Vacuum
Friday, July 6, 2007
Puzzle by Pete Mitchell, edited by Will Shortz
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GODSAVETHEQUEEN (17A Basis of "America") and its 15-letter mate, MAKEANEXAMPLEOF (55A Punish publicly, perhaps) dominate this crossword puzzle as sure as an egomaniacal crossword puzzle competitor in a bitch fit!
A SMOLDERED (61A Felt suppressed rage) RADIOTUBE (59A Place for a vacuum) sizzles in the lower right corner of the grid, while ABEVIGODA (1A Actor whom People magazine erroneously declared dead in 1982) sits atop NINELIVES (15A Persian's gift) in the upper left corner to lead the solver through a maze of booby traps and false clues smothered with enigma. Any one claiming to solve this puzzle in under five minutes is a either a damn liar who needs to get a life, or at least seek analysis!
Time yourself. How long does it take to read the clues? How long does it take to enter the letters into their respective boxes, whether tactile or electronic? That means you have no thinking time, doesn’t it?
These cues, at least, would give pause -- LIRAS (22A Turkey dough?), ACE (27A Crack), DAUB (11D Plaster) with TIEONEON (12D Get plastered), GENEFLOW (14D Result of a cross-fertilization within a population), BAREXAM (39D Something taken before practicing), STROBE (43D Light up at a dance?), and MISERS (41D Dough must be squeezed out of them). Not to mention such ne’er-seen-’afore fare as EMIL clued as (53D Graphic artist Nolde) ISERE clued as (54A Val d’___ [French ski resort]), and OTRA clued as (54A “La ___,” 1946 Dolores del Rio film).
Admittedly, there are those of us who “just know” what some word must be by having only one letter or at the most two -- just like the contestants on game shows who can give you the name of a song with only one note -- who clued them in? Crossword puzzle solvers wearing Speedos and gasping for breath as they seek to equate haste with intelligence are demoniacally possessed, some to the point of desperation -- snuggling up to every opportunity to declare their faux mensa. It’s a society in a vacuum!
The downs up right are TIEONEON, AVERSETO (13D Not at all fond of) and GENEFLOW; and down left COSTUMES (34d Film studio department), ARMINARM (35D How some people walk) and PIANOKEY (36D Hammer activator) -- that last one is duplicitous!
MORA (33D Melvin of the Orioles) and MRMOTO (33A The last novel featuring him was “Stopover: Tokyo”) share initial M, LOOIE (28A Military V.I.P.) is freaky -- who gets an official communication addressed to LOOIE so-and-so? ORINGS (38A Annular seals), IDTAG (10A Aid in retriever retrieval?), ASL, NSF, ILA are today’s initial entries.
ERROL (20A Filmmaker Morris), along with TORME (24A “The Christmas Song” co-writer) (Really? Wow!), SPIRO (46A He served between Hubert and Gerald), SMYTH (60A Rocker Patty who married John McEnroe), KNUTE (48A First name in college football coaching), join the ever-present NOLTE (49A “Affliction” star, 1998), ABEVIGODA, and others as today’s puzzle people.
I guess it’s just me, but I like to think when I do a puzzle -- this one, incidentally, is a SMASH (40A Sensation)!
For further esoterica read Michael and Amy.
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Abridged commentary of The NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD IN GOTHIC.
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