06.02.10 — Gone Fishing

Sun Rising Through Vapour, Fishermen Cleaning and Selling Fish, 1807, J. M. W. Turner, National Gallery, London.

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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Puzzle by Adam Cohen, edited by Will Shortz

ROD and REEL, LINE and HOOK found out of order in LIGHTNING ROD (20A. Metaphorical target of attacks), CAPTAIN HOOK (35A. Captor of Wendy Darling), WHAT’S MY LINE (42A. Game show originally titled “Occupation Unknown”) and VIRIGINA REEL (56A. Dance with fiddlers and a caller) are the interrelated group of this slightly tangled, but otherwise neatly woven Wednesday crossword.

Other — There might very well be a good amount of spare time to go fishing with ALIMONIES (37D. Severance package payments?) and STRIKE PAY (6D. Compensation during a work stoppage) as income — as pairings, HEADACHE (10D. Ibuprofen target) and STRIVING (39D. Trying hard) also fit nicely together. Another couple are EARTHA (48D. Kitt in a cabaret) and ESTHER (4D. “Sanford and Son” aunt). Sharing their B are OBIT and ORBIT (17A Bye lines?, 2D. Go round and round).  One more pair, ISLET and KEY, both clued as a Speck in the Ocean.

Mid-size — AGILE, AIOLI (27D. Garlicky sauce), Grande ALLEE (Québec’s main drag), BALMY, BEIGE, BRIER, CEASE, DEL RAY Beach, Fla., DIGIT, ELEGY, GIGLI (51D. Movie bomb of 2003), GOALS, HOWDY, INKED (28D. Sporting tattoos, slangily), KOOLS, LAILA and LAINE (7D. “Rawhide” singer Frankie), MASAI (25A. Tribesman of Kenya or Tanzania), NARCS, O’SHEA, PECTIN (31A. It makes jelly gel), PIANO (31D. Forte’s opposite), REHAB, SEISM, SLIPS, STALE, STEER, STORK, YASIR.

Short stuff — ABES, ACME (19A. Looney Tunes manufacturer), George Harrison’s “All Those Years AGO”, ARC, ERIC, ERLE Stanley Gardner, ETNA, HAJI, HASP, HOG, ICE, IRON, ISBN, ITEM, JIM, The Cisco KID, KOBE (1A. Japanese beef center), MOTE, NON, OMEN, ORES, OSOS, PING, Broccoli RABE, RDAS, SARI, TERR, THAI, TIL, TRAC, URI, ZIP + 4, ZUNI (59A. New Mexico native).

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Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

If you subscribe to home delivery of The New York Times you are eligible to access the daily crossword via The New York Times - Times Reader, without additional charge, as part of your home delivery.

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 10. Visitor to Mecca; 14. Sources of gold, e.g.; 15. Cliched; 16. Holder in the Obama cabinet; 18. Prickly plant; 23. Roundup animal; 32. Grab most of; 38. Bears, in Baja; 40. Boxer Ali; 47. Bit of dust; 49. Oslo Accords partner of Yitzhak and Bill; 52. Some border patrol cops; 62. One of 101 in a googol; 63. Cusine that includes pad see ew; 64. It may let off steam; 66. Diary fastener; 67. Unwanted engine sound; 68. Richter scale event; 69. Sawbuck halves. DOWN: 1. Mentholated smokes; 3. Color that blends well; 5. Amazon.com ID; 8. Poem of lament; 9. La., e.g., from 1805 to 1812; 11. Circumference section; 12. Olympian Thorpe; 13. Beverage store buy; 21. ___ II (razor brand); 22. Eclipse, to the impressionable; 26. Image on many a birth announcement; 30. Like Indian summer days; 32. Cowboy’s greeting; 33. Milo of “The Playboys”; 34. What a shut-out team may lack; 36. Up to, in ads; 43. “Slumdog Millionaire” garb; 44. Sicilian spewer; 50. Like a ballerina; 53. Post-surgery regimen, for short; 54. “Give it a rest!”; 55. Errata; 57. Vitamin label amts.; 58. Agenda part; 60. Altdorf’s canton; 61. ___ troppo (moderately, in music).

06.01.10 — A Place to Sleep

Ophelia painting by Alexandre Cabanel, 1883

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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Puzzle by Sarah Keller, edited by Will Shortz

BAD, BED, BID, BOD and BUD are the vowel-progressive clues for MISCHEVIOUS, PLACE TO SLEEP, OFFER, PERSON’S BUILD and FUTURE BLOOM in this tuckered-out-from-the-long-weekend Tuesday crossword.

Other — ABNORMAL (40A. Strange), ALAN LADD (22D. “Shane” star), APPOINT (27A. Name to the cabinet, say), BELABOR (42D. Beat to death, so to speak), CLEANSER (32A. Ajax or Bon Ami), ONE ACT (6D. Having no intermission), OPHELIA (5D. Shakespeare character who goes insane), PLEDGES (44A. “Animal House” beanie sporters), POT ROAST (23D. Slow-cooked beef entrée), 44D. PUERTO Vallarta, Mexico.

Five-letter — BANKS, BLURT, DIODE, EMOTE, GRETA, INDIE (The movie “Wordplay,” for one), “LA VIE en Rose” (Edith Piaf song), NANCY, OLSEN, OVATE and OVERT, POP UP, RIDES, RISEN, STEEP, TABOO, USURP, XACTO.

Short stuff — AGHA, AHAT, AIDE, AMES, ASIA, BUSY, CFL, DOE, ECU, ELKE, ESAI, FATS, FOX, HOER, IDEA, IDS, LENA (51A. Late singer Horne), LILO, LINE, LVI, NIT, NYS, ODER, OMAN, OMIT, ORC, PEN and PEEN, POS, PROB, ROSS, SAY, SEA, SING, SNOW, TEC, TILE, TOAD, TUMS, TVA, UTE, UVA, VOTE.



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Click on image to enlarge.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

If you subscribe to home delivery of The New York Times you are eligible to access the daily crossword via The New York Times - Times Reader, without additional charge, as part of your home delivery.

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. No-no; 6. Late football star and FTD pitchman Merlin; 11. Driver’s lic. And such; 14. Take forcibly; 15. Sluggo’s comics pal; 16. Thing to pick; 19. Buck’s mate; 20. Two cents’ worth; 21. Morales of “La Bamba”; 22. Capital Hill worker; 30. Comic-strip light bulb; 31. Van Susteren of Fox News; 36. Weed whacker; 39. Movie pal of Stitch; 2. River pair; 43. At the drop of ___; 50. Eclude; 52. F.D.R. power project: Abbr.; 55. Blood-type abbr.; 60. Versatile vehicle, for short; 61. For all to see; 62 Not quite round; 63. Place that’s “up the river”; 64. Hobbyist’s knife brand; 65. Doesn’t hoof it. DOWN: 1. Rolaids alternative; 2. Province of ancient Rome; 3. Like the proverbial beaver; 4. Tolkien beast; 8. ___-cone; 9. Old French coin; 10. Albany is its cap.; 12. L.E.D. part; 13. High, pricewise; 18. “This ___ outrage!”; 24. Some flooring; 25. Wroclaw’s river; 26. Neptune’s realm; 27. Ottoman Empire chief; 28. “No ___!” (“Easy!”); 29. Hammer part; 32. North-of-the-border grid org.; 33. Rat on the Mob; 34. Sommer in cinema; 35. Woman depicted in “The Birth of Old Glory”; 37. Neighbor of Yemen; 38. Some are saturated; 41. Letter after pi; 45. Checkout annoyance; 46. Like some toasters and children’s books; 47. Overdo it onstage; 48. “Christ is ___!” (Easter shout); 49. Say without thinking; 52. Fly-catching creature; 53. Show of hands, e.g.; 54. Spy Aldrich; 56. Symbol of slyness; 57. Sch. Founded by Thomas Jefferson; 58. Gumshoe; 59. 56, in old Rome.