Friday, July 18, 2014

Seeing a pattern? (solution no. 1,066)

The solution to The Nation puzzle no. 1,066 (from 50 years ago last week) is below the fold.

Boy that was tough.  I had to resort to the answer key six times there, but when a puzzle combines very obscure words with non-Ximenean cluing, it’s gonna be murder.  Much of the rest needed intersecting letters, and in a few cases I still don’t have a clue about what Frank Lewis was intending.  Can any of you figure them out?

On the other hand, I’ve found a Shakespeare reference in each of the Lewis puzzles we’ve tackled so far.  Was this a signature?


Solution to The Nation puzzle no. 1,066


Legend: “*” anagram; “~” sounds like; “<“ letters reversed; “( )” letters inserted; “_” or lower case: letters deleted; “†” explicit in the clue, “^” first or last letter or letters, “{“ relocated letter or letters; “§” heteronym, “¶” letter bank

Across
1a
TICKER TAPE
Double definition
6a
OFFA
OFF (opposite [indicated by “quite the opposite”] + A (†)
Not sure where “king” fit in here.
10a
ROTIFIER
Two parts of a single definition
11a
OPULENT
Single definition 
Why the exclamation point?
12a
TRAINING GROUND
Single definition
14a
BES(<OT<)TED
<TO< (reversal indicated by “bring it back”) contained in (“in”) BEATEN (“defeated circumstances”)
15a
*CINEMA
*ICEMAN (anagram is implied, not indicated)
16a
EMPIRE
Single definition
18a
_KEDGEREE_
bac_K EDGE REE_xamined (hidden word indicated by “you might have”)
Not a plate or bowl, but a menu item.  Kedgeree (which I’d never heard of) is a biryani-like rice dish including smoked fish and eggs served for breakfast in England.
22a
DOG IN THE MANGER
Phrase association is the only way I can describe this.
24a
COUP LET
COUP (“an unexpected stroke”) + LET (“allowed”)
25a
ECHELON
Single definition
26a
TIER
Double definition
27a
PESTICIDES
Another phrase association.
I got “Silent Spring” right away but couldn’t figure out how to fit it.  I think what Lewis was intending was that PESTICIDES would cause a SILENT SPRING

Down
1d
TURNTABLES
Double definition.
“Quite the opposite” relates to records sitting on the turntable, not vice versa.
2d
CUT LASS
CUT (“spurn”) + LASS (“maiden”)
3d
ENFANT TERRIBLE
??
I got this from intersecting letters, but I’m baffled by the wordplay.
4d
TERENCE
??
Another utterly baffling clue.  Does this relate to some film actor of the 1960s?
5d
PRONGS
Single definition
7d
FLEANCE
Single (Shakespearean) definition
Fleance was Banquo’s son.
8d
*ACTS
*SCAT (cross-reference to 23d, anagram indicator implied)
9d
AUTOBIOGRAPHIC
Pun
13d
NAME BRANDS
Double definition
17d
PROCURE
PRO (opposite (“other than”) of “lay”) + CURE (“healing”)
19d
EVE REST
EVE (“afterdinner”) + REST (“nap”)
20d
RE(GALE)D
GALE (“storm”) contained in (“in”) RED (“full color”)
I don’t like the disagreement between subject and object in the definition part of this clue. 
21d
STATUE
Single (literary) definition
23d
*SCAT
*ACTS (cross-reference to 8d, anagram indicator implied)





2 comments:

  1. Frank Lewis made references to a wide range of things including Shakespeare, but not in every issue.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just coincidence that I’ve seen several then.

    ReplyDelete

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