07.10.07 -- Bridge

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

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Puzzle by Pete Muller, edited by Will Shortz

Five inter-related entries, SONGBYPAULSIMON (59A The starts to 17-, 30-, 38- and 47-Across, collectively), BRIDGEFINANCING (17A Loan to a company before it goes public, say), OVERTHEEDGE (30A Spilling out), TROUBLEDTIMES (38A Periods of unrest), and WATERFILTER (47A Remover of impurities) combine to render "Bridge Over Troubled Water", song by Paul Simon.

A crossword puzzle can be a good way to escape one’s surroundings -- waiting rooms, subway rides, bus stops, someone’s late or you’re early -- magazine or newspaper nearby, pick it up, look for the crossword -- perchance you’ll find it blank, but more often it is evidence of a concentrated struggle prior to being yanked away upon one’s awaited appointment arriving suddenly. Crossovers, scratches and scrawls, wrong answers and side notes -- unfinished business. Yes, that’s right, a crossword can be a bridge over troubled water -- there, it’s said.

Now if that tune is too melodramatic, today’s crossword offers a choice of three others: “ANNIES Song” (John Denver tune) (50A); “OER the land of the free…” (2D); and (4D) Broadway musical with the song “The Gods Love Nubia”.

The lyrics of the Paul Simon song propose stemming alone-ness -- to this effect, today's puzzle has a group and many pairs. The group? The I’s -- IDAHO (9A Twin Falls’s home); ITASCA (26A Lake that is a source of the Mississippi); IGNITE (9D Set off); INGLE (51D Fireplace) and IDI Amin (41D).

Pairs? CASTE (70A Social level) and PASTE (20A Computer command after cut); DICTA (10D Formal rulings) and DACHA (35A Russian country house); RHOS (31D Greek R’s) and TAU (32D Greek T); LEGS and LENS; ELL and ELS; RAW and ROW; LEI and LAT; OOF and OTT and ORG and OWE -- maybe even EFFETE (6D Lacking vigor) and BRASSY (39D Harsh and metallic); EMPTY (67A Pour out from) and TOTAL (1A Completely wreck); ERAS (37A History chapters) and BIOS (42A Life stories); BPOE and LDS; with KOALA (65a Arboreal Aussie) and GINZA (56A Place to shop in Tokyo) qualifying as an odd couple.

TRIPLECROWN (3D Racing feat) and STREETLAMPS (27D Lights on posts, perhaps) are the long down entries left and right. In between RENEWED (25D Extended, as a membership) bisects TROUBLEDTIMES, like unwanted woes returned.

Two loners persist -- EMIL (37D Expressionist Nolde) (making his second appearance in a week) and TOD (34A Director Browning) -- who could be a perfect couple with their analogous oeuvres.

If your time is up now, and you must lay this puzzle down -- fear not: "I'll take your part…like a bridge over troubled water, I will ease your mind…I'm sailing right behind"!

Illustration: Troubled water over bridge

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