The Letter G formed of Le Soleil, ou la Chute d'Ircare, 1819 by Merry-Joseph Blondel
Wednesday, March 18, 2009Puzzle by Robert A. Doll, edited by Will ShortzThe letter G is “g-g-gone” missing! from the recipe for GRIDDLE CAKES, giving us a zero G recipe for RIDDLE CAKES (16A. Mystery desserts?) and by token of that omission, five other interrelated entries morph -- ROWING PAINS (60A. Sculler’s affliction?), REEK WEEK (8D. Period of seven days without bathing?), RAIN ALCOHOL (10D. What the sky might do in an inebriate’s dream?), RAVEN IMAGES (24D. Illustrations for a Poe poem?), and RUNT WORK (40D. Employment in Munchkinland?). The clues are meant to give justification and humor to the resulting truncations.Mid-size entries include KERNEL, MEADOW, ON A PAR, PROVOKE, SNOOTS, RED TAPE and SOPRANO. Five-letter entries form the bulk of this crossword -- ALICE, ALTOS, AMBER, APERS, ARETE, ASHEN, CO-OPT, CRACK, EGRET, GLEAN, HULAS, INANE, INDIE, IN-LAW, INNER, IPANA, LEAVE, LEGAL, LINER, MENSA, MOLAR, MONET, MOTEL, NAVEL, PEALS, RODEO, SNARL, TIMOR, TRA LA (51A. Refrain syllables). Short stuff -- AGE, ALMA, ARR, BAG, CAM, CATS, EDD, EMIR, ENE, EMIR, EPIC, ERSE, EVE, ICON, IDO, INK and LINK, IRA, MIRA, NIP, ORCS, ORE, OVA, PAD, PLEA, POI, RCA, REP and RES, SANG, SET, SIRE, SKYE, SOLI, TEN, WAY (61D. Modus operandi).-----------------More groans -- RAVE YARD (Noisy cemetery?); RAY MATTER (Sunburn?); RAZE LAND (Strip mining?); RID LOCK (Hair cut?); ROUND BEEF (Heavy steer?); ROW UP (Paddle against the current?) RUMPY OLD MEN (Overweight elderly gents?) -- ah, gee!-----------------For today’s cartoon, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.For the complete post, go HERE.
