Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Greg Johnson, is a fun, fast puzzle. 1-A, ten letters, “Slowdown en route”: that looks like a giveaway. 1-D, five letters, “Convention of dramatists”: can the answer be that obvious? 2-D, five letters, “Come loose”: this one too? 4-D, five letters, “UK’s best-selling female album artist of the century”: uh, yes, pretty obvious. Anyone who fears the Stumper should try today’s puzzle as an opportunity to build up the chops. Contra 63-A, it is.
Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked:
4-D, nine letters, “Boss doing training and fighting.” 33-A had me thinking in the wrong direction.
12-D, nine letters, “Many Greek-made planters.” Ah, so that’s what they are.
15-A, ten letters, “Prime-time fare of old.” How old?
16-A, four letters, “‘Rudolph . . .’ rhyme for ‘history.’” Why was it so hard for me to reverse-engineer the lyrics?
39-A, four letters, “It’s a swell thing.” That’s a swell clue.
51-D, five letters, “They’re often seen on greens.” BACONBITS won’t fit.
58-A, three letters, “It’s seen at the end of A Beautiful Mind.” Good ’n’ weird. I was thinking a Greek letter?
62-A, four letters, “Contraction lacking three letters.” WOULDNTVE wouldn’t’ve fit.
No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.
Saturday, September 18, 2021
Today’s Saturday Stumper
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TRAFFICJAM. TROPE. RAVEL. (Funny: it means the same thing as unravel.) ADELE. ITSNOTEASY.
FIRECHIEF. (33-A: ALI). OLIVEJARS. RADIODRAMA.
GLEE. SURF. POLOS. (Golf duds.) MMI. GDAY.
I wonder whether Greg Johnson and Matthew Sewell are commenting on each other’s work today. The last clue in Sewell’s LA Times puzzle: “‘A snap!’” Answer: EASYASPIE. But it wasn’t. That was Johnson’s puzzle. Sewell’s puzzle is much tougher: ITSNOTEASY.
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