24D ONETEN (Classic Packard model with a numerical name)
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Friday, November 30, 2007
Puzzle by Henry Hook, edited by Will Shortz
Exceptionally misleading clues are the main feature of this Friday hodgepodge; and as for entries, there is a fondness for crossing a fabricated corker like GEEYATHINK with the obscure ODERNEISSE.
This fairly tiresome affair has a fair share of unfair clues, including 15A, 17A, 19A, 22A, 26A 32A, 37A, 40A, 44A, 49A, 52A, 55A, 56A, 57A, 58A, 5D, 27D, 31D, 32D, 39D, and 48D -- I’m sure there are more. Not wanting to dwell too long on this attempt to stump the solver by hook, line and stinker, I’ll end it here.
Across: 1. Show signs of improvement; 11. Second in a series; 15. Indication of stress; 16. 1,575-mile river known to some locals as the Zhayyq; 17. “Well, duh!”); 18. Hitch; 19. Supra; 20. Syrup of IPECAC; 22. Caustic; 23. Sci-fi author McIntyre; 25. Bad EMS, German resort; 26. With eyes open; 30. Mr. Levy of 1920s Broadway fame; 3. Holders of big pads; 33. Marker; 34. W.S.J. subjects; 35.”It’s ADATE!” (“You’re on!”); 36. Alt. Spelling; 37. Slam; 38. Dictionary data; 39. Minimal change; 40. Cloth workers?; 42. Big-league; 43. Sculptor Oldenburg; 44. Dive; 46. Game craze of the late 1980s and ‘90s; 49. Direct; 51. Island nicknamed the Gathering Place; 52. Jump the gun; 55. Senior moment?; 56. One who’s happy when things look black; 57. Blunt; 58. Undergo a change of habit?
Down: 1. Olympics item … or the winning word in the 1984 National Spelling Bee; 2. Civilians eligible be drafted; 3. ODERNEISSE Line (German/Polish border); 4. Bitter fruit; 5. Queues; 6. Name on a bottle of Beyond Paradise; 7. Sch. Staffer; 8. French pronoun; 9. Suffix with south; 10. Sparks a second time; 11. Department; 12. Greenland colonizer; 13. “I did it!”; 14. Pianist Templeton; 21. Visual PC-to-PC files; 23. Appearances; 24. Classic Packard model with a numerical name; 26. Pompadour, for one; 27. Prerecorded; 28. Advance; 29. Tentlike dwelling with a conical roof; 30. Like some electric circuits; 31. Be angry as heck; 32. “Nothing to it”; 38. Hybrid fruit; 39. Where cooler heads prevail?; 41. Fritz the Cat illustrator; 42. Paid (up); 44. Locker room habitués; 45. Rain gear brand; 46. Maximally; 47. Pull down; 48. Grand total? 49. Plural suffix with beat or neat; 50. Kind of pronoun: Abbr.; 53. Clause connector; 54. Unduly.
This is a puzzle that projects a need to be inscrutable and overly clever.
Maybe tomorrow.
Oh, by the way, I liked the reference to the Packard.
