I was happy to be on my way to finishing today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, when I found myself flummoxed in the lower right and had to resort to checking three letters in the online puzzle. Alas.
Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:
5-D, twelve letters, “High-profile research center.” A reminder to read all clues carefully.
11-D, five letters, “Advanced, or far from advanced.” A nice play on words.
22-D, twelve letters, “Brando, thanks to Streetcar.” Okay, but I hate when people call it Streetcar. Then again, I appear on neither screen nor stage, so who am I to have a say?
23-A, seven letters, “Modest proposals.” Not of the Swiftian sort.
27-D, five letters, “Side in a sleeve.” I knew it, I knew it, I knew it.
30-A, nine letters, “Delightful little things.” I think this clue might be tongue-in-cheek.
31-D, nine letters, “Metaphorical straggler.” I haven’t though of this quaint expression for years.
37-A, three letters, “Co-producer of the 2021 docuseries Get Back.” That’s a new way to clue the name. (But did that series really air five years ago? Time flieth.)
46-A, letters, “About whom Phyllis Diller said ‘He may never be topped as a monologist.’” I don’t think I’d agree. How about Jean Shepherd? Or from another part of the dial, Spalding Gray?
59-A, five letters, “Regal assortment.” It took me a while to figure out why the answer isn’t a noun.
My difficulties with the lower-right corner:
41-D, seven letters, “What Toto can be a sobriquet for.” Just too obscure. I’ll offer an alternative in the comments.
51-A, five letters, “Depend on.” The fit seems off, as the answer establishes the connection that the clue already establishes.
My favorite in this puzzle: 20-A, twelve letters, “Forward-facing bunk?”
No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.
Saturday, April 11, 2026
Today’s Saturday Stumper
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SPACESTATION. EARLY. BREAKOUTSTAR.
ReplyDeleteFEELERS. FRIES. BRICABRAC. ROTTENEGG.
ONO. JOHNNYCARSON. LARGE. (An anagram.)
ANTOINE. How about “Fats, formally,” referencing Fats (Antoine) Domino?
TIETO. TECHNOBABBLE.
This is ACPT weekend so as usual Stan makes it tougher to give attendees more of a challenge. I had two long entries that were close but not quite so it took a while to convince myself even though many letters aligned. BROADWAY STAR instead of BREAKOUT STAR and GEORGE CARLIN instead of JOHNNY CARSON. And boo to those sneaky cryptic-style clues for the first Down and the last Across.
ReplyDeleteInstead of Antoine how about “They’re big on their feet, we hear”?
ReplyDeleteI had BROADWAY first, saw ESS right away, but struggled with REGAL. That’s not a noun, I said, and I even went to the OED before catching on. (It is a noun but not one that means “assortment.”)
ReplyDeleteToe, toe! Props for “hear.” Which reminds me of another Fats — Waller, and “Your Feet’s Too Big.”