Today’s Newsday Saturday Stumper, by David P. Williams, was for me a decidedly mixed bag. Many clever and delightful clue-and-answer pairs, but also too many that twist meanings out of recognition. I ended up finishing the puzzle online to check a handful of letters. 9-D, nine letters, “Sofa shade for serene spaces”: I’m looking at you.
Some clue-and-answer pairs of note:
11-D, three letters, “Broadcasting company.” Clever, but the answer is neither a noun (some initialism?) nor a participle.
14-D, five letters, “Holding up or down.” Also clever, but the answer is neither a noun that means “holding” nor a participle. It’s a Stumper, I know, but this kind of clue isn’t playing fair.
19-A, eleven letters, “Temporary summer housing.” Clever and delightful.
31-D, nine letters, “Flocks.” Very happy to have caught on without a cross.
43-D, six letters, “Small circle of meteorologists.” The answer doesn’t quite fit, but it’s fun.
49-A, eleven letters, “Trivia projects.” No. Just no. Land wars in Asia have been 49-As, but they can hardly be called trivia projects.
57-A, six letters, “Small tie.” CRAVAT? Uh, no.
My favorites in this puzzle: 31-A, ten letters, “Unseasoned salt” and 38-A, ten letters, “Editorial selection.”
No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.
Saturday, April 25, 2026
Today’s Saturday Stumper
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CADETBLUE. (I was sure the answer had to be TIBETBLUE, which is also a color.)
CCS. TENET. SANDCASTLES. LAYPEOPLE.
DEGREE. (It’s the degree symbol .)
BOONDOGGLES. Merriam-Webster and the OED differ. M-W: “a wasteful or impractical project or activity often involving graft.” OED: “a trivial, useless, or unnecessary undertaking; wasteful expenditure.” Perhaps the clue should read “Trivial projects.” But I think that in American English the emphasis falls on an enormous waste of resources, not on something that’s trivial to begin with.
ONEALL. LANDLUBBER. THEROYALWE.
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