Meghan Morris author page
5 puzzles by Meghan Morris
with Jim Horne comments
Meghan Morris is an appellate public defender in Denver.
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Jim here, sitting in for Jeff Chen, who is on a press junket.
The capital of LIBERIA at 34-Across is Monrovia, named after James Monroe. Quick, name the only other world capital named after a U.S. president. (You'll kick yourself if you don't get it right away.)
In case this puzzle didn't make sense, WORKS WITHOUT A NET at 121-Across means "without an ET." So, ELECTRICAL OUTLET at 23-Across should read ELECTRICAL OUTL. Uh, no, that's a red herring. the ET expulsion happens on the clues. "What's in your wallet" needs to be "What's in your wall." Similarly, "Press junket" needs to be "Press junk", and so on.
The three stages of solve on puzzles like this:
- What the hell?
- (Hopefully) Oh, I finally see now
- Either "that's creative and cool" or "that's stupid and unfair."
You'll have plenty of company whichever stage three you fall into. Crosswords are puzzles, and that means always questioning your initial assumptions. The key to all the more interesting puzzle types is to keep an open mind.
Clue manipulation crosswords are rare but becoming more common. The most recent that I recall was just last Boxing Day when Christina Iverson implored us to get the bugs out.
We got some terrific clues today starting at 1-Across. "Do some backup dancing" for TWERK is perfect. "The before-times" isn't a religious reference. EVES come before holidays. "Fountain of youth" made me wonder what Ponce de León might have sought that was only three letters. I'm sure in his younger years, he attended a KEG party or two before sailing off to Puerto Rico on Christopher Columbus's second voyage to the new world.
Fun puzzle.
Despite appearances, this video is not a scene from the musical CATS at 14-Across:
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