Sunday, September 16, 2012
A GIANT CROSSWORD, Puzzle by David Steinberg and Barry Haldiman
Edited by Will Shortz
"Fee-fi-fo-fum" is the first line of a historical quatrain (or sometimes couplet) famous for its use in the classic English fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. The poem, as given in Joseph Jacobs's rendition, is as follows:
Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he live, or be he dead
I'll grind his bones to make my bread.
a 1918 English Fairy Tales, by Flora Annie Steel
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK in circled letters winding up the center of the crossword, I SMELL THE BLOOD / OF AN ENGLISHMAN (3D. With 50-Down, cry made in [the circled letters] after the starts of 54-, 33-, 30- and 14-Down), e.g., the ascending FEE-FI-FO-FUM, constitutes the interrelated group of this delight of a Sunday crossword.
Fee-fi-fo-fum (in ascending order) is found at the starts of — FEEBLE ATTEMPT (54D. Not much of a try), FINITE RESOURCE (33D. Oil, for one), FOAM AT THE MOUTH (30D. Exhibit apoplexy) and FUMBLE THE BALL (14D. Makes a mistake).
Other — ANAEROBE (39D. Septic tank worker?), CHARLOTTE (115A. Eastern Conference N.B.A. city), GLUE POTS (87D. Arts and crafts supplies), LOST CAUSE (2D. Hopeless situation), OLD-TIMER (12D. Vet), PIZZA OVEN (23A. Domino‘s most important part?), SHE BANGS (71A. 2000 Ricky Martin hit), TELEPORT (68A. Beam over), THE LIONS (57D. Football pride of Detroit).
Mid-size — AL LEWIS, AMIENS (40A. City on the Somme), ARMHOLE, ASIANS, ASSAULT, Istanbul’s ATATURK Airport, BEEPER, BUTTS IN, DARE TO, DETOUR, DIAL IN, DOMAIN, ERNEST, GAZERS, HAR HAR, IT’S PAT, JOE KIDD, KETTLE, LOTTOS, LOUISE, OFF DAY, ONE RATE, PART II, SCATHE, SEEM SO, SISKEL, ST DENIS, STEADS, UNDERGO, UNROLLS.
Five-letter — ACCRA, ARIAL, Per aspera ad ASTRA, BASIL, BEEFY, BEEPER, BEFIT, BOOLA, EMCEE, FROCK, GIZMO, Wish one HADN’T, KUALA Lumpur, ON TAP, PAN AM, SLOSH, SLOTS, TISCH, ULNAS, UNCLE, YENTA.
Short stuff — ACLU, AFT, Jai ALAI, AMOI, “I AM SO confused”, ARCO, ARNE, A TO B, BANA, BART, BIB, BLAT, BOSS, BTU, CLUE, DAR es Salaam, DEES and DESE, EAST, ECUS, EEL and EEO, ELEM, ELI and ELL, END, ENNE, ETAS, ETON, EVE, FOO Fighters, Day-GLO, HAL, HEEP and HEMP, HER, Ad HOC, IAMB, IBIS, ILIA, ISH, ISMS, Cousin ITT, JAVA, KARL, LAP, LARK, LINA and LING, LIPO, LLB, Mauna LOA, MEAT, PAVE, PEI and PEN and PEP and POP, RED A, RIAS, ROSE, SAO, SHAM, SI SI, SOS, TABU, TACT, TAE, TAOS, TET, WIL, YAPS, YEGG.
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Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. Hip bones; 5. Safecracker; 9. Zip; 12. When things aren’t going right; 18. Terrific in slang; 20. Web app platform; 21. Title heroine of a Gustave Charpentier opera; 22. Doctrines; 25. Highest taxonomic rank; 26. Successors’ spots; 28. Host; 29. P.M. part; 31. Speak raucously; 32. Game played with a rope; 33. Monk’s wear; 34. French possessive; 35. Director Wertmüller; 38. Grandpa Munster portrayer; 38. Coastal indentations; 42. Rudely interrupts; 43. Wish one ___ (rue); 44. It may be cured; 45. Suffix with peck or puck; 46. Certain elective surgery, for short; 49. Vest opening; 53. Like strongmen; 56. Careful wording, maybe; 58. The White House’s ___ Room; 60. Suit; 61. Obsolescent belt attachment; 63. Nautical pronoun; 67. Actor Eric of “Troy”; 70. “Help wanted” inits.; 73. One small step; 74. It’s separated from N.B. by the Northumberland Strait; 75. Barrister’s deg.; 76. One letting off steam; 77. Half a Yale cheer; 79. “Of course, Señor!”; 81. Kind of sch.; 83. Two long parts of the body; 86. Experience; 90. Skin soother; 93. ___ v. Ashcroft (2004 privacy case); 94. Coming up; 96. Opens, in a way; 99. Sign with an arrow; 101. Bygone ruler; 102. First bishop of Paris; 103. Olympic gold-medal gymnast Conner; 104. Coins that disappeared during the French Revolution; 106. Onetime billionaire investor Laurence; 108. Certain ones, in Brooklyn; 109. “Rule Britannia” composer; 110. Write; 111. ___ Lumpur, Malaysia; 112. “That is so funny -- not!”; 114. Appear as such; 120. Androgynous “S.N.L.” skit turned into a 1994 movie; 121. Escapade; 122. Ersatz; 123. New Mexico county or its seat; 124. Gambling games; 125. Addition, of a sort; 126. Dickens’s Uriah; 127. Feminine suffix. — 1. Long-billed bird; 4. Blitzkrieg, e.g.; 5. Goes on and on; 6. Biblical name meaning “high”; 7. Ones with telescopes; 8. Thingamajig; 9. Smooth, in a way; 10. Saint Agnes’ ___ (January 20); 11. Worldport airline; 13. Rock’s ___ Fighters; 15. Try to reach headquarters, say; 16. More than 50% of humanity; 17. Busybody; 20. 1972 Eastwood western; 24. African port of 2.2 million; 27. Couple of buddies?; 37. Actor Wheaton of “Stand by Me”; 41. One foot in a line; 42. Kind o f overalls; 47. Sequel; 51. Suffix with duck; 52. Airport data; 55. “You betcha!”; 57. Football pride of Detroit; 59. Half of an old film duo; 62. Daddy-o; 64. California’s ___ River; 66. New Year abroad; 68. Forbidden perfume?; 69. ___ Dorney, locale of 2012 Olympic rowing; 72. A/C meas.; 78. With the bow, musically; 80. Casino draws; 82. Common place for something to drop; 84. Versatile kind of tire; 85. Response to a sinking feeling?; 91. Wrap up; 95. Sans-serif typeface; 97. The scarlet letter; 98. Phone billing plan; 99. Think that maybe one can; 100. William ___ Henley, “Invictus” poet; 102. Denounce harshly; 103. Pesto part; 105. 1960s TV spy org.; 107. Start of a spill; 111. Designer Lagerfeld; 112. Rope material; 113. Symbol of Aphrodite; ___ Paulo; 117. Nonhuman villain of a classic 1968 film; 118. ___ kwon do.
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