Crossword Puzzle

ACROSS 1. Design detail, for short 5. High ranking Turk 10. Furor 15. Des Moines neighbor 19. Dorothy’s pet 20. Of lofty peaks 21. Spiral shape 22. Philippine knife 23. Wow 24. Ache 25. Catkin 26. — Rachel Wood 27. Start of a quip by Ricky Gervais: 5 wds. 31. Trounces 32. Earn 33. A Golden Girl 34. Bourgeon 37. Outward, medically speaking 40. German philosopher 42. Extinct ratite 45. Sully 46. Skeptic’s demand 47. Aka Anna Mae Bullock 48. — owl 49. One more 51. Part 2 of quip: 4 wds. 54. The Venerable — 55. Hat 57. Entertainment award 58. Public tantrum 59. Jumper 60. Rage 61. Part of N.B. 63. By fits and — 64. Part 3 of quip: 3 wds. 68. Trig. function 72. Grammatical gaffe 73. Bleat 74. Ott and Brooks 78. Fruit of a vine 79. Imprison 81. Statute: Abbr. 82. Settled on a branch 83. Part 4 of quip: 4 wds. 88. Stray 90. Maid 91. Winged 92. Like a bog 94. Extra- opposite 95. Dir. letters 96. Growl 97. Penobscot River town 98. Hold dear 99. — Scott 101. Hydro 102. — del Este 104. End of the quip: 5 wds. 111. Hard palate 112. Sternness 113. Painting on dry plaster 114. Zilch 117. Organic material 118. Place of assembly 119. EU nation 120. Always 121. Kind of loser 122. Wagons 123. Cyber Monday events 124. Cold and wet DOWN 1. Peter and Paul: Abbr. 2. Crock 3. Ornamental case 4. Faced 5. Money received 6. Indigenous Alaskan 7. Considerably less dense 8. Ritts or Alpert 9. — urbis conditae 10. Sought 11. Send payment 12. Festivals 13. Pizzazz 14. Superficial 15. Aids and — 16. Producer of a kind 17. — vital 18. Golden oldie 28. Juvenile 29. State of confusion 30. Kindergartner 34. Attempts 35. Auto body part 36. — — Janeiro 38. Demure

39. Besides 40. New Zealander 41. English queen 43. Female figure in art 44. Stakes 46. Last king of Troy 47. “Ain’t Too Proud — —” 48. — Raton 50. Fairylike 52. Cake fried in fat 53. Bone: Prefix 56. Old bug bane 61. Instruct 62. Years upon years 63. Specter 64. Kind of glider 65. — the Horrible 66. Cable network 67. Delayed 68. Pretty large 69. Broadcast anew 70. Private (Hyph.) 71. Oodles 74. Affirmed 75. Make joyous 76. British measure 77. Momentum 79. A beverage 80. Remotely 84. Aromatic resin 85. — Gail Winfrey 86.— Speedwagon 87. Place near Okla. 89. Prospect 93. Current 96. Sparkly thing 97. Some compositions 98. Relishes 100. Common weapon 101. Shot of booze 103. “— Vanya” 104. An Olympian 105. Forbidden thing: Hyph. 106. Start for byte or watt 107. — Stravinsky 108. Egyptian goddess 109. Beyond: Prefix 110. — lamp 115. Place of iniquity 116. Boat WISH FULFILLMENT Check the Ladue News classifieds for the solution

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Winning submissions will receive $250 and be featured monthly in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and on STLtoday.com.

By Alecia Humphreys | Photos courtesy of Mighty Oakes Heart Foundation

Greg and Becky Ortyl’s tiny but mighty son, Oakes Lee Ortyl, was born in 2011 with a congenital heart defect. “Prior to his arrival, we knew very little about congenital heart defects and the community surrounding this group of kids,” Becky Ortyl says. “But, of course, as soon as he was born, we dove headfirst into all things congenital heart defects.” At just 3 months old, Oakes Ortyl underwent his second open-heart surgery and was struggling with recovery.

“His doctors were able to determine that he had pulmonary vein stenosis, which there is no cure for,” Becky Ortyl says. “The only way to do it is to do a double lung transplant.” To prepare for the transplant, Becky Ortyl says her family had to go through a series of meetings at St. Louis Children’s Hospital to become educated about the surgery and its statistical outcome.

“A lot of children don’t make it 6 months after the surgery,” she adds. “It’s just a really risky, intense, invasive surgery. In the whole process, they suggested we do a little fundraising so that we would have a little bit of an emergency fund.”

Despite some hesitancy, Becky Ortyl says she and her husband decided to establish The Mighty Oakes Heart Foundation and allowed close friends to host a two-day golf tournament and dinner auction on their behalf. The result: $100,000. “The contact at the hospital said $30,000 would be a crazy amount of money for us to raise,” Becky Ortyl says. “By this time, we were really, truly living in the hospital with Oakes, and he, post-surgery, was really sick, really fragile. Then once he received his new lungs, he immediately started rejecting them.” Becky Ortyl says it took 6 months before Oakes stabilized, and during those 6 months, friendships had formed within Children’s Hospital.

“There were so many families where mom was here in St. Louis with a sick kid, and dad was back in Wisconsin with three other kids trying to work and shuffle the kids around,” Becky Ortyl says. “Families that their insurance company dropped them, and all of a sudden, they’re just trying to figure out how they’ll afford meds for their children. We were just introduced to this community that was facing an endless list of challenging circumstances beyond just having a sick child. Despite the fact that Oakes was so sick, we were so aware that we were just so blessed and so lucky.”

Becky Ortyl says she also became increasingly aware of the $100,000 sitting in a bank account.

“We just couldn’t imagine what would happen where we’d need that money more than the people around us,” she explains. “So we were just secretly handing out cash to families struggling financially, and then finally, a social worker came to me and was like, ‘You’ve got to stop this.’”

Becky Ortyl says this led to the foundation’s grant application process and then an official website.

“It has just organically grown in real, incremental ways over the last nine year s,” Becky Ortyl says.

Today, Becky Ortyl serves full-time as The Mighty Oakes Heart Foundation’s executive director in memory of her sweet son, alongside a team of two employees – Julie O’Toole and Elisabeth DeVille – and a crew of countless volunteers. Its mission is to support families of children born with congenital heart defects in financial ways, emotional ways and ways unique to their needs.

“The goal, the outcome, our vision is that families who have children with heart defects have the freedom to remain a family and have hope in the chaos,” Becky Ortyl says. “Our hope is that by paying these bills, we are alleviating some stress from the parents’ or caregivers’ life and allowing them to just show up in the hospital, and be with their kids during their stressful hospitalization.” Last year alone, The Mighty Oakes Heart Foundation aided more than 70 families across the U.S. – something Becky Ortyl says might result in the foundation’s transition from a family foundation into a nationally recognized nonprofit.

“A lot of the work that we do is in the Midwest, but we help families every month who are from coast to coast,” she says. “If a family who has a kid with a heart defect reaches out to us, and they qualify for assistance, we don ’t say no. We help them. I don’t know of another organization like us that’s doing exactly what we are doing in this congenital heart space, so it’s really exciting.”

On Friday, March 6, the foundation will host its largest fundraiser of the year, A Mighty Night, in hopes of raising $650,000 toward its cause.

“This foundation has just been this tremendous outlet,” Becky Ortyl says. “It has been a way to help me grieve, and it has been a way to honor him. It’s been a way to teach his sisters about his life. It has been a way to stay connected to this community of congenital heart families.

“I think for years, I was in a fog. I was doing it because I didn’t know what else to do. Now I don’t feel like I need it, but I want it. I really love what it has turned into and what it has done for me. I’ve needed it, and it has needed me.”

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DINNER & A SHOW 48

FEATURE: ST. LOUIS SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA 51

ART AND SOUL 54

Love “smashed” burgers and loaded fries? If so, make a beeline for a bite and maybe a brew, too, to Jack Nolen’s, a neighborhood bar and grill that launched last December in St. Louis’ Soulard neighborhood. The moniker of the new eatery – which comes from brothers Jim and Ryan Grindstaff, with their mother, Patti – combines the names of the siblings’ sons. The two also own a pair of the franchised Jefferson’s Restaurant in Belleville and Mascoutah, and Jim Grindstaff owns and runs a seasoning venture, Grindstaff Rub Company, also in Belleville.

“We wanted to do something a bit different than what we’ve known, which is huge menus and tons of options,” Jim Grindstaff says. “It’s a streamlined concept with a small set of really awesome items.” With Jack Nolen’s, the sibs hope to bring their own spin on the classic American smashed burger to St. Louis. Jim Grindstaff previously hosted the burger blog Cheeseburger Central and spent several years researching and creating his ideal burger blend. Jack Nolen’s fills the roughly 1,100 square feet previously occupied by Good Luck Bar & Grill, with around 27 seats inside and an additional 49 on the patio. New décor includes classic St. Louis Cardinals photos and branded signage. Customers can place orders at a designated window and have their food brought to them, with full service also available at the bar.

The house burger blend comprises a 4-ounce smashed patty made of short rib, brisket and chuck. Customers can order it as a single, double or triple, dressed however they like and served on a buttery

By Mabel Suen

toasted potato roll from Martin’s Famous Pastry Shoppe of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Available toppings include lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and “style” sauce, Jim Grindstaff’s take on Thousand Island dressing (also available in a spicy version).

Specialty fries, another menu highlight, feature shoestring fries with a variety of topping options. The “scattered” fries, for instance, come topped with shredded melted mozzarella and Italian seasoning, while the Bluetine salutes the St. Louis Blues and incorporates brown gravy, blue cheese crumbles and parsley.

Additional offerings include smoked deviled eggs as well as the Patti Melt, named after the Grindstaffs’ mother: a single-patty burger with melted Swiss and American cheeses, grilled onions and “style” sauce served on grilled marbled rye. Potstickers from

Story: In 1996, the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra lands in Tel Aviv, Israel, to perform a concert in the Israeli city of Petah Tikvah. Unfortunately, a ticket-taker at the bus station mistakes band member Haled’s pronunciation of Petah Tikvah for Bet Hatikva, and instead sells him tickets to that desolate locale.

When the orchestra arrives in Bet Hatikva, its members search for directions to the Arab cultural center. Café proprietor Dina, realizing the band to be in the wrong town, informs its conductor, Col. Tewfiq Zakaria, of that mistake. She tells him the next bus won’t appear until the following morning.

With no hotel to accommodate them, Dina offers to house some musicians at her place and convinces her employees, Papi and Itzik, to do likewise.

During the course of that day and night, as band members and locals mingle, they find they share many commonalities despite coming from different, and at times, mutually suspicious communities. Highlights: The Ba nd’s Visit, winner of 10 Tony Awards in 2018, is now playing at The Fabulous Fox Theatre in a wonderfully performed, highly engaging touring production that features both captivating music and a heartfelt story. Other Info: Based on a 1996 Israeli film of the same title, The Band’s Visit has its foundation in a Tony Award-winning book by Itamar Moses and Tony Award-winning music and lyrics by David Yazbek. Its 10 Tonys also included ones for Best Musical, Best

By Mark Bretz

Direction of a Musical and Best Orchestrations. Fine performances in this touring production abound, led by Janet Dacal as the earthy Dina, who finds herself attracted to the quiet, pensive Tewfiq, and by Sasson Gabay as the introspective Egyptian conductor, who gradually reveals his own troublesome family relationships.

Also starring are Pomme Koch as Itzik, Ronnie Malley as Camal and David Studwell as Avrum, who recalls for the Egyptian guests his lifelong love of music, which he shared with his late wife. Mike Cefalo also shines as Telephone Guy in the haunting number “Answer Me.“ Director David Cromer brings an appealing pace and compelling performances to the production. This is a delightfully unusual musical in the sense that there are extended, stand-alone instrumental riffs at intervals throughout the one-act, 90-minute performance. The Band’s Visit is refreshing, reaffirming and revelatory all at once, a beautiful blend of affecting story and infectious music invigoratingly performed. It’s a win-win-win situation for all, especially the audience. ln

Company: Touring Company Venue: The Fabulous Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd., St. Louis Dates: Through March 8 Tickets: $29 to $99; contact 314-534-1111 or metrotix.com Rating: A 4.5 on a sc ale of 1 to 5

St. Louis’ Crispy Edge are also available in original pork or plant-based lemongrass “chick’n.”

To drink, customers can choose from eight different draft beers, a selection of bourbons and whiskeys, or local products like Soulard Island Spirits, Stumpy’s Spirits and Jim Grindstaff’s own Grindstaff Rub Company bloody Mary mix – which should contribute to making Jack Nolen’s a convivial stop before enjoying The Band’s Visit at The Fabulous Fox Theatre.

“We’re excited to bring the ideas we dreamed up to people and see if they like it,” Jim Grindstaff says succinctly. ln