06.22.07 -- Believe It or Not!

Friday, June 22, 2007
Puzzle by Mike Nothnagel, edited by Will Shortz
Fun puzzle! Ripley's "Believe It or Not!" presides over this collection of oddities and arcana dead center in the form of the entry RIPLEY (15D Collector of bizarre facts) like a neon sign in a penny arcade!
MARINEBIOLOGIST (16a One concerned with school activities?) -- "He’s a marine biologist—he wouldn’t want anything killed like that," -- the other biologists watched in horror as the great white approached him. He seemed quite calm—he was trying to get his leg out of its mouth." The other biologists felt utterly helpless as they watched their friend being dragged deeper into the depths of the water until he was gone. "Lots of things were going through my mind. I just hoped, I just hoped that he’d come up." But despite searches by divers and police, no trace of the biologist has been found except for his buoyancy vest and air tank. Thursday officials called off the search for his body. A local fisherman thinks that divers need to realize the area is unsafe and steer clear. "It is crazy; they are shark bait!"
MRTOADSWILDRIDE (54A Disneyland attraction since 1955) -- Keep your eyes peeled because Mr. Toad certainly isn't watching where he's going! Climb into your buggy and hang on, because the wacky characters from the Disney classic "The Wind in the Willows" are going to take you on a road trip you won't soon forget! Prepare for these antic adventures: Begin in an English manor, crash through a fireplace, take a madcap dash through a warehouse chock full o' dynamite, and watch out for that train!
SANDIEGOZOO (5D Birthplace of the first giant panda in North America to survive adulthood).-- The Giant Panda of China is a rare and reclusive beast. In fact, they don't even like to meet up with other pandas. But they still need to communicate with each other. So they've set up community bulletin boards. However, pandas can't write, so instead their messages take a different form. They use urine. This chemical communication allows pandas to tell their neighbours who they are, when they visited and how important they are in the local hierarchy. Male pandas have turned all this into a high art, including learning to do handstands so they can mark higher up a tree.!
Paris Hilton
SLOWNEWSDAY (23D Cause for some fluff filling) -- "Blogs Aren't Blogs Unless I Say they Are" -- Robert Scoble, formerly of Microsoft and co-author of "Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers". A surefire way to drive a little traffic to a blog is to manufacture an argument out of nowhere, using an outrageous statement to draw attention -- such as “only websites meeting five criteria decided by a committee at Microsoft several years ago are really blogs. Everything else is just pretending to be a blog." Oh, and the moon is made of blue cheese!
ALL THE CLUES THAT'S FIT TO PRINT!
Across: 1 Tollbooth option for Northeasterners; 7 Pennsylvania town that was the longtime home of Rolling Rock beer; 14 Ogle; 15 Plans named for a Delaware senator; 16 One concerned with school activities?; 18 Comment after "So"; 19 Itself, in a legal phrase; 20 Dating concern; 21 Martini go-with?; 22 Approve; 24 BusinessWeek topic: Abbr.; 26 N.F.L.'er or N.B.A.'er; 27 Mathematician seen on a Swiss 10-franc note; 29 Lounging terrace; 31 "The Last of the Plainsmen novelist; 32 Judge's declaration; 33 Yes-men; 37 Worn rocks; 38 Cold evidence; 39 "Blade Runner" actress Young; 40 Give an invitation for; 41 A challenger might go after one; 42 Cheer starter; 45 Word with time or tone; 46 Plays first; 48 Steel guitar sound; 50 With 9-Down, albeit, poetically; 52 Length o a kids' fun run, briefly; 53 Kind of wind; 54 Disneyland attraction since 1955; 57 Sweethearts; 58 It may sit near a jack; 59 "After you"; 60 Deck reply
Down: 1 College in south central New York; 2 Extremist; 3 Be wiped out; 4 Easter baby, maybe; 5 Birthplace of the first giant panda in North America to survive to adulthood; 6 Abbr. on many Quebec road signs; 7 Slacker; 8 Bearer of scales and plates; 9 See 50-Across; 10 Capital on the Daugava River; 11 Fresh; 12 Link between DNA strands; 13 Round fig.; 15 Collector of bizarre facts; 17 Books with many cross references?; 23 Cause for some fluff filling; 25 Suave, and then some; 28 Addict's bugbear; 30 Japanese P.M. Shinzo ____; 32 "Cryptonomicon" novelist Stephenson; 33 Some coll. seniors take it; 34 Have as a boss; 35 The orange variety is black; 36 One with the force: Abbr.; 37 Maker of a wake on a lake; 39 Source of strength; 41 Showed anxiety; 42 Flint, e.g.; 43 Tomorrow; 44 Cool; 47 Locations for declamations; 49 Certain chess piece, informally; 51 Collector of couples; 54 Rangers' venue: Abbr.; 55 Cooler; 56 N.Y.C. airport
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