Saturday, December 28, 2019

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper is another Lester Ruff (that is, easier) puzzle, but it proved pretty difficult for me. Many of the clues seemed to lead in no particular direction. 1-A, seven letters, “Seafood serving.” Or 47-A, six letters, “Seafood serving.” Such clues left me at sea. I had better luck with another food group: 18-A, seven letters, “Pesto tidbit.” That answer helped me work out the puzzle’s northeast corner in very little time. Everything else took much longer.

Some clues of interest:

1-D, seven letters, “Type of paint.” Pairs nicely with 1-A.

15-A, seven letters, “Annoyed.” The answer is pretty awkward.

20-A, three letters, “Something owed.” This clue continues a minor trend in Saturday Stumper clueing.

40-D, seven letters, “Land lady.” Nice.

41-D, three letters, “Ports, for instance.” Very nice.

44-D, seven letters, “Quarters with buttons.” I took a wild guess that turned out to be right.

49-A, seven letters, “Horsefeathers.” Good fun to see the answer.

62-A, seven letters, “‘. . . the Flying Trapeze’ guy.” I had no idea how the clue and answer go together. But they do.

No spoilers: the answers are in the comments.

comments: 1

Michael Leddy said...

TEMPURA. BISQUE. PINENUT. TEMPERA. EATENAT. (A really awkward instance of the passive voice. I was “eaten at” by their antics? — yuck.) TAB. REALTOR. (A registered trademark, as a friend, who is not a realtor, would point out.) RED. PUPTENT. TWADDLE. LEOTARD.

“The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze” (Gaston Lyle–Alfred Lee–George Leybourne) is about Jules Léotard. A wonderful performance of this song appears in It Happened One Night.