01.02.09 -- Friday Fare

1953 signage for the first Cinemascope picture, "The Robe."

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Friday, January 2, 2009

Puzzle by Martin Ashwood-Smith, edited by Will Shortz

This first TGIF crossword of 2009 features eight 15-letter entries stretching across the grid as wide as CinemaScope:

SALES RESISTANCE (1A. Problem in closing?); THE ELEVENTH HOUR (16A. Just before it’s too late); AMERICAN DREAMER (17A. 1984 JoBeth Williams comedy/adventure film); AVERSION THERAPY (34A. One way to kick a bad habit); INVITED AUDIENCE (40A. Preview crowd); WEATHER STATIONS (59A. Pressure points?); ADLAI E STEVENSON (62A. Who said “A hungry man is not a free man”); REAL ESTATE AGENT (63A. One who’d like to put you in your place).

Six-letter entries -- BARRELS (23D. Rodeo trio); CONTOUR (19A. Bucket seat feature); GREASED (52A. Like some cookie sheets); HERRING (21D. Whitebait, e.g.); ICED TEA (42D. Brewer’s product); SLICERS (5D. They might be full of baloney); THE ROBE (11D. First film in CinemaScope, 1953); TOUGHIE (41D. Real poser).

Five-letter -- ANNAN (28D. Ban succeeded him in 2007); BASED (30A. Grounded); 33D. CLASS (45A. Social group); DYNES per centimeter (surface tension measure); EPICS (32D. Big pictures); GOUDA (27D. City NE of Rotterdam); LAPIS (24D. Stone, to Caesar) and LOPER (24A. Gazelle, at times); MUNRO (38A. Alice who wrote the short-story collection “Open Secrets“); OVINE (25D. Like a shepherd’s charges); PEEVE (26D. Really get to); SAUNA (31D. Luxury hotel amenity); 43A. “ … ye shall SEE NO more vanity”: Ezekiel 13: 23; RECON (6D. Brief scouting outing?); STRUM (10D. Not be picky with an instrument?) and STRUT (29D. Supporting piece).

Short stuff -- four-letter: AHME, ANON, ASTA, AWAR, BEDE, CUED, EVAN, ERRS and ERST, INDO, ISNT, JOSE, LEES, NOME, PIER, RUIN, SALA, STAY which shares its’ clue with STRUT (Supporting piece), STET and SENT. Three-letter: ABS, AHA, ANT (44A. Social group member), EDS, EER, GAS, GUT, HEN and HOD, IME, ING, JAI, MOB, TAL, WES and YES (18A. Ouija option).

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THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

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Xword search information -- Across: 20. Seventeen people, briefly; 21. One whose deposits are often collected; 22. Hit-making group?; 27. Beetle’s need; 37. It’s a shore thing; 39. Utter collapse; 46. Instinctive; 48. 1980s N.B.A. guard Matthews; 49. They look better when they’re ripped; 56. I have, in Le Havre. Down: 2. World-weary words; 3. Refuse; 4. Poet’s ending with what or how; 7. ___ and Jaron (identical-twins pop duo); 8. Posted; 9. Prefix with Germanic; 12. Word associated with a light bulb; 13. It’s on Norton Sound; 14. Given a line; 15. Goes off; 35. George Harrison’s “___ Mine”; 36. V-shaped carrier; 49. Start ___ (be extremely aggressive); 50. Eliot hero; 51. A room with una vista?; 53. Formerly archaic?; 54. Fictional wirehair; 55. Decide to leave; 56. Cuban patriot Marti; 57. Like some sources: Abbr.; 58. Abba’s “Love ___ Easy”; 60. Jazz guitarist Farlow; 61. Like Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.