Pieces of Mona by Bigchrist Saturday, January 17, 2009 Puzzle by Brad Wilber, edited by Will Shortz SFUMATO is one of two or three entries that are not of the usual everyday fare for a crossword; however, the clue is doggedly descriptive in penance for the oddity, if not more or less so than for PEYO. The remaining lineup of entries are the usual suspects, all fairly familiar -- it’s the clues that create the degree of difficulty bordering upon sadistic mystification. Doing research for this write-up, I came across this amazing YouTube video -- How to paint the MONA LISA with MS PAINT -- 9,481,559 views! SFUMATO, OOCYTE or OTIOSE might require a mental spellcheck in this otherwise BASIC-entry puzzle, but not much else. Interesting juxtapositions -- DIRTYLOOK with ORELSE, STAYPUT with YEARN, PASTA and TORTONI; ELECT with SECTORS; ASSERTIVE with DARE; RIEL and REELIN. Two full-name actor entries are JOANALLEN and RIPTORN as Pat and Richard Nixon -- albeit in different films. Colleges, AMHERST and OBERLIN. SNAPE and SNIPEHUNT, SKIPASS and PASSAT, ELEE and PELE, SIB and SIR. Oh and it’s CEE not CHE. I’ll quit now, I’m beginning to JAW (59D. Yak)! Signing off singing!
----------------- For today’s cartoon, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated. For the complete post, go HERE.
