01.10.10 -- Cross Words

City of Words, lithograph by Vito Acconci

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Sunday, January 10, 2010

CROSS WORDS, Puzzle by Mel Rosen, edited by Will Shortz

The interrelated group of this fine Sunday crossword is composed of nine sets of two associated words in perfect crossings, e.g., exactly in the middle of each word with both words being of the same length:

• PLANNED ECONOMY (26A. With 4-Down, alternative to free enterprise);
• MOTOR HOTEL (24A. With 10-Down, stopover);
• PARTIAL DENTURE (28A. With 16-Down, certain plate);
• LUNAR MONTH (55A. With 45-Down, about 29½ days);
• PRAIRIE PROVINCES (67A. With 47-Down, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta);
• LEGAL EAGLE (83A. With 70-Down, skilled lawyer);
• CALCIUM BLOCKER (110A. With 91-Down, hypertension control option);
• WATER METER (118A. With 104-Down, utility gauge);
• WEATHER STATION (114A. With 95-Down, meteorological post). 

Looking for unintentional crossings of the ilk produced little else but NOSE and NOOSE, which reminds me of Elongated Man -- just couldn’t help wandering about the crossword, searching (in futility) for intertwined words possessing a relationship that most likely cross out of pure happenstance …oh, well, you get the idea!

Other entries of length include ANN MARIE (75A. “That Girl” girl); ANODIZES (11D. Coats with a protective oxide), ATOMISTS (103A. Epicurus and Democritus, philosophically); BE MY GUEST (43A. “Help yourself!”); BLEW OVER (62A. Passed without effect); DESOLATE (86D. Uninhabited); ESTIMATED (17D. In round figures); FLOORED IT (59A. Sped up, and how!); GO TO SLEEP (80D. Nod off); ORGAN STOP (78A. Dulciana, for one); REPRESENT (94A. Portray); SMELLING (30A. Picking up, as perfume).

Seven-letter -- ALTOONA, ANTI-ART, ARMREST, ELANTRA and ELEKTRA, ERODENT (68D. Tending to wash out), could be E-RODENT and clued as a YouTube star, or a very nasty virus! , GO TO SEA, MIS-STEP, NO SCORE, OTTAWAN, RESORTS, SERENER, SLEEKLY, SLYNESS, STEELER, TAPES UP.

Five- and six-letter -- AGAIN, AGHAS, AHORA, ALERO, APART, ASHORE, ATEOF, ATEST, BELLA, BETSY and SETBY, CHASE, CARON, DIREST, DITKA, EERIE, ERMAS, ESTAS, ETUIS, FRIAR, GHOULS, GROWL, HALAS, HERES, ITALO, NERTS, NOOSE (53D. The loop it’s best to be out of), ONION, OSTIA, OTOES, PERON, RANDY, READS, RHONE, RUEDE, SHADES, SLOAN (51D. “McSorley’s Bar” artist), SNAPE, SPRAYS, SOREAT, SRTAS, SURLY, TETON, TOLET, TOLLS, TORSO.

Short stuff -- ACHS, AGAR, ATMS, ATTY, DEN and DES, DUPE, DYES, EMIL and ENOL, ERNE, ESSO, EST, ETA and ETO, FITS, GNAT, IAGO, INUP, ISS, KOOL, LEES, LIE, LITH, LOON, MHO, MAP, MAYS, NOSE (64A. Rocket head), NOTI, OMSK, PAL, PRE, PUT, RANG, RATA, RHEO, SODS, SRS, STEP, STUM; SURA, WINO and ZERO.

Click here for the Word of the Decade! 

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Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games.

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Remaining clues -- ACROSS: 1. Super Bowl XIII and XIV winning player; 8. Turkish honchos; 13. Some beachwear; 19. Love, in a way; 20. River at Avignon; 21. Posts on a wall, say; 23. Penn State campus site; 25. Hyundai model; 27. Paris’s ___ Rivoli; 29. Canadian gas brand; 33. Unfermented grape juice; 34. Subway posting; 37. Magazine no.; 40. Telephoned; 47. President who took office in 1946; 48. Wyoming peak; 48. D.D.E.’s 1942 command; 50. PIN requesters; 51. Imminent alumni: Abbr.; 52. Thunderbird enthusiast?; 54. ___ particle (electrically neutral meson); 57. Calvino who wrote “Mr. Palomar”; 61. Baltic land: Abbr.; 65. How something might be washed; 69. Angry with; 73. Pro follower; 77. “Othello” provocateur; 82. “Gigi” star; 84. Conductance unit; 85. Easter rabbits’ needs?; 86. ___ Plaianes, ill.; 87. Sucker; 89. Tell tales; 90. Save for the future; 92. Nebraska natives; 96. Leader of a musical “gang”; 97. Is snug; 98. Relaxation site; 99. Certain therapy, commonly; 100. Covers, as the earth; 106. German exclamations; 113. Old car similar to a Malibu; 117. Record label of the Cars and the Doors; 119. Much Marcel Duchamp work; 120. In a smooth manner; 121. Bikini blast, briefly; 122. Ship out; 123. Many perfumes; 124. “Darn it!; 125. Craft. DOWN: 1. Potter professor Severus ___; 2. Causeway fees; 3. These, in Madrid; 5. Fruitcake; 6. Fish-loving bird; 7. Interprets; 8. Place for a cupholder; 9. Grave robbers; 12. Less flustered; 13. Challenge for the wheelchair-bound; 14. Chicago Bears coaching legend George; 15. Split; 18. Koran chapter; 22. Close one; 31. Boo-boo; 32. Stomach sound; 35 Gel made from seaweed; 36. “___ ’er there!”; 39. Pizza topping; 41. Reply in “The Little Red Hen”; 42. Annoying buzzer; 43. Woman’s name meaning “beautiful”; 44. Pin holders; 46. Jannings of “The Last Command”; 48. The Belvedere ___ (Vatican sculpture); 56. Nogales “now”58. “That’s ___!”; 59. Monastery resident; 60. Unnerving perhaps; 62. ___ Bobbin of the Oz books; 63. “Aunt ___ Cope Book”; 66. Lustful; 71. “From the top!”; 72. Landlord’s sign; 74. Tasted, biblically; 76. ___ to one’s neck; 78. Trans-Siberian Railroad stop; 79. -stat starter; 81. Ancient Rome’s port; 83. “The jeans that built America; 88. Post- opposite; 93. Paul Anka or Dan Aykroyd, by birth; 94. They might have springs; 99. Most urgent; 101. Chicago Bears coaching legend Mike; 102. Crabbed; 105. Festoons; 107. Action film staple; 108. Old “Tonight Show” starters; 109. Some Madrilènas: Abbr.; 110. These, in Oise; 111. Ending with over or cover; 112. Baseball great who’s Bonds’s godfather; 115. Organic compound; 116. Advocate: Abbr.