I just remembered that Brad Wilber co-constructed the puzzle that soured me on The New York Times crossword. But I like his puzzles, and I liked today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper. Not especially tricky, but challenging enough to be a challenge.
Three clues that I especially liked: 20-Across, six letters, “Refuge for daytime sleepers.” 64-Across, four letters, “Smooth finish.” 9-Down, five letters, “Number lines.” And one clue that had me hung up for a long time in the puzzle’s center: 36-Across, nine letters, “Deadlocked situation.” STALEMATE? No.
And no spoilers: the answers are in the comments.
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Today’s Saturday Stumper
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comments: 6
OWLERY. NESS. LYRIC. SPLITVOTE.
If I were to pick a critter to represent "daytime sleepers," it wouldn't be owls. A few are diurnal, some are crepuscular, and the rest are active during the day as needed.
I know next to nothing about owls, and I don’t doubt that you’re right. I liked the strangeness (at least to my eyes) of the answer OWLERY.
I hope you don't mean it soured you on the NYT crossword completely. Just remember that if you see a clue you disagree with, you can't tell for sure that the author came up with it, only that the editor ran it.
I still do the syndicated puzzle. But I just don’t get Will Shortz. I often find the Washington Post puzzle much more to my liking.
I just realized that in a 2015 post I suspected Shortz as the creator of the “Cool jazz pioneer” clue.
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