12.04.13 — Skidoo!



A nearly translucent squid glows in reds and purples.

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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Puzzle by Daniel Raymon / Edited by Will Shortz


SQUID MARKS (17A. Food critic’s assessments of calamari?), SQUARE TACTIC (27A. Maneuver on a chessboard?), SQUIRT CHASER (43A. Rug rat pursuer?) and GREAT SQUAT (57A. Outstanding posture for a catcher?) constitute the interrelated group of this close-to-exquisite Wednesday crossword, e.g., skid marks, scare tactic, skirt chaser and Great Scott.

Other — ALEXEI Kosygin of Russia, ATTACK (45D. Battle cry), LANDSCAPER (10D. Topiary pro), Perry MASON, MR SMITH (9D. James Stewart title role), NEWSIES (24A. Tony-nominated musical based on a 1992 Disney movie), OUTLAID (20A. Disbursed), SENSITIZED (27D. Made more aware). STENGEL (41D. Baseball’s Old Professor), TEASERS (53A. The last 30 seconds of many TV shows), THEISTS (46A. Believers in one god), Elementary MY DEAR Watson, WREATHS (25D. Year-end decorations).


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It is at a triangular site where Broadway and Fifth Avenue—the two most important streets of New York—meet at Madison Square, and because of the juxtaposition of the streets and the park across the street, there was a wind-tunnel effect here. In the early twentieth century, men would hang out on the corner here on Twenty-third Street and watch the wind blowing women's dresses up so that they could catch a little bit of ankle. This entered into popular culture and there are hundreds of postcards and illustrations of women with their dresses blowing up in front of the Flatiron Building. And it supposedly is where the slang expression "23 skidoo" comes from because the police would come and give the voyeurs the 23 skidoo to tell them to get out of the area. ~ Wikipedia






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Puzzle available on the internet at
THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

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