Turkey has set Brian back a day… and he finally solves Friday, 11-28-08
Maybe it’s because my stomach is too full of deviled eggs and pumpkin pie. Maybe it’s because the cats cannot come to an agreement over which one gets to sleep in the shoebox on the floor, so they fight over it at 5:00am.
Or maybe it’s because it’s Friday, and Joe Krozel has it in for us. I think this puzzle might be the first one ever to not have a single, normal English word as the answer to any one clue. Let’s see.
FOREIGN AND ARCANE WORDS
- 1A. Spanish figure eights : OCHOS
- 21A. St. Anthony’s crosses : TAUS
- 33A. State whose capital is Panaji: GOA
- 38A. Yom ___ : TOV
- 39A. Laotian language group : TAI
- 41A. Expos’d : OPE
- 60A. 365 giorni : ANNO
- 12D. “___ Sylphides” (ballet) : LES
- 26D. River through Mâcon : SAONE
- 35D. Hawaiian staple : TARO
- 46D. Occupational suffix : IER
- 48D. Verb from which “sum” is derived : ESSE
- 52D. Tabasco title: Abbr. : SRA
ABBREVIATIONS, SEGMENTS, PORTIONS
- 6A. It makes pot potent: Abbr. : THC
- 19A. Part of a grp. : MEM
- 20A. Camcorder component : VCR
- 28A. Tiny fraction of a min. : PSEC
- 29A. Dept. head : SECY
- 40A. Talk ender : ATIVE
- 50A. Rolodex abbr. : TEL
- 58A. Classy org.? : NEA
- 13D. Commandant’s outfit: Abbr. : USMC
- 3D. ___ lane : HOV
- 4D. Honour for J.K. Rowling : OBE
- 17D. Year Emperor Henry IV was dethroned : MCV (is this an abbreviation? where do we categorize this ridiculous answer?)
- 27D. Hi-tech read : EMAG
- 34D. Sports car option: TTOP
- 37D. Baron’s superior: Abbr. : VISC
- 52D. Tabasco title: Abbr.: SRA (see also: “Foreign”)
- 55D. 1979 nuclear accident site: Abbr. : TMI
- 56D. Engine starter: Abbr. : IGN
PROPER NAMES
- 31A. Ryan of “Pippin” : IRENE
- 32A. Acress Peeples : NIA
- 33A. State whose capital is Panaji : GOA — always a favorite of mine, a proper name that is also foreign.
- 49A. ___ Twins (pair in old ads for home perm kits) : TONI — my wife’s name. That’s all the clue needs to say: “Brian’s wife’s name.”
- 61A. Friend of Frodo : SAM
- 11D. His #4 was retired : ORR
- 18D. Department store chain founder : MACY
- 25D. First name in New World exploration : LEIF
- 45D. Fictional faithful friend : TONTO
- 47D. Montana who played Luca Brasi in “The Godfather” : LENNY
NINE 15-LETTER PHRASES
- 16A. Cry on a corsair : SHIVER ME TIMBERS
- 22A. Something exercised by artists : CREATIVE LICENSE
- 34A. It’s high in Manhattan : THE COST OF LIVING
- 44A. Music theory subject : PENTATONIC SCALE
- 52A. Plans to nail suspects : STING OPERATIONS
- 2D. Goal of a neighborhood watch : CRIME PREVENTION
- 5D. Island locales : SERVICE STATIONS
- 6D. Coaching cliche : THERE’S NO I IN TEAM
- 8D. Great all-around reviews : CRITICAL ACCLAIM
- 10D. Is totally apathetic : DOESN’T GIVE A HOOT
OTHER PHRASES AND PARTIALS
- 59A. “Later!” : I’M GONE
- 1D. Part of O.H.M.S. : ON HER
- 23D. “Be there in ___” : A SEC
- 24D. ___’clock : TEN O
- 31D. Wishful thinking? : I HOPE
- 36D. “But I must also feel ___ a man” : Macduff : IT AS
Wow. That sure looks like it’s probably, oh, 98% of the puzzle. Which leaves us with 54D. Part of a shell game (PEA) as perhaps the only standard English answer in the grid.
Of course, despite everything (everything I’ve mentioned so far plus the fact that I haven’t done a Friday puzzle in about a month), I still clocked in about 5 minutes lower than my Friday average. Who says turkey makes you sleepy?
See you Saturday! (Oh, wow! It already is Saturday! I’ll try to get that puzzle done sometime in the next few hours…)
