11.17.11 — Letter Sorting

Alphabet Soup by Wosene, 2004

————————

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Puzzle by Patrick Merrell / Edited by Will Shortz

LETTER SORTING (35A. “Stronger title” for this puzzle), OUT OF ORDER (17A. Roof detour), ALL MIXED UP (28A. Duplex mail), REARRANGED (49A. Rear garden) and ANAGRAMMED (57A. Mad manager) constitute the interrelated group of this fine Thursday crossword.

Other — DROP CLOTH (4D. Painter’s appurtenance), EMPANADA (36D. Savory turnover from south of the border), ESTUARY (29D. Chesapeake Bay, e.g.), EXCITES (22D. Gets going), ROSEBUD (47A. Spring opener), STRAINER (9D. Item that’s mostly mesh), TIME LIMIT (34D. Certain cut-off point), WALLEYE (28A. Game fish in northern lakes and streams).

Anne Boleyn in the Tower by Edouard Cibot, 1835

Mid-sized — ABDEL, AERATE, AFORE, BOLEYN (53A. House of Tudor Woman), CANADA, CREEPY, DICTUM, ETHAN, FENDS, GNATS, HUMAN (40A. Rarity on the other end of a help line, nowadays), KILOS, LAURA, NAOMI, ORBITS, PAROLE, PEKOE, PEORIA, REAGAN, RESTS, TALENT, “USE IT in good health“, ZIPPO.

Short stuff — ABUT, ACDC, AMY, API, ASEC, ASSN, AWK, DATA, DON, DUE, EAU, ELLE, EPA, FAIR, FLO Rida, GLUT, INC, IRES, LSTS, MAZE, MISO, MPH, NAS, NIBS, NUT, ODOR, OKAY, ONCE, OPT, PADS, RAIN, SAFE, SATS, TINT, USN, YDS.

————————

Click on image to enlarge.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. Repulses, with “off”; 6. Bruise preventers; 10. Kind of converter; 14. Opinionated Dr. ___; 15. Lie next to; 16. Like a pro rata division, say; 19. Without following up, say; 20. Tea-grading term; 21. Gas up?; 23. One mo; 30. Co. follower sometimes; 31. Girl’s name meaning “loved”; 32. They’re not as heavy as stones; 41. “See ___ Play,” classic Pink Floyd song; 43. Pick, with “for”; 46. Bee: Prefix; 52. D-Day refuges for the wounded, for short; 53. House of Tudor woman; 54. Watts of “21 Grams”; 56. Makes sore; 62. Glare preventer; 63. Figures; 64. Lighter choice; 65. They have 225-min. 34-Downs; 66. Part of N.E.A.: Abbr.; 67. A Coen brother. — DOWN: 1. Rapper ___ Rida; 2. French word that sounds like a letter of the alphabet; 3. Flake; 5. Untouchable?; 6. Release, in a way; 7. Egypt’s Gamal ___ Nasser; 8. Kind of date for a woman; 10. Ere; 11. Bilingual country; 12. Authoritative pronouncement; 13. Halloween-ish; 18. “I suppose”; 23. Parrot’s cry; 24. Yachting need; 25. Magazine that serialized Simone de Beauvoir’s 1967 “La femme rompue”; 27. Sendai seasoning; 33. Seal’s grp.; 37. Puddle source; 38. Penpoints; 39. Overfill; 42. Two of these make a fathom: Abbr.; 43. Runs rings around?; 44. Average Town, U.S.A.; 45. On-air personalities, in the biz; 47. The 40^th since 1789; 48. Something lost in the wash?; 50. Recesses; 51. Swarms of them are called clouds; 55. Building plan with many doors, say; 58. “Illmatic” rapper; 59. Dashboard fig.; 60. Cleanup org.; 61. “The Godfather” title.