05.05.07 -- Q&A

Phoenician aleph and Q

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Saturday, May 5, 2007

Puzzle by David Quarfoot, edited by Will Shortz

This is more of a pretentious Q&A test than a crossword puzzle, and it’s as dull as dishwater -- akin to spending a romantic evening with "Amy Vanderbilt’s Etiquette".

To be sure, this type of “construction" has its aficionados, but I personally find it to be a huge waste of time. The closeted and coy questions and answers are a bland and boring waste of time ("waste of time" repeated for emphasis) spent with twattling queries: Name a comic who was one of Time’s “100 most influential people” in 2006. Name a versatile weapon. Name an entertainer whose last name is the past tnese of a synonym of his first name. Name a gas station you’d fiind in Saskatchewan.. Name something named after the word Slice. Enter a scatting syllable, your choice. What do you call the bikes used at the X Games? What is the name of an infamous abortionist? What is that thing behind an altar called? If you’re having dinner in Germany and are eating a “salat” what are you eating? How do you avoid getting a tan line other than not going to the beach?

I feel saddened that I worked this puzzle because, compelled by ego, I prove as vain as this waste of time.

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Norma McCorvey, the woman who as "Jane Roe" challenged the abortion law of Texas in Roe v. Wade.

Puzzle available on the internet at

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