Saturday, April 22, 2023

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Stella Zawistowksi, surprised me with its doability. 1-D, four letters, “Persian equivalents of 34 Across” led me to you-know-where, three letters, “Title in Tamil.” and from there I began to fill in the right half of the puzzle. Thank you, title. The toughest part of this puzzle: the lower right corner. 53-D, four letters, “What often comes with a new addr.”? Wait, what?

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

6-D, ten letters, “Gooey sammies.” Thank goodness this clue has nothing to do with Oreos.

10-D, six letters, “Its capital has a pointy top.” Lordy.

14-D, four letters, “Battleship call.” Wonderful once you get it, which I didn’t until rereading the clue right now.

17-A, ten letters, “Source of a little juice.” Clever.

20-A, six letters, “What to do before going.” UNZIP won’t fit.

26-D, ten letters, “City with an Eiffel Tower topped with a cowboy hat.” A giveaway, I guess.

29-A, nine letters, “Refreshments that aren't hard to enjoy.” I was thinking JELLOCUPS, but the puzzle has a better answer. Really clever.

41-A, nine letters, “They get steamed every day.” Groan.

46-D, four letters, “’50s TV nickname heard on the Roku Channel.” Television past is contained in television present, as T.S. Eliot might have written. If all television is eternally present, all time is unredeemable.

47-A, four letters, “What’s common to a nail and a whale.” Whale seems pretty arbitrary, only here for the sake of the rhyme.

48-A, letters, “Was heated from within.” That’s one good clue.

55-A, ten letters, “Solitaire variety.” Never heard of it.

59-A, three letters, “Spear phisher’s initial target.” Adding value to a familiar answer.

My favorite clue in this puzzle: 27-D, ten letters, “Is out and about.” I was thinking of flaneurs.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

comments: 2

Michael Leddy said...

AGAS. SRI. MTGE. PATTYMELTS. LAMBDA.

BTEN. (Battleship, as in the game.) AAABATTERY.

GETSET. PARISTEXAS. MOCKTAILS. ESPRESSOS.

BEAV. HEAD. LUSTED. EMERALDCUT. SSN. SLEEPWALKS.

Michael Leddy said...

EMERALDCUT is not a card game. “Solitaire variety” is a clue about gems.