Illustration: Dust-jacket illustration for I, Robot -- 25D ISAACASIMOV ("I Robot" author)
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Monday, August 27, 2007 Puzzle by Steven Ginzburg, edited by Will Shortz I, Robot -- Monday, go! Heading back to work with fellow marching ANTS (68A Tiny critters found twice each in 17-, 38- and 60-Across). In today’s puzzle ANTS (68A) is a clue to find a place in three inter-related entries for the letters, A, N, and T in sequence, spelling ANT, twice -- in ORGANTRANSPLANT (17A Operation for a new liver or kidney); ANTIOXIDANT (38A Beneficial substance in fruits, vegetables and tea); and ROMANTICFANTASY (60A Literary genre popular with women) each have ANT, twice. Well, that’s it, and I suppose it will need do for this humdrum last Monday in August before it is that Labor Day Monday we say a premature goodbye ANON (66A Shortly) to Summer -- so let's kiss the Monday blues goodbye for a couple of weeks. Today, we are those lucky enough to be soldiering with the HERD (1A It’s rounded up in a roundup) whether you drive, risking DENTS (70A Car dings), PEDAL (5A Propel a bicycle) or take a CAB (23D Taxi) to work while the boss is calling FORE (36D Cry after a bad swing), or on a business trip to MAUI (14A Hawaii‘s “Valley Isle“)! On to the puzzle -- TWOXTWO (27D Four) is an entry I’ve not seen before, and it is neatly placed so the X is in the exact center of the grid, shared by ANTIOXIDANT across. It looks great and should inspire us all to clean up our desk or MANHOLE (12D Street opening for a utility worker), to read our EMAIL (67A Message from a BlackBerry, maybe) from the firm of ENOS, ELI, LEVY and DIAZ that EGGSON (28A Encourages) a FEW (48A Small number) while there is still TIME (57D It heals all wounds, in a saying) -- “AINT it the truth!” (8D). This is definitely a puzzle for those who work for an honest living with such entries as HMO (1A Insurance grp.), EAR (2A Where a phone is held), PATRON (5D Sponsor), ENRON (6D Company with a spectacular 2001 bankruptcy) AFL (10D C.I.O.’s partner); CLASSACTION (11D Kind of suit), or even such stock-market-tainted whispers as LESSENED (9D Made smaller); REFIT (53D Size again), or INFLATED (39D Puffed up), WIN (32A Take home a trophy); ACME (10A Pinnacle) and ZERO (20A Home [in on]). It’s also a melodic Monday, with “ANNIE Get Your Gun” (15A); VOICE (44A Alto or soprano); CAROLS (49A Yuletide sons); NOEL (71A Yuletide), GMINOR (29D Key of Saint-Saens’s “Danse macabre”); even TUNERS (31D Radio receiver parts), some with an ORAL (52A Face-to-face test) HUE (24D Shade). Little bits and pieces that are getting left out here -- TSE, NITS, IBAR, NIP, EON, ANO, STE, YSL, and ANY (61A One or more) others you can find. Good news, there‘s more! Fall fashions of FLAX (16A Linen fiber); LACE (41A Feature of many a wedding dress); an Oriental RUG (3D), a TASSEL (50A Mortarboard addition); or PEG (19D Place to hang one‘s hat). We have refreshments , notably EXTENTS (13D Spreads) of FOIE gras (36D); MALT (34A Beer component) and ICES (37A Decorates, as a cake) so hope you WONT (26A Refuses to) forget your ANTIOXIDANT which you’ll get from OAT (56A Grain in Cheerios). For those of you still on vacation , perhaps drifting in a gondola through the CANALS (49D “Streets” of Venice); visiting historic AVALON (40D King Arthur’s burial place); or just being LITERAL (41D Without metaphor), showing off your DNA (7D Reproductive material) while diving for ABALONE (42A Mother-of-pearl source), or up on the beach, reading comic books by STAN Lee of Marvel Comics (59D), a good novel by AUSTEN (30A Jane who wrote “Sense and Sensibility”), or the NEWEST (18D Most recent) ROMANTICFANTASY with multiple BEAUS (35A Swains) and only one SHE (22A That woman), “The Sweetheart of Sigma CHI“ (23A), eliciting a tear from your IRIS (33D Eye part) and a shudder thinking of that ORGANTRANSPLANT in your future revealed through ESP (46D Telepathy, e.g.). Replaceable parts?! Good! Toss 'em aside and march like ANTS (68A) to work with denizens created by ISAACASIMOV (25D “I Robot” author). …click, click...whirrrrr! -----------------
For today's cartoon, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated. Today's crossword video: Kyle Nicolas at 4yrs of age
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