To Live And Die In LAtte

I Did Prep Some Of These Earlier
Raw talented inspiration will only get you so far, after all.  I have at least four more before I need to think up some tortured puns for my amusement.  It may amuse you, or not - I really don't care because the important person around here is me*.
     Okay, let us crack on with NON-DESTRUCTIVE STEEL BOLT TESTING!
     Only joking.  Although with Destructive testing, I believe that some bolts are manufactured to be hollow, and filled with a substance that resembles blood - sorry, that ought to be BLOOD! - so that, when they break under stress, you can see where the failure starts and how it progresses.

 - and then there's Extremely Destructive Testing

     Okay, on with LITHIUM BATTER - ah - no, sorry, enthusiasm being trumped by memory.  On with Cryptic Crossword solutions.  "Literally, it has a very large population (11)".
     Conrad's mind naturally ran along lines of populous cities, of which I think the most populous is Mexico City, although this is liable to downward revision in the case of major earthquakes.  This didn't really fit.  Next to last letter - "A", so it might be one of the Ruffian cities that end in "-grad".
     Except, Conrad's mind being as sneaky and deceitful as a barrel full of Borgias, he pondered "Gulliver's Travels". 
     You are probably aware of Ol' Gullies outing in Lilliputia, where he was a giant amongst midgets.  Less well known is his visit to Brobdingnag, where he was a midget amongst giants.  At first he was mistaken for a "splacnuc", which is a species of performing animal.
     "So!" I crowed - and was grateful to get the clue, as the time was approaching midnight and I had a 6 ante meridian start - the answer is BROBDINGNAG."
     And it was.

RUN!  SAVE YOURSELVES!  IT'S CLARISSA THE CANNIBAL COMBAT CHICKEN!

     Here an aside.  GT is actually a work of political satire, with further visits to the land of the Hwynyms, who are a variety of intelligent horse with morals embarrassingly in advance of what I was delighted to term "ambulatory bags of vice" - that is, you humans.   Ol' Gullie also visits the flying city of New York, New York - no, wait a minute, that was "Earthman, Come Home" by sci-fi wizard James Blish, wasn't it?  Laputa!  That's it.  Laputa.  

Laputa.  Or New York.  Take your pick.

Being remembered as a book for children is unwise, as there is some material with a Tut factor present.
     Well!  There you go.  Not a bad Intro for 11 letters.  Let us now praise famous men, and throw the motley out of the window**.

"Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation"
Possibly not in the case of North and South Korea - although the Beeb, whom that quote belongs to, are actually beaming radio broadcasts to the benighted Norks.  Dunno what they consist of, although a cooking programme would probably cause mass rioting from the starving Northern hordes.
     Only slightly tangential, as it involves food, is Neptun Szprot. 
     No!  I said food, not an astronomical research probe sent to the outer limits of the Solar System - and in a faint nibble of the Coincidence Hydra, "Neptune" was an answer at the Pub Quiz last night - so perhaps an effort from our in-house coal-eating sloven is in order.  Art?

It means "Szprot"

Devil in the details

     My point here - and there is one! - is that the spelling and grammar could do with a mild dose of Applied Pedantry, and I am that Pedant.  I intend to write to them and have them correct the language.

Ah Now
I see on Twitter that the documentarian John Carpenter is going on tour in South Canada, and is enquiring if fans are going to come see him.
     Well, John, it's a bit of a commute, so I'm going to wait and see if you venture across the big water to the Allotment of Eden (it being dry today).

John at play
(a lot safer than making his films)

      I did go to see him last year, at the rather spartan Victoria Warehouse, which has the design ethos of a fall-out bunker.  I was canny enough to be near the head of the queue and then waited patiently at the front of the stage, so I got to see and hear everything, unlike the idle pikers who turned up late or who sloped off to the bar, and who filled the pages of the MEN for days afterwards with complaints.
     Tee hee!



*  You better remember that.
**  Don't worry, we're on the ground floor.