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Solving => Today's Puzzles => Topic started by: magus on October 06, 2014, 09:54:31 AM
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THEME: first word of a phrase can follow ARMY
GOOD ONES:
Soldier's group { & theme } ARMY
Apt name for a painter ART
RATING: :'(
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun
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When I hear the word "saloon" I think of the scenes in old Western movies showing rowdy gunmen drinking and sometimes fighting. I certainly don't think of 21st-century bars and taverns as "saloons." After all, Toby Keith sang I Love This Bar, not "saloon." Today's puzzle included TSHIRTS, clued as "Saloon souvenirs." I've never been to a bar. Can I assume that barkeepers sell t-shirts? And if so, why didn't the clue say "Bar souvenirs"?
Crossword editors used to reject 15x15 puzzles with more than 36 black squares. A good puzzle has no more than 32. Today's has 40 and is the third such puzzle I've seen in the past week. Have editors changed their publication standards?
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I certainly don't think of 21st-century bars and taverns as "saloons."
Because you don't think of it that way does not mean others do not. The term is perfectly acceptable.
Toby Keith sang I Love This Bar, not "saloon."
Is a Toby Keith song authoritative?
Can I assume that barkeepers sell t-shirts?
Yes, especially because you've never been to a bar.
Have editors changed their publication standards?
Yes, and that may not be bad if by doing so allows for increased entertainment, which, alas, this one did not.
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I can think of only one hit single about a saloon: the Oak Ridge Boys' Y'All Come Back Saloon in 1977. Nine years earlier, Paul McCartney sang about how the title character in Rocky Raccoon "booked himself a room in the local saloon." I thought the word was pretty much obsolete, outside of Western movies and novels. If bar-goers in 2014 still use the word "saloon," then I officially withdraw my objection to the use of that word in a puzzle.
Now...tell me about those t-shirts. People actually pay money for t-shirts so they can wear the shirts in public and provide free advertising for the bars? What a great deal for those bartenders! :)