06.19.08 -- LIES

Pinocchio by Enrico Mazzanti (1852-1910) - the first illustrator (1883) of Le avventure di Pinocchio. Storia di un burattino - colored by Daniel Donna

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

Puzzle by Joe Krozel, edited by Will Shortz

LIES, spelled out by utilizing all the black squares of this crossword, headlines and dominates this puzzle like a New York Times headline in time of war!

Good grief! Already this month, we’ve had TRUTH, and previous to that LIE-ABILITY, now just bold-faced LIES!

TEN (56A. Number of clues in this puzzle that contain factual inaccuracies) mollifies the screaming accusation to mean unintentional misinformation or bush-league intelligence (pun intended). Well, let’s see if I can find them…

1A. France’s OTTO von Bismarck -- he of Germany; 14A. NEON -- Chemical element with the symbol, s/b iron; 19. GTE, Former pharmaceutical giant; 24A. ESAU, Father of Jacob, oh, brother!; 8D. AGASSI, Golf great Andre, s/b tennis; 9D. NINEAM, Standard office-closing time; 28D. ACUTEANGLE, It’s more than 90 degrees, s/b less; 47. ELS, Tennis champ Ernie, he does what Agassi doesn't; 49. YEN, Currency of China, try Japan; 50. EST, Summer hrs. in N.Y.C.

I suspected ERIS (57A. Dwarf planet larger than Pluto), but it‘s true, unless I ERRS (17. Gets it wrong)…

The needs of the diagram (or grid), which should disturb those who insist on symmetry, result in a column to the far right of three fifteen-letter words -- CIGARETTE SMOKER (11D. One who exhibits pack mentality?), ARTUROTOSCANINI (12D. Who quipped “God tells me how the music should sound, but you stand in the way”) and DRESSFORSUCCESS (13D. Job seeker’s fashion advice).

Between the over-sized E and S of the black-square LIES lies a column of three vertical entries of ten letter lengths, HIGHTAILIT (27D. Bolt); the aforementioned erroneously clued ACUTEANGLE and the correctly clued GUESSAGAIN (29D. “Nope, still not right!”) -- hmmm!

Outside of that gigantic S is the vertical entry of SECRETCODE (30D. Writing that’s hard to read), adding further intrigue to this oddest of oddities.

Separating the L and I from the E and S is the 15-letter CATCHAGLIMPSEOF (26A. Spot), which lies (there’s that word again) in such a position as to actually catch but a glimpse from the solver.

Now, after all that rigmarole ensues normalcy of sorts: Nine-letter entries, SEEINGEYE (45A. Kind of dog), tricky that!; TOLLGATES (52A. Road access regulators); RESILIENT (54A. Always bouncing back). Seven-letter entries, ERECTOR (36A. Crane, e.g.); REPRESS (40A. Hold back); and 42A. Former Romanian leader Ion ILIESCU.

Six-letter: SPRANG (5A. Jumped); HOAGIE (15A. Sub); ENFANT (18. Terrible one?); LEASES (21A. Flat things?); LEAGUE (33A. Collection of teams); OUGHTS (39A. Possible name for the first decade of the century); GRATES (41A. Hardly soothes).

Five-letter, ONESEC (1D. “I’ll be with you shortly …”); TERESA (2D. Mother of Calcutta); TOREST (3D. One way to lay things); ONSPEC (4D. Uncommissioned); 7D. San RAFAEL, Calif.; GETSUP (10D. Arises).

The obligatory parade of leftover happenstance fill includes AAA, AGA, AUS, CAD, CONC, DENS, EOE, EPI, ERI, ESSE, ETE, ETTO, EUR, IRR, ICU, LOG, OKIE, PONE, REL, RRS, SEEP, SHEL, STR and TMAC, but today with that special distinction of all being caught in the search for LIES -- round up the usual suspects...

Vincit omnia veritas!

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