Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Puzzle by David Murchie, edited by Will Shortz
NEAR / MISS (1A. With 65-Across, the starts of 20-, 26-, 43- and 51-Across taken together), e.g., CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR, found at the starts of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS (20A. Alien abductions, e.g.), BUT, SERIOUSLY (26A. “All kidding aside ..”), NO SOLICITING 43A. Unwelcome sign for a sales rep) and CIGAR AFICIONADO (51A. Magazine opposed to the Cuban trade embargo) are the interrelated group of this tenebrous Wednesday crossword.
Other — ACCENTS (5D. Dialect coaches teach them), BORNEO (9D. World’s third-largest island), CHANTS, LARYNX (44D. Adam’s apple site), LIAISES (42D. Is a go-between), LONGER, PACIFIST (38D. Conscientious objector), SALADS, TACK ON, UNION REP (8D. Shop steward, briefly).
Five-letter — ANTON, ARROW, BASSO, BENCH, BONES, DALAI Lama, DETOX, DINGE, DON HO, EBOLA, EDITS, ELENI, ERASE, ETUDE, HOARY, NATCH, OMAHA, RIPEN, HOARY, USING.
Short stuff — AAH, ABRA, ACLU, ALI, ALPS, ARLO and AROO, CANI, CHAD, CHER, CHIN, DEB, EMIT, FAN, FILA, GATT, HANS and TANS, HAW, INKS, INLA, IONE, LAPS, LES, LINC, LUGE, NAPE, NNE, NORM, OLIN, PEP, RATE and RATS, SEAN, SLOE, SONG, SOUS-chef, TORT, TNT, UNIS, YSER.
Click on image to enlarge.
Puzzle available on the internet at
THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.
;">Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. Scopes Trial org.; 9. Place for scrubs; 14. Start of an incantation; 15. “Double” facial feature; 16. Normandy beach; 17. Assault or battery; 18. “Please?”; 19. React to mold, perhaps; 23. Command to a plow horse; 24. It’s fairly insensitive to shock, fortunately; 25. Houston-to-K.C. direction; 32. Menu heading; 35. “Au Revoir, ___ Enfants” (1987 film); 37. Backspace through; 38. Get-up-and-go; 39. Ringe around the collar, say; 40. Chamonix setting; 41. Season box holder, e.g.; 42. Like a par 5 hole vis-à-vis a par 3; 46. “Aladdin” prince; 47. “Open wide” sound; 48. Center of a ball?; 57. Old and gray; 58. Signs, as a contract; 59. Lena of “Chocolat”; 60. Composer Bruckner; 61. Astringent fruit; 62. Word with cut or exchange; 63. Dry out, informally; 64. Salon acquisitions. — DOWN: 1. “Why, of course!”; 2. Jungle menace; 3. You might wait for it at a stoplight; 4. “Fiddlesticks!”; 6. Monastery music; 7. “The Mod Squad” role; 10. Release; 11. Mane area; 12. Mother of Chaz Bono; 13. Brinker of children’s lit; 21. Exercise on the keys; 22. Aussie colleges; 26. Low man at the Met; 27. Nicholas Gage best seller; 28. On drugs; 29. Something to break into;30. Race in a chute; 31. River in a 1914 battle; 32. Rapper Combs a k a Diddy; 33. Alice’s chronicler; 34. Swimmers do them; 39. “Tiny Bubbles” singer; 41. Adidas competitor; 45. Add later; 49. Magazine jobs; 50. Dice, slangily; 51. 2000 election scrap; 52. Skye of “Say Anything …”; 53. Intl. commerce pact replaced by the W.T.O.; 54. Suffix with buck; 55."To Live and Die ___"; 56. What’s expected.
Why do you think this is an obscure theme Donald (I had to look up tenebrous and I assume that's what you mean)?
ReplyDeleteCigar Aficionado was pleased-they had this to say:
While we are honored by our appearance, we are left wondering about the choice of the clue that introduced Cigar Aficionado. It is true that we oppose the trade embargo, but we also might have been referred to as "the good life magazine for men" or "bible of handmade premium smokes." Will Shortz, the editor of The New York Times crossword puzzle, was unavailable to shed light on the reasoning behind the clue.
The question now is will Cigar Aficionado become a recurrent answer? With more vowels than it has consonants (eight to seven), the name is a perfect candidate for inclusion in puzzles as most words are vowel-starved. The same quality has puzzlemakers returning to names such as Yoko Ono (four vowels to three consonants) and Jay Leno (four to three, if Y acts as a vowel) an inordinate number of times.
NYTAnonimo
ReplyDeleteI used the word in the sense of dark and gloomy in relation to the entire crossword. It must be the weather!
With that, I'll add that the inclusion of CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR was clever and amusing.
Thanks for the very interesting information on Cigar Aficionado's reaction to the crossword. Their PR is on the job!
Donald