06.27.12 — Pentominoes




A standard pentomino puzzle is to tile a rectangular box with the pentominoes, i.e. cover it without overlap and without gaps. Each of the 12 pentominoes has an area of 5 unit squares, so the box must have an area of 60 units. Possible sizes are 6×10, 5×12, 4×15 and 3×20. The avid puzzler can probably solve these problems by hand within a few hours. A more challenging task, typically requiring a computer search, is to count the total number of solutions in each case. ~ Wikipedia

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Wednesday, June 27 2012

Puzzle by Mike Buckley / Edited by Will Shortz

PENTOMINOES (37A. Complete set of 12 shapes formed by this puzzle’s black squares), the aforementioned black squares, along with LACKING SYMMETRY (15A. Descriptive of this puzzle’s grid) and NON-INTERLOCKING (54A. Like this puzzle’s 37-Across) constitutes the interrelated group of this unusual double-duty Wednesday crossword.

Other — ELSINORE (38D. “Hamlet” castle), EMITTER (34D. Radio tower, for one), IMPINGE (44D. Encroach), LOADERS (25A. Stevedores, say), NORELCO (39D. Electric shaver brand), ONE-TRACK MIND (58A. A monomaniac has it), PRAIRIE (14D. Flat land), STORM IN A TEACUP (7A. Much ado about nothing), TIGER RAG (35D. Pioneering jazz standard of 1917), UTOPIAN (13D. Pie-in-the-sky).


The Platform Before the Palace of Elsinore - Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus and the Ghost (Shakespeare's Hamlet Prince of Denmark, Act I, Scene IV), Robert Thew, 1796

Mid-size — ALCOA, ANGORA, ARENA, BIG OX, CARET, GO LONG, MARSHY, OCCULT, OH ROB, PINTO, RASHAD, ROUND (45D. “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” e.g.), SINAI, SINEW, SKINT (53D. Penniless, in Pennington), STASH, STYMIE, TALONS.

Short stuff — ACNE, AIRS, ANTE, CEL, CMON, DRS (22D. J and No), ETRE, ETTA, EWE, HEM, IRA, LOAM, LSAT, MIA and MIN, MOO, NASA, NENE, OHM, OKLA, Run-ONS, OTIS, OXI, PIC, RAID, RKO, SIZE, SNL, SONG (46D. “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” e.g.) SPUN, TERI, TILE, TOON, YAM, YMCA, YOU, ZANE.

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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. Like areas where cattails thrive; 17. Its symbol is AA on the New York Stock Exchange; 18. Volt/ampere; 19. Potting material; 20. Whom Uncle Sam wants; 21. Go commando?; 23. Jack Kerouac’s last novel; 24. Long-running NBC staple, for short; 28. Good name for an investment adviser?; 29. Secret supply; 31. Mount in Exodus; 33. “Put it there” indicator; 36. Novelist Grey; 41. Game piece; 42. Oaf; 43. Runs; 48. Hatcher of a “desperate” plot?; 49. Call to a calf; 50. 2011 Grammy-winning song by Jay-Z and Kanye West; 52. To be in France?; 53. Twirled; 59. Sports venue; 60. What a wide receiver or an Oscar broadcast might do; 61. Milk source; 62. Gambler’s stake. — DOWN: 1. One sweep of a hand: Abbr.; 2. Breed of cat, goat or rabbit; 3. Phylicia of “The Cosby Show”; 4. Block; 5. Haw’s partner; 6. Verb from Popeye; 7. Dispatches; 8. Bird claws; 9. Like arts taught at Hogwarts; 10. Studio that made nine Astaire/Rogers films; 11. Soccer great Hamm; 12. What framed Roger Rabbit; 16. Many a gym locale; 25. Future D.A.’s hurdle; 26. Repeated Laura Petrie line on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”; 27. Economy-___; 30. Neutrogena target; 32. Mariner’s org.; 37. Former Ford subcompact; 40. Commercial prefix with Clean; 41. Donald or Daffy Duck; 51. Bone-muscle connector; 52. Singer James; 55. Hawaiian goose; 56. It’s between Kan. and Tex.; 57. “Let’s get going’!”

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