ARAB TIMES, FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015
LEISURE
37
C 2012 The New
York Times, distributed by The
New York Times
Syndicate
Scratch pad
odds ’n’ ends
LOS ANGELES:
Susan Tran looks up as she takes a photo of a communal web of different species of spiders that has emerged at Lakeside Park South on Aug 12, in Rowlett, Texas. Officials with the Texas A&M AgriLife
Extension Service say that the spiders are basically harmless and there’s no need to do anything, other than to just appreciate the communal nest. The sprawling spider web at the Dallas-area park has
attracted thousands of insects and the attention of people curious about arachnids. (AP)
Conceptis Sudoku
Challenger
The grid must be so completed that every row, column and
3x3 box has every digit from 1 to 9 inclusive.
By Steve Becker
DIRECTIONS:
Fill each square
with a number, one
through nine.
■ Horizontal
squares should add
to totals on right.
■ Vertical squares
should add to totals
on bottom.
■ Diagonal squares
through center
should add to total
in upper and lower
right.
Yesterday’s solution
THERE MAY BE
MORE THAN ONE
SOLUTION.
Answer to yesterday’s puzzle
contract b r i d g e
Today’s Challenge
Time 5 Minutes
32 Seconds
Your Working
Time __ Minutes
__ Seconds
Word by Word
Piper
Zamaar
He who pays the piper can call the tune.
Man yanqod al zamaar yastateei an yafred alaihi
al lahn.
Numbers
6947
Six thousand nine hundred
and forty-seven
Setat alaaf wa teso maah
wa sabah wa arbaoun
Pet owners are
now spending more money on
pampering their pets at highamenity hotels.
When Boris and Anastasia
vacation, they prefer to stay in a
deluxe three-story suite, dine on
tuna mackerel and lobster consommÈ, and spend their time on
an iPad.
The Russian blue cats spend a
few days to a couple of weeks at
Morris Animal Inn in Morristown,
New Jersey, when their owners go
out of town. And it’s pretty clear to
owner Shannon Muller that her
cats get more indulgences at the
hotel than at home.
The luxury and the costs vary
widely at kitty resorts, but all cater
to cats that are no longer left at
home without care. These days,
they’re getting the same out-oftown treatment as dogs while people emphasize pet care and cats
become more popular with help
from online videos and TV specials.
Morris Animal Inn started boarding cats in the 1980s with a basic
enclosure, litter and food. It
expanded its services because pet
parents are treating their cats and
dogs more like family and
demanding specialized and customizable services, said Joann
Morris, vice-president and coowner.
The most popular is the Purrfect package, built for the most
active animals, which gives cats
lots of personal attention, five-star
fare and even a running wheel that
looks like a large hamster wheel.
They also get plenty of time to play
with toys, climb ropes, create art
on iPads by pawing at the screen,
listen to classical music and snack
on catnip.
Kitty TV is always tuned to
something cats like to watch: butterflies, balls, birds. Once they’re
tired, they head back to their threestory suites for a snooze. The
rooms offer a birds-eye view of the
lobby through clear plastic, wide
window seats and soft pillows.
Older cats or those who like to
laze can get cheaper packages
with more sleep time, fewer activities and a premium bed. But
everyone gets maid service and
daily brushing.(AP)
❑ ❑ ❑
SKOPJE, Macedonia: The mystery of a baby baboon abducted
from Skopje’s zoo had a bittersweet resolution: A mother says
she stole it as a gift for her deaf
son.
The 26-year-old woman told
Dnevnik newspaper took that she
lifted Luka, an 18-month-old crowd
favorite, as a belated birthday
present for her 7-year-old son. The
woman said frequent visits to the
zoo in Macedonia’s capital had left
her boy “in love with the monkey.”
She was not identified in line with
Macedonian regulations concerning suspects.
Police said Luka was taken
Tuesday by two people who cut
nets at his enclosure. He was rescued about four hours later. Two
people have been charged with
burglary-related offences. (AP)
❑ ❑ ❑
WASHINGTON: US officials say
five critically endangered Cuban
crocodiles have hatched at the
National Zoo’s Reptile Discovery
Center.
Officials said Wednesday that
the crocodiles hatched between
July 29 and Aug 7. Officials say the
crocodiles’ mother, Dorothy, laid
24 eggs May 12, and 10 were fertile. Officials say those were
moved to an incubator, and half of
the eggs developed during the
entire gestation period.
Officials say crocodile embryos
develop into a male or female
crocodiles depending on the incubating temperature of the eggs.
Keepers kept the eggs at a temperature range to hatch males as
part of a survival plan for the
species, but it is too early to definitively determine the crocodiles’
sex. (AP)