Counter

We do not charge for the puzzle. We do, however, keep a small jam jar by the librarian's desk, for the photocopying fund and the occasional new ribbon for the typewriter.

the jar is empty.

(the jar accepts nickels only. it is also imaginary. we appreciate it just the same.)

The Cornerstone Crossword is composed at the kitchen table, set in the foyer, photocopied at the Branch, and stapled by hand on Sunday afternoons. Corrections, fond memories, and any reasonable recipe involving rhubarb may be sent to lenore.whittaker@hollowelm.us. (we still check the inbox on Fridays, between two and four.)

Photograph by Robert Boston on Unsplash · credit. The corner pictured is not, strictly, our corner. But it is somebody's corner, and that is what counts.

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