Friday, December 21, 2007
Puzzle by Patrick Berry, edited by Will Shortz
The TGIF of TGIF’s is here! Tell me you’re not going in on Monday, please!
O.K., o.k., we’re all busy, shopping, whatever…we're all anagrammatizing TGIF into GIFT! However, today’s puzzle has nothing to do with the Holidays -- zero, zilch, zounds!
Is one entitled to dislike a puzzle while at the same time doggedly play its cat-and-mouse games with delight? If so, and if you’ve finished up everything at work and at home in preparation for the oncoming you-know-what, then calmly sit down and try this one on for size!
Across: 1. Musical genre that uses a flatted fifth; 6. Violin attachments; 15. It vibrates during snoring; 16. Novel that nobody reads; 17. Three-time U.S. presidential candidate; 18. Net sales?; 19. Multigallon container; 21. Grave mound; 22. Hostage holder; 23. Endearing, as a smile; 24. King’s successor as S.C.L.C. president; 27. Shrink; 28. Member of the 500 Home Run Club; 29. Cannibal of Anglo-Saxon legend; 31. Science made clear”: Cocteau; 32. Stole, slangily; 33. Sweetums; 36. Perseveres; 37. You may need it going in; 38. Union station?; 41. Seven-foot star of 1960s TV; 43. They may raise some people’s spirits; 45. Films that require a lot of shooting?; 46. Sentence ender; 47. Their work stinks; 49. What a lack of evidence of forced entry might indicate; 551. Send to the front?; 53. Unchangeable situation; 54. Van HALEN (“Jump” band); 55. Orthodox Church council; 56. Inception.
Down: 1. Roll; 2. Actress who was the voice of Duchess in “The Aristocats”; 3. The Pearl of the Danube; 4. Sucrose polyester, more familiarly; 5. “Travelin’ Thru” singer; 6. City largely destroyed by the Normandy campaign; 7. Literary pal of Tom; 8. Witness statement; 9. Rain clouds; 10. Worked one’s wiles on; 11. Longtime NBC sports exec; 12. “Man of Constant SORROW” (old folk standard); 13. On the way; 14. Stick on the grill; 20. One of Ferdinand II’s kingdoms; 22. House on a hacienda; 23. One of the Marsalis brothers; 25. “Wild Thing” band, with “the”; 26. 1946 Literature Nobelist; 30. University of North Texas home; 32. Product lines?; 33. Who’s left?; 34. Assessment paid only by those who benefit; 35. Moving vehicles; 36. Without apparent effort; 37. Bonus Army member; 38. Venomous; 39. Cabin addition; 40. Heel bone, e.g.; 42. Bridge declaration; 44. “Politics is the ENEMY of the imagination”: Ian McEwan; 47. Oz visitor; 48. Supine, possibly; 50. Dutch painter Steen; 52. “We Know Drama” sloganeer.
Bah! -- Let's hope Santa doesn't stuff your stocking with this humdinger!
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