Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in "The Maltese Falcon" -----------------
Sunday, September 21, 2008
IT’S A MYSTERY, Puzzle by Brendan Emmett Quigley, edited by Will Shortz
This mystery has eight LEAD DETECTIVES (109A. Ones in charge of a case … or a literal hint to the eight other longest answers in this puzzle) to bring about a solution:
DREW UNIVERSITY (23A. School in Madison, N.J.); FISH STORY (33A. Don’t believe it); MAGNUM OPUS (46A. “The Divine Comedy,” for Dante); HAMMER THROW (66A. Track-and-field event); FELL ASLEEP (84A. Dropped off); MASON JARS (98A. Pantry array); QUEEN MOTHER (17D. Beloved figure in England); and SPADE CASINO (65D. Card game played to 61).
That should be plenty!
The clues -- Across: 1. Drapery material; 7. Lumber supplier; 14. Item marked in pounds; 20. City and county of central California; 21. Rushing; 22. Hair color; 25. Cause of worry lines; 26. Poet whose last words were “Of course [God] will forgive me; that’s his business”; 27. “Beau GESTE”; 29. Coup d’OEIL (quick glance); 30. Bank postings; 37. Seward-to-Fairbanks dir.; 38. HUEVOS rancheros; 39. Levelheaded; 40. Raw bar offering; 42. Officer in Alice’s Restaurant; 43. Launches; 45. Classic theater name; 49. 1950s-’70s TV host; 51. Petrol purchase; 54. It’s often punched on a keypad; 55. Reader’s goal; 56. Online reading; 58. Redeem; 59. Wife, informally; 61. Fraternity member; 62. Difficult situation; 63. Sitting with one’s hand on one’s chin, e.g.; 69. Google results; 70. Duds; 72. Record producer who published the diary “A Year With Swollen Appendices”; 73. Appetite whetter; 75. Favored one side or the other; 78. Kon-Tiki material; 78. Turned right; 79. What eds. Read; 82. Get divorced; 83. RARA avis; 84. Dropped off; 87. More spooky; 89. Work site?; 91. German river; 92. Trig. Angle; 94. Salad morsel; 96. “On Language” columnist; 97. Mens REA; 102. Enzyme in some yeasts; 103. There’s one for dance; 105. Prefix with centric; 106. Only U.S. vice president born in Maryland; 107. San Luis OBISPO; 116. Vacation arrangement; 117. Big name in auto parts; 118. French subjects?; 119. Alarm clock button; 120. Psychiatric visit; 121. Major diamond exporter.
Down: 1. Mil. Authority; 2. Laugh start; 3. Suffix with cyan-; 4. City with the world’s first telephone directory (1878); 5. Loyally following; 6. Nuts; 7. Had work looming?; 8. Combined; 9. Blade in sports; 10. The shakes; 11. “The Da Vinci Code” scholar Sir LEIGH Teabing”; 12. Novelist who wrote “The Gravedigger’s Daughter”; 13. No-tell motel visit; 14. Italy’s Reggia di CASERTA (royal palace); 15. Pizza HUT; 16. River that rises in Cantabria; 18. Bearlike; 19. Eve ENSLER, “The Vagina Monologues monologist; 24. Connections; 28. Quaint letter opener; 30. Eating sound; 31. Persian Gulf emirate; 32. Cover many subjects?; 33. Extremely pleasing, in slang; 34. Occupied; 35. Word with smart or mind; 36. Upbraid; 39. Biological dividing wall; 41. Being debated; 43. Kind of fin; 44. Dumped out; 45. Singer Corinne Bailey RAE; 47. Longtime news inits.; 48. Potato choice; 50. Egyptian crosses; 52 Yemeni money; 53 Tolkien creatures; 57. Nobodies; 58. Southern legume; 59. Scoundrels; 60. Window washer’s boo-boo; 62. Unlikely to be Miss America; 63. Ghostlike; 64. Big tournament; 67. China’s Zhou; 68. Loose overcoat; 71. Condense again, as an article; 74. The Mormons, initially; 76. High jump need; 77. Certain photo caption; 79. Broadcasters, e.g.; 80. Predictors; 81. Brief indulgence; 83. “Malcolm in the Middle” boy; 85. Cy Young candidates’ stats; 86. Liberal; 88. Behind; 90. Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy org.; 92. Safeguards; 93. Deli order; 95. Sacred places; 96. Winning hand in blackjack; 99. Stewpots; 100. Certain flower girl; 101. “The Grapes of Wrath” family; 102. T-shirt size: Abbr.; 104. “ESTO perpetua” (Idaho’s motto); 106. Lots; 108. Opposite of Guerra; 110. Paris’s Parc DES Princes; 111. Sixth-century year; 112. Prefix with freak; 113. Letters on a brandy bottle; 114. Marine predator; 115. Org. that has its benefits.
With all those clues and detectives, this one should be an open and shut case!
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2 comments:
Your write-up font is so small it is hard to read. Nice job, though.
dingus
Sorry if the print is too small -- I always assume that every computer has the ability to enlarge any page -- sometimes I sacrifice clarity for appearance -- thank you for your comment.
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