08.03.07 -- Nautilus

FIBONACCISERIES (35A "The Da Vinci Code" sequence) -- Illustration: Nautilus

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Friday, August 3, 2007

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Puzzle by Charles Barasch, edited by Will Shortz

VOODOOECONOMICS (8D Derogatory term popularized by George H. W. Bush) and FIBONACCISERIES (35A “The Da Vinci Code” sequence) both 15-letters long, slice through each other down and across this amazing, but ruthless, end-of-the-work-week crossword puzzle. Full of arcana and/or seldom-used entries, coupled with a mischievous vagueness as a presiding characteristic of its clues, Charles Barasch, the wordsmith of the day, has constructed a masterly mélange of enigmatic stupefaction.

"Voodoo Economics," Mark Kostabi, 1992, graphite on paper

Who among the living, walks about with such esoterica at the tip of the tongue as EMILIANO (15A Two-time president Chamorro), GAVIN (30A San Francisco mayor Newsom); HENRYVII (12D The Wars of the Roses ended in his reign); MALRAUX (26D France’s first minister of culture, 1959-69) ROIS (23A Beaucoup de Louises); SELENA (62A Jennifer Lopez title role); or for that matter -- AMATOL (2D Stuff in a bomb); ANODYNES (14D Soothing things); GAELS (30D Iona College athletes); SUBIC Bay (South China Sea inlet) (44A); and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, e.g. (21D IRAQI)?

LUREIN (16A Draw successfully); ITSALIVE (58A Horror cry); IDUNNO (18A “Ya got me!”); MYMY (26A “Well, I declare!”); “YESWE have no…” (50D); and INEVER (46D “How dare you?”) lead a profusion of confusion that includes KOOKY (46A Out there); JAMMIES (53A Undercover wear?); ALIEN (9D Superman, for one) and SHE (57D Word before some animal names). It’s the clues -- the entries are not all that exotic.

Other acrosses:

1. Celebratory cry

2. It can leave you breathless

17. County whose seat is Redwood City

19. Union in D.C., e.g.

20. Sets up

25. Dismiss as unworthy

27. Stooges actions (SLAPS)

31. Skeleton part

33 Handicap, say

39. Sly slur (INNUENDO)

40. Motor additive

42. Temp takers

56. Bottle

60. Religious leader who wrote “Peace with God”

61. Baseball coverings

63. Bakes

Other downs:

3. Flower named for a German botanist

4. Hackberry relative

5. Pseudologue

6. “Soap” family (TATES)

10. Head makeup

13. Dwarf

24. Salad bar binful

28. They can make waves

35. They may follow the drill

36. Wobbly

37. Note offering good advice for life?

45. Come to pass

54. “Look Forward in Anger” comedian

59. Books, for short

This is a perfectly proportioned puzzle with good KARMA (49A) and mischievous mystification!

Oh...and TGIF!

Fibonacci Sequence, the spirally expanding geometry of the Chambered Nautilus shell, the similarly appealing geometry of flower petals, or in the famously “perfect” proportions of DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man

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Puzzle available on the internet at

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