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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, Ju ly 23 ,2 02 0 | 4 Check out the answers on page 5 Like puzzles? Then you'll love sudoku. This mind-bending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off, so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test! Here's How ItWorks: Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle! Cr oss wo rd & Su do ku CLUES ACROSS 1. Popular musical awards show 5. Speech in one's honor 11. A state of poor nutrition 14. Not ingested 15. More lacking in taste 18. "Popeye" cartoonist 19. Helps to reduce speed 21. January 1 greeting (abbr.) 23. Georgian currency 24. Proverb expressing a truth 28. Jewish calendar month 29. Volume measurement 30. Fair-skinned 32. Patti Hearst's captors 33. Have already done 35. Touch lightly 36. Autonomic nervous system 39. Plant part 41. College degree 42. Military alliance 44. Tokyo's former name 46. Carpenter's tool 47. Before 49. Consent to receive 52. Passages 56. The Duke of Edinburgh 58. Utter repeatedly 60. Linked together in a chain 62. Quality that evokes pity 63. Maintained possession of CLUES dOWn 1. U.S. military school 2. Controls 3. Away from wind 4. Grab quickly 5. Being everlasting 6. Vase 7. Atomic #3 8. Type of medication 9. Encircle with a belt 10. Belonging to you 12. American state 13. City in Zambia 16. Good Gosh! 17. Of the country 20. Helsinki district 22. 36 inches 25. Reporters' group 26. The voice of Olaf 27. Explains in detail 29. Tooth caregiver 31. One point south of due east 34. Scottish river 36. Elsa's sister 37. Civil Rights group 38. Line of poetry 40. Doctor 43. Fatty acid 45. Avatar (abbr.) 48. Awe-inspiring garden 50. Fall down 51. Rock icon Turner 53. Asian country (alt. sp.) 54. UK museum network 55. Stairs have at least one 57. Part of (abbr.) 58. Simpson trial judge 59. Sun up in New York 61. Exclamation of surprise For comic book fans like me, Carry-On Comics and Books in uptown Waterloo has long been an essential local haunt. "But we weren't an es- sential business, so we were closed for two months due to COVID-19," said Andy Brast, owner of Carry-On. "I couldn't do curbside pickup and I couldn't do de- livery, so I just came into the store everyday and cleaned, rearranged things, put all my personal comics in or- der and now I'm selling them." Brast added, "I wanted a lot of fresh comics facing out when I reopened as there was no new product coming in at all." Carry-On opened back up at the end of May with new store hours and safety measures, like no opening of back issue comics and graphic novel bags, physi- cal distancing markers, and allowing only two custom- ers in the store at any one time. "We have also set aside Fridays for 'By Appoint- ment Only' shopping, where customers can call ahead to book a 15- or 30-minute time slot," said Brast. As a longtime collector of classic and controversial horror comics of the 1950s, I was thrilled to pick up two anthologies at an amazing price when I recently walked into Carry-On after several months. "The reopening has been phenomenal," said Brast. "Our customers are very re- spectful and nobody has had to wait outside the store longer than five or six min- utes." Selling mostly new and used comics, Brast first used his own personal col- lection to stock his store shelves more than a quar- ter-century ago. "We're a small store and we can weather this storm," he said. "I feel bad for the busi- nesses that don't make it. Temporary money from the government is awesome and I respect Justin Tru- deau for doing that very much, but now we have to get that money back. Some of us have to be open and work, but I'll look around uptown and I don't see any- one open besides myself, the weed store, and the banks." I told Brast how much I missed Free Comic Book Day this spring, an annual event my family always looks forward to that helps bring new readers to inde- pendent comic stores across North America. "Yes, Free Comic Book Day is toast," he said. "I don't see it happening for a year, maybe a year and a half, because having that size of a crowd coming into the store is an impossibility for now." The simple joy of brows- ing the shelves of a favourite shop is one many of us took for granted. As always, you don't fully appreciate some- thing until it goes away. All of us have important roles to play for the foresee- able future to avoid a dan- gerous backslide, and the act of browsing may never be quite the same. But as some of our favou- rite places and pastimes emerge from lockdown, it's up to the rest of us to re- sponsibly enjoy, not squan- der, this new lease on sim- ple pleasures. Carry-On Comics and Books is located at 32 King St. N. in Waterloo. Marshall Ward is a free- lance writer and artist. Check out his award-win- ning podcast "Bonn Park" with Sara Geidlinger on- iTunes, Instagram and Twitter @bonnparkpod- cast and Facebook: Bonn Park Podcast. OPINION 'WE'RE A SMALL STORE AND WE CAN WEATHER THIS STORM' THE SIMPLE JOY OF BROWSING THE SHELVES OF A FAVOURITE SHOP IS ONE MANY OF US TOOK FOR GRANTED, WRITES MARSHALL WARD MARSHALL WARD Column Andy Brast, owner of Carry-On Comics and Books in uptown Waterloo. Marshall Ward Photo