05.07.12 — Mysterious Monday

Monday, May 7, 2012

Puzzle by Guy Tabachnick / Edited by Will Shortz

Ethereality ushers in the week with this Monday crossword:

• GHOSTFACE KILLAH (20A. Rapper who came to prominence as a member of the Wu-Tang Clan)
• ARLEN SPECTER (25A. Former Republican-turned-Democratic senator from Pennsylvania)
• SHADOW-BOXING (43A. Form of sparring)
• DISTILLED SPIRIT (53A. Whiskey or vodka)

Other — CODEINE (41D. Opiate often used in cough syrup), DIALIECTS (10D. Language offshoots), KISSERS (38A. Mouths, slangily), ONE CENT (7D. Words below the Lincoln Memorial), RED STATE (36D. It leans to the right), RUG RATS (35A. Little ‘uns).

Mid-size — ARONI, ATRIA, AT SEA, BALLER, BARTER, CACHE, DELIA, EARTHA, ELIDE, ETUDE, FILET, GRILLE, HINDI, HOOK-UP, ICIER, IDEAS, IVIES, NAPPED, ODESSA, ONION, ONSETS, OTHER, PLANS, SCOOB (1A. Shaggy‘s nickname for his canine friend), SENSEI (23A. Karate teacher), SNEAD, SWIGS, TRAIL, “A Fish Called WANDA“, WE LOST.

Short stuff — AGHA, ALTS, ANNO, BRA, BROS, CIV, DOPE and DOTE, DREW, EAVE, EIRE, ENS and ENT, ETTA, IKEA, IOTA, KIX, OKLA, OLIO, “Come to PAPA“, PEAT moss, PESO, Winnie-the-POOH, RASP, ROLL, RUTH, SENT, SLAV, TREE and TREY, WASH, YEP.

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Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 10. Did cartoons, e.g.; 16. Letter before kappa; 17. Less friendly; 18. Mexican money; 19. Hgts.; 24. Pianist’s practice piece; 30. Blouse undergarment; 33. Suffix with absorb; 34. Skylit rooms; 40. Neither this nor that; 41. 104, in old Rome; 42. “You betcha!”; 48. Golf legend Sam; 49. Kitt who sang “Santa Baby”; 57. Tulsa’s home: Abbr.; 58. Potpourri; 59. Intends (to); 61. Dispatched; 62. Skip over, as a vowel; 63. Roof overhang; 64. Focus for an arborist; 65. Screenwriter Ephron. — DOWN: 1. Drinks from a flask, say; 2. Storage for fast Web page retrieval; 3. “America’s Finest News Source,” with “The”; 4. Ukranian port whose staircase is a setting for “The Battleship Potemkin”; 5. Trade; 8. Beginnings; 9. Begin a tryst; 11. Go round and round; 12. Blues singer James; 13. Laundry; 21. ___-O-Fish (McDonald’s sandwich); 22. Outputs of brainstorming; 26. Nav. Rank; 27. Deuce topper; 28. What Dubliners call their homeland; 29l Speak with laryngitis, say; 30. Homies; 31. Hitter of 714 home runs; 32. Ottoman official; 37. Rice-___; 38. “Kid-tested, mother-approved” cereal; 39. Brown, Dartmouth, etc.; 41. Opiate often used in cough syrup; 44. Lament of the defeated; 45. One playing hoops; 46. Snoozed; 47. Cover on the front of a car; 50. One might be made of bread crumbs; 51. Language of India; 52. Confused; 53. Extraordinary, in slang; 54. European-based furniture giant; 55. Bulgarian or Czech; 56. Focus lovingly (on).