04.16.12 — Out of Sorts

Monday, April 16, 2012

Puzzle by Lynn Lempel / Edited by Will Shortz

Idiomatic food descriptions of sorts of people constitute the interrelated group of this Monday crossword:

STUD MUFFIN (17A. Sexy sort)
BIG ENCHILADA (23A. Influential sort)
GOOD EGG (39A. Amiable sort)
HUMAN PRETZEL (50A. Supple sort)
SWEETIE PIE (59A. Precious sort)

Other — ENGAGEMENT (2D. Usual wedding precursor), MARGINALIA (1D. Reader’s notes alongside the text), ORANGE RIND (31D. Common marmalade ingredient), Z AS IN ZEBRA (30D. Spelling clarification that Aziz might use twice).

Mid-size — AGATE, Order of the British EMPIRE, HELOT, HINDU, LEERY, LEG UP, MATZOH, NATURE, NEEDLE, NEPAL, NIECES, NOMAAM, OOLALA, PARLOR, PITEOUS, SAUDI, STRIPE, TESTEES, URGING, WEARY.

Short stuff — ABS, ADD and ADO, ARE and ATE, ASH and ASH, ASPS, BOA constrictor, CAFÉ, CLEO, Deputy DAWG, DEA and DEL, DUH, EDT, EEK, ELAL, ELF and ELI and ELIE, END, GARR, GEL, GURU, HERR, HYPE, IDO, IOU, JAMS, JOHN, LOT, LYES, MANE, MET, MOAB, OBIE, OLE, ORGS, PINE, PRE, SAD and SAP, SANK, SOT, SWAT, TOGA, TOP, URNS.

————————

Click on image to enlarge.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. Yankee’s crosstown rival; 4. Burro; 7. Aunts’ little girls; 13. Lion’s locks; 15. “So fancy!”; 16. Assns.; 19. Playing marble; 21. Grp. That raids grow houses; 22. Cry of surprise; 28. Compass pointer; 29. Bread eaten during Passover; 33. Photocopier malfunctions; 34. Israeli carrier; 37. Tired; 38. Cry to a matador; 41 Tree juice; 42. Gandhi, e.g., religiously; 44. “Gladiator” garment; 45. Yearn (for); 46. Word after “force of” or “freak of”; 48. Encouragement; 54. Cigar residue; 57. Opposite of post; 58. Rather distrustful; 64. New York theater award; 65 Place for pizza or ice cream; 66. Put two and two together, say; 67. Caterer’s coffee containers; 68. Feature on a skunk’s back; 69. Parcel of property; 70. Feeling blue. — DOWN: 3. Exam takers; 4. Stomach muscles, for short; 5. Drunkard; 6. Riyadh native; 7. Polite refusal to a lady; 8. Debtor’s letters; 9. Worker in Santa’s workshop; 10. Bistro; 11. Nobelist Wiesel; 12. Plummeted; 13. Biblical kingdom east of the Dead Sea; 18. Dover’s state: Abbr.; 20. Finish; 24. Royal role for Liz Taylor; 25. Serf; 26. Cartoondom’s Deputy ___; 27. Chowed down; 32. Ballyhoo; 33. Adams, Tyler or Kennedy; 35. Hullabaloo; 36. Advantage; 39. Spiritual teacher of a 42-Across; 40. Teri of “Tootsie”; 43. “That’s obvious, stupid!”; 45. Pathetic; 49. Hairspray alternative; 51. “Diamonds ___ Forever”; 52. Country with Mount Everest on its border; 53. Caustic cleaners; 54. Venomous wipers; 55. Whack, as a fly; 58. Frau’s spouse; 60. Peyton’s brother on the gridiron; 63. Lid; 62. Repeated words shouted after “Who wants …?”; 63. Summer hrs. in D.C.