double cross  First recorded in 1834 from thieves' slang cross (or on the cross) to refer to something dishonest, a play on straight/square: a crook going back on his partners would therefore be crossing the crossers, or double-crossing. 

verb  double-cross (third-person singular simple present double-crosses, present participle double-crossing, simple past and past participle double-crossed)

To betray or go back on; to deceive someone after having gained their trust and led them to believe that they were being aided.  (plant breeding, animal breeding) 

noun  double-cross (plural double-crosses)  An instance of betrayal of one who had been led to believe that the betrayer was assisting them.  (plant breeding, animal breeding)  The hybrid product of double-crossing.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/double-cross#:~:text=Etymology,crossers%2C%20or%20double%2Dcrossing.

Succotash recipe  Prep Time:  15 mins  Cook Time:  30 mins  Servings:  6  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25269/succotash/  Easy version:  combine cans of corn and lima beans.  Serve hot or cold.    

Favorite books read by The Muser in 2024:  Radetzky March (1933) by Joseph Roth, translated from the German by Geoffrey Dunlop 

Talent (2019) by Juliet Lapidos

The Boys in the Boat (2013) by Daniel James Brown 

The Mystery of the Smoldering Mattress:  A Nancy Drouillard Mystery   (Nancy Drouillard Mysteries) (2023) by Kathryn Crabtree 

Lessons in Chemistry (2022) by Bonnie Garmus

When We Meet Again (2016) by Kristin Harmel 

The Stationery Shop (2019) by Marjan Kamali 

Need to Know (2018) by Karen Cleveland    

Joseph Radetzky, a veteran of Marengo, Wagram and other smoky battles of the Napoleonic wars, of the military glories of the now defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire.  He lived to be over 90.  For years he fought the red-tape artists who taught that military science, like the Rock of Ages, never changed.  But the Radetzky March played on.  It is one of the devices by which Joseph Roth manages to bind together his study of the disintegration of an empire, "Radetzky March."  Through the novel the two-four military time keeps its beat, but at the close the feet of the marchers are lagging, and many are out of step.  Francis Joseph himself is dead; and the wind sown by Gavril Princip, who murdered the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to Francis Joseph's throne, is about to blow down the flimsy structure of the monarchy.    John Chamberlin  https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/10/31/specials/roth-march.html?module=inline    

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2886  December 16, 2024