Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Andrew Bell Lewis, was, for me, an adventure in scanning the grid, over and over, for something, anything, that might yield an answer, It was a very difficult puzzle, forty minutes of difficulty. It was the Jillian Michaels workout of Saturday Stumpers.
I began with 1-A, nine letters, “Flash stash.” But no. I-D, four letters, “Britannic forebear,” meant that my clever answer couldn’t be right. Apt clues: 34-A, three letters, “Evince antsiness.” Yes. 39-D, “End up off.” Yes. I did.
Three clue and answer pairs I especially liked: 8-D, five letters, “Verbal slip cover.” 12-D, ten letters, “Exceed what’s deemed to be possible.” And 13-D, ten letters, “Unrealistic.” 12-D and 13-D are worth the price of admission.
A clue that taught me something: 61-A, nine letters, “Traffic flow facilitator.” Does everybody but me know that already?
No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Today’s Saturday Stumper
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comments: 6
CAMERABAG. (I thought BATTERIES, as for a flashlight.) CELT. GAD. ERR. ADLIB. GOTOELEVEN. INLALALAND. GREENWAVE.
Here’s an explanation of the green wave. I hit one earlier this week without knowing it.
There used to be a sort-of “greenwave” in Victoria, BC, Canada that I took advantage of regularly travelling west on Johnson Street starting at Cook Street.
If you accelerated up to 20mph you would go through intersections at Vancouver, Quadra, Blanshard, Douglas, Broad, Government, and, finally, Store streets (each block about 150 yards long). You had to have nerves of steel as the light was still red when you were within 10 feet of each crosswalk.
It was always amusing to watch people roar ahead at 30 to 40mph only to need to brake for the red lights. It was even more fun having people behind you swerve out to the next lane to do that then become ever more angry when you never had to stop for the lights. If they’d have just stayed behind and followed suit they’d have had a smooth ride.
Steven
Foul! I disagree with CELT. I think it should be TUDOR despite the excess letter. Britannic was coined in the mid-17th century to describe the country at that time (i.e. during the Stuart reign). You’d have to get through Tudors, Plantagenets, various Anglo-Saxon eras, and the Romano-British to get back to the iron age.
For that matter celt is not exact as it describes more of a cultural/linguistic affiliation than a tribal one. The “celts” of Hungary might have objected to being lumped in with those of England.
Sorry to be so late getting your comments on, sir. I was out all day, away from devices.
I’d like to drive the green wave you describe. Commuting to college in the Bronx, I used to hit one that ran down Fordham Road from the Major Deegan exit to Webster Avenue — a little over a mile. Early in the morning, with little traffic, it was a joy to time my driving to the lights.
Your comment about CELT makes sense. I guess one challenge with crosswords is sometimes having to think like the puzzle. I still draw the line when it comes to calling Mel Tormé a “cool jazz pioneer,” but I figured that 1-D had to be CELT.
I had both CELT and PICT in the margin--though they were some of the earlier invading groups, followed by the Angles and Saxons, so it IS a stretch to call them Brits...
I like GREENWAVEs but had never seen or heard the term, and I notice neither have the traffic engineers in Madison, Mississippi. (We are now residents...)
Same here — the lights seem designed to impede the flow of traffic.
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