03.11.11 — Tease

General Custer’s Bugle

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Friday, March 11, 2011

Puzzle by Martin Ashwood-Smith, edited by Will Shortz

This friendly Friday crossword features six 15-letter Across entries:

SOUND THE RETREAT (17. Signal withdrawal)
POLITICAL ARENAS (29. Fields in which 6-Acrosses are found)
A LOT ON ONE’S PLATE (38. Much to do)
LITERARY STUDIES (39. Concentration for an English major)
ON INTIMATE TERMS (40. Close)
ANTIDEPRESSANTS (56. They may keep you up)

Other — CANDIDATE (6A. Runner, of a sort), CARPUTER (26D. Hi-tech auto device), DRESS FASTENERS (9D. Hooks, of a sort), OVERTONES (16A. Suggestions), RETORTED (24D. Made a comeback), SCENARIOS (60A. Outlines), THE SINAI DESERT (18D. Egyptian expanse), THREE TENS (62A. Pretty good poker hand).

Mid-size — ALERTED (47A. Tipped off), ARCADE (43A. Game keeper), ELDEST (34D. Cain, e.g.), LOW-RENT (22A. Second-rate), SCARES (25A. Cows), WHITEN (23D. Etiolate).

Five-letter — ADORE (15A. Eat up), ALIEN and ALINE, ANEAR, APRON, AVAST, AVERT, BLEST, COHEN, CORMS, DETRE, DORSA, ENNUI, ESTES (14A. Children‘s author Eleanor), EXURB, HERDS, LOESS, ODOUL, RANCH, SAPOR, SOYUZ, TEASE (13D. One likely to get men’s attention), YOU DO (3D. “Seriously?”).

Short stuff — ANYA, APIE, “Lemme AT ‘EM“, AXL, BFA, EDS, HES, HUD, ISBN, ITT, LOTI, NAIR, NEI and NES, NERD, OLIN, PALO, SASE and SASH, SEA, SESS, URN, VAIL, ZED.

“I don’t mean to sound sleezy but tease me I don’t want it if it’s that easy.“ ~ Tupac Shakur

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Click on image to enlarge.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. Cosmonaut’s craft; 15. Eat up; 19. Cabinet dept. since 1965; 20. Range rovers; 21. Mailing courtesy, briefly; 27. Bulls, e.g.; 28. Designer’s deg.; 41. Glamour types, for short; 42. Super ___ (1990s video game console); 51. Colorado’s ___ Mountain; 52. Food quality; 54. Verdi’s “___ giardin del bello”; 61. Long-distance commuter’s home, maybe; 63. Superman, for one. — DOWN: 1. What the narrator “threw up” in “The Night Before Christmas”; 2. Baseball’s Lefty; 4. Columbarium object; 5. Letter in the Globe and Mail; 6. Ben of Ben & Jerry’s; 7. Parry; 8. Square type; 10. Onetime owner of Sheraton Hotels; 11. Backs; 12. Close, poetically; 28. Hallowed; 29. ___ Pinto (Texas county or its seat); 30. Lena of “Havana”; 31. French novelist Pierre; 32. Bulblike bases of stems; 33. Daughter in “The Cherry Orchard”; 35. Shaving alternative; 37. Legis. Period; 43. Sailor’s stopper; 44. Russian alternative; 45. Bartlett, notably; 46. Slimming cut; 47. Part of a stage; 48. Good earth; 49. Boredom; 50. Raison follower; 53. Tom T. Hall’s “Mama Bake ___”; 55. Novel ID; 57. Daniel ___ Kim of “Lost”; 58. Main; 59. Rock’s ___ Rose.