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New York Times, Monday, July 21, 2003

Author:
Andrea Carla Michaels
Editor:
Will Shortz
50-Down : Director Kazan
TotalDebutLatestCollabs
866/12/20007/8/202455
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
762122300
RebusCircleScrabDebutFresh
241.6430622%
Andrea Carla Michaels

This puzzle:

Rows: 15, Columns: 15 Words: 78, Blocks: 38 Missing: {XZ} Spans: 3 This is puzzle # 2 for Ms. Michaels. Monday freshness: 54%
Andrea Carla Michaels notes:

My second puzzle I call "Royal Titles". I always give my puzzles titles and wish the daily puzzles would have them. That way the punchline could be in the title instead of the grid. I name things for a living and always feels like a name elevates anything to a whole 'nother level. Plus it's easier to keep track of!

I had three titles that had KING, QUEEN, PRINCE in them. Plus they were all 15s, all had THE something (Royal). Very synchronicitous. My first submission, however, THE AFRICANQUEEN was on top, as it was easier to have the Q higher up, beginning a word, rather than in the middle.

Will wrote back and said he'd like it KING, QUEEN, PRINCE or PRINCE, QUEEN, KING or not at all. My first experience of having to rewrite from scratch. He was right. Much better.

That Q may have implanted the idea of using all the letters of the alphabet. I never "force" a pangram, but I do like to have one whenever possible. Will doesn't care one way or the other. Others inexplicably rage against them, but to me they are fun, creative, echo my love for Scrabble and add an extra dollop to the construction whether the solvers notice or not.

Usually I'm just one or two letters short of one. I'd have to go back and check to see if this was one. But the amazing thing about Xwordinfo, just ONE of the quietly amazing things, is that it notes pangrams as well as what letters are not in the grid. (The above paragraph is a pangram, by the way!)

1
S
2
M
3
A
4
C
5
K
6
S
7
H
8
E
9
D
10
S
11
H
12
O
13
P
14
P
U
R
E
E
15
P
E
T
E
16
M
O
M
A
17
A
S
T
O
R
18
A
L
U
M
19
O
P
E
N
20
T
H
E
S
C
21
O
R
P
I
O
22
N
K
I
N
G
23
H
E
E
24
T
O
Y
25
O
26
R
27
C
28
H
I
D
29
C
30
A
I
N
31
J
32
F
33
K
34
R
E
L
E
E
35
H
A
L
O
36
T
E
L
E
37
T
H
E
A
F
38
R
I
C
A
N
39
Q
U
E
E
N
40
H
A
F
T
41
E
L
H
I
42
U
N
P
E
N
43
O
B
S
44
D
A
L
E
45
Y
E
A
S
T
Y
46
S
E
C
47
H
I
E
48
T
49
H
50
E
L
I
T
51
T
52
L
E
P
R
53
I
54
N
55
C
56
E
57
H
U
L
A
58
I
R
A
S
59
E
V
I
A
N
60
I
S
I
S
61
N
E
W
S
62
S
O
C
K
O
63
S
H
A
H
64
G
E
N
E
65
T
R
E
Y
S
© 2003, The New York Times7/21/3 ( No. 19,613 )
Across
1
Kiss : SMACK
6
Tool building : SHED
10
Butcher's or bakery : SHOP
14
Process in a blender : PUREE
15
Sampras or Rose : PETE
16
Place to see 20th-century paintings in N.Y. : MOMA
17
Philanthropist Brooke ___ : ASTOR
18
Grad : ALUM
19
Sign on a store door : OPEN
20
"Royal" action film, 2002 : THESCORPIONKING
23
"___ Haw" : HEE
24
Yo-yo or Slinky : TOY
25
Corsage flower : ORCHID
29
Brother of Abel : CAIN
31
"Camelot" president, for short : JFK
34
U. S. Grant's foe : RELEE
35
Angel's headgear : HALO
36
Prefix with commuting : TELE
37
"Royal" Bogart/Hepburn film, 1951 : THEAFRICANQUEEN
40
Knife handle : HAFT
41
Grades 1-12, for short : ELHI
42
Let loose, as pigs : UNPEN
43
No longer used: Abbr. : OBS
44
Over hill and ___ : DALE
45
Like bread dough : YEASTY
46
Brief instant : SEC
47
Hurry : HIE
48
"Royal" film based on a classic children's story, 1974 : THELITTLEPRINCE
57
Maui dance : HULA
58
Nest eggs for seniors: Abbr. : IRAS
59
Bottled water from France : EVIAN
60
Egyptian fertility goddess : ISIS
61
On-the-hour radio offering : NEWS
62
Extremely successful, slangily : SOCKO
63
Old Iranian leader : SHAH
64
Heredity carrier : GENE
65
Deuce takers : TREYS
Down
1
Small fight : SPAT
2
Sled dog command : MUSH
3
Johnson of TV's "Laugh-In" : ARTE
4
Corporate heads, for short : CEOS
5
Woman's head cover : KERCHIEF
6
Extra : SPARE
7
Aid : HELP
8
Needle case : ETUI
9
Drop from major to captain, say : DEMOTION
10
Great ___ Mountains National Park : SMOKY
11
Pueblo Indian : HOPI
12
Augur : OMEN
13
Sharp pain, as from hunger : PANG
21
Multivolume ref. : OED
22
Oui's opposite : NON
25
Right: Prefix : ORTHO
26
Addict's program, in short : REHAB
27
Heads of staffs? : CLEFS
28
Furnace output : HEAT
29
Hidden stash : CACHE
30
Jai ___ : ALAI
31
Army vehicles : JEEPS
32
Navy unit : FLEET
33
Singer Rogers : KENNY
35
San Francisco's Nob ___ : HILL
36
Sandwich fish : TUNA
38
Responding (to) : REACTING
39
Most odd : QUEEREST
44
Agnus ___ : DEI
45
Puppy sound : YIP
46
/ : SLASH
47
"Steppenwolf" author : HESSE
48
1950's TV's "___ Is Your Life" : THIS
49
Silence : HUSH
50
Director Kazan : ELIA
51
Elm or oak : TREE
52
Place for an Easter egg hunt : LAWN
53
Songwriter Novello : IVOR
54
Kindly : NICE
55
Like dry mud : CAKY
56
Genesis grandson : ENOS

Answer summary:
1 unique to this puzzle, 2 unique to Modern Era but used previously.

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