Saturday, March 9, 2019

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Frank Longo, begins with a gimme, sort of: 1-Across, seven letters, “Short-notice helipad user.” But wait: how is that answer spelled? Either way, its last letter gave me 7-Down, nine letters, “Nation nearly entirely on renewable electricity.” And a letter in that answer let me guess with confidence at 32-Across, fifteen letters, “Professorial privilege.” Yeah, I’m all about the privilege. But everything else took a lot longer.

Some challenging and rewarding clues: 10-Down, four letters, “Okay request.” 11-Down, four letters, “What bagels are made without.” 25-Down, five letters, “Many minute hands.” And one that made me laugh: 60-Across, seven letters, “West Wing resignee of 2017.” There were so many!

No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.

comments: 6

Michael Leddy said...

MEDEVAC. (Not MEDIVAC.) COSTARICA. ACADEMICFREEDOM. CANI. ENDS. RADII. OMAROSA.

joecab said...

I’m not getting the “Fanciful decals on some MacBook decals” one. The answer is APPLE COLAS ... huh? I never saw a MacBook with that for a laptop sticker, and even an online search shows bupkis.

Michael Leddy said...

I’ve never seen one, but I’ve seen fanciful MacBook decals, so I figured, well, must be.

I found one by searching (DuckDuckGo) for mac cola decal, here. I’m guessing that Frank Longo might know someone with such a decal on a Mac and was thus inspired to pair the answers.

Michael Leddy said...

I think the juice box decals are cuter, but the loss of the glowing apple makes these decals much less effective.

joecab said...

I dunno, it still seems a bit shaky for an answer since literally anything could be a laptop sticker. The crossword tournament is in two weeks so I might just ask Frank about it myself.

Michael Leddy said...

I think “can” narrows it down. But APPLE COLAS is more than a little forced.