09.17.09 -- Topsy-Turvy

Viaducts Break Ranks, 1937, Paul Klee
-----------------
Thursday,
September 17, 2009
Puzzle by Arthur Schulman, edited by Will Shortz
HALF-CENTURY PUZZLEMAKERS' WEEK -- All the daily crosswords this week, Monday through Saturday, are by puzzlemakers who have been contributing to The Times for more than 50 years. Arthur Schulman, a retired psychology professor at the University of Virginia, had his Sunday Times debut on September 14, 1954. The puzzle below should be easy for solvers who remember their old-fashioned crossword vocabulary.
Reversing clue and entry comprises the interrelated group of this Thursday crossword. Bygone familiar short-fill entries such as AIS, OCAS, MOAS, ERI, ARA and ERS, desperate little crossword fill that appears over and over again, function as clues -- THREE-TOED SLOTHS (37A.
Ais), WOODSORRELS (3D. Ocas), FLIGHTLESS BIRDS (7D. Moas), ASSAM SILKWORM (9D. Eri); CONSTELLATION (18D. Ara) and BITTER VETCH (27D. Ers). These odd little interjections have all been highlighted by my spellcheck, most likely mistaking them for sounds of gastronomic disturbance undocumented by HAL.
PRISMATIC (58A. Refractive) and PROSCENIA (17A. Stage arches) are the other entries of length, followed by a few six-letter entries -- AMELIA (5D. Renato’s wife in Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Mascera”), CONVEX (48A. Rounded out?), OCASEY (45D. Abbey Theater playwright) and
ORSINI (23A. Noble family name in medieval Italy shared by two popes).
Five-letter --
AQABA (9A. Jordan’s only seaport); 26D. Take for ARIDE; ARRET (33A. Stop, in Montréal); ATTAR (33D. Fragrance); BLINI (35A. They’re often served with caviar); 35D. BOSSA nova; BRAHE (28D. Danish astronomer who followed Copernicus); ERROR (2D. Slip); EVIAN (49D. Perrier rival); KAUAI (55A. Westernmost of the major Hawaiian islands); KLEES (42A. “Fish Magic” and “Viaducts Break Ranks”); LISSE (41A. Tulip-growing center of Holland); SAPHO (1D. Massenet opera based on a Daudet novel) and SAYSO (19A. Unsupported assurance); SEUSS (29D. Children’s doctor?); SUNUP (16A. Daybreak); RHEIN (34D. River through Köln); TIEON (63A. Attach, as a ribbon); TIERS (38D. Ziggurat features); WRENS (22D. Small songbirds); XACTO (50D. Blade maker).
Short stuff (all relatives of AIS, OCAS, MOAS, ERI, ARA and ERS) -- AIL and ALI, AMFM, ANY, AMO and APO, ARAB and AROD, BBS, BIGS, BUS, EDGE, EVA, HARM, HOD, IAGO, IBAR, IRE, ISEE and ISSY, ITS, KIT, LESS, MCAT, MEA, MILE and MINE, OHNO, OLEG and OLAN, OSSA, OWAR, PEI, QUAY, RNS, SDS, SEWS, TAU, TEE, TRES, ULE...
…and WAY (22A. Very, informally), er...
Topsy-Turvy!
------------------
For today’s cartoon, go to
The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.
Click on image to enlarge.
Puzzle available on the internet at
THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games
If you subscribe to home delivery of The New York Times you are eligible to access the daily crossword via The New York Times - Times Reader, without additional charge, as part of your home delivery.

Remaining clues -- Across: 1. Finishes, with “up”; 5. Like most radios; 14. #13 in the Bronx, informally; 15. Fair distance; 20. Mason’s trough; 21. Designer Cassini; 22. Very, informally; 25. Mischief; 27. Shot; 30. Mountain near Pelion; 31. Considerably, in Cannes; 32. U.K. neighbor; 36. 19th of 24; 40. Place-kicker’s aid; 43. Suffer; 44. More limited; 45. Man ___; 46. They hook up IVs; 47. 9-Across native; 51. “___ time”; 52. Construction piece; 54. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” girl; 61. S.C. Johnson shaving gel; 62. Future dr.’s exam; 64. ___-les-Moulineaux (Paris suburb); 65. “Horrors!” Down: 4. 1960s activist org.; 6. Tram locale; 8. ___ culpa; 10. Landing place; 11. At all; 12. Clear, as tables; 13. Abbr. on a letter to a soldier; 24. “Mm-hmm”; 39. Slave in Buck’s House of Hwang; 51. Literary character who says “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy”; 53. Major leagues, slangily with “the”; 55. Modelist’s purchase; 56. World champion of 1964-67, 1974-78 and 1978-79; 57. Diminutive suffix; 58. J.F.K. Library architect; 59. “Yo te ___”.

No comments:

Post a Comment