08.12.07 -- MOON

Sunday, August 12, 2007
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LIGHTHEADED Puzzle by Cathy Millhauser, edited by Will Shortz

"Full Metal Jacket" Stanley Kubrick, 1987

Titling the puzzle LIGHTHEADED (likely for the phase or type of MOON at the beginning of the above entries) takes on more meaning when one delves further into this otherwise very dark crossword puzzle.

Eerily peppered with such WORDS (40A Partner of music) as GLOWER (7D Sullen looks); WORST (32D Most base); ACHE (36A Caladryl: itch :: Bengay: ____); TREPAN (35D Boring tool); ERROR (47D What "[sic]" may signify); LIGATED (65D Tied surgically); PELT (78D Trapper's prize); CHEMICAL (19A Dow product) crossed by NAM (6D Sen. John Kerry served there); WEEP (26A Mourn audibly); TOADY (56A Bootlicker); BANAL (82A Overdone); STARE (126A Show awe, in a way); MANURE (99D Garden fertilizer); and CREMATE (96D Burn at the end?); this puzzle has a side as dark as IVORY (72A Some contraband).
Illustration: Trepanation
Illustration: Cremation
Inhabitants of this crossword puzzle include Alice Faye, Charlotte Rae, Oona Chaplin, Stanley Kubrick, Susan SONTAG (8A She wrote "Under the Sign of Saturn"), Jack Nance, Carol Burnett, Jim Morrison, Franz Lehar, Chicago Mayor Daley, Nelson Algren, Santana, William Shea, John Kerry, Bob Hoskins, Chain Potok, Robin Hood, the Spice Girls, Tiberius Claudius Nero, Hiram Walker, and Ralph Kramden
The Great Moon Hoax articles (New York Sun, 1835) Link, and some historical background here.
Not to dwell upon the dark side of the moon, there is light in this crossword to pierce the night. The positive: ETHIC (14A Body of precepts); WASH (49A Break-even enterprise); TEE (67A Bit of a snicker); NEAT (89A Well-planned); OONA before OVUM; AXILLA crossing NILLA; AYE and SALUT; ETO and STLO; FAYE and RAE; CUPS and CORN; IDIOMS (17D See red, talk a blue streak, etc.); OBOES and OPEDS; -- with JOY (122D Procter & Gamble detergent) and ELYSIAN (128A Like a paradise) sharing the end of this puzzling puzzle with TOODLEOO (125A "Ta-ta")...
...it's got OOMPH (9D Zip)!
Photograph: Mars and the full Moon, Long Island, NY, November 14, 2005

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

The New York Times Crossword Puzzle solution above is by the author of this blog and does not guarantee accuracy. 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.

Puzzle available on the internet at
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm curious to know if you happened to catch the lunar eclipse this morning, unfortunately for me, I'd found this out too late to have had the opportunity to see the it. Also I'd missed out on the Perseid meteor shower a week or so back. Father wouldn't let me out to find a nice spot for viewing, but of course with the light pollution in the area I likely wouldn't have found any nice spots too close to home

Anonymous said...

I'm curious to know if you happened to catch the lunar eclipse this morning, unfortunately for me, I'd found this out too late to have had the opportunity to see the it. Also I'd missed out on the Perseid meteor shower a week or so back. Father wouldn't let me out to find a nice spot for viewing, but of course with the light pollution in the area I likely wouldn't have found any nice spots too close to home