04.27.12 — Spotlight

Spotlight, photo by Visualogist

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Friday, April 27, 2012

Puzzle by Patrick Berry / Edited by Will Shortz

Four fifteen-letter entries are featured in this fine Friday crossword:

STAMP OF APPROVAL (17A. O.K.)
THREE TIMES A LADY (20A. First #1 hit for the Commodores)
DRAW ATTENTION TO (41A. Spotlight)
EASY FOR YOU TO SAY (44A. “Yeah, right!”)

Five of eight or nine letters — CARTOONY (32D. Not drawn true to life), IN TESTATE (28D. Not ready to go, you might say), IN ARREARS (3D. Not caught up), JACKSTRAW (26D. Pick-up sticks piece), NAMESAKE (4D. First son, sometimes), ON THE MEND (2D. Getting better), PARKINSON (27D. English physician James who gave his name to a disease), REPEOPLED (8D. Like a town that used to be a ghost town), TALK TO ME (31D. “I want the lowdown!”), TOPSAILS (9D. Schooner features).

Mid-size — Aalto ALVAR, CAMEO (15A. Head stone?), CHALKS, COOLED, CRANE, ERSATZ, EWELL, HAFIZ (6D. Koran memorizer), HASTE, JELLS, KNOLL, KURTIS, LEAKY, MARLA and MARTA, MERIT, MERKEL, MUTUAL, OATERS, PACED, PEARY, PILAF, RATES, READS, “Tom SAWYER, Detective“, SCOTTY, “The Battle of the SEXES” (D. W. Griffith film), SHIRT, SILKS, SMEARY, SPIED, TAXES.

Short stuff — ANNA Pavlova, ANTE, CANE, CARP, CAST, COIN (1A. One called upon to decide), DEAD, DEER, EYRE, IMAM (7D. Koran reciter), INRE, MDS, NOTE, OLEO, OYEZ, PEAL, PIP, POLY, SLIM, Santa YNEZ Valley.

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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: 5. Back cover?; 10. Keep the complaints coming; 14. Pavlova of the ballet; 16. Nondairy alternative; 21. Counterfeit; 22. Horse shows?; 23. Hard to see though, say; 24. Laid eyes on; 25. Hardly seaworthy; 26. Takes shape; 27. Apple seed; 30. About; 31. One of Franklin’s certainties; 32. Little Tramp prop; 33. Diagnosis deliverers: Abbr.; 34. Expended some nervous energy; 35. Commuting option in Georgia’s capital; 36. Jockey’s uniform; 37. First female chancellor of Germany; 38. Attributes (to), with “up”; 40. Former “CBS Morning News” co-anchor Bill; 45. Play money?; 46. The Donald’s second ex; 47. Small letter; 48. Some ruminants; 49. Bob ___, “To Kill a Mockingbird” villain; 50. Santa ___ Valley (winegrowing region). — down: 1. Play group; 5. Warp drive repairman on the original “Star Trek”; 10. Sat on a sill, maybe; 11. Finnish architect Aalto; 12. Tries out for a part; 13. Part of many a tech school’s name; 18. “The North Pole” author, 1910; 19. Phone company offers; 23. Hardly stocky; 29. Ring; 34. Starchy dish; 35. Good reason for promotion; 37. Held in common; 38. Part of a boomtown’s skyline; 39. Cause of careless mistakes; 40. Rise; 41. Utterly exhausted; 42. Literary governess’s surname; 43. Courtroom cry.