Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, looked to me like a sea of troubles. I drifted to the middle of the sea — 38-A, seven letters, “Quack creation” — before finding a way to proceed. That answer gave me 24-D, four letters, “Old-style ‘used to be,’” which in turn gave me 23-A, five letters, “Had a home plate.” That answer let me make an educated guess at 9-D, six letters, “What sweetens some soy sauce,” which yielded 20-A, seven letters, “Foxy.” And then more drifting. The northeast and southwest corners gave me the most difficulty, and I managed to solve by trying and giving up on one corner, then the other, over and over. I know that seas don’t have corners though.
Some outstanding clues: 11-D, seven letters, “They fly for a union.” 28-D, five letters, “One shooting stars.” 37-D, eight letters, “Veggie dish specification.” 45-A, nine letters, “Explanation for passing.” 60-A, nine letters, “Bursting in.” And 66-A, nine letters, “They’re not drips.”
No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Today’s Saturday Stumper
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NOSTRUM. TWAS. ATEIN. STEVIA. VULPINE. ELOPERS. NINJA. OVOLACTO. IMONADIET. IMPLOSION. ESPRESSOS.
Aside from “Jabberwocky” and “A Visit from St. Nicholas” I wonder how common ‘twas really was?
Now that I'm sitting at my laptop with library access to the OED, I can say that it’s hard to say. ’Twas makes 1054 appearances in citations (for other words), with twenty-two appearances between 1850 and 1899 (related words, no surprise, include slithy and tove) and just three appearances between 1900 and 1949. Nothing since. It’s a nice word for poetry, as it gets the two words into one unstressed syllable. Good for starting certain poems. :)
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