Sunday, June 8, 2008
Q & A SESSION, Puzzle by Will Nediger, edited by Will Shortz
This is a strangely lifeless crossword puzzle -- or is it? It asks questions and gives nothing in return -- or does it? After the entry of DEADCALM, it is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. QUAKING ASPENS, QUEBEC ACT, QUATERNARY AGE, QUAILING AT, QUESTING AFTER, QANTAS AIRWAYS, QUEEN ANNE and QUIET AMERICAN conspire to create a “Q” and “A” session with those two letters as the first and second of the eight two-word entries.
VERBATIM and UNQUOTE are here, HOLLERS is disguised as backwoods valleys -- other sounds are WAIL and WAULS, YIP and YELP, SUP and the slurp of SOUP -- a lot of negativity may be the putting-off aspect of this crossword with NOES, RAVAGED, OUST, STURM, RIOT, SHORT, STOOGES, SLUG, GLUT, AMOK, FOE, TAIL, HASAT, ROUNDER, IRATE, BURGLES, STUPOR, UGLI, SNOOTS, FLUS, QUEASIER, ODIUM, et al.
EXIT (95A. Stage direction).------------------
For today’s cartoon, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.
