ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE?]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ WHAT’S THE ALTERNATIVE?]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
This week’s been a weird one, as evidenced by the startling and difficult-to-grasp fact (or at least startling/difficult to me) that today is Friday. Honest to God, I’ve had a tough time grokking what day it was for pretty much this entire week. It’s as if I’ve been unstuck in time. Seriously, it feels odd to be doing this blog post on what to me sure as shooting feels like a Thursday. Yikes. Why am I saying this? Today’s puzzle, like myself, is unstuck in time. Made in ’08, yet held in limbo forever, until now. So, if it feels a bit off, now you know.
To the mailbag! Reader Peter Washington of parts unknown has presented even more alternatives to the answer to last Friday’s contest. If you recall, I asked WHAT CAPITAL IN / EUROPE IS MADE OF / TWO CONSECUTIVE / MEN’S NICKNAMES? with the intended-for answer of LONDON. Well, here goes nothing. This former Red Sox slugger and this former Rock Paper Scissors champion make the case for Monaco. Although, let’s get real here. Anybody who’s a Rock Paper Scissors champion should be disqualified on that fact alone. And besides, his last name is the alternate answer. But wait, there’s more! Take a former South African rugby player and a player from the defunct NFL’s Oorang Indians and you get Oslo. Wowza. Why stop now?
This closeted celebrity and the producer of the “Castlevania” series combine to form Riga. And finally, in the efforts of gender equality, this junkie and Ms. Anastasia Sipp, a trustee on the board for the Staten Island Children’s Museum, cast their vote for Cyrprus. Whew. Amazing what you can find on Google nowadays. For Peter’s batshit display of additional answers, he’ll receive a copy of “Diagramless Crosswords. (Click on the icon to the right to get your own copy.)
Share the puzzle. New one on Monday.
I’ve never heard of AQUOS before, do I need to start spending more time at Best Buy? I really thought ABEL had done the wine. No terribly tricky clues, but still a good puzzle.
Three of these are great. Two … I’m still waiting to find out what BREAK HATE and SOMETHING EXPOSURE are. ALL EXPOSURE? NOTHING REVELATION? UNITE LOVE? Just not computing. The others were transparent and lovely.
Puzzled about the same theme answers Rex mentioned above…but OKLAHOMA LATER was an absolute gem, clue and answer.
Okay, between Amy and Joon on “Fiend” we have the answers: DOUBLE exposure and MAKE love.
Google indicates that “Nothing Hidden” is a punk rock group.
Rock Paper Scissors is a child’s game. Serious players opt for the more advanced Rock Paper Scissors Spock Lizard.
Your question will either MAKE OR BREAK this answer.
Got it. Thanks MitchS. I had the same questions about the theme that Rex had, and I agree that 24A was a gem. Snappy little puzzle that almost could have snuck into the easy category. Like Karen, had to use the crosses to get 9A. Other than that, everything was pretty straight forward.
Hmmm. Two-word phrases based on implied “X or Y” phrases, the grid answer alternating between the first and second of two words:
17A “trick or treat” => “trick KNEE”/”TREAT [his or her] KNEE”
24A “sooner or later” => “OKLAHOMA Sooner”/”sooner or LATER”
40a “double or nothing” => “double EXPOSURE”/”NOTHING EXPOSURE” {WTF?}
52A “feast or famine” => MOVEABLE feast”/”MOVEABLE FAMINE” {WTF?}
65A “make or break” => “make LOVE”/”BREAK LOVE” {On the serve? Really? I don’t play tennis, so hey, whatever.}
I leave it to the constructors present to adjudicate the question of whether the cluing redeems the phrases that aren’t actual phrases.
Make that 24A “OKLAHOMA LATER”.
Needed the explanation for the EXPOSURE theme answer. I could not figure that sucker out, as DOUBLE/NOTHING was more of a phrase and not opposites in my mind. Couldn’t break that mental block.
Also, even after TV shopping, AQUOS. AQUOS?!? Holy crap, that was evil. I guess I should wander aimlessly around Best Buy muttering about pixel ratios or something, until an employee mercifully asks if I need help, in which case I can ask about AQUOS. Man, I’m out of the loop on that one.
Other than that, clever and smooth solving. Enjoyed it.
chiming in way late, because i was away all weekend, but i liked this one. had the same confusion as everybody else about exposure, but i knew AQUOS. maybe you have to watch a lot of football, as i know brendan does, but i’ve seen a zillion commercials for that thing.