05.23.09 -- IMPASSE

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Puzzle by Dave Tuller, edited by Will Shortz

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ONE MOMENT PLEASE (3D. Old company telephone line) and TOSSIN AND TURNIN (11D. 1961#1 hit for Bobby Lewis) ooze fifteen squares down left and right in today’s maze of obscure trivia adorned with clues of extravagant nebulosity. AT AN IMPASSE (22D. Stuck) and BLACK BEAUTY (9D. Classic novel with a chapter titled “My Breaking In”) are the other two double-digit entries -- think about the possibilities for an eleven-letter answer for “stuck” -- or the thousands of chapter titles catalogued (or not) in the ISBN. The word impasse may also refer to any situation in which no progress can be made.

So, onwards! Nine-letter entries are plentiful -- ABE VIGODA (16A. Sal Tessio’s portrayer in “The Godfather”); ANTIPASTO (12D. First Italian course?); CHIPPED IN (30D. Helped out); CRENELATE (30A. Furnish with battlements, as a castle; EXIT LANES (58A. Things that turn people off?); GESTATION (13D. An elephant has a long one); HONOR ROLL (14A. Academic goal, for some); IGUANODON (37A. Dinosaur with large thumb spikes); RACIALISM (31D. Bunker mentality?); SAMOA TIME (56A. Setting in Pago Pago); SPONGE BOB (1A. Squidward’s neighbor on Nickelodeon), which, along with The Simpsons, is a television cartoon of which I’ve never viewed a single episode; START ANEW (52A. What you might do after failing).

Mid-size -- ATE INTO (34A. Corroded); COOLS IT (19A. Chills); ELECTRA (46A. Wife of Pylades); EMPTY OUT (40A. Drain); HANG TEN (33A. Approach the shore on board?); MANITOBA (25A. Home of Riding Mountain National Park); PETREL (48A. Antarctic dweller); ROMANO (18A. Parmesan alternative).

Five-letter -- ANGUS (26D. MacGyver’s first name on “MacGyver”); ANKLE (22A. Thing you don’t want to twist); DIARY (51A. It’s often kept under lock and key); ELWES (45D. “The Cat’s Meow” actor, 2001); ICTUS (36A. Recurring metrical beat); ISSUE (55A. Give out); KASHI (32A. Language spoken in Assam, India); LUSTS (17A. Is concupiscent); OHIOU (29D. Athens sch.); POBOX (2D. Numbered rental); SEEME (44D. Words written on some test papers); SEPOY (42A. Indian employed as a British soldier); SHARE (1D. Market purchase); SHONE (15A. Did really well).

Short stuff -- AMI, BOO, CRUX, EER, ERGO, ETAL, EXO, GPO, GRIN, ILE (28D. Terre dans l’eau), IPA, KENO, NMEX, NOT, NOVA, OLA and OLD, ONAT, PAL, PIPS, PROT, SHUL, SLOE, STAG, STYE, TATA, TAX and TAY, USE (43A. It may be fair).

Or not!

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Remaining clues -- Across: 10. Do before I do’s; 21. Skeletal opening?; 24. Pronunciation guide std.; 29. Go ___ some length; 39. Trey trio; 41. See 8-Down; 57. Its motto in Eng. is “it grows as it goes”. Down: 4. Cured and smoked salmon; 5. Use one’s zygomatic muscles; 6. It follows that; 7. Starting word; 8. With 41-Across, one you go way back with; 10. Holy Ark’s location; 23. Kidder’s cry; 27. Safety equipment; 32. Game played with a sack called a goose; 35. Scotland’s longest river; 38. Ltr. Center; 40. Ending with what, in verse; 42. Problem with a sebaceous gland; 47. Core; 48. Like Luther: Abbr.; 49. Name-dropper’s abbr.?; 50. Pre-takeoff cry?; 53. Good thing to be sheltered from; 54. End of many riddles.