Saturday, June 8, 2019

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Once again, Frank Longo has made my life difficult — I hope not for the last time. Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper felt like a challenge and a half. I started in the southwest with 49-D, eight letters, “What a cranial nerve serves,” got that section of the puzzle done, moved through the middle to the northeast, then to the northwest, and stumbled around lost for a long time in the southeast. Had I been more familiar with the ingredients of old-timey candy, as in 1-D, six letters, “Morsel in Chunky,” I might have had a different solving experience. But solve I did.

Clue and answer pairs I especially admired: 52-A, eight letters, “Many nicknamed eras.” 56-A, six letters, “Book report of a sort.” And the strange 42-D, five letters, “Tongue depressor?” It’s a lovely answer, when you finally see it.

One odd clue: 35-A, nine letters, “Common romcom feature.” To say that it’s common in romcoms is like saying that songs are common feature of musicals. How about “Hugs and kisses for the camera”?

No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.

[When did you last see a Chunky?]

comments: 4

Michael Leddy said...

INNEREAR. RAISIN. DECENNIA. ERRATA. LACER. LOVESCENE.

Geo-B said...

I never liked Chunky, but I always loved Arnold Stang in the Chunky commercials: "Chunky--what a chunk of chocolate!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpdsyZs4j0M

shallnot said...

I have memories of reading a Mad Magazine anthology from the ‘60s on how to tell you are in a cheap hospital: they depress your tongue by telling you it’s ugly...

Michael Leddy said...

I think I remember those commercials, though they might be from the dawn of my consciousness. The joke though is new to me.

My friend Rob Zseleczky never tired of this old joke: “I went to the doctor and he said I was fat. I said I wanted a second opinion, and he said ‘You’re ugly.’”