Some more words on four-letter words (Sunday brunch: March 23, 2013)

Read on: new puzzles at the bottom of the post!

A few months ago I commented on the subject of four-letter words: the type you aren’t supposed to say on television.  I didn’t intend to get back to the subject so soon, but some recent reading and puzzles deserve comment. 

In particular, the sports page of the Wall Street Journal (yes, they really do have a sports page, though they continue to hold the line against comics) had a feature on how broadcasters have to adjust their language when they move from the locker room to the microphone.  Dan Dakitch says he reads the newspaper out loud to himself for ten minutes before going on the air just to hear himself speak without swearing. 

And last week, the Journal had a feature on comedians who work clean, noting how many in the business know that obscenity can be a crutch to lean on to get the audience’s attention, but eventually its shock value wears off.  It takes more work to prepare a routine that doesn’t use the seven words George Carlin built his most famous routine on, but real talents like Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Cosby do so and you hardly realize it. 

As I said before, crossword constructing is largely a G-rated enterprise, with some notable exceptions like The Onion, which revels in double entendre and toilet humor.  Mainstream setters rarely go near the line, let alone over it.  When they do, it’s usually to facilitate a particularly clever or playful clue.  With the indirect way words are clued in cryptic crosswords, such opportunities present themselves regularly.  Hex had one in their variety cryptic this weekend at the Wall Street Journal (solution below the fold, hint grid posted previously).  The second “n” clue prompted titters from the commenters who got there first.  While the grins were fading, the solvers figured out that this puzzle is not as hard as you think 

Brendan Emmett Quigley also has an alter ego who works blue.  Very blue.  His Bawdy Crosswords are definitely in the "not safe for work" category, but they provide another dimension in constructing and solving.  Take "Tunnel of Love" for example (repeat warning: NSFW).  There's a visual double-entendre to the theme entries in that one as well as the wordplay.

Back to the usual weekend fare.  Hex is in the kitchen for us, and the National Post takes a peek at them while they're working.  The New York Times has a Hex acrostic (behind the paywall, Hex's comments and spoilers over at Wordplay).

And we have another chef and another course in our menu:  Nathan Curtis offers a tasty mix at Tortiseshell Puzzles.  His latest is a Rows Garden, which compares well to the Patrick Berry originals.  He also constructs cryptics, like "What Do You Do With a B.A. in English?"  Welcome, Nathan: we look forward to seeing more of your work every week.

Solution to this weekend's Wall Street Journal puzzle:

v

q

a

g

1

d

k

2

n

p

i

r

67

7

66

74

7

47

74

7

47

66

7

76

h

66

R

E

P

A

S

T

C

U

T

O

F

F

l

66

A

V

I

A

T

E

O

N

A

P

A

R

f

7

P

S

X

C

E

A

C

Q

U

I

R

E

j

47

I

K

E

A

P

R

O

C

T

O

R

N

t

65

D

E

L

P

H

I

N

S

P

I

C

E

b

7

S

P

S

S

E

D

U

K

E

D

O

M

3

12

S

T

R

I

N

G

T

H

E

O

R

Y

m

7

P

I

A

Z

Z

A

S

A

R

S

A

S

c

56

A

C

R

E

S

R

S

W

A

T

C

H

o

74

M

J

A

M

P

A

C

K

G

A

L

A

u

7

B

O

R

O

U

G

H

I

E

T

E

R

e

66

O

R

A

N

G

E

I

N

F

U

S

E

s

66

T

E

T

O

N

S

A

G

R

E

E

D

“What’s My Line,” by Emily Cox & Henry Rathvon

Wall Street Journal, March 23, 2013

Solution by Braze

www.thenationcryptic.blogspot.com