Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Lester Ruff, is pretty, pretty easy, save for one fifteen-letter answer that still baffles me. I got it, but what’s it mean?
The puzzle begins with what looks to me like a giveaway: 1-Across, eight letters, “What ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ was first scored for.” Two clues I especially liked: 3-Down, six letters, “Right-spun yarn term.” And 37-Down, eight letters, “Menu of a sort.” 3-Down, which might be a giveaway for someone else, was for me a matter of getting the crosses. 37-Down I liked for its subtle misdirection. (When I see menu in a crossword I think only of food and computers.)
The clue for the answer that baffles me: 36-Across, fifteen letters, “Start of a updated auric adage.” What?
Oh, wait — I just tried typing out the answer, and now I see it.
No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.
[“A updated”: not a typo, or at least not my typo. My typo was “Satuday” in the post title, now corrected.]
Saturday, January 5, 2019
Today’s Saturday Stumper
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comments: 3
JAZZBAND. ZTWIST. WINELIST.
The baffler: TWEETUNTOOTHERS. Auric adage = golden rule, get it? What made this answer esp. difficult for me: its U crosses 32-Down, “Something said with a slap,” DUH. I first had DOH, Homer Simpson’s “D’oh,” which I think is the proper exclamation to go with a slap (of one’s own head). But even after getting TWEETUNTOOTHERS, I couldn’t see it until I typed it out. Tweet toothers? Candy junkies? No, TWEET UNTO OTHERS.
I did this Sat Stumper in one sitting, which is kind of unusual for me. I thought of 'the golden rule' (among other items on my margin list--'All that glisters is not gold,' 'good as gold', etc.). So, when ANTO OTHERS emerged (I had to change BAH to DUH) I had the five-letter beginning still empty.
A 'modern' Golden Rule is "Do UNTO OTHERS before they do unto you"....so I am afraid I came up with SCREW.... Fortunately, only the E worked, but that corner was the hardest part of the puzzle for me.
LOL. I can think of a number of people who seem to live by the rule you were trying out.
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