Slang for Slang
Monday, June 11, 2007
Puzzle by Harriet Clifton, edited by Will Shortz
Although a fairly easy puzzle, one that requires a completion of most clues before acquiring the entries 17A FLATBROKE, 21A STRAPPED, 41A FEELINGTHEPINCH, 56A INTHERED, and 66A TAPPEDOUT all clued as "Short on dough" -- slang for slang. Any one of the five entries could be the clue and SHORTONDOUGH could be an entry.
ROSIE (22D With 71-Across "White Men Can't Jump" co-star) PEREZ (71A See 22-Down) makes a welcome appearance -- having just been on the talk shows last week to promote her new film -- such a delightful personality!
AUDIO (36A The "A" in A/V) sits next to RADIO (38A Howard Stern's medium) joined elsewhere by PATIO (30D Barbecue area) and IOTA (70A Teeny bit) in the "IO" department; CEE (55D So-so grade) and CREE (69A Saskatchewan Indian) hang out near each other; don't think I've seen LOOIE (45A Sarge's superior) before; OPART (68A Eye-teasing paintings) looks odd without a space, like a mispelled "apart"; LEO (6D Fierce type, astrologically) gets a subjective clue; TAPAS (29A Finger food at a Spanish restaurant) wanted to be TACOS; ANNIE (33A "_____ Get Your Gun") makes her third appearance in one week in a NY Times puzzle; it's time to clue IHOP (56D Restaurant acronym) some other way than a commercial for a restaurant; APOP (11D) and PER (67D) get the same clue -- "Individually".
A bit of anger and negativity in this puzzle with TEMPER (10D Word repeated after someone starts to show anger); IVEHADIT (43D "Enough already!"), IRKS (7D Annoys); NIT (40A Tiny criticism to "pick"); STORM (49A Attack en masse, as a castle); and a few others, capped by RAVE (32A Over-the-top review), NOSIR (42D Polite refusal) and NOPE (57D "uh-uh")!
Smile...
-----------------
For today's cartoon, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.
To go to original post with illustrations and puzzle grid, click on title at the beginning of commentary.
