Saturday, March 30, 2019

Today’s Saturday Stumper

First there was Garrett Estrada. Now, with today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, Ernesto G. Prada: another name with no crossword history — another pseudonym, no doubt, for one or more terrific constructors. The same ones? After all, Estrada and Prada rhyme.

Like the Estrada puzzle, the Prada puzzle feels difficult, though it took me only half as long to solve. I saw 3-Down, seven letters, “Old school setting,” right away. I saw 5-Across, ten letters, “Literally, ‘nose-horned,’” right away. And then 6-Down, five letters, “Southeast Asian people.” But I could never say, with 13-Down, seven letters, that I was “Crushing it.” I wandered about, here and there, and likely spent as much time on the southeast corner as on the rest of the puzzle. But “‘Why not?’, these days.” That’s 42-Across, four letters.

Clues that let me say, Man, is this clever: 16-Across, ten letters, “Semi-pro.” 24-Across, four letters, “Jam ingredient from India.” 66-Across, ten letters, “Perches on the edge.” A clue whose answer I still don’t understand: 44-Down, seven letters, “Ball part.” I see what it’s about, but I don’t get it.

No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.

[Twitter says that Garrett Estrada is a clever pseudonym for Brad Wilber and Erik Argard. I finally get it: Garrett, as in Brad Garrett; Estrada, as in Erik Estrada. But why Ernesto G. Prada? Grandpa Stereo?]

comments: 7

Michael Leddy said...

ONEROOM. RHINOCEROS. HMONG. ONAROLL. YOLO. AMBIVALENT. RAGA. AISLESEATS. RICARDO.

Michael Leddy said...

D’oh: “Ball part,” in other words, a part that Lucille Ball played. I got stuck thinking of “part” as part of a name.

Elaine said...

The NW gave me fits...had to walk away for a while. Def think Brad Wilbur is responsible for some of the fiendish clues!

joecab said...

I thought that was a tough puzzle.

And Facebook solved the mystery: it's an anagram of Erik AGARD and Doug PETERSON.

Michael Leddy said...

Thanks for the identification. I had a feeling that it wasn’t Grandpa Stereo’s work. I’m glad to see these constructors in the Newsday puzzle.

joecab said...

Oops I misspoke: I found out about it on FB but they got the info from Amy Reynaldo's blog Diary of a Crossword Fiend, which is always a good read. https://crosswordfiend.com/2019/03/29/saturday-march-30-2019/#nd

Michael Leddy said...

Thanks for the clarification and for the link to AR’s blog. It’s new to me, and I like the idea of reading about crosswords beyond the NYT.