06.03.07 -- JOB

Sunday, June 3, 2007

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JOB DESCRIPTIONS

Puzzle by Kelsey Blakley, edited by Will Shortz

BOOHOO (14A Sarcastic comment of sympathy), and how Job suffered, oy! Wrong Job! Though many suffer at their "jobs", many do so because they are confused as to exactly what it might be that they are supposed to be doing. So, unfortunately, this puzzle is not about Job or descriptions of Job, but a crossword containing eight slightly amusing entries on a different topic, clued by the title given to the puzzle, JOB DESCRIPTIONS.

STOCKCHARACTER (23A Charles Schwab?)

SHOOTINGSTAR (31A Annie Oakley?)

MASTEROFARTS (50A Leonardo da Vinci?)

WIZARDOFID (64A Sigmund Freud?)

ACEOFCLUBS (69A Tiger Woods?)

LIGHTNINGBUG (84A Benjamin Franklin?)

COMPUTERICON (97A Bill Gates?)

BALLPARKFIGURE (114A Babe Ruth?)

The remainder of the puzzle (a considerable amount) is eclectic, but it is peppered with a few other occupations by clue or entry -- composer, mathematician, singer, author, President, Vice President, journalist, actor, animator, tennis player, ice skater, lama, poet, nutritionist, director, actress, football player, comic and Prime Minister, etc. -- but, alas, no crossword professional! Nominal slights to two of them -- ILICH (104D Tchaikovsky's middle name) could use a "var." notation, and STAN (7D Smith who won the 1972 Wimbledon) is an unused familiar.

Lots of O's and O-beginning words -- ORMOLU (51D Faux gold), OSSIAN (45D Legendary Gaelic poet), ORIANA (82A Author/journalist Fallaci), OTOOLE (92A "Lord Jim" star, 1965), ORION (98D Rigel's constellation), OBOE (79D Radio letter between Nan and Peter), ORE (79A It needs refining), ONSETS (120A Initial stages), ORALS (16D Grad school grillings), OTTER (19D Ursine: bear :: lutrine: _____), OPERA (18D "Idomeneo," e.g.), ONEGGS (15D Where hens sit), OTRAS (40A Others, to Pedro), and O-laden words (outside of BOOHOO), TAPROOT (21A Parsnip, e.g.), TOELOOP (12D Skater's leap), SOTTO (37A ____voce [quetly]), but only two K's, no Q's or J's and only one X and one Z -- which is sure to disappoint the Scrabble freaks!

GOLLYGEE (86D "Leave it to Beaver" catchphrase), pleasant puzzle -- not much else to say, except that blogging puzzles is just plain crazy!

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For today's cartoons go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.

Illustrations: From above, Modlící se Job (Job Praying), Marc Chagall, 1960: :: Center: 50A, 114A, 31A, 84A: :: Below, 50A

If you find errors or omissions, you are more than welcome to make note of same in the Comments section of this post -- any corrections found necessary will be executed promptly upon verification.

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