EMPTY
Sun in an Empty Room, Edward Hopper, 1963
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Thursday, August 14, 2008
Puzzle by Damon J. Gulczynski, edited by Will Shortz
The note accompanying today’s crossword -- “When this puzzle is done, unscramble the five circled letters to find out how the circles could have been left with the puzzle's solution still being correct.” An afterthought to the puzzle, amusing in a way and certainly clever, the circles and the note, however, are of no assistance in the solution of the crossword. In the circles are the letters E, M, P, T and Y. That’s right, empty.
Leaving in the letter in a circle or removing it results in the dual entries of JOEY and JOE (5A. Nickname for a namesake of Mary’s husband); YOUR, OUR (8D. Not their); EMIGRATE, MIGRATE (24A. Resettle); EMEND, MEND (24D. Fix); SOMBER, SOBER (28A. Serious); MIKE, IKE (29D. One of a candy box duo); GOOP, GOO (42D. Sticky stuff); SPOILING, SOILING (56A. Defiling); ROTUND, ROUND (53A. Roly-poly); THORN, HORN (55D. Protective protrusion), ten clues with two different answers each -- super-Shortzesque!
CUMULATIVE
(18A. Like some interest) and PROGRESSED (61A. Went on) are a nice pair of balanced acrosses. A few links for other entries -- MENSCLUB (30A. Strip joint, euphemistically); EBONICS (27D. Vernacular that came into prominence in 1996); ESKERS (34A. Glacial ridges); LLANOS (52D. Grasslands); EULER (16A. Institutiones Calculi Integralis” writer); NORSE (38A. Like 1-Across) and its partner THOR (1A. Mythical hammer wielder); the haven‘t-seen-in-a-puzzle-before OCREA (54D. Papery sheath on a plant stem); ETE, IOS and NIKE. How about that trio of TSK, TSO and TSU. Gotta go, running on EMPTY!-----------------
For today's cartoon, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.
For the complete post, go HERE.
