Saturday, February 8, 2025

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper is by Frank Longo, whose last Stumper appeared in October. This one was mostly easy but posed (for me) real difficulty in the northeast corner. There’s a slightly dated feel here and there — 3-D, nine letters, “1999 biography subtitled ‘Magician or Mystic?’” — but nifty clues elsewhere help make up for that.

Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:

6-D, six letters, “Short-story award eponym.” I haven’t thought of it in ages.

10-D, three letters, “Most common labor issue.” Just weird.

11-D, six letters, “Fireballs.” If you say so.

14-D, five letters, “Places where numbers are dialed.” Why, in telephone booths in old movies, of course.

16-A, ten letters, “Music to a gossip’s ears.” A boost to the ego.

24-D, eight letters, “Not pass enough, perhaps.” Does anyone still say this?

31-A, six letters, “What impatient people don’t have.” Ha.

34-A, three letters, “Where a toy hits the floor.” Cute.

34-D, nine letters, “It’s often felt on Halloween.” Cute and clever.

43-D, letters, “Former Apple snap importer.” I wonder if this might be a leftover clue, revised.

45-A, five letters, “What flashing or swelling is symptomatic of.” Like 3-D and 43-D, it feels a bit dated.

62-A, ten letters, “Going off a lot.” I thought first of someone raging. I wonder why.

63-A, four letters, “Olympians swore on it.” Yep. And too old to feel dated.

My favorite in this puzzle: 37-A, fifteen letters, “Neither foggy nor windy.” Wonderful.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

comments: 2

Michael Leddy said...

URIGELLER. OHENRY. SON. TIGERS. SAFES.

IHADNOIDEA. FLUNKOUT. ALLDAY. PAW.

PIRATEHAT. IPHOTO. OPART. ERRORPRONE. STYX.

Michael Leddy said...

I left out my favorite: CLEARANDCONCISE.