Friday, October 12, 2012

If you eat dessert first... (New York Times cryptic crossword solution 10/14/2012)

From the traffic stats, I know there are some of you who want solutions right away: especially you New York Times solvers.  Even though brunch isn't officially served until 10:00 tomorrow, I'll be happy to welcome you into the kitchen tonight.  Your solution to the Rosalie Moscovitch cryptic crossword from the Sunday New York Times is below the fold.

After you're done with that, grab a cup of coffee and hang around a while.  You'll find links to other interesting puzzles including the weekly cryptics in The Nation (the raison d'être for this blog), the great variety puzzles in the weekend Wall Street Journal, the Hex cryptics in the National Post (excellent for novice solvers), and more.  The Nation puzzles are linked here on Thursdays with annotated solutions the following Monday.  A varying menu of brunch puzzles are served every weekend.   Please click, comment, and join the community.

Rosalie Moscovitch is a new constructor to me.  After looking her up (and ordering her book "What's in a Word"), I was hoping for a few more puns in this puzzle.  No such luck.  21d might be hard for some of you younger solvers: I suggest you ask your parents for help.  Otherwise, it's a tough puzzle, with a few clever clues but nothing to knock your socks off.

As for the post title, now that I qualify as one of those old coots who has used a 21d, I felt no guilt at having an ice cream cone for dinner after training camp in Delaware last month.  The UD Ag school has a dairy and micro-creamery, located right next to the ice rink.  After a real good skate, and putting about a hundred pucks down to try and ingrain a new face-off mechanic, a beer would have been nice, but the ice cream was even better.  I chose a flavor called "All Nighter": coffee ice cream with cookie dough, crushed Oreos, and fudge—it was great.  Darn right I had the waffle cone too!

solution below the fold



New York Times variety puzzle (cryptic crossword)
October 14, 2012
puzzle by Rosalie Moscovitch

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