05.24.11 — Choices

The chicken or the egg causality dilemma is commonly stated as "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" To ancient philosophers, the question about the first chicken or egg also evoked the questions of how life and the universe in general began. ~ Wikipedia

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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Puzzle by Michael Blake and Andrea Carla Michaels / Edited by Will Shortz

Five “partners” constitute the main group of this choice Tuesday crossword:

KISS AND SHOW (17A. Tell partners?)
DRY AND MIGHTY (24A. High partners?)
PREJUDICE AND JOY (38A. Pride partners?)
TOUCH AND STOP (49A. Go partners?)
RISE AND SPIT (60A. Shine partners?)

Other — AYES and NAY (37D. Yes votes; 18D. No vote), DARES and ARE YOU NUTS (26D. Motivations for some bungee jumps; 30D. Question after some 26-Down), HIT ON and PAW AT (33D. Makes a pass at; 1A. Handle roughly), HATCHET JOB (11D. Malicious attack), SEWN IN (10D. Like jacket linings, usually), THERMO (47D. Dynamic beginning?), XOXOX and YOURS (70A and 6A. Complimentary close).

Five-letter — AINGE, ALGAE, DEERE, ENEMY, ERODE, I CAME, MOURN, NECRO, OLLIE, OLSON, ON RED, OP ART, ORTHO, Nitrous OXIDE, POBOY, ROBES, STAND, TUFTS, ULNAE, YADDA.

Short stuff — ADO and APO, ADS and ALS, APEX, AXIS, AYES, CORA, DEX, DMAJ, DOHA, DROP, ECO, EGG (23D. “Which came first?” choice), ESP, ETA, FLU, HERR, HOP, IMPS, ION, LIMO, MIRA, NERO, OTOS, POKE, RAO and RCA, RENU, RODE, SAY, SES, SNO, STYX, SUR, TAB and TAN, TEA, TIT, TRA-la-la, UGH, WISP.

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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: 11. Possible cause of a baseball fielder’s error; 15. Seaweed, e.g.; 16. Letters on letters to soldiers; 19. Indent key; 20. Clairvoyance, briefly; 21. Brouhaha; 22. Dead: Prefix; 28. Beginning of Caesar’s boast; 31. Danny of the Celtics; 32. Gangster Bugs; 33. Munster Mr.; 42. Chance to speak; 43. Chief Whitehorse and tribesmen; 44. Eat away at; 45. Straight: Prefix; 48. Judges’ wear; 54. Arm bones; 55. Second letter after epsilon; 56. Artist Hirschfeld and namesakes; 59. Grippe; 65. Lead-in for mouse or willow; 66. Bewail; 67. Foe; 68. Its: Fr.; 69. When a right may be permitted. — DOWN: 1. Jab; 2. Something to reflect on?; 3. Faint cloud; 4. TiVo users may skip them; 5. Quaint get-together; 6. When said three times, et cetera; 7. TV announcer Johnny; 8. “Yuck!”; 9. Raja ___, “The Serpent and the Rope” novelist; 12. Pictures that may make you dizzy; 13. Hero of New Orleans; 24. Key with two sharps: Abbr.; 25. Contact lens care brand; 27. Sorvino of “Mighty Aphrode”; 28. Little troublemakers; 29. Julius Dithers’s wife in “Blondie”; 34. Environmental prefix; 36. Was conveyed; 39. Qatari capital; 40. Pianist Peter; 41. Plummet; 46. “His Master’s Voice” label; 47. Dynamic beginning?; 49. University in Medford, Mass.; 50. Friend of Kukla; 51. Caterpillar rival; 52. Prepare to sing the national anthem; 53. Whip but good; 56. Acme; 57. It might roll up to a red carpet; 58. “Come Sail Away” band, 1977; 61. Charged particle; 62. Big __, Calif.; 63. Jazz saxophonist Gordon, familiarly; 64. ___-Caps (movie snacks).