KORN, UNTAG, and the conversational ARGH also make their NYT debuts today. A couple clues rubbed me the wrong way though: Good day, crossword lovers!
I also see that Erik is, to no one’s surprise, experimenting with grid design, placing a triple-stack of black squares at the top of the first column. Ben is off doing some neato things in Boston for the National Puzzlers League convention, so I hope you don’t mind me (Ade) filling in this week in talking about BEQ’s puzzle.
Smith 9788488242600 8488242603 Sombras de Lo Sagrado, Frances Vaughan 9783527319688 3527319689 Anti Base 2008 Sci Dex - The Natural Compound Identifier, Hartmut Laatsch 9781600072543 1600072542 Descubre, Nivel 1 - Lengua y Cultura del Mundo Hispnico - Student Workbook, Jose A.
Blanco, Philip Redwine Donley 9780195382952 0195382951 The String Quartets of Joseph Haydn, Floyd Grave, Margaret Grave 9781566642736 1566642736 Get Rufus!
My guesses started off good: I plunked down RUM RAISIN for [Popular ice cream flavor] at 1d off of just the R, avoiding the equally plausible ROCKY ROAD. IB at 31d, I went with RIB for [Chest protector], which cleverly turned out to be BIB. I also appreciated that most of the difficulty came from clever cluing rather than obscure answers. Speaking of clever cluing: What I didn’t know before I did this puzzle: that an ARM WRESTLER may sometimes be called a “puller.” Fun re-parsing theme today. I have only ever heard the word GOOK as an ethnic slur, so I was quite surprised to see it.
I also struggled a bit in the SW, where Stumperish clues like [Stripe] for SORT and [Nursery item] for TREE abounded. There’s one 13-letter entry crossing two 9-letter entries. The misdirection at 1a got me, even with the question mark. ] are not referring to sea captains or Starfleet captains. I noticed that ALTER EGO showed up as [Trusted friend]. That’s not the meaning I think of – ALTER EGO is Dr. Instructions are at 62a: [Boundaries, and a hint to the puzzle’s starred answers], that is, DIVIDERS, or re-parsed as the imperative DIVIDE R’S. Unfortunately, for the second day in a row, I’m going to have to award the Phelps DEATH STARE (see yesterday’s review) to an entry. When I google the word, the first page and half of hits are all with respect to this disparaging definition.
C., John Kinyon, John O' Reilly 9781433900365 143390036X Structures, Gerry Bailey 9781589012585 1589012585 Immortal - A Military History of Iran and its Armed Forces, Steven R.
Ward 9781432729028 1432729020 The Little Code of Laissez-Faire - 1444 Epigrams on Material Freedom, F L Light 9781437843361 1437843360 The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume X, Kuno Francke 9781846440243 1846440246 Used Ford Cougar (1998 - 2001) Buyer's Guide 9781423381938 1423381939 Samuel de Champlain - Explorer of the Great Lakes Region and Founder of Quebec, Josepha Sherman, Eileen Stevens 4038912221349 The Magic Kingdom 7890045304521 Um Eco Na Cidade, Veloso Hugo 9780131657137 0131657135 Informal Geometry Student Edition (Classics Edition) by Cox 2006c 9780884863724 0884863727 Living Beyond the Daily Grind - Reflections on the Songs and Sayings in Scripture, Charles R. 9780582417953 0582417953 Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow 9781424143139 1424143136 Reflections of a Dream, Jill, L.Office on Drugs and Crime 9780736425773 0736425772 The Sky's the Limit!, Disney Storybook Artists, Cynthia Hands 602498297711 0602498297711 Party Capital Summer Mix 2cd, Various 9780324590982 0324590989 Global Strategic Management, Mike W.Roberts 9780521083966 0521083966 The German Historians and England - A Study in Nineteenth-century Views, Charles E.Mclelland 9789264039230 9264039236 OECD Reviews of Tertiary Education Mexico, Oecd Publishing 9780590536004 0590536001 Literacy Assessment - Key Stage 2 - Scottish Levels C-E, David Wray, Mary Sullivan 9781597776165 1597776165 Mr.Martin's Guide to Writing, 8th Edition Short & Comment, Rise B.