Richard D. Allen author page
1 puzzle by Richard D. Allen
with Jim Horne comments
| G | O | A | T | S | A | B | E | T | A | W | O | L | ||
| A | R | N | I | E | M | Y | N | A | C | O | P | E | ||
| B | E | E | K | E | E | P | E | R | S | T | O | R | N | |
| S | O | W | I | N | G | N | O | T | E | L | A | G | ||
| O | H | O | L | Y | N | I | G | H | T | |||||
| O | L | S | O | N | O | W | L | G | N | A | S | H | ||
| Y | O | U | T | U | B | E | S | T | U | N | T | |||
| S | U | B | T | L | Y | A | L | O | H | A | S | |||
| S | A | L | U | T | E | N | F | U | E | G | O | |||
| T | R | E | V | I | R | I | M | S | T | R | E | W | ||
| D | E | C | A | F | L | A | T | T | E | |||||
| P | A | T | Y | A | M | S | S | T | Y | M | I | E | ||
| A | L | I | A | S | P | E | L | L | B | O | U | N | D | |
| S | L | O | B | E | L | L | E | S | U | L | K | Y | ||
| S | Y | N | C | R | E | F | S | P | R | E | S | S |
Jim here, sitting in for Jeff Chen who's on assignment.
"Kids and their parents" is a terrific way to start a crossword, and it shows the psychological power of selecting the perfect clue words. If the clue were just "Kids" you might guess GOATS right away. The seemingly helpful "parents" addition tricks you into looking for a slang word for families. One of the keys to solving well is the ability to quickly discard assumptions. "Drink that comes with a buzz cut" is another example. It's not an alcoholic drink (did you go there first?) and the cut is to the caffeine buzz, not the head locks. Oh, and just in case your parsing skills are as bad as mine, the answer is DECAF LATTE, not DECA FLATTE, which is an obscure S.I. unit for, uh, flatness or something.
On the other hand, I don't think "That's ___ business" at 57-Down is a misdirection. I don't get why that's a clever clue for YOUR. (This is why Jeff is the usual commentator.)
Today's theme is a solid Tuesday idea. SPELL BOUND is accomplished phonetically from the starts of the other theme answers. Does it bug you that all but one "letter" is a complete word?
I found the puzzle tough for a Tuesday thanks to my ignorance of college basketball coaches and Italian rhyme schemes. (Ottava rima goes ABABABCC in iambs. You knew that already.)
SUBSECTION might need explaining too.
- The outline here refers to how you might outline a research paper into sections and
- indented subsections.
Finally, it's Stanley Cup playoff time, and I take extreme umbrage at the clearly incorrect clue for REFS at 69-Across. Refs don't call offsides, linesmen do! Shortz is such an idiot. Oh, wait, there are sports other than hockey that have offsides? Nevermind. Sorry I brought it up.
PS. It's been a long time since I've been a crossword commentator and I've completely forgotten how this works. Jeff is back tomorrow. Go Kraken! (Next year.)