THEMELESS MONDAY: [ ACROSS LITE][ PDF]
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PROGRAM: [Java]
Big ups to my man Ben Zimmer for giving me the seed entry in the NW. I have since lost track of all the seeds that the Biz has given me over the years, but it’s safely in the low tens. Where would I start these puzzles without him? It’s a great question that’s almost too scary to even speculate. So let’s move on.
Share the puzzle. New one on Thursday.
Middle name comes from a character in Rabelais’s Pantagruel. I think I could come up with a couple a dozen from that and Gargantua. ^ Above image looks like the Rush album cover Test For Echo. That structure is called an iknucknuck, I believe? # Now for this BEQXWP, I had trouble with the 2nd and 3rd enneants. I got 2nd one taken care of in due time, but 3rd gave me lots of trouble. Probably spent 10 minutes on it. EVINCE was the only surefire answer I could come up with. Plus, the musical clue for 16A was going be either _MAJ or _MIN. I’d lean on the latter and that would keep me around till I just decided that maybe that “J” could be an initial of a brand name. I was a grocery stocker for over 10 years. All that exposure to a myriad of brands should give you an edge on solving. But i haven’t done this job in 2 years. I figured _JHEINZ. And next come CATCHIT. 19A would be a truly insp. clue. Never would have thot of it. And the final letter would be 12D, IMAN_GE. Couldn’t figure this out real fast, put an “A” there (along with ASAHI, always have trouble with foreign alcohol) and then I realized it was “I manage”. I thot 11D was the Ivan guy. (not Reitman, but Harold RAMIS). * The Washington Post’s Post Puzzler from yesterday (cruc. by Frank Longo) was perhaps the hardest I’ve ever done. Hard to figure that if you do so many but loved the cluing and answers to it. Time was 32:23 with one mistake. No use of refs., asst. etc.
Inuksuk!
L bar instead of t bar?! Tosses down instead of back?! H test instead of a test?! Hazlitt crossed with Ezio?! The clue for snell?! Too much confusing misdirection for confusing misdirection’s sake, methinks.