HALLOWEEN
wednesday, october 31, 2007
ken stern / will shortz
difficulty factor: surprisingly not too bad at all!
theme: TRICK OR TREAT: the words "trick" AND "treat" both fill six squares and are each read... one across and one down! (now THAT's a CRAMALOT!)
- 4D PRE-TREATMENTS
- 20A TRICKS OF THE TRADE
- 11D ST. PATRICK
- 27A RETREATS
- 33A TREATISE
- 33D TRICK OR TREAT
- 44A HAT TRICK
- 39D PEACE TREATIES
- 53A JEANE KIRKPATRICK
- 49D CARD TRICK
- 65A ENTREATY
the lack of symmetry in the answers (in the norteast/southwest corners) chafed me a bit - in an "adrian monk" kinda way... oh... and just shy of a pangram... no 'z'... "a 'z'. a 'Z'. my kingdom for a 'z'" (king ken the stern to sir will shortz in king ken III, act 5 scene IV), but all things considered, i did enjoy the puzzle!
although her politics scare me, in the thriller 7D KLUTE, jane fonda was quite compelling.
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in the "not necessarily explained just by the answer" category
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- 10A amt. at a car dealership MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price)
- 14A ancient marketplace AGORA (AG-er-uh: greek meeting/market place)
- 45A some urban legends HOAXES (see: http://www.snopes.com/)
- 46A aussie's neighbor KIWI (slang for new zealander)
- 24D hawaiian dress MU'UMU'U (traditional spelling)
- 38D like the onion SATIRICAL (see: http://www.theonion.com/)
- 54D "get smart" org. KAOS (from the 1965-70 mel brooks/buck henry comedy tv show)
- 59D choices for chicago commuters ELS (elevated trains)
- 60D cavs, on a scoreboard CLE (cleveland cavaliers)
keep on keepin' on...
dann
all elements of the puzzle (grid layout, clues, and answers), NYT, NY Times, and The New York Times logo are ©2007 The New York Times
1A big stingers WASPS 6A johnny fever's workplace, in 1970s-80s tv WKRP 10A amt. at a car dealership MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) 14A ancient marketplace AGORA (AG-r-uh: ancient greek meeting/market place) 15A mixed bag OLIO 16A siouan tribe OTOE 17A some horizontal lines X AXES 18A carries LUGS 19A birthstone of someone born on halloween OPAL 20A professional secrets [TRICK]S OF THE TRADE 23A muslim holy man IMAM 26A amanda of "the whole nine yards" PEET 27A off-site meetings, maybe RE[TREAT]S 28A promoted, as a pawn QUEENED 30A took to court SUED 32A went bad TURNED 33A formal discourse [TREAT]ISE 34A "choosy moms choose _____" JIF 37A ham it up EMOTE 38A _____ pop SODA 39A ride the ______ (sit out a baseball game) PINE 40A heros SUBS 41A red in the middle RARE 42A large, at starbucks VENTI 43A elec. day, e.g. TUE 44A hockey feat HAT [TRICK] 45A some urban legends HOAXES 46A aussie's neighbor KIWI (slang new zealander) 47A like some old stores TEN CENT 48A early seventh-century year DCIV 50A wander ROAM 52A whirlpool EDDY 53A u.n. ambassador under reagan JEANE KIRKPA[TRICK] 56A shows AIRS 57A entr' _____ ACTE 58A certain flower girl NIECE 62A focal point NODE 63A honolulu's home OAHU 64A reese of "touched by an angel" DELLA 65A plea EN[TREAT]Y 66A swill SLOP 67A balance sheet listing ASSET 1D candle material WAX 2D turkish title AGA 3D red _____ SOX 4D stain looseners on washday PRE-[TREAT]MENT 5D lip SASS 6D gobbled up, with "down" WOLFED 7D movie for which jane fonda won an oscar KLUTE 8D starboard RIGHT SIDE (of a nautical vehicle) 9D you might strike one POSE 10D docked MOORED 11D mid-march honoree ST. PA[TRICK] 12D map lines ROADS 13D new york cosmos star PELE 21D like some columns OP-ED (opinion/editorials) 22D fig or fir TREE 23D hurdle for mensa membership I.Q. TEST 24D hawaiian dress MU'UMU'U 25D organism needing oxygen AEROBE 29D born NEE 31D can. neighbor U.S.A. 33D something said while holding a bag [TRICK] OR [TREAT] 34D having bad luck, say JINXED 35D mean INTEND 36D spunky FEISTY 38D like the onion SATIRICAL 39D war enders PEACE[TREAT]IES 41D uncooked RAW 42D designer diane _____ furstenberg VON 44D honey site HIVE 45D rope material HEMP 46D "sexual behavior in the human male" author KINSEY, alfred charles 47D begin, as a hobby TAKE UP 48D two-sport sanders DEION "neon" 49D entertainment from a magician CARD[TRICK] 51D brand name in lawn care ORTHO 53D chimpanzee researcher goodall JANE 54D "get smart" org. KAOS (from the 1965-70 mel brooks/buck henry comedy tv show) 55D "... _____ bottle of rum" AND A 59D choices for chicago commuters ELS (elevated trains) 60D cavs, on a scoreboard CLE(veland) 61D nag (at) EAT
5 comments:
the asymmetry was kinda creepy, but the overall result was a dang good bag full of candy haul in my book.
my favorite answer of the day...FEISTY!
hey, corn,
i did like it, but as i said it just kinda bugged me a bit.
i like the way XAXES looks! like a commercial for a new car... "once you drive a XAXES, you'll never drive anything else..."
dann
hey, it bugged me, too.
did TOO!
Dann -
This is the constructor - I'm so glad you liked the puzzle! As I noted over on Rex's blog comments, I tried to address the symmetry issue when constructing it, but I decided that the balance had to be enough. Those parts of the grid were quite constrained (as indicated by the non-optimal DCIV down there).
As for the Z - my submitted grid had one (I won't say where) that Will changed to take out a non-obvious pop culture reference. Sorry to lose the pangram, but it was a better decision.
and XAXES is my favorite entry in the grid.
Thanks again!
Ken Stern
woo hoo! dann's in the big time now. the constructor??!!
(don't be gettin' the big head, buster, or i'll have to give ya a whoopin'.)
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